2025-04-13 - Sandwiches at the Castle

Sometimes there are big events held in the Queen's Castle, and sometimes when those events are over and there's a lot of leftover food and party favors, the employees get a little note on the Employee Forum letting them know that there's goodies for grabbing on a first-come first-served basis.

That is the case this evening. A conference held at the castle has just gotten out and there are still trays of desserts sitting out that are decorated with the company colors. There are little gift bags that contain miniature racing cars in red, black, and white. There are hors d'oeuvres a-plenty. It all seems to be up for grabs by whoever comes to take it.

Emerson was working the event, handling the carving station, and so he is assembling sandwiches out of the leftover ham, turkey, and prime rib and passing them out to whoever wants to take a sandwich.

For being an athlete type, Lilibet isn't much of a cook. She's good at knowing what she should be eating, but if there's free food, there's free food. She can always do more exercise later. So she is one of the ones that almost always responds to the free food offers from the events in the Queen's Castle.

"Hey." She greets Emerson with a grin, looking up. "Two, please."

She is holding a second plate. It has nothing but desserts on it.

Emerson glances up from where he's cutting and carving and offers Lilibet a smile. "What kind? Ham? Turkey? or Prime Rib? Or two of each?" he asks as he nods to her plate. "If so, you're going to need a bigger plate." He waits, knife poised, ready to make whatever it is that she requests.

"You are.. in the mermaid show, right?" he asks. "I haven't been here too long but I've caught some of the shows." He makes a little conversation while he goes about preparing the sandwiches.

"That's me!" She lifts up her left leg, pressing her foot into her right thigh. She's beaming, and if she didn't have occupied hands, would likely be doing double v-for-victory signs. "Lilibet Bailey, aka Pearl of the Golden Coral for the shows. You can also just call me Lili, I know it's a weird first name."

"Double prime rib, please - thanks. If I'm still hungry I'll loop back around." Or attempt to take off with the entirety of the rest of the prime rib.

"I've just hit my one year anniversary. You do events, or serving?"

"Emerson," he introduces himself. "Nice to meet you, Lili."

When she gives him her order, he goes about cutting off some slices of prime rib and setting it on the fresh bread. He makes two sandwiches and then sets them on the plates before gesturing to the available toppings -- grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, some cheese, some au jus, and creamy horseradish sauce.

"I work at the Château des Ténèbres over on the Boo'edwalk in the kitchen." He gestures toward the carving station. "Line Chef. Grill work." Then he offers. "Happy Anniversary," with a smile.

"Thanks! I'm happy to be here. If you've not been here too long, how long is that?" As he explains where he works, Lilibet's eyes widen, and a grin crosses her face. "Oh, good to know where my new friend works." She says cheerfully. "I don't like cooking. I don't really do it, but I eat, um..."

A look at her plates. "A lot." She says. "Dolphin swimming is calorie heavy."

"How are you finding life on Spellbound?" She asks, after a moment. "You know, all the magic."

"Oh, about two months now," Emerson asks when she asks how long he's been here. "I arrived on Valentine's Day, actually." Which makes the date fairly easy to remember. He chuckles when she calls him her new friend. "I do a lot of cooking, but then it's my job. And I just like to do it." He glances over at her plates and smiles, "Good. We have a lot of leftovers here and while some of it can go back to be used for other things, some of it can't. May as well give it away."

When she asks how he's finding life in Spellbound, he glances around and says, "I can honestly say that I've never lived or worked anywhere quite so interesting before." He smiles. "Lots of cool people. And of course, the magic. Just getting to see some of the creatures and the abilities that people have is impressive. How about you?"

"Aw, cute! Right in the middle of ... the bunny thing I heard about. I wasn't involved in that. Didn't get lucky enough, I suppose." Just because she didn't get a bunny didn't mean she didn't hear about the snugglebunnies. There was a post on the employee forums and everything.

"Recycling, saving food, that sort of stuff is a good thing, and I'm not just saying that to get on your good side. There's a reason I picked the corals for my mer-name, you know?"

