hugtopia_logs | Affurgato Mingle: July edition

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Affurgato Mingle: July edition

♥ Who: Open to all
♥ Where: Affurgato
♥ When: This week
♥ What: An open mingle at the restaurant which is... mysteriously celebratory!
♥ Rating: who knows, probably PG/13ish?

Regulars of Affurgato might notice things have spiced up a little bit in the last several days; the decor is a little brighter, the staff more upbeat, and the food, while tasty as ever, is a little different. The restaurant is advertising a summer menu of slow-cooked BBQ sliders, sweet potato fries with honey butter dip, grilled pineapple and watermelon slices, and warm peach cobbler with ice cream. The prices are slightly more premium than usual, but ooh, doesn't it all smell worth it? Newcomers might even get a discount, if the right elf twin gets their bill. But how do you know which one's the right twin? ...Yeah, good luck with that.

For this week, the menu will include two curious additions as well: a Thanksgiving-esque meal including fresh slabs of turkey and stuffing, flavoured with bacon grease, and a slice of rainbow layer cake. The cats are very attentive, especially to recognizably good tippers, and there's a display sign outside the door with a doodle of a binicorn in flashy sunglasses shouting the words "ONE YEAR MORE, NERDS", which might be weird to those who know that Affurgato opened about six months ago. Ah, well.

Also noteworthy is the fact that an actual, tangible magical bicicorn will be running around for the first 45 minutes of every daily shift that the restaurant is open, trying to scoop people up onto his back and deposit them in front of the shop. You're here now, so you might as well get a meal, right? Don't question it.

Come one, come all! Enjoy some good food and the company of your neighbours, maybe visit the elves and see what's up.

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[ She only smiles. ]

...Then, let me inform you that I do have a birthday. That we just picked!

So, it can be done, and you can do it, too.

That you have only just picked? I would be curious to know how that came about.

[ Because she hadn't expected that comeback. ]

Noct— [ She mentions his name fondly. ] suggested it.

[ There, explanation done! Moving on: ] And I think it’s a good idea... You can pick whatever day you wish for your own.

Is that so? I would not even know where to begin.

[ It's honest. A day for herself feels wrong, in the scheme of things. She hadn't had such a day or a consideration in thousands of years and why should she allow herself one now, when she could never do so for her son.

Better to focus on those around her. ]

[ Workshop time!

Pyra pats the seat next to her. ]

Let’s start with.... a season. Do you have one in particular that you like?

... Hm.

[ She sits down next to her. While she's not convinced in the necessity of this, she'll go along with it as a thought exercise, in any case, since... she can't be certain why Pyra is so earnest or insistent about it, unless...

... she's thinking of it as a way to make up for what had happened? No, that would be silly. But perhaps it's not fair to dismiss... ]

It has been some time since I experienced the different seasons like this on any world. The spring and autumn appear to represent transition, while summer and winter are more... static. Perhaps transition is more preferable, though it is easier to associate myself with the... fall of things.

[ Which doesn't necessarily make it better, since it's not supposed to be... a punishment. But she might just be thinking aloud, here, instead of committing to what she might prefer. As she does. ]

[ She listens attentively, a bit surprised at how much thought Honerva puts into her answer. Perhaps she has never thought about naming a season as a favorite before? ]

The fall is beautiful! All of those colors, and the harvests, the way so many animals and plants prepare for the coming winter...

I do see what you’re saying about transition! [ In the traditional sense, at least. For Pyra, the summer and winter are always in transition themselves. Time is arbitrary. ] That, too, is a beautiful way to put it...

[ She giggles softly. Leave it to Honerva to find a deeper meaning in the seasons. Here, Pyra had thought winter because her hair color is snowy, and that’s about as deep as she had predicted. She likes Honerva’s idea far better. ]

[ Honerva can't help it; it was the sort of thing she hadn't a reason or opportunity to give much thought to before, because to people used to experiencing them, seasons could easily be taken for granted. Much like having a preference for food, or anything else. Even her first full year away from her previous universe had been in space, and the planets had varied, and calendars had not mattered.

