te's tea & tzai [★] THIS IS ME

[Tena M.]

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Tena Moonspinner —
The market festival.  An enforcement on their shop tradition.  An event long in the coming, the petite Demdji supposed.

A small house somewhat far from the water.  A little blue dwelling, with plants overgrowing in a small garden.  A few small tables outside.  Small, but comfy.  Her house.  Her home.  Doubling as the perfect place to set up shop, which she had, many, many moons ago.  A reopening seemed in order.  In the spirit of the festival.

Inspired, the sand cat set to work.  Soon enough the smell of freshly brewed tea and something more special drifted through the door and windows.  Very softly, a voice hummed against the sound of boiling water.  'I tell you this story... Save your life... Set you free... I tell you as it was told me...'

To mark the outside as a shop to visitors, Tena found a sign to post carefully outside the door.  A relatively small sign, which she painted over, in slightly rough but meticulous writing, Tena's Tea & Tzai.
[align=right]— I tell you this story, save your life, set you free

[lavi s.]

Holding a stall or opening a shop seemed outside of Lavi's thoughts.  He had an idea or two but nothing concrete.  While the day ran and he visited the others, he may set something quick up.  A meditation stall maybe. 

As he padded through the town, the familiar taste of Tzai touched his tongue.  His keen nose twitched, chocolate eyes growing bright.  The young Jedi hardly thought about it, but he realized he may be the only Elysite lucky enough to be treated to Tzai outside of the times Tena offered the warm drink officially.  He simply found the times he enjoyed the family drink with the fiery demdji to be fond for him.

The fluffy mountain cat quickly set his paws to the familiar route to Tena's house.  Finding himself the first to step through the doors, Lavi offered his friend an amiable grin.  "Hey Te."

"Need any help running the shop?" The simple work sounded nice and Lavi supposed he might offer since he was not doing anything else yet.

[Tena M.]

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Tena Moonspinner —
When the door opens, her eyes flash attentively forward.  Unsurprised.  The Jedi had a way of showing up.  He must've noticed her setting up or smelt the tzai.  Honestly, it made her feel a little warm inside, knowing he enjoyed the drink so much.  She could always offer him a cup and he would always say yes.  It felt nice.  She didn't think much deeper into it though.  Why would she?

The sand cat feels her brow crease.  A thoughtful frown.  "You'd have to let me teach you the reci-" Oh wait.  No, no.  Her mouth clamped shut, nothing short of surprise in her bright blue eyes.  Oh, by the Mother, why would she even begin to say that?

He didn't know.  Of course.  No one knew.  Ebra, alone.  It's mortifying nonetheless.  To almost practically propose to the annoying Jedi without a second thought.  Kriffing hell.  Slowly, she breaths out, the rest of her body almost shock still.  "… Just... Just watch the front for a moment.  I need to grab a few extra herbs from upstairs."

Upstairs meant the roof of course, where she went as far as sleeping on during the warmest months.  She didn't really grow much up there.  A small planter or two.  Not much grew in the winter either.  But she wasn't so sure she could keep her cool inside.  No.  She might break something.  Or someone's face.

Firmly not looking at Lavi as she passed, the Demdji quickly scrambled up the small staircase in the back.  Fuming, she took a seat beside the planter, only half-aware she was creating something of a fierce breeze.  Kriffing idiot.
[align=right]— I tell you this story, save your life, set you free

[nemhain.]

Tea. Tzai. Both very foreign concepts to Nemhain, who had enjoyed neither before, and couldn't exactly extract tastes from Rin's memories, if she had ever even drank them in the past – it wasn't as if Nem had ever gone looking into it. Still, it seemed a shame to not at least participate somewhat in the market festival, given that it was an event going on within the group that would be her home for the foreseeable future, unless Rin decided to up and leave for some reason. It was probably a good idea to get to know people, as well as the traditions that surrounded Elysium, as quaint as they seemed to the giant persona. Moving up to the front of the shop, the female found herself tilting her head thoughtfully to one side as she listened to the exchange going on inside, wondering curiously what had gotten Tena into such a fuss. Unable to exactly fit her huge form all the way in through the door, Nem moved forward a bit and crouched down, sticking her head inside and looking around before her eyes settled on Lavi. Nem seemed to think for a moment before she said softly, "Hmm. What is... tzai...?" It seemed best to bring up a fairly mundane subject with the other, considering the fact that she couldn't understand Tena essentially running off. Nemhain herself wasn't exactly super in touch with mortal emotions, and only really fully experienced the ones that Rin experienced through their bond, but even she could feel the awkwardness in the air that surrounded Lavi after Tena had basically run away from him. Part of Nem considered if maybe introducing herself would provide some ease to Lavi, but she was also fairly sure he had seen her awakening, so it likely wasn't necessary.

