It had taken quite a bit of effort to get the table and chairs set up outside, and even more so for the canopy, bug nets, and twinkle lights to happen. Thankfully she had a host of stooges at her disposal whenever she needed then, and mostly expendable money.

The small portable burner was going nicely, while she piled in dried leaves, flowers, and a thick wedge of lemon into her decorative teapot. While it steeped she rearranged the plates and snacks once more, and then sat on her fluffy chair pillow and.... Waited.

... Sometimes tea was lonely, and that was fine. Pretending to be a fine lady in a fine dress was important lest she lose herself completely to chasing mice and clawing trees.

Hiyori, with her long aqua colored hair back in pigtails with large fancy bows, focused on making her skirts look extra fluffy and proper, and then reached for the small English book she had brought with her.

Tea, some fine cookies and savory tidbits, a lavish table and lights, and a good book.

Yes, it would do. The only thing that could possibly make it better would be done to share it all with.

Amethyst was used to sophisticated parties... back in Atlantis. Walking into something like this, without having actually organized it, on the Mansion grounds, was definitely something to take notice of. And she did, as she walked out of the building to get some fresh air. It would have been hard to miss the lights, and the seats, and the table. Or the blue-haired girl in the dress with the book. Amethyst herself was wearing a dark blue gown flecked with small diamonds, and silver jewelry set with sapphires. She vaguely remembered seeing the girl around the Mansion before, but now she was taking a better look for the first time. Sweeping over to the canopy, she looked around with an appreciative glance.

"Is there a party happening I was not told about?"

Hiyori looked up as someone approached and stood. She also immediately felt underdressed. This girl was swathed in the finest looking fabrics and had the finest looking jewels.

She briefly thought about springing some fake jewels of her own to life in order to compete, but.. no. Then she'd look desperate and jealous, right?

"No invitations were sent out formally, as it was a spur of the moment concept." The teal haired girl smiled and set her book down, gesturing toward one of the cushioned chairs at the table. "But please do consider this an invitation to join if you would like. The more the merrier." Anyone the merrier.

"My name is Hiyori. Pleased to meet you." She bowed at the waist slightly, and then sat. "Would you like some tea? It should nearly be ready. Or some snacks perhaps? I baked them myself." Complete with a little apron, tiny oven mitts, and a construct to pilot around and do all the labor.

Amethyst was not aware whether there was any other royalty at the school, but this little setup was at least sufficiently elegant. It reminded her of the tent she'd set up for her Atlantean friends (before Carrick and Praxi ruined it all). The girl sitting with the book was a gorgon, but she seemed to have a decent understanding of etiquette.

>>"No invitations were sent out formally, as it was a spur of the moment concept. But please do consider this an invitation to join if you would like. The more the merrier."

"Thank you" Amethyst nodded, moving to take a seat, her skirt fanned out around her.

>>"My name is Hiyori. Pleased to meet you. Would you like some tea? It should nearly be ready. Or some snacks perhaps? I baked them myself."

"Tea, thank you." she nodded. She was beginning to understand tea better since she'd met the pink girl. Girls came in all colors around the school. "I'm Princess Amethyst. Atlantean ambassador. Where are you from?"

The definitely-not-a-catgirl smiled and stood in order to collect Amythest a cup, going through the well-practiced motions of pouring and serving. Once the steaming, decorative cup was set before her only guest, she re-took her seat.

"Atlantean?" There was a lot to unpack there. Noticeably the word Princess. Hiyori's eyes may have widened a little bit there for a moment, and she reached out to pick up her own cup. Japanese didn't lack it's own 'royal' families, so she wasn't unfamiliar with the notion. She just... never thought she would be speaking to someone of a similar status, assuming Amethyst wasn't lying.

"I am from Shikoku, Japan. My family's compound is just outside of Matsuyama, which is the biggest city on the island."

She had heard a few other girls mention that strange place they were from... some unknown civilization that had appeared suddenly a few years back. She hadn't yet bothered to explore the topic further.

"How are you liking it here so far? I am new myself... My sister and I just transferred a little over a month ago. She paused a moment to sip her tea, and then switched the cup out for one of her baked snacks instead. Nibbling little pieces off that could fall inside her construct where she could lap them up at her leisure.