Stranger to be planet bound and to grasp a concept for the seasons, even if in this particular bubble the weather patterns weren't particularly stable, either. And it was fair, for summer and winter to also be transitions of a sort, though theirs were less apparent, times of relative stability at the extreme end, the prosperity and the deprivation. The boundless harvests that give way to nothing.

She had been something of a reaper of those things, hadn't she. Her gaze grows pensive as she considers it further. Pyra, of course, would see the beauty in such things. Honerva was grasping for associations, and did not know what more to compare it to, when all this she could not have appreciated before. ]

Perhaps... though I wonder if there is something more to be said for the way the winter gives to spring. It seems strange to say it... that a time so distinctly barren would give way to a new beginning. To be caught betwixt an end and a beginning... perhaps that is where hope rests.

[ She's enjoying how much thought Honerva is putting into the symbolism and meaning behind a birthday season. ] O-oh...!
That's a good argument that the spring would suit you better. [ Because she's transitioning, she supposes, and that she is not who she once was... and that she's becoming better than who she was.

But just a moment ago, she had posed a good argument to pick the autumn! It's possible, Pyra thinks, that Honerva is insightful enough that she could make a decent argument for any season... In which case, it stills boils down to preference.

... ] A-...and... there are flowers. [ Flowers most closely relate to spring. ]

[ And flowers, which seemed a point opposite all she had said. ]

... I admit that it is difficult to decide which is more suitable over a phenomenon that I have only experienced once. All might contain the same reasons that they are not suitable at all. Then again, one does not often get faced with such an odd decision either.

You've made it sound like a birth date can have meaning...

[ Her expression falls. Honerva seems like she's second-guessing herself. Perhaps she had said the wrong thing, in regards to flowers. ] I-- I like that. [ Finding meaning in something that, at one point in her existence, she as a crystal would not have given second thought to. And now that she thinks of it, there are more concepts Honerva might consider, if she is to look into the meaning behind a date: horoscopes, the year in which she might have been born, the position of the stars... All tradition, but holding meaning to cultures across the universes. Perhaps there is something like that in her own world--

Yet, that wouldn't be something Honerva herself would remember, would it? Pyra reconsiders. Such things are imagined; who is to say that Honerva cannot ascribe her own meaning to the date she chooses? ]

What date appeals to you most... with the meaning it has. Is that what you are trying to find in-- [ She gestures towards her chest. ] here?

... One doesn't choose the circumstances for their own birth. It could be any day, during any season, with timing either unremarkable or auspicious, or that coincides with powerful portents, but it would remain the occasion that should be honored.

[ Or so she's come to understand. For her personally, that had not mattered, and who could track individual dates within years when those were thousands upon thousands. Even tribute for the Empire was based upon those seeking to gain favor than honoring them with any sentimental reasoning behind it. Here it was different. A different set of concepts and ideals that she did not even have more than fragments to compare it to beyond knowing when customary gestures were required or not. ]

Not so much, for a situation like... mine. To have the... imagined luxury of a choice in it, were it to matter at all. There is little that feels appropriate in such a whimsical proposition, though it would still be for others, not for myself.

[ She gives Honerva a gentle look, one that's slightly troubled.

Honerva's existence should be honored, she thinks. She should be able to choose it if she wants to. It does matter. But even if Pyra were to say and counter insist the contrary to everything aloud, it wouldn't be heard or accepted. ]

You... really can't accept anything for yourself, can you?

... No. It does not seem right for me to have such a day to myself, though I may ... give this matter further thought.

[ To seize such a day for her own when she could not honor others for so long? How could she embark on such a choice with the lack of it for so long, and especially when she had never been able to honor her son properly. She couldn't quite place all her feelings of discomfort with the idea, because this consideration at all was still too new. ]

Although... I hope that your suggestion is not from any misplaced feelings as well.

