"Oh my god, that crab is so good." Yuki takes a teeny tiny fork and pulls a whole chunk of crab leg out, which she unceremoniously dunks into butter and then drops in one bite. 

"Mmmmm, oh gosh, I haven't had anything this good ever. This makes my aunt's crab boil look like amateur hour. And these are the leftovers?" Yuki shakes her head in wonderment.

Milling through the late night staff crowd has been the best part of the night. Well...no the best part of the night was training with Eclair, actually, but they're apples to oranges comparisons. Training was the gentle joy of taking in something new, learning, struggling, pressing against a challenge in a trusted and intimate space. This was electric, nearly manic. The energy of a huge group of people letting down their guards all at once, the massive release of tension of a job well done and the shared bond of everyone who did that job together and now gets to celebrate it. Eating at the ball was one of twenty different political games happening, but eating with the staff is an actual, honest to god, can't even complain if a hobbit makes a long speech party. 

And Yuki was already down to her shift from earlier events, so all of this was not being a knight, or a captive, or a chosen one, it was just one of the girls dressed down after working the sauna mingling with the crowd. And mingling with someone who knows everyone. Mayzie's doing one of the things Yuki dreams of doing herself. That feeling of being intimate and close with everyone, of knowing how to move through the space, of being in the right place and everyone wanting you to be in that place, that's something Yuki wants. So getting to watch it firsthand, and enjoy, and try all the delicacies is something special.

Of course, she doesn't refuse when someone hand her a glass of sweet clear liquid that tastes faintly of strawberries, even after Mayzie points out it's alcoholic. Instead she grabs two more glasses and presses them into Mayzie's and Eclairs hands together. 

"...To Vespergift, and to Thellamie, and all the small joys of good food and drink" she says and then toasts and downs her glass with a grin before grabbing a bowl of the tomato soup and liberally sprinkling in some chili powder.