Bonfire Party!

[brynkitten]

It was amazing how much work was necessary for a small get together, but also how quickly and easily it went with the help of another person. Especially when that person happened to be on staff

Comments

[lightyourway]

Kairi wasn't really watching where she was going. She was smiling, laughing, calling back over her shoulder and at times, closer to facing backwards than she was forwards.

Had she been watching, she would have seen Xanth, would have probably taken a moment to think about it and then maybe even avoided him until she was ready to talk about how silly she'd been and the things he'd said.

But she wasn't

And so instead, still laughing at whatever lay behind her, she went to walk right into him.

[lightyourway]

"Okay." She nodded, and then in an effort to lighten the mood, she propped a hand on her hip and mustered up a grin, "Well, then you have to tell me all about your world."

It's only fair, after all.

[stillseecracks]

For a moment, Xanth just looked at Kairi, silent and with eyebrows raised. That was an unexpected topic change, but certainly an appreciated one.

"O-Okay," he said, half-grinning. "Wh-- where should I s-start?" He was sure that Kairi meant his world, not the Elegante, but there was still a lot to tell.

[lightyourway]

"Well," she hmmed for a moment, trying to think of something to ask that would connect to something she already knew, "What's your family like?"

It's not a question about his world, not really, so she hurries to add, "And what's it like, growing up on a world like this?"

[stillseecracks]

The question about his family was more complicated than Kairi realized. Xanth considered the people from the Elegante his family now, but he had family before then, too. They were the people who raised him.

But before he could answer, Kairi asked another question. Xanth bit his lip and thought for a few moments before he answered.

"I-It was... it... I-I'm not sure. I-It was just-- n-normal to me, I-I guess? You-- y-you start your days e-early, to-- g-get the most out of the s-sunlight, a-and night is... m-mostly for-- for s-sleeping. A-After sundown, I-I mean, all-- a-all we had was c-candles, o-or torches s-sometimes."

"A-As for my-- my family," he continued, "I-I had... my g-grandmother, a-and, my-- my brother, K-K'lai."

For they were his family. He no longer needed any qualifier of 'but she's not my real grandmother' or 'but he's not my real brother'. Family was family - by blood or by bond.

[lightyourway]

And in Xanth's answer lay the solution to a mystery Kairi had been curious over since she'd met him the first time.

"Was it your grandmother who taught you to make soup?"

[stillseecracks]

This question, to Xanth, seemed so terribly out-of-the-blue that he had to grin.

"Y...Yeah. Sh-she learned it from-- f-from her mom, a-and she-- she passed it down t-to us." Xanth cocked his head to the side, just slightly. "Wh--why?"

[lightyourway]

"We, heh, made soup the first day we met. Me and your other. You said someone taught you. I just wondered."

She bit her lower lip before venturing to ask again.

"Did she teach you how to make other things?"

[stillseecracks]

"O--Oh," he said. That did make sense, but Xanth wondered if his other had learned to make soup from their grandmother, or from someone else entirely. It was possible, after all.

"Y-Yeah," he answered with a nod, and then began counting on his fingers. "B--Bread, porridge, u-um-- p-potages, w-which are kind of l-like porridge a-and soup mixed up, eggs, f-fish... a-and I know how to-- to roast a-a bird, th-though that was o-only like... o-once or twice a-- a year."

[lightyourway]

"Oh," She looked down, "Those sound nice."

She stopped. She hadn't meant to sound so disappointed, and immediately Kairi hurried to explain herself.

"Heh, I was hoping you'd know how they make fruit smoothies in a place like this." She chanced a glance back at him and grinned, abashed.

[stillseecracks]

Xanth brightened at the word smoothies, but then his expression fell into a frown of thought.

"N-No, I-- I-I don't... b-but... I-I guess the-- the hardest p-part would be-- th-the blender..." Xanth bit his lip. "W-We didn't-- really h-have anything l-like a blender, wh-where I grew up. I-I mean there's-- a-a mortar and pe-- pestle, b-but, that's more for... s-spices or, s-something..."

But he would like to make it work, somehow. He did so miss orange smoothies.

[lightyourway]

Kairi couldn't conceal her surprise. At his 'no,' she had expected to have to explain what she was talking about and how they were made.

"Heh, maybe you could cut them... And then juice them?"

She really couldn't imagine how to replicate a blender. Maybe if they had a jar and a lot of juice and chopped fruit and they shook it really hard?

"Maybe, we could try some time?"

[stillseecracks]

"S-Sure," he replied, cracking another grin. Kairi's suggestion had the cogs in his mind turning; there had to be a way to make something like a smoothie. If there was ice cream around, then one step was already completed. If not, the library had to have something...

And then, he asked, "H-Have you-- ever had a-an orange a-and vanilla s--smoothie?"

[lightyourway]

"Hm..." Well, it was an easy enough question with an easy enough answer, "Well, I've had orange. But not with vanilla. Is it different?"

[stillseecracks]

"Y-Yeah. It's-- c-creamier. S-Still orangey, i-if you-- if you do it right, b-but... i-in a different w--way." Xanth looked down for a moment, then back up. He grinned, lopsided. "I-It's good, I-- I promise."

[lightyourway]

"Heh, then I'll have to try it." But where would they get vanilla? Maybe it would be in the spice jars somewhere? Kairi hoped so.