03 | Party: No need for madness, We have tea!

[allineedisyou]

Who: Grace & Open [Feel freel to make top level's and mingle]
What: Tea Party
Where: Cafeteria
When: October 8th 2016: 2pm - 5pm
Warnings: N/A

The cafeteria didn't very different from it's usual light colors and set tables. Grace had promised not to make a mess and she chose to do that by changing nothing and simply using the table tops. Sitting on the table's surface were pots of tea and over a dozen small cups and saucers. She'd spent her own money buy the sets and she planned to gift them to Gus after her part was over.

There were five teapots in total each one holding a different mixture of tea's that Grace had gathered together. The first pot is light blue and inside of it was a silver needle white tea with a hint of vanilla. The next pot was dark green with leaves imprinted on it and it held a young tea that tasted like the earth with a hint of lemon grass added to it. The next was gray, the teapot looking as if it was made out of cast iron, with a tea that tasted like english breakfast but with a twist of honey taste on the end. The fourth teapot was light blue as well but with a hummingbird drawn on the outside of the pot; it held a very light herbal tea that tasted like roses and berries. The final pot was a brick red, much like Grace's hood, and inside that pot was a jade green tea mix. The tea cups were all white, simple and looked rather breakable.

Grace met everyone with a smile and would tell them what each tea was before taking a seat.

Comments

Bigby Wolf

[fatherwolf]

Closed to Grace

When a little girl as sweet as Grace asks you to come to her tea party early because she wants to ask you something, you do it, even if you haven't been the Sheriff of a mythological community for nearly two centuries. And so, Bigby Wolf stepped into the cafeteria at 1:30, as promised. He raised a hand as he sited the girl and came over.

"Hey there, sweetie."

OTA
Colin was annoying. For some reason, the pig seemed to think the Big Bad Wolf still owed him something several hundred years after blowing his house down, and he wasn't going to let Bigby forget it anytime soon. That being said, though he'd never admit it to the Colin's porcine face, he'd had a point. He didn't have friends, and that was because he pushed them all away. Granted, he had his reputation working against him back home, but here? Here he was just another face, and here he didn't know anything about how the world works.

Colin was right. He needed friends. The problem was, and the damned pig was right about this one, too, Bigby was terrible at talking to people. He got irritated easily, hated dealing with stupid, and could be gratingly sarcastic. Give a fellow a few hundred years and he starts to learn a thing or two about himself. So, after his talk with Grace, he stuck around. People like tea, right?

He had a seat at one of the tables, where the young tea was actually. He liked the scent of it, and tried to not look like a sourpuss. He was marginally successful.

[allineedisyou]

Grace had been setting things up though she'd yet to begin steeping the tea. It'd only take a few minutes and she hadn't wanted anything to get cold. She was instead stacking saucers that she had cleaned earlier that day and arranged a selection of cups. When she heard Bigby's voice she turned and greeted him with a smile.

"Bigby, I'm so happy you made it. I hope asking you to come early wasn't any trouble." She had a question and she didn't really know who to ask. It was uncomfortable in a way, it made her sad but as always, she tried her best to keep smiling.

She wanted to be a good girl.

[fatherwolf]

Bigby pulls up a chair and takes a seat near her, to put him more on her level. Kids seemed to like when adults didn't tower of them. It worked with T.J. Anyway. Maybe he was just intimidating.

He shook his head at her question. "No trouble at all. What's wrong?"

[allineedisyou]

Grace was used to looking up at adults but she was thankful when he took a seat. It was easier to talk when she wasn't craning her neck to look up at him. At his question she looked thoughtful and a little nervous.

"I... what would you do if you saw someone who wasn't who it was supposed to be?"

[fatherwolf]

He'd had a lot of experience with that recently, but somehow, he didn't think she was talking about glamors. He frowned slightly, crossing his arms.

"What do you mean exactly?"

[allineedisyou]

Grace paused and then shook her head. "It's hard to say. My father was here but then he vanished." She paused again looking confused. "He came back but it isn't him. It looks like him and it sounds like him but it isn't."

