Private Platter of Cheeses

[Marrow]

Generic Park, Chaldea. 13:37 Local Time.​

It was a fine day, sunlight lightly bathing green grass as it shone down from above, only occasionally tempered by an ephemeral cloud. Children played. Couples talked. A picnic sporting an unusually robust selection of cheeses rested next to a tree.

Next to it lay a humanoid-sized-and-shaped pile of leaves. A sane resting place for a sane man.

It was not entirely clear why a picnic with the Mad Magus had gone up for auction, but it had been bid on. Someone had won. Now, their prize awaited them in the grass; the time of refunds and second thoughts had passed, now was the hour of the picnic.​

Ishani Dinn​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

A ball rested on the grass, eager to be kicked. Its long wait ended as Eloise Sibwarra’s sneakered foot slammed into it, sending the checkered sphere flying across the field.

Eloise was playing against Ishani and Marcus. The ball was knocked between them like a pinball before a single misstep (Ishani’s fault) sent it spiraling away from the game and toward the picnic spread. Marcus jogged over to retrieve it, yet as he stooped to pick up the ball, he froze, his gaze drawn to the picnic beneath the willow tree.

The picnic blanket was strewn with dozens of different cheeses. This sight was bewildering enough, but as he straightened, the ball in his hands, he beheld the picnicker himself. An older man, with a pointed beard and a purple suit streaked with gold lines that formed strange symbols and shapes. He had yellow eyes with slit pupils like a feline.

The boy spent a long enough time standing there staring that his mother and sister walked over to see what was keeping him. Eloise nudged his shoulder irritably, wanting to get back to their game, while Ishani stood behind the pair and gazed down at the man.

“Wow,” Ishani muttered. “That’s a lot of cheese.”

She had forgotten all about the auction, where she had given away many of her old alchemy projects, bidding them on something she’d thought was a joke. But evidently Cerritus had come to collect.

Marrow​

 

[Marrow]

It was quite possible that parts of Cerritus poked through his leaky coverage, but he was concealed for the most part.

That ended abruptly as he thrust himself upwards with a vigour belying his age, feet curling together until he sat in a lotus position. At the same time, his feline eyes slid over the trio before landing on the mother. "Salutations, Ishani of Sibwarra! Your picnic has arrived."

Scrutisinsing the array of foods before him - several dozen distinctly delicious dairy delicacies, three types of biscuit, and a few tasty-looking pastries, he nodded to himself, almost absentmindedly. "It is indeed a sufficient quantity of cheese. At least for a picnic! Have a seat!"​

Ishani Dinn​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Ishani was slow to remember what she was supposed to have won. When it finally came back to her, her eyebrows skyrocketed even as the old man started floating.

Eloise was similarly startled, but Marcus seemed undeterred by this display of magic. “I want some,” he announced, crouching down beside the blanket and grabbing a pastry.

Ishani’s first instinct was to pull her son away, but past experience had taught her that Netherfolk didn’t react well to signs of skittishness. Mockery she had grown used to, but they could also become offended or violent, with the nastiest ones setting out to take advantage of the fear of others. No, she would not allow herself to be afraid of this one.

“As long as it is all perfectly normal, with no strange additives,” Ishani said, eyeing Cerritus as she sat down on one corner of the blanket. She was not dressed like a Mystic today; her head was uncovered, revealing a thick mane of shoulder-length blonde hair combed back. Her dress was noticeably made from the same green and yellow fabric as her children’s play-clothes—in fact, she had made the three outfits herself.

While Marcus was quick to dig in, Eloise was slow and tentative. She held her long hair back daintily with one hand and picked through the offerings with the other. Once she had made her selection—a chocolate cookie—she sat back down and looked up at her mother expectantly, only taking a bite after Ishani had done so first.

Marrow​

 

[Marrow]

Tapping his chin thoughtfully, Cerritus gestured towards the foodstuffs with the other.

"Hardly, most are quite mundane." Gaze flickering to the pastry Marcus had picked, he raised a single ashen eyebrow. "Not that one, though." Clearly, the boy had excellent taste - the Sith had planned to consume the Croissant of Cosmic Truth himself, but such was the nature of hospitality.

Carving off two slivers of cheese and placing them around a salty cracker - like a reverse sandwich of sorts - he hummed thoughtfully, savoured his prize, and watched the boy's reaction with interest. Would his eyes turn black as Realization course through him, or would the effects be subtle?

Given the unpredictable nature of Cerritus' chefmanship, even he did not know for sure.​

Ishani Dinn​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

With a gasp Ishani knocked the pastry from her son's hand. It fell onto the blanket, a single bite nibbled along one end.

"Marcus, spit it out," she commanded.

The boy's eyes went wide. "I already swallowed it."

Instantly Ishani grabbed him and tried to stick a finger in his mouth to induce vomiting, but he fought her off. "No! I don't wanna throw up!"

"If you don't—" She didn't know what would happen, and that terrified her. But how does one explain fear of the unknown to a child?

Let alone one who had just taken a bite out of the Croissant of Cosmic Truth.

"You should've waited instead of just stuffing your face, idiot!" Eloise snapped.

"Don't call your brother an idiot," Ishani warned. If anyone here was an idiot, it was herself for entertaining this whole picnic idea. "Marcus, how are you feeling?"

The boy appeared unchanged, with no black eyes or other noticeable modifications. He held out his arms and hugged her tightly. "Mommy, I didn't know," he mumbled.

"You didn't know what?"

No response. She held him, stroking his hair, and glared over at Cerritus. "What was in that pastry he ate?"

Marrow​

 

[Marrow]

Oblivious to or more likely uncaring of the rising tension, Cerritus smiled pleasantly, finished his biscuit, and poured himself a glass of water.

"One of my favourite flavours of Truth." Arching a single finger towards the croissant, he waggled a sharpened nail about until it deflated and collapsed into ash, a softly glowing purple smoke rising from it, its ever-shifting form showing glimpses of nameless, shapeless things.

"Are you sure you don't want the rest? A child's mind is fantastically expandable."

If Marcus rejected it - and he would not accept an answer from Ishani - the Mad Magus would shrug, wag the same finger one last time, and inhale the stream of smoke as if it were a relished treat. Which, in a manner of speaking, it was. Taste alone had begun to bore him in his age.​

Ishani Dinn​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Sorry, bub, but a three year old can't be counted on to make life-altering choices. Especially if he barely comprehends what he's getting himself into.

"We've had quite enough," Ishani said. Scooping up Marcus in one arm, she held onto Eloise's hand with the other. "Goodbye."

Marrow​

 

[Marrow]

He would have preferred an answer from the person in question, but then three-year-olds were quite simple. Like geese!

"Your loss, Senator of Chaldea." Relishing the sensation of Truth and Wonder coursing through him, the Sith Lord leaned back onto the blanket with a smile on his features. Before long, however, he made his departure - pulling the blanket upwards and vanishing as it collapsed in on itself.

Probably good timing, given the numerous laws he had broken before this short encounter.​

Ishani Dinn​