Re: Dashing Through Dolerum (119 4A)

by **Kara Winters** Mon Feb 23, 2015 11:22 pm

The kitsune had to put on her boots first and make sure the boxes were put aside so it wouldn't be on the table when they lifted it. She didn't want them sliding off.

Miyuki took the other end, and with a nod signaled to Gwen to start lifting the table so they could carry it out.

by **Nara-pyon** Tue Feb 24, 2015 8:01 pm

Gwen lifted her end of the table and helped Miyuki to carry it outside, putting it where she was directed.

"Do you need help with setting it up as well?" she asked. "Tablecloth? Things to be set out?"

After all, she hadn't specified a time when inviting people the day before, so who knew when people would start showing up? And she was sure that Miyuki would want to be ready when they did.

by **Kara Winters** Tue Feb 24, 2015 9:29 pm

"I left the table cloth inside, if you grab that and the small drawer box, and I'll grab the boxes the baked goods are in," Miyuki offered.

Miyuki had a medium sized box with many drawers, most of them looked like they would be long and narrow, while others were a bit wider. It was there she kept most of her spices and the occasional fruit if she was going to display.

by **Nara-pyon** Tue Feb 24, 2015 9:41 pm

Gwen nodded and headed inside to do as she was asked. Before doing so, however, she put her cloak on to keep warm while they were outside. Then she tucked the tablecloth under one arm and picked up the box Miyuki had directed her to. Outside, she spread the tablecloth over the table and set the box on it to weigh it down so that it wouldn't blow away. It wasn't terribly windy, but there was a bit of a breeze, and the tablecloth was not very heavy.

When that was finished, she turned to Miyuki to see if there was more to do.

by **Kara Winters** Tue Feb 24, 2015 9:55 pm

Miyuki placed the other boxes onto the table and took out two of each item so people could see what was being offered. With the amount of wind, she was glad she didn't over pack the drawers, the walls of the drawer should keep anything from blowing away. Then, taking out whole drawers she placed the ingredients she wanted to highlight beside each good.

Cinnamon sticks beside the cinnamon buns, curry powder beside the curry buns and star anise and pears beside the star anise pear tarts.

"There..." Miyuki murmured, "And the rest are in the box so it'll seem like they're just fresh from the oven."

by **Nara-pyon** Tue Feb 24, 2015 10:05 pm

"Amazing," Gwen murmured with a smile. "No wonder you don't need to worry about the temperature."

A movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she looked over to the edge of the clearing and spotted three small figures approaching. One of them was Connor, the boy from the dairy vendor the day before, and with him were another boy and a younger girl.

"Lady Gwen! Lady Gwen!" Connor called out excitedly when he saw her. "Do you have cookies today?"

Gwen laughed. "Sorry, Connor, but I didn't make it home last night."

The boy pouted. "Aww."

by **Kara Winters** Tue Feb 24, 2015 11:10 pm

"But if you would like, I have some buns and tarts," Miyuki offered, "Probably not as good as Gwen's cookies."

The kitsune giggled, though she had never had Gwen's cookies before.

"But they are good."

by **Nara-pyon** Wed Feb 25, 2015 10:52 pm

"Buns and tarts?" asked the younger girl, her brown eyes lighting up. "What kind of buns and tarts?"

Connor snickered and punched the girl's shoulder playfully. "Shannon likes those kind of sweets the best. She's my little sister, and she's always asking for sweets like that!"

The girl giggled, not at all put off by her brother's teasing. "But they're so good!"

Gwen laughed, but left things to Miyuki.

by **Kara Winters** Thu Feb 26, 2015 9:47 pm

Miyuki chuckled, "I have both sweet and savory buns. Cinnamon buns and Curry buns..."

She pointed each of the buns in turn.

"I also have a pear tart here," the kitsune explained, "Would you like one?"

by **Nara-pyon** Fri Feb 27, 2015 8:54 pm

"I'm sure Shannon would enjoy a cinnamon bun," Gwen chuckled.

The little girl clapped her hands together. "Yes, please!"

