Fake wedding jitters

It was a day that Luna was almost expecting to end in a disaster. Luna was aspect to assist in once again yet another matter of romance. At first when the notice of the job was received, Luna and Amelia figured they were going to evade such a job given neither of them were fond of the wedding industry's abuse of making a union of love turned into a display of wealth. Luna preferred to manage weddings herself as she would prefer to get married under her own religious rituals instead of following the toxic standards that has been abused by companies, but she found a good use for testing their products. Given her protege's life in isolation, being raised by a human hating god did cause a noticeable gap in Mai's cultural knowledge. She figured she might as well teach Mai about how to function at such an important gathering especially since one never knows if one is going to happen around the Sabertooth guild. 

Amelia agreed to co-mentor/parent Mai through this ordeal with Luna, but right before they left Ace of Spades, the plans seemed to change at the last second. Amelia received a call from an old friend explaining that they were needed out of town for a 'family emergency'. Luna knew very little of Amelia's family, she knew that the Android a handful of godchildren that for one reason or another she hardly ever spoke about. Luna knew Amelia suffered in ways that she can't comprehend, so she decided to not force the matter and respect her partner's right to privacy.

Walking through the streets of Rose Garden, Luna tried to remain optimistic that her young protege would impress her with good behavior. "Alright Mai, before we get there I think I should tell you what this place does. It caters to something called weddings, a wonderful event that is a grand milestone in many people's lives."

Luna said as she was carefully picking her words as she was trying to explain things to Mai. "Every culture has their own ways of carrying it out, but the most common traits are that it's a large display in front of family and a select number of friends when a grown adult, really, really loves another and want to commit. This usually happens before a mommy and daddy have a child but is far from that process. There is a ceremony part, then something called a reception. Where a grand feast is hosted before a few other traditions such as dancing and anything in the family." Luna explained to the young girl, she was barely able to restrain her giddiness. "For most girls, a wedding is counted among the most special and anticipated days in their life. Everyone gets dressed up, but none more the bride, the woman. It is where many get a nice dress or kimono they will wear for the ceremony, which is often worn only for the one day but then kept treasured. Sometimes it gets reused, I don't think you seen my formal kimono,-" Which in reality was more or less due to the fact that Luna was careful to avoid exposing Mai to the environments befitting the attire. "-is actually the one my mother got married in given as a gift from my father's mother. Honestly I might carry on the tradition and wear it if I ever get married."

Luna took a deep breath as she composed herself again, remembering she had to avoid losing control so easily. "The place we're going services weddings, a couple pays them and they handle the details and catering. I personally dislike them as they are to uniform, conformist, and make weddings too much a display of wealth. However a glass of wine and some cake is hard to turn down at the moment." She chuckled slightly before getting to the main point. "Ultimately it would be nice to acquaint you with the behaviour of this sort of occasion before you attend one for real."

WC 670

Luna was glad that Mai seemed to be excited by the prospect of a wedding, she was worried that the idea of such an event would not appeal to the girl. However she knew she narrowly avoided the idea of Mai getting hooked on the idea of marrying her. She figured she should reinforce the idea that it can't happen and avoid certain questions should Mai witness a same sex wedding. "Well Mai, I love you in the way I would my own child or a niece, which is different from the way a mommy and daddy loves each other. But generally two people who have that romantic connection and establish a deep relationship can get married regardless of if they are a man and woman, two men, or two women."

As the two approached the facility, Luna walked by the other participants. Luna was careful to evade small talk with some of the over the top romantic couples passing by as they walked towards the facility. The company had a representative out front on a platform. "Hello everyone, thank you all for coming. I am Helga, the overseer for today's testing our products today. Each pair or group will receive an intern who will guide you through the various activities today! They will follow you around and will ask you to rate your experiences on a scale of one to seven, and any feedback otherwise is strictly optional. They will however take their own notes on your reactions as well, but as you know this is all for the benefit of giving our clients the best service possible." The large woman said in a lovey dovey tone, trying her best to keep in high spirits.

