[Open] Let them drink tea

[royalmushroom]

Who: Peach and YOU
What: Did somebody say TEA PARTY? No? Well *I* heard it. Come drink tea and chat!
Where: The dining area
When: February 1
Warnings: C for CUTE

Winter months were always dreary, especially if it meant being stuck inside to get away from the cold. Sure, some might not mind it, but others did. Luckily, there was someone around. Someone who had made it her mission to get people to smile and be happy.

That someone was Princess Peach.

Maybe you'd come for a snack, maybe you just wanted a quiet place to eat and read. Regardless, when you entered the dining hall, Peach was there, decked out in her finest, and she'd commandeered the space. There was pink everywhere. Ribbons, tablecloths, curtains, you name it. She was brewing pots of tea in elegant china, and she had plenty of blends to choose from. Plates were filled with cookies and cakes, that she'd spent hours baking herself. "Welcome!" she would greet people with a smile. "Please, come and have a seat! The party's just starting!"

Comments

[trustycrowbar]

"Peach..?"

Flurrie wasn't the only one that recognized her. Gordon lets out a little exhalation of a laugh, and sets his coffee cup and book aside.

"Well I'll be damned. When did you get here?"

[royalmushroom]

"Hm?" Peach asked, raising an eyebrow curiously. "I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met... Perhaps you're mistaking me for someone else?" she asked in confusion.

[trustycrowbar]

"You don't remember me? Well I suppose we didn't speak all that often, but there was that one time when I and half the staff were helping you out just to get a piece of of your cake..."

He trails off as Peach's look of utter confusion continues.

"...oh hold on, I get it. Sorry, I got your confused with someone else. Sort of. A different version of yourself, that used to be at the school I worked for. I keep forgetting that it may be a small world, but it's a big multiverse."

[royalmushroom]

"Oh...!" Peach replied, tapping her chin. "I see! I've heard about that being a thing that happens around here, my apologies!"

Realizing what the situation actually was, she smiled again. "Well now, you've got another chance to get a piece of my cake! That is, if you're interested!" she offered with a giggle.

[tempus_fixit]

"My name's Lucca! You're really a princess?"

It wasn't that Peach didn't look like one of anything. It wasn't that there weren't princesses already on the island either. Lucca's nevertheless surprised to suddenly find herself being served tea by one.

[mach_n_roll]

"Sure thing!"

Sonic isn't the biggest fan of sweets, but there was plenty there that gave a tasty argument for growing a sweet tooth. A quick blur around the table, and suddenly the little guy is triumphantly balancing some plates and standing on tiptoe just to show off. He's slower in his saunter to take a seat.

[trustycrowbar]

"I am absolutely interested. As a matter of fact, I found myself wondering since then just what it was like to have some of your cake. I'd heard it was incredible."

He scoops up his sparse effects again and lopes to a table, actually pulling out a chair for her before taking his own.

[royalmushroom]

"Oh dear! Are you sure you can carry all of those?" she asked, but before he could even answer he just set all the plates down. She breathed a sigh of relief, smiled, and sat across from him to pour him some tea." So, why don't you tell me a little about yourself?" she asked curiously, sliding the cup towards him.

[will_be_god]

"Yes. This place was formerly a school...I suppose that was a universe ago." It wasn't the world he wanted. But it was something he could shape...

"We have revitalized it from there, but we have so...very far to go."

[garmentgoddess]

"I'd love to join you sometime if you wouldn't mind." She turned her attention to the tea. "What type do you suggest? I'm not up on all this."

[royalmushroom]

"Yes indeed, I'm a princess!" she laughed at the question as she offered the cup to Lucca. "Is that so surprising?" she asked curiously.

[royalmushroom]

"Such a gentleman!" Peach giggled as she fluffed her skirt and took a seat at the chair he pulled out for her. "Just for that, you deserve a nice big piece of my cake," she replied. "Not to toot my own horn, but I've been told it's to die for," she smiled, first picking up the teapot to pour him a cup.

[royalmushroom]

"Goodness, a school?" Peach asked, glancing about the room. "You wouldn't know it to look at this place, to be sure. Well, now that I'm here, I'll do what I can to help! Won't you have a seat? I'll pour you some tea!"

[royalmushroom]

"I wouldn't mind that at all," Peach replied with a nod, smiling and gesturing for her to sit. "I've made some simple chamomile tea here," she explained, pouring a cup. "Nothing too exotic, so you should be able to get a feel for if you like it or not!" She offered the cup to Rene to try.

