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

[lightconductor]

"Mmf," Watson says. "Oh, you absolutely should. I do enjoy a spicy meal. Are they difficult? I've had to learn more cooking in the past few months than the entire rest of my previous life."

He sighs, elaborately put-upon for the trials of being a middle-class 19th century Englishman.

[pineapplesalmon]

"Not difficult at all! I picked them because they're quick and tasty." César grins widely. "My mother taught me how to cook. In modern days, partners split things way more evenly. She wanted me to remember where I came from, too." César is surprised by how much easier it's getting to talk about his mother.

[lightconductor]

"We had a cook, when was young," Watson says, vaguely. "My father had firm ideas, anyway, that his sons should have more of an education than he'd had, but also what sort of education it would be. I have had to learn quickly, but I did eat a good many sandwiches in my first weeks."

[pineapplesalmon]

César laughs a little, but his expression is sympathetic. "Honestly, we should probably start cooking classes. My parents come from cultures where a lot of people still expect the mother to take care of the household, but my parents split the labor equally, which became split more equally into thirds as I grew older. Both took time off after Rex was born. And for a while after that, they were both part time. And I helped, too. Took him on adventures with just the two of us and everything."

[lightconductor]

"That seems very reasonable," Watson says. "Mary and I managed quite well, I think, but I would have -- well, I would have liked to see what she thought of it."

Mary is a difficult subject, but not an unpleasant one, at the same time.

[pineapplesalmon]

Was. Past tense. César knows what that means.

"Division of labor is very important, no matter how you slice it." And César currently has no one he's dividing the labor with because he's DUMB, taking care of the house and farm both (although he has helpers there). "And both my parents wanted to work, so that's how it had to be. Three ways and then three and a third just made it easier."

[lightconductor]

"Is it common for the women in the time and place you're from to continue working after marriage?" Watson says, curiously. "I... I think Mary would have liked to continue teaching in some fashion, had it been considered appropriate, or perhaps take up some other work. For a woman even of our class, though, it would have been unthinkable."

[pineapplesalmon]

"Depends on the country, but it's definitely common." César smiles warmly. "That pressure to stop working after I was born was something Mama had to deal with. It's just now only frowned upon by some people rather than... everyone. And many people still expect women to do all the childcare and housework. Which is, quite frankly, insane."

[lightconductor]

"Indeed it is. Hm. I almost wish," Watson starts, and then stops himself. He shakes his head. There's time for that thought later, when he's alone. "Well. I know something of fathers who are happy to ignore their children except when convenient, and leave them to mothers or nursemaids only. I always intended to not be that sort of man myself."

[pineapplesalmon]

"My father did the opposite of that." César's gaze is far off. "I intend to not be that sort of father myself. He had one little area for just my brother to color and put up his drawings...."