Beer and Tea [Finished]

[Kari Muffin]

Peaches had to make acquaintances so she wasn't eaten alive by court members. Today she was going to focus on His Majesty Shinrai. He was probably the person she knew the least about even after spying and gathering information on the courts. She did, somehow, find out one valid point of information. He liked beer. Peaches was not one for alcohol of any sort, she didn't like the concept of being tipsy and sleeping with someone she didn't really want to but was too drunk to protest.

That wasn't here or there. She walked down the hall with a silver tray that contained a beer and some tea for herself. Peaches was hopefully going to have a nice conversation with him in his break from paperwork.

She knocked on the door, hoping that he was actually in his office. "Your Majesty Shinrai, My name is Peaches and I'm a new Jack here at the courts. I wanted to bring you some tea for your afternoon break." The woman really hoped she wasn't talking to thin air. That was frustrating and meant she had to find him someplace else.

[seraaches]

Well, she might not be talking to Queen Shinrai, but she was talking to somebody. The door opened after a moment and a Morganberry ram peered curiously at her. "May I help you, Your Excellence?" he asked respectfully.

A peek through the door would prove that there was no horse within, at least, not right now. The ram, however, seemed unconcerned by the lack of his employer. Golden eyes dropped to her tray curiously before back up to her face questioningly. His polite expression didn't give away wot he was thinking, though there might be some wondering why she was bring Queen Shinrai drinks when that was sort of his job.

"Well, well, Samid," a low, rumbly voice sounded behind the woman. "Wot have you managed to find now?" There was humour and amusement in the voice despite a low, underlying sense of tension.

The man behind her had a brown hat tugged to partially obstruct his right eye and a long sleeve falling below the point of his left hand, though his right hand remained fully in sight.

[Kari Muffin]

Peaches just seemed to be having horrible timing recently. Thank a lot, palace, for screwing with her. She was just about to say something when she heard the voice from behind her. The man in brown was Shinrai. She just had to act like she didn't know that. Thank heavens she was good at this whole pretending thing.

"Oh, well. I apologize. I simply came bearing some drinks for Your Majesty, Shinrai I presume. No one else could carry themselves in such a regal way, I'm sure." She carefully gave him a bow while holding the tray. "My name is Peaches, and I was told that I should get to know who I'll be working for and working with in the courts. It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty."

Oh, formalities were a wonderful thing when you wanted to cover up your energy. "I brought you something other than tea, since I thought I heard that you enjoy beer more than tea."

How he could do that, she couldn't understand. To each their own.

[seraaches]

Rai lofted a curious brow at the woman's words, taking a long moment to process them. Samid took that as a cue to duck back into the room and the stallion clicked his bone fingers together thoughtfully, though the source of this sound was hidden beneath the sleeve.

"That's very interesting to hear," the Queen finally said quietly. "Those preferences are not well known to many. Come in, Peaches. Let's... talk." Conversation would, of course, be the best way for her to 'get to know him', correct? He moved past her to enter the room and continued on to sit at his desk.

"Your Majesty?" Samid queried softly.

"Check in half an hour." Rai's eyes were on the purple-haired woman, his mind filing away the same information the same way Fino and Bernard had. A Torquehelmian, surely. And an odd one at that.

The ram bowed to the Queen and then the Jack and quickly exited the room, leaving the pair alone. Something about the woman put up the man's back but he couldn't quite place wot it was. He was silent now, in thoughtful contemplation.

[Kari Muffin]

Small victory number three. The woman choked back a purr as she moved into the room, placing the tea set on the table. She popped the cap off of the beer bottle, using the belt on the end of her sleeve as a bottle opener. She grinned as she placed the bottle on coaster that was on his desk. Then she poured herself a cup of tea. Talking would work just fantastically then.

"Thank you so much, Your Majesty, for taking time out of your day to speak with me." She said with a smile as she took a seat across from him. "I'm sorry I didn't make an appointment or anything. I think surprises that can brighten up someone's day are better than stuff meetings." She reached over and put sugar into her already pale looking tea. Either way, Shinrai hadn't that she wore gloves under her jacket, she had managed to build up enough skill that she could pour tea and do a variety of other things without revealing her hands.