Looking across the options finally, she hmms. "I'll take a bit of everything." It's a good thing she doesn't have allergies, yeah. "I think it's fascinating. No idea how or why things happen. Just that they do. Some people have really useful stuff, some maybe not as much, some doesn't make sense - some of my abilities are water-based, some aren't."

"I saw them," Emerson says, of the bunny creatures. "They're very cute. They were pink and now they're grey, but they still have the alien eyes. I didn't find one, but I've seen other people with them."

He smiles and says, "I'm not the one who makes the policies, so it's not really something you'd need to do to get on my good side," Emerson points out. The park makes the policies. He just prepares the food.

He adds some cheese to the sandwiches, some onions and mushrooms, then puts it under the heater to melt the cheese before adding a side of the au jus and the horseradish sauce for dipping. Then, he passes the plate back to her with everything on it.

He nods along as she makes her observations about the magic. "Mine are handy," he says. "I can heal. That's not a bad thing to have in a kitchen where accidents sometimes happen. And I can manipulate plants, which is fun when working in the community garden. What are yours?"

Ravin works not far away, so they, too, have come to grab some food. They have the look of someone who has taken off their stage make-up, but not bothered with putting on street make-up. They're wearing purple stretch velvet pants and a slouchy teal blouse. "The snuggle bunnies are adorable trouble-makers. Somehow, between the two of us, my boyfriend and I have ended up with three. The person who had his bunny's match needed to leave the island for family reasons."

"They went to grey? I don't really know too many that got them, so that's news - they probably are still super adorable." A voice chimes in, and without a free hand, Ravin is greeted with a raise of sandwiches from Lilibet. "Sweet of you to take them in. Does the third bunny get to sit with its' match?" She asks.

"I know, I know, park versus personal policies, but still~."

"Healing is super useful, yeah. I uh... my primary trick is illusions. Nothing too crazy, but up there. I can also hold my breath for super long, which is good, but then I can also shape shift." She finds a nearby table, puts the dessert plate down, and chows down into a sandwich. Yum.

Emerson glances up and over at Ravin as they approach and smiles. "Sounds cute. Can I get a sandwich for you?" He gestures at the food in front of him.

Then he nods to Lilibet and says, "Illusions seem like they would be a lot of fun. So does shapeshifting. I'm happy with what I got, though." He has no complaints.

Ravin grins. "They have gone grey, yes. They're still extremely cute, though. And all three snuggle together if given a chance. They can be separated from their partners without crying, though. But they can't really leave the islands." They look to Emerson. "Prime rib, please. Just one, though. What do you do? I do illusions and light manipulation, and a little bit of changing my features."

"I'm trying to figure out how to do the illusions with the mermaid shows. If I can do something underwater it's can be a fun way to make it more lively." A pause. "Oh right, new. Jjjjjuuuust-" Yes, she's drawn the word out- "For the record, if you happen to see a Canadian lynx running around, especially on Crescent, don't freak out."

"I've not heard of anyone that's truly been disappointed with their powers, but I also haven't asked everyone." She shrugs. It's not something she truly cares about to be extremely nosy, but she'll ask if she thinks about it.

"Snugglebunnies... it's SO cute..." She sighs deeply, seemingly in imagination land of, well, snugglebunnies.

Emerson goes about slicing some more of the prime rib onto another roll for Ravin, gesturing to the toppings and then adding whatever else they'd like to the sandwich before warming it a bit and handing it over. "I can heal. And manipulate plants," he says to Ravin. "I like to work in the community garden over at Deer Hollow."

"I haven't really, either," Emerson says to Lilibet, "But I also haven't really asked many people about theirs, either. And I haven't been here as long."

Ravin chuckles, "I've run into at least one who seems somewhat annoyed by his powers. I suspect anyone truly disappointed would leave." He adds the mushrooms, onions, and cheese. "I like the community garden just as space to enjoy, but I'm not great with plants. So that's a great kind of magic."

