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The Perk, Tuesday Afternoon

Marzipan was a much more substantial treat than powdered sugar, which was excellent from a snacking perspective, but less so for walking around and getting pelted, as Liliana had discovered on her trek from MHA to the Perk. Still, necessity was the mother of invention and before she was halfway to the coffeeshop, she'd already been sending instructions to her steward about what she needed.

She'd just settled in with a cup of hot caramel apple cider when her steward arrived and handed over her requested items: one of her umbrellas, a sturdy needle, and some thick thread, almost twine. The third item she needed, disposable cups, were not something she had at the mansion, but was also something the coffeeshop had in spades. With a smile and some soft words of appreciation, she accepted the elements of her craft project and immediately set to work, sipping on her cider and humming snatches of the song she'd woken up singing on Saturday.

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Stark, never one to turn down free food (except for the occasional horrifying Summer concoction) had gone out with a large empty bag and collected some marzipan as he walked.

He should have warn a hat as well but hadn't thought of that.

"Liliana," he said, nodding. "Hello. Are you... what are you making?"

He'd get around to ordering something in a minute.

"Stark," she greeted, not looking up from her work. "I am modifying an umbrella to catch all of the marzipan that hits the canopy."

Finishing up a row of stitches, she held it up to show him. Currently, there were three of the Perk's to-go cups attached to the outer edge of her umbrella. "I don't want to be hit by the falling marzipan, but I do wish to collect it."

Because she was secretly a little sugar gremlin.

Lili, it was time to acknowledge your sugar gremlin self! No need for secrets.

"Clever," he said, nodding again. "I just brought a bag to catch some in."

He was very open about being a sugar fiend.

"I like this better than yesterday's weather."

She acknowledged it plenty. After all, she'd spent much of yesterday evening trying to catch powdered sugar on her tongue. It was other people who rarely got to see that side of her. Liliana was a woman of secrets and mystery by choice.

"Yesterday's weather was so pretty," she countered. "...If a bit frustrating to get out of my hair."

But that had just meant she'd needed to press Ignis into the arduous task of washing her hair for her, which had been a terrible hardship for both of them, truly.

As yet another example of totally-not-boyfriendy behavior.

Extremely not-boyfriendy. As someone who was definitely not a boyfriend himself Stark could understand!

"It got sticky," he said. "But it was pretty to look at. I didn't have any problems with my hair, at least."

Because he kept it closely shaven.

"But I was still very sugary."

Happily someone he definitely wasn't dating had offered assistance in cleaning him up!

"And it was delicious," Liliana said, going back to attach another cup. "I didn't much mind being sugary, though. It didn't get on much of my skin."

It wasn't like Liliana had been the one doing all of the sweeping or would be responsible for the laundry. Perish the thought.

It had been all over Stark's head and neck. Somehow that had been less of an issue once he had gotten to Summer's in the evening.

"I'd much rather eat the sugar than be covered in it. But I don't mind it very much. I like it better than regular snow and much better than some other things the island does in winter."

"I am not a fan of regular snow, no," Liliana said, lip curling. "Winter as a whole is generally far more dreary and unpleasant than I'd like."

On the plus side, who needed a SAD lamp when you could literally just leave the plane for a warmer one?

"...What other things does the island do in winter?" she added, suspiciously. Because, yes, she was definitely seeing how the island liked to play little games.

"I don't like the cold," Stark said. "And... once an inflatable reindeer tried to kill me? Sometimes the water in the pipes turns into something that isn't water at all. The snowmen have attacked, before. Sometimes the lights? The gremlins start singing... all sorts of odd things."

Had he left out the mistletoe? Oops.

"What," she had to ask, "is an inflatable reindeer?"

Liliana Vess out here asking the real questions.

"Being attacked by light, hmm? How terrible that must be to experience."

"I didn't attack you!"

Light attacks were kind of the realm of the other character that had pinged into the post. Sort of.

"The little lights. The decorations." He pointed at a strand on the counter. "Those. And the reindeer was a decoration for a party. Usually Annie and Summer have one, for Christmas. And then it had teeth and tried to kill me."

Liliana just sipped her cider.

"I just met Annie," she said, changing the topic slightly for no reason at all. "It seems doubtful that she will be hosting any such parties in the near future. Does that mean Summer will be hosting it alone, or will Christmas being going unfêted?"

Stark had done zero attacking! Not even a little! He'd been used.

"I don't know if there will be a party," he said. "I haven't heard. But it wouldn't be mine. Maybe they're both taking this year off. I don't know."

Ssssssiiiiiiiiiip.

"I think anyone suggesting to a person who just bore twins that they should also host a holiday party should legally be able to be used as target practice for whatever weapons the parent deems acceptable," Liliana declared.

Listen, she might be neutral evil but even she had a sense of right and wrong.

He'd been used and only one person in this conversation had been actually harmed directly by the other!

"I wasn't planning on suggesting anything to Annie," Stark said. "And if Summer wants to have a party she will. Maybe she doesn't. Or not without her friend."

Point of order: if she hadn't drained him and he'd continued 'helping,' she'd be dead, so...

"I didn't say you were," she said mildly. "Just noting in general. I do not see you as having the gall to tell a new mother what to do with her time, Stark."

Counterpoint: Stark had been just as stuck at that point as she was. So there.

He made a non-committal noise to that observation. He said plenty of things to plenty of people, at times. This was not going to be one of those times.

"You could have another party," he pointed out. "For the winter."

You can't complain when you trip into somebody's security system!

"Oh, I intend to have my hands full killing another demon soon," she said, in the same tones someone would explain they were too busy setting up a garden party elsewhere. "I won't have time to throw a proper party, you understand."

Stark's narrative could complain if it wanted to. So there.

"...oh?" he asked after a moment. "Not anyone here I hope?" He didn't think they had demons on the island but he really had no idea.

"Did they do something to you?"

Were they one of the scary men he'd seen in her head?

"If it were, it seems exceedingly foolish to say so," Liliana pointed out. "So my answer would be no regardless, now wouldn't it?"

Comforting answer, surely.

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The Perk, Tuesday Afternoon

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