hashtag_chocobro | The Apartment above the Photo Hut; Sunday Afternoon [02/11]

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The Apartment above the Photo Hut; Sunday Afternoon [02/11] - PuppyBowl Birthday Party!

Prompto would be entirely honest; if there was anything a bit different going on in town, he was completely unaware of it, because he'd been singularly focused since pretty much Friday on getting things all ready and set up for Noctra's birthday party today. The decorations were an amalgamation of both puppy things and football things, with a both First Year Down! and Let's Pawty! balloons to really drive it home.

And, of course, the birthday girl herself was showing her appreciation for the theme, as well! Unfortunately, with her dad's excitement all morning in getting things up, she hadn't been able to nap like he was hoping she would, so he was holding his breath that the whole thing wouldn't make her too cranky or overwhelmed, but at least there was plenty to distract her in the meantime. Including a little help from Rain pulling in duty as Party Ruferee.

Then there was getting everything with the catering set out for the guests, which included your typical moddable game day fare, but especially puppy chow, mini hot dogs, and, of course pizza rolls! There were a puppy bowl birthday cake, even, with some vegan cupcake puppy players!

And, of course, near the entrance, there were plenty of party hats for anyone who wanted to claim their allegiance for Team Ruff or Team Fluff or just Team Noctra (he suspected those would be the most popular, really).

And for once, after everything was set up and copious amounts of pictures had been taken, Prompto actually wasn't feeling like he hadn't gone enough on the theme, and was feeling pretty good about this one, actually!

[[ open party is open! If you've ever talked to Prompto or Liz even once, you probably got an invitation. Heck, even if you've never talked to either of them, you could have ~mysteriously~ gotten one, too! Maybe it's your big destiny to meet your true love at a one-year-old's puppy bowl party, you don't know!! ]]

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"Other planes where things come from otherworldly properties?" Liliana clarifies. "Hmm. You know, I'll have to think about that. None that currently come to mind, but then, all planes have something slightly different about them, like the Lorwyn-Shadowmoor cycle and Alara being shards, instead of a proper plane."

Steven looked curious. "Shards? So instead of a globe it's more like a crystal?"

"No...more like, hmm, sections of an orange," Liliana explained. "The original plane, Alara, fractured into five separate shards, each that had a primary color of mana, two secondaries, and then two others that didn't exist in the shard at all."

"I see," Steven said. He tried to picture it. "It must be beautiful. So if you're on one of the shards is everything that color?"

That was only because he hadn't ever been to Grixis, which even Liliana considered a nightmare plane.

"Oh no, darling, simply that is how the mana is aligned. Bant, for example, the white-aligned plane, has blue skies and high castles around rolling meadows and fields of grain, and an ocean. Naya, the green-aligned plane, is an overgrown jungle, with gargantuan beasts, but profusions of flowers and plants of every color you can imagine."

"I see," Steven said. Then, to hopefully show he was taking in all the things she told him, "So like here then? Where there's different mana but you wouldn't know the color just to look at it? Have to know this goes with forests, this goes with water, that sort of thing?"

She waggles her hand. "So, Bant is all order and castes and angels, so if you know mana's underlying color principles, it would feel white. And since it's lacking the underlying tension - hard to explain - one could assume that any other colors it had access to would be its ally colors, blue and green. Jund is an overgrown jungle with colossal animals, very green characteristics. Esper is..." She laughed. "It's all technology and vedalken and sphinxes and shooting for perfection, so blue. It is generally expected that most places will have access to only one or two types of mana; Fandom, having all five and in such strength, is an anomaly. That being said, one doesn't expect an entire plane to have banished two full colors, and that one should hold such universal primacy. Does that make sense?"

"Still learning but as much as anything," Steven said. Though he had to ask, "Sphinxes are blue? On my world be more likely to be red or brown. Fire or earth. Though I suppose if you go back far enough it would make sense for them to be water."

"Again, not their physical coloration," Liliana corrected gently. "Though many sphinxes are blue on Esper, as they're joined with etherium. But sphinxes are creatures of intellect, wisdom, trickery, and occasionally deceit. That's blue mana."

