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| Details |
| Author: | Athena |
| Summary: | Melancholy replies to Bryling with an introduction, an explanation, and a sampler (of food, but also of Melancholy Grimlocke). 1400~ words. Personal Plot. |
| Rating: | T for Teen |
Written in a beautiful, and professionally clear hand with ink so black it absorbs light on expensive, flawlessly milled marble white paper. It arrives with a white boxed package with three stiff box containers with Pandaren characters on the side, and a thermos inside.
Dear Bryling Baird,
Thank you very much for the delightful cookies you sent. I enjoyed them, as I do most sweet treats, and it was a wonderful surprise.
Bryn has spoken of you often, and with exceptional brotherly fondness, and so I am glad to make your acquaintance, albeit from afar. I have four siblings myself, the eldest of whom is a friend of Bryn’s aboard the Lady Blanche, as it was my brother’s destiny to go to sea. His name is Woe, and he does betide. My eldest sister is Malaise, and she’s a doctor who cures, among other things, malaise, and worked in Theramore for many years; she’s working with the gnomes in Gnomeregan. My other sister is Miserie, and she throws delightful parties, as she loves company; she’s a mage with the Kirin Tor. And my other brother is Torment, a poet, and he currently resides in a poetic garret in Stormwind, so you may encounter him. I am the youngest.
My mother, Gladys Tidings Grimlocke, is a great believer in gardening, and she is undoubtedly as thrilled with the news, and with spring in its pinnacle, I do expect that your stepmother Phryne, as well as Bryn, and possibly yourself will all be in receipt of the bounty of fruits and vegetables. It will also be something of a help for me in fairness like Bryn’s sweater collection redistribution, as I have no ability to cook the vegetables, so unless they can be eaten raw, I usually end up passing my allotment over to someone who can do something with them. She means well. Feeding people is how she shows that she cares.
In case you share your brother’s insatiable and marvelous curiosity, I will enclose a list of foods that are dark, and that I do enjoy (dark purple is also delightfully aesthetically pleasing). I am not so particular that I will only eat such things. I enjoy experiencing new foods, and I am always willing to try anything at least once, and sometimes more than once, in case my palate has changed or there was another mitigating factor (one never knows what a pairing or a mood might do). Once I do know what I like, however, I never grow bored of it. Bryn has been sharing several of his own favorites with me, and we both have an adventurous attitude for Pandaren cuisine. I intend to introduce him to fried pumpkin as soon as I can find a chef willing to make it.
I’ve enclosed some of my favorites that I’ve had here: a chip made from taro, which is a bit on the sweet and light side for flavor and texture; some of the black sesame crackers, which have a strong, rich flavor, a hint of bitterness with a delicate sweetness underneath, and an entertaining crunch; fried yak cheese curds, which are dense, a little chewy, and have a robust, creamy flavor; and the liquid is kafa, a local aromatic and strong, bitter flavored drink of the grummles (absolutely magnificent people here in Pandaria – traders and trail walkers, famous for their ability to smell luck), which I must recommend some caution in drinking slowly and a small amount at a time, and not within six hours of your intended hour of sleep, similar to what you might expect if you had condensed three cups of coffee into one (the kafa berries it comes from, when consumed, make the goats here go mind bogglingly leap-off-a-mountain insane; people have less of an extreme reaction to it, not to worry, and this is the drink, not the beans).
I wasn’t the intended recipient of mystery books, though I would ask that if you do like to fold pages in books, if you might be interested in several bookmarks? I don’t know if Bryn mentioned it, but I was an apprentice to the Royal Librarian of Stormwind, Lady Renna Lysander, from January 26th, Year 27 to the Shattering, Year 28 (I am still close friends with her son, Theris Lysander, who is the Guardian of Duskwood, and once worked in the library as well, though not when I did). I worked in the library for that period of time (I wonder if perhaps we have walked by each other unknowingly, if you were among the guards stationed in the Keep at any point?), and collected a great number of bookmarks, for various reasons. My worst habit with books I own is that I write in them (I don’t usually intend to share the book, after all, and the notes help me both during the first read and later). I am terrible to borrow books directly from, unless the person doesn’t mind hearing my opinion on everything (which I will also give if asked).
If there is something you would like to know about me, or an opinion of mine on some subject, you may ask, of course. I cannot guarantee that I will answer, not without knowing the question already (a paradox), so I hope you won’t take it badly if so, but I will otherwise answer honestly and openly.
I suppose the most important thing I could tell you, which I don’t know if Bryn would say directly, or if it could be clear indirectly in the acceptance of his request to court me, is that I care for him very much. I have never met anyone like him before – and the longer I know him, the more I know I will never meet his like again – and I find him utterly fascinating, completely brilliant, and wholly sublime metaphysically and physically. I appreciate his bravery, his supportiveness, and his thoughtfulness immensely. I have been so grateful to have met him, and for his continuing company, which I find faultless, even in his eccentricities (or perhaps especially in them, as I find his fit with my own peculiarities perfectly). I have little interest in a generalized gentleman’s manners; I have in him all that I would wish for in how to be treated.
It is my most sincere hope that I will be as good to him as he is to me, and that is always a height to which I will strive to reach.
Sincerely,
Melancholy Grimlocke
PS – Did you enjoy the mystery books?
PPS – If you were interested in the Thalassian poetry book and couldn’t read it yourself, I would be happy to make a copy of a translation for you. I have the benefit of being fluent in it in writing, as well as a source of a native speaker here at the Shrine of the Stars, and I am already translating them for Bryn.
PPPS – I am so curious, I have to ask: however did it happen that there is an impression that I’m a pandaren?
A List of Dark Foods I Like:
- Black Nebula, and Pusa Asita Black Carrots (both are a deep, dark purple, which is also appropriate, and delicious roasted)
- Black radish (thin sliced with a pinch of salt)
- Eggplant (best done with a hot chili oil)
- Black Cherries (particularly dried)
- Black currants (I like it most as a sweetened jam)
- Black grapes (it was once a favorite food, and still is a fond one of mine)
- Dark black pepper crusts on cheese (wonderful in a snack spread)
- Black Olives (also delightful when made into a tapenade, for crackers)
- Mulberries (I love the sweet ones best)
- Huckleberries (jam or in a pie is my preference)
- Blackberries (delicious on their own)
- Black beans (I prefer them with a sharp crumbly cheese)
- Black trumpet mushrooms (delicious on steak)
- Black sesame seeds (I love the crackers of them, but also a goat cheese covered in them)
- Poppy seeds (best when paired with a sweetness for me)
- Black garlic (aged garlic, really, very strong, best as a garnish)
- Fudge (sweet over darker)
- Squid ink pasta (best with butter and fun with black garlic)
- Squid ink dyed flying fish roe (lovely on rice)
- Caviar (best in small amounts)
- Raisins (I am peculiar in that I do like them in cookies)
- Black licorice (only one or two pieces; I don’t want a third bite of them)
- Taro chips (I love them on their own, and they’re very portable)
- Black corn chips (best with something spicy)
- Chocolate covered fruits, nuts, and sweets (I’m particular to strawberries, almonds, and caramels respectively)
- Chocolate truffles (delicious, but I will only want a small amount if they’re dark-bitter)
- Hijiki seaweed salad (incredible with the 100 year soy sauce they have here)