Log: Valenia's Dinner Party
Summary: Valenia decides she wants to put on a dinner party for all of her friends. Which apparently includes Skinner. Discussion turns to sand and snow fights.
Location: The Lucky Seven, Ista Weyr
Date: 10-15-09
It was Valenia's little scheme that dropped that slip of an invitation into Skinner's hands. Perhaps not obvious, at first, with the too-practiced penmanship and overly wrought, formal wording, but her name, scrawled at the end with much more ease, revealed all. Now it's early dinnertime on the assigned day and the main room of the tavern has been prepared for the 'dinner party' June's young sister has arranged. Space has been cleared around one of the larger circular tables, extraneous chairs and benches shoved aside in a chaotic jumble that should be ignored. Just now the sisters, along with a couple of more unfamiliar women, cluster around it, surveying the dish settings and plain placecards with tiny titters of amusement. June takes her seat first, smile more subdued than some of her sisters', at what would be the head if there were a head; back to the bar, she leans over to share some comment with Livi hovering at her left.
The change of season means an end to the constant rain, and best yet, a temperature that's just light and breezy enough for Skinner to get away with a jacket. He's got a playfully old-fashioned swallowtail coat and a somewhat less impressive black felt hat. Both are just showpieces, and he's hardly a step in the door when he takes his hat off and offers the guests his most sweeping bow. "Good evening, ladies." He pops the hat under his elbow and strolls up to June and Livi, his eyes dancing with good cheer.
Skinner's arrival causes tiny eddies of activity in the group of girls. There's of course a general swivel of heads, even a mumbled return of his greeting. The new girls, though, give him looks bordering on disdainful and turn back to their conversation with Petra and Ruesse. And then there's the switch in stance that Livi makes, to accept him into their circle within the circle. "Evening Skinner," she greets him right back, affecting a lofty tone in her mimicry. He is a bit overdressed, after all, even with the tavern girls dressed in their usual nice work wear. June turns her face up to him, skipping the greeting in favor of a simple, "Fancy."
Skinner doesn't seem to mind being overdressed, or getting those disdainful looks from the new ladies. Grinning at Livi when she plays along, he bends low to capture her hand a plant a kiss on the back of it. "Dear lady Livi," he says, equally posh, "such a pleasure to see you again. And the lovely June," he adds, turning to her with a wide smile. He tweaks the lapels of his fancy jacket. "One of my few treasures. It was a steal." He leans to one side as he says this, murmuring for Livi out the corner of his mouth, "Literally." It's all very theatrical, though, and June's clearly meant to overhear that murmur. He brightens at her. "Would you like to try the hat?"
June may have overheard, but if she did, she reacts by simply rolling her eyes and looking out across the table, her chin balanced on raised knuckles. Livi, on the other hand, barks out a quick laugh and snatches the hat from Skinner, turning it around and flattening her poofy hair with it. "Perfect fit," she proclaims, even though it clearly is not. And that's when Valenia's entrance stirs things up again. She sweeps in from the back kitchen hastily removing an apron. "Oh, everyone's here," she notices cheerily, altering her path to greet Skinner quickly, darting over, kissing him on the cheek and moving on in her orbit around the table. "Everyone find your seats okay? Sit, sit, everything's just about finished, I'll start bringing it out in just a second. Danta, would you mind helping me? Thanks, darling." And off they go, back into the kitchen again. When they're out of earshot, Livi mutters, "She's adorable when she's playing house."
Casting a critical eye at the spectacle of the hat riding high on Livi's poofy hair, Skinner gives the matter all due consideration. Then he lifts two fingers to his lips, kisses them with an audible "mwah!" and flings them out towards Livi. "With you, it is always perfect." He smiles at Val when she darts through, presenting his cheek obediently. Then she's flitting away again, and he's left to grin at Livi. "And what do you play, Livi love?" He finds his seat on June's other side, removing his coat and resting it on the back of the chair. Without it, he fits the general dress code much better, which is surely less fun.
