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

[configuration_birdwatcher]

An animal! They're still overjoyed every time they see one. Bastion's not sure how she got here, since she's a well-behaved enough dog that she's not jumping onto the table and helping herself to the food like a stray that wandered into the building might, but she's not accompanying anyone in particular.

They offer their hand for the fluffy white dog to sniff.

[maximumcake]

The questions will always linger in the back of his mind, about how it happened for her. But he was already there to witness when she heard how she died on those tapes. He can't bring himself to ask. He can't bring himself to make her think about it one second longer than she has to. What does it matter now? They're here and it's over. This is them moving forward. They don't need to look back.

"Yeah," he chokes on just that one word, almost too overcome with the emotion of it all to be able to form words. But he has to. She needs to hear this. "It's good. We did it, Daisy. We made it to somewhere better."

[maximumcake]

"You did," he chokes out, "You did. You did." And he always trusted her before. He should have known she'd find him. He never should have doubted for a moment.

"Are you okay? The last time I saw you it was... you were..." it's so horrible he can barely repeat it. "Is Tiamat gone? Did they really get her?"

[graveling]

Angel stares for a moment. More than a moment. Hey, this guy's dead!

"You're doing it wrong. You're new, we're supposed to be helping you. That's how this works."

[maximumcake]

"I want to see it!" Oops, he didn't mean to shout that in her ear. He's just so excited!

"I'm sorry I made you worry. I love you so much, Ylva. I want to see your den and your chimney and I want to hold you close and talk all night. I want to run in the woods with you and hunt and cook what we catch. I'm so happy." At this point, he breaks back down into tears and the rest of whatever he might have said is choked off with a joyful sob. If this is all a dream, he hopes he never ever wakes up. Because it feels like everything he could have wished for.

[maximumcake]

Max cocks his head after a moment of that staring. He isn't weirded out by the deadness because, well, that's old hat for him, but he is starting to wonder if he should say something or...

Oh. Okay. Angel has finally spoken.

"Yeah, I know I'm supposed to be a guest right now but this is kind of... to make me feel better? I just. I have a hard time not helping. This is my comfort zone."

[redlightgreenlight]

"I'm fine."

So much better now that he's here. She drinks in his scent, letting it drown all her senses.

"My powers are stable here. I feel like I can breathe again."

[graveling]

"...but have you eaten?"

His concern is gentle, and very warm for a corpse, as he gives Max puppy dog eyes.

[freedomsuitsme]

"You don't miss a beat, do you?"

[thelatechrisfreeman]

Chris smiles gently. "Whether Max and I are close is probably going to be up to him. I'd rather not push. But you don't have to ask me to be nice to him... I'd do that anyway."

Truth be told, if Chris knew that their petting of Erik's hair was so welcome, they'd probably never stop. There's also an urge to curl around him protectively, even if human bodies can't quite do that.

As it is, they kiss Erik again -- on the lips, chastely -- and say, "I think you need some quiet after all this."

Quiet, or support. Chris loops an arm with Erik and walks with him for a short time. Might be that Erik finds someone safe to speak to (River? another friend?) or just that he eventually wanders away from the party entirely. Whichever it is, Chris will let him go then. But until it happens, Chris keeps a hand on Erik's arm to remind him of their presence.

[[ OOC: Wrote this to either be the wrap or lead into one; I know you're busy lately! ]]

[astrogator]

'I guess it's such an unprecedented situation,' she agrees. 'But you're right, the new people I've met here seem friendly. It helps. The rest will take time.'

Tayrey can't help her curiosity, and she circles back to that greeting. 'Shalom, you said. Do I have that right? What language is it?'

[astrogator]

Belatedly she realises that she doesn't know what she's supposed to do while listening to a prayer. Presumably not holding hands like in the circles she's seen in her sector. To be on the safe side, she straightens up, standing respectfully still as he speaks.

Kind words, again, and she's still fragile enough to value them immensely, even the ones she doesn't rightly understand. There's something to be said of contingency plans; if there is some deity watching over her, maybe they'll be moved by it.

'Thank you,' she says quietly. 'That was... it stirred my heart. I value it.' A high compliment from the atheist Tayrey.

Then, after a moment's hesitation: 'If I wrote down for you my people's words for the dead, would you keep them? Just in case I can't finish that journey. I only told my friends Tayrey was never a passenger, before, because it was fitting. But maybe you'd be willing to read it all. If I die here, I die a free Tradeliner, and that's something.'

[astrogator]

Earth. She smiles in recognition. 'I've met a few Earthers,' she tells him, unwilling to admit just how many. It would require explanation that she's not sure she's up to giving right now. Tayrey wants to be considered on her own merits, as a spacer, not a victim.

'My homeworld is called Cardalek,' she tells him. 'The colony, and the Company that founded it. It's partly terraformed, as is one of our moons, where we grow crops. There aren't many naturally habitable worlds our our way either! The sector has over a hundred inhabited planets, but many of those settlements are small. Thousands. I've heard Earth is densely populated.'