"Can we each have something?" Connor asked, looking up at Miyuki with hopeful eyes.

by **Kara Winters** Fri Feb 27, 2015 9:16 pm

"Of course," Miyuki nodded in agreement.

She picked up the box that had the cinnamon buns and opened it, the warm smell wafted in the air as she took a warm bun out and handed it to the girl.

"And what would you like?" she asked.

by **Nara-pyon** Fri Feb 27, 2015 9:27 pm

The girl took the bun eagerly, her eyes bright as she gazed at the steaming bun in her hands. She raised it to her nose and took in its scent, closing her eyes in bliss, then took a small bite of it, licking frosting from the corner of her mouth.

"Why don't we each try something different, and then we can share them?" Connor suggested to his friend, who nodded, grinning.

"I'll try the pear tart," he told Miyuki cheerfully.

Connor looked over the goods again. "Hmm ... I guess that leaves the ... um ... curry bun for me." He looked up at Miyuki, his face screwed up in a confused expression. "What even is curry?"

by **Kara Winters** Fri Feb 27, 2015 9:37 pm

Miyuki first served the pear tart, because it was straight forward. The curry bun though wasn't so simple because it was a spice mix and not just a spice. As she handed Connor the bun she explained.

"Curry is a spice mix, though the recipe varies from location to location. This one I made is using cumin, coriander, turmeric, dried ginger, cardamon, cinnamon and... cloves."[i]

It was quite a long list of spices and she had to get Shiro to help her find a simple curry recipe.

[i]"It's often used in stews, though some people add chili peppers when they make curry powders for stews to give it heat."

by **Nara-pyon** Fri Feb 27, 2015 9:49 pm

Connor looked blankly at Miyuki, holding the bun in his hand. It was clear that he didn't understand what she had been talking about, but he tried to cover it up. He nodded in a knowing way and murmured a soft, "Uh huh" before taking a bite of the curry bun.

Gwen had to put her hand over her mouth to suppress a giggle and to hide the smile that came along with it.

by **Kara Winters** Fri Feb 27, 2015 9:55 pm

"It's tasty," Miyuki finished with a giggle.

She glanced around to make sure they were all good with what they had.

by **Nara-pyon** Fri Feb 27, 2015 10:05 pm

The three children all shared their treats with each other so that each one got a taste of each sweet, and after they had finished (though Shannon was still licking frosting from the corners of her mouth and her fingertips) all three children declared their treats to be "yummy". The cinnamon bun and the pear tart had gone over the best, as curry was such a foreign taste to them, but they had liked it as well.

"Hey didn't you say she was gonna show us stories, Connor?" asked the boy's friend, poking Connor's cheek.

Connor flinched and turned to Miyuki. "Hey, yeah! When can we hear your stories?"

As he spoke a few others appeared at the edge of the clearing - some children, some adults, and even a woman with an infant child - moving in the direction of the tables.

by **Kara Winters** Fri Feb 27, 2015 10:16 pm

Miyuki nodded, "Of course!"

She tapped a finger to her lip as to think about what she was going to tell, which she knew because she had chosen a standard introduction.

"Perhaps it's best to start at the beginning," she replied as she held her hands out, her magic making sparkles in the air, "With a group of explorers..."

The illusion was like a portal opening up in the air, allowing people to view what was inside. The starting village wasn't too different from the town she was staying in and a group of dark elves were getting ready to go on a great adventure. They wanted to see what was out there in the great beyond.

by **Nara-pyon** Fri Feb 27, 2015 10:22 pm

The three children's eyes grew wide when they saw the image in the air, and all three of them sat down to watch. Already they were fascinated.

Across the clearing, the newly arriving children broke into a run so that they wouldn't miss any of the promised story. The adults continued on at their same pace.

"Wait!" called a young girl who was running faster than the others. "Wait for us!" She arrived in a matter of seconds, panting hard, and flopped onto the ground beside Shannon. Shannon shushed her immediately, clamping a hand over the other girl's mouth. By that time, some of the other children had arrived and gathered round, and the adults were nearly there.

by **Kara Winters** Fri Feb 27, 2015 10:35 pm

This was the other reason for the introduction, it gave people time to make it here and but allowed Miyuki to start. She explained the travelers took a ship and sailed far away from their lands to find other places. This allowed her to separate the countries into different literal lands.

