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The day is slowly giving way to night. The temperature is dropping, but there's no new snow. Inside the Stacy home, Gwen is carrying in ten lengths of firewood from the backyard, one log for each finger. She drops them in the woodbox to the left of the fireplace, then puts one more log in the fire, which is doing pretty well. She has had a full day, and it seems time to kick back and relax. She picked up the TV Guide and pondered the options. I Dream of Jeannie? My Favorite Martian? Or maybe that growing favorite, The Fugitive?
Cindy is settled in the living room, just quietly curled up with a fluffy blanket and a mug of hot chocolate- one of her new favorite things. She'd seen the television and been rather amazed by what the thing could do- pictures from far away! It was a pretty stupendous invention, and nothing like she'd ever seen before.
With a whole world to explore Starfire has at times been known to head off on adventures. Sometimes these last a day, sometimes longer, but they almost always end with her returning with something odd.
Todays something odd happens to be the top of a palm tree. Complete with coconuts. And perhaps it's the sun she's caught while in tropical climates but Kori has a literal spring in her step as she comes through the front door. A trail of battered palm leaves in her wake.
Gwen blinks as Koriand'r, Princess of Tamaran, steps in with her latest foray with souvenirs. Palm leaves and coconuts. How is easy to figure. She travels in distances Gwen can scarcely imagine.
So she smiles to Kori and says, "Hey there. How was your trip to the tropics?"
She wondered to herself what they could use coconuts for, if Kori meant to share them.
Cindy looks up to see a woman with orange-bronze skin. Definitely not Jaundiced. She looks over to Gwen. Then to Kori- then back to Gwen. Just quiet and watching. She sips her hot chocolate. Siiiip.
"Hello friend Gwen!" Starfire exclaims brightly. "It was most enjoyable. I had planned on bringing you a tree filled with pleasant tasting nuts. But there were several unfortunate issues with uprooting and then transporting a whole tree across such a distance." She shrugs, more leaves falling off. "You should not worry though as the rest of the tree fell over the water. So no damage was caused."
The alien princess pauses for a moment, then beams at Cindy. "I did not know you had company around. If this is a date or some other romantic gathering then I hope you will forgive the intrusion!"
Gwen blinked. "Uhm, actually, this is something that's long overdue." She puts the TV Guide down and stands up. "Kori, I want you to meet our newest tenant. This is Moon Shin-Hye. Unlike my name, her family name is first and personal name second." She turns to Cindy. "Shin, this is Koriand'r…Kori for short. She's an expatriate from a distant country. She needed a place to stay…so I invited her in." She smiled encouragingly to Kori. "And I've never regretted it."
Cindy's eyebrows knit together, she looks over to Gwen, then back to Kori again. She smiles then- a bright grin, bowing her head. "Hello!" she says, her English clearly accented. "Am Shin-Hye. Gwen is friend, too! Let Shin-Hye live in ceiling!" she's beaming bright, "Am glad to meet friend." She bows her head respectfully, "Am hope we be good best friends!" Another bow of her head. Followed by a sip of hot chocolate.
"As I do not think this tree can be replanted I thought at least we could consume the nuts," Starfire explains earnestly. "It is a pleasure to meet you Shin-Hye. I hope that you will be sharing the nuts of the coco with us both?" She hrms. "I wonder if the rest will function as fire wood. I assume the leaves are not edible.." A pause, as if she's considering trying to chew one to find out. "In hindsight I should have left the trunk out in the yard."
Gwen smiles wryly. "Kori, I'm not sure a tropical tree would survive for very long in our climate. From this point forward, you should probably stick to the fruit." Not to mention there were rules about moving flora and fauna into the country. She would have a little chat with her about that soon, but not now. Another time. Tomorrow.
"My father tought me how to get into it, but we need a pretty big knife to open it up." She looked to Cindy. "Know of any recipes that use either coconut milk or the fruit itself?"
Cindy nods, beaming wide, "Hindsight is nine-tenth of the law!" The young Korean woman offers by way of malaphoric advice. "Is okay, very good to share food with friends. Most goodly." Shin-Hye's English is not nearly as fluent as Kori's. STill, she's smiling brightly and seems very happy to meet this new person. "Would be happy to share nut of coco with new friend, Kori!" she looks between the two. "No. Never had this nut." she states, "Is sure is good nut."
