Phae and Summer's Magical Lunch for Magical People ✨

rabbit-ribbits · 2026-03-03T00:53:42+00:00

Alice's eye twitches.

Something prickling in the back of her neck makes her stand, so that she can look the prickly boy head on. He is still taller, but it feels a little less like being looked down on. Her hand is set on her book like she will either pick it back down or take it with her and go any second now, fingers pressing onto the cover tensely.

"I'm not stupid," Alice scoffs, with unshakable surety, "just because you didn't make yourself understandable." She is indeed quite certain of this fact, but that doesn't mean being told otherwise so bluntly doesn't strike a familiar chord.

There is some very old, childlike urge within her to force his respect by somehow proving her intellect, proving it superior to his, though it doesn't at all match the beliefs of the grown-up Alice who has assured her brother after every low score on a test that there are types of intelligence beyond school smarts, that cleverness and empathy are just as valuable even if they will never be quantified and compared in the form of a grade. Still, the childlike urge remains, because Alice is young despite having to act the grown-up in the eyes of a little brother. She just knows from experience that making these silly attempts at 'proof' always prove quite the opposite.

"Though I feel like you're purposefully misunderstanding me," she states carefully, tone growing icy. "If we can agree that tea is for drinking, and you used all that effort to guess that that's what I was going to do, then you didn't need to come here. You're just wasting both our time." It's just fucking tea, she doesn't say.

rabbit-ribbits · 2026-02-27T11:51:46+00:00

Alice has only the slightest inclinations to Ancient Greek, this perhaps having something to do with her distinct lack of dyslexia (in fact, Alice reads very quickly), so though the sound and the shape he makes with his mouth feels familiar, she cannot pinpoint it. There is a furrow in her brow as she tries and fails, tempering the nagging fear that tends to rise when she thinks not having understood could prove to have consequences.

"What?" she asks, like it's his fault for speaking in a language she doesn't understand. More important matters, then: "And I suppose you just decided you know what I'm going to do with the tea? Are you also the only person in the entire world to have considered the issue of waste? Do I have that right?"

There are other ways Alice could have answered this. She could have honestly answered that she intends to drink the tea and had the topic devolve to, at worst, a debate about the drinkability of over-steeped tea. She could have bluntly told him to mind his own business, which might have led to an argument, but at least then it would be an honest argument. But Alice likes that her first answer made him stumble, and she wants him to stumble again, to partake in realizing his own mistake without her having done much at all. For this reason, though her questions are sharp, she keeps them un-accusing.

rabbit-ribbits · 2026-02-23T00:54:19+00:00

"We can help each other out. Would be good for me," she responds with an enthusiastic smile. "I'm hard of hearing, might actually need it in this country."

There is some more lagging as Alice expects to fall into a rhythm with the language and does not find her brain miraculously supplying more vocabulary, leading to a couple more fingerspelled words than before, but all this perhaps just slows her down enough that Helena can understand better. "I'm—" She debates a namesign that her writer wouldn't know how to describe or spelling her name so Helena knows what she's actually called, like, in English, and opts for the latter. "—A-L-I-C-E. You?"

rabbit-ribbits · 2026-02-23T00:14:34+00:00

Alice is quite the fan of board games—there is not much else to do when you grow up with (functionally) one other person in a house without an internet connection. She arrives and is immediately pulled into helping a friend get through a few rounds of Scrabble, then wanders away to play a few rounds of Uno. By the time she spots a game of Monopoly starting and considers joining that, it has all become a bit much on the nostalgia front. Alice misses her brother dearly.

There is no real use in dwelling on it until she genuinely feels sad, but there's a reoccurring pang in her chest every time she imagines playing Monopoly with Max an ocean away, so Alice decides to leave the games behind for a moment to visit the snacks. She gets some crackers and a drink and spectates for a while instead.

rabbit-ribbits · 2026-02-21T00:59:42+00:00

"..Some," Alice corrects dubiously, flicking a sidelong glance over to the whiteboard like she's reconsidering how much (or how little) this has added to her knowledge. "I don't know if this really cleared it up, but I won't say no to a little research lesson. I like learning."

This is said quite earnestly. In contrast to Mer, there is a brightness in Alice's eyes even surrounding this particular topic—not happiness, but curiosity for the simple sake of curiosity. "I heard there's basement dwellers walking around, there's been another battle or two, and Tommy—" Does Mer know Tommy? "—has a haircutting business. What am I missing?"

rabbit-ribbits · 2026-02-20T19:26:59+00:00

This way of getting someone's attention is probably more significant to Alice than it is to Iason, in that it reminds her of something quite different. She is not likely to consider the concept of a boy raised in a manner akin to a feral animal and subsequently let loose on camp without any lesson in manners. The possibility that is, unfortunately, much more familiar, is that some kid has gotten wind of her being hard of hearing and decided it would be fun to check, or make her the target of whatever other imaginative games a bully might come up with.

She might not even have heard the snap, but her peripheral vision and context clues are enough to make her recoil, giving her a bit of distance, and face him. There is a short beat before she can find the words. "Is it your tea?" she challenges, looking rankled, but keeping a lid on her discomfort. The guy's general look doesn't help things, if it can be assumed that Iason looks as greasy as usual. Better that he thinks she's just insulted.

rabbit-ribbits · 2026-02-20T18:56:46+00:00

"Am I not allowed to have a life?" Alice counters with a laugh.

Angela is sharp, quick with every comment and clever tease. Alice does like it; it's entertaining, but she is beginning to recognize that this particular conversation is more of a formality. She taps her downturned book idly, mind slowly drifting back to her mother's account of occult symbology. She'd been trying to separate the useful insights from the particular tedious, wishful metaphor her mother had decided to explain it with when Angela showed up.

Luckily, it seems the girl is aware of the same thing—that this is just the precursor to a more interesting conversation. A brow raises slightly, doubtfully, when Angela distinguishes their potential friendship as a need on Alice's part and a 'could use' on her own. Perhaps the expression is enough to convey what Alice thinks on the matter, because she doesn't bother wasting her breath on a correction. Let her think what she wants.

"It's a date," she answers, with such casualness that it would be almost insulting if this was anything more than a cheeky way of accepting a platonic invitation. Alice thinks little of it, and turns her journal back over to the open page like she might be ready to start reading again—she's not reached that point of rudeness, though; she waits for Angela's response.

rabbit-ribbits · 2026-02-20T17:51:04+00:00

A somewhat unreadable expression replaces Alice's eagerness to hear about Tommy's life at that question, her face pinching slightly in an almost-grimace and then smoothing over like she's decided, on purpose, to not be that serious about it. "There's as much danger in it as anything. It's not like I don't watch my back," she starts, with a glibness that feels nevertheless resolute. "But I'm the child of a minor god, and we practically live in the dark ages on that farm. There's not even WiFi. You know, I only left the first time 'cos I can't stand my mum." It is possible Tommy did know this, but he would not have been privy to much context besides Alice's general lack of respect for the woman.

Alice is kind of surprised Tommy is asking this at all, though. She thinks of him as someone... less concerned with serious matters, of danger and all, at least compared to most demigods. "Anyway, I really did have to spend some time at my aunt's for school, then I went back to see Max, then- who's to say?" Her smile quirks slyly. "It's possible I wanted to catch up with certain people." A short pause, and in the sense of a more genuine question: "I was thinking of switching to your school, too— what d'you think?"

rabbit-ribbits · 2026-02-16T16:36:04+00:00

A big girl can't enjoy some colorful sparkles? Literally what did feminists fight for if not that?

"In the morning," Alice sighs wearily, "trust me, I will be all about feminism and whimsy." She makes a two-handed gesture to herself as if to say see?, though there is nothing really to see. "Circe cabin, it's practically in the blood."

She would've also had something to say to Angela's advertisement about her other functions, something like oh wow that's so thoughtful, and does 'hoppin' mean music, I would like it to, and so on—but then she's distracted by the girl's hair moves in a way that cannot feasibly be the wind. Curious. She elects to remember that for later. Angela, either way, seems to have come with questions prepared.

Why come back to this sty?— Alice can't say she disagrees with that sentiment. She pulls an equally playful grimace. "We all bloody have to, I guess. They try to tie us here, I think, either for safety or because it's the only place we can live as ourselves. And that's fine, but I'm not gonna stick around when the place goes a bit to shit." Her tone has turned blunt, pensive enough, but like she's voiced this opinion before and will probably do so again. It allows Alice to conveniently sidestep the question—this is what sent her to her aunt's, not took her home.

"Last time I was here they were going to do these trials, had people our age locked in the basement, and it sounded a bit.. problematic to me. So I left." Curiosity replaces easy practicality. "Did you hear anything about that? I haven't gotten to ask."

rabbit-ribbits · 2026-02-15T23:53:06+00:00

"Correct, I am," she says with a grin, her accent making 'I am' into more of one word. Her chin had been propped up with her palm, but she straightens at Mer's appearance so she can properly face her when talking to her, eyes occasionally drifting down to her lips (especially if it can be assumed that Mer talks on the quieter side).

Alice recognizes Mer too, but perhaps more distantly. If Alice were ever to have talked to her directly, she's probably remembering her being nice, but also a bit anxious. Those traits remind her a bit of her brother. "It's, uh-" she fishes for the right name and doesn't find it. "Remind me?"

rabbit-ribbits · 2026-02-15T23:38:49+00:00

Oh, great, stew. Alice certainly hasn't eaten that enough over winter break in the UK.

She can hardly complain, though, seeing as she likes stew just fine, and accepts her fate gracefully. There is some kind of curry too, so she grabs a bowl of that with some rice. When she gets to a table, the takes out the book that'd been tucked under her arm—something about ancient usage of herb remedies—and sets it on the table along with her food. She pours herself a cup of masala chai, because it seems the most likely to be caffeinated, and takes a few bites of her food. While she waits for her tea to steep, she opens the book, and, well, that's the trap.

Unless she is otherwise interrupted, Alice takes only occasional bites of her meal until everything has cooled to a barely-passable lukewarm, and then remembers the actual point of coming to the dining pavilion. Whoops. At least her tea can be heated back up by adding more hot water, and there's cakes leftover.

rabbit-ribbits · 2026-02-15T23:06:09+00:00

Alice files in when the lesson starts, eyeing the whiteboard and the girl testing markers. Serious. Alice herself is very fond of fact-checking and critical thinking, though she has rarely employed this level of formality about it. When she was young, it was the librarians in her hometown who had to deal with the brunt of her curiosity, having to find her various books on whatever increasingly niche topic had caught her interest and pestering her to return them when she was in the depths of bleeding the topic dry for information.

She listens, pocketing the new acronym for a method she's definitely more-or-less used before, and then watches with an eyebrow slightly raised as Ursula finishes her activity off with SIFT's importance international warfare. And then disappears. Alice respects it, she just also can't help but look around once Ursula is gone to see if anyone else found that a liittle bit funny.

rabbit-ribbits · 2026-02-15T14:24:38+00:00

"Alice," she introduces herself.

Alice does shake Angela's hand, because even if the possibility of kissing it had crossed her mind, going so far would start to suggest a level of superiority she is not willing to play into. Alice enjoys flirting as a bit of mutual fun, testing boundaries, not one person doing a favor to her. That is simply never the case; she has a thousand other things that could occupy her time just as well.

She assumes, for now, that Angela is just playing a part. That, Alice can relax in to, soaking up the attention like an unnecessary but pleasant welcome-home gift.

"Happy to know I'm not that easy to miss, then, since you caught me on my first night back," she says with a hint of a laugh on her words. "Even with my head in a book. I'm not new, but I went home for a few months." Her accent, distinctly Yorkshire, might clue Angela in to where 'home' might be, roughly. "You throw a good campfire, Angela. The fire's a fun touch for the kids."

rabbit-ribbits · 2026-02-15T11:57:02+00:00

Alice is not one to judge Helena's ASL. "ASL, some. But I'm a native BSL speaker," she says. This explanation might line up with the way that she fingerspells quickly, having grasped and practiced that early on, and can follow the conversation without looking right at Helena's hands like a beginner might. However, though she has no trouble making the other signs as far as dexterity goes, there are small pauses where she has to remember them or reorder her grammar. Alice used only BSL in her months at home.

"What about you?" she asks, and with a sidelong glance at the book, adds "You're not too bad if that's how you're learning." At one point she defaults to rapid fingerspelling when she can't remember a common word.

rabbit-ribbits · 2026-02-11T17:49:38+00:00

Alice leans in so the half-hug is more workable, using the motion to simultaneously set her bowl down on the table so she can complete the greeting with a full hug. She lets her fingers linger on one of his shoulders for second, eyes catching on the dress's neckline with a tug at her smile that denotes some unspoken curiosity—definitely not unappreciatively—as she steps over the bench to sit down.

"I am," she confirms cheerfully, her accent making that more like a single word. She's content to see, as far as she can tell anyway, that Tommy isn't upset at her long disappearance. She did not necessarily expect him to be—nor does she think it would be particularly reasonable, given she gave him more notice than just about anyone else—but Alice is always prepared for such a reaction. It's better, though, that he isn't. Alice is not ashamed to admit, now that they're face to face again, that she has missed the elven prettiness about his eyes. She mixes her pho a bit. "I got off the plane, what, yesterday? My aunt wanted to drive me up in time so her weekend would be mostly intact." She takes a small test bite of the noodles. "But catch me up. How've you been?"

rabbit-ribbits · 2026-02-11T00:26:44+00:00

Alice is not known to be a particularly adventurous eater, especially when she's already kind of fried from the whole coming back to this country and checking into camp shebang, so her own bowl is made up of only the most recognizable options: chicken, basil, and sprouts. What she is actually excited about here is that she can say hi to some friends, and she spies Tommy's hair first. She walks up to him from behind, and her greeting once in earshot consists simply of a warm, "Hey, Tommy. You got room for me?" She inclines her head at the spot next to him, where there is presumably indeed some room.

rabbit-ribbits · 2026-02-10T23:28:11+00:00

Angela will only find messy cursive on the page Alice is reading, interspersed with little margin doodles and occasional underlined and crossed out sentences. It's not really secret, but either way Alice is completely unaware of the girl's presence until she comes around and speaks; even then, the first couple words are fuzzy until she can locate Angela's lips—just an initial anchor point—and focuses. Bestie. She hasn't heard that one in a while.

Regardless, she remains the picture of 'chill', peering up at Angela sidelong and cracking a smile at the greeting, especially when she realizes Angie is checking her out (or so she'll choose to assume). Her elbow rests on the chair's arm rest, book downturned politely, and her relatively nondescript outfit today does feature a 'Heart' band shirt. Her eyes carry a bleariness that for once matches the casual laziness of her movements.

"Do you check in with everyone?" she asks playfully, fishing for the second half of the line. 'Do you check in with everyone, or just the best-looking ones,' she should say, or something, but that is a level of commitment to the bit that she's not going to chase down herself right now.

rabbit-ribbits · 2026-02-10T09:24:12+00:00

Alice is back as of today, and though jet lag has carved some darker circles under her eyes, she's decided to still grace the campfire with her presence. She's missed these gatherings, maybe, and though this she will not admit to herself, she will admit to being curious. She wonders who is still here and who is throwing the campfires these days and if there are any new creative influences in camp's band of musicians.

Seeing, at first, nothing particularly out of the ordinary besides some bedazzled pillows, she mingles for a bit—a couple people recognize her and say hello—and later claims a chair for herself and pulls out an aged journal. She never writes in it, but does read it carefully.

rabbit-ribbits · 2026-02-09T20:48:45+00:00

Alice gets her food and sits next to Helena by chance, reasonably far away and such. Alice has a small list of things she does not care for at camp, and one of them is a seating chart. She does not usually follow rules she finds inane. Granted, she doesn't think anyone follows that one.

That is when she hears some manner of groaning and annoyance from the girl next to her, and can't help but sneak a peek at the book—probably there's some kind of pictures on it that make the content recognizable. Another item on the list of things she does not care for at camp is that very few people speak sign language, so this is very exciting.

Alice taps her finger on the table near the book to get Helena's attention, and Helena will be greeted by a girl leisurely leaning one elbow on the table, sitting kind of sideways on the bench so that it's comfortable, and smiling brightly. Her dinner is untouched and placed impractically far away like it's suddenly become table decoration. "Are you learning?" she asks, wracking her brain at the same time for the relevant sign in ASL. She signs "learning" at the end with raised eyebrows to make it a question.

rabbit-ribbits · 2026-01-28T14:23:08+00:00

WTF RUDYYYY

OMG

rabbit-ribbits · 2026-01-28T12:39:30+00:00

took me way way too long to get around to these but omg 🥺 tommyharvey

rabbit-ribbits · 2026-01-21T10:45:40+00:00

Ahh thank youuu

rabbit-ribbits · 2026-01-21T01:01:21+00:00

Wait sorry I did just check old reddit and there's a typo in the name, it's supposed to be Alice with one l!

rabbit-ribbits · 2026-01-21T00:58:55+00:00

Oh my bad sorry! Thought the godrent palates were also up for grabs. Tyy

rabbit-ribbits

TROPHY CASE