THANKSGIVING: OPEN TO EVERYONE

[anunluckypenny]

When; November 22nd
Rating; PG...? It's a family holiday, c'mon.
Characters; EVERYONE
Summary; Everyone is invited to a Thanksgiving Day party! Bring a dish, gorge, socialize, and be thankful that the deities didn't plague the City with a curse of zombie turkeys.
Log;

A line of tables takes up the area directly in front of the Welcome Center. They're covered in neatly-ironed linens (there may be a few moth holes in them); mismatched chairs and table settings composed of an eclectic array of plates and utensils are ready and waiting for guests to arrive.

Before noon, there's a flurry of activity as food is placed on the tables and last-minute dishes are made. When noon arrives, lunch is ready: mashed potatoes and gravy, salads of all kinds, stuffing, cornbread, pumpkin bread, buttered rolls, pumpkin pie, and all sorts of sides brought by guests--some traditional, some not so much--fill the tables. The center table is occupied by the turkey, cooked to golden perfection.

Drinks of all kinds are readily available, the food is good, and the company is better. Sit, eat, and stay as long as you like; the food will keep coming.

Don't forget to be thankful!


[ooc: Post, mingle, threadjack, pester, antagonize... open to all!]

Comments

[deadmanbusiness]

Theo's never been much for Thanksgiving. It's hard to be when you live in a country that actively refuses you citizenship rights even if you were born there. That being said, he's not at all adverse to free food and Thanksgiving food was always good, (even if there had been a few awkward dinners at his financee's parent's house). Also, he wants to check out a City Dead NPCs being dull.

Not quite having a job yet, all he has is himself and his rats, one of which is sitting on his shoulder.

[anunluckypenny]

Penny is perfectly capable of multitasking and, at the moment, that means putting out food, saying hello to people, and wondering why there's a guy with a rat on his shoulder at the table. Not that she minds, but it's a little odd.

"Hey," she greets him cheerfully. "Theodred, right?"

[deadmanbusiness]

"Hi. Yes. And you're Penny." He offers a hand, which is a bit on the cool side, to shake. "Nice to meet you in person."

He's curious to see if there's any sort of reaction from her. She is supposedly dead, if city dead, which kinda makes her undead, right? And undead tend to at least react a bit to her.

Up close it's clearly easy to tell that the rat is not alive but instead undead.

[anunluckypenny]

"Yep, that's me," she says, shaking his hand. She doesn't really register the temperature of his skin, as her own lacks living, human warmth. "It's nice to meet you too."

Penny doesn't look particularly dead, aside from a generally unhealthy cast to her skin. No blush of life here. Still, she's a far cry from a zombie and all of her flesh is attached and accounted for--fortunate, as rotting flesh would have turned stomachs. She doesn't have any abnormal reaction to Theo, either.

The rat is indeed visibly... not alive. Penny examines it for a moment before deciding that it's kind of cute. In a dead way. "I like your rat. Did he come to the City with you?"

[deadmanbusiness]

Weird and interesting and filed away for further reference!

Theo files it under "like a freshly raised dead" or "not zombie but something else".

The rats are kind of cute. The move around in a very rat like way despite obviously being dead.

"No, I raised it here, during that circus fiasco. This one is Jasper," he says. "I put him in my pocket but... as you see he didn't stay."

Then. "You put all this together?"

[anunluckypenny]

The City!dead are an unusual bunch. They're perfectly functional; sometimes Penny forgets she's not alive. They don't need to breathe or sleep or eat, but they're quite capable of doing all three. How they work is unknown. Perhaps some power in the City is keeping them animated.

"I'm glad something good came of that circus curse."

Penny shakes her head. "Not really, no. I mean, kind of? There was a lot of help involved."

[withloadedguns]

It's a little while after noon when one particular man arrives. He has a basket in his hands, may it be noted. And in the basket, covered by a checkered napkin, is a small pile of cornbread, cut into squares.

He didn't make the cornbread, please also note. He bought it or traded for it or obtained it or was perhaps given it by someone who heard where he was going and said that he just could not go empty-handed. Hence: cornbread in chunks. And it's pretty good cornbread too.

He's wearing his gun (because he'd sooner go out without his pants than without his gun), but he'll behave himself. A decent home-cooked meal was just too much to pass up. And to say it's a feast? Even better.

Just don't expect him to be much for dinner conversation...

[anunluckypenny]

Well, if it isn't the cowboy. Penny hadn't expected him to show--public gatherings seem like the kind of things he avoids, or so she had assumed--but she's quite pleased to see him, basket and gun and pants and all.