"Oh yes. I forget that you do not have local climate control," Starfire replies with a sigh. "But do not worry. For I have the perfect way to open the nuts." She plucks a single coconut, then with a flash of green energy from her eyes she lasers the top off. "See. I can open them bare handed but the fluids leak out that way. Which is a waste as they are refreshing." She holds out the coconut for Gwen to take, then repeats the process for Shin-Hye.
Gwen takes the coconut, then goes to the kitchen and takes a tall glass, pouring the raw coconut milk out into it. She shakes it a little before she grasps the coconut with her thumbs through the opening, and then there is a muted CRACK and the coconut is in two halves. Gwen brings the two halves back out to Cindy and Kori, cracking off a sliver of the meat of the fruit to hand to Cindy.
Cindy is far more interested in blasty-green energy than coconuts. Although, the coconut is a new sort of thing she's never seen before. She just stares- looking then to Gwen- and then again back to Kori. "How you do green thing?" She asks, then.
Starfire frowns, although with all the leaves it's hard to see. "I am very sorry, but I do not think I can explain in a way you would find… easy to understand. If I am honest I do not entirely understand the process myself." She very carefully begins to take the tree through the house and out to the yard. Floating back in a few moments later and starting to tidy up after herself. "Oh no, you may have all of the coconut friend Gwen. I have eaten many over the course of the day. Why my forth stomach is practically full to bursting."
Gwen takes a deep breath. "Well…Kori's special. Like me." That can cover a lot and it doesn't blow her cover. She takes a bite, then hmmms as she chews. "Hmm…sweet, yet there's that crunch like an apple."
"Understand." Shin-Hye offers simply, bowing her head towards KOri as she enjoys this new treat along with her hot chocolate. They seem to go well enough together. Still, she falls into quiet- almost meditative quiet.
"Have things been well for you at home?" Starfire wonders, collecting an increasingly large bunch of leaves. "From what I have heard this is the run up to some form of celebration or festival. Are there preparations which should be made? I could perhaps fly in a few tons of snow and ice if a large enough container could be found. As it sounds very much like snow is required to ensure the celebration has magical properties."
Gwen chuckles. "The holiday is known as Christmas, a joining of Christ's Mass. In the Christian faith, it is a symbolic choice of day for His birth, although the true date isn't known. It is celebrated by giving gifts to others. I was a little distracted, but I was planning to put up the traditional Christmas tree and decorate it tomorrow. If you would like to observe, I can tell you about the traditions and beliefs connected to the holiday." She smiles. "I'm also of the Christian faith, brought up in the church by my father. If you have any questions about it, I can try to answer them." She thinks for a moment. "We can do things together—make Christmas cookies, maybe set up a gingerbread house. And I do have a gift or two for everyone in the house, but you don't have to give if you don't want to."
"Oh I have read a little about all major faiths," Starfire assures. "At least enough to understand the basic belief systems behind each. Thankfully many of the libraries I have visited kept copies of the relevant books." She hmmms thoughtfully. "I am unsure what sort of gifts are appropriate for such an event.. I am currently out of moon rocks and I have yet to find a suitable career with which to earn funds."
Gwen looks thoughtful. "You can get creative. A friend once gave ten free rides to anywhere in the city, no questions, at any time of the day or night for the next year. Another made a quilt for a friend for the colder months. So if you want to make a list of what you can do, do that and see what you can do for others." She smirks. "I'll help, if you want me to."
"Many of my skills are extremely impractical as gifts," Kori muses. "But I can think of some things I could try to offer. If the giving of skills and knowledge is considered acceptable that is." She pauses. "I think at least that many of my new friends will understand that I am not in a position to be extravagant with my present giving."
Gwen nods. "Well, if you have friends that won't understand that, you need better friends." She looks thoughtful. "If you want to earn some personal money, I could use some help in a few ways. You would be doing stuff for me, and I would pay you for your time and effort."
Starfire nods. "What sort of tasks do you need help with?" she wonders, finally having collected all the leaves. "Do you think anything useful can be done with these? Or should they be added to the garden to help fertilise the soil?"
Gwen hmms. "I should build a compost heap. Those leaves could start it off. and we could plan to set up a farm plot to grow things in the spring. It's a good thought."
"I will have to consider each task individually," Starfire decides, turning to open the front door again. "But I am sure I can help with many things." She grins. "But before that I shall tidy the leaves I believe might be left out on the front lawn and then harvest the remaining coconuts. They can remain in the kitchen for anyone who wishes to enjoy one."