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Kiyang Park
A very nice park in Persephone City
It's a lovely spring day, the sort of day that inspires couples to go walking out, and for poets to compose sonnets to try and convince the people they like to take their clothes off. Jude receives a text in the morning. "Picnic @ 1, Kiyang Park?" The park in question is one in the nicer part of the city, a little way into what most people consider the gentrified area. One part of it is often the site of honour duels. There's a lake with water birds, a little copse of trees, and an area with picnic tables.
Celeste is waiting on one such picnic table. There's a basket on it, a rather large one. The girl herself is wearing a pink Chinese-style jacket that will look familiar. She took the cheongsam that she bought from the grandmother, cut off the bottom of it, opened it up and did some creative stitching to make it into a wearable jacket! Beneath it, she's wearing a cut-off white top that bares her stomach, and a pair of white leggings, with metallic pink sandals on her feet. While she waits, she messes about with her personal Cortex device
Since Celeste is rather fashion conscious she would notice that Jude is forever wearing the same black jeans and black leather boots. Only the heavy metal motives on his black t-shirts change. He hasn't actually been in the park before (or that part of town), so it takes him a while to actually find it. And then the picknick area. He stalks closer a little hesitantly, hands stuffed into the back pockets of his jeans. "Hey.", he greets Celeste, hovering uncertainly.
Celeste looks up, and a smile breaks out the moment she sees him. She'd quietly been worrying that he wasn't going to come. Of course, she /knew/ he would, because she's so pretty and popular and - … But what if he hadn't? But he did! And here he is. "Hi, Jude!" She springs up, and - yep, she's coming for a hug.
Egads. Jude is actually used to hugs, being a nurse. Though he's usually hugged by small persons. He does return Celeste's hug rather gingerly, as if afraid to break her. "Sorry to be late, never been here before.", he says once he steps back from it.
Celeste does feel fragile, as small as she is, but she hugs with some enthusiasm. "It's fine! I wasn't sure if you'd be coming from the clinic and I know it's a long way." She sits back down, setting her Cortex device to the side. "Are you hungry? I hope you're hungry. The chef packed a /lot/ of food. I think he liked me asking for it."
"I wasn't on duty today. We're having lots of time off for revisions at the moment. Exams.", he points out, unsure if she knows that such a thing exists. "I AM hungry though. Figured a picnic would involve some food. I'd bring my Mom's apple pie, except…" He shrugs with a grin. Mom and her apple pie live at the far end of the verse.
"Ooh, maybe you can ask her for the recipe next time you speak to her. Unless it's a Special Family Secret." You can hear the capital letters in Celeste's voice. She opens one side of the basket. It's a big basket that she didn't carry herself. "I have some exams coming up too," she says, as she takes out a little bamboo bento box and puts it in front of Jude. She puts another in front of herself. "I asked for some sushi, since you said you'd never had it!"
<FS3> Jude rolls Willpower: Good Success. (7 7 8 4 3)
Jude shrugs. It's apple pie. That's where his knowledge ends. "Maybe I can bring some back when I go home.", he suggests and eyes the unpacking of the basket warily. Ewwwwwwwww… raw fish. There was a reason why he never had sushi. But he somehow manages to not make a face at the bento box that's set in front of him. "What kind of exams?", he asks curiously.
"You know … exam exams." Celeste reaches into the basket and produces two sets of chopsticks. Then a couple of glasses, and a bottle in a little bottle warmer. "History of fashion, Core world fashionistas, colour theory, material theory… that sort of thing." She wiggles the bottle at him. "Sake?
Well, at least his eyes don't glaze over. He eyes the sake. But he heard it's strong wine. Which may be just what's needed now. "Sure.", he agrees. "What's so interesting about fashion?", he asks then, "I mean, it's… clothes?"
Celeste pours the sake into the two glasses, which are small, squat things with no handles, and insulated. She puts one glass and a set of chopsticks next to his food. "It's… clothes are important! What's one of the first things you notice about somebody? It's what they're wearing. It tells you so much. You can be a completely different person, depending on what you wear. Plus, there are mental health studies about it. You can make somebody feel very good about themselves by designing them an outfit that not only suits them, but also fits their figure."
"Oh really?" Jude eyes the glass longingly. Shouldn't he wait until…? Ah, fuck that. He takes it and chugs it all down, then makes a face when he realizes that the stuff is stronger than he thought. Ew. He shudders a bit and sets the glass down. "So what can you tell from the clothes -I- am wearing?", he asks her with a grin.
