#verseandrhyme

[nohrslittleflower]

[ SWEET BUN TRIO ] - Three delicious, bite-sized buns from Faerghus. The first bun is filled with sweet cream and topped with icing and a candied cherry. The second is a sweet roll filled with almonds, pecans, and dried cranberries and glazed with honey. The third is a bun sliced in half, filled with almond paste and whipped cream, dusted with powdered sugar on top.

Man, she can really never get enough of these things! She can never get enough of most sweets really, but that’s beside the point. Point being they are good. Some more good than others if you ask her, but overall, good.

The real problem is the lower tier good ones. A princess only has so much stomach space no matter how hard she may dream and wish she could eat endless helpings of tasty treats, and she is definitely pushing the limits now if she wants to have any hope of getting some different treats in later without getting sick… But the buns come in a trio that aren’t allowed to be separated, even if she only wanted the one, and it’s not as if she can just throw away the other two! Food waste is one of THE most UNACCEPTABLE crimes there is!!!

Fortunately, the unacceptableness of it means there’s gotta be someone in the inverse predicament, and inverses… cancel or something. Yeah. 

“Hi!” Elise beams as she grabs the arm of a sort-of-vaguely-familiar-in-a-way-that-she-does-not-have-time-to-unpack-the-familiarity-ness-of stranger similarly lingering by the table’s edge, sweet bun duo platter in hand. “You want a sweet bun? There’s only two because I ate one, but they’re still good, promise! I just feel like I’m gonna explode if I eat any more. Like BOOM! KA-BOOM! BLAMO! FROSTING EVERYWHERE!! You know? You’d be doing me a HUGE favor if you could take them off my hands. And they’re yummy!”

[hresvelged]

"So?" Mitama's approach lacks an introduction, but she is quite confident that it will not be a problem. She sits next to Edelgard with a smile. "Did you end up finding a moment of connection with anyone before the ball's end?" She is obviously joking, evident in the way she laughs as she hands a book to her fellow student. "Here."

The cover is unassuming and plain, with only the title and author written in plain font. "It is a translation of a popular Hoshidan romance story." She rolls her eyes fondly. "A friend once included this in a collection of books she asked me to read. I was quite surprised to find a translated copy here. After our talk, it seems almost like a sign, if you believe those sorts of things."

Does she? Who knows...

"Congratulations on another year of existence. I hope the next is a good one."

"Heh. Yes, thank you. This is fortunate," she confirms with an airy laugh. In truth, it had been some time since she last read anything for simple pleasure. No maps, no timelines and complex formulas— A story. She doesn't believe in fate, but Edelgard does recognize sincerity when it finds its way to her.

When is the last time she has read a romantic story? She can't recall. She doesn't need to. It makes no difference. "Thank you, Mitama. Next I find myself with a free moment, I'll reach for this instead. Historical texts are hardly light reading," she chuckles again.

Even if she is more likely to find romance in literature than the throes of her daily life, she does not mind. This is the life she has carved. Besides, she wonders if this story will end how she predicts it to be. She won't know until she turns the pages under moonlight in quiet solitude.

"I'll tell you my thoughts once I finish it. That is the least I can offer."

[verseandvials]

Between verses and vials,

I keep fragments of you—

a little poetry for the soul,

a little remedy for the ache.

You arrive softly,

like a cure disguised as a poem,

and suddenly even silence

feels loved.

[selkitsune]

[ PHOTO-ARTIFEX ] - The ever-popular photo-artifex makes its annual return, allowing users to capture pictures in as little as a flash of light and a moment. Take home something to remember the event by!

What in the…?? Is all of Hoshido here and she just didn’t get the memo??? Kinda rude of them not to invite her sooner if that is the case, but whatever. She’s happy enough to see them now that she doesn’t really mind.

“Mitama!! Boy, is it good to see you!” Selkie’s tail twitches within the confines of her arms — trapped for its crimes of wagging too much with all this back-to-back friend time to the point it’s kinda starting to hurt. Happy tail is a very real and very serious condition, you know. “Hehe, if I knew this arting-fixer thingy was such a magnet to you all, I woulda hung out here all night! You wanna take a picture together?”

Selkie bounds over to the assortment of props she’d noticed earlier when she was with Midori, eagerly digging through the choices with very minimal casualties lost to the floor. Everyone should be very proud of her, she did a good job. Especially considering what she found!

Two fluffy pink animal ears (mildly disturbing to see them unattached to somebody, but okay) are forced atop the poet’s head before she can give the protest Selkie’s almost sure would probably come if she’d had stopped to ask first, a lovingly-chewed lily pinned purposefully beneath the band so it just barely peeks out the side — like the talisman on her own ears. Ears she hides beneath a funny-looking hat with jingling bells that she places on her own head.

“Check it out — now you’re a kitsune, and I’m the human, haha! How funny is that?! Oh, we have GOT to send this to everyone. They’re gonna LOVE IT.”

[machiot]

@verseandrhyme sent:

[ STEAL ] - Purposeful or not, it looks like you've gotten your hands on something that isn't yours. You may want to return that before anyone notices. Or you may want to start running.(you're not gunna believe this but I almost sent from the wrong blog again)

My, how quickly things in the dark fall apart. It is none of her business, but after noticing, it feels wrong to simply standby.

"Excuse me." Is all the warning the other girl gets before Mitama steps closer. Gently, she reaches up to the girls hair and begins to tug and gently reposition the large ribbon she wears. "It seems to have fallen askew."