"I just play," Livi answers, flicking the hat before removing it and tossing it at the seated Skinner across the table, sailing dangerously close to one of the empty glasses. Then she takes her seat to June's left, joining the rest of the girls arranging themselves. Conversation around the table reveals that the two strangers in the crowd are relatively well-known, especially by Petra and Chidiree, who flank the pair in the seating on the other side of the table. Val and Danta are back then, each carrying dishes for the meal, which are then distributed about the table. "I hope everyone likes it," Valenia prattles while she uncovers a roast in a pool of dill sauce. "It's food," Chidiree comments as she reaches over for the mashed tubers, answered by a few low chuckles from her seat neighbors. Val gives her a sharp look but continues on until she reaches her chair. "Help yourself to wine or water," she says, gesturing to the two pitchers. And then, while a silence surrounds the scooping, she asks, "How was everyone's day?"
When June declines the wine, Skinner automatically turns towards Valenia on his other side, and finding her glass at the ready he beams at her. "I make sure all my merchants know where they can go to rest and relax at the end of a long day." He keeps an eye on Valenia's face to see when she thinks her glass is full enough, and at that point he lifts the pitcher away. A single spilled drop escapes him but lands on his finger; pressing the finger to his lips in the classic 'shh' symbol, he licks it off and winks at Val. "Not at all, sweets. I love window shoppers. The more people hovering around an area, the more popular it looks, and the more new people it attracts. Having more people around reassures those other buyers, who are then more willing to spend. I love the sauce you made, doll," he adds, heaping some of the dill sauce from the roast onto his (generous helping of) mashed tubers as well.
"Thank you," Valenia preens, as she takes back her wine glass and gives it a genteel sip. "It's a recipe of my mother's that I've altered just a smidge. Well, maybe we'll all have to swing by the market more often, then," she adds, looking around as if she speaks for the group as a whole. Chidiree smothers a short laugh in her water, feigning a cough following it as she focuses on her food. Valenia doesn't notice or ignores her sister heartily. "If there's anything we can do, it's to make things look attractive, hm?" Val moves to nudge an elbow at him, but catches the gesture before it lands and reins it in again to her ladylike posture.
Val reins in her elbow and Skinner reins in his smile. He doesn't work very hard at it, so the thing continues to wriggle around his lips until he gets to open them. "You sisters are an attractive lot," he agrees. Then flatters, "But good for many more things than looking pretty. Running the weyr's best bar, for example, or throwing charming dinner parties." He lifts his wine glass with a little spin that sends the liquid sloshing round and tips it towards Valenia. A toast, but an informal one that the whole table need not join unless they feel like it.
"You're such a shameless flatterer," June chimes in, now that she has her plate and drink settled, tossing a wry smile his way. Despite June's accusation, he can count Valenia supremely flattered; she returns the toast, sips, then settles into her food smiling the whole way. She doesn't seem to notice anything wrong with the meat, herself. "I just thought it might be a good idea to get us together," Valenia explains without prompting, in between bites, "now that the weather is getting cooler and it's actually /nice/ to sit around eating hot food." She wrinkles her nose at one of the unfamiliar women, who gives her a little giggle in return. "Don't you miss the cold, Skinner? Aren't you from up north originally? Or, well, you've been there, at least."
Skinner drops her a wink when Val corrects herself about his origins. "From Bitra, most recently," he agrees. "Can't say I miss it. Snow makes traveling impractical or impossible, and there were a couple of times when I either got locked out of my routes, or locked in them. Trapped in a fur trapper's cothold, even when he has good-looking daughters, isn't as much fun as you'd think." He lifts his eyebrows significantly and rolls his eyes, allowing them a moment to speculate on his suffering. "Of course, the rain out here is no better."
"Oh, rain," Val fairly sneers at the thought of it, a bite postponed so she can chat. "I would take a snowstorm over the rain here, anyday. Right?" June nods, washing down a bite with a sip before she responds, "I miss the snow. Flat hills of it, all clean and white." Livi next to her groans over her full mouth, nodding her agreement, even if she doesn't put words to it. A few of the other sisters, the ones paying attention to that corner of conversatoin, utter notes of concordance, too. "Didn't you ever go out and play in the snow?" Val wants to know. "It's fun. Maybe not more fun than the beach." A comment that garners a doubtful snort from June. "But it's a lot of fun."
