Potluck Mingle: Welcome Party

[musketea]

When March 2nd Where Blossomcrown Central Park
What Potluck Mingle/Welcome Party

About.

What had started with Mami stress-baking far too much cake and offering to give some away, had lead to a number of other offers to bring food, and soon she had ended up in charge of a substantial potluck mingle. Well, she supposed it would make for a nice welcome party for everyone else who had been dragged into this strange new world with her!

And so, a number of small tables and picnic blankets had been set out with cakes, cookies, hot dogs, burgers and other sweet and savoury treats that her and others had been brought along. Mami had even taken the time to decorate the table with little flowers that she'd gathered as well, just to add to the atmosphere that the cherry blossom trees already provided.

Hopefully it would be a relaxing, pleasant afternoon.

Notes.

OOC: Feel free to make your own TLs, mingle, interact with each other and all of that stuff! I'll add a comment at the top for people to add what they're bringing along for reference (but contributions are of course not mandatory).

CODE BY MARWOOD

Comments

[kingside]

Perhaps that's simply how I express my appreciation.

[at_heart]

Yeah? Maybe you should work on that. A guy could get his feelings hurt.

[ Obviously not this guy, but some sort of hypothetical guy. ]

[kingside]

I'll take that under advisement.

[And... hmm.]

How long have you been cooking?

[at_heart]

Cooking-cooking, or like, assisting grown-ups in the kitchen?

[ He leans back, weight resting more on the table behind him. ]

I guess the transition's kinda fuzzy anyway. I started helping when I was like six, and I know I was unsupervised by the time I was fifteen. I was taller than her by then, so I could reach everything without help.

[kingside]

[... Grown-ups, he'd said. Hmm.]

I was around ten. It's meditative when I don't have to worry about compensating for others' shortcomings.

[at_heart]

[ That was definitely the word he would've used at the time! ] [ Also fffft Lelouch, wow. You really just say things like that. ]

I'm sure they all miss getting to help you.

[kingside]

["""Help,""" right. He sighs (and tries not to think too hard about that phrasing).]

Yes, well, they're bound to figure it out sooner or later.

[And changing the subject.]

Do you have a dish that you would consider your specialty?

[at_heart]

[ Yep, """"""help"""""". