tampered | Tea Party || log; ongoing

Tea Party || log; ongoing

When; Sunday the 17th, afternoon
Rating; PG-13 for possible language, violence(!?) & moody magical girls
Characters; MKR crew plus guests
Summary; When Road's and Umi's long-awaited tea party finally occurs, the former doesn't truly expect that long guest list to be much of a problem. Why should she?
Log;

The house smelled of roses and homemade bakery. In, fact, the apartment had never felt as much like home as it did on that very moment. Umi looked around and felt completely satisfied with the arrangements. At least she'd managed to get the place to feel cozy in time to play host.

Right, so there'd been a couple of obstacles to overcome, like that annoying sleep curse. Umi made a face as she set down a plate of freshly baked scones on one of the decorated tables. The damn thing had had her off snoring all Thursday long. She'd needed to run to catch up once she'd recovered the spirit to crawl out of bed. It'd been a small miracle that the invitations had been written and delivered (a miracle made possible by Ken's and Rin's assistance) and the last minute shopping done.

Fortunately everything was in place and awaiting their friends' arrival. The tables were beautifully arranged with all sorts of homemade pastries. Several varieties of tea were available for the guests to choose from. C's and Kimihiro's help at the kitchen had been invaluable, and Road had done quite a great job at making the place look more festive. There would even be sake as a stronger choice of a drink for those Umi knew would appreciate it, thanks to Misao's own contribution.

The water Knight sighed with accomplishment. Finally a small celebration to make up for all the messes The City had put them through during the last weeks, including her fateful trip Underground. She smiled as she smoothed the skirts of her dress. Nothing could go wrong from here.

[ooc: I'm off to bed for tonight, guys. @_@ Please feel free to assume Umi wandered off and will be around bringing tea and cake to the guests. Take this wherever you want~ ♥]

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*knock knock knock*

"Umi-san."

And who should arrive first but the little sister herself, Tohno Akiha. The young family head had chosen something simple (http://www.mangafox.com/manga/shingetsutan_tsukihime/v02/c015/21.html), yet held an air of mature grace. She also noticeably had a simple necklace on, a white ribbon in her hair. With her, a basket of scones she had bought earlier. (After her adventures of baking lemon cakes with Chrono, it'd be too soon to show off her ~~lack-of~~ baking skills.)

Edited 2009-05-17 18:07 (UTC)

Right on time! The last minute retouches to the floral centerpieces were finished. Umi gave the place an assessing look, then hurried to get the door. She'd recognized Akiha's voice since before she opened.

"Hi there, Akiha. Welcome!" Umi smiled cordially at greeting her friend, who was looking elegant as ever. She congratulated herself on deciding to make the little event as refined as possible. She has the feeling Akiha would approve. "Please come in! I hope the place looks nice."

Shiki had finally arrived. Well, he wished he could say that but he had been here the entire time. He had been ~~forced~~ politely asked by Road to preview the decorations she had made. No, the humor wasn't lost on him that he couldn't even do such a simple task.

Okay, so he lied again. He had left so he could pick up Taiga since he had promised and he saw the consequences of broken promises plenty of times. Sadly, Shiki being Shiki, didn't knock on his re-arrival and let himself in.

"Did I miss anything?"

Come this point in their friendship (though she was rather sure using such a word to define their relationship would earn her a face from Akiha's older brother), Umi wasn't really surprised at Shiki's entrance. All the contrary. A polite knock would have scared her witless.

What had INDEED surprised her had been seeing Shiki around the place assessing Road's decorations earlier. First she'd learned he'd be helping the other girl with the posters for the circus, now this? Frankly, Umi hadn't guessed the two were in such friendly terms, especially considering Road's reputation.

"Just to knock." Her greeting was affable despite the remark. She gestured toward the tables area. "Your sister beat you. Care for a cup of tea?"

Of course Akiha beat him here. She was the one who woke up at ungodly hours on a normal day. Normal people should sleep until the afternoon, like Shiki.

"Sure, sure. Might as well see how good this is. Though, do you know how many people are going to be here today?"

"Well, we're ready with enough tea and cakes for a small crowd!" Umi tapped her finger against her chin as she showed Shiki to one of the decorated tables. Truth be told the math of the deal was something she was only giving special thought now. "The place's big enough... So I guess we're good.

"I told Road to invite whoever she liked. It's only fair." She added as a sort of explanation. "It's her party as much as mine. Oh, and any kind of tea you'd like in particular?"

"A pleasure," she said, and upon stepping inside and seeing the decor, "My, and I do mean it. A spiffing job. Kohaku would be humbled."

Seeing all the excellent layout of food, now she felt a bit silly with her store-bought product. They even had sake! The girls really had outdone themselves on what should have been a quiet get-together.

Shiki's face twisted at the mention of what would possibly be Road's friends. He only hoped Road had enough sensibility to not invite the moronic ones.

"Umi. You do know that the people Road like all are...you know, creepy?"

If Akiha held mind-reading powers, which she did not, she would have reprimanded on her Nii-san's definition of normal.

"Oh, hey Nii-san," she asked shyly. Things between the two had been awkward since her sudden recovery from her demonic spree. Although he never confirmed it, she knew why. And really wished she could get the message across to him.

"Really?" Umi's smile became a bit sheepish at that. She felt flattered. She'd heard about Akiha's family and their maid's talents in the past and so understood this was quite the compliment. "I just wanted this to be as nice as possible! It reminds me a bit of home, and mom's own tea parties."

She guided Akiha to the tables, wondering where Shiki had gone. "Let me get you a cup of tea. What's your favorite blend? I bet we have it." She'd depleted the store of its tea supply for variety's sake, after all.