Skinner saws an edge off his roast and gets to work on it while Val polls her sisters about snow. Like everyone else at the table, he doesn't remark on the rubberiness, but it does leave him still chewing when Val turns back to him. He taps his lips to explain his delay and hurries down a swallow. "Of course I went out and played in the snow," he says, setting his fork down to tweak her wrist playfully. "All work and no play makes for a dull boy. I build a mean snow fortress." He raises his brows at Livi across from him, demanding respect for his supposed fortress-building skills.
Livi catches Skinner's expression and pushes food to the side of her mouth to say, "Easy enough to claim, since we can't have you prove it." And she raises her eyebrows right back at him as a few short laughs chorus up from around the table. "See, that's what I'm saying. Where do you hear of people building sand forts?" Valenia asks, more pushing the food around her plate than eating in between all of her talk. "Well, I guess you could, but it wouldn't be as easy, or as fun really. And just try throwing sand balls," she says, giggling at the thought. "Can you imagine getting hit with a sand ball in the face? You'd have grit in your mouth for weeks." Perfect time for a bite of her roast.
Skinner draws himself up as if offended. "Livi-lovely, have I ever lied to you?" he demands, but a quick grin and a wink excuses her from needing to answer. He pushes his fork into the mashed potatoes and starts shaping them so he can ladel the sauce back into the middle of them. "You could do it," he reflects, squinting thoughtfully. "Wet sand packs together. Packs a punch, too: that stuff is heavy. So you might not want to go impuning my fortress-building skills," he adds, lifting his fork and making a quick fencing gesture at Livi before he settles down. This is a nice dinner, after all, and one ought to behave.
"Even if you do build a better fort," Livi counters, spearing a mixed bite onto her fork, "I'd watch out. I bet I have a better arm." The teasing smile she passes at him is cut short by Ruesse chiming in with a motherly, "No one is going to be throwing packed sand balls at anyone. Goodness, you'd all be blind and bruised by the end of it." June soon counters calmly, "If Skinner wants to be blind and bruised, he can challenge Livi if he wants." The laugh is restricted to her eyes as she moves her look over to the lone gentleman.
Skinner examines Livi's arm doubtfully. "I'm not afraid of a little bruising. Consider yourself challenged," he tells the tall woman, grinning broadly. "Only no face hits. I need to keep my sight, thanks." He pops a forkload of potatoes in his mouth and sneaks a glance at Val, to see if she's okay with this rough talk at her dinner table.
Valenia seems to be happy that there's any conversation at all at her dinner table, smiling cheerily as she eats bite by dainty bite. "What? What in the world do you need your sight for?" Livi demands to know. "It's not like your a crafter or anything. And no face hits makes it boring." Boring enough for Livi to back down? Quite possibly. She returns her focus to her food while he answers her.
"Doll, what /don't/ I need my sight for," Skinner replies, though his focus is on the piece of meat he's sawing off (as delicately as possible, lest Val be clued in to its toughness) right now. "I need to be able to analyze the wares that come through my market, or that I obtain outside it, and to read the ledger for my finances. That, and the value of my handsome face is not to be underestimated." He strikes a small pose, turning his cheek to the side, before popping in that piece of meat.
Livi is unconvinced of the necessity still, which she shows by giving a little half shrug and a twist of her lips. "So if you had to choose then," Valenia interrupts the teasing to ask, "one place to live, either here on the island or north on the mainland-- let's say Bitra-- without considering people or politics or anything like that," her hand gives a little flip to dismiss that silliness. "Which would you choose?" The question's clearly directed at Skinner first.
Skinner pulls up his mouth at the question, thinking it over. "Without considering any of that, huh?" He taps his fork against the edge of his plate, just a couple of times, because it doesn't take him long to decide. "The mainland. No offense to the beautiful weather or anything, doll, but there aren't many places to go here." He turns to June on his other side and passes the question along to her with a raised brow.