"You're supposed to savour it," she chides, before pouring him another glass. The wine probably cost more than the whole meal they had the last time they ate together. Celeste picks up her chopsticks, but she considers him for a moment instead of eating straight away. "Hmm. Well, I can tell you like that band," she says, pointing at his chest with a smile, "But I'm also guessing you don't have a really big wardrobe…"
Jude looks a tiny bit sheepish when he's chided, but then it gets him a refill, so that's a good thing in his book. And he doesn't chug that one down straightaway, but waits for her to catch up. "Yea, they're good", he confirms about the band and smirks at the second assumption. "Yea, I mean, why bother? I got two pairs for daily use and a nicer one for… well, sometimes. You know. When Mom visits or something."
"But you care about your hair," Celeste says, pointing to his head with her chopsticks. "Oh, you should her an earring! Something dangly. That would look great." She deftly snags a roll from her box, and bites into it. "Mmm." She eats that, and only then does she pick up her cup for a sip of the sake. Cold food, and warm wine.
Jude's hand promptly goes up to his hair. True as well. He spends an inordinary amount on platinum blonde dye. But the next suggestion has him recoil. "You kidding me? That's so… girly. I'm a hard rocker, not some sort of… pop star." He watches her eat and eyes his own box. Sigh. He gingerly pops one of the smallest rolls into his mouth.
"Hard rocker?" Celeste considers him for a long moment, mentally re-shuffing her ideas regarding fashion for him. "Well… you could get some sort of spike, instead! Ooh. That would be shiny." She smiles to herself as she nibbles on some sashimi.
What now? She's gonna spike him like a vampire? Jude looks so confused, he even forgets to flail about the sushi. Which doesn't taste that bad actually. "What spike?", he asks once he's swallowed it down. "I'm… good?"
"You know, through your earlobe. Like an earring, but a little metal spike. They're very hard rock, aren't they?" Celeste has a look in the basket again, then says a little "Ooh," before pulling out a heated box. She opens it and puts it between them, revealing some prawn tempura. Hooray, it's not raw fish!
"They're daft.", Jude decides, "Also, I can't do earrings anyway as a nurse. Messes with the safety gear and whatnot. No rings either." He spreads his thin fingers to indicate the sad lack of heavy metal rings. His face brightens a lot at the sight of something warm and fried. Fried is good. Anything can be made edible by frying it to death.
"Oh, right. What about bracelets?" Celeste snags a piece of tempura, and nibbles on that next. She follows it with a sip of wine. She's pacing herself on the alcohol. "You'd look great in the summer in a sleeveless t-shirt, with some layered bracelets. Leather ones!"
Jude lifts his arm to indicate the single simple leather bracelet, dark-brown and braided. "My Mom gave it to me before I left the farm and Kerry.", he explains softly. IT'S GOT MEANING. "But yea, I kinda dig bracelets. Can't do them at work either."
"Oh, yes! Like that." Celeste looks thoughtful. She's Plotting. Jude is a good canvas, although perhaps not a willing one. She pushes the tempura towards him, and sits back a little.
Jude seems glad to be off the hook. He may not realize she's plotting. He happily accepts the tempura and tucks into them. Nibble. Chomp. Chew. "Not bad, this.", he comments, "It's fish, too, yea?"
"Prawns," Celeste says, nodding. "And that's salmon, that's more prawns, that's tuna, yellowtail, Persephone snappers, saba from Osiris, I think that amberjack is from Sihnon…" She points to each of his bits of food as she talks, "That's cucumber and rice, and that one's ginger carrot."
And all of that goes way over his blonde head. "We don't really do fish at home. The nearest fish lakes are like a few hours away, so it's super pricey. And it doesn't keep. Though I once went out on a trip with friends and we caught some and did them on a fire and it was pretty neat.", he tries to be entertaining.
"Really? You caught it yourself?" Celeste does seem interested. "That sounds amazing. It's so yummy when it's fresh and cooked right away. We mostly get it preserved from further into the Core." She has one more roll, then she pushes her bento aside. She rummages around the basket, and takes out a little velvet bag. "There's dessert too, when you've finished the sushi," she says, setting the velvet bag in front of herself.
