( open ) happy moonsgiving, everyone! (forward dated to 11/15)

[crocodilesmiles]

Date & Time: All Day, November 15th, 3313
Location: Focused centrally on the Moon Base Cafeteria.
Characters: Any and all!
Summary: It's a feast on the moon under the guise of being a new sort of Thanksgiving! Food, drink, merriment, food comas... lend a helping hand, fill a few plates of goodies, and meet friends new and old!
Warnings: None right now. Please PM this account should anything go beyond a "my grandmother is also reading this and that is okay" level of appropriate.
Notes: Tag in action or prose, and please specify a time of day, location, or activity your character is participating in! (Set-up, the feast, clean up, etc.) Feel free to offer multiple prompts, as your heart desires! Also, Collette is asking for people to write something they're thankful for on butchers paper on the wall before getting their first plate of food. This is 100% optional!

In the morning, the setting up begins. It's hard to say what's a morning versus what isn't on the moon, but using the lighting system as a sort of guide, those who offered to help set up the feast or continue on with the cooking will all be there bright and early.

After things are cleaned, the cooking continues on while further set up of plateware and silverware and hard to break glasses are left to those helping hands with a mind for arrangement details. The whole of one section has been converted into a sort of buffet-style lineup, waiting for the dishes to be complete and set at ready. All varieties of the usual dietary fare have been offered, some in greater quantities than others.

Then comes the time where people stopping by or trickling in aren't just turned around or co-opted into assisting; it's feast time, though not before an announcement that each person getting a plate of food must write at least one thing they're thankful for on a large sheet of butcher paper taped up to the wall. There's a variety of colored markers and pens provided, from someone's personal (and eclectic) collection. It's a soft price to pay for free food and plenty of it!

When the feasting has wound down, so begins the clean up. Tired, drunk, well fed, over fed, or simply content, people will be shuffled out or dragged into helping turn the cafeteria back into working, normal form. What decorations were added will need collecting (or stealing), plates and dishes and cooking implements and pots and pans will need washing, and floors a good sweeping and waterless mopping before things are all back in order. Leftovers, if there are any, will need to be placed in sealable containers and put into refrigeration.

And then, blissfully unaware of anything impending on the horizon, to bed, or different haunts, for the night.

Comments

OTA

[khajidont]

[It always feels as if there's so much to do, but Jaime's not against taking the time to slow down for one night. He's already scrawled a few answers on the wall, but one thing he's definitely thankful for is the opportunity to spend an evening out of the bugsuit for one evening. One of these days, he's going to wake up and find that he can't change back, he swears it.

He sticks around throughout the entire evening. Before the festivities, he doesn't bother even trying to ruin any of the precious resources they have through his lack of cooking skills, but he's certainly willing to help cart around dishes, set the tables, and even mix a salad or two. He had brought plenty of supplies back from one of his runs, so in the midst of that, you might see him whisking the piles of food from where he had tucked it away in his quarters over to the kitchens for the cooks to do with it what they will.

If you're looking particularly harried, he may just butt in by asking,] Hey, need a hand?

[During the meal, he's certainly distracted away from being helpful - mainly from the presence of food that doesn't come in bar-form or in foil packets. Too much time fighting zombies have put him off all but the most tempting of meat products, but for now, there's plenty of mashed potatoes and other vegetarian dishes to go around. When he's not busy cramming his mouth full of food - it's a feast, he's allowed - he nods his greetings at the others and occasionally makes conversation. One such topic may be,] So, you end up writing on the wall there?

[After the meal, he's halfway tempted to go back and conk out back in his bunk, but not having cooked any of the food, it's the least he can do to help clean up. He shoves the chairs back into place unceremoniously with one foot as he gathers up empty and half-empty plates, stopping here and there to ask people if they're done or if they're just really looking to lick up the last vestiges of gravy on their plates.]

During!

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

[Nate missed zombies - and has seen way too much shit anyway that he's not going to pass up any real food.]

Yeah - thought I might as well. You?

[khajidont]

Mm. Mmhm. [Jaime has to swallow before he speaks, because not even something like idle conversation is going to stop him from shoveling more potatoes into his face. His wipes off his mouth with the back of his hand, looking hugely satisfied as he does it.] Normally we'd say something before we all eat, but I think trying to figure that out would be overestimating our powers of organization while there's real food around.

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

[Nate grins - he's a little more dignified with his food but it is good.] Something like 'Good food, good meat, good God, let's eat'?

[khajidont]

Something like that. But if anyone wants any more than that - well, someone's set up a sort of Chapel in one of our empty rooms. Everyone here's gonna have to be satisfied with, you know, all of this.

[He's gone to the Chapel a few times since they got here. Not - hah - religiously, but often enough. He's not sure if it helps or not. He thinks it might.]

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

Yeah - X-Men thanksgivings, there's a few people that try to hold everyone back from the food until a proper grace gets done, but it doesn't work, more often than not. Kind of like this but with more telekinetic food-passing.

[khajidont]

[Jaime opens his mouth to respond, then shuts it again, remembering that he's not in costume.

But he doesn't really mind Nathan knowing at this point. He's a trustworthy guy, and he'll find out eventually. He's not crazy about the rest of the spec-ops team knowing by default - he doesn't even let all of the Titans know who he is - but the leader?

Then again, Nathan knew him back before he even bothered obscuring his voice with tech, and he's not exactly stupid.]

Uh. D'you know who I am?

[He sort of blurts it out, otherwise he would have tried a little harder when it comes to specificity.]

