Tale as Old as Last Wednesday [Maid IC]

[Trobby]

Ante, who felt a lot less intimidated by the prince, proceeded to take up the responsibility of pouring the master his drink, and serving him a sample of each dish that they had available, putting her own last so there would be no favorites, and taking only a little bit of each dish so as not to overfeed the prince.

"Ah, I'm afraid I've never been there myself, master Leon."

[Atreli]

Since the other maids were taking care of His Highness, Lune waited quietly against the wall until the other maids were ready to sit.

She soaked in the prince's question but remained silent for once. Her previous adventures into Oshia as well as many other places were not something she liked to go on and on about.

It felt just too royal business like instead of fun and she was not going to discuss business at the table in front of her future friends the maids.

[Deme]

"Thank you, Miss Ante. Anyway, if you're going to join me, you ladies, you're going to need to sit down and eat at some point, right? Hani, are you joining us? You're free to eat elsewhere, if you prefer."

"...Miss Ante, were'st thou not aware that thou art in Oshia presently? His Highness is Oshia's eldest prince..."

Terran explained, his face confused, and...Maybe just a little bit reprimanding.

The stand Merry walked into had a vase, which fell and shattered. Before Terran could get a head of scold up, Leon waved a taloned hand.

"It will keep, it will keep...Miss Merry," He was smiling, and... and at once there shone a clear pain in his eyes at being the subject of fear... His voice, as he continued, was soft. "I'm not an ogre. There's really nothing to be afraid of."

[Trobby]

"...Before. I do apologize for misspeaking, I meant to say that I had never been to Oshia before." Ante corrects herself, flushing a bit at her gaffe.

[Lycan 01]

"It will be difficult to intercept potential threats while seated at a table. But if you insist," Yuki says with a slight shrug of her shoulders. She then steps closer to the table, and takes a seat near the Prince. She also pauses to reach across the table, grab a pair of steak knives, and set them down next to her plate. It doesn't take a genius to realize she's not going to be using them for eating.

"And no, your Highness, you are certainly not an ogre," she observes. "They are much taller and bulkier, with thick hides and dramatically less etiquette and fashion sense. As I said before, you appear to be a rather stunning specimen of a flawlessly transmuted chimera," she factually states while pouring a glass of tea for herself. She raises the glass with her left hand, which gives off a series of mechanical clicks and whirs. After taking a dainty sip, she flatly adds: "No offense."

[Benson]

She winced at the sound of the vase shattering on the ground. "I..I...I'm sorry.......and..no your highness...I do not fear your appearance...I was just apprehensive and confused on what to with serving you.......in regards to the food I m-mean!..." She flushed and fretted with her apron. "This is...I mean...I'm less than a novice maid...I...nevermind..I will just clean this up."

[Atreli]

Lune smiled softly at Merry and bent down to help her clean the shattered vase up.
" It's okay Miss Merry. You forget I'm ne to all this too." She paused a bit then muttered more to herself then Merry.

" Perhaps the kitchen has a broom and pan somewhere that will help with this." And with that she went into the kitchen.

[Deme]

"It'll keep..."

Leon said weakly, raising a hand in protest as Lune went off. He just wanted a nice noisy lunch with some people in it. Was that so hard?...Well, maybe it was now. Maybe that was just his...

No! Leon was not going to give into that witch that easily! The part of him that smiled and laughed with people unaffectedly...He wouldn't let that die. He waggled a taloned finger, pulling his vision to it...Which made him put his hand out of sight.

Terran stood up and picked up the shards of vase, just to get it out of everyone's way.

"Please, don't worry about things like that...For the course of this lunch, I'd like it if you thought of my neither as your employer nor as a prince. Think of me as...A casual acquaintence, maybe? Or...If you'd prefer, a blind date."

He added that with a wink and a chuckle, which made Terran need to resist the urge to facepalm. Facepalming with porcelin in-hand? Bad.

"I don't get the chance to have lunch with people besides Terran and Mozart very often these days."

[Trobby]

"That would, ah, be most...unprofessional." Ante says, torn between helping Merry and Lune clean up the vase, and letting them handle the work to avoid starting a multi-maid pileup in an attempt to help.

