Tibbers' Tea Party - [Open]

[Ryu Hime]

It was in the morning hours of the day. The sun has risen halfway into the sky. There was a small round table in the middle of a garden of white roses. The flowers were not yet in full bloom, but their sweet scent filled the air. The weather was fair; only a slight breeze blew through the garden. On the table was a teacup sat at each seat. Each cup was filled with orange tea. The scene was so quiet that one could hear a rose petal land into a cup of tea. The table had four chairs and three of them were occupied. In the seat towards the sun sat a huge teddy bear that was three times the size as Anii. The bear had short brown fur and his butt was quite obviously too big for the chair. The bear wore a black top hat with a grey ribbon around the bottom just above the lip. Tucked into the ribbon was a card. The card was the size of an average playing card and it said 10/6. His shadow stretched across the table to the chair on the other side. In this chair sat a stuffed brown rabbit. Its left ear pointed straight into the air, while the other flopped down and covered its one eye. In the chair to the left of the rabbit sat Anii. Anii sat perfectly still with her eyes shut as if she was asleep. She wore a light blue dress with a matching ribbon in her hair. Her hair was pink and it flowed down her head and gently kissed her shoulders. Thanks to a bit of make up her skin was pale as a freshly winter snow with cheeks as red as holly. To anybody that would pass by, they would think of her as a doll. She breathed ever so softly that one would not even notice. Her hands held each other and lay on her lap. Her legs were crossed and dangled an inch off the ground. Time seemed to move slowly as the tea party waited for another guest to appear. On the table in front of the empty seat laid a letter. The envelope was sealed with a kiss and perfumed with lavender. Within the envelope was an invitation to the tea party now going on. The invitation was hand written in red ink and on the bottom was Anii’s signature. On top of the letter sat a little mouse figurine as a paper weight. The piece was jade and stood on its hind legs. Its thin tail wrapped around its waist. Its forefeet were pressed together as if it was praying. Its head was bowed, eyes closed shut and ears laid flat against its head.

[MFT]

 

[Yukari]

Mid-morning had come about in a dazzling fashion, as Hikari found herself, quite by accident, in the midst of a garden. Her long, unruly russet mane was unhampered by any ornaments. Her steps heavy and not at all fit for the delicacy of a small child's tea party, yet here she was. Now, Hikari had never been much for tea parties with animal friends. Her friends had been dashing rogues in works of fiction. Also, she was a touch loud. The silence was nearly stifling and she wasn't sure, but she thought she'd heard a rather improbable sound- that of a rose petal impacting the surface of a tea cup? Frankly she found it to be a bit awkward.

The woman, not one for quiet contemplation, coughed to announce her presence. "Hello." She said as she waved. "How're things?" She asked, looking around at the oddly idyllic setting. Of course, it looked like a tea party, but the only childlike creature in sight, had a strange pallor and stillness that was not at all childlike. "Anybody here?"

 

[Ryu Hime]

The teddy bear spoke to Hikari, but it was a little weird when he spoke. His mouth was nothing but fabric so it didn't move. A voice would just emanate from him. The reason it could talk was because there was a demon sealed within. There was a demon sealed in both of them. “Welcome to my tea party, my name is Tibbers.” There was then a laughter coming from the bunny. “Welcome to the party my Red Queen. We were not expecting someone of such greatness to join us.” The rabbit thought such a name was fitting with such red hair. “Alice my dear girl, wake up the final guest has arrived.” Anii only and let out a yawn, for she fell asleep in such a quiet setting. She then sees Hikari and a big smile stretches across her face. “Would you like to play, it will be fun.” Being with her stuffed friends was getting boring. She was quite interested in talking with another human.

 

[Yukari]

As Hikari greeted the party, the bear turned and spoke to her. Or rather, something spoke through it. "Welcome to my tea party, my name is Tibbers.” Hikari's expression turned from one of curiosity to mild alarm. This was a bit creepy. She held up her hand and moved her fingers in a reluctant half wave.

“Welcome to the party my Red Queen. We were not expecting someone of such greatness to join us.” The rabbit said, his voice carrying over to the little porcelain skinned thing which sat at another place at the table. “Alice my dear girl, wake up the final guest has arrived.” At that the little thing yawned and blinking awake as she saw Hikari, her face split into a grin. The others had not mouths to smile with, but this one had. Hikari had the briefest of inclinations to back away slowly... but as she placed a hand on her hammer, she remembered that these small things were not likely a threat to her. So, remembering a story with rabbits and mice, and Alices, and Red Queens, she lifted her chin and looked down her nose as haughtily as she could.

"Would you like to play, it will be fun." The small one asked, her smile still eager. It'd been a long time since Hikari had played, but she tromped as lightly as she could toward the last chair and said "A queen does not 'play'." In her best imitation of the haughtiest of nobles she'd met. And then, she winked.

 

[Ryu Hime]

Anii practically leaps out of her chair in excitement and runs over to Hikari. “Please allow me your majesty.” Anii pull out the chair for Hikari to sit. “Oh, and do not fret about the other two. They may be demons, but they are harmless until the seal breaks, but that should not happen I sealed them myself.” It was a statement that most likely made Hikari even more unease. For one what kind of child could seal a demon and how stable can a seal made by a child be? “So what brings the Lady of hearts to this sacred garden?” The location that Hikari was in was a garden just behind the Tsubaki estate. In fact one could easily see the building from here. The Tsubaki clan is known to be very religious and to be made up of primarily samurai and priestesses, which might explain the little girl’s powers in the art of sealing demons.

 

[Yukari]

Hikari watched, looking down her nose at the child, as she pulled the chair for her. "Please allow me your majesty.”

"Quite." She said, sitting.

“Oh, and do not fret about the other two. They may be demons, but they are harmless until the seal breaks, but that should not happen I sealed them myself.” The girl said seeming quite earnest.

"That statement would not inspire confidence no matter who you were or how old." She said inwardly feeling both doubt and anxiety about the stability of said seals. Outwardly she was cool as snow.

“So what brings the Lady of hearts to this sacred garden?”

"A great and terrible thing. Someone..." She hushed her voice and leaned forward, "Has planted the incorrect roses." She took a breath as if to steady herself. "I WANTED RED ROSES!" She roared, in a way that would most likely alarm anyone sitting at the table, slamming her hands down. "Those are White roses." She looked around, snarling. "We must find the traitor."

 

[Ryu Hime]

Another interesting figure walks into the scene. Though despite her appearances she was not one of Anii’s toys nor was she a demon. "Traitor you say? Do you not realize where you are your Highness? You are in the kingdom of the White Queen, my mother. I do hope my little friend is not bothering you. She is known to get herself into trouble.” She then noticed the tea sitting around the table. “And is that my orange tea?” Anii shyly answers, “Maybe.” Haruna was right but she was afraid of admitting it. She has gotten her butt ripped before for borrowing without asking. Haruna will confront Anii about that later; as for right now there was some fun to be had, however it is unfortunate she does not know much about the world she is trying to portray. It has been a fairly long time since she has read such fairy tales. "Oh where are my manors? My name is Lily, it is a pleasure to meet you."


[mft]

 

[Yukari]

Hikari frowned heavily. It was uncharacteristic of her, and she had trouble holding it. The frown quirked at the edges of her mouth as she looked down her nose at the woman who stood not so far away. "Who dares address the queen of hearts?" She said calmly. Quietly, to the girl and her toys. "Yes traitors. Baffoons who failed in their duties to the crown." She said, "And there is no white queen. She's a pretender." Hikari folded her arms and harrumphed, before going on. "The little one is not bothering me, young 'princess of white'. She is serving tea to the red Queen... That is, myself." Hikari stood and bowed slightly, careful not to break character too much. "I am Queen of hearts Tanaka Hikari. Also the Ambassador of Kumogakure... in my off time." Hikari winked at the little girl. "If the tea costs I'll reimburse you." She said quietly to the young woman. Let the little Alice off the hook just this once, and join us... eh...?"