[lavi s.]

Of course, he realized he did not know the recipe for tzai.  It seemed personal and individualized to a family.  Regardless, a dumbfounded look crosses Lavi's face when his spitfire of a friend suddenly just stops talking.  The young Jedi did not know her to break off her words so abruptly.  He knows something is wrong.  What did I say...?

Lavi finds himself in an odd predicament, his mouth not working in time to call after Tena.  Left to his own devices 'running' the shop while she gathers herbs on the roof?  Were any of her plants even growing?  What just happened?  When his mouth finally remembers how to move, he's trying to formulate an answer to Nemhain and continue puzzling Tena out, all the while realizing the latter is gone and if he tried to say anything to her she would not hear.

He finds a breath of air and turns to Nemhain, determined to provide an answer and politely entertain the guest no matter the confused state of mind he had been left in.

Answering a question should be doable in the time it takes to gather a few herbs, right?  Stars, what was going on in Tena's brain?  "Tzai is a traditional drink from Te's homeland."  Hardly one to talk too much about someone when they're not present, Lavi shuffles his paws, his brows creasing.  Tena was a thoroughly closed book, and he would not say more than he deemed appropriate without her permission.

"It is similar to chai tea, and I believe every family makes it differ- Oh."

A heavy sigh escapes the fluffy mountain cat.  I am not family, so she can't share the recipe with me.  To do so would be against her very culture, regardless of a good friendship.  Lavi finds his head moving in a thoughtful nod to himself.  After all,  he knew nothing of the traditional means of marriage among Tena's culture, unaware of the magnitude of sharing recipes as a part of it.

"I am sure she'll be willing to make you some when she comes down if you'd like to try it."

[Tena M.]

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Tena Moonspinner —
When the wind kicks enough to whip through her fur she realizes she needs to stop and breathe.  Suddenly aware someone else was below in the shop, just visible from the rooftop, Tena fumes.  Damn Jedi.  The Demdji tried to keep herself closed, even to him but somehow he loosened her enough for these stupid mistakes.  And he didn't even know.  She might as well possess fire elementals, the way her face felt.  Karabast.

She has no herbs in paw when she begins padding down the steps, pausing just to listen.  'I'm sure she'll be willing to make you some when she comes down if you'd like to try it.'  Damn.  Tena exhales slowly.  She shouldn't storm out of her own shop when it was open for business.  Foolish.

Her bright blue hues fixate on Nemhain first as she returns.  It's easier to focus on the curious persona than Lavi right now.  Stubborn.  "Everything's free," she offers after a moment.  "You can have or try anything you want."

"Might take a moment though, since you're the first." The sand cat smiled brightly, though the tip of her tail flicked with fading agitation. 

Still, she ignored Lavi.
[align=right]— I tell you this story, save your life, set you free

[nemhain.]

Nemhain still couldn't really say that she understood the situation at hand. Sure, she understood the whole shop thing, and found herself nodding a bit when Lavi explained what the shop served, but as for everything else? The persona had no earthly idea what had made Tena rush off in such a huff, and she also didn't know what was making Lavi pause like that. Although evidently the two things were connected, so she supposed they both could be traced back to one thing in common. Not that such a thing would be anything that the persona could understand. Despite retaining Rin's memories and knowing at least the basics of what love and emotions and all of that was, Nemhain wasn't really designed for anything like this. Shadows weren't supposed to love, since they were never their own beings in the first place. If anything, a persona may feel a bit of affection for those that their user was involved with, buy that was more borne out of the positive emotions that the person brought out in their user, rather than any sort of feelings of love. Still, even if she could understand it, the fenghuang doubted that she had any really involvement in the scene in front of her. She didn't know what was going on between Lavi and Tena, and didn't particularly want to become involved either. All she really wanted was to try whatever this shop was serving.

Thankfully for her, Tena soon returned from her rushing off, seeming vaguely irritated but much more focused on Nem than she was on the source of her aggravation. Nemhain found herself dipping her head as it was explained she wouldn't have to buy anything, and the persona found herself a little bit relieved. It wasn't as if she exactly had anything to her name to trade with, so if Tena's beverages hadn't been free, Nem had no idea what she would've done. Cocking her head to one side, Nemhain allowed her eyes to scan over the home around her before she chirped at Tena, "Try anything I want...? Well, lady Tena, what would you recommend for someone who has never had anything like this before? I don't mind a wait." Nem truthfully had no idea what her options were in terms of what she could try, so she figured asking Tena would produce the best results. After all, Tena was the one running the shop, so she must've known her product. Although could it really be considered product when she was giving it away for free?