Mingle - Emergency Potluck

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WELCOME POTLUCK

Greetings, residents! Those more observant sorts among you may have noticed a large influx of very crowded ferries. In order to welcome our new residents en masse, Town Hall is holding a potluck in Town Square. Please bring a dish if you are able and make a new friend!

All of our newest arrivals need only bring themselves. We look forward to welcoming you all into our community, and may your lanterns always be lit.

This event is open to all! In light of our new influx of prospective players following the Great Sail Migration, we've decided to offer a small public event to tide everyone over until the TDM this weekend.

Comments

[astrogator]

She blinks, processing this answer. 'You are manipulating it - how?'

Running through Tayrey's head is the little refrain please don't say magic, please don't say magic. She's being cautiously optimistic, but steeling herself for some carefully diplomatic evasion of the subject if she needs it.

[itsjustabaddream]

"Of course!" Neil is immediately impassioned. "I have an ability called dreamwalking. It is a rare form of psychic ability which allows me to enter the subconscious, sleeping minds of others. Dream therapy, which is generally a treatment for clients with whom I've built a bit of trust, involves my entering recurring nightmares to derail the distressing dream and offer assistance or instruction on how to break that mental cycle. I also do this to help alleviate insomnia and address psychological trauma."

[pineapplesalmon]

César's smile does waver for a moment. "It's street food from Mexico City. Easy to make for when people suddenly drop in. Mama taught me how to make it. It just seemed... fitting."

[hadnoright]

Daisy snorts quietly and sits up a little more, leaning back in her seat with her arm over the back. Fair dues to the guy. "Alright. No more staring then."

At least not at him. She can't guarantee she won't go back to staring at the rabble later, if we're being honest.

[crushed_pearls]

"Yo Lord Leech!" Erin has had food, alcohol, and loved ones, she's fucking ready. "I feel like shit, so be polite and hold still so I can fucking deck you. Y'know, for the culture.

Erin's striding over but she really does look and feel like shit; her heart rate is slower than it should be, she's breathing hard. Barely at fighting fit.

[notinflictthem]

He sure is!

"So two muffins are sitting in their pans in an oven, right? One turns to the other and says God, it's hot in here."

Hawkeye is already cracking into a smile as he delivers the punchline.

"So the other one says 'AH! A TALKING MUFFIN!'"

[thelatechrisfreeman]

"We do. We're working with beet sugar -- climate is too cold for cane -- and if I wanted to make powdered sugar it'd be ages of work with a mortar and pestle to get the sugar crystals small enough. Especially in the volume I'd need for a cake this big."

Sideways glance at Max, and then Chris finally acknowledges how fit he is by commenting, "With muscles like yours, I'm sure it'd be less of a problem but still very boring."

They clear a space for the cake and then step aside so Max can put it down.

"By the way, my name is Chris Freeman. They/them pronouns. Yourself?"

[crushed_pearls]

"Oh yeah," Erin manages, flashing Jeff a grateful grin before descending on the sweets like a cartoon shark.

Please hold.

Hi! Great to see you! And noted. <3

[astrogator]

The words are culturally unfamiliar to Tayrey, so even though she seems to have learned this language practically overnight, the question still gives her pause. Well, that and the fact that the man speaking to her is most certainly César Salazar. She hadn't realised, when she spoke up, or she'd have thought better of it. It was the people who had formed close bonds with others in their prison who hadn't wanted to leave it. Who hated her for what she'd done.

Be reasonable, Tayrey, she tells herself somewhat impatiently. If he meant you harm he wouldn't be here talking about food.

'You grow crops?' she blurts out. Which is not an answer to his question, but it's what surprises her most.

[spaghettification]

"I haven't known the concept of a safe space in...many years, Doctor. And those who have claimed to wish me well have...ahm. Well. It's a long story."

He doesn't want to fall prey to manipulation again.

[astrogator]

Firstly, she has definitely never heard that one before. And secondly - he doesn't get a laugh out of her, exactly, but Tayrey does grin broadly, and she does make a little amused sound.

'That's something! I'll remember that one!' she says, turning towards him, relaxing that wary attitude just a fraction. It's not much, but it's a start.