"Oh where are my manors? My name is Lily, it is a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise." She smiled, then cleared her face, went back to the character of the Red Queen. "Ah yes 'Lily'. The heir to the white kingdom." She said snootily. "I suppose you will wish to join us at tea." She said, turning about so that her hair and dress snapped with the force of her motion. A light wind had picked up as well, increasing the effect. Hikari cleared her throat, and leaned forward, that she might appear to be conspiring with the little girl and her toys. She grinned. "As I said before. The gardeners are Traitors to the red crown. They will either cast a genjutsu which disguises the roses as red, or be turned into toads, fish, and-or cards."

Fairy tales were easy for Hikari. They'd inspired her to become a kunoichi, and thus they remained memorable despite the years which created distance from the child she was when first she discovered them. "Princess Lily. Will you sit!?" She asked in a tone that, had it not been obvious that this was all play, might have seemed imperiously rude. "Young Alice. Will you procure another chair for Princess Lily?" Though it was phrased as a question, it seemed a command.

 

[Ryu Hime]

Anii was an about to get up, but was stopped when Haruna places a hand on Anii’s shoulder. “Kiki fetch me a chair from the house and pick one up for yourself as well.” There was a reason for Haruna’s appearance. She wanted something from Anii, but that can wait until after the party. “Ambassador and queen, you must be quite a busy bee.” Moments later a white rabbit looking character with a couple of chair appears.

The rabbit was feminine and walked around timidly. Haruna was a puppet maker and this was one of her creation. Haruna was one that liked creating exotic puppets, but still makes them look lifelike. This one was also special in that it can be puppeteered without being equipped. It is indeed quite an ingenious work and all it needed was a consciousness to be to able puppeteer itself. This was the reason Haruna wanted Anii. The rabbit adds the two chairs and they both sat. Kiki seats between the two stuffed animal and Haruna between Anii and Hikari.

 

[Yukari]

Hikari watched, increasingly uncomfortable, as the obviously inhuman puppet placed the chairs, then sat. Hikari frowned. "I am certain that in spite of your mistress' command to procure chairs, you were not invited to the table, servant." Hikari looked to Haruna, "Yes, very busy." She turned her head back toward the bunny thing and curled a snarl. "Do your pets not realize it is improper to sit before a queen without being invited?"

She felt like waiting for Haruna to join, but was uncertain that the woman really knew what she was doing here. The red haired ninja cleared her throat. "The gardeners." She reminded somewhat tersely.

 

[Ryu Hime]

With Hikari's accusation of Kiki's improper manors, Haruna just shrugs, “What can I say? Good help is so hard to find these days.” However Tibbers felt quite differently on the matter for he felt this so called queen was usurping his authority. “The white rabbit can stay. This is my tea party after all and as the host, I should have the final word on the matter.” Maho playing the March hare warns Tibbers that displeasing the queen might not be a good idea, “Careful now Hatter, you don't want to lose your head. You already lost your mind.” Hikari's mention of the gardeners seems to have went completely unnoticed as most of them waited for her reaction to Tibbers' statement.

 

[Yukari]

As Hikari stared at the bunny, as Haruna shrugged, “What can I say? Good help is so hard to find these days.”

The red haired woman, acting as a queen, turned to the 'white princess' and glowered, "You could take responsibility for your servants."

The bear, acting hoity-toity and up-jumped, seemed to the red queen, to misunderstand the game. “The white rabbit can stay. This is my tea party after all and as the host, I should have the final word on the matter.” He said defensively, as his companion warned against displeasing her.

"And exactly who do you think you are?" She asked, referencing the work of fiction they were playing from. The red queen stood, her chair falling backward, bouncing slightly, "Who. Do You. THINK. YOU. ARE?!" She turned to the march hair, "You would do well to be the host next time, as this Hatter may well Lose His Head!" She winked again, to assure all that her act was simply that, but otherwise, did not soften her expression or mannerisms. "And you, 'Princess'! I have asked twice. Do not make it thrice! The Gardeners!?" She pounded a fist upon the table, "Where are they?"

 

[Ryu Hime]

[Topic entered by Inpc Nigiri Shimete]​

Fortunately or unfortunately there was one of the Nigiri servants doing one of her daily duties of watering the gardens. Haruna yelled at the girl, “You come over here.” The girl had a strange appearance as much as Haruna’s. It must make a person wonder what type of place was this to attract such weird looking people. The servant was covered in short fur and had canine ears and tail. It was quite obvious that she was of the Inuzuka bloodline. A blindfold covered her eyes but she could see perfectly regardless due to her special eye. The March Hare laughs manically for this was too perfect of a scape goat; a supposedly blind gardener planting the wrong color of flowers. “Well that figures.” Anii then remarks looking at Shimete. Shimete was a bit confused, “Is there a problem?”