"Though I suppose I can attempt to relax, and think of you as a...friend." She smiles, being slightly unfamiliar with the idea, but not at all against giving it a try.

[Benson]

"I...oh..uhm thanks." Merry replied with a quiet gulp as she moved out of the way as Terran picked up the mess she accidentally made. She puttered a little as she walked back to the dining table and took a seat three seats down from Leon. She wasn't sure what to do now, if she was to serve herself, or wait...or what..or something. Being a maid right now, it kinda threw her off on how she was to go about this.

[Trobby]

Ante shifts her gaze over to Merry, and notices that she seems a bit...off. Could she be...

Ah, yes it makes sense. She must be even newer to this job than Ante, given her unmaidlike demeanor.

...Goodness she's glad she didn't say that out loud...

"I believe, now that the mast-...now that Leon has his plate, the rest of us may indulge as we please." Ante says helpfully, and takes a modest portion for herself.

[Hawkflight]

"Thank you, Miss Ante. Anyway, if you're going to join me, you ladies, you're going to need to sit down and eat at some point, right? Hani, are you joining us? You're free to eat elsewhere, if you prefer."

"...Miss Ante, were'st thou not aware that thou art in Oshia presently? His Highness is Oshia's eldest prince..."

Terran explained, his face confused, and...Maybe just a little bit reprimanding.

The stand Merry walked into had a vase, which fell and shattered. Before Terran could get a head of scold up, Leon waved a taloned hand.

"It will keep, it will keep...Miss Merry," He was smiling, and... and at once there shone a clear pain in his eyes at being the subject of fear... His voice, as he continued, was soft. "I'm not an ogre. There's really nothing to be afraid of."

Hani nodded, and climbed up into a chair next to Ante. She tilted her head at the expression, having never heart it before. "'It'll ... keep'?" she questioned.

[Lycan 01]

Yuki continues to sip her tea in a dainty fashion. "Very well, I will refer to you as Leon for the duration of this meal," the assassin says flatly. She then glances over to the Prince and shrugs slightly. "I am afraid I am not often one for conversation, but I shall try. Hmm. Let's see... Oh, are you aware that you have an odd assortment of sentient wildlife and fae entities dwelling in your mansion, interconnected through a variety of tense cultural and diplomatic disagreements? I had a rather gregarious bat accost me earlier in hopes of commandeering my assistance in a feud of some sort..."

[Deme]

"Thank you, thank you indeed!"

He added, clearly swinging his mood back around. Around and around it went, and where it'd stop, who knew? He nodded in agreement with Ante's assesment.

"Rule of thumb is that when the king has sat, everyone else may sit; When the king has begun to eat, everyone else may begin to eat. Rule of thumb is rather dumb, but here we are."

The rhyme satsified him. To both questions, he had answers, explaining between swallowing bites. He seemed, based on the frequency with which he paused to grab a bite, voracious. But the food could not at all fulfill his hunger as well as the chance to talk.

"It will keep means... It won't get any worse, and it will stay where it is, so it can wait without any loss. Something like that. Like with food that's salted... As for the clutter... Well, this castle is a magical hot-spot. Too much of one, and My fellows and I are the first human -- mostly human, anyway -- residents in several hundred years. Even the things that weren't magical to begin with are now... I try to ignore them, unless I get bored. They're good entertainment, but poor company. Except, of course, Miss Merry's Mr. Skelly."

[Trobby]

"...Curious..." Ante says to Yuki. "I ran into a mouse with...well, with a rather terrible accent, who insisted that his people were being unfairly treated. You don't suppose it's connected, do you?"

[Lycan 01]

Yuki frowns. "Yes, it is connected. The bat complained about the mice, and their disagreement. Something about swallows, too. Hopefully they'll all be able to work things out on their own," she muses.

[Deme]

"We may need to keep an eye on them, if they're asking us for help...They usually don't want to involve us."

Leon said, thoughtfully. He took another sip of his drinks.

"This is all very good; who made what?"

