Ruby City Mailbox/Inbox

[oathshackledbird]

You have found the Mailbox/Inbox of Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, owner and teacher of the training school, Spiral. If you have business with him or the school, please feel free to leave a message and he will get back to you as soon as possible. Considering his abilities, that might be quicker than you think...

Comments

[earlybird]

It's really just coffee prepared in a specific way. The beans are boiled in a pot first, with sugar, and then served with the grounds by a cezve--

[ He doesn't have a translation for that. A cezve is a cezve. A special pot for the coffee? ]

--usually. It's a lot smoother and less bitter than other coffees. Stronger, though. Meant to be eaten with desserts or breakfast cookies.

[oathshackledbird]

So it would be good to have with cake?

[This pleases Diarmuid since he remembers how very good the cake he had when he visited Alice before was.]

I wonder if it would be good with honey.

[Diarmuid, not everything has to have honey in it...]

[earlybird]

Yes. It goes well with cake.

Honey? It goes well with it. The only thing I wouldn't recommend is maple syrup.

[ That was a mistake. Never again. ]

[oathshackledbird]

Maple syrup? I've never had that. Too sweet?

[He has found a few things that are too sweet...at least for him.]

Better to leave it for pancakes and such, hu?

cleared inbox, you said? /twirls moustache weheh

[earlybird]

Too sweet. Can't even eat it on pancakes.

And the flavor's too strong.

Conflicts with the spices.

[ Kid takes his coffee seriously. ]

LOL! My inbox never stays clear more than a few seconds anyway...

[oathshackledbird]

I'm glad I have you to help me out with this. Coffee is something I don't really know much about.

[As in nothing. Zip. Zero.]

Any other warnings you would like to share with me?

[earlybird]

Don't drink a lot of it.

It's not good.

[ So much hypocrisy. ]

[oathshackledbird]

I take it you have been there?

[Poor kiddo...]

Warning duly noted. Thanks.

[earlybird]

Heart palpitations.

[ Yep. He's been there. ]

You're welcome.

[oathshackledbird]

Heart palpitations? From the caffeine?

[Diarmuid has to wonder if that would even affect a servant. However, he doesn't wonder enough to actually want to try it out.]

I suppose when they say that too much of anything is not good, they really mean it.

[Though, if he was going to go overboard on anything, it would probably be honey...]

[earlybird]

Yep.

[ He'd slept for an entire day after downing that much. The crash had been bad. ]

But so worth it.

[ Can't stop, won't stop. ]

[oathshackledbird]

[If this was a video conversation, Damian would be getting an eyeful of raised eyebrow right now.]

I thought you just said I shouldn't do it. How can it be worthwhile then?

[Double-standard, Damian. He's calling you on it.]

[earlybird]

I hadn't had good Turkish coffee in months.

[ Wow, get your judgment out of here, Diarmuid. ]

It's French-made, but it still reminded me of.

Where I came from. Before Ruby City, and before Gotham.

[ Damian would never admit to having been homesick. But the rare taste of culture had been unexpectedly comforting. ]

[oathshackledbird]

Ah...

[Suddenly, Diarmuid understands completely what is going on. Damian doesn't have to explain a thing.]

Much like how honey reminds me of my home. I should ask Alice if she has any Irish-themed teas...

[earlybird]

Exactly.

[ They all have their comfort foods; even child assassins and legendary heroes. ]

Irish-themed - like Assam and Ceylon teas, or do you mean whatever you drank way, way, way back when?

[ So far back. ]

[oathshackledbird]

Assam and Ceylon? Those names aren't familiar to me. I guess I would need to taste them to know for sure. Names have changed a lot since I was first alive.

[It a little frustrating, truth be told.]

Of course, experimenting is kind of fun. Finding something I remember from back then is always a pleasant surprise.

[earlybird]

And new flavors can become fast favorites, too.

[ Damian is one of those rare, few kids who will taste everything. But he still prefers his usual. ]

I'll keep an eye out. In the general store. Sometimes loose-leaf tea mixes will appear in some of the smaller bins.

[ (He'll help you find the flavors you miss, Dia.) ]

[oathshackledbird]

Thank you, Damian. Is there anything I can keep an eye out for you?

[Because he really does appreciate the effort.]

[earlybird]

[ There's a pause, as he thinks, before replying. ]

My birthday tends to fall close to the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, so we usually celebrated it with mooncakes, when in the area.

The season's coming up, so if you see anything lotus seed related, let me know. I'd like to try and make some for it, if I'm still here.

[oathshackledbird]

Lotus seed related, got it. But what exactly are mooncakes?

[Diarmuid pauses a moment, grinning slightly.]

My birthday was on April 27th, which is near Beltaine. Sadly, I don't know when the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival is. Do you have a date for me? Since I am planning on you being here, I want to know when I should be ready to celebrate...

[earlybird]

Mooncakes? They're round, dense pastries, usually filled with lotus seed paste. Traditional Chinese fare; a single mooncake is usually cut into many pieces and shared amongst family members, to symbolize familial unity.

[ The kid has a varied background. He's lived in many areas, too. ]

The date of the festival changes year-by-year. It's on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month. Going from my timeline--

[ Which was strange. One minute it's October, 2011, and the next it was spring. ]

--it was going to fall on September 30th.

[ Also, he absolutely takes note of Diarmuid's birthday. For reasons. (Although the thought of being here a full year is still not something he enjoys. But. If he is. It's something to look forward to.) ]

[oathshackledbird]

September 30th. I will remember.

[Damian isn't the only one making notes of a date.]

That sounds like a very fun tradition and one certainly worth continuing here. I hope that we can find what you need to make them.

[Diarmuid is definitely going to be keeping his eyes open from now on.]

[earlybird]

Hopefully. If not, it's fine.

[ He may or may not spend a good chunk of the day moping in the loft and missing his mother, just as he did during the last Mid-Autumn Festival in what was, for him, only months ago. Speaking of--]

Wait.

[ Oh. Oh. ]

I think.

I might be.

Eleven.

Already?

[ How many actual months had it been? ]

[oathshackledbird]

[Pfft...like Diarmuid is going to let that happen. Even if they can't find the stuff for the mooncakes, Diarmuid will make sure that Damian's birthday is a special day spent with friends and family.]

You think you might be 11 already? What do you mean?

[That is if trying to align time moving in more than one place doesn't break his brain first...]

also i have been breaking MY brain figuring out DC timelines and his b-day is totes non-canonical.

[earlybird]

[ He is scrambling to grab pencil and paper. It's maths time. ]

When I left my timeline, it was October 25th.

My birthday's December 3rd. That's 39 days.

[ And he considers the Mid-Autumn Festival close enough to celebrate? ]

It's been...a little over six weeks that I've been here. Got in April 25th, it's June 9th, now. 45 days.

[ He sits back, looks at the numbers. Oh. ]

I'll have to wait until my actual birthday before I can say it--

[ It gets too confusing, otherwise. Plus, celebrating in the summer? Is weird. ]

--but, technically, six days ago, I turned eleven.