[OTA] A Dinner Fit for Kings

[heartylaughter]

After his coronation, as it were, he wanted to have a chance to meet people, to let them see him face to face. So he'd asked the kitchens to prepare a dinner for as many hearts as could fit into the dining hall in Heart Castle. They'd set a table for the three faces, so they could all sit before everyone else, and let the people in to sit and eat

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[dreamsofwords]

It was a good speech, Alasdair thinks as he sits at the table the DeWitts have gathered at, listening in between refereeing a spat between his sisters Beatrix and Amelia. A comforting speech, especially in their Suit, which has gone through so much upheaval in the last year, losing multiple Jacks, multiple Aces, and King Ceiro. And it makes him confident that their Suit will do just fine in the future.

Which is an important thing to believe, even if you're like Alasdair and have no interest in the politics of the Hearts.

Usually when these sorts of things were held, Alasdair was one to slip out after the meal without getting entangled in conversations, but this time he did approach the head table. "Congratulations, Your Majesty."

[heartylaughter]

Tunde wiped at his mouth with his napkin, before he stood and offered his hand to shake Alasdair's. He had a bright cheerful smile, as his deep voice murmured "Thank you very much Alasdair. But just Tunde please, I am a man, much the same as you. I don't think I'm cut out for bowing and scraping."

He looked around the room, as some people did slip out, but some remained, holding his hands together in front of his body, one hand over the other. "Did you enjoy the food? How are your students doing?"

[dreamsofwords]

"Tunde, then," Alasdair says with an answering smile. "We aren't such a bowing and scraping sort of Suit, so I think you might be safe."

He looked around, too, catching his mother's wave as she propelled his aging father out of the room - Dougal DeWitt couldn't manage late nights these days, they made him a little loopy. "It was delicious, but Cooper wouldn't allow anything else, I think. And the students are fine. We're finishing up gothic literature with the fifteen year olds. Poetry's next."

Slight foreboding sound. Teenage poetry is a sight to behold.

[heartylaughter]

"I don't think I would have volunteered for the position in any other suit." He loosened his collar. "Next, casual Fridays. Think my work is cut out for me?"

The king waved people off absently, smiling at them as they made their way out. "I thought so, we are very lucky to have him." He raised an eyebrow at that sound "Somehow, I think you're not going to enjoy this very much. A necessary evil, I take it?"

[heartpursuit]

She's been keeping to herself since Halloween. If she was honest with herself, she'd kept to herself at Halloween, too. She mostly handed out the candy with Johnny - hadn't really talked to him, though, while they'd been doing it - and a conversation with Caleb.

This was probably the sort of thing she should go to, though, so she slipped into the dining hall and sat at a back table with other low numbers, listening and then eating.

It was fairly late when she got up, intending to slip out again before she changed her mind and came up to his table. "Congratulations, sire," she said with a slight smile. "And thank you for a lovely dinner."

[heartylaughter]

He smiled at the pretty lady, and reached to take her hand in both of his, patting the top of it gently, as he held her palm. "Thank you very much, but Tunde, please. And I think the one you should thank for the dinner is Cooper. I was merely a participant in eating it, like you. It was delicious, wasn't it?"

He patted his firm but slightly thick midsection, and sighed "It's going to be hard keeping my figure with this kind of food. I may have to forget a dinner now and again, just to keep fit."

[heartpursuit]

"Now, it could've been worse. Back home, my mama would have fried chicken and made several celebratory desserts made mostly of butter." It was getting to be that time of year, she thought. Elizabeth Benson would be back home starting on the pies for Thanksgiving in a few weeks, and she was going to need to either disappear for a few days...

Or miss, this year.

She shakes off the slight dampening of her mood, though, and smiles. "I'll probably be adding an extra mile to my run tomorrow, though."

[heartylaughter]

"That sounds both delicious and disgusting. We should both be grateful Cooper has a wider repertoire of recipes." He laughs, deep bass and hearty.

"I haven't run in years, I should consider picking up some physical activity at some point. But I'm likely too old to start stressing my knees with running, now. You are not native to the deck, if I remember correctly. Will you be going home for a holiday this winter?"

[maskofhearts]

He'd come to see Jordan, which had lead to listening to the King's speech. But for whatever good the speech did for others, Hadyn had spent most of it watching his brother with a frown on his face. And when Jordan left, Hadyn was left with an uncertain feeling growing in his stomach.

He was lost in that thought, his food untouched as he stared at the table cloth, wondering about things. The future, really. It was closer toward the end, his found long cold that he stood with the sudden realization that he didn't entirely belong to this event.

Surely they would pardon him.

[heartylaughter]

There was nothing to forgive, but Tunde had noticed the boys reactions. Jordan leaving first, and then Hadyn quietly sitting, talking to no one, not eating. When he got up to leave, Oyotunde excused himself from the other faces at the table and made to intercept him before he made it out of the dining hall.

He had no intention to embarrass him, but he was worried about him. He spoke softly "Mr Novak, is something to the matter? With your brother? With the food?" With himself and his new title? Might as well have it out if there was an issue. He couldn't fix what he didn't know about. It was gentle probing, his look concerned.

[maskofhearts]

"Uh," Hadyn said, blinking a little at the King cutting off his path of escape. He looked back at the food for a moment, before shaking his head. "No, I'm sure the food is good. Cooper wouldn't let them bring out bad food. Nor Sean."