[Atreli]

Lune came back in with the broom and pan and swept up the tiny pieces that Terran had missed.

After hurrying back into the kitchen to throw away the shards, she finally got her chance to sit and get her plate like the others.

Like Ante, she only takes modest portions for herself and then sits down in one of the empty chairs.

" It is a most curious situation. When I went down to see the flying fish they weren't there, just gone. I did however find a treasure." She shrugged the last bit off as she began to eat.

[Trobby]

"Oh, we all worked together to make lunch today." Ante says with a small smile. "Mozart thought it might be a good idea, you know, for us to show you how well we can do our job."

She chose NOT to mention the fact that it was also supposed to be a competition that nearly led to the destruction of lunch itself. Which still weighed on her mind, but she had learned not too long ago that it did not pay to spread blame when it was unnecessary to do so.

Then she heard Yuki's mention of the bats, and bit her lip a bit.

"Mmh, I do hope they can solve this dispute on their own...otherwise I feel we may end up seeing them again soon."

[Benson]

"Well, ah...you already know, your majesty...ahem Leon, what I made," She still remembered his playful teasing about her feeding him some. Apron fret. She took a deep breath and served herself lunch watching how the other maids did so.

[Deme]

"A treasure? Is there a map?"

He asked, blinking. The thing with Mozart, Terran had told him about. It had sounded like fun, so he had signed off on it...
Oh, but her mention of the potato salad reminded him...

"Oh, yes...Did you consider my request, Merry? Or am I overstepping myself, here?"

He asked with a playful wink.

[Atreli]

Lune smiled a bit.

" Sort of..." She leaned sideways a it so that it would be easiest to grab at the contents of the treasure chest that were still in her pocket.

" Here. Take a look for yourself, sir."

Laying the pearl on the map gently, she slid it carefully down the table at him.

" If you can shed any light on it I'd appreciate it very much. " She paused before speaking again. " I seem to be stuck on it's meaning at the moment."

[Benson]

"Oh, yes...Did you consider my request, Merry? Or am I overstepping myself, here?"

He asked with a playful wink.

Insta-flush. "Uh....uhm...if you'll have me?" Her eyes darted around. It was a little extra...weird, especially around the others, moreso.

[Deme]

"...Mayhaps it referest to the orchard."

Terran said, tapping his chin with his fingers as he, too, sat down and began to eat.

"Well, it'd be fun to search -- nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?"

Terran nodded, and rolled his eyes as Leon replied to Merry with...
"I wouldn't offer if I wasn't sincere...But if the company alarms you, don't wory; as cute as your flush is, I wouldn't want you to be ill-at-ease."

[Lycan 01]

"Oh, the estate has an orchard as well? Interesting," Yuki observes, before adding a little deadpan snark. "I wonder what manner of supernatural entity can be found lurking there, since every other part of the property seems to boast some legendary or otherworldly creature."

[Trobby]

Ante's brow quirks a bit at the scene going on between Merry and the Master.

This is...incongruous with her previous assessment of the girl...perhaps she was mistaken?

She furtively thinks about this between bites of a sandwich, and between making sure that Hani is also eating lunch. Big sisters have to look out for their little sis, after all.

[Hawkflight]

Hani, meanwhile, grabbed a quick bite then tried to slip off to look for the mentioned mice and bats. She turned back into her natural form, a little kitten, so as not to scare them off as a big scary human.

[Atreli]

" The orchard huh, sounds like a blast and thank you so much for your help."

Lune clapped her hands excitedly. " We must check it out after dinner."

[Deme]

"I'd guess Applecolts. They seem like the sort of thing you'd get in an orchard,"

Leon said, apparently without a trace of sarcasm...Though not without humor. It was pretty silly.


Terran watched Hani go with some concern.

Perhaps I should follow?"
"...Perhaps. Do you think she can manage alright, Ante?"


((Roll to see what you find. Default is luck, but that can change with how you search.))

[Lycan 01]

Yuki leans forward and rests her chin on the back of her left hand, which clicks and locks in place to support the weight. "Applecolts? And what would those be?" she asks, her curiosity piqued.

Her right hand rests on the table, next to the knives.