The first island she had the travelers visit really was an island in real life. It was Nauros, because Miyuki always felt that visually it was one of the most stunning places she had been to and perfect for illusions. She showed them explorers finding themselves on a vast empty beach, where the plant life was large and overgrown. Lovebirds that cuddled up in clusters together as if to keep warm, even though it was already very warm on the island.

She described their discovery of the fruit they had never seen before, like bananas, mangoes and oranges. They knew it was edible because the animals had been eating them, such as birds with long colourful feathers. Miyuki drew from her memory the hunting of mushrooms and seeing the inside of a volcano, she didn't talk about the Night Elves. Perhaps, in another place she would get to talk about them, or maybe later on.

by **Nara-pyon** Fri Feb 27, 2015 10:57 pm

As Miyuki told the story, the others arrived and made themselves comfortable on the snowy ground. Even Gwen went over to join some of the women, even going so far as to take the infant that had been brought and rock it in her arms as they all listened.

The children oohed and aahed at the places Miyuki showed them, pointing at some of the fruit that looked especially funny (the banana for example, seeing as it wasn't round like the fruit they were familiar with). The women seemed especially impressed with the colourful wildlife that they were being shown, their eyes lighting up especially with the beautiful birds.

by **Kara Winters** Fri Feb 27, 2015 11:25 pm

Miyuki showed how some of the explorers sketched out the animals, some took samples of seeds back with them and others took soil samples. She wanted to show the explorers being curious, because to her being curious helped people take that first step.

With the easiest and most lighthearted of the stories out of the way, she told one more story of the explorers stumbling across a port. It was of the city where her family started their journey, and she felt safe in telling this story because the population were dark elves as well. It was in a lot of ways similar to the market and city of here, but it was hot, and beyond the life giving river was all sand. However, it was a market full of colourful clothing, loud vendors and all sorts of goodies that were being sold. Some familiar and some not. Miyuki was able to show through illusions, how familiar and yet unfamiliar this place was to the explorers.

The explorers were hosted by a kind family, who had heard stories of other lands. They spoke of another large continent and even an island full of large birds. It would allow her to set up for future stories if she so needed. It also allowed a perfect ending to have them sail off into the sunset as it were looking for the next new thing, and as Miyuki hinted so far their journey seemed without conflict, but who knew what they would see next.

Once she had finished her second story, Miyuki offered the audience some buns and tarts.

by **Nara-pyon** Fri Feb 27, 2015 11:43 pm

The audience (which had grown again by a few people during the telling) mingled together, discussing what they had seen, munching on the sweets that Miyuki had offered them. In all there were about a dozen people, almost entirely women and children, though there was one man in the group as well.

"Hey you," said Connor's friend, coming up to Miyuki on his own while the others chatted together, "is this a true story? Because sometimes people tell stories that aren't true ... but are there really places like what you showed us? And weird stuff like that?"

by **Kara Winters** Fri Feb 27, 2015 11:48 pm

"Yes," Miyuki replied, "The island called Nauros, I haven't been there since I was a little girl though, and the port is located in a country called the Southland on another continent, and I haven't been there... well for many years now..."

It was hard to believe it was so long ago but it had been.

by **Nara-pyon** Fri Feb 27, 2015 11:55 pm

The boy grinned. "Wow ... that's really neat."

He grew quiet then, and thoughtful, and he tapped his chin as he gazed at nothing at all. "But ... if it's that far away," he murmured, "then ... I don't think I could ever go there."

There was disappointment in his tone, but he looked at Miyuki hopefully. "Is there more for the story?" he asked her eagerly.

by **Kara Winters** Sat Feb 28, 2015 12:08 am

Miyuki chuckled and nodded, "There are certainly more places for them to visit, and possibility people to meet."

She understood that he would probably never travel, it was already dangerous what her family was doing. If they didn't have the kind of people in their traveling party, doing this would be impossible.

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