"Don't bother." Umi waved a hand in a dismissing gesture, though the expression on her face told a different story. "Konata's given me the details before. To each their own, I think." She shrugged as she held the cup of tea meant for Shiki, suddenly fascinated by the contents. "It's not like I got the right to judge them. Or her."

Looking upon the vast supply of tea, Akiha couldn't help but feel swayed. "Generally, I favor Darjeeling, but with all this...perhaps one of those white teas." Hey, nothing wrong with a little variety, she thought as she set the scones down on a table (still keeping an eye on it, though; she had plans).

Yuuko was always dressed to kill, and today was no exception, her kimono the bright greens and yellows of spring. She'd knocked, of course, and then entered, Clow likely trailing behind.

Of course, the food and the sake caught her eye immediately, and she clapped her hands cheerfully.

"This looks wonderful, Umi!"

Sunday was a free day, and Rin couldn't say she wasn't glad for this. The relatively new experience of doing good, hard work every day had soon worn down to monotony. A party among friends to break that routine was just right. She was especially glad that she'd been able to help with the preparations - that way she felt a little less like a freeloader. Invitation was invitation, but social get-togethers like this had become rare in her life.

Humming a little, she walked the distance from building three to building eight. It was a walk of moderate length, and she enjoyed it, for the weather was nice. For once, she'd chosen a flower-patterned kimono rather than her worn-down flame-patterned one - not an immediate decision, so used had she become to wearing the familiar fabric; but she felt a more festive note might be appropriate.

She had also left her weapons at home.

Finally standing before building eight, she paused a little to heave her shoulders and let a sigh of contentment escape her lips, before she hissed a "yosh!" to herself and entered, walking down the aisle to Umi's apartment. She knocked twice in quick succession and waited.

Hikaru stepped back into the apartment; she'd had training that morning so she couldn't help with the setup for everything like she'd wanted to. The days before, she had places she needed to be so she wasn't much help with getting everything else done with Umi like she wanted to. But despite how she felt about it, she would still be here with her friend, and their friends.

She had enough time to change and be ready before people arrived and smiled at how the apartment looked. It wasn't anything at all like what it was for the last seven months but at the same time, it did.

She could already hear people coming in. Time really passed quickly.

Ah, those had been quite costly. Umi poured her friend a cup and felt a touch of pride at having afforded such fine tea out of her own gains. Back home she had never had to worry about such things: the tea had always just been there for her to have. There in The City putting this whole party together had been Umi's own effort.

"Great choice! The guy from the store said this is the best white tea blend they sell here." She commented as she handed the cup to the other girl. "It's weird that this sort of things are available at a place like this. Looks like the City's away from every world but has a little bit of all of them."

The scones Akiha had brought didn't escape her attention either. Umi nodded at them and smiled. "Those look good."

He hoped that the day would be normal. At least as normal as any day within the City could be. Huey mildly wondered if he would actually get a chance to see the infamous Road Camelot, as he walked up to the door of Umi’s apartment. Knowing that the Noah was also friends with Umi was almost enough to keep him from attending the gathering, but, he had promised that he would come beforehand. That and also somebody needed to keep an eye on Timothy should he arrive.

Mostly because he had an odd feeling that his friend would do something stupid, like pick a fight with an overpowered being. He reached out and knocked on the door to announce his presence to the hostess of the party.

"Thanks a lot and welc---! wow." Yuuko's dazzling looks had Umi gaping for a little while. Then she recovered, hopefully before she looked even sillier. The sophisticated sorceress always looked her best, didn't she. Suddenly Umi felt even gladder she'd dressed up for the occasion. "You look great, Yuuko! Uh... I'm really glad you decided to come!"

Shiki turned at the sound of Akih'a voice. He was fairly glad his eyes were covered because a lot could be seen from them.

"Hey. Sorry I haven't been around all day. I've been busy."

The guests had started gathering, the party was on its way... So far Umi had relaxed into the feeling that everything was coming along nicely. She could relax, let go of her hostess' nerves and concentrate on enjoying the occasion.

When she opened the door she was wearing a cheerful smile that got bigger as she greeted Rin. Her first friend in The City! The party wouldn't have been the same without the older girl. "Welcome, Rin! Thanks for coming. I'm really happy you could make it. Please come in and meet everyone."

Shiki owns face revealed exactly how he felt about things like that. As much as you could see of it, at least. "Looking at the truth and judging are two different things. As long as they don't try offing someone, they'll be okay for the time being."

Edited 2009-05-17 20:37 (UTC)

Yuuko just grinned when Umi gaped. Her elaborate costumes tended to turn people's heads. She was used to making an impression, after all.

"Thanks for the invitation. I'm sure it will be a nice time."

She cocked her head to one side, her hair ornament clinking. "...And you look lovely as well."

"Like a hot pot," she remarked, before trying the tea. (She would go for the sake later.) "Oh, please do not touch those yet. They're meant to be filled first." Which was part of the prank.

"Hey Hikaru!" Umi parted with a little group of guests to go greet her best friend. She'd been wondering where had Hikaru been until then, though with the apartment looking so crowded it wasn't surprising that they'd lost sight of each other. "So there you are! How'd you like the looks? Road and Shiki did a great job, huh? Come have some tea with us!"

Clow did indeed enter behind her, and was quite a bit less outgoing although equally well-dressed in a Victorian style in various shades of blue, periwinkle, and white.

"That it does," he agreed, smiling. Turning to his hostess he added, "thank you for inviting us, Umi."

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Tea Party || log; ongoing

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fashionably late o/

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<3 it's the best kind of late

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