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!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Because it won't involve MRE's," Verity agreed, stealing more cauliflower.

Jack coughed something that sounded like Hurt/Comfort, but she was ignoring him.

"Admittedly a pretty low bar," Liam commented drily.

"It'll be fine." He'd shove a ridiculously puffy jacket at Steve and take pictures for everyone to enjoy.

"MREs are good!"

Steve. Steeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeve.

"This cauliflower's good too, though," he said, smiling at Liam.

Verity peered at Steve, suspicious. "I am now rethinking our decision to let you grill."

Anyone who thought MREs were legitimately delicious had tastebuds that were Not To Be Trusted.

"MREs are a reasonably efficient means of providing energy and calories," Liam countered Steve. "I would not call them 'good'."

"His grilling is good," Danny said loyally. Like a good partner would. "I can attest to that one."

"Thank you, Daniel," Steve said, toasting him with his wine glass.

Verity still doesn't look convinced. "How do you grill your steaks, then?" she asked ~~as Wayne inexplicably sits straight up in his chair~~.

“Please don’t say ‘until it’s practically a lump of charcoal’,” Liam entreated. Look, just because he didn’t eat meat anymore didn’t mean he didn’t still have Opinions.

"I don't think I've seen him cook vegetables on the grill before, but the steaks and burgers have always been great." Then he grinned and leaned in. "Though that might have been Chin or Kono making sure they turned out well."

Steve looked Extremely Offended. This was his "come on over and I'll cook steaks" trick to get people to sleep with him! He was very good at this one meal!

"If you want anything other than medium rare or rarer, you have to go somewhere else," he assured them.

"Hey now," Verity said. "We don't throw the word 'monster' around lightly in this house, but there are some things that we will not stand for."

And that included steak cooked to anything more than medium rare, dammit.

“Well then,” Liam grinned. “It sounds like no one has anything to worry about.”

"Lookin' forward to it." Danny would still somehow end up cooking something as well.

Possibly everything that wasn't steaks and grilled mushrooms!

"Mahalo," Steve said, grinning, "but let's enjoy tonight's dinner first."

"Mahalo?" Verity asked, helping herself to eggplant, too. "Have you always lived in Hawaii?"

"You must've gone to school out here," Liam realized, also turning to look at Steve. Which meant this wouldn't be his first Maryland winter and thus he really should know when a goddamn jacket was necessary.

Danny shot him an amused look, and gestured for Steve to join in the sharing hour. His happy expression was possibly the positive reinforcement that Steve might need to do just that.

Normal things.

"I went to the Academy in Annapolis when I was 18, yeah," Steve said, definitely needing Danny's encouragement to share and kind of annoyed with himself that he did, "but my family's been on O'ahu since before Pearl Harbor. We're kamaʻāina," he said. "Local, but not native. After I graduated, I went where the Navy sent me, and didn't make it back to Hawai'i until my father died."

"Even non-native species can have deep roots in the soil," Verity murmured, thinking of Portland.

Or Michigan.

Stupid swamp bromeliads.

"I was born in DC," Liam offered, since Steve had done such a good job with the sharing. "Lived my whole life there, practically," all eight years of it! "Until I moved here, anyway."

Steve got a slightly wider grin for sharing before Danny turned his attention onto Verity. "Where'd you grow up then?"

"Danny's from New Jersey," Steve added teasingly. "You might not know because he never brings it up."

Verity snickered at that before answering Danny's question. "I grew up in Oregon, not far from Portland, but my dad's family lived in Michigan ever since they kipped over from England about five-ish generations ago. My dad and aunt both ended up moving to the West Coast."

Re: Dinner!

Re: Dinner!

Re: Dinner!

Re: Dinner!

Re: Dinner!

Re: Dinner!

Re: Dinner!

Re: Dinner!

Re: Dinner!

Re: Dinner!

Re: Dinner!

Re: Dinner!

Re: Dinner!

Re: Dinner!

Re: Dinner!

Re: Dinner!

Re: Dinner!

Re: Dinner!

Re: Dinner!

Re: Dinner!

Re: Dinner!

Re: Dinner!

Re: Dinner!

Re: Dinner!

Re: Dinner!