"Anyways, a few housekeeping things, wine is available but for adults only, anyone coming as a 'guest with plus one' who happens to be a minor, the onus is on you to sign that they can't drink. We reserve the right to withhold from anyone over intoxicated or those we suspect are lying about their age. We have grape juice for anyone that can't drink. Wizards and mages, please refrain from using any, destructive magic. We will deduct any damage to our property and personnel from payment, and charge if necessary, and on the other hand if you suffer any loss or damage as a result of our actions we will compensate accordingly. Those who need temporary marriage enter on the left, anyone else on the right."

Luna understood right away, most of the crowd shift towards the entrance on the left, and she grabbed Mai's hand and quickly led her towards the right door ending up first in line, with there only being six pairs behind them, mostly child and a family member. Approaching the desk Luna received the form and quickly filled it out. "Name, Lunaris Mira, list all aliases, oh boy. Luna Mira, Lunaris daughter of Shirain, LuShirain, age, yada yada yada, yes to wine." She flashed her passport to the clerk who nodded. "Plus Mai Stormchild, minor, and selecting the grape juice to be safe." She handed the clip board back to the clerk. He looked over the form before handing it to a fellow clerk that walked away. "Your intern will be with you shortly, with your opening drinks."

A rather tall woman dressed in a red skirted suit with no tie and a open collar came out; she was shaking and skiddish as she handed Luna the wine and Mai the wine glass of grape juice before she introduced herself to the duo. "He, he, hello..." She said nervously. "I, am, Tan, Tanya, Tanya Schmidt. I will be guide, guding you around this place.." Luna could sense the girl's nervousness and anxiety, she calmly spoke to the intern. "It's okay Tanya, breathe." The woman slowly recomposed herself. "Sorry. Just didn't expect my first duty to be escorting a hero."

Luna was taken aback by the statement, not sure what the intern had meant. She knew neither she or her protege had such a strong reputation, in this city especially. "I'm sorry what do you mean?" She asked nervously, however she was afraid to hear the answer as she recalled her places of positive reputation. "I was there when you single handedly took down your Lightning mage partner and a thief at the same time in Hosenka. I was on a trip with my sister... Sorta surprised you didn't bring them into the other side." Luna looked dumbfounded for two seconds until the memory came to mind. At first she thought that the woman described Amelia, but then she figured partner had a different meeting.

Her face went red almost instantly, she took a long sip of her wine before she composed her answer. "Indra and weren't together then, and aren't together now. Also we haven't seen eachother in an incredibly long time." The intern had a shocked expression on her face before turning incredibly embarrassed. "I am so sorry, I didn't mean to-" Luna raised her hand signifying for the woman the stop. "Tanya, I suggest we keep going, this is my protege, my young protege, before we say something too far I suggest we move on."

Tanya nodded nervously as she started to write down notes on her clipboard and started to walk through the halls, guiding the mages. "Right... First off is the magical tailors, should be quicker since you two fall in the guest category. The bridal ones are already swamped. A lot people are using this for free wedding dresses since you get to keep the clothes made, since they are tailor made to fit you specifically no point in trying to do anything else with them." Luna nodded as she listened to the woman speak. "These mages specialize in tailor magic. It is a form of joint creation that uses the mages knowledge of their subjects physical components and the consent of the subject to scan their soul to determine the appropriate attire. Certain industries are already using it as it is starting to put mass production out of business but our company is putting it through testing before we hire tailor mages officially."


Luna nodded, understanding the logic of testing the function out before releasing it to the public. "Alright. Understandable." She said as she stopped, turning to another employee. "1 woman and child." The man looked down the hall, seeing the various doors with red or green tags on the handle. "Room's 1-8 are for couples, 9-15 are for others. Remember to flip the handle Tanya." He said in a stern tone that made the intern shudder before she scuttled down the hallway, Luna quickly in tow until Tanya opened the door for the two girls, walked in and held it open for the two girls, removing the tag on the handle and quickly turning it over to the red side and put it back on the door before closing it.