June's already placed a bite in her mouth by the time she realizes the question's been passed to her, so she ponders it with her eyes tilted ceiling-ward until she swallows. "Mainland," is what she also decides, explaining, "I'm not made for the sun." The near-perpetual touch of red on her cheeks and forehead will attest to that. "Or the heat. Unless the kind of heat that comes from being curled up in front of a fire." Livi doesn't wait for an inquiry to provide her own answer. "You two are crazy. The phrase is /tropical/ paradise for a reason."
Skinner laughs. "I've also heard 'winter wonderland,' doll, so I think we're tied in the battle of cliches. But there's also a reason they put exiles on islands." He walks his fingers through the air, then sinks them. "No getting off. Although the day they exile a skilled shipwright is the day we're going to need islands that also float."
Valenia sucks in a little breath and utters, "That would be kind of a bad situation, wouldn't it?" There's hardly even a pause in her talk, even though she slips in a sip of wine. "Can't exile someone if they can just sail on back. I wonder if that's ever happened before, a guy gets exiled and then finds a way off their island. And it's not like you can just stake them out for Thread any more." There's an ounce of hesitation in that last bit, as if she wasn't quite sure if this were an appropriate subject for dinnertime conversation. But she presses on regardless. "There aren't any exile islands here around Ista, are there?" Skinner should know most about this, she seems to think, for she turns to pin him with her gaze immediately.
Skinner's gaze rests on June a while longer, the amusement in it replaced by a searching look. All of it, of course, delivered from behind the social shelter of his wine glass and the drink he's taking right now. "They do indeed," he assures Valenia. "Sorry, sweets, I didn't mean to alarm you. Or distract from your fine dinner. I'll train my tongue to safer topics. Have I told you yet about my last trip around Ista, and how I got my pants stuffed with straw?" And off he goes, regaling them all with the tale of the fall festival he crashed, and good-spirited punishment he received for it. Thus the mood becomes light again, and by the time the plates are cleared everyone - including the non-sister girls - seems to have enjoyed themselves.
Location: The Lucky Seven, Ista Weyr
Date: 10-15-09
It was Valenia's little scheme that dropped that slip of an invitation into Skinner's hands. Perhaps not obvious, at first, with the too-practiced penmanship and overly wrought, formal wording, but her name, scrawled at the end with much more ease, revealed all. Now it's early dinnertime on the assigned day and the main room of the tavern has been prepared for the 'dinner party' June's young sister has arranged. Space has been cleared around one of the larger circular tables, extraneous chairs and benches shoved aside in a chaotic jumble that should be ignored. Just now the sisters, along with a couple of more unfamiliar women, cluster around it, surveying the dish settings and plain placecards with tiny titters of amusement. June takes her seat first, smile more subdued than some of her sisters', at what would be the head if there were a head; back to the bar, she leans over to share some comment with Livi hovering at her left.
The change of season means an end to the constant rain, and best yet, a temperature that's just light and breezy enough for Skinner to get away with a jacket. He's got a playfully old-fashioned swallowtail coat and a somewhat less impressive black felt hat. Both are just showpieces, and he's hardly a step in the door when he takes his hat off and offers the guests his most sweeping bow. "Good evening, ladies." He pops the hat under his elbow and strolls up to June and Livi, his eyes dancing with good cheer.
Skinner's arrival causes tiny eddies of activity in the group of girls. There's of course a general swivel of heads, even a mumbled return of his greeting. The new girls, though, give him looks bordering on disdainful and turn back to their conversation with Petra and Ruesse. And then there's the switch in stance that Livi makes, to accept him into their circle within the circle. "Evening Skinner," she greets him right back, affecting a lofty tone in her mimicry. He is a bit overdressed, after all, even with the tavern girls dressed in their usual nice work wear. June turns her face up to him, skipping the greeting in favor of a simple, "Fancy."
