[ota, threadhopping and intermingling welcome] No, the party don't start until I walk innnn.

[tenoroftheskies]

Should the castle's residents be wandering as evening falls through the windows, they might hear the soft strains of music coming from down a hall, around a corner, behind a closed door. Regardless of where they are, or how far they are from the source of the sound, it will lead them all to the same place: a veranda high up on the castle's southern

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[thumbcocked]

Lia's going to go and get herself perfectly comfortable here. Tempest wants to throw a bash and put out a spread, more power to her - she's more than willing to roll with it.

With her hair nearly out of the way and tuck under a red bandanna, there's nothing stopping her from plowing into the three heaping plates of food she's gone and gotten for herself. And if she happens to look something less than a graduate of charm school the way she's chomping on everything, well. Too bad. She is hungry.

Pausing to chew, she grabs the closest closed platter to find - a beautifully chilled six-pack of... "Rud Lubb?" She barks a laugh at that before popping the top and giving it an experimental sniff and swig. Tastes normal enough for her.

[ledfromthepath]

Kat doesn't see Lia right away. She's hovering next to the table looking deeply suspicious, nostrils flared as she tries to pick out the natural scents from the unnatural ones.

The problem is, all of them are unnatural. If they don't reek of magic, they smell like the forest - wild and untouchable and dangerous. She doesn't want to put any of that anywhere near her mouth, but fuck if she's not starving at this point.

She bites her lips together, ordering herself not to touch anything- and then the smell of werewolf undercut by familiar bodily scents hits her and she yelps. And then freezes.

Ohai there Lia.

[thumbcocked]

She ends up with a nose full of energy drink when she hears that, snorting and hacking and tearing up at the sudden surge of fizz and tang that is just way too enthusiastic to meet her brain. When she's done not quite dying of knockoff Red Bull, she turns around to see what the hell is going on-

And sees Kat. ...The smelling is currently out of the question, given Lia's not entirely sure there isn't Red Bull filling the bottom half of her eyes. Shut up, that's entirely how snorting liquids works, what the hell do you know.

Staring at her with a most definitive lineface, Lia just glares for a minute before turning back in her seat to wipe her nose on the back of her hand. "Ain't fucking poison," she says curtly, not even bothering to toss it over her shoulder. "Might as well."

[ledfromthepath]

Kat waits for something else. That can't just be. It. That can't be all this girl is going to do after being outed. Kat hugs her elbows, leaning away from Lia. Slowly, she says, "It's got magic in it. That's worse. Fuck you up more than poison. And don't you know any of the stories about not eating fairy food?"

[thumbcocked]

Lia stops with another handful of food halfway to her mouth, stares at it a minute, then drops it back on the plate. Hooking her foot around a nearby chair leg, she kicks it out enough to still count as an invite, but far enough away that should she get the urge to sock Kat in the mouth, she'll have the space to think twice about it.

"I've been eating it all for a month now and hasn't done me any harm," she answers cautiously - not calling her a liar, but offering up some decent evidence to the contrary. She's not going to say how she hasn't hear any stories about food or magic or fairies out here in the open. All her searches were werewolf-specific, anything else had been brushed off and tabbed out as irrelevant.

A small portion of her stomach knots up as Lia groans to herself. If this pain in the ass turns out to be the one who knows how this works, she's going to smack her head into something nice and pointy.

[ledfromthepath]

Kat sits. Slowly. Still keeping an eye on Lia just in case the bigger girl plans on, you know, socking her in the mouth or something. "Then you're one of the lucky ones," she mutters. "But..."

She grumbles something inaudible and turns her head away so the smell of meat isn't quite so powerful. "Like, if you eat the food, you can't leave. That's what the stories say anyway."

[thumbcocked]

...Well. Fuck.

Lia sits back in her seat slowly, and just as slowly pushes the plate away. Not that she thinks that'll do much good, given it's about her fifth plate of munch. But still. Principle. Giving Kat a side-stink-eye, she frowns.

"So. Me eating anything here means I don't get to go from the castle? That the gist I'm getting here?"

[ledfromthepath]

"You eating anything here means you don't get to leave the fucking forest." Kat stares at her like she's not quite sure what to make of a werewolf who doesn't know something like that. "It's part of the whole lore thing. If someone taken by the fae eats the food, their rescuer can't get them out and they can't leave."

Her stomach makes a curdling sound and she grimaces.

[thumbcocked]

Lia sloooooowly arches an eyebrow at Kat as she slowly deduces what this girl is trying to get across and...

"What you're saying is. Anything we eat in this whoooole shebang basically screws us over?" A beat to let the question hang in the air before she poses another question. "So do you got some secret stash of normal, non-trappy food tucked away somewhere, or should we all just tighten our belts some?"

A hole in your logic, Kat. Lia has found it. It's about as obvious as the sounds your stomach is making.

[ledfromthepath]

Kat rakes Lia over with her eyes and makes a little chuffing sound that's distinctly canine. "Yeah, I guess you never gone without eating before."

Stupid thing to say, particularly when she's in this woman's territory and there's no reason for Lia to do anything other than punch Kat in the face, but she doesn't care. She's not going to eat that shit.

[thumbcocked]

Lia narrows her eyes and is promptly thankful she put the distance there because okay, punching might not have happened just then. But most definitely an 'accidental' foot stomp or shin kick. But as such, all she does is give her a full-on stink eye this time.

"...Yeah, I can see how you could be a little screwed up there, thinking some Norma Normal's the next Rosie O'Zilla, given your prime standing for Miss Ethiopia 2010."

[ledfromthepath]

Kat stares.

"Was that even fucking English?" It's getting harder to focus so close to the food, not only because of how hungry she is but also because of the overwhelming smell of it. Spices, sauces, glazes and toppings- for someone who's smelled nothing but red meat of various species for the past three months, it's kind of overwhelming. Kat swallows the urge to gag and gets up.

[thumbcocked]

"Nope, thought I'd mix in some Chinese to shake things up. Next? Swahili." Lia makes a few random clicking and lip-popping noises - for all she knows, she's just said 'and one more for your mother'. That'd be pretty awesome, although slightly and entirely improbably. But a girl can dream.

The blithely sarcastic smile falters for a minute, and she frowns at Kat. "...You kay there, peach fuzz?"

[ledfromthepath]

"I'm fine. I'm just not fucking interested in eating shit I know is gonna leash me to this place, okay?" Kat glowers and starts for the door. "Keep stuffing yourself. I'm gonna get the fuck out of here."

[toseethesunrise]

Quorra is used to watching people eat--having watched Flynn do so for cycles upon cycles--but never quite so much. So if she's subtly looking at all the food, trying to figure out what it might be, don't be surprised--coupled with the fact that the ISO is still Very Interested in talking with the woman. She never did catch her name the other day, and she's still anxious about leaving a bad impression.

She fiddles with her hands, wondering what might be the best way to approach. Maybe just a simple hello? But if that's wrong, given how they left off, she'll be in an even worse position.

[thumbcocked]

Lia notices someone staring at her. She prides herself on being very aware of who's where and what they're doing - because while most truckers are cool, there's still some uncool cats hanging around truck stops.

Please. Contain your shock.

But she doesn't much mind the staring... At first. But as it keeps going and going as she keeps chewing, eventually she just drops her food to stare back at Glow Stick Numero Dos.

"...Okay, seriously. The both of you need to quit the freaking staring. It's creeping me right the crap out."