Jude realizes that if she can push half the bento box aside, he can do the same. Whew. "Sure, I'm here for dessert.", he agrees, although he eyes that velvet bag suspiciously. Hopefully fish isn't considered a dessert in these posh places. "It's kinda easy to catch fish, just need a rod, some bait and a lot of patience."
When he says he's ready for the dessert, the bag is put aside for a moment so that Celeste can rummage in the basket. She puts /another/ bento box in front of him, but this one is chilled. She takes the top off to reveal a selection! "I don't know what you like, so… I just said to put it all in," she explains, and this time she just points out without waiting to be asked. "That's matcha ice cream, and chocolate truffle mochi, doriyaki - it's like custard-filled pancakes, that's my favourite - and I asked for some melon too."
Jude eyes the green ice cream VERY warily and decides that the mochi are on the safe side. He pops one into his mouth and the gloopy texture catches him by surprise. Like unwary tourists having their first and only encounter with marmite. "What's this?!", he asks, once he's able to speak again.
"Mochi." Celest says, unhelpfully. "It's some sort of pounded rice thing, and the inside is chocolate. Isn't it nice?" She eats a mochi ball herself with enjoyment, and then she opens the velvet bag, taking out a set of very ornate and oversized cards, which she begins to shuffle.
"It's… okay.", Jude offers vaguely on the mochi and tries the doriyaki, which appeals more to his thoroughly lame western palate. He's still chewing that, when she gets the cards out and eyes. "What's that?"
"Tarot cards!" Celeste smiles at him. "I'm going to do a reading for you. We'll just do the short one, since the properly in-depth one takes a while and I told Enya to come back in an hour or so to clear away the picnic things. I mean … we can stay longer than that if you like, but I wasn't sure how long you had, so…"
"Well, I need to get back to my books.", Jude admits, "But isn't that… like… telling the future?", he wonders, eyeing the cards, "I mean… it's just a lot of humbug, yea?"
"No!" Celeste gives Jude a stern look. "Of course it's not. /Some/ people would say that, but it's not at all humbug. Everything is connected, you know. Just like it was on Earth-that-was. It's just a little weaker here because we made the planets into something new. Each one still has its natural vibes, though. And the cards still work. People are still people, and fate is still fate." She fans the cards out. "Pick three."
Jude smirks, but he has decided he likes this girl and so he indulges her and picks three cards at random.
Celeste takes the cards off him, and she turns them over one at a time. The first one shows a religious-looking man, holding a cross and making a blessing with his other hand. "So, this one is the past. This is the Hierophant. He represents … hmmm.. religion, but also, like - institutions and traditions, and the passing-on of knowledge."
Jude just glares.
Celeste smiles at him. "What? Don't look cross at me. It's the cards. They /know/." The next one is a woman, wearing a crown, and holding a sword. "Oh, the Queen of Swords." She puts the card down in front of him. "So, this is the present. The Queen of Swords is a woman in your life, usually an older woman. She can be wise but also kind of crotchety and bitchy. But you should listen to what she's teaching you. It's, like … a relationship, but not a /relationship/, if you know what I mean."
"Yea, there's plenty of crotchety old women in my life.", Jude grumbles, willing her to go on to see what the future will bring.
"Okay, and the future is…" Celeste turns over the last card, to show a man in a fancy carriage. "The Chariot. This is… well, hardship. Like, something coming that's going to be /really/ hard work. But it's good! Because it means that you might have a rough time and everything, and struggle, and feel as if it's going badly, but it will all be fine in the end, and you'll be successful."
"Well, yea, you know I'm studying, so that one's not hard to guess.", Jude grumbles, But the first card especially has him rattled. "Oh come on, it's all just humbug.", he insists, glaring at the religious man on the picture.
"It's not humbug," Celeste insists. She taps the deck with a fingertip. "I've done lots of readings for people before and they turned out to be true." She leaves the cards out, and she picks up her glass to finish her sake. "Why are you so mad about it?"
"Because… because…" Clearly he's rattled. He knocks back his own drink and gets to his feet. "I gotta go back. Thanks for the picnic and all… I'll… uh, see you around, I guess?"
<FS3> Celeste rolls Willpower: Good Success. (6 8 1 3 3 5 4)
"I… oh… all right…" Celeste looks downcast, but she manages to keep herself from crying, or begging him to stay, or anything else of the sort. She scoops up the cards and puts them back into the bag.