(log) It's Thanksgiving Time!

[forethinking]

Who: Ren and You
When: Thanksgiving Day
Where: ADI's cafeteria
Summary: A little thanksgiving party for everyone.
Warnings: Alcohol, but other than that, none!



(It's finally the day! Ren's spent the day in the canteen, from the early hours of the morning with the help of Kate, until just close enough to the arranged time.

Several tables in the cafeteria are taken by the food, but there's still plenty of room to sit and spend time with your fellow ADI employees. After the previous month everyone has had, it feels much needed. Available is the following menu:

Deep-fried Turkey + Stuffing;
Ranch-Seasoned Roast Turkey + Stuffing;
Mashed Potatoes + Gravy;
Green Bean Casserole;
Cranberry Sauce;
Pasta alla Norma;
Sicilian Rice Balls;
S'mores Cupcakes
Pumpkin Pie;
Apple Pie;
Sweet Baked Potato;
Pecan Pie;
Roasted Vegetables;
Stuffed Mushrooms;
Squash Soup;
Garlicky Green Beans with Crispy Onions;
A selection of alcohol;

Ren's tried his best to recreate what the Internet and other folks have told him, and without him tasting the original flavors, some of the dishes might have an unexpected twist of spice. Kate has also helped with putting things together, and at the previously arranged time, Ren opens the doors with a smile from ear-to-ear.

Once everyone's settled, he'll ask for a moment to, gasp, speak:)

I'd like to thank everyone for coming today. I know it's been tough, but I'm still thankful we can spend good moments like these together. I hope you enjoy the food.

(And just like so, he'll bow, and hand plates to those ready to eat. Time to dig in!)

Comments

Meredith Idlewild - OC - OTA

[henchgal]

1. No Morning Colder than the First Frost
Meredith arrives with a box from a local donut shop--though anyone who peeks inside it, after she sneaks it onto the dessert table, might be surprised that absolutely every single donut inside is jelly-filled. No exceptions, raspberry or blueberry jelly for everyone. Feel free to ask her about it, but she's going to scurry away from the dessert table without comment otherwise.

2. There Will Be Feasting and Dancing
The month's been quiet, but even with the time to recover, Meredith's still clearly Feeling It a bit. Once she's acquired a plate of food, she looks at it, then at the path to empty seats, before grimacing and turning to whoever's nearby with free hands.

"I really hate to be a bother, but could I bug you to carry this for me?" After all, the plate's too full for one hand, but with the other on her cane, she's not going to make it.

Once settled down in a seat, she looks around, checking for new faces she's missed while imitating a hermit, as well as familiar ones she's been meaning to talk to.

3. I Hope I Never Get Sober (CW: alcohol abuse)
Throughout the night, Meredith is rarely seen without a glass of wine or a bottle of hard cider in her hand, and it's clear to those paying attention that she's not moderating her intake like she has at previous social gatherings. She is drinking to get drunk. Toward the latter half of the evening, she might sidle up beside someone and sling an arm over their shoulder because even with her cane, she's wobbling like jello, or like a boneless pug.

"D'you think anyone'd notice if I just...crashed here or something?" Words slurring, rather than her usual precise articulation.

X. Wildcard
darkersolstice or darkersolstice#9463 to plot if you want me.

3

[worthallthis]

The sudden and unexpected application of an arm around him is very nearly enough to have him scuttling out from under her. Nearly. At the last second he recognizes her cane and then her voice and he manages not to dump her on the floor out of sheer nerves.

"Meredith," he says, voice a little tight, holding very still. "You should not sleep here."

[henchgal]

“Mmm, I know that I shouldn’t, but that so wasn’t the question. People don’t always notice when someone does a thing they shouldn’t, you know.” She sounds like she thinks she’s offering him some great secret wisdom.

[worthallthis]

"You shouldn't because it might not be safe," Winter corrects, frowning. Also, that is very much not his experience. He's always caught and punished when he's doing something he's not.

Or, well, he was before waking up in a world with no HYDRA. Punishment here has been severely lacking.

[henchgal]

"Nothing's fucking safe in this world, Winter. ADI's not safe, but my apartment sure as hell isn't either. There's no way we aren't all going to get killed or vanished or eaten here--what makes you think getting me home means something isn't going to go tits up?"

She laughs, and it sounds forced and broken, but the words are coming from her heart. She's lost any sense of security, with the events of Halloween.

[worthallthis]

... well he has no idea what to say to that. He folds into himself a little, because he hasn't had any sense of security for as long as he's existed, as far as he knows, but he only applies that lack of security to himself, not actual people. Hearing someone else say what's usually in his head is disorienting and makes him feel-- small. Useless.

He takes a long moment to rally, but when he does, it's to wordlessly duck down, tuck the flesh arm under her knees and the metal one behind her back, and scoop her up in the most gentle way for her joints that he can.

[henchgal]

She's surprised, first that he doesn't try to argue with her and then that he initiates touch. Not just touch, he just...picks her up and cradles her and she holds onto her cane, looking up at his face. Startled, shocked, but not upset. The metal arm is more than enough to support her.

She relaxes into him, letting out a bit of a sigh.

"You're strong. Like, I knew that already, but it's different, feeling it."

2

[musicdied]

Scanning the crowd for a few particular faces does not require the use of one's hands, but does leave Yelena nearby. She turns towards the other woman's voice, expression of mild puzzlement fading as she notes both cane and volume of food on the plate.

Yes, she can see how that might present a problem.

"All right," she says, sidestepping around another party-goer armed with beer and an eclectic array of food to pick up the plate. "Where are you sitting?"

[henchgal]

"Wherever there's an open seat. I haven't gotten that far yet. Where are you sitting?" After all, if Yelena's going to be friendly enough to carry a plate, she might be friendly enough to talk to.

[musicdied]

Yelena blinks once in surprise, not having expected to gain a potential dinner companion out of a momentary bit of helpfulness. But that's the point of all of this, isn't it? To build ties with their fellow otherworlders, beyond the easy groupings of roommate and department and shared world.

"Over there," she says, tipping her head in the direction of one of the perimeter tables, her spot saved by a yellow-and-back checkered coat. "There's room, if you'd like to join me."

It's one of the benefits of not trying to grab one of the seats closest to the food: far less competition.

[henchgal]

"That'd be nice." Meredith smiles, following over to the indicated table. "I don't see my roommates here yet. Tim was still sleeping in by the time I left our apartment."

[musicdied]

Normally, that wouldn't be remarkable - people keep all kinds of strange sleep schedules. Given the events of the previous month, it makes Yelena's skin prickle with unease.

"Does he work late hours?" she wonders, tone mild and conversational, if pitched a little louder than her usual speaking voice to be heard over the buzz of chatter as they make their way between the tables.

[henchgal]

"No, he just doesn't keep a sane sleep schedule. I mean, none of us do in our room, not really. Tim's a teenager, so if you give him a day off, of course he's going to use it to sleep in."

She shrugs. Normal never was a thing, even before the last month, with B1. Malcolm has night terrors, Tim's a paranoid mess, Meredith has chronic pain keeping her up.

2

[abrightboy]

Malcolm's finished his soup already when he spots her and slides into the seat beside her.

"Hey. Doing okay?" he asks.

[henchgal]

"Have you ever known me to answer that question honestly in as public a space as this?"

She gives him a wry little look, leaning in toward him slightly. The magnetic pull of a trusted roommate is a thing to be acknowledged.

[abrightboy]

He smiles down at the table, then lifts his gaze to her face.

"I suppose I mean 'are you as comfortable as you can be' and 'do you need someone to get you anything'," he concedes.

[henchgal]

"I mean, I won't turn down another glass of wine, but that's not a need right now." It might become a need later, depending on how rowdy the party gets. "How are you doing? Nothing's blown up too loudly this month, it's sort of nice."

[abrightboy]

“I think…I’ve made enough peace with the people my father butchered in the dream to show my face in public, so we’ll go with ‘good’,” Malcolm allows. “Reasonably well, anyway.” He glances around. “Have you seen Neal here?”

He hasn’t.

Not that there’s any reason that he’s asking.

[henchgal]

"Not yet, no. You're looking for him? I can mention that, if I see him." She's not expecting Malcolm to want that, but she can't resist the urge to tease.

"As for your father, I'm still trying to figure out how to talk to Paul in accounting after bashing his head in with my cane when he turned into a zombie in the dream. Or...Jaeger. Didn't kill him, still awkward."

3

[ployboy]

It's late. Tim's fashionably late. He didn't want to come, but there's an indisputable magnetic pull for the 18 year old: free food. Lots of food. He's hungry.

His plate's got pecan pie and sweet potato drizzled with cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and the gravy kind of bleeding into the cranberry and the... donuts. With how sloshed everyone's looking, Tim feels the relief that no one is going to give him grief over it. Like: Meredith, who he sits next to and offers the (partially soggy) jelly donut to.

"I would notice. You're not a mean drunk, are you? I just woke up so you have to be nice," he says.

[henchgal]

"Who said I'm drunk? I'm just...festive. I'm celebrating." That last word comes out pretty horribly slurred.

She accepts the donut, licking the gravy off the outside first, to get it nice and clean again.

[ployboy]

Tim hums an appreciative and understanding, "Ah."

He's got a bit of a mouthful of sweet potato but it's fine. Meredith is drunk- she won't care.

"Was Thanksgiving ever a big deal for you back home?"

[henchgal]

"Before I went away to college? Yeah. I mean, some years, we couldn't afford a turkey, so Mom would just get a rotisserie chicken at the grocery store." Like Meredith sometimes does for the boys. Making stock from the bones and using the meat in every imaginable way. Chicken noodle casserole, chicken salad sandwiches.

Clearly this resourcefulness was learned from her mother.

[ployboy]

What happened at college? Is she like Dick, was there some hard misunderstanding going on? Something else entirely?

A question for sobriety. If ever. Tim's mechanically poking at his food but there's still a wistful little feeling. "That sounds cool," he says and immediately scrunches his nose-- don't take it the wrong way. He's trying to find the... word. "Cozy? Like I'm imagining some hectic shopping and then hanging out in the kitchen. I don't know. Was it just you two?"

[henchgal]

"No, also my dad and my little brother. Though neither of them helped much with the cooking."

She looks wistful for a moment, before taking a bite of the jelly donut. "Hanukkah starts on Sunday, this year, by the way. Don't worry, it's not a big deal, I won't really be doing anything for it, this is close enough to a holiday thing for me."