In the room were two changing stalls set up, each with a magic circle ingrained on the floor and outer side of the door. There were two mages sitting in chairs, an that appeared to be in her early thirties, and the other appeared to be able to pass for early twenties.

The elder one stepped up preparing the girls for the process. "Welcome! I am Azri and this is my disciple Nexa. Looks like we're handling your outfitting today. How this works is simple, each of you will enter one of these stalls and we'll shut the door, and all you gotta do is breathe calmly and let the magic do it's work, there's some probing in this spell but we don't know anything about what the magic does. Your clothing and possessions will be removed in the process but placed into a bag for safekeeping."

Luna nodded, ready to keep going with the process. "I understand." The woman nodded as her assistant opened the two doors and hung a bag on the hook between them. Luna put her drink down on a table and prepared to walk in. "Well Mai, let's see how this plays out." She said gleefully.

WC 1361
TWC 2031

I forgot to add a dice roll...

The member 'Luceam' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

Luna was at first nervous as she could tell Mai was somehow starting to experience something common in children typically younger then Mai, separation anxiety. "I know her physical age and emotional maturity aren't in sync, but separation anxiety from being in a booth less then a meter away?" She thought to herself as she tried to speculate on the whole matter. In her brief analysis of the situation she decided to operate under the hypothesis that Mai was uncomfortable in this setting and was clinging to her as a defense mechanism. Luna tried to sympathize but she was much older and wiser when she left her home village. She recalled the anxiety she faced until she managed to settle in at Timbermere. "Despite all that power she really is just a child after all."

As the assistant was helping Mai through, Luna turned back to the master and gave her a quick glance. The woman nodded understandingly. "I'll get you out quicker, don't worry." She said to Luna who walked in with haste and the door was closed. Both masters paid careful attention to the dialogue between their proteges. "Is she really your daughter? You look so, young." She whispered to Luna. "I have taken a personal interest in her development, but no, she is not mine biologically. That doesn't matter." Luna whispered back, the woman nodded as she was working the tailor magic. "Well, it's brave to take lost children under your wing."

After a flash of light, Luna walked out in one of the most elegant kimono's she could ever want, it except for the fact that it was not completely on, it was half open or tied in many places. "Um, five out of seven, feedback, perfect but not exactly done up and leaves me a little exposed..." She confessed as she looked at a mirror. The tailor nodded as she quickly attended to Luna barely fixing up the attire in time before Mai would see, with narrowly a moment to spare.

Luna was in awe of the dress that was made for Mai. "Oh dear. That's perfect!" She said at first, not sure about the assistant's reaction at first.  It was only when the assistant pointed out chest area did Luna fully see the problem. She recalled the warnings that this type of magic was experimental and might possess some glitches. "Oh, yeah, I don't think she's been to many clothing services that require more then a generic size, so I can't really blame you." She explained as Mai went back in for an adjustment.

When Mai came out the second time, Luna was in such awe. She reached into the bag containing the possessions of the teacher and protege and pulled out her handkerchief and iLac. "Well Weddings are special occasions, they only happen after a great deal of planning when two people really want to get married." She said as she was wiping the chocolate crumbs off her protege. "But you're just the cutest thing ever!" She ran her finger along the back of her iLac, activating the finger sensor activating the device before she stood up and took a photo of Mai in her dress.

"Remember Mai, not all weddings are the same." Luna said as she could see Tanya out of the corner of her eye looking nervous and impatient. "Right, Mai, on a scale of one to seven, how do you like the process, and do you have any comments for the company hosting this?"

Photo:

WC 585
TWC 2616

Rolling for cake tasting

The member 'Mai Stormschild' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Normal Dice' :

Luna was glad that Mai seemed to be enjoying herself even in a setting that was almost foreign to her. Luna viewed the social isolation the girl experienced to be a wildcard in how she would perceive and react to the various stimuli and situations of dense social gatherings. She and Amelia had a common fear at the back of their minds about Mai getting overwhelmed and various responses. All she knew about the what the God that raised the child taught her was dubious at best, but at face value was outright suspicious. Putting aside her fears, she was glad to carry on through the activities. After being handed the bag with her and Mai's possessions she and Mai followed Tanya out of the room.  "Next up is a slight change to our cake catering. We want to test a modification the recipe and process." The intern said and Luna raised an eyebrow.

