MHA #6, Sunday Evening

[firstofitskind]

The last two days in the Kincaid-Price household had been, uh, interesting. First and most obviously, there was the appearance of some animal but not actually animal visitors. There had been Kestrel, of course, and then there'd been who had shown up claiming to belong to Verity:

"Jack."

"Your name is Jack."

"Yup"

"Jack the jackalope?"

"Yup."

The talking part of which wasn't even as startling as it might be for most. And that was because of the mice. Which led to the other really interesting thing: once they'd figured out that these animals- daemons- were in fact extensions of human souls, two schools of thought had immediately formed: those that believed the new arrivals needed to have names bestowed upon them so they could be properly worked into the canon, and those who believed that, as part of their gods, they were already covered, namewise.

That the daemons would likely disappear either tomorrow or in a few days, as is typical with Fandom, Did Not Matter, as it had been pointed out that They Have Always Been There, You Just Did Not Know It. Therefore, they would continue to exist once they've disappeared.

"For does NOT the Pilgrim Priestess search high and low for he God of Empty Rooms and Cold Regrets with no sign of him nor proof he still lives? Is not our entire life based around the faith of That Which We Feel But Can Not See?" remarked one of the acolytes early on in the discussion.

So that was the background noise as Liam (and Kestrel, who wasn't really much help per se but had Opinions) was in the kitchen, preparing some Ginataang Talong with some Deep Fried Cauliflower on the side. The eggplant had finished simmering and now it was just a matter of waiting for the deep fryer to finish as they waited for their guests.

[ooc: for thems that live here or are coming for dinner!]

Comments

Pre-Guests

[firstofitskind]

For anything prior to the arrival of Fandom's most notoriously married-but-not couple.

Re: Pre-Guests

[arboreal_priestess]

"Liam, tell Jack to stop poking his head into the mice's room to offer his own opinions," Verity wailed said in a very undramatic fashion.

Re: Pre-Guests

[firstofitskind]

Yeah, that got a scoff out of both Liam and Kestrel, in unison.

"What makes you think he'd listen to me?" he asked, eyebrow raised.

Re: Pre-Guests

[arboreal_priestess]

"Well, he's not listening to me," Verity huffed. "He's just doing it because he thinks it's funny!"

Because it was funny, dammit.

Re: Pre-Guests

[firstofitskind]

"Mmmhmm," Liam said absently, as he continued chopping the onion. "As opposed to you, who never in a million years would find such a thing funny."

Re: Pre-Guests

[arboreal_priestess]

"Which is why he's not listening to me," Verity sulked. "Because he knows I'm being a hypocrite."

Re: Pre-Guests

[firstofitskind]

"Must be rough," Liam said, pausing his chopping long enough to wander over and attempt to kiss that pout off her face.

Re: Pre-Guests

[arboreal_priestess]

Oooh kisses! Verity did perk up a bit.

"His name is Jack," she said for the hundredth time.

It was a complaint.

Re: Pre-Guests

[firstofitskind]

"Duke ended up with a rat named Fallacy," Liam informed her. "I think you got off easy."

Re: Pre-Guests

[arboreal_priestess]

"That at least makes sense!" Verity said. "Jack is just...lazy! Lazy and uncreative!"

Re: Pre-Guests

[firstofitskind]

"Ahhh," Liam said knowingly, as the pieces fell into place. "I get it."

Re: Pre-Guests

[arboreal_priestess]

"Don't you psychoanalyze me," Verity muttered, but in a way that meant 'unless you can do so in a way that will comfort me.'

Re: Pre-Guests

[firstofitskind]

"I certainly don't think you're lazy and uncreative," he informed her. "But I think you're used to hiding just how competent you are, a lot of the time."

Dinner!

[firstofitskind]

Food! And talking animals.

So, so many talking animals.

Re: Dinner!

[hatesparadise]

Danny had a plate of cookies because complicated desserts weren't gonna happen this weekend end. And because Jo had made weird cat faces at most of the options.

Though he had the suspicion that part of it was for Kailani, who wanted cookies for Steve and that wasn't weird at all. "This is gonna be the weirdest dinner party every," he warned Steve, standing in front of the apartment door with a cat sitting primly next to his feet.

Re: Dinner!

[grenadesandohana]

"We could go swimming instead?" Kailani tried.

"No," Steve said.

"Swimmmmmmmmmming," Kailani pleaded.

"No."

"Then I shall bestow this rock on someone else!"

Way harsh, Kailani.

Re: Dinner!

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity opened the door, a pleasant expression on her face if one ignored the simmering irritation under it. "Hi!" she said, while a jack rabbit with antlers peeked around the door at the new arrivals. From somewhere within the apartment, a loud collection of strident voices rose up in debate. "Welcome to our place. It's...sure a time to be throwing a dinner party."

"I could go ask them to quiet down?" Jack offered.

"You show up, it'll only make it worse."

"I know." Could a jackalope look smug? Jack looked smug.

Re: Dinner!

[firstofitskind]

"I'm bribing them with the good cheese," Liam informed everyone as he came up to the door. For some reason, the mice weren't big fans of eggplant. "So hopefully they'll at least keep it to a dull roar while they're occupied with that."

Re: Dinner!

[hatesparadise]

"We brought wine," Jo said, already over and rubbing her head against Kailani to make the lack of swimming seem less terrible.

"What she said," Danny said dryly. "Isn't this island fun?"

IT WAS NOT.

Re: Dinner!

[grenadesandohana]

"Would they like a rock?" Kailani asked, holding it out.

"She likes everyone to be taken care of," Steve said a little dryly because that was in way exactly like him, too.

Re: Dinner!

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity looked touched as she smiled down at the tiny otter friend. "I'm certain they would love a rock," she said. "They'll still argue, but the rock will be treasured."

Re: Dinner!

[firstofitskind]

"Come on," Liam said, gesturing for... everyone... to follow him down the hall. "I'll show you to their room." He stopped in front of a door, behind which could be heard several high-pitched voices raised in feverish debate.

Rapping on the door sharply, he waited a moment before pushing it open. The sight there was certainly something to behold. There was, of course, the Barbie Dream House that had been converted for their use, and in one corner there was a Nintendo Switch and a pile of games. And in the center of the room were currently two overturned empty Kleenex boxes, each with a mouse dressed in scraps of fabric and adorned with beads, feathers, and other tiny knicknacks perched on top. Behind each box stood even more mice, perhaps a dozen or so on each side. At the sound of the door creaking open all of those voices had stopped, and approximately three-dozen sets of beady inkdrop eyes swiveled to look at whoever was daring to interrupt them this time.

Re: Dinner!

[hatesparadise]

"Go ahead, Kailani," Jo said politely, holding back because mice tended to be nervous around her for some reason.

"Oh, I'd sorta hoped that was the wine and not real," Danny admitted faintly.

Re: Dinner!

[grenadesandohana]

Kailani cleared her throat for some reason. "I've brought you a rock," she said, holding it out to just...the center of the room, not wishing to accidentally insult a leader by not picking them out immediately. "With our gratitude for being invited to your home."

Steve shrugged at Danny.

Re: Dinner!

[arboreal_priestess]

A long moment of silence, punctuated by more of that ink-drop blinking.

And then a chorus-swell of "HAIL!" from about three dozen tiny voices. More hails followed, though these were more individual cheers.

"HAIL THE ROCK!"

"Hail the Gift of Stone!"

"HAIL TO THE FEAST OF GRATITUDE!"

"They like it," Verity said. Helpfully.