Warning: Excessively Sappy.
Xanadu Weyr - M'nol's Tree Cradle
From the archway one steps out into a large, flat cradle where the large branches sprout outward. The wind weathered wood is smooth and safe to walk on no matter what the condition of one's feet and M'nol has set up a couple of soft chairs at one edge of it, ideally placed for stargazing and the like. At the opposite end from the comfy chairs stands a moderately-sized cabin in good repair.
Rukbat is just setting beyond the forest, filling the sky with bright colors even as the twinkling of stars begin to appear in the higher sky. Between the comfy chairs set out for stargazing now stands a sturdy table covered in a light green-brown table-cloth. A single taper candle stands lit in a simple brass holder at the center of the table and on each side of it (the two towards the chairs) rest a plate of roast bovine and wherry cutlets alongside mashed tubers and a bowl of redfruit salad. Alongside these things are two glasses: one of water and one of a fine peach brandy from Cenlia's family's orchards. M'nol sits in one of the chairs in his finest dress, fiddling impatiently with the silverware and hoping Phy will come home soon.
Phylicia is just thankful for the brief respite from the chillier weather, where she can - for the most part - wander outside without her coat. She however didn't get the memo for formal dress, but still looks a little nicer than normal, having paid more attention to her hair. As she tops the stairs she turns towards the chairs and pauses. There was already a small smile on her face at being summoned, but the smile spreads and is accompanied by a small flush at the scene before her. "You could have told me to come sooner." She says softly with a smile as she approaches. "I was only napping." Or beind dead, in other words.
M'nol stands when Phy crests the stairs and smiles, moving across the small cradle of wood to offer her his arm and a peck on the cheek, "M'lady." he inclines his head ever so slightly, then smiles more, "I could have, but I wanted the sunset and stars as a backdrop." Carefully, he leads her towards the table, pulling a chair out for her, "For dinner tonight we have fresh roast bovine and wherry cutlets in a a Benden red sauce along side mashed tubers with just a hint of garlic and some special red and orange fruit salad from my mother's recipes." Clearly, he had some help arranging all of this.. "To drink there is one of the finest presses of peach brandy available on Pern alongside some water for your sipping pleasure. For dessert, well, you'll just have to wait and see."
Phylicia had seen that he was well dressed when she entered, but she didn't quite realize how well dressed until he's offering her his arm which she takes without a second thought. Her initial blush has turned into one of faint pleasure as she lets herself be led to the table and seated. "I-I'm impressed." She says faintly as she sits down and fidgets slightly. She's not going to hold the help against him. This would have been impossible otherwise. For a few moments she looks at her lap until her eyes lift and she smiles. "I feel under dressed." Is what she offers, her tone slightly sheepish. But ever since she came to Xanadu she hasn't really had a reason for a formal dress to sent from home — if it'd still fit.
M'nol smiles, kissing her again before moving to his own seat across the table, "You look beautiful just the way you are, Phy. You always look beautiful." He looks straight into her eyes as he flatters her mercilessly and smiles more, "I hope you like the food. It's my first time making ma's recipes." He nods, motioning for her to try a bite of the well-prepared food before sampling it himself.
Phylicia shivers slightly at that second kiss, her flush spreading slowly. "You're being a shameless flatterer." She teases him gently as she picks up her silverware, cutting off piece of the bovine. Not that she's complaining about being flattered by the way her eyes are smiling gently. She chews on that piece of meat before swallowing, feeling just a little silly about being so dainty about it all. "Mmm, it's good!" She praises after swallowing, reaching out for her glass of water to sip. She's not going to ask who helped, because that just isn't quite as important. When he starts to eat too, she relaxes a little bit, moving a little more naturally over her dinner.
M'nol smiles a little, "Perhaps, but you /are/ beautiful and I can't lie to you." He does start eating, though. Moving calmly through his mean and sipping only occasionally at the brandy. He'd made the glasses small on purpose considering the last time the two had been together and alcohol had been involved. He favors the water more heavily. He does smile at the compliment, feeling more comfortable in her presence than he had since he'd told her about Izarra, "Thanks, Phy. I hope all of it is as good as it looks."
Phylicia is at least in a good enough mood tonight, where the mention of not lying to her doesn't bring up the thoughts of why he's doing this for her in the first place. After a few more bites of the bovine and a forray into the garlic seasoned tubers, she finally starts to sip gingerly at the peach brandy a smile lifting her lips again as she sets the glass down. "Did you get this from Cenlia?" She asks as she moves onto testing the wherry cutlets. "Oh, it's better than it looks." She says, not necessarily talking about the food either as she's looking across the table at him.
M'nol smiles, glad that his choice of words hadn't accidentally started more unhappiness. But it was true, if he had lied to her… could have lied to her, they wouldn't be in the place they were now. He chuckles when she samples the brandy, "Yeah. She brought several bottles of the stuff back from her foray to South Boll. She let me try some and I decided to buy a bottle off of her." He takes a few more bites of his own food before she extols the virtues of the wherry adn he can't help but smile even bigger, "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. I tried to arrange a firelizard chorus, but they decided to try to catch fish instead." He chuckles softly, "But I'm still here."
The amount of food on Phylicia's plate is dwindling as she takes another few bites while M'nol is talking, though she's listening. She giggles, vaguely waving a hand in dismissal. "As awing as that would be if you could get them to do that, this suits me." In fact, neither of hers are to be found around the weyr, inside or out. "I'm… glad you're still here." Comes the soft reply as her eyes lower back to her remaining food. She may have been the one hurt, but she hasn't exactly been making things easy for either of them.
