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

[lovethyneighb_or]

... Right.

"If I'm being honest, this is a downright vacation from the place I was stuck in before, which is terribly ironic considering it was a cruise ship."

Sips drink.

"But that's... true. Has that been much of an issue in the time that you've been here?"

[graveling]

"Not...really. But it's there, along with them getting the idea that we from our different worlds, with our different talents are like...heroes. None of us--us or them--stay dead when we die and we've come in with loud, creative, new ideas and...there's sometimes a bit of tension, in places. Not a lot, not loudly, but like. Of course it was one of us who won the title of Flower Queen at Merrymeet this year, right? And we're different types of people, some of us coming from cultures that are real tightly wound around certain topics, so that's taken some talking out, among ourselves and..."

A pause. It'd be a pause for breath if Angel breathed, but instead, it's a pause for realization that this guy probably doesn't want to hear all this. He's just arrived, he hasn't gotten his bearings, he doesn't need to have this all in his head, yet.

"Sorry. Sorry. Sorry."

[lovethyneighb_or]

He's nodding along, not looking the slightest bit confused until the stranger starts apologizing. Mulcahy reaches out tentatively, the slightest weight of his fingers on his arm.

"What for? It's very useful to know what I'm getting into, and I appreciate it."

... A beat as something occurs to him.

"If you're worried that I'm not used to seeing so many strange people from strange worlds, I think you should know that the place we were trapped in before this was very similar in that regard. I'm very used to having to ask people when they come from."

CW: violence and death discussed

[graveling]

Angel's eyes narrow slightly at Mulcahy's use of the word 'trapped', but he keeps the thought behind that to himself.

Instead, he asks a tangential question: "were they all dead? The people who arrived where you were last, did they get there by dying? I think...that's part of something that a lot of us, maybe all of us, are walking past and the locals are letting us."

Someone pointed out to Angel that he'd been bottling up the trauma of being chopped to pieces, destroyed completely. And he's realized everyone else is, too.

[lovethyneighb_or]

“…”

…

“… Some of us got there by dying, but all of us got there by being magically copied over. We’re the seconds. Scraps in the universe. That doesn’t mean we’re not all unfamiliar with being killed, of course—we are. That ship ran games of death that we simply had to get back up again and keep playing.”

[graveling]

Angel does not flinch, his body doesn’t do automatic reactions like that. No, his grimace is as deliberate as his smiles are, muscle-by-muscle, and brief before his face returns to blank neutrality.

“I’m sorry.”

It’s all enormous, and he doesn’t know how to help.

[lovethyneighb_or]

“It’s alright. It’s over now.” (He hopes.) “Now we get to be here, where there’s fresh air and real grass and flowers, and weather, and bugs—and animals! And real food.” He lifts his piled plate as a demonstration.

“And of course, new friends. This is a truly, truly generous welcome. It’s a bit difficult for me to be so somber now when my heart is bursting with gratitude.”

He is both, though, of course.

[graveling]

Angel knows well from ‘a bit difficult to be somber’ being very different from ‘not being somber’, but he’s polite enough not to give that a callout.

“If we’re going to be friends, uh. Maybe you’ll tell me what to call you? I’m Angel.” No last name, not at this point, not with a stranger.

[lovethyneighb_or]

Ah! What a coincidence. He has no idea if Catholicism exists where Angel’s from, though.

“I’m Father Mulcahy. I’m a priest, although I certainly don’t look like it at the moment. It’s wonderful to meet you, Angel.”

[graveling]

“A priest?” Angel tilts his head slooooowly to one side.

“That’s good. Great, even. I…am in training to become a priest of the local goddesses. I swear, this isn’t an attempt to convert you, honest! But, there’s a…human element to being a priest, to helping the people not just the deities and. I need help with that, maybe. Dunno if you can tell, but. I’m not good with people much. I’m not used to even really thinking of myself as part of people. You know?”

[lovethyneighb_or]

“Yes, of course! I understand.” He actually looks quite pleased. “That’s a very, very tricky thing, but I’m more than happy to help any way I can, especially for another priest. And you can teach me all about the local customs. I ought to know if I’m to be living here, and I’ve always been curious about other faiths, even if I’m very devout in mine.”

[graveling]

"I'd be glad to teach you. And to introduce you to the local preacher, Degas. He'll be excited to have someone else, too, probably."

Angel hasn't picked up on the preacher's feelings being complicated about a goddess-chosen priest being picked from the newcomers yet.

[lovethyneighb_or]

“I can imagine. I hope he won’t mind that I refrain from participating, but I’d love to know their beliefs all the same.”

He casts a brief glance around the potluck before asking, “Could you describe him for me, in case I run into him someplace before I get out to the temple? Ah—is it called a ‘temple’ here?”

[graveling]

"The Temple of Sacred Roots. Which isn't the only sacred place on the island, but it's the one in town that everyone knows about. And Degas is...older than you, and greyer. He has a beard and a weight on his shoulders that crushes him a little more every day. He speaks quietly and talks with his hands and misses his wife. He's beautiful."

May we all someday be described so lovingly.

[lovethyneighb_or]

“… You must care for him very much,” he says, softly. “I imagine he’s rather lucky to have you.”

[graveling]

Angel doesn't respond to that immediately, but his face doesn't betray whatever he's thinking.

A long moment later: "I try."

It's complicated. All of it is complicated. But clearly Angel has a deep well of caring for Degas.

"And he'll be lucky to have you too, perhaps? Even if you're not going to be involved with the goddesses, I'm told that having a temple is about more than that."

[lovethyneighb_or]

Mulcahy nods. "They're centers of their communities. I can't speak for the local faith, of course, but at least as far as Christian churches... much of our work goes into supporting each other as well as our fellows through things like charity, or simply getting our hands dirty to fix the roads or someone's home. It would be good to speak with him and know what I can do for this place while I remain here. If nothing else, perhaps I can handle the paperwork."