[seraaches]

Rai hrmed thoughtfully at her words. "Some surprises are... less desirable than stuffy meetings." Though to wot he might be referring, there was no indication for the woman.

Something... wot was it about this woman that just put him so fully off and on his guard? Peaches... oh, gads, -Peaches-. Despite his sudden realization, his face remained thoughtfully blank for the Torquehelmian. He blamed his paperwork for distracting him, but how in the world could he have forgotten her name? Peaches, the cat who dared to intrude upon Bernard's sanctuary without notice and through the window; the woman who seemed set on throwing the whole Court on its ear. Yes, her; and here she was, sitting before him.

Still, that didn't explain his uneasy distrust and he would continue in this conversation with the same wariness he'd had thus far. Where had she learned about his preference for beer rather than tea? He'd been drinking that bloody liquid for Queen Serafino since he'd gotten here and it certainly wasn't growing on him in the least.

[Kari Muffin]

Damn. Was she really that out of place in the courts? Just because she wasn't into all the puffy formalities that everyone so very cherished, and had a bit more energy than most. She was unorthodox and a misfit. Wow, the case was getting worse and worse the more she looked at it. That didn't mean she would give up for now--Peaches wasn't about to fail. However, she would retreat if she had to.

"Am I that horrible of a surprise that all the court members hate me upon my initial meeting?" Peaches asked as she took a sip of her tea. "If that's the case I might as well leave, and apologize for bothering you, Your Majesty." She paused as she stood up and gave him another bow. "Of course,if it's not the case I will continue to have a conversation with you, but I don't want to consume any of your time if I'm simply going to be a useless bother, Your Majesty."

[seraaches]

The stallion mused as she rose, ears flicking back in bemusement. He was surprised such an interesting person would give up so quickly, but, then again, perhaps all of her bravado covered some severe self-confidence issues.

"Hate is a strong word," the Queen said easily, idly eyeing the woman. "Surprising, yes; perhaps you should soncider being less so and you'd receive a less... strigent response to your company." He wasn't going to call her back if she was so determined to leave, but he also made it clear that he wasn't opposed to her presence now that she was here.

Really, he thought she'd be a good influence on the Court as long as she didn't do something that made Fino kill her. At the same time, it was a role he could not fulfill, but she seemed well able to do.

[Kari Muffin]

Peaches raised an eyebrow. "And suck the fun out of my entire personality? Well that would be a horrible thing to waste, Your Majesty." She said as she returned to her seat. "But it's kind of you not to kick me out immediately."

A cat smirk slipped onto her lips as she took another sip of her tea. "I suppose I shouldn't waist your time. It would be silly of me to do such a thing, wouldn't it now?" She made sure not show her gloved hands as she spun the teacup around with her sleeves. This man was an interesting one. Much more interesting than some of the people in courts. He had plenty of secrets... like that arm of his.

"I just wanted to make it known that I'm a new Jack in the courts. I'm also willing to do quite a bit on top of various workloads. I haven't really gotten much yet, but I hope that's going to change." Because without real work to balance her "playtime" Peaches was rather unstable. In a way she wasn't fond of.

[seraaches]

The stallion gave her a small, smirking-type smile at her jibe back and conceded that point by not arguing with it. Unlike him, evidently, Peaches was unwiling to give up any and everything needed in order to fit in where desired. And she'd still managed to get into the Courts with little trouble. He gave a purely mental sigh. He'd just write it off as one of Fino's many eccentrities; Peaches didn't bother him too badly, though there were a few in the Court whom he didn't overly enjoy the presence of. But he was only now slowly working out his own kinks into the Court of Hearts and leaving his own mark thus far in the shape of his innate paranoia and likelihood of reacting with violence. Well. Such was life.

He was still a bit preoccupied and answered her first comments almost absently, though she was unlikely to notice unless she was really paying attention. "If it's truly a waste, then yes." True whether or not he was actually thinking about wot he was saying, but perhaps a bit abrupt in its presentation. Still.... she offered to work and his mind was running along those sorts of lines.

"Where did you hear about my drink preferences, your Excellency Peaches?" the stallion asked thoughtfully.