( 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

[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.

[oncearanger]

I did. I kept trying to cook, but my parents had to stop me after a while. My colorful inventions did nothing but ruin the food it touched.

What I wouldn't give to see them again, though. Hopefully next year.

[khajidont]

Man. I know. [It's a low, heavy statement, truth be told. He's never been away from his family for this long. He'd missed them after a week.

He doesn't want them here, but he wishes he could visit them, just for a day. They'd know what to do, what to say. He settles for thinking of them fondly instead, adding on,] If my mom were here, everything would've been set up and on the table in half the time. I guarantee it.

[oncearanger]

My parents were terrible too, actually. We largely ate salad, soup, and frozen food---nothing that was too easy to mess up.

[He sighs quietly]

But...I don't remember much of them from the last few years. We were distant even before I was taken to war. Having a secret identity will do that.

[khajidont]

[Jaime's expression turns sympathetic - though he wouldn't know what it's like to be distant from your parents, not in a million years - and he leans forward, resting his chin on the heel of his hand.]

That sucks, man. You were a superhero back home?

[oncearanger]

I still am. But I had to swear that I would never reveal that to anyone...and fighting took up so much of my time that I hardly saw them.

Inventing excuses for my absences and injuries took up even more time.

[khajidont]

[He knows what Billy's talking about - not with his parents, thank god, but time suddenly slipping through your fingers, the lies, the fighting, ducking out of your regular life time and time again because all of a sudden you're somebody, you're needed.]

You couldn't even tell your family? Why not?

[oncearanger]

The mentor who assigned us the powers threatened to take them from us if we told anyone.

The rule was for our own protection, to prevent the citizens and media from hounding us, but I never thought it did much good. Our enemies always used their magic to discover our identities right away, and the rule never stopped them from attacking our families to get to us.

[He bows his head]

If I ever see them again...I'm not supposed to have my powers anymore, but I don't care. I'm going to tell them and hope they forgive me.

[khajidont]

That's dumb. I mean, not the secret identity thing, but not being able to tell anyone? No way anyone can keep that up.

[It's a good way of separating yourself from everyone you love, he thinks. There's a reason he told his parents and his best friends pretty much day one. There's only so much you can do amongst other heroes. He offers Billy a tight smile.]

I'm sure they'll forgive you. If you have to lie about anything, lying about helping people is about as good as you can get.

[oncearanger]

That's what I'm hoping for.

[He shakes his head sharply to rid himself of the darker thoughts]

Anyway...the separation's easier with friends. Thanks, Jaime.

[khajidont]

Hey, no problem. [He feels a little guilty, honestly. Here Billy is talking about his superhero life, and Jaime's not quite ready to talk about his.

Maybe one day. Billy's a good man, and there are worse people to know the secret.]

What name did you go by, anyway? Maybe I've heard of you.

[oncearanger]

Blue Ranger.

We came in almost every color...red, pink, yellow, black, green, white. Silly-looking, but we threw everything we could at stopping our foes from destroying the town.

[khajidont]

[Blue Ranger, Blue Ranger, Blue Ranger...]

Nope, not ringing a bell. Guess you're from a different world with superheroes than mine. Or I just never heard of you, either one.

[It's possible. Jaime's notoriously bad for not being able to recognize superheroes when he sees them. Is it his fault that he was never that interested before becoming one?]

[oncearanger]

It's probably a different world. As far as I know, there were never alien invasions before my friends and I were brought into the fight. It was big news when the city was suddenly under attack every week.

[He sighs for days gone by]

It was supposed to be the sort of thing that only happened in fiction. I couldn't believe that it happened, never mind that it chose me of all people.

But I'm glad I could become a protector.