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

[yournewsidekick]

Nimona's first thought: oh, damn, now that's a metal arrival. Still in the shape of a thin stray dog, she peers out from under one of the tables, already starting to grin as the hearse's door swings open.

And then --

Her eyes widen. As if transfixed, she steps the rest of the way out from under the table, staring as Erin unfurls herself from the car like a queen returning to her rightful throne. "Erin?" she starts to whisper, but the name gets bitten off with the THUMP of Erin hitting the cobblestones two seconds later.

Without thinking, Nimona bounds over to her side. "ERIN!"

[crushed_pearls]

Glamour. Intense and focused and there; Erin snatches at it (from the outside it looks like she's reaching for Nimona), and the rush of the harvest makes her suck in a sharp breath.

Awareness is slower, but it gets there. Pink, and that voice...

"Heya youngblood," Erin croaks. "Not my worst entrance but it'll make the scrapbook."

[yournewsidekick]

"Are you kidding? It was awesome," she says, but the declaration's kind of on reflex; she's pacing a full circle around Erin in anxious little shuffles, broken up by sniffing at her clothes. (She avoids the hair. And any actual physical contact.) "Are you okay? What happened? Nobody could find you in those fucking cells, we thought you were dead -- "

Her voice breaks. Nimona may not have spent a ton of time hanging out with Erin on the Serena Eterna, but the lady made a hell of an impression. And those aforementioned fucking cells have got her feeling extra-fragile lately.

[crushed_pearls]

"You thought right." Erin gets her hands under her and manages to flip herself over, reaching in a dazed attempt to pet Dogmona. "Kinda glad. I would not have been a fun person in cells..."

A shudder of horror passes through Erin's body.

[yournewsidekick]

Like an electric current, the shiver passes through Nimona, too, and she presses her head into Erin's hand to soak up as much comfort as she can.

"Yeah." Smaller. "It -- "

(It takes all her willpower not to shift right then, just to prove to herself that she can. She just barely keeps hold of her dog shape.)

"They took away all our powers, too."

[crushed_pearls]

"...They took your you from you. Youngblood, I'm so sorry."

Erin finds the strength to sit up and hug Nimona close.

"I'm so sorry. No one should go through that..."

[yournewsidekick]

Nimona doesn't resist. She buries herself against Erin, hiding her face in her shirt, and voices a small whine.

It takes a minute for the canine vocalizations to shift back to words, during which Nimona just keeps herself pressed close, trembling. "I don't ever wanna be human again," she whimpers. "It was awful. But -- " a heave of breath, " -- but I'm glad you didn't get stuck too. I wish you hadn't died but at least you weren't there."

[crushed_pearls]

"You're gonna miss thumbs -" Beat. "Apes, nevermind, you're covered. And even if you weren't you know I've got you."

Erin almost says that monsters gotta stick together.

Almost.

"I can hear birds," she murmurs instead. "And waves, in the distance. Wind through the trees. We made it, youngblood."

[yournewsidekick]

Nimona lets out another gasp, watery and tinged with laughter. "Yeah," she says; her voice wobbles. "There's so much stuff. Real stuff. Grass, and trees, and, and dirt -- there's bugs, Erin, like, not just Victor bugs either."

She swallows.

"A lotta humans, but. A lotta people like us, too. I think."

She hopes. Oh, she hopes.

Hrmmm...wrap?

[crushed_pearls]

"If nothing else, we brought a lot with us," Erin agrees. "And when I find people in charge I ain't gonna be shy about it. You know how I feel about it."

Deep breath...

"Think I can get you to steal me some food?"

Wrap! <3

[yournewsidekick]

"Heh. Hell yeah. Back in a sec," says Nimona, and sneaks a quick lick on Erin's cheek before bounding toward the tables.

Hope nobody minds if half a turkey and a whole bowl of potato salad go missing.