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

[Nate raises an eyebrow] Jaime Reyes. I think everyone here does, at this point.

[And then, because he's gotten the sense that Jaime thinks this has to be top secret-] ::But if you meant 'do you know I'm Blue Beetle', yeah, I do.::

[khajidont]

[While Jaime receives a single raised eyebrow, Nathan receives two in return, though not out of surprise - it's still a weird feeling having someone other than the Scarab in his head. He coughs, a little awkwardly, then bobs his head in a nod.]

Um. Right. [The side of his mouth is tugged into a smile, clearly aware of how terrible he is at this.] Not that many people around here know me, you know.

[Which is true, actually. He's pretty sure way more people know Blue Beetle than they know Jaime Reyes, but that's not exactly that different from the state of affairs at home.]

before

[crocodilesmiles]

( Collette nods her head to Jaime, tugging on the corner of the paper she had laid out over this table. )

I could use two, if you have them to lend!

[khajidont]

[He holds up both hands in front of himself, palms out, and wiggles his fingers at her.] They're all yours. [He reaches for the other corner of the table almost automatically, straightening and smoothing the opposite side out.]

[crocodilesmiles]

( The gesture makes her grin widen, and she laughs. )

Good! We've got to get this -- ( she taps it with her fingers ) -- hung up on the wall over there, by the start of the buffet line! I've got tape, and lots of it. Think we can do this?

( She totally has the lower corners covered! Plus holding the center up, as long as someone else handles the upper corners. )

[khajidont]

Yeah, sure. [He grabs onto one end and walks over to where Collette directs him almost immediately, and straightens it out across the wall. It takes him a moment to realize that he had done so without any questions whatsoever, and he looks over to Collette to ask,] Wait, what're we covering the wall with paper for, exactly?

[crocodilesmiles]

( The belated question prompts her into laughter. )

Getting the wall ready for signing! I want to ask people to sign for things they're grateful for, whatever comes to mind. Or draw, or something like that. It sounded like fun sometime around three this morning!

( She rolls on over, one hand coming up to hold the center of the paper steady for Jaime. )

Arts and crafty, I guess.

[khajidont]

I think I did something like that when I was elementary school, [Jaime muses, holding one hand towards her to beckon her to pass the tape.]

So very arts and crafty. Just don't ask me to actually draw a hand turkey. [He did those in elementary school too, and his always looked like he must have suddenly lost all his fingers as he drew them. His parents had hung them on the fridge anyway with the big, plastic magnets he used to play with.

He leaves off the teasing tone for a moment, because he's being sincere with what he says next.]

It's a good idea, getting it all written down. This whole dinner's a good idea.

[crocodilesmiles]

Hey, I did the painted one, you can add another one in for flavor!

( She jokes, handing over the tape without indicating the very orange handprints on the paper, artful use of pen creating eyes and legs and all the sum of parts that equals one whole turkey.

She's not sure what to say about any of this being a good idea. She likes to think so. It's nice hearing so from someone else. )

Um, yeah. Thanks! I thought... well, I did this last year, and I thought maybe this year something more for anyone who wanted it was better. Besides, only a few people are left from last year as it is, and one of them -- ( she says with a snort ) -- refused to come to that dinner altogether. This is good.

[khajidont]

Maybe I'll leave that for one of our non-humans and get some seriously pointy hand-turkeys in here, [he quips, ducking his head to look over at Collette's before sticking some more tape onto the middle of the sheet.]

I dunno, I think it's good to stop and count our blessings. [He pauses, sucking on the inside of his cheek before admitting:] Cheesy as that sounds. Is the guy who refused to come last year planning on coming this time?

during

[oncearanger]

As hard as it is to think of things to be thankful for in this environment...that just makes those few valuable things stand out more.

[A wistful smile shifts briefly into a joking one.]

The food counts too, but I thought that was a little too crass.

[khajidont]

Ooh. [His wince is entirely put-on, amusement dancing in his eyes.] Guess you think I'm pretty crass.

[Did he write that he was thankful for food? Absolutely.]

[oncearanger]

...oh!

[He holds up his hand]

I didn't mean it like that. I enjoy the food as well. I just meant that I should be able to think of more than that. And...after a while, I was.

That there's still a chance that things can improve in the future, and that I have friends now.

[khajidont]

[He laughs at Billy's reaction, half because he's so quick to take away any offense from the jab, half because his answer is so sweetly sentimental. He's glad to hear that someone still feels hope, after all this. He does too.]

I was just messing with you. I wrote some other things down. [Then, with utmost sincerity:] In addition to the food part. Because, I mean... food.

[Food, Billy. It's where it's at.]

[oncearanger]

I appreciate the taste too.

[He just smiles around a bite of potato. Mm.]

What else was there?

[khajidont]

Oh, you know. Friends. Family. [He shrugs, leaning forward to swipe some of the fruit that one Transport brought back. He never would have imagined that fruit would feel like a luxury at home, but it tastes almost as good as the rest of the food.]

Everything else has changed, but the stuff I'm thankful for hasn't, not really. There's just a few more people on the list now. How 'bout you?

[oncearanger]

That sounds right to me.

[Billy smiles around his bites.]

Whatever else can be said about the war...we're meeting people we never would have encountered otherwise. That's worthwhile.

[khajidont]

[Worth all this? Jaime's not so sure about that, but he nods anyway, smiling as he peels the orange.] Did you celebrate Thanksgiving back where you're from? I know a bunch of people here had no idea what it even was.