There. Now centered once more, Mitama steps back with a smile. "How lovely. Here." The pink lily she offers matches the girl's outfit quite nicely. "As an apology and thanks for indulging me."

If someone who knew her had seen the way Marni freezes, they might have found it slightly unusual. The way she sucks in a quick breath is a reaction unlike her, a far cry from her usual overconfident attitude.

To a stranger? Well, she probably just looks like she'd been startled. It's nothing unusual to jump a little when someone approaches you in the dim light. By all means, it's a fairly normal and expected reaction.

"Huh?" A hand comes up to feel around where the girl had touched and unsurprisingly brushes against the ribbon she'd already known was there. That made sense than suddenly grabbing her for no reason. "Oh, the ribbon."

An event like this was the sort of place where your accessories could get knocked loose throughout the course of the night. The noble ladies might excuse themselves to freshen up and readjust their outfits, but Marni had never seen much of a point in doing all that. At that point, why not just go home?

But it's lovely, she says. Marni preens under the attention, color returning to her face as quickly as it had left. The trepidation she'd felt earlier is gone, replaced by a rather annoying smugness.

"It's super cute, right?" The edges of her lips curl upwards. "Since you helped me out, I guess I can give you a lily, too."

A lily to match an outfit and a lily to match a hair color. It's a pretty even trade, if you ask her.

[heirjinto]

@verseandrhyme sent: [ STEAL ] - Purposeful or not, it looks like you've gotten your hands on something that isn't yours. You may want to return that before anyone notices. Or you may want to start running. / /

After their brief time outside, winter's chill has seeped in more deeply than she would have liked. A shiver passes through her as a breeze cuts through her clothes. Ugh, what a horrible time of year to host a formal event in the mountains of all places...

It occurs to her then as she does her best to make sure her shivering does not jostle her flowers that she had yet to give Shiro one. Hmm. Perhaps she might remedy two problems at once.

She slips one of her lilies free and turns to him. "Shiro. I am cold." Problem, and now the solution. She offers her flower. "Give me your haori."

mitama finds him seated at an empty table far from the commotion, with his feet propped up on a spare chair. in hand, shiro has a box of chocolates that some girl was nice enough to give him—or so he'd thought. nice, until he'd opened the box and found half of them missing—! but hey, at least the stranger left him with this scrap of paper to use as a napkin.

"whaf?" shiro's just popped a candy into his mouth when mitama asks. he swallows quickly. "i mean, what? how? it's like a thousand degrees in here!" really, it's like the stuffiest room in the world with all these bodies packed together like sardines, leaving him missing the cool breeze outside that had ruffled his hair and sapped his skin of discomforting heat.

he stares at her before bringing a hand to her forehead and frowning. "maybe you're sick? we can find midori. she's probably got one of those rank drinks that'll fix you right up."

in the meantime, he swings his feet off their perch and rises to stand, setting the chocolates aside to shrug the garment off. "i better not catch anything!" he warns, tucking the haori around her. "'cause if i do, you'll have to make it up to me with more than a flower!"

spoken like she hasn't patched him up countless times. the nerve of men.

"hey, speaking of...do you even want mine? your bouquet's already stuffed. you really took this flower-hunting thing seriously, huh?"

[carefreemonk]

[ SEQUESTER ] - Some rooms remain unused, and while by the padlocks on their doors you suspect they are meant to remain that way, some poor sap seems to have forgotten to make sure they were locked properly. They make for an excellent space away from the chaos of the rest of the ball—though you may not be the first one there.

Ah, there he is. Wordlessly, Mitama walks up behind her father and rests her forehead against his back. Once she is certain that he is not going to move and let her fall, she lets out a whine.

"Father. I am tired."

It takes just a moment to place the sudden pressure at his back. A faint smile slips to the surface.

Sure, he'll happily play the part of an impromptu pillow for daughter dearest. It's the least he can do. He shifts lightly, so very lightly, so as to afford what he hopes is a more comfortable perch.

"So rest a moment then."

Tomorrow will come whether we will it or not.

"I'll be here as long as you need."

It's a promise he hopes he'll never break again.

[viridescent-lance]

[ MINT CANDY ] - For when your breath isn’t as fresh as newly-fallen snow.

Forsyth doesn't dislike mint, per se. He's amenable to the flavor on the whole, but about a year ago, he developed an...association with the candies they have on offer here.

It's not really a problem on his mind as he traverses the ballgrounds, though he may spend less time dancing with the minty-breathed than he would have in previous years. No, it does not come to the forefront of his consciousness until he finds himself pushed by a particularly rowdy student into a girl with hair as vibrant a pink as some of the roses in his bouquet.

Mitama.

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. Have him nest in your subconscience, and you'll inconvenience his daughter.

"Watch where you're going!" The culprit doesn't even acknowledge Forsyth's admonishment, which is probably for the best. His focus should be on the girl whose kimono he'd almost inadvertently ruined, and who does not represent her father. "Are you alright, Mitama?"

Her opinion of Forsyth surely cannot be worse than Azama's, but he's never gotten the impression that she thinks highly of him. Looking at her now, several flowers in her collection crushed and disturbed, he can't imagine that's improving anytime soon.

"My deepest apologies for all of this." He plucks a rose of his own, the scent of mint lingering in his nostrils. "It's not much recompense, but I can offer this, at least."