M'nol has finished the actual meat at this point and moved on to the apple and redfruit salad. He smiles and nods, chuckling a little, "I thought it would be romantic at the time, but now I think it would've been a bit much…" He takes another sip of his brandy and nods. His voice comes out somewhere between a sigh and a whisper, "I'm glad you're here, too." He takes a few more bites, finishing off his fruit salad, then asks, "Would you like dessert?"
Phylicia finishes off the last of her tubers, leaving her plate fairly cleaned off now. Her hand pauses in the middle of reaching for her water once more before she snags the glass, lifting it to her lips for a quick sip. "I think I might still have room." She says with a small, honest smile. She's watching him again, but not in any sort of critical way. She's watching for the sake of watching. "What is it?" And now she's curious, apparently liking for now the fact that she doesn't know what will happen or be brought out next.
M'nol stands slowly, smiling somewhat mischievously, "I'll be back with it in one second…" He winks, then scurries across the tree to the cabin. He reappears a few moments later carrying what at first seems to be two normal bubbly pies, but as he sets the first before her it becomes clear that a little something extra has gone into this. Tiny slices of fruit of all kinds combine to form the form of a dragon flying against the backdrop of a heart. It's all in outlines, but still cute in its own way. He sets the other in front of his place and smiles, "Ma's bubbly recipe. Best in all of Pern."
Phylicia is left sipping at her water for a few moments, which switches to finishing off the small glass of brandy instead, leaving her feeling pleasantly warm inside. Though there are other factors contributing to that too. As he sets the bubbly down before her, he can see her face go from amusement at it simply being bubblies to being touched at the effort put into the fruit slices on top. She looks up, her smile bordering on apologetic. "I'm sure they are, but I'm not sure I can eat this." There's nothing in her tone or posture to suggest that she's in any way offended. Her hands fold in her lap as she keeps smiling. "It's too…" No word seems to fit what she wants to say, so she leaves the sentiment hanging. But one would imagine 'cute', or 'sweet' could fit very nicely onto the end.
M'nol smiles softly as he slides back into his seat, flushing some from the implied compliment, "I thought you might say that… but if you don't eat it it will start drooping and smelling funny, so you might as well eat it and enjoy the pictures I took earlier." His own is undecorated, after all, he didn't need to impress himself.
Phylicia giggles softly, picking her hands up from her lap to carefully pick up the pie, cradling it on her fingertips. "Well, if you put it that way.." She says as she leans over her plate, taking a careful bite from the bubblie, 'mmph'ing as some of the more liquid filling dribbles onto the plate. The pie is tilted backwards slightly to save more of the juices from flowing out. It's at a mostly bearable temperature, so it doesn't take her too long to finish chewing. "Is your mom a baker, by any chance?" Because the things have been delicious so far.
M'nol smiles as he watches her finally bite into the bubbly before biting into his own. He tips it back to salvage as much sweet filling as possible so he can savor the chewing of the first bite. He nods slowly as he swallows, "Yup. Cook and baker for the whole mine. Best cook I've ever gotten to know personally."
The bubblie just doesn't last long, because once you start, even if you try to savor it, they disappear. Phylicia's bubblie is no different, pie, heart and dragon. She picks up a napkin, wiping her fingers off before she also wipes her mouth, getting rid of any flakes of crust. "She has good recipes." She compliments as she leans slightly back into the chair, again falling to watching him. She agreed to be at his whims for at least the evening, so she's patiently waiting. "I'm surprised you didn't put on more weight." She teases gently. But then again, he was probably running around, burning off anything he did eat.
M'nol's bubbly disappears in a similarly quick manner and then he, too, is wiping his face and mouth before nodding, "That she does." He chuckles, "It's really easy to burn calories working in a mine… or riding a dragon for that matter." He stands slowly, then holds out a hand to her, offering to help her rise, "My lady?" There's a soft beep from his other hand and suddenly some soft instrumental music begins lilting from under his chair. He's tricksy, he is.
Phylicia places her hand in his, being easily drawn to her feet though the music gets a blink as she shakes her head in amusement, a smile tugging at her lips again. "How you do some of these things." Yes, Xanadu is a technological weyr, but there's still things which she's never gotten used to taking advantage of. But with her hand in his she just smiles, canting her head slightly. "Can I do something for you, my lord?" Two can play the my lord/my lady game, and sometimes it makes it that much more fun. Or absurd.
M'nol smiles a little, blushing softly, he murmurs, "I ask…" He shifts slightly, pulling her towards him if she'll let him as he nods, "You certainly can, M'lady… unless it involves Cenlia's shovel and my softest spot, that is."
Phylicia certainly isn't fighting anything tonight. So as he tugs she comes forward a few quick steps, bracing her free hand on his cheset as she smiles. "I have no clue what you're talking about." She giggles. With the way she had been acting, one'd think an action light this would have her strung like a guitar string, but instead she seems fairly relaxed, waiting patiently with her head tilted barely to the side. "But you were saying…?"
M'nol holds her tight to his chest for a few moments, swaying softly to the music, before he moves in. Resting his head next to hers as best he can with her few inches of additional height he murmurs quietly in her ear, "Kiss me."
Phylicia really isn't that much taller than him anymore, her growing having come and gone quickly as far as height went. She lets herself sway with him becoming even more relaxed. His murmured request sends a quick jolt down her spine, her breathing already picking up a notch. But she doesn't pull away. No, instead her hand slides up his chest, and sideways over his shoulder until it rests at the base of his neck to gently rest there as she complies. Her side is -at first at least- tentative.