Ayana smiled as she pulled a dark purple wine bottle from a middle shelf of her liquor cabinet. "How does plum wine sound? It's sweet and would be great with the chocolate cake that I was given... if you want some of either, that is," she suggested rather shyly as she looked up at Tio for a moment before kneeling down and pulling two burgundy wine glasses from another part of the cabinet.
"Chocolate cake and plum wine, what exactly would I be if I declined such things, other than very hungry?" he grinned, "Both if it is not too much of a bother."
"Not at all, just follow me to the dining room and I'll get a plate and a glass ready for you." Ayana stood up again, carefully balancing the wine glasses in her right hand as she turned, and started leading Tio towards the dining room. "I've mentioned that I don't get to entertain much?"
Tio followed Ayana, he watched conveniently from behind as she lead the way. Mhmm... very nice. He replied, "Funny, neither do I....Course every waking second of my day has been spent doing something political as of late. First it was that conference, and now with things here..." he paused, "I'm sorry, how foolish of me; you obviously know all this as you were there."
"It's nice to get the chance to breathe without someone else's life being affected somehow by something that we do. I don't think I have gotten a chance to be selfish for a few months," Ayana said with a light laugh as they came into the dining room. The room was as in a soft red light from the sunlight pouring in through sheer red curtains that framed the French doors that opened up onto the back porch. In the center of the room, was a dark cherry stained table with 4 chairs with soft red cushions surrounding it. To the side was a dark cherry china cabinet, with a large fern sitting on top of it. In the center of the table, was a large chocolate frosted cake sitting beneath a clear glass cover.
"Nothing wrong with the occasional selfish act....or chocolate cake." he chuckled, standing behind one of the chairs at the table. He made a casual look around, he was quite impressed with her choice of homes. His own had not been built yet; he had still been questioning if a palace was a home, he had grown up with a foster family that had a fairly large house, but it was a home...the Empress' Palace on Yamatai had been more of a waiting room than a home.
Ayana carefully set the glasses and the bottle down on the table, before going to the china cabinet and pulling out plates, forks and a cake server. "I didn't really used to be one for sweets but, it has grown on me over the years," she commented again with a smile as she set the plates and silverware on the table. "Chocolate has been one of those guilty pleasures I try to indulge in from time to time."
"I must admit, chocolate is one of my own indulgences...It tends to help me smooth over the rough times -- perhaps chocolate is a good alternative to other more damaging stress relievers." He examined the chocolate cake. "Who made this?" he inquired, wondering if he knew the talented baker.
"Tia Kawahara, I'm pretty sure she's going to be opening up her bakery within the next couple of weeks," she smiled as she lifted the glass cover from the cake and picked up the cake server. "How big of a piece would you like?"
He eyed the cake, and looked back to Ayana, he did not want to make a pig of himself. "Ah, whatever you are going to have. Sometimes my eyes are bigger than my stomach..." he laughed, watching her prepare to cut the cake. He had never had a cake before, oddly enough he had been exposed to many pastries and other fine deserts, but this would be the first for the cake. He really did not know what to expect.
"Really? This'll be an experience then," she grinned as she cut a more modest sized slice of chocolate cake than she was originally intending and carefully transferred it onto a plate. She offered the plate to Tio with an amused expression, "Here you go, one starter slice of chocolate-chocolate cake."
He smiled, accepting the plate saying "Thank you", Tio did not try it right away --rather he watched in anticipation to the cutting of Ayana's own slice. He did not want to be rude, after all she was a lady. He said quietly "This place of yours is turning out to be quite the place, an excellent choice of decor and chocolate, make sure you are in ear-shot when those designers start designing the palace."
She chuckled as she cut her own slice of cake and carefully put it on her own plate. She replaced the cover over the cake and sat her plate down on the table. She picked up the wine bottle and carefully poured the reddish purple fluid into Tio's wine glass, "Thank you. I'll try to help out when I can with the palace. Speaking of, do they know when they're going to start construction?"
"It was never decided, I am in no hurry either...There are plenty of other things that need the attention before some lavish residence that I will likely find to be more of a chore than home." He laughed awkwardly, "What good is a home with hundreds of rooms when you live alone?" He left it at that, not really trying to seek sympathy, merely relaying the lack of urgency in the construction. He smiled, and picked up the glass, he did not drink, merely took in the smell.
She poured herself a glass before siting down in her chair. The wine had a strong sweet scent of plums. "True. Why not live in a smaller home instead? The palace could be more of a ceremonial estate. I know when I talked to your mother about it initially, she agreed to the idea of a memorial library; as well as, public gardens being included on the property," Ayana suggested as she picked up her fork and cut a small piece of moist, rich, chocolaty cake from the main slice.
Tio smiled, liking the idea. "That sounds fantastic, plus -- I would rather have a home on the ocean. I like the sea, and am interested in taking up sailing." he watched as she picked up the fork, he did so himself but hesitated to lift the piece to his mouth.
She happily placed the fork in her mouth and savored the flavor and texture of the cake in her mouth. "Mmm, this is incredible cake. It just kinda melts in your mouth, it's so rich and moist," she commented with a smile.
He lifted his fork to his lips and ate his first bite of cake. It was not bad; it was moist and the chocolate was pleasant in flavor and had a velvet texture. He commented, "You will have to let me know where I can find this bakery, you can assure your friend she has my business."
"Tia will be thrilled. I've never actually been sailing before, I've never really been close to the water, since most of my life has been spent more... in-land," she commented between bites of chocolate cake.
"Least you can say that...We have been rather lucky." he paused taking another bite of cake, chewing and swallowing. "Some of our people have been lucky to have stepped foot on a planet for an hour or two between assignments." he paused, stating after a second "I feel its important that our Peacekeepers set foot in the colonies frequently, it will give them a sense of home and pride for the jobs they do."
"Maybe some sort of rotation will help balance it out? They should spend a few months planet side and then a few month out and about? It'd probably help reduce their stress and give them a chance to have a family," Ayana said thoughtfully as she sipped some of her plum wine.
Tio nodded, "I also, as I told Saito-- I have no issues with their families being aboard the ships they serve on. After all, the citizens fund the Peacekeepers, and have a right to live their lives without disruption." He noted, "I was never a fan of a system like that of our former parent country that treated their armed forces as some kind of elite echelon society by making it inaccessible. Our peacekeepers should become elite and recognized for the job they do, a job that the average citizen should be able to measure with their own eyes if need be."
Ayana looked surprised, "That's really a big change. So the designers of our Peacekeeper ships are going to take families into account then?" She had never heard of such a thing, but it made sense- their military had spent so little time on their home planets that families did pop up amongst the ship crew. "I know that we do need to start trying to plan out how to handle the next generation so that we do have a future. But that's why I drafted that Act, so you already know I want to give people a chance at a real childhood."
"I will be sure to discuss it with Mayumi..." he paused, "I also will get to work on a draft for Peacekeeper regulations and see what I can do about making it official." He smirked, adding "Of course, that will be tomorrow," he apologized then, "Sorry, talking about work again, it never seems to end...."
"It's hard not to when we're rebuilding and implementing change. I actually haven't really given too much thought to my own future, I'm just happy to be alive and working after all of this mess. Melisson scared me half to death, I thought I was going to die out there," Ayana commented sheepishly.
"The ability to survive change is a good indicator of one's ability to change...I believe we have had the honor of both at once." Tio finished up the slice of cake, picking up the glass of wine and holding it to propose a toast. "To you my dear and to change, life and the Colonies."