Luna had a gut feeling where this was going, and it very well might stem from the fact that she was completely magically inept when she started to learn to cook, but she held true to the belief that magic shouldn't be heavily involved in cooking. If that held true, she would only hate the prospect even more as she had some qualms with mass produced foods and consumables. "A cook imprints onto their work much like an artist to a canvas, and mass produced stuff is just soulless, which really harms the flavor giving it almost a bland feeling. Only those who are skilled in the kitchen would really pick up on that. Honestly on a wedding day, I'd rather have someone who wants to put in the effort for good reasons, not just to get from paycheck to paycheck by meeting quotas."

Luna didn't fancy herself a chef by any stretch, but she deeply valued the culinary arts in her own way and had conflicted views on some food industries. However she knew that her protege had a less refined view of the sense of taste and cared more for the general taste then anything else. Luna was not surprised by any stretch when Mai immediately made her way towards the cake. Luna held back as she wanted to see how Mai would behave, Tanya was getting slightly concerned, especially since Luna was not saying anything. "Will she be alright? She seemed ready to have a panic attack at being barely a meter away from you earlier..."

Luna nodded she was not worried so long as she could see the young slayer. "I have faith in her, she can handle herself if she knows I'm within her sight. This environment, where violence is not an option could be scary for her. She was raised in a less, safe environment before I found her." She confessed as she watched Mai eat not one but two different pieces of cake. She was glad that the girl wasn't causing a scene and was appearing to enjoy herself. However she was glad that Mai was thinking about more then just herself as she came back towards her with a slice of cake. She applauded the fact that Mai was thinking about someone else but she wished Mai was paying slightly more attention to her own hands as she tried to lift the whole slice with the cake fork.

Luna was slightly glad that the strain caused the cake to fall apart into a more manageable size. She looked around and saw the various lovers and other pairings feeding one another cake and figured that was where Mai had gotten the idea. She saw Mai needed assistance so she knelled down so she was closer to Mai's reach and gently held Mai's wrist, guiding it so Mai didn't accidentally cut her or worse. As Luna tasted the cake, she found it's texture and taste to be decent on the surface level but she couldn't feel any soul or effort on part of the baker, and there was a slight semi-staleness that she started to recognize. "It's... Good." She said before looking at Tanya. "Is this magically generated or transmuted?"

Tanya gulped at the question as she was told not to disclose that unless directly asked. "How... could you tell?" Was all she could ask as she was sweating nervously. Luna rolled her eyes as she got her answer from the question in response. "For most of the last decade I refined my skills in the kitchen as the way things were heading I was going to be lucky to end up as someone's wife. Anyone who has honed their skills in the kitchen with such effort can easily tell the difference between quality and streamlined and the more basic cooked and transmuted. Also many wizards will easily be able to tell."

Tanya was writing down notes as she listened to Luna's words. "I see..." She said as she was fearing the results. She had a feeling Luna was not going to give a great review of this event given how she was able to figure out the origins from her senses alone. "I'd give it a solid three out of seven. It does have a decent flavor, but the clear magical fabrication ruins the texture and flavor in subtle ways. While not bad for an occasional treat, a wedding cake should be more special then that and this doesn't carry that hand made taste and feeling that you would get from one."

Tanya nodded, she was starting to see where the Fairy was coming from but she was not as experienced with magic and was just about ready to get the opinion of the other wizard. "I see... That's disappointing to hear but I understand what you mean. What about you young miss?"

