Afternoon Tea [Dated to 5/12]

[madeofstories]

It's taken her an entire day and most of the morning as well, but Grace is almost certain that everything is perfect. The table she's borrowed is set up in the clearing between her own hut and the stage, each place setting with its own small plate and tea cup (though some are mugs, as she's had to make due with what she could borrow from the

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[madeofstories]

It's not Grace's party. As such, Grace hasn't set a place for herself at the table, preferring instead to make sure all of Jason's guests are tended to: pouring tea, putting out more tea cakes-- there aren't many extra stashed in her hut nearby, but she's made sure to have a few at least-- and making sure everyone's going about afternoon tea the proper way.

While it's expected that Jason doesn't know how to conduct himself, she can't help but notice that some of his other friends seem uncomfortable as well. At least the words 'uncomfortable' and 'bored' don't seem to be synonymous in this case.

[prodigaljaybird]

The longer Grace doesn't sit, the more nervous Jason becomes, sure that he's doing something wrong, or is supposed to be up and filling teacups too. His cast would make the task slower, but not impossible, and finally he gets up, heading over to her. As much as he'd like to sit around and continue eating boar burgers and tiny cakes, it doesn't seem right that she's not doing it, too. "Should I - do you need help?"

[madeofstories]

"Absolutely not," Grace immediately replies, and she's already beginning to usher Jason back to his seat, "This is your party, and the guest of honor shouldn't have to worry about anything."

It would defeat the purpose to have Jason walking about doing all the work when he's supposed to be enjoying himself, after all.

[prodigaljaybird]

"You haven't even eaten anything," says Jason, surprised to find himself marched backwards towards his seat, but it's either that or run her over. "You gotta at least eat, you did all the work!"

[with_diamonds]

An invitation to an actual tea party was just about the last thing Lucy had ever expected to see in her mailbox, and not just because it was so infrequently used to begin with. Her only experience with such parties was so far back it seemed like a lifetime ago, when she'd been a different person, one of few things she'd ever made an effort to do with just her little sister; Max usually, inevitably, crashed anyway, and they ended quickly. As such, being considerably older now, she'd been skeptical upon first receiving the invitation, obviously a different practice though she knew it to be. Seeing Jason's name, though, she hadn't needed to give it a second thought. Whatever the reasoning behind it, there was no way she was going to miss it

[prodigaljaybird]

"Really?" asks Jason, sugar putting an arch in his brow that wouldn't have survived even this same morning. She looks nice, and she came to his party, even if she looks as baffled by all the finery as Jason feels. "I do this all the time."

[with_diamonds]

"And you've been holding out on me all this time?" Lucy asked, mock-affronted for all of a moment before she grinned, her nose wrinkling. She had no doubt that that wasn't the case, of course, but with as weird as all of this was, there was no harm in playing along. "I never would've guessed."

[irisewiththesun]

Zuko's pretty familiar with tea, thanks to his uncle, and especially since he and Iroh spent their time in hiding in the Earth Kingdom working at a tea shop. Nevertheless, he's not entirely sure what to expect at this party. The frilly invitation, at least, he can chalk up to something made by a girl, maybe not all that dissimilar from something Ty Lee would have dreamed up.

The invitation said formal, so Zuko's got on the outfit he wore to the Mardi Gras party. As it turns out, the invitation isn't all that bad an indicator of what the party's gonna be like.

For a moment when Zuko sees Jason, all he can think of is pulling him up through the dirt, out of the ground. Then he shakes himself mentally, attempts to adopt at least a somewhat pleasant expression, and finds a seat.

[prodigaljaybird]

Jason's eyes cut sideways after a while, away from Bucky and Eden and the ones with whom he feels most safe, towards the ones like Zuko, who he cried in front of like a stupid little boy.

"Hey," he says, because he's not going to do it again, act like he's afraid when there's nothing there to be scared of. "Eat one of the cakes, skip the flower though. It's not edible." Something Jason learned by experience.

[irisewiththesun]

"Thanks for the tip," Zuko replies with a crooked smile, picking out one of the cakes and taking a bite.

"That's good," he says after a minute of thoughtful chewing. It seems like there's never an end to the discovery of foods and other things here that are completely new to Zuko. "So it was pretty nice of your friend to throw this party for you. Her name's Grace, right?"

[onlyforthedream]

To say it was puzzling to find such a delicate looking invitation in my very recently acquired mailbox would be an understatement. Though I wasn't entirely sure who had invited me or why, the fact that the party was in Jason's honor, someone who, though a new acquaintance, has fast become good one and who has had the snot more or less knocked out of him by life, guaranteed my attendance.

The formal wear, however, I feared would be problematic. The things I had heard about the island's 'clothes box' were almost as unkind as what it allegedly dispensed. I waded through ice-cream colored linen suits for about forty minutes before I drew out something that I knew Janet would call hopelessly old fashioned.

It fit perfectly.

I'm suddenly grateful for the long teas I took with Churchill during the war. Not something a Brooklyn kid gets a lot of preparation for, and being faced with a formal afternoon sit-down tea now is about as daunting as defending a bridge or going up against a B-list villain. I think I can handle it.