thenearshore | Cookies for Heaven

Entry tags:

Cookies for Heaven

Who: Princess Celestia
When: October 14-21st
Where: All around the Far Shore
What: Princess Celestia brings cookies and, perhaps more importantly, wellness checks to the temples of the Far Shore.

Two things circled each other in Celestia's mind, forming a taijutu symbol in the way each completed the other: A lot of people in the Far Shore really needed some personal attention, friendship, and care; and she had, thanks to practice and effort, gotten quite good at baking cookies.

So each morning, Celestia cheerfully moved dough into her oven on sheet after sheet, the entire kitchen in Inti's temple animated in golden light like Merlin himself had set it all to baking-- and each afternoon, Celestia took wing above the Far Shore, traveling from temple to temple to seek out the inhabitants therein.

So at some point, an alicorn will come knocking at your door, with a bright smile on her face and a basket of cookies floating by her side.

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I'll steep some more, if you give me but a second.

[Again, her magic serves her well, as she moves off to start putting together a kettle. A proper tea for a raspy throat needs plenty of honey as well... But Celestia has taken care of worse patients, including a poor sick baby dragon on a few occasions. Hibiki isn't going to start sneezing fire, so this is hardly her greatest challenge.]

My shinki can do that.

[ Wherever she i----aaaand you're doing it anyway. Hibiki has pretty much figured out that when Princesses want something she should lie back and deal, so she doesn't protest further, especially since the process is underway.

Princess Celestia's tea. It is sure to be delicious, in any case. ]

You need it now.

[She isn't wrong. Besides, Hibiki blatantly needs some mothering -- is she going to get that from her shinki?]

[ It's still that obvious, then. Ah, well.

Hibiki averts her eyes, somewhat uncomfortable with being mothered. Being pampered by a servant is one thing. But by an equal....? What's more, by someone she respects....?

It's a strange feeling. And this silence is making it worse. She'd better talk. ]

You didn't visit to make me tea.

I visited to see how you were doing. [Which is the utter truth. The cookies were an excuse, nothing more.] As it happens, you could be doing better, and as it further happens, I can help. So really, I sort of did visit to make you tea.

[ ....Oh. That's...Hibiki has even less of an idea how to deal with that. ]

Splitting hairs.

[ Ugh, she needs to get her head together and be a host. But her head is still rather full of plu, and she has to blow her nose now, anyway.

She shall avert her whole face for that, which is convenient, since she's completely at a loss in this situation. ]

[Avert her face as she might, she still can hear the gentle clink of spook against china as Celestia stirs the honey into the tea. A moment later, the light near her shifts and a breath of moist warmth drifts her way as Celestia levitates the tea mug and a clean handkerchief over to her.]

I do wish magic could just cure diseases. I wonder if some god here might have that power.

[ Having this movie playing with a guest in the room isn't elegant. Hibiki roots around blindly in her blanket until she finds her remote control, wiping off her face with her other hand before turning back around. Click.

This is so much easier with someone to use the remote for her. Ah, cruel world. ] If they had, they're irresponsible.

[ ....Floating tea. She won't question it. Hibiki accepts both cup and hanky, taking a sip.

...It's sweet. ]

Or busy, or unaware. [The gentlest of corrections to Hibiki, even as Celestia looks her over. She hadn't even been paying attention to the movie...] Have you been sleeping well?

Mm. [ Still in mid-tea, here.

Hibiki lowers her cup, pauses to appreciate the warmth sliding down her throat. ] I obtained medicine.

[ The god whose death is responsible for this did, at least, have a concoction that seems to be defeating it. The calming sensation that comes along with it (Hibiki always calms when she's healed) is a pleasant bonus.

But the vestiges linger. ]

Then it sounds like you're doing everything you should. [If for no other reason than she feels so poorly she can't do anything else. Celestia rather suspects that Hibiki with a cold or even a mild fever would be charging aggressively around, ignoring her symptoms as best she could.] Is there anything you need to take care of?

It can wait. [ The whole world, that is. Everything can be put on hold, at any time, for any sort of indisposition Shikyoin Hibiki might suffer.

That's just how things work. ]

It can, and for the most part it will. But if there's anything you'd prefer not to...

[Celestia isn't certain whether Hibiki does laundry aggressively or lazily...]

[ Hibiki aggressively remains in ignorance of the existence of laundry. How she survived the brief period of time in which she'd fired Ando is a mystery for the ages. ]

I'm managing.

[ She detests being sick. And yet, when she is sick, she can think of nothing but, so she wallows in contemplation of her own misery. It should be a crime, for one so perfect to be brought so low. The world should be ashamed of itself for depriving itself of Shikyoin Hibiki's full radiance, even for the span of a few da....

....This is good tea. ]

[With her keen wit and outstanding insight, Celestia sets another cup to steep.] I'm glad to hear that. And I hope you mend soon. The Far Shore just isn't quite the same without you at your best.

[That isn't precisely the compliment that Celestia has made it sound like, but it's nonetheless true and meant very well indeed.]

[ Hibiki is feeling a bit more up to this conversation already. This is good tea. ] I assure you my recovery shall be splendid.

[ She adjusts on the couch again, always in search of the Ultimate Comfortable Position. ]

[Celestia is perpetually baffled by human sitting positions on couches, but well, she knows perfectly well they're built quite differently than ponies. So she gives that a pass as she moves about the room, making certain anything out of place gets put back. Clutter is not conducive to recovery, but Hibiki shouldn't be the one to pick up. Her energy is better suited for getting better.] Could it possibly be any other way?

Hmh.

[ Oh, you got the pleased snort. She is feeling better.

The room isn't too bad, though something has made a point of going through and knocking every picture on the walls off-kilter so they'll irritate Hibiki when she looks at them. Polteageists wait for no plu.

...It also yanks her pillow out from beneath her when she goes to lie down. ]

--Rghk!

Now stop that this instant. [Celestia immediately fixes the air with a look that only seems mild if one isn't on the end of it. Though the sunpony is generally mild and serene, this flirts with a line she refuses to tolerate.]

[To emphasize the point, every picture on the wall snaps to true vertical in perfect harmony and a flash of yellow magic.]

You're welcome to expel it if you have the means.

[ This grand permission comes from a blanket log on the couch. Hibiki is too tired to even get angry at teacup ghost's antics, but she's not going to pass up on this opportunipri. ]

I'm not an exorcist, I'm afraid. But I won't permit a sick person to be bullied.

[If she isn't an exorcist, how can she make that stand? Simple: She's Princess Celestia. Does the poltergeist really want to try her?]

[ There is a surly whistling noise in the air, but the pictures on the wall remain as they were. A faint line of water droplets makes its way to the door.

Fine. The polteageist will just go have fun elsewhere, for Hibiki to discover later.

Hibiki, on the couch, buried in blankets, sighs. ]

[Celestia sends a flash of magic racing after it to evaporate the water, letting out a huff as she does. This might be the most genuinely nettled she's been in.]

How DID you come across such a rude ghost anyway?

It's the hazards of celebrity.

[ No, it's the hazards of being a menace to porcelain. But Hibiki is not about to admit this is her fault. ] When one's amazingness belies comprehension, such grudges may happen.

Oh, well. Having never attracted such a nemesis, I suppose I should worry about my own standing.

[Apparently gentle teasing is not considered torment enough to be forbidden.]

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