WC 964
TWC 3580

Rolling for the banquet throwing. Yeeeeeeet

The member 'Mai Stormschild' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

Luna noticed Mai wasn't focused on her words beyond the surface level of her explanation. She knew that she would eventually need to get Mai invested in reading into more details, especially since many jobs would require similar analytical abilities to solve problem. However since the purpose of this job was for enjoyment and Mai seemed to be having a great time and was behaving well so far Luna decided not to sour the mood. At this point Luna thought the rest of the day would be easygoing, however she soon heard the sound of ceramic shattering. Luna was used to, however recalling her few times at formal gatherings, such as her younger sister's previous school's fundraiser, a few jobs that required her to be at a gatherings, and when she had to convince a Desierto nobleman from pursuing charges against her elder sister, all warned her that the sound was never good.

Luna looked down at the floor and noticed that Mai seemed to forget to consider her hands before she hugged her, and as a result the plate hit the floor and shattering. "It's alright Mai, accidents happen. No harm done." Luna said as she watched Mai's commendable initiative, but the results were less then commendable. However Luna figured she should just add that to the list of conversations to have with Mai later to avoid spoiling the day. A broken cheap ceramic plate isn't anything to cry over regardless. Luna bit her lip as Mai thought hiding the evidence in a slightly more dangerous place was the same as cleaning. She looked over at Tanya who was slightly nervous writing things down on her clip board. "Sorry about that, I'll clean it up-"

She looked down and noticed any trace of the ceramic was gone and she saw a fourth pair of feet. She looked up and noticed there was a man wearing black dress pants, dark dress shoes, a white dress shirt, a black tie and red vest, white gloves, over a dark body suit with dark sunglasses holding a bag with sharp objects inside. Luna bit her lip to avoid being loud from shock as she couldn't sense his arrival. "Oh, hello." She said awkwardly not sure what to say while the man simply nodded in response. Tanya looked up and was startled in silence. "Oh, this is something else we're testing entirely nothing to do with your trial directly. This is a special events company we're thinking of subcontracting out, they consist of former Ninja, mostly those that are unable to fight due to serious injury but they can still work. Mostly waiter and cleaning duties, they are surprisingly efficient."

Luna nodded, understanding the logic of hiring such skilled individuals. "Makes sense-" She turned back and noticed that the man was already gone. If anything that seemed to prove their efficiency to the fairy. "Efficient but they are a little unsettling. Especially for those not used to such presence." She noted as she knew full well this was yet another example of how efficiency isn't always equivalent to quality. Sometimes the less efficient route can be better. She shrugged before she followed her protege over towards the scene that drew her attention. Bouquet throwing, something that even before she shed her human biology baffled the fairy.

She knew it was part of Fioran weddings, but to her it was an odd thing to throw flowers. She understood the whole cultural sentiment and tradition on whoever catches the bundle would be blessed with luck to be next. However Luna struggled with the whole notion of it, mostly believing it to be a cruel stunt to give hope, and she remembered how it drove some of her friends to get hurt in the process of trying to catch it. Vishda Fae typically follow traditions of the other culture as most of them marry outside the fairy kin, and her origins from Bellum were also far different. Looking back on her memories she didn't even recall under what ceremony her parents were wed considering her father's origins. 

Arriving at the scene she quickly made sure to be by Mai's side as she looked around. She seemed to take in all the facts. She looked around the room and saw a few of the employees bringing in bouquet from another room. She took a moment to focus as she was able to sense the life force of the plants. It took her a moment to realize that the flowers were grown and magically altered as well, probably to fit the effects intended. "Ah, a Magical Bouquet toss. Explodes so everyone has a chance, this isn't a competitive game Mai." She sighed, however she had a gut feeling that Mai had Fioran origins, and that there were other cultures that had similar rituals in their wedding ceremonies,  she knew she had to explain a bit more. "Mai, this happens to replicate yet another part of a wedding. In the Reception, the grand feast after a formal ceremony I mentioned, it isn't always just a feast. There are several rituals many people engage in during the reception. For example many recently married couples often make the first cut of their wedding cake together, water or plant a seed, the couple's first dance as a married couple, father daughter dance-"

She cut herself off at mentioning that part. She got so caught up in wedding fever that the moment she mentioned the father daughter dance it almost brought her to a tear. The memory of her father dying before her eyes seemed to sting hard as she recalled she'd never get to experience it. She missed her father a lot. "Right, he's gone." She thought to herself solemnly before moving on with her explanation. "Anyways, this ritual is called the bouquet toss. Essentially in the earliest form this ritual was that the bride would toss a bouquet of flowers, typically the one they have throughout the ceremony into the crowd, often behind their back with an overhead toss. Originally it was just one Bouquet and whoever caught it was rumored to have luck in getting married next, however that often lead to, some less then desirable results, used to be a disaster among many girls who tried to catch it, often turning into a cat fight."