[crushed_pearls]

Both wings folded over. The world can wait, as long as it needs to.

[crushed_pearls]

"Yeah, figured. Not to bomb both of our positions but I've both been and helped people who only know how to kill." Erin flashes Fever a wan grin.

[hadnoright]

"We— we were trapped. And I couldn't smell you. And I couldn't do. Anything. Couldn't get out, couldn't help Max, or— or anything. Anyone."

Ugh. She turns her head more into Erin, presses her face against her, so the next words are muffled: "I thought I'd never— never see you again."

[cacophonish]

Whoa.

He's never seen anyone tear into a bunch of desserts like a wild carnivore before. That's honestly kind of terrifying and impressive? He's just going to hang out and slowly munch on a cookie while Erin destroys the assorted sweets.

[maximumcake]

Just kissing her and holding her doesn't feel like enough. Feeling her pulling up, he wraps his arms around her rump and lifts her into his arms, spinning her around in his joy. "Yes! Real trees! A real forest we can go run in! It's just like we always dreamed."

It worrying that some here don't remember, but he guesses it might be how Edgar must have felt when he remembered Max but Max couldn't remember him. "Even if they don't know who we are, that's okay because they are here and they are safe and we'll meet them again. We'll make new memories with them."

[pineapplesalmon]

"Always a good time to learn. A bay window would work for one of these babies if you had it in the sun." He offers, understanding people need spice in life.

César thinks about it and sighs with a little bit of sadness. "Maybe. But there's a limit to what I can do. Maybe if I stress the plants a little, I could get them a little hotter, but it would take years to successfully breed stronger ones."

[redlightgreenlight]

The influx of new people and the announcement of the potluck initially made her hesitate to come, but the familiar faces, the living souls, the air, the scents, the real food bring her too much joy to ignore. Valdis brought a basket of bread she purchased along with her groceries, and as she carries it to the party, one particular scent rises around the rest.

Memories of happiness in spite of the Eterna, in spite of Tiamat, in spite of all the pain.

It is him.

But she doesn't know if he is hers.

"Max?"

[crushed_pearls]

"I'm here," Erin whispers. "I managed to...we're connected. You and me and Valdis and Ylva and..."

"There's nowhere I can't find you eventually, as long as you want me there."

[redlightgreenlight]

Meanwhile, Valdis holds her plate of salad and warm bread, eyeing the wolfish man out of the corner of her eye.

"You know, I met a maneater once, but he was a little more elegant in his habits. Quite the philosopher really."

[crushed_pearls]

Crumbs everywhere. Absolute devastation. Things have happened to this plate that God would not condone.

"Glad to know you're still a nice guy," Erin comments from down on the ground, at the scene of the crime. She holds a hand up to be helped to her feet.

[maximumcake]

"Thanks. I sort of can't help myself. I used to do this kind of thing for a living and sometimes I still default to it when I'm a little nervous." New places, new faces, it's a lot to take in following the memory of what he thinks might have been his death on that prison ship.

"Weird? Why would that be weird? You made those yourself? I'd love to try one." He reaches in and grabs a lemon one. It puckers his lips right up but he doesn't look unhappy about it. "Hey, these taste like having a WarHead. I like it."

[theresalwaystheview]

Bart doesn't necessarily relax, but he is grateful at the care taken to keep his distance. Not that that really means much, considering everything else that's happened lately. Nonetheless, he keeps an eye on the crowd, and on the man, moving his fork around one of the myriad potato offerings made by the other villagers.

"It- I...don't..." he trails off, then just slumps minutely. "Thank you."

[hadnoright]

Daisy wishes she believed that was how it worked. That just wanting something was enough to make it happen, someway, somehow. But life has taught her otherwise, and she's always struggled to match Erin's Spring.

She doesn't argue, though. Erin's here now. Daisy tries to stay focused on that.

"...bunch of us here. Seems like."

[abhorrently]

Yeah, that's definitely unsavory, as much as part of her wants to ask how soon he can start. The nightmares she knows, or a man she doesn't.

"Is there a...less invasive way to do all that?"