"Hello!" There's time enough to greet him and take that basket off of his hands, if he's here to surrender it. "I'm so glad you could make it."

[deadmanbusiness]

That's Theo's going theory. It's really fascinating. From a necromancer point of view...

"They're useful at times."

He puts his hands in his pockets. "But you organized it. That takes a lot of doing."

open;

[punchedhitler]

[Steve arrives with Bucky in tow and an apple pie that he bought from the bakery down the street, because if he were left to cook it the pie would be mostly inedible. He sets it down on the table before he heads into the corner: he's terrible at parties, to say the least. He looks relatively sharp in his dress uniform (not his Avengers one) because it's the only nice thing he owns and when he's from people dress up for these sort of occasions.]

[anunluckypenny]

"What're useful sometimes?" she asks quite seriously. "Zombie rats?"

Well, Penny doesn't know what to say to that. "Not as much as you'd think. Everyone in the City's pretty good at pitching in when it comes to fun things like giant lunches."

[deadmanbusiness]

"Yes, zombie rats are useful."

Theo gives her a wry and briefly sad smile. "You sound like my boss, Anna."

[anunluckypenny]

[Maybe Steve can't bake pies, but he fills a dress uniform out nicely; that counts as a talent in Penny's book. She greets Steve and Bucky with a bright smile when she has a moment to spare to say hello.]

Hey, guys! You're looking sharp.

[Bucky is included in this comment even though Penny might possibly have Steve alone in mind. Maybe. Yeah. Sorry, Bucky.]

[anunluckypenny]

"For more than just being creepily adorable?" She really wants to pet Jasper. Is it weird to want to pet an undead rat?

Being a fairly perceptive person where emotions are concerned, Penny picks up the sadness. Celebratory gatherings, however, are not the kinds of places where such things are addressed, so she goes for lighthearted banter: "I hope that's a good thing."

[deadmanbusiness]

Jasper would love pettings. In fact he reaches over to sniff at her, as much as sniffing can be done by a dead thing. "He's friendly. And yes, they can fetch and carry small things."

He does appreciate it. "It's a very good thing. She's fantastic. She could herd cats and bake a pie at the same time if she had to."

[punchedhitler]

[He smiles when he sees her, because it's Thanksgiving and Steve can manage a smile on Thanksgiving. His smiles have been a little rare, recently.]

Happy Thanksgiving, Penny.

[withloadedguns]

The funny thing about the cowboy is that he's not completely unsocial. He's just a loner. That's all, really. And loners can be social, believe it or not. Besides, there's food too, which is also good.

He is, in fact, fully prepared to surrender the basket. "Hello." And he even smiles.

[anunluckypenny]

She likes Jasper, but precautions are necessary. "He won't turn me into a zombie or anything if he bites me, will he?"

Cue a great deal of pleased being-flustered-ness. Penny would be blushing if that was a thing that dead people did. "Then thank you, but I'm not so sure about the herding cats."

[anunluckypenny]

The food is actually a trap used to draw people into conversation. Thanksgiving Day just happens to be fine cover for Penny and her devious plans.

That's not true. Completely.

She takes said surrendered basket and absolutely does not melt a little when the cowboy smiles. "Thanks for bringing something along--not that you bring you wasn't enough!"

[anunluckypenny]

Happy Thanksgiving to you, too. I'm really glad you could make it.

[That's a shame; it's just as well that Penny doesn't see too much of Steve. She'd be forced to fuss about him if she thought anything was amiss and he doesn't need that.]

[deadmanbusiness]

"No, nor will he bite you. He's not allowed." One good thing about raising your own zombie minions, they don't do anything you don't want them to.

"I admit the cat herding is a bit difficult. But she manages it. And I'm sure you could if you had to." Theo means the cat herding semi-literally. A co-worker's cat familiar had kittens which would be difficult to manage under normal circumstances. These kittens teleport. So, the fact that Anna could keep them semi-corralled was a near miracle.

[withloadedguns]

No, of course she doesn't melt. His smiles never have that sort of effect on women. And he certainly doesn't know that either. (Wait. Too many negatives.)

"Seemed a shame not to bring something."

As if he's the one who thought of it and the cornbread wasn't thrust upon him by a concerned landlady.

[punchedhitler]

[He nods, and looks around]

All of this looks great.

[anunluckypenny]

I hope so... a lot of people put a lot of work into it. Have a seat?

[punchedhitler]

You have to give me a few minutes to look around at all the food, first.