John J. Rambo (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
theydrewfirstblood) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
ph_logs2024-08-23 10:45 am
theydrewfirstblood) wrote in ph_logs2024-08-23 10:45 am
we stand shoulder to shoulder (veteran's social)
Who: John Rambo (theydrewfirstblood) & The Pumpkin Hollow Veterans' Association
What: Leveling up veteran's poker night with a barbecue
When: post-Blight
Where: Baker Ranch
Warning(s): General warnings for John's canon: violence, police brutality, PTSD, torture, etc., and likely similar for many other veterans here, check for further warnings throughout
(NOTE: Treat this as a gathering, but I personally will be backtagging into this for the duration of September, so don't be a stranger!)
Poker Night is something John looks forward to every month, but he got it into his head that it could be fun to do a little more, so he talked to a few people, did a little extra work...
...then the damn Thatcher's Blight hit and everything went to absolute shit.
Fortunately, the whole thing's blown over now, and once he's sure everything around the farm is as clean as it's gonna get? John goes through his stores and decides he's got enough food and drink for all--and tacks up a notice on the bulletin board just below that for the regular poker night, with a date and time as well as his phone number and address.
VETERAN'S SOCIAL, BAKER RANCH--BBQ & DRINKS, POTLUCK OPTIONAL
The event starts a few hours before dusk. John's set up a ways from the house with some tables, chairs, and blankets for those who want to go full on picnic style. It wouldn't be a veteran's night without poker, so there's a game going at one of the tables while another holds plates of food--regular game coming off the grill, along with a few other pieces of meat he picked up for those who aren't fans of game.
And, because Co is around, there's no visible chicken on the grill. Ever the pragmatist, there's a couple casseroles of simple baked chicken on the table, alongside some sides John's put together or any offerings that come along as part of the optional potluck. There's not a lot of alcohol, but John's got the last bottle or two of his little dandelion wine experiment available, as well as a couple other things. Mostly it's water, tea, coffee--tamer offerings.
Speaking of the animals, John's turned loose the ones he treats as pets: Sam the rooster spends the whole night chasing after and trying to wrangle Co, who makes no bones about harassing newcomers for adulation. Those she knows, if they sit still too long, will end up with a happy chicken nesting in their lap...one that will remain quiet only so long as you offer the bare minimum of scritches and pets. Dare to ignore her, and angry clucking will ensue. John's mare, Helga, can also be seen grazing around the goings-on, shy but not unfriendly. If a hot breath puffs on the back of your neck, she's just curious--if you pet her, she'll swish her tail happily and move on.
There's also a newer member of the family, whose only just getting big enough to let socialize: Bao, a female cottontail rabbit whose still young, but no longer too much of a baby to keep isolated. Though she spends a good portion of the night in John's arms when he's not busy, she does hop around loose, sticking close to John and to Co, who can be found very rarely nesting in a patch of grass with Bao tucked against her feathery side, gently attempting to "preen" Bao despite her lack of feathers.
And while this is, ostensibly, the veteran's social, any of Baker Ranch's varying degrees of resident are invited to the party, so if there's new faces about? Relax, they don't bite--unless you have food, then watch your hands. They're probably teenagers, and they don't discriminate when it comes to their appetites.
theydrewfirstblood) & The Pumpkin Hollow Veterans' AssociationWhat: Leveling up veteran's poker night with a barbecue
When: post-Blight
Where: Baker Ranch
Warning(s): General warnings for John's canon: violence, police brutality, PTSD, torture, etc., and likely similar for many other veterans here, check for further warnings throughout
(NOTE: Treat this as a gathering, but I personally will be backtagging into this for the duration of September, so don't be a stranger!)
Poker Night is something John looks forward to every month, but he got it into his head that it could be fun to do a little more, so he talked to a few people, did a little extra work...
...then the damn Thatcher's Blight hit and everything went to absolute shit.
Fortunately, the whole thing's blown over now, and once he's sure everything around the farm is as clean as it's gonna get? John goes through his stores and decides he's got enough food and drink for all--and tacks up a notice on the bulletin board just below that for the regular poker night, with a date and time as well as his phone number and address.
VETERAN'S SOCIAL, BAKER RANCH--BBQ & DRINKS, POTLUCK OPTIONAL
The event starts a few hours before dusk. John's set up a ways from the house with some tables, chairs, and blankets for those who want to go full on picnic style. It wouldn't be a veteran's night without poker, so there's a game going at one of the tables while another holds plates of food--regular game coming off the grill, along with a few other pieces of meat he picked up for those who aren't fans of game.
