lucetilogs | A short time ago, in a farm-house not so far away...

Who: The Skywalker Family, immediate and extended and any close friends.
What: An evening with the family
When: August 4th
Where: Skywalker Ranch...or...something
Summary: Luke and Ami bring everyone over for a Sunday thing.
Rating: H is for Heartwarming

It's a bit of a monthly tradition, and has been for some time. The first Sunday of every month is the day the entire family gets together for an afternoon and has a nice dinner. Some might call the family a bit old fashioned, but it's just something that they do and have for as long as any of them can recall. It's never a fancy thing, but then does it really need to be? It's about the warm, fuzzy feeling of being surrounded by relatives and friends, sitting out on the porch and watching fireflies, and relaxing.

Food's been left to the people who can actually cook, because let's face it: Luke takes after his mother and Grandma Padme was not known for her fried chicken. But there's plenty of it. Chairs are set up on the large back porch so the weather can be enjoyed and tea along with a cooler of glass-bottled Coca-Colas, a bit of a splurge for the end of summer.

Everything's set to be a fairly nice afternoon and evening, provided the mosquitoes aren't too bad anyway.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ami remembered that house very well. She remembered looking at the shiny marble tiled floors, hiding behind the furniture they were only allowed to sit on when there was company, or quietly filing into Mama's room where they could see her jewelry collection. There was never any shortage of any comfort or convenience money could buy. There never needed to be.

It wasn't easy for a girl used to that, to having everything she could want at her fingertips, to be suddenly out on her own, earning her way for herself, working hard. But she found this house comfortable, cozy, and loving. The Mizuno house had been loving, but it had rarely been comfortable or cozy.

She made sure to be the first to greet Daisy. "I'm so glad you've come," she murmured properly. And to emphasize that Daisy was welcomed here, she was glad she could truthfully play the amicable hostess and say, "Luke's sister was also asking about you and hoping to see you."

"I wouldn't have missed this. I was waiting for this day." She smiled, bending down to hold her little sister's hands in a gesture that she wanted to come for a long time. "I can't cook, but if you want anything, I'll be glad to help."

She didn't even know if she could be of any use beside helping everyone else reach down from taller shelves. She didn't know how to cook, what manners to use among... among lower classes.

"I found Trisha earlier in the week at her store. I haven't seen some people in a while."

"It's alright," Ami waved off the worry, "We have most of it prepared and just finishing up in the oven or on the stove anyway."

Cooking was a skill she'd learned enough to get dinner on the table since her marriage, but she'd never gotten much better at it than that herself, yet. At these family gatherings, she always felt a bit lacking next to, say, Trisha who always seemed to be such a natural at these tasks.

"The important thing is that you were able to come," she said frankly. She let Daisy take her hands, and even gave a little squeeze back, for reassurance and good luck.

There is a slight sign of disappointment in the way Daisy's smile breaks for barely a millisecond, having wished to become useful somehow, but it disappears just as quickly. She is still among friends. This is a chance she was not going to waste.

"Thank you, Ami. I'm glad to be here."

Daisy Mizuno holds the sides of her dress to move in, immediately feeling envy upon seeing what her sister had learned to do. She was able to make her own full meals, and everything looked delicious. It wasn't meant to be of the quality of the chefs that worked for them, but instead... it was hers. Something she could be proud about.

"Can we sit? I'm... I'm a little hungry."

With such a careful diet, something that happened a little too much to Daisy's liking.

"Try some of the snacks for an appetizer," Ami suggests. They are nothing like the caviar, pâté, and fine champagne found at the lavish Mizuno house parties, but they're delicious. At least, she thinks they are. "I hope you like them," she adds, a little shyly.

Chairs have migrated throughout the house, so Ami only needs a moment to find a spot she and Daisy can sit to talk. They're the folding-chair type, not exactly plush seats, but Ami seems equally at home there, crossing her legs neatly at the ankles.

The elder Mizuno sister follows the younger one to a more appropriate spot, and while Ami follows aristocratic procedure very well, Daisy... still struggles with keeping the same elegance as she's in smaller chairs. Instead, she extends her dress wholly over the chair to bend her legs.

She grabs part of the appetizers, bites one... swallows, then moves to Ami to hush.

"Can I eat more?" Daisy asks. Then looks down. "... Without some manners?"

Some.

"Eat as much as you like." Ami's never been comfortable relaxing the polished manners she grew up with for herself, but she's only conscoiusly instilled basic politeness in her daughter, and she won't criticize Daisy for letting go a little, either. "Please go ahead."

Once that permission is given, and since no aristocracy is around? She lets herself go.

She takes even bigger portions of her food, and in spite of there being some elegant movements she cannot quite get rid of, she eats those bigger portions with ease, almost as if those things were the only things preventing her from grabbing a steak and eating the hell out of it with her bare hands.

"I..." She gulps the meat she chewed. "You're a really good cook! How long did it take you to learn?"

Ami tactfully avoids calling attention to Daisy's appetite.

"It took years," she admits a bit sheepishly. "Once I knew I was going to have a household to look after, without staff, I wanted to learn."

It's been trial and error, and some help from the family. She's no gourmet still, but she can put dinner on the table and it's generally acknowledged her dinners are delicious enough.

Tactfully indeed. On another life, she would have slurped down a pancake without effort. Yes, slurped. That is how strong her hunger would have been had it not been for her manners.

"Years...?" Daisy looks down. "How... easy was it?"

She wants to try it sometime.

"It wasn't very easy for me, but that's because I didn't have any practice at all," Ami admits. Unfortunately, Daisy would be at the same disadvantage. "It's alright though," she continues, "It made me feel even more accomplished when I made progress, because it was something difficult for me."

A short time ago, in a farm-house not so far away...

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