firstofitskind | MHA #6, Sunday Evening

MHA #6, Sunday Evening

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!]

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"Where are you even going to put the rock?" Verity asked. "In your antlers? You don't have hands!"

"I will think of something," Jack said loftily. "It's the Jackalope Way."

Verity was going to end up carrying that rock.

At Steve's question, Kestrel had let off a soft glow, a glow that somehow gave the distinct impression that she was pleased to have been asked.

"I also do not have any hands," she said. "But I would like a rock, yes."

"I've got pockets," Liam offered. "I can hold on to it for you."

Danny shot Steve A Look because clearly he started this. This was his fault.

"She gives the best rocks," Jo agreed shyly.

Kailani preened and then carefully waddled around to give everyone their rocks. "Thank you, Jo," she said.

Steve shrugged, looking a little abashed. "She likes making everyone happy."

How wildly unlike Steve! Really!

Verity accepted the rock with a solemn expression, holding it out for Jack to investigate and then also placing it in her pocket. With a sigh.

Jack looked smug.

"Shall we leave the mice to their theological debate?" she suggested. "And adjourn to the dining room where there's exactly the correct amount of fried cauliflower?"

"HAIL THE CAULIFLOWER!"

Liam let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like a laugh. Damn allergies.

"That sounds like an excellent plan," he agreed.

"Please," Danny added with a quick nod.

"He needs some wine," Jo informed them all. Like the traitor she was.

"And to hail the cauliflower," Steve said, grinning.

"HAIL!" The mice went into ecstasies of cheering.

"When we can't have a normal-volume conversation over dinner, just remember that it's your fault," Verity told Steve, highly entertained.

Because she was the worst.

"Maybe they'll stay in their room," Liam said hopefully, knowing full well that they would not.

"Wine?" he asked, as they reached to the kitchen. He didn't actually wait for an answer, pouring three full glasses and a half one for himself.

"Thank you," Danny said, putting the cookies down and just sort of giving them up as a lost cause to the mice. And yes, he was taking a healthy sip of the wine as soon as he had it. "It's been... a weekend."

Steve scritched Kailani between the ears as he lounged against the counter, taking a much smaller sip of wine. "Danno likes things to stay the way he expects them to be," he said.

"...This is a bad island for that," Verity drawls. "Oh lord. How are you going to take walking up in the body of a woman? Or a child?"

She paused to consider. "Okay, you'll probably wake up as a kid okay. It's the Monday after you're gonna wanna drink."

Being a kid would never get any less weird for Liam, but on the other hand:

"That's how we met," he told Danny and Steve, grinning brightly.

"Real rich, coming from Commander Control Freak," Danny muttered into his wine. "You met as kids?"

Which, c'mon guys. Was weird when it was a weekend thing.

"You can turn into kids?"

Sorry, Steve was stuck at that part.

"Met as kids when I drew weapons on him," Verity said, giving Liam a sickeningly sweet smile. "Nerf guns have less of a wow factor, but that's okay. And then I brought him home for a feast of PB and J sandwiches."

[SO SORRY. ER TRIPS AND KIDNEY STONES ARE NOT KIND]

“Hey, I was pretty impressed,” Liam countered, giving her a sickeningly sweet smile right back. “Nerf weapons or no.”

"Wow." That wow was only half because, well, his 'meet cute' with Steve also featured weapons being drawn.

"That's how Danny and I met," Steve said, grinning, "only we were adults, and the guns were real."

"Ahh, but did you share guns?" Verity asked, quietly taking a sip (A SIP! SHE HAD LEARNED HER LESSON LAST TIME) as they shared 'how we met' stories with this very-clearly-not-a-couple. "That was what I think was really the clincher. I shared my weapons."

"Out of the goodness of her tiny six-year-old heart," Liam confirmed with a nod. "And now she's no longer six, but she has to share them legally," he said smugly, as he dished out the ginataang.

"Uh, no," Danny replied with an amused little look aimed at Steve. "He tried to take stuff from my crime scene and he said I should call for back up if I wanted to follow through on me tellin' him no. So I told him I'd rather call him an ambulance."

Which was emotionally repressed for 'let's exchange friendship bracelets' and also 'I'm so into you right now'.

"His crime scene was my garage," Steve pointed out.

That was flirting. They did know that was flirting, right? Verity glanced at Liam; he knew this was flirting, yes?

"And who won that little exchange?" Verity asked.

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