And, because Co is around, there's no visible chicken on the grill. Ever the pragmatist, there's a couple casseroles of simple baked chicken on the table, alongside some sides John's put together or any offerings that come along as part of the optional potluck. There's not a lot of alcohol, but John's got the last bottle or two of his little dandelion wine experiment available, as well as a couple other things. Mostly it's water, tea, coffee--tamer offerings.
Speaking of the animals, John's turned loose the ones he treats as pets: Sam the rooster spends the whole night chasing after and trying to wrangle Co, who makes no bones about harassing newcomers for adulation. Those she knows, if they sit still too long, will end up with a happy chicken nesting in their lap...one that will remain quiet only so long as you offer the bare minimum of scritches and pets. Dare to ignore her, and angry clucking will ensue. John's mare, Helga, can also be seen grazing around the goings-on, shy but not unfriendly. If a hot breath puffs on the back of your neck, she's just curious--if you pet her, she'll swish her tail happily and move on.
There's also a newer member of the family, whose only just getting big enough to let socialize: Bao, a female cottontail rabbit whose still young, but no longer too much of a baby to keep isolated. Though she spends a good portion of the night in John's arms when he's not busy, she does hop around loose, sticking close to John and to Co, who can be found very rarely nesting in a patch of grass with Bao tucked against her feathery side, gently attempting to "preen" Bao despite her lack of feathers.
And while this is, ostensibly, the veteran's social, any of Baker Ranch's varying degrees of resident are invited to the party, so if there's new faces about? Relax, they don't bite--unless you have food, then watch your hands. They're probably teenagers, and they don't discriminate when it comes to their appetites.
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But he had. He absolutely had.
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...okay, so maybe he hasn't been quite ready for this level of socializing yet.
It shows a little in the way his shoulders drop with a loss of tension, and the momentary display of fatigue on his face when he turns away from the icebox with a rueful little smile at Siebren while he leans back against the counter for a second to just...breathe.
"Not a lot of people here yet, but I guess enough." he deadpans. "Been years since I've been this social. Guess playin' host is a little more intense than just heading to a get-together."
And there's the constant ache in his bones...he's well aware now that there's nothing he can do about the chronic pain. It's not an injury he can treat or soothe--he's even tried going to the spring, but his mind gets away from him if he spends too much time in the warm water. Plus, there's only so many blankets you can pile on one bed...
He takes one more clear, soothing breath of the clear, free air of a room empty of anyone but Siebren--someone safe, familiar, comforting...and pushes off the counter.
"You wanna see something cool?"
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Did he think of all possible implications before stating that aloud? No. Should he have? Probably.
"I'm grateful to you for hosting. I know I'll probably never put together something even so casual."
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Things feel better now, but he's not sure he's actually heard a sentiment like that, out loud, since he first met Sam.
"Yeah, well--formal's not my thing." John replies at Siebren's observation. The property is fairly open, but from the front there are signs of the fencing used to close off the little preserve he's created for the game he's raising. Out the back door, more is visible--a couple of large hutches running along one side of the fence, several logs sunk into the earth hollowed out for little burrows, carefully cultivated clusters of plant life for food like sweet grasses and the like, along with the makings of a ramshackle little garden--high fencing to keep the rabbits and hares away from naturally occurring plant life he's nurturing. In the distance, there's some lumber and natural branches stacked up for use, and some ongoing construction that he leads Siebren out to see.
"I'm messin' around with some...not sure what the word is, artisanal?...just more stuff I can share around or sell if people wanna pay for it." he explains. "This here's gonna be a drying rack for plants 'n stuff. I've been teaching my boys about survival foraging, so I'm thinking up easy things they can do with easy to find things like dandelions. Did a small batch of pretty young wine, made some syrup, salads--been scrounging for medicinal stuff since the Blight and I think I can work up a nice crop of stuff in addition to foraging. Feverfew, pennyroyal, and some others."
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He floats higher, trying to get another perspective on it all.
"It sounds like you're excited at the idea of starting something new."
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“How do you do that, anyway? The floating thing? Science or magic? I mean…prolly science, but…how?”
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“The guy who wrote Interplanetary Flight?”
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It's just nice to be treated like he can do more than fight.
"Didn't know there were micro black holes, just...big ones." John admits with a shrug. "And you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to--if it's upsetting, I mean. Does sound cool, though, so I'd like to hear about it if it doesn't hurt you to discuss it."
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"It is not a simple story. Parts of it will always hurt. But that isn't a reason to avoid telling it."