But as for his brother, Hadyn didn't quite answer that for a moment. He just stared at the table a moment longer than he needed to before shaking his head slowly and turning back to offer Tunde a small smile. "Nothing to worry yourself over, Your Majesty. It has been a rough year, is all."

[heartylaughter]

"Just not very hungry? You didn't eat very much." He hadn't touched it at all, really, but it was rude to point out that he'd notice that much. "You can call me Tunde, Mr. Novak."

He'd have to wear signs, or a badge on his lapel 'Hello, my name is: Tunde, not Your Majesty'. Just so everyone was on the same playing field. He looked at Hadyn with concern, and lowering his voice softly "You know where my offices are, you are welcome to come talk to me if you need to get anything off your chest. If I can be of any help, young man, I want to be. My door is always open." He sounded sincere, he looked sincere. The door was open, Hadyn could walk through it if and when he wanted to.

"I hope we can make this coming year a better one."

[heartstrine]

Cooper smiles and nods when he receives the menu for the new King's first public meal. It needs a bit of tweaking to make it work, but the addition of suya, maafe and dun dun round the menu out nicely. Hearts are an experimental sort. He reckons most will likely stretch their taste buds to try a bit of His Majesty's native cuisine.

One of the perks of his job was the opportunity to hole up in the kitchen with the staff. He's there now, dressed in his chef's jacket and dungarees, shooting the breeze with the cooks who'd rather stay here sharing a glass of wine than listen to long speeches.

He'd make his appearance eventually, one of the not-perks of being an eight. Still, much as he liked Ceiro, Cooper's happy to see someone pick up the dropped reins. The Suit would run smoother now.

[heartylaughter]

Food from his homeland would make any man happy. And Tunde has spent so long away from his mother's Nigerian cooking, that the appearance of any of his native dishes on the menu come as a complete and wonderful surprise. He has several helpings of those, the kebabs particularly, and once most of the noise is over and people are eating, he has to come into the kitchens and talk to the chef personally.

He's giddy, thrilled to talk to any man (or woman) who can make good nigerian food. It's not perfect, it's missing just that little... touch of something, but it was the closest he'd come to tasting it in 17 years. "Who has made this delicious food? Tell me who so that I may give them a hug and my sincerest gratitude!"

[heartstrine]

Cooper looks up from where he's regaling his sous chef with the tale of how he added salt instead of sugar to the very first cake he ever baked (at the ripe age of eight) and smiles.

"It was a group effort, Your Majesty. We thought you'd like a taste of home. Hope we weren't too far off."

He'll accept a hug, delivering three solid claps against the other man's shoulders.

[heartylaughter]

"The whole group will get hugs then" he walks about the room giving each of the cooks and assistants a brief manly hug with the required three pats on the back before moving on to the next. Cooper is last, given a tight squeeze of gratitude before he pulls away and leans against one of the counters. "You were close enough to bring tears to my eyes. It has been almost 2 decades since I tasted anything resembling home. It was a nice feeling to eat something so familiar to my childhood."

He held up a hand "And please, just Tunde. No titles, it makes me feel older than I am." He looks around, beaming at all the faces in the kitchen. "Please do not feel forced to include dishes of my homeland in the future, but when you do, you may have to see me again for more affectionate and gratitude. You've all done an excellent job, and I wanted to thank you personally for your time and efforts."

[hamelinic]

Simeon is (was? is? probably is) a Heart. It meant their face had something of a place in these sorts of gatherings. Admittedly, Simeon's face wasn't a face that had faced any other faces (or Faces) at all in the last decade.

Which meant that Cynric's face was the face-place place-holder.

Long story short, this is a free meal by any standard. And where there's a free meal, there's at least one of the four Jokers. Tunde doesn't mind having the back of his chair leaned on and his plate examined by one of such, right? Right.

"Happy Heart Day, sir of sirs."

[heartylaughter]

He doesn't mind when he sees it coming. But he doesn't see it coming with a skewer pressed to his lips and his teeth pulling meat from it. He does a little leap inside his chair and blinks up at the joker leaning over him, with a soft cough as he almost swallows wrong, before he starts to laugh.

He sets down his food and twists to look at the Joker over his shoulder, grinning widely "Hello Joker, see something you like?" He holds up an untouched kebab, and wiggles it before Cynric. "You are welcome to one if you want it."

[hamelinic]

There's worse than startling. Much, much worse. Particularly when the startler is such a smiling fellow, and not one unknown to the startlee.

There's got to be a rhymed couplet in there somewhere. 'Startlee' has too lovely a tone to it. Or maybe just an obscure reference to a (reasonably) less-loved segment of the Poe canon. Time for that later.

Because now, as in days of old, is the right time for the jesting to perch at the edge of the table of the reigning, kebab snatched with a spine-defying twist like a bow. "And without even to sing for my supper? My word, but it does seem good to be King, newest of new."

[heartylaughter]

Wonder of wonder that is a Joker, this one doesn't fail to confuse, begile, amuse. "You can sing if you want, and being a king has its perks, and also its downsides. Being called your majesty is not to my liking. I was imagining before, a label on my chest that says 'Hello, my name is Tunde, not your Majesty.' What do you think? Will I be laughed out of the office, or will people pay attention and call me by my name?"