✿ THE HOUSE ✿
Adra's house is a cozy stone cottage on the outskirts of Caissa, close enough to the sea that one can hear the breaking waves throughout the day.
This afternoon, there's light, cool rain falling intermittently, tapping in a rhythm at the windows and roof. Fortunately, the kitchen is warm, bright, and welcoming. Its counters and tables are covered with freshly prepared foods of all kinds, and there are plenty of chairs for visitors who might like to sit and relax.
A door from the kitchen leads out into the garden, which is not quite yet fully landscaped, but which boasts a promising array of flowers (orchids, roses, lilies, tulips, etc) and herbs. Adra's also cultivating strawberries, tomatoes, lettuce, and so on; the strawberries and cherries in particular are ripe for picking. Adra has strung enchanted, floating fairy lights all over the garden; they cast a soft, ethereal glow over the paths and carefully tended patches of greenery. At the garden's center, there's a clear pond filled with red and pink lotus blossoms.
Back inside, a visitor might like to rest in the den. There's a roaring fire in the hearth, and sitting near it for a short while offers a boost to the weary spirit. Soft, plush chairs and couches fill this room, making it ideal for lounging. The tables are covered with books borrowed somewhat indiscreetly from the library; they deal largely with the magic and history of Enprise.
Adjacent to the den is Adra's study. In here are half-empty bookshelves and antique rolling desk covered with neat stacks of papers, boxes of quills, and numerous pots of ink, each one in different, brilliant colors. His journal is somewhere here, too ...
Finally, down the hall one will find a half bathroom and, across from that, the door to the second bedroom--belonging to one Gilgamesh. The master bedroom, belonging to Adrasteius, is at the end of the hall. There's a full bath in there, but this room is definitively locked.
✿ THE SPREAD ✿
As usual, Adra's gone over the top in his preparations. For drinks, there's a sweet, refreshing punch; delicately pink and decorated with sprigs of flowers. There are pitchers of sparkling ice water, jugs of wine and spiced mead, and plenty of glasses to share.
Though Adra does not eat meat himself, he prepares it ably; there's a honey-glazed, roasted turkey in the center of the table, right beside a carving board heavy with seasoned, hand-carved slices of fresh beef. Red potatoes, bright with paprika and salt and glistening with pats of melting butter, are arranged in wedges around the turkey. There are woven baskets of steaming rolls, flaky and soft; platters of carrots and broccoli and asparagus; enormous bowls of belly-warming soup filled with thick wheat noodles, sliced egg, and shredded cabbage. At one end of the table, there's a plate of burgers, along with small dishes to fix them--bacon, crispy onions, sauteed mushrooms, and all the necessary condiments. He has plates of savory pies, filled with beef or pork or chicken; steamed and fried dumplings stuffed with meat and spring vegetables, plump and perfectly shaped.
The desserts are similarly extravagant: he has a plate of meticulously crafted flower and fruit cakes; some look like ripe, blushing peaches, others, he shaped into red orchids, lotus blossoms, or golden roses. He's made a chocolate tart so dark that its smooth, sugar-dusted surface shimmers reflectively in the overhead light. Cupcakes of all kinds are scattered here and there, as well as an extravagant, multi-tiered confection dripping with fudge sauce, encrusted with sliced strawberries and vibrantly colorful, fondant flower petals. There are loaves of warm banana bread; fruit tarts glittery with rainbow sugar crystals; and, under glass, an assortment of flavorful macarons baked to look like something plucked right from the starry sky.
But the most important thing about Adra's lavish banquet is this: all of the food is enchanted, laced with magic meant to inspire feelings of comfort and security. Eating it may conjure up familiar, welcome sensations or memories--nothing sorrowful or painful, and only as specific as you'd like. It could be something as simple as the feeling of a fuzzy blanket on a cold day, or as complex as a particular soothing memory. In all cases, the intended effect is meant to inspire calm and ease.
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no subject
Yet Nobunaga looks up at him not at all deterred.]
King of Heroes. You ask what it is my heart yearns for, but don't you know?
I possess the heart of a woman who loved her homeland more than anything. Who wanted to end the chaos of her era so that it might all prosper through the unification she sought, without once faltering.
And I possess the heart of a demon who enjoyed every conquest. Every enemy slain, every temple defiled and burned to nothing but ashes.
[She props herself up on one elbow and raises her other hand so that, if he makes no attempt to stop her, she might take hold of the side of his face. A gesture made with care, to align their sight and establish eye contact.
Eyes much like his own, that no human could possess.]
What do you say? We've only just met, but would you care to answer instead? Could I really bring myself to do something like that?
no subject
[That's what Gilgamesh has to say. Red stares into red; his pupils flit dangerously narrow, but of course that won't deter her. He doesn't want it to. The glory's in the chase, not the prize. Surely a warlord understood as much. Surely she would refuse him, and laugh in the face of capture...
But part of him doesn't want her to. She looks so appealing like that, and Gilgamesh even turns docile in her grip. All too willing for whatever follows.]
I could bring myself to challenge her, and turn the world to ashes, before she could ever set her greed upon it. Because it is mine.
[Perhaps this was the beginning of a beautiful, and deadly, partnership.]
no subject
Rather, she lifts her now free hand and holds the other side of his face, putting him in her grasp in full.]
Then fall for me instead.
no subject
Except Gilgamesh's life wasn't mundane, and he wasn't a mundane person, so he doesn't fall for the trap. He just smiles in return, neither resisting her grip nor ceding to it. He simply is. Simply exists as the King of Heroes, whose legend paved the way for her own.]
An admirable attempt at seduction.
[But only an attempt, his gaze warns.]
But you must strive harder to impress me before that happens. I am not an easy man to fool.
[For her efforts, however... he leans up, and plants a small kiss at the corner of her lip.]
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no subject
You miserable man, teasing me like that...
[But she removes her hands from his face then, sitting back on her legs and moving her hands to her sides.]
I didn't approach you with such ambitious intentions anyhow; not tonight, at least. I have another engagement to attend to. [good old caren.] But rest assured, even you'll succumb to this demon's charm, King of Heroes. Dairokutenmaou deals in temptation and pleasure.
[Even if she never truly was that devil king, but as a heroic spirit so long as the people believed it, it may as well have been true.]