[ Honerva may have her own internal tangles of guilt, but her experience with Pyra previously and their lack of contact until now only made her wonder if this wish for her to have a birthday came from... another reason, as well. ]

[ "No. It does not seem right for me to have such a day..." What a thing to say. Pyra's gaze drops from Honerva, crestfallen. A birthday will not be enough to convince this woman to love herself, much less accept love for herself, Pyra knows that. That Honerva will ponder her suggestion further offers some hope, however, and Pyra can be glad for that.

Her eyes raise to meet Honerva's once again, this time with some puzzlement mixed into her expression. ] You... think I'd want to celebrate a birthday-- your birthday-- not just because it'd be your birthday?

... You feel poorly about what had occurred between us.

[ It's difficult to bring the words aloud but she knows she must say them. She'd needed time with it, struggled, but in the end put all her efforts into celebrating those who were here with her.

But in that time... they had not worked together or connected, which was mostly on Honerva, by her own reasoning. ]

Is that not the reason you've decided upon this?

[ Pyra feels poorly and guilty for many different things. What happened is just one more to add to the mountain that is her past, but Honerva's suffering, others' suffering, and their own sorrows are not less than what Pyra has personally experienced in terms of her own turmoil. If anything, others' pain will always trump her own. ]

...I should have spoken to you sooner. I'm sorry.

[ Delaying speaking with Honerva until now had been quite unlike herself, she realizes, and this is the consequence: now, the birthday will be tainted with the suspicion that she's only suggested it because of guilt. ] A cake made for you should not be given with the words "I'm sorry". I I want to celebrate you anyways.

[ She looks at Honerva. ] I suppose... a birthday is just an excuse for me to say that I care about you. But it's a special occasion!

That would make it more a formality, would it not?

[ She smiles at her, though. ]

... I know that you care, Pyra. Your ability to care transcends what so many others might only hope to feel. I did call you friend, and I still mean that. Having a birthday or not would not change that.

[ She appears reassured when being called a friend, even if she might be disappointed that it sounds like Honerva doesn't want to have a birthday.

So that's that, then. ] You're...right. And I can still celebrate you without a birthday.

[ Prepare to have a cake delivered to you every day just because, Honerva. ]

[ She tilts her head at her. ]

Having someone called a friend to spend time with is certainly more than enough. And we would not have that were it not for the people we're here to celebrate today.

[ So there's no need to celebrate her unnecessarily, while her family is here and deserves far more. ]

But I do appreciate the consideration all the same.

[ She's still going to get a random cake... Perhaps for Lup as well, for she had been the tether for Honerva, salvaging the damage Pyra had done, or at least preventing it from falling further apart. That doesn't make want to forget celebrating Honerva, though.

So, she smiles. ]

And you're a part of their family. [ So that makes her included! Playfully, ] A family that makes you work and serve tables is still family.

It only means there is less work for them to do.

[ When they were already doing so much, and it so often felt that what she could offer them was not enough. ]

Besides, it is a family business, so we wouldn't have it any other way. Have you yet placed an order, or do I have the honor of serving you?

Oh! Um... [ She glances down at the menu, and after just a look, she'll give Honerva her order.

Looking up, she smiles. ] I'm sorry to have kept you! [ Look at her, chatting for too long. ]

Edited (pyra speak) 2020-08-10 21:36 (UTC)

You need not apologize for that.

[ Silly Pyra. The order's simple enough for her to send it along telepathically to whichever twin is at the window, so it's hardly an interruption but a courtesy. Pyra had delayed her visit for long enough, why should her meal be delayed too? ]

Besides, it has been nice... to talk, like this.

[ Pyra does not know that they're telepathically connected...

So she sits politely, blinking and puzzled. ] Um... Mm! It has.

[ It's not like she's going to tell Honerva to go away to bring her order to the twins. Pyra doesn't actually need to eat anyway. ] There's nothing like having a good conversation with a friend. [ And, technically, a colleague should they ever return to working together. ]

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