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

[graveling]

"I'm Angel. Nice to meet you...?"

Because belated introductions sometimes just happen. He even offers a cold, lifeless hand to shake.

[maximumcake]

"It's very nice to meet you, Angel. Call me Max." He takes Angel's hand and shows no sign of surprise at all from the temperature. Max's own grip is warm and strong, but he keeps the contact cordially brief.

"Okay. So, you like strong tastes, huh. You're not actually the first person I've met who needs that to be able to taste. It looks like we have some good options here except for..." Max spots that pan of ""fudge"" on the corner of the table and clandestinely lifts it and sets it in the grass under the table. "Not this one. But this fudgy looking chocolate cake here might be just your style."

[graveling]

"But Erik made that one." Angel gives Max a wide-eyed look when he sets the fudge under the table. Clearly there's fondness there, a deep well of warmth.

[maximumcake]

Max winces. "Yeah... he did. Um..." Shit, how much should he admit to?

"The thing is, I really care about Erik. I don't want him to get embarrassed but... that fudge is not right. I don't want anyone to get sick. Can you keep a secret for me? I'm going to go scrape the pan out and put it back so it looks like it all got eaten."

[graveling]

"I don't want to keep secrets from Erik. He's been really good to me. Taught me a lot."

Surprise, Max, this is how you learn Erik adopted a corpse.

[maximumcake]

"I'm really glad he has people who care about him like you do but I'm just trying not to hurt his feelings, you know? It's just a little white lie. I um. I've known him for a long time myself." Which doesn't add up with the fact that Max is new here, does it?

[graveling]

"A long time? Then...you must come from the same world as him?"

That's a little startling for Angel to hear. Distracts him from desserts entirely.

[maximumcake]

"Yeah. I do. I used to live in his house, actually, for seven years. It's a long story. Apparently, in all that time, he didn't pay enough attention to how I make fudge because this is not how that's supposed to taste at all."

[graveling]

"Oh! You were like his roommate or something? Or..."

Or...Angel can't blush, but he can certainly suddenly look quite bashful.

[maximumcake]

"Well...."

Long awkward pause.

"I was more like his live-in servant. But we also did, um, have a pretty intimate relationship."

[graveling]

"Oh."

Angel doesn't seem to know how to even respond to that. But not for the same reason as the Serena Eterna crowd. He eyes Max and then just...nods. Really, at the end of the day, it isn't his business, is it?

[maximumcake]

"Is that a good 'oh' or a bad one?" Max asks anxiously.

[graveling]

"It's not a bad one. I mean, a lot of people have intimate relations with him here, he's a whore. I kinda just don't go out of my way to find out who, because he's like family to me or something."

[maximumcake]

"Oh. Crap. Sorry, I made it weird."

Like family? Max can't help but sneak a glance over at Erik. He didn't... he wouldn't?

"He's not, um. He didn't turn you here, did he?"

[graveling]

"No? No. No, he didn't. I've been dead all along. I've always been dead. I mean, the body--my body, he'd have me say--was alive at one point, but it's not now, and I'm not, either. Okay?"

Defensive, both because he's protective of Erik and doesn't want him to get into trouble, but also because he's always explaining this, what he is. And often doing it poorly, sometimes on purpose.

[maximumcake]

"Okay. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I just... he's been kinda different since I got here and I don't..." Max attempts to shut his mouth around the words but they force their way free before he can stop them. "He was like family to me, too. And now he's not."

[graveling]

"Oh. I'm sorry. I...uh, I could talk to him, if you wanted me to?"

It's a real hornet's nest of awkward, and Angel does genuinely want to help.

[maximumcake]

"There's more to it. Like, a lot more. I did say it's a long story. We're still working on figuring it out. But, um. I'm the one who told him not to talk to me yet so... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make this so awkward. We were suppose to eat desserts and have fun."

[graveling]

"It's okay. I mean, um, I still want to try the desserts. I'm sorry. It's really none of my business."

Angel ducks his head, shying slightly away from Max. Because it is awkward, but of course Angel's sure it's his fault.

cw: slavery

[maximumcake]

"No, if you're family to Erik then it is your business because..." He lifts his hand to the back of his neck to worry at that old scar. "Fuck, I've never had to be on this side of the explaining before. Listen... some of the new people here don't like him--won't ever like him--because of what he did... to me."

Deep breath in, Max, you can do this.

"When I said servant, what I meant was... slave." He swallows hard and then rushes to follow that with, "But, it's complicated. There really is more to it. Just. People have some strong feelings about... that."

[graveling]

"What?"

Angel isn't just startled, he's completely shocked. Stunned. And yet, besides how his voice comes out small and tight, that doesn't read on his stony face. But he glances across the Green toward where Erik is quietly.

I'm sticking to max's journal for ease

[maximumcake]

"I... I know," Max says spreading his hands helplessly. He can emote for both of them. "I'm sorry I..."

"It's true, Angel." That's Erik's voice. He's been listening to the conversation unfold and, despite his promise not to approach Max, this feels necessary. "Max speaks the truth."

Erik turns to look at Max in full for the first time, "I'm sorry for cutting in, but this felt appropriate."

"Oh..." Max answers with a bit of nervous tremor in his voice. "T-thanks." But now he's the one looking around, specifically to see if Erin's caught sight of this yet.

[crushed_pearls]

Pointing at her lack of eyes.

Pointing at Erik.

To the lack of eyes.

To the lack of pulse.

[lordoftheozarks]

Erik locks eyes with her, so to speak, and holds up a finger in the universal gesture for "Give me one minute." He doesn't need her coming over to punch him again when Angel is in such a fragile state.

[graveling]

"Okay. So...what does that mean for everyone here? You're not...you can't...I..."

Words fail and Angel just gives Erik an uncertain, confused glare.