She took a pause to breathe as she remembered who she was talking to, and how she was trying to avoid encouraging Mai to fight. She was glad that the god slayer had ambition and energy, but she knew that it would take a while for Mai to learn dialing that down first hand. "But weddings are a bad place to fight, so as time dragged on some people decided to have new takes on the bouquet toss to not harm anyone, for example loosening the knot so it falls off mid air so everyone gets a piece, no losers, no winners either. This is not a competition Mai."

Luna hoped that her lesson was reaching the girl as she looked over at the side door to see the employees were talking among themselves with clipboards and comparing with each other before one handed the clipboard to the other and knocked twice on a door. When the door opened Luna noticed another employee hand sticking out, giving a bouquet to the employee who knocked before closing the door. The man chuckled a bit as he walked back over to the crowd of ladies testing the bouquets. He cleared his throat before addressing the group. "Alright ladies, we got the next one ready. Now as for the lucky lady to toss it..." He scanned the group before his eyes set on the pink haired mage with a sly smile. "How about you miss?"

Luna was taken aback, flattered, and slightly insulted at the same time from the offer but was slightly skeptical that she was the one chosen. She looked side to side and saw no one else approaching and she confusedly pointed to herself. "You mean me? Oh, um..." She said hesitantly not wanting to seem rude as she was not sure about participating. The employee nodded. "Yeah, c'mon, I mean you practically look ready to get married anyways. Why not have all the fun of the process if you've come this far."

Luna shrugged and decided she might as well as there would be no harm in trying. She patted Mai's shoulder for a moment as she passed her, making sure to carefully monitor the Life force of the God Slayer. "Alright stand back in the group Mai." She said before approaching the employee who handed her the bouquet. "Alright, pull on the knot a little and give it a nice gentle toss miss-" He said before he saw the Lightning Dragon Eye ring on her left ring finger "-Oh sorry misses." Luna sighed as this confusion happened too much at times. "It's just miss, and I see." She took a moment to smell the flowers while letting her sixth and seventh sense analyze the flora. "As I thought, they are real but they are magically enhanced and altered. The plants seem to have been treated well and known are screaming out so I'll let it slide for a while."

Luna gently reached her fingers down towards the butterfly knot as she lightly pulled on the knot causing it to loosen up. She took a moment to breath before she lightly tossed the bundle back over her head into the crowd behind her. As the bundle arced in the air it glowed up before a pop sound could be heard as the flower bundle exploded into a display of glittering lights and rose petals that slowly and gracefully descended down and glided around. Luna turned around to notice the display. "Huh, this is not quite what I was expecting but it is still quite pretty nonetheless." Was all she managed to say as the employees were nervously rubbing the backs of their necks. "Yeah, this flaw shows up from time to time, sorta a failure when the premade magic fails."

Luna didn't seen to care that it was a failure as she wouldn't mind this result either way, no one wins, no one loses, and it's a graceful and beautiful display. She silently hoped that her protege would come to see the logic, but she was prepared to give her speech about non competition again. She turned towards one of the employees as she had her own opinions on the bouquet. "I see. five out of seven, while it's a great display even in misfire or malfunction, it does lose points for not acting as it was advertised."

The employees and interns looked among themselves, confirming their consensus silently. "Alright that's fair." One of them admitted plainly. There was no use refuting the obvious. Luna's gaze soon refocused back onto her protege, carefully watching to see how she behaves in this setting.

WC 1829
TWC 5409

Thread total 8015
Events done 3/2 minimum
Thread requirements met