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

[hadnoright]

It's an effort not to crush him by accident, back at full strength and overwhelmed with relief. He's here and he's alive, and somehow he's got himself an apron already, and he'd probably have supplied half this potluck if he could've, and— he's here.

She leans back enough to look him in the face, and if her own eyes are a little misty, well, point it out at your own risk.

"Yeah, I'm here— I— ugh, nevermind me, you're— you're okay, yeah? Please tell me you're okay. You— I— before..."

[maximumcake]

He won't point it out if she doesn't. Although it's much more obvious on him with his big brown eyes all puffy and tears flowing freely. And not for the first time today.

"I'm okay," he tells her softly. "I'm okay now. It was like... waking up from a bad dream." He knows she saw. She had to watch. It was the last thing he ever wanted. He promised her. He promised to live. But now they're here and it's all going to be okay.

"Valdis and Ylva are here, too. Have you seen them yet?"

[hadnoright]

"G-Good," she gets out, after a long moment where her throat feels like it's being squeezed tight in someone's fist. "Good. If you're okay, everything's— everything's good."

She's hoping he doesn't think too hard about how she's here, too; about the conditions of the deal they both must have taken. It's better if he thinks she just got out and went down fighting, but if he asks—

She knows she won't be able to lie to him. She's never been any good at lying to him.

"Uh— no, no. I haven't seem them yet. But that's good."

[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."

[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..."

[maximumcake]

"Ha-yeah," Max chuckles wetly. "The bar was pretty low, huh?" To think, he really thought he could live the rest of his life there on that ship and be okay. Only now does he see how much they were all still missing. Freedom from his master wasn't enough. But this might be. A world that's alive, with all of the people he loves and cherishes in it. This could be enough.

"I miss my deep fryer, though."

[hadnoright]

That finally gets something like a laugh out of Daisy, "'Course you do. You'll just have to get creative."

There might even be ingredients that weren't as readily available on the boat, with only the basics restocking. Sure, now they don't have the magical restocking at all, but... that's just normal. That's how life works.

Christ, there's so many things they're going to have to get used to all over again. Daisy's nose wrinkles. "Don't remember the last time I actually had to do. Chores."

[maximumcake]

"As soon as I can save up, I'll get a big cast-iron pot made," he says, laughing and feeling the release of it in his chest. Like breathing in for the first time after struggling to surface from beneath a murky lake.

Her nose wrinkling up just makes him laugh harder. "I remember having to teach you all the basics. Don't worry, I'm sure we can work something out. Maybe if you help me pound powdered sugar I can trade you by doing your laundry."

[hadnoright]

"Didn't exactly do most of it living in a dusty archival basement." And back in her flat she'd had the same routine for... years, really. Ever since she moved into the place. How did this woman maintain safehouses outside of this? Well, the answer is she didn't maintain them, she just let them sit and get dusty. "Pounding sugar, heaving stuff around, that stuff I'm good for. May as well use this strength for something besides tearing people apart."

[maximumcake]

"Exactly," Max answers brightly. "Look at you now, you're almost domestic. But seriously, helping me make powdered sugar would be a huge favor because there isn't any on this island at all and how am I supposed to make royal icing without powdered sugar?"

[hadnoright]

Daisy snorts a laugh, "I'll do it. Don't worry. Can't have you going without royal icing. You're going to crash into this place's cooking scene like nothing else, aren't you?"

good wrap?

[maximumcake]

Max grins. "They won't know what hit them."

wrap!

[hadnoright]

Daisy shakes her head with a smile and just hugs him tight again, face tucked into his shoulder. They're okay. They're going to be okay. Curses and demons or not.