love is the round thing with a hole in it
"Lora! Got something for you."
In Addam's left hand was a paper bag packed with some sort of small baked good - Lora could tell from the way the bag had been crinkled slightly at the top, mouth folded over, and the delicacy with which Addam clutched the base, careful not to damage its contents.
Lora had always been one for savory, meaty snacks, so if these were special Ardun jerky biscuits from another farm in Torna (Aletta, of course, specialized in feed and food crops, as well as Armu milking and raising, with the more serious breeding thus being necessarily a joint venture), she was more than game to try them out. Jin and Haze, with their preferences for fish and vegetables, were less likely to be so lucky, but why not hope for the best? If it didn't pay off, well, who would be the worse? For small stakes, anyway.
Eyes glittering and brows waggling, Addam drew a single item from the top layer of the bag and flourished it. "I've more than enough for everybody," he said, and Lora heard it, surely, but she was more focused on the appearance of whatever these objects - assumedly food, but then perhaps not so? - were.
Pink was promising, close as it was to the maroon you might find in a cake studded with bits of bacon and cheese, but then again, Addam was holding the food just as gingerly as he'd held its container. Below the pink sheen was a expanse of dough that did indeed resemble cake, but then-
"U-um, but aren't those..."
"What?" Addam's face was quizzical, open, innocent.
Lora looked to Jin, begging silently for saviour; and, her partner provided, offering dryly and just north of gravel steel, "Aphrodisiacs?"
It was, after all, what she'd always known them as: carefully prized confections coated in potent, slightly illicit substances, used in trafficking trades the world over, but only in the underworld. Drivers (if you could call them that) who'd stolen inert Cores would use the trust-building sources to smooth over the join between Blade and Driver, as well as the gap between old awakener and new, whether those were the thieves themselves or "nobles" hoping to poach a treasure for status.
All of this was enough to make Lora ever-more grateful that she and Jin had had a long period of natural bonding time, from her youth to a comfortable adult age, and that she'd been lucky enough to awaken Haze on the cusp of new beginnings that inspired trust in them all.
Love Doughnuts, they called them. Lora was certain these were the same thing. Such certainty usually accompanied her most well-directed hopes; no matter the result, when she got a hunch, she just knew. Even Haze was no stranger to the distinctive air of the current situation.
Suffice it to say, never once had any of the three of them considered that the Lord of Aletta might one day hand them this scandalous, frightening liars' panacea as if it were crimpets for afternoon tea. The sight of Addam processing their shock and subtle accusation (of his stupidity, rather than his bald-faced shame) was much more welcome, as his nose drew back, frowned down, then peaked into the air, accompanied by the escape of a relieved, smiling sigh.
"No, no, Lora, you're supposed to share them with your Blades! That's why they're doughnuts - see," he demonstrated, "easy to tear in half, or even thirds!"
O-oh, did that explain it? It was, after all, sort of like enjoying recreational hallucinogenics, or alcohol, for that matter. So long as everyone agreed to participate, it was all fine, and if everyone was in fact meant to agree, rather than being coerced, then, well, Lora couldn't say that she saw the problem.
But, still, Addam had, in fact, torn the pale pink, faintly shimmering doughnut into two pieces, and not the possible three he'd mentioned. When Lora - you know, the poster woman for equal-opportunities Drivers, have you heard? and even she would always, always, always share such a thing with Haze - made to point this out, the prince replied, "Well, you did just refer to them as aphrodisiacs. I'd feel a little bit odd giving a piece to Mythra now, don't you think?"
If Minoth, loitering nearby, took issue with this excuse- er, justification, he didn't say so, even if it might otherwise have fallen under his general penchant to point out that Mythra was the one who enjoyed sweets, and not he, no matter the framing.
"Well, well, what's this?" Brighid, arriving back out to the forest trail from in town. "Sweets? Have you told Aegaeon?"
"I'm sure he'll be on the trail soon enough whether he's told or not," Hugo said with a gentle grin, following in the Jewel's crystalline footsteps.
"Have you ever heard of Love Doughnuts, Lord Hugo?" Haze inquired, tiptoes very nearly engaged by her thrilled excitement. Their adventure so far had been full of myriad surprises related to the gifts they all gave each other, found by foraging or crafting or simply shopping in the city, and this had to be the most special of all - a traditional treat shared between Blade and Driver to increase trust and bond everyone together? How perfect!
Hugo responded carefully, but diplomatically as ever. "I have indeed heard of them, Haze, but..." He eyed Addam's expectant reaction. "Never have I indulged myself. You can imagine that such 'party tricks'," he gestured with royal air quotes, "were not approved of in Hardhaigh, especially given the chosen operating location of those who peddled them."
Crime and Mor Ardain were unfortunate brothers, if not synonyms, well though it may have been all down to the work of one gang. The gangs in Uraya weren't named, you see, and that was the critical difference.
But, eager not to dwell on such matters, Addam set to passing out the rest of the doughnuts, lamenting the lack of napkins for many-and-variously-gloved hands as if it weren't his own fault for not fetching them. Azurda, alighting nearby with Mythra, Milton and Mikhail on his back, merely armed himself with an amused look, and when Addam approached bearing gifts, the old Titan said, "How many years old am I, Addam - some eight hundred, give or take one or two? I hardly think I'm going to like you any better by now."
Addam smiled ruefully. "I can always try, Nuncle."
Seeming to consider something inconsequential as if it were very, very important indeed, Azurda bent his neck, and Addam carefully pierced the doughnut upon the end of the dragon's horn.
Upon return to the rest of the group, and the newly burning campfire, Addam was approached by Mythra, sixty-seven and thirty-three of a doughnut held uneasily in hand.
"I think it's stupid," the Aegis stated, blunt as ever.
"Well, I wouldn't say stupid. Maybe silly." He took the smaller piece, but was interrupted in attempted consumption by Mythra shaking her head and making an only slightly exaggerated show of exchanging bits with him: "You're the one who needs more trust. Stupid."
"Yes, but," Addam gestured with the remaining twenty-four percent, "this sugar pastry won't do it."
"'Put a little stock in the gesture, next time, won't you, Mythra?'" the admonished said in a projection of her Driver's voice perhaps even a little too deep for his actual sub-tenor. Returning to her normal voice, she added, "I gave you the bigger piece even though I'm the one who likes sweets. That's my gesture."
"Trying to be the bigger person, Mythra?" Minoth called over.
She rolled her eyes, half petulant and half fond but still one-hundred percent annoyed. "Never."
The rest of the assembly was in a similar disarray - Brighid eschewing her portions, because she and Aegaeon did share food like a proper married couple, but only when it occurred to them, which was when they thought the situation was ridiculously unimportant and had no chance of anyone watching; Hugo sharing his with Haze, with Lora's noticing still either pending or processing; Mikhail and Milton hotly debating whether they should partake at all, even of the smallest taste, since the "responsible" adults didn't seem to be taking notice; and the group, even their icy Jin, generally feeling happy and warm around each other, which was as concerning as you wanted it to be, and hopefully not a bit more.