 

[Yukari]

Hikari scowled fiercely as no one responded to her outburst, not to comment, not to react. It was as if they were frozen, or even non-existent, as she spoke. When Haruna called over the servant, another... strange creature- Hikari had nearly enough with the creatures, and their ill manners, or rather, the Queen had- The March Hare cackled- an easy tell, this gardener was something other than what she appeared to be, a blind catdogwoman.

“Well that figures.” The child-doll said.

The catdogpersongardener confusedly asked "Is there a problem?"

"Yes." Hikari hissed, before flitting gracefully to the bush nearest the servant, "The problem is this." She touched a rose, delicately stroking the petal for a moment, and then grasping it, pulling it off and crushing it. "It is white."

 

[Ryu Hime]

This is not Shimete’s first rodeo; she has been roped into one of Anii’s tea parties before. With a glance of her all Seeing Eye she can tell what the theme of this party was. When the problem was that the flowers were white, it did not take too long to figure out which character the ambassador was playing as. As Shimete lets all of this sink in, Haruna speaks. “Tweedle Dee, I should have known. Now how…”

“But I’m Tweedle Dum”

Haruna waves a hand, “whatever. The question is how we are going to fix the problem.” And when she says we she means Shimete. Haruna has a feeling she already knows what the Red Queen idea of punishment would be and Shimete would have a difficult time fixing the problem after that.

“We can paint them red,” suggested Anii. This cause Haruna to cringe a little for the roses will have to go back to white after this party. The high priest is going to have somebody’s head if she sees painted red roses in the sacred gardens. The hare continues to laughs and adds, “We can paint them with her blood. She should have enough to cover them all.”

Haruna slaps a hand on the table for she is not having this. “Dead men can’t learn from their mistakes.” She looks over at Shimete trying to think of a temporary way of changing the rose’s color that Shimete can pull off. “Tweedles you are skilled it the art of puppetry are you not?” Shimete nods. “Terra shift the area. You may use Kiki.” Kiki then bursts into a blinding light. As everyone’s vision comes back into view they would see themselves sitting in a garden of red roses.

 

[Yukari]

Hikari watched Haruna as she scolded a girl thing, who was both the gardener and a Tweedle? The red queen wondered why Haruna rushed so, to solve every problem which presented its self. Perhaps she was afraid Hikari would actually take the girl's head. "Paint the roses red?" She gasped, looking at Anii, "Paint them!? One does not PAIN Roses! That would be blasphemy! One does not Paint 'sacred' roses!" She pounded her hand on the table, "And I see no men here, Princess, only girls and anthropomorphous puppets.

Hikari was unimpressed with the seeming shift, as the girl did not appear to have such an ability. Of course this was play, so Hikari pretended. "No, no, this is all wrong! That is the wrong red. Do you not See the red of the Red Queen? Red! Blood red! That is the color of the true Rose!" She let out a laugh, "Paint them! No! These roses are nothing. I shall have the correct roses planted at my castle!"

"Now, little one!" She pointed to Anii, "You! You have ideas. Don't allow them to be squashed from you by giant bunnies or large tactless Bears!" She snapped in Tibbers' direction, "Especially not, but White roses- such an impediment to free thought those are." She sniffed, as though miffed.

The ginger woman sat back down and drank her tea. "Any tarts? I like a good tart..."

A while later, Hikari let the Red Queen's facade fall. She smiled at her playmates, "Ah, but I am sure the princess has things to do, and so do I." She dusted her hands, and took a final sip of the tea. "Thank you for the invitation little one. I enjoyed our play." She stood up, remembering that she had a party to get to, "I must bid you adieu. Good day Princess. Good day, demonic toys." She said that haltingly. It was a strange thought. I just had tea with demons and puppets. Strange days.[i/]

[mft]
[Topic left unless stopped. Thanks for the RP, and sorry my replies were slow]