Aaron He walks into where everyone has gathered. He is dressed in a nice pair of blue jeans with some sneakers and a button-down shirt with the sleeves partly rolled up. His hair is down except for the right side, which is tightly braided along his head. He has a book bag on his back with a pair of grey ears partly sticking out from inside, he is humming to himself, and he seems to have ear buds in listening to music.

"Eh, that's a point. I kind of imagine employee turnover and retention is a ... odd topic here."

"Annoyed... that does make sense for a couple of things." Not every power, but some. "The gardens are very pretty. I don't make it out to the other islands too much, though. I like working the mermaid show too much." Lili admits with the grace of a workaholic.

"A... are those bunny ears?" She asks, glancing over at Aaron.

"The garden I'm talking about is just at one of the apartment complexes on Crescent Island," Emerson explains. "Deer Hollow. It's the one that I live in." Once the toppings are all added, he passes the sandwich to Ravin and gets another one started for the next person in line even as they continue to converse.

There's a glance over toward Aaron as he arrives and when Lilibet points out the ears sticking out of the bag, he can't help but look, too, curiously. "They don't eat meat do they?" He suspects not, and thus doesn't offer any ham to the rabbit. Instead, he asks Aaron, "Would you like a sandwich? We've got turkey, ham, and prime rib." And from the looks of more people coming over toward the sandwich station, it's about to be going fast.

Ravin turns to see Aaron and smiles warmly. "Speak of the devils and apparently they shall appear. Hey, sweetie. And... Five... I'm assuming CC is just tucked in more tightly." They offer Aaron a kiss to the cheek. "Once you've got your sandwich we should move away to let other people have a chance."

Aaron grins spotting Ravin, he pulls his ear buds out and tucks them away. "Hi hon." he looks behind as another pair of ears show as they hear Ravins voice, "They wanted out so I brought them with me." he chuckles, looking to Emerson, "I'll take rib eye please." he moves to return the ekiss to their cheek and smiles moving to stand out of the way. "It's been a while since I took them out."

"... One of the apartments has a garden?" Here's hoping Lilibet's not at Deer Run.

"You're welcome to sit with me. I don't bite." She invites the pair. "Especially if those are snugglebunnies I'm seeing pop up there."

"I know faces, but not names...?" She offers. "Lilibet. Lili."

Ravin nods. "Deer Hollow. I think he misspoke, accidentally combined it with Fox Run, but it's at Deer Hollow. Aaron and I both live there. And yeah, those are snuggle bunnies." He sets his plate down and pulls out a seat for Aaron, then takes one for himself.

Aaron nods when he gets his plate, moving to follow and pull his bok bag off before moving to take a seat, "You can hold one if you like, they really do love to snuggle." he looks to Ravin, "Thank you." he grins, he is thanking him for pulling out the seat for him. "Hi Lili, I am Aaron and this is Ravin." he puts the note pad down on the table and he looks tired, "What do you do in the park Lili?" he grabs CC and gently hands the snuggle bunnie that does not look like a bunnie at all to Lili.

"Oh, that's fair. Words are easy to mix up. Nice to meet you two." Lilibet picks at her sandwich for a moment, until she realize she's being handed a snugglebunny.

She accepts this precious gift, because of course they are precious.

"I'm a performer - a mermaid. I work on Spellbound, at the lagoon." Then she quietly squees as she pets the small creature.

Ravin chuckles. "I'm in a show at the amphitheater. Aaron, here, is a photographer for the park. I've seen the mermaid show, I love it." They take another bite of their sandwich and lean just a little into Aaron's side.

Aaron smiles at Ravin as they lean into him, he leans over to kiss temple. "I was a photographer for the park, well still am I guess but." he looks betwen the two, Five slimbs out of the bag and up into Ravins lap to curl up. CC watches Lili with its large black eyes a soft trill like song coming from it. "I have been made part of the new magic deparment."

"The mermaid show is a thing of love. At least on my end. I'm glad more than just the tourists are enjoying it. I don't know if I've caught one your amphitheater shows, I'll have to make sure I do."