Her voice is animated, enthusiastic. It's so good to talk to someone who cares about this sort of thing.

[maximumcake]

"You'll have to have a pretty big appetite to take all my meat in," Oh yeah, he went there. And he still has the audacity to wrap his arm daintily around Hawkeye's like he didn't just drop the lewdest joke in the middle of a picnic.

"I'm assuming it's frowned upon. You'll just have to use your imagination until later."

[tehilim127_1]

"Yes, that's right, well done." She smiles. "It's Hebrew. It's our ancestral language -- wasn't my first because they speak English where I grew up, but I've learned a lot of it."

[maximumcake]

"Oh, yeah, uh..." Max's cheeks heat up a little. His voice drops slightly lower. "It wasn't the name I grew up with but um... it might be because a certain appendage I have too..." Oh no, he already kind of regrets admitting that.

"But Tarantulas is so fitting for you. Do you mind if I ask, um... I'm pretty sure you aren't human but I don't know how to... ask... what you are."

[hadnoright]

There's a part of her still struggling to truly believe it. There has to be more to this than a curse and monsters in a place that otherwise seems so much better than the ship, and maybe even better than home. But she can feel that this world is alive. The people she loves are here. The scales have to tip in its favour.

"...yeah," she breathes. "We did. Probably says something about our standards..."

[astrogator]

Hebrew. It's the second time she's heard the word today. Zivia's ancestors might have been those people who found their way out of the desert, then. It feels serendipitous.

'I speak my second language more often than my first - my ship has people from all over, so we speak a common trade language when we're working.' Most of the time, anyway, she thinks. (She hasn't noticed that she's speaking about the Tradelines in the present tense again.)

'It's a little disconcerting to have learned this Emeran language all of a sudden, but I guess they must have some efficient subliminal method. Still, I think people's own languages matter.' Tayrey grins suddenly. 'So how would I say peace and prosperity in Hebrew?'

[maximumcake]

Max lets out an enthusiastic wolf whistle. "Damn, you're packing some heat in those guns." But, literally though.

"You can pound my iron any time." Max will also come to regret these decisions. They will have that in common. "Everything you see before you is on the menu. And I do mean everything. But, what should I call you? Besides 'hot?'"

[theydrewfirstblood]

"Seems like--but I'm glad for that." John confesses softly. "Didn't wanna die in Washington. Not like that."

Not because of people like Galt and Teasle, not with all the parts that were still him stripped away until there was nothing left but what the war made. That was one thing prison had given him: a chance to pick through the rubble. He still isn't sure if what he's got left is more missile or man, but that hardly matters.

Figuring that out wasn't fun, but at least it helped him settle a little.

Hawkeye's wisecracking makes John smile a little, even going so far as to jostle him companionably with his shoulder.

"Least the dark circles don't clash--what's the saying? Black goes with everything?" he quips. "And, uh...thanks. Glad to be back here with hammer 'n nails instead of bustin' rocks in Arizona."

[theydrewfirstblood]

John's smile fades at that, something in his chest sinking a little at being...seen. It's something he wanted for so long, to be seen and acknowledged and understood--to find help.

He knows better now, though. There's no help, and to invite that--invite anyone to get too close...it's just going to get them killed.

...he wishes he could be blind to the rest of it. That rejecting her the way he wants to would be unkind in its own way. He just doesn't know where the middle ground is: to not let go of that last shred of something that belongs to him without letting other people get hurt.

Maybe he should just give it up. Just let it go.

John's gaze drops, and he hates himself for the selfish way he clings tighter to that scrap of personhood he has left.

"...I shouldn't." he admits softly. "People get hurt when I do. When I let them get too--invested."

[theydrewfirstblood]

John can't help it: he laughs at that. Short, soft, and bright.

"Yeah, well--war's not just hell. War is stupid." John replies with a shrug.

[maximumcake]

"I'm good," Max says without even seeming like he's going to let Edgar go any time soon. "I'm great. You're here, and a lot of my friends are here. We're all off of that terrible boat. I've never been happier!"

NSFW allusions in narration

[somebodychildofanyone]

The elf waggles her eyebrows, smiling like a fool with a faint blush high on her cheeks. Erik called in the plug pact, he doesn't get to bitch if River's feeling a bit frisky. She puts her hand on her hip, looking Max's menu up and down. Not bad...not bad at all.

"River la Croix, resident necromancer and blacksmith," she says at last. "As much fun as I'm havin', don't tell me you're here to try to be competition for my partner. Erik's got that undead stamina, I'd hate to see ya damage the goods tryin' to match it."

[tehilim127_1]

Zivia's smile widens, looking pleased and a touch surprised. "Oh, that's an interesting question ... is it meant in the sense of, like, societal prosperity? Or individual? Come to think, some say shalom u'vracha, which is more like 'peace and blessing', I don't know if that carries quite the same meaning ..."