"America so far has been full of many surprises."

The way the girl poured the tea showed that she was a young lady of good education and elegance. While tea culture was not a big thing in Atlantis, Amethyst had gonned used to it fairly quickly, and you could always tell a lot about the person by the way they served a drink to someone.

>>"Atlantean?... I am from Shikoku, Japan. My family's compound is just outside of Matsuyama, which is the biggest city on the island."

It sounded like Hiyori was not sure about where Atlantis was located, which was only fair since Amethyst was not sure about her home island either.

>>"How are you liking it here so far? I am new myself... My sister and I just transferred a little over a month ago. America so far has been full of many surprises."

"You can say that again" the princess chuckled, sipping the fragrant tea. "So many things to get used to. And they tend to think it's the right way to do them. Say, what has been the strangest thing for you to get used to so far?..."

Hiyori nodded and smiled, setting her cup down on the saucer it matched. "They absolutely do." She agreed. The princess clearly knew what she had her sister had been feeling over the last month.

"Goodness... where to start?" Her dainty little button nose wrinkled and her eyes drifted to all the twinkle lights above. The poorly managed comminuting transportation jumped to mind first, and then the overwhelming amount of crime, and then the absolutely reprehensible lack of focus on one's education and goal in life, and-... really, she felt like she could just go on and on.

But... maybe she should start with something more dialed down first. "Honestly, I am torn between how everyone here laughs and how Americans eat." She gestured at the many plates on the table with her hand, palm up and open. "During meals, they just piled one of every dish on their plate and start eating... and it takes forever! In my culture, you sit down to eat, not to chat for hours at a time. The first time someone here handed me a plate of food and everything was touching!"

She giggled, covering her lips with a hand. "And Americans are very fond of laughing. Loudly, and with their mouths open. You... You can see everything! Teeth, tongue, Uvula and all."

The number of times she had been forced to try and dodge spittle from one of the student boys cacking at something or another was just depressing.

"Might I ask an unrelated question? If you are royalty, what should refer to you? Is 'Amethyst' too informal? Or would you prefer 'Your Highness' Or... Amethyst-sama?" She was genuinely curious. Names and titles were very important to her people, so being in a different country was no excuse for poor manners.

"Where I am from people I had just met would normally refer to me as 'Ishida-san'. The family name is much more widely used. I have given up on trying to correct every American I meet though, so Hiyori-San, or Chan even, is fine... if you would like to be friends."

She nibbled on one of the cookies.

It was nice to find someone to bond with over the strangeness of Americans. Sure, Carrick was technically not American either, but he mostly behaved like one, or if he didn't, the difference was too subtle to note. But this girl from Japan seemed to be just as far from American culture as she was with her Atlantean upbringing.

>>"Honestly, I am torn between how everyone here laughs and how Americans eat. During meals, they just piled one of every dish on their plate and start eating... and it takes forever! In my culture, you sit down to eat, not to chat for hours at a time. The first time someone here handed me a plate of food and everything was touching!"

The princess chuckled, sipping her tea. It was funny to hear someone else annoyed by certain American thing, and the girl was entertaining, the way she described things. "They do like to pile food on top of other food" she agreed. That seemed to be the general concept.

>>"And Americans are very fond of laughing. Loudly, and with their mouths open. You... You can see everything! Teeth, tongue, Uvula and all."

Amethyst laughed too, hiding it behind her tea cup. That was something she was not much annoyed by, but the loudness of it was definitely notable. Apparently the Japanese girl thought it polite to hide her mouth.

>>"Might I ask an unrelated question? If you are royalty, what should refer to you? Is 'Amethyst' too informal? Or would you prefer 'Your Highness' Or... Amethyst-sama?"

"No one calls me 'your highness' around here" she noted. She was getting used to it. She tilted her head at the last option. "What's that?"

>>"Where I am from people I had just met would normally refer to me as 'Ishida-san'. The family name is much more widely used. I have given up on trying to correct every American I meet though, so Hiyori-San, or Chan even, is fine... if you would like to be friends."

"Oh. I see." it was some kind of a honorific, then. Amethyst did not really have an official family name. "Amethyst...-sama sounds alright. So you would prefer Ishida-san then?"