She took a seat and looked down at her hands. She didn't know what to think. "I was so happy but then it wasn't him."

[fatherwolf]

Bigby's frown intensified as he watched the girl. Only one thing about that made sense to him.

"You mean like...a glamor?"

[allineedisyou]

Grace shook her head. "No. It was really him but not him. I can't explain it because I don't understand. It wasn't fake though." Her head dropped a little further. "I don't think you can hide your true self in your eyes and they were... it was so similar. His eyes."

She'd already cried about it but the loss left a fresh jolt of pain in her chest.

[fatherwolf]

"So, you mean this guy just reminds you a lot of your father." That was rough, not that he'd ever want to run into anyone who was like his own. "Well, I'd try my best to make sure I understood it wasn't really my dad, you know?"

[allineedisyou]

"I know. I know that it isn't him but..." Grace looked up at Bigby. "You've never met my father but you'd see it to. It is't just a copy but it's like the same person is in there but he grew up somewhere else."

She shook her head. "I know it sounds crazy and I sound like a child." She was a child but Grace always acted older than she was.

"I can't stop missing him. I try but... nothing ever works."

[fatherwolf]

Bigby wasn't great at comfort. In fact, he was pretty shit at it, if he were completely honest with himself, but he reached out to place a leathery, calloused hand on the girl's shoulder and met her eyes.

"Loss is hard, kid. I know. Trust me, and...when it's a parent, it's even harder, but it gets easier. Just remember...be who he'd want you to be."

[allineedisyou]

Grace looked up at him and smiled. "I know. It was easier when I didn't see him though." At least then she could believe that he'd come back.

Now it felt like he was here but not. "I'm sorry but thank you for listening. Would you like to taste some of the teas? I'm about to start them."

[fatherwolf]

He nodded, both in response to her comment, and to her question. Nothing but time made it hurt any less and there was little he could do but offer her a shoulder to cry on and an ear to listen.

"Sure, kid. That sounds great."

[allineedisyou]

"Okay!" Grace forced the sad thoughts from her head and moves over to her tea pots. She sets out the items she needs and then carefully pours the right amount into each tea pot. She then places the dried mixtures inside and then begin to time them.

"You'll be able to smell them soon. Which ever you smell first we can try first."

[fatherwolf]

He smiled slightly at her comment. He'd smelled them before she added hot water to them, after all. "Hey, Grace. Can I ask you a question now?"

[allineedisyou]

She looked up as the last pot filled to it's brim. Bright hazel eyes watched him as she nodded her head.

"Of course."

[fatherwolf]

He smiled his thanks before responding again, not really sure how to proceed. "Can you tell me a little bit more about where you're from?"

[allineedisyou]

"Where I'm from? It's called the Enchanted Forest. I lived just outside of town in a small house. When I went to market with Papa I'd get to see the castle but I don't know much besides that."

Her head tilted to the side. "Why do you ask?"

[fatherwolf]

"I've got a nose for these things." He smiled down at her. "You don't smell like the other humans around here."

[allineedisyou]

Grace looked confused. "What do I smell like?" It wasn't that odd of a thing to ask, right?

[fatherwolf]

Innocence and sadness were Bigby's first thoughts, but no fear, which he attributed to her innocence. He wasn't going to explain that, though, and instead smirked.

"Forests, cream puffs, and tea."

[allineedisyou]

Grace wrinkled her nose though her smile remained in place. "Cream puffs? I should smell like mushrooms and tea and forests."

She laughed before shaking her head. "But I like that. Thank you."

[fatherwolf]

Bigby actually laughs at that. "I never said what kind of cream puffs. Maybe cream puffs are a type of mushroom where I come from."

[allineedisyou]

Grace wrinkled her nose. "I don't think so." She looked up at him feeling her lips pull back into a bright smile.

"Okay. What are your cream puffs made of?"

[fatherwolf]

Bigby smiled. He didn't normally like kids, but there was something about this one that was charming and heartwarming.

"Sweet bread and creamy filling. That sound about right?"