[royalmushroom]

Peach got over the mild confusion quickly, and her smile returned, as she offered her hand. "My name is Princess Peach! It's a pleasure to meet you, Turing," she replied. "I wouldn't worry about that, some good food and company should be plenty to draw a crowd, if you'd like to stay a while!"

[tempus_fixit]

"Well, yes and no. I met other princesses too, but they never looked the part like you do."

In other words, Marle is a tomboy and most of the other princesses she met could either knock a man out, or carried a sword that weighed roughly as much as THEY did. Peach, on the other hand, seems to rock the prim princess thing so hard that it's hard to believe she's the real deal.

"What kingdom are you from?"

[royalmushroom]

To be fair, Peach looks pretty AND can knock a man out.

"Well, I'll take that as a compliment," Peach replied with a girly giggle. "I'm from the Mushroom Kingdom! Although I don't suppose you know of it? There are so many people from alternate dimensions around here, after all."

[romsapience]

Just as they suspected! They were dealing with royalty here! Turing had never had to introduce themselves to royalty before, but a quick look into their database caught them up on what to do in a second. They took Peach's hand and shook it. "It's nice to meet you too, Your Royal Highness, Princess Peach," they responded. Wow, that was a mouthful. Still...it was the polite thing to say, right?

"Actually, I was hoping that you might have an idea on where we are," they then brought up. "A little while ago, I just...woke up here with no recollection of where this is. I can't seem to connect to the mesh and even looking outside through the windows isn't providing me with enough clues. I can only deduce that I'm not in Neo-SF anymore, but...where are we?"

[royalmushroom]

"Please, call me Peach!" she giggled at the formal declaration, shaking Turing's hand back.

"Oh dear, I suppose what happened to me also happened to you," she replied. "I was in my palace one moment, and then in this mansion the next! It was without warning, too! I'm not sure what happened... Although I DO know this place is on a floating island, and there doesn't yet seem to be a way to leave, at least not that I've noticed," she explained.

[romsapience]

"Ah, noted. I'll just refresh my protocols for addressing you by your name only," Turing remarked, a little beep emitting from them afterwards. Welp, protocols refreshed.

The robot then leaned in a bit closer to the princess as she told her story. "I can't believe it's not just me that just appeared here without rhyme or reason! And on...a floating...island? Excuse me, let me take a look outside..." Turing walked briskly to the window, trying to hide the fact that they were panicking on the inside.

Yep. Beyond the mansion there was just endless sky...without a ground. Yep. Okay. Nothing wrong with that.

Everything was wrong.

"H-How could this have happened?!" they yelped. "In all of my observations and within all of my knowledge in my database, I've never heard of a floating island before! This is impossible! And we're so high up too, there's no way to tell of any significant landmarks down below, so we can't even get the proper coordinates for where we are! This is bad, this is real bad!!"

[royalmushroom]

"Oh my, please, don't panic! It'll be okay!" Peach tried to reassure the robot, getting up to put her hands on their shoulders. "I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of this!"

[romsapience]

Feeling the weight on Turing's shoulders seemed to help ground them back into reality. They sighed. "You're right. I apologize for my sudden outburst, Peach."

It did make them wonder, though - Peach was right, there HAD to have been a perfectly good explanation for this, but what? "There's nothing that happens without a reason, no matter how big or small. I wonder if this mansion itself holds the key to why we were taken from our homes to up here?"

[royalmushroom]

"It's quite all right," Peach told them, relieved she could get them calmed down to a degree. "I think it's entirely likely," she added. "But we're going to have to work together to find out what. And part of that is seeing to the well-being of our new friends here. That's why I've set up this party, to do my small part to help out!"

[romsapience]

"Excellent point," Turing concurred. "I'm so used to being given the runaround that it seems like it's the only option! Hm, perhaps I need to restart a few of my settings, it's not like I'm in investigative mode right now..." they then trailed off before they started spouting out science-y jargon.

Instead, they turned their attention to the different pastries - it would be a shame to overlook all of them, and rude to boot! "Did you make all of these yourself, Peach?" they asked, "This is impressive! For once, I wish I had taste buds so I could try them all."

[royalmushroom]

"Well just remember," Peach said with a warm smile, "we're all in this together! And we're going to help each other, and get all of us back home!"

She clapped her hands together eagerly at Turing's question. "Why yes! Yes I did!" she beamed. "I was up all night baking, but it was well worth it, I think!"