She looked at him thoughtfully. "Did we ever get into the philosophies around each mana color? Or simply where they're from and what they do?"

"I see," Steven said, nodding because that description of Sphinxes did make sense. "I don't know that we did? Where and what definitely. I think a bit on what they're best for? Like some are better for healing, that sort of thing?"

"Perhaps we'll have to have tea some time and catch up," Liliana suggested, since a child's birthday was hardly the time to get into a place like Grixis. "It might be easier to do so in the Consortium? For ease of demonstrations, if necessary. I would also suggest my office hours, but I know Thursdays you're at the museum. But if Mondays aren't your preference, I'd be happy to open up the shop another day."

"I've class on Mondays," Steven said. Not that Liliana would have reason to know that, of course. No connection to her there at all. "Thursdays you're right about. Saturdays I'm often off island with Llewellyn. Are there days that work better for you besides those?"

None at all! Except for one time the crazy vampire lady had come and accused her of gentrification - and she hadn't actually figured out that was who it was!

"Wednesdays? Though not this week; Ignis and I have decided to extend our stay in Argentina until Wednesday afternoon."

"Oh that sounds lovely," Steven said. "Glad to hear you're enjoying yourselves. Or at least I assume you are, if you're staying longer. Yeah, Wednesday's all right. During the day, Llewellyn and I have date night Wednesday night. We'll be going ice skating this week."

So fewer bathing suits than Argentina, presumably.

Definitely fewer suits. Argentina was clearly the better choice.

"Oh, yes, a delightful time. It's a resort that specializes in wine and has a world-class chef besides, I don't think I could have found a better place for Ignis to visit than that."

Steven looked interested. "Wine? Might ask you for the recommendation then. Llewellyn loves wine. Is there a vineyard? Can you do tours?"

"Yes, to both," Liliana said brightly. "It's multiple vineyards, since they grow different grape varietals and, if you'd like, you can make your own small-batch wine. Choose the grapes, make the label, and they handle the rest for you - the fermentation, the aging, the bottling, the shipping, all that."

"Oh that's brilliant!" Steven said. "You'll have to tell me then. Llewellyn would love it I'm sure. I wonder if there's a version on our world?"

"The Vines of Mendoza," Liliana supplied. "And I was mentioning to Prompto perhaps having a small wine-tasting with dinner sometime after we get back and have recovered some. If Ignis has his way, we'll be leaving with every bottle of Malbec on the premises."

Steven patted himself down for his mobile and his glasses so he could make a note of the name. "That sounds wonderful. Wine's one of Llewellyn's favorite things. What he doesn't know about it isn't worth knowing, I think."

Steven then looked uncertain because he wasn't sure if perhaps there was an implied invitation in Liliana's comment or not, and he was horrible about guessing. He was also not particularly good at knowing what to say to make it seem as though he wasn't completely trying to guess if someone was inviting him somewhere. Especially since it was particularly awkward if they weren't.

"Well, if we end up hosting one, I'll have to make sure you and the Detective have invitations," Liliana said. "Prompto is possibly interested in learning about wine, so between Ignis and Detective Watts, he should be well-covered."

The look of abject relief on Steven's face was based on so much actual relief that Steven couldn't hide it to try to seem cool even if he wanted to. He of course would not have held it against Liliana if it had been meant to be a private event amongst Ignis and his friends. Steven just... had traumatic experiences with misunderstanding if he was invited somewhere is all. Knowing yes or no for certain was a gift.

"Brilliant," he said. "Wonderful. You'll have to let us know if there's anything we can bring, of course. Er - oh, are you going away during the break? We'll be taking holiday ourselves."

The segue in Steven's mind being when the event might happen. But Steven sometimes forgot to mention segues out loud.

"Oh, we haven't discussed it yet, but it seems likely," Liliana said, though she's clearly not connecting the dots between their previous topic and this one. "And I'm sure I'll let you know about bringing things when we've planned it out a bit more."

"Cheers," Steven said, relieved about that as well. "And for the invitation. All the invitations, really. You've been very kind. Hospitable."

He said the last one with a smile.

She still had absolutely no idea how this tied in with the school trip. "Well, darling, I don't know if I'd say kind, but I do love throwing a good party."