CC watches her, and she watches him back. "Hello, little darling. I apologize for the noises. Cannot resist."

"Ah - congratulations on the promotion?"

Ravin beams at Aaron. "Oh, excellent. I knew you were interested, but I wasn't sure if it was going to be a full time job for you or just a part time thing."

Aaron grins at Ravin nodding, "Yeah, I been put on the team to take count on the magical animals and creatures in the park and tasked with trying to speak to the water dragon." he looks to Lili, "Thank you." he grins at CC as he tries to curl up under her chin, he looks to Ravin, "I am on a team with two others, Jacob and Birdie." he takes a bite of his sandwish, "Oh thats good." he mms. "Also we are allowed to tell people who work in the park what we are doing. But no one is allowed to talk to media, that has to go through HR and such."

"Smart move to go ahead and allow talk with employees ok. I know me - if it's something I'm interested ... well. Better start talking."

She continues to cuddle her snugglebunny and listen. This is fine with her!

Ravin nods. "Good. And yes, telling other employees is good, but I can see how they'd want to control messaging to the outside world. I look forward to hearing about your adventures. And, as always, if you need my help with anything, just ask." They pet Five with one hand while eating with the other and give Lilibet a nod at her comment.

Aaron smiles at Ravin, their support in this means the world to them, "It might me long days." he looks to Ravin, "There is alot to get done and yeah, I like for you to come with me and a few others to check something out." he smiles. "Can you live with me coming in sometimes late." he looks over at CC while he snuggles Lili and he shakes his head, "Srsly you will snuggle with anyone."

Ravin gives Aaron a slightly incredulous look. "Of course, sweetie. And I'm used to late nights and long days. I'm in theater. I'm not going to stop liking you because your schedule has changed."

Aaron smiles, "I just like to make sure we are both on the same page, a habbit I got use too." he bites his bottom lip looking to his sandwish nodding his head. "I am bth excited and a little scared."

Ravin kisses Aaron's cheek. "That's what embarking on a new adventure usually feels like to me."

Aaron leans into Ravin smiling, "I am just glad I am not doing it on my own, I be so lost on where to start." he chuckles, his hand touches ravins cheek and then pets Five looking to the snugglebunny tilting his head.

Ravin turns his head to kiss Aaron's hand. "Nope, not alone."

Aaron smiles softly, "I want to try and test something." he looks to CC then to Ravin, "Do you speak any language other then english?"

"ASL at a more or less conversational level and a little bit of Vietnamese. Why?" Ravin responds.

Aaron hmms, "Cause when I tried to talk to the water dragon it felt like I was so close I just couldn't understand it and I am wondering if there is something I don't know about myself or a magic that hasn't shown itself with me yet."

Ravin hmms. "Interesting. Maybe a new power of yours is close to developing, then."

Aaron nods his head, "There so much going on Ravie, its over whelming to think of it at times." he leans into his boyfriend. "Makes my head hurt."

Ravin awwws. "Well, let's finish eating and go home and I can give you a scalp massage. How's that sound?"

Aaron nods his head, "That sounds perfect." he kisses Ravins cheek and goes back to his sandwich. "I cnan tell you what I am dragging you into as well when we get back home." he smiles.

Ravin grins. "Sure." He finishes his sandwich and hands over Five. "I'm going to go get a couple of the deserts for the bunnies."

Aaron takes five, "Alrright." he smiles hugging Five then slipping him into the book bag, he retrives CC as well and slips him in. He made a soft nest in there for them and zips the bag up half way. He finishes off his food as well and sighs softly watching Ravin get the deserts, a goofy lop sided smile on his face.

Ravin returns with deserts for the snuggly ones. And also a couple for themself and Aaron. He slips the little plate of deserts for the buns in with them. "Shall we?"

Aaron nods his head getting up and getly putting the book bag on his back and moving to take Ravins hand, "Yeah lets head home, they should be stuffed when we get back so the zoomies shouldn't be to bad." he laughs.

Ravin takes Aaron's hand and heads out.