Skinner doesn't seem to mind being overdressed, or getting those disdainful looks from the new ladies. Grinning at Livi when she plays along, he bends low to capture her hand a plant a kiss on the back of it. "Dear lady Livi," he says, equally posh, "such a pleasure to see you again. And the lovely June," he adds, turning to her with a wide smile. He tweaks the lapels of his fancy jacket. "One of my few treasures. It was a steal." He leans to one side as he says this, murmuring for Livi out the corner of his mouth, "Literally." It's all very theatrical, though, and June's clearly meant to overhear that murmur. He brightens at her. "Would you like to try the hat?"
June may have overheard, but if she did, she reacts by simply rolling her eyes and looking out across the table, her chin balanced on raised knuckles. Livi, on the other hand, barks out a quick laugh and snatches the hat from Skinner, turning it around and flattening her poofy hair with it. "Perfect fit," she proclaims, even though it clearly is not. And that's when Valenia's entrance stirs things up again. She sweeps in from the back kitchen hastily removing an apron. "Oh, everyone's here," she notices cheerily, altering her path to greet Skinner quickly, darting over, kissing him on the cheek and moving on in her orbit around the table. "Everyone find your seats okay? Sit, sit, everything's just about finished, I'll start bringing it out in just a second. Danta, would you mind helping me? Thanks, darling." And off they go, back into the kitchen again. When they're out of earshot, Livi mutters, "She's adorable when she's playing house."
Casting a critical eye at the spectacle of the hat riding high on Livi's poofy hair, Skinner gives the matter all due consideration. Then he lifts two fingers to his lips, kisses them with an audible "mwah!" and flings them out towards Livi. "With you, it is always perfect." He smiles at Val when she darts through, presenting his cheek obediently. Then she's flitting away again, and he's left to grin at Livi. "And what do you play, Livi love?" He finds his seat on June's other side, removing his coat and resting it on the back of the chair. Without it, he fits the general dress code much better, which is surely less fun.
"I just play," Livi answers, flicking the hat before removing it and tossing it at the seated Skinner across the table, sailing dangerously close to one of the empty glasses. Then she takes her seat to June's left, joining the rest of the girls arranging themselves. Conversation around the table reveals that the two strangers in the crowd are relatively well-known, especially by Petra and Chidiree, who flank the pair in the seating on the other side of the table. Val and Danta are back then, each carrying dishes for the meal, which are then distributed about the table. "I hope everyone likes it," Valenia prattles while she uncovers a roast in a pool of dill sauce. "It's food," Chidiree comments as she reaches over for the mashed tubers, answered by a few low chuckles from her seat neighbors. Val gives her a sharp look but continues on until she reaches her chair. "Help yourself to wine or water," she says, gesturing to the two pitchers. And then, while a silence surrounds the scooping, she asks, "How was everyone's day?"
When June declines the wine, Skinner automatically turns towards Valenia on his other side, and finding her glass at the ready he beams at her. "I make sure all my merchants know where they can go to rest and relax at the end of a long day." He keeps an eye on Valenia's face to see when she thinks her glass is full enough, and at that point he lifts the pitcher away. A single spilled drop escapes him but lands on his finger; pressing the finger to his lips in the classic 'shh' symbol, he licks it off and winks at Val. "Not at all, sweets. I love window shoppers. The more people hovering around an area, the more popular it looks, and the more new people it attracts. Having more people around reassures those other buyers, who are then more willing to spend. I love the sauce you made, doll," he adds, heaping some of the dill sauce from the roast onto his (generous helping of) mashed tubers as well.
"Thank you," Valenia preens, as she takes back her wine glass and gives it a genteel sip. "It's a recipe of my mother's that I've altered just a smidge. Well, maybe we'll all have to swing by the market more often, then," she adds, looking around as if she speaks for the group as a whole. Chidiree smothers a short laugh in her water, feigning a cough following it as she focuses on her food. Valenia doesn't notice or ignores her sister heartily. "If there's anything we can do, it's to make things look attractive, hm?" Val moves to nudge an elbow at him, but catches the gesture before it lands and reins it in again to her ladylike posture.
Val reins in her elbow and Skinner reins in his smile. He doesn't work very hard at it, so the thing continues to wriggle around his lips until he gets to open them. "You sisters are an attractive lot," he agrees. Then flatters, "But good for many more things than looking pretty. Running the weyr's best bar, for example, or throwing charming dinner parties." He lifts his wine glass with a little spin that sends the liquid sloshing round and tips it towards Valenia. A toast, but an informal one that the whole table need not join unless they feel like it.
"You're such a shameless flatterer," June chimes in, now that she has her plate and drink settled, tossing a wry smile his way. Despite June's accusation, he can count Valenia supremely flattered; she returns the toast, sips, then settles into her food smiling the whole way. She doesn't seem to notice anything wrong with the meat, herself. "I just thought it might be a good idea to get us together," Valenia explains without prompting, in between bites, "now that the weather is getting cooler and it's actually /nice/ to sit around eating hot food." She wrinkles her nose at one of the unfamiliar women, who gives her a little giggle in return. "Don't you miss the cold, Skinner? Aren't you from up north originally? Or, well, you've been there, at least."
Skinner drops her a wink when Val corrects herself about his origins. "From Bitra, most recently," he agrees. "Can't say I miss it. Snow makes traveling impractical or impossible, and there were a couple of times when I either got locked out of my routes, or locked in them. Trapped in a fur trapper's cothold, even when he has good-looking daughters, isn't as much fun as you'd think." He lifts his eyebrows significantly and rolls his eyes, allowing them a moment to speculate on his suffering. "Of course, the rain out here is no better."
"Oh, rain," Val fairly sneers at the thought of it, a bite postponed so she can chat. "I would take a snowstorm over the rain here, anyday. Right?" June nods, washing down a bite with a sip before she responds, "I miss the snow. Flat hills of it, all clean and white." Livi next to her groans over her full mouth, nodding her agreement, even if she doesn't put words to it. A few of the other sisters, the ones paying attention to that corner of conversatoin, utter notes of concordance, too. "Didn't you ever go out and play in the snow?" Val wants to know. "It's fun. Maybe not more fun than the beach." A comment that garners a doubtful snort from June. "But it's a lot of fun."
Skinner saws an edge off his roast and gets to work on it while Val polls her sisters about snow. Like everyone else at the table, he doesn't remark on the rubberiness, but it does leave him still chewing when Val turns back to him. He taps his lips to explain his delay and hurries down a swallow. "Of course I went out and played in the snow," he says, setting his fork down to tweak her wrist playfully. "All work and no play makes for a dull boy. I build a mean snow fortress." He raises his brows at Livi across from him, demanding respect for his supposed fortress-building skills.
Livi catches Skinner's expression and pushes food to the side of her mouth to say, "Easy enough to claim, since we can't have you prove it." And she raises her eyebrows right back at him as a few short laughs chorus up from around the table. "See, that's what I'm saying. Where do you hear of people building sand forts?" Valenia asks, more pushing the food around her plate than eating in between all of her talk. "Well, I guess you could, but it wouldn't be as easy, or as fun really. And just try throwing sand balls," she says, giggling at the thought. "Can you imagine getting hit with a sand ball in the face? You'd have grit in your mouth for weeks." Perfect time for a bite of her roast.
Skinner draws himself up as if offended. "Livi-lovely, have I ever lied to you?" he demands, but a quick grin and a wink excuses her from needing to answer. He pushes his fork into the mashed potatoes and starts shaping them so he can ladel the sauce back into the middle of them. "You could do it," he reflects, squinting thoughtfully. "Wet sand packs together. Packs a punch, too: that stuff is heavy. So you might not want to go impuning my fortress-building skills," he adds, lifting his fork and making a quick fencing gesture at Livi before he settles down. This is a nice dinner, after all, and one ought to behave.
"Even if you do build a better fort," Livi counters, spearing a mixed bite onto her fork, "I'd watch out. I bet I have a better arm." The teasing smile she passes at him is cut short by Ruesse chiming in with a motherly, "No one is going to be throwing packed sand balls at anyone. Goodness, you'd all be blind and bruised by the end of it." June soon counters calmly, "If Skinner wants to be blind and bruised, he can challenge Livi if he wants." The laugh is restricted to her eyes as she moves her look over to the lone gentleman.
Skinner examines Livi's arm doubtfully. "I'm not afraid of a little bruising. Consider yourself challenged," he tells the tall woman, grinning broadly. "Only no face hits. I need to keep my sight, thanks." He pops a forkload of potatoes in his mouth and sneaks a glance at Val, to see if she's okay with this rough talk at her dinner table.
Valenia seems to be happy that there's any conversation at all at her dinner table, smiling cheerily as she eats bite by dainty bite. "What? What in the world do you need your sight for?" Livi demands to know. "It's not like your a crafter or anything. And no face hits makes it boring." Boring enough for Livi to back down? Quite possibly. She returns her focus to her food while he answers her.
"Doll, what /don't/ I need my sight for," Skinner replies, though his focus is on the piece of meat he's sawing off (as delicately as possible, lest Val be clued in to its toughness) right now. "I need to be able to analyze the wares that come through my market, or that I obtain outside it, and to read the ledger for my finances. That, and the value of my handsome face is not to be underestimated." He strikes a small pose, turning his cheek to the side, before popping in that piece of meat.
Livi is unconvinced of the necessity still, which she shows by giving a little half shrug and a twist of her lips. "So if you had to choose then," Valenia interrupts the teasing to ask, "one place to live, either here on the island or north on the mainland-- let's say Bitra-- without considering people or politics or anything like that," her hand gives a little flip to dismiss that silliness. "Which would you choose?" The question's clearly directed at Skinner first.
Skinner pulls up his mouth at the question, thinking it over. "Without considering any of that, huh?" He taps his fork against the edge of his plate, just a couple of times, because it doesn't take him long to decide. "The mainland. No offense to the beautiful weather or anything, doll, but there aren't many places to go here." He turns to June on his other side and passes the question along to her with a raised brow.
June's already placed a bite in her mouth by the time she realizes the question's been passed to her, so she ponders it with her eyes tilted ceiling-ward until she swallows. "Mainland," is what she also decides, explaining, "I'm not made for the sun." The near-perpetual touch of red on her cheeks and forehead will attest to that. "Or the heat. Unless the kind of heat that comes from being curled up in front of a fire." Livi doesn't wait for an inquiry to provide her own answer. "You two are crazy. The phrase is /tropical/ paradise for a reason."
Skinner laughs. "I've also heard 'winter wonderland,' doll, so I think we're tied in the battle of cliches. But there's also a reason they put exiles on islands." He walks his fingers through the air, then sinks them. "No getting off. Although the day they exile a skilled shipwright is the day we're going to need islands that also float."
Valenia sucks in a little breath and utters, "That would be kind of a bad situation, wouldn't it?" There's hardly even a pause in her talk, even though she slips in a sip of wine. "Can't exile someone if they can just sail on back. I wonder if that's ever happened before, a guy gets exiled and then finds a way off their island. And it's not like you can just stake them out for Thread any more." There's an ounce of hesitation in that last bit, as if she wasn't quite sure if this were an appropriate subject for dinnertime conversation. But she presses on regardless. "There aren't any exile islands here around Ista, are there?" Skinner should know most about this, she seems to think, for she turns to pin him with her gaze immediately.
Skinner's gaze rests on June a while longer, the amusement in it replaced by a searching look. All of it, of course, delivered from behind the social shelter of his wine glass and the drink he's taking right now. "They do indeed," he assures Valenia. "Sorry, sweets, I didn't mean to alarm you. Or distract from your fine dinner. I'll train my tongue to safer topics. Have I told you yet about my last trip around Ista, and how I got my pants stuffed with straw?" And off he goes, regaling them all with the tale of the fall festival he crashed, and good-spirited punishment he received for it. Thus the mood becomes light again, and by the time the plates are cleared everyone - including the non-sister girls - seems to have enjoyed themselves.