when your thoughts turn sour make them sweet instead

[sentree]

[ That was...positively horrible? Ugh. After a few hours, notes are slipped under each person's door. They read, in a neat handwriting: ]

Banquet in Vanellope's honor in the dining room.

- Reyna, Sally and Thalia

[ You may not know what to expect when they say banquet, but it...really is one, isn't it? Thalia's main dish is cheeseburgers, so there are so many of those, but the table's positively covered in an arrangement of fruit and vegetables and all kinds of bread. Looks like they've gone all out.

What's really the cream of it all, though, are the desserts. Not a lot that's special, but there's a wide collection of cookies and cupcakes, and enough hot chocolate to feed an army. Maybe literally. There is a section that's particularly fancy, and that's the many candy apples, definitely courtesy of Sally. Along with a cute amount of peppermint bark. It seems like the food is unending, too, since there's the delicatible smell of baking cookies and simmering candy from the kitchen. Thalia and Sally are keeping you stocked, don't worry. ]

Comments

[fairlypushy]

I don't think anyone would have stopped you. [Unless it looked like he was actually going to die.] I mean, especially not after what he said about his daughter.

[sentree]

[ Her fist clenches noticeably. ]

Wherever you go, just a horrible parent standing in front of you. Just like home.

[fairlypushy]

. . . Pretty much. It's why I don't have much respect for adults. [Unless their names start with W, apparently.] They never listen, and they're never there when you need them.

[sentree]

Never. Always just too late or...not at all.

[fairlypushy]

Either they're doing too little to late or they're like . . . that pig. Using his own child as means to an end - I didn't think anyone could be worse than my own mom, but the universe decided to prove me wrong.

[sentree]

[ ... ]

You too, huh? My parents are... Well, there was far from mom of the year and dad, the god, never around until I was about to die.

[fairlypushy]

I haven't seen my mom since I was 12. [She's a fake Percy Jackson character for sure.] I don't even know who my dad is.

[sentree]

[ ...Ah. ] Dad...wasn't in the business of talking to me. If it were up to him, I wouldn't have known either.

[ And- well, mom...less said about her, the better. ]

Sorry. It sucks.

[fairlypushy]

It's not a big deal. I have Jess and [She looks like she's about to say something and then changes trajectory.] the rest of the Kingdom Keepers. Mattie too - she's practically one of us at this point.

When your real family sucks, you just have to make a better one.

[sentree]

[ ... ]

I can't argue with that. In fact, I positively endorse it.

[fairlypushy]

You too, huh?

[She hasn't said it outright, but Amanda gets a sense that Thalia's done the same.]

[sentree]

[ She nods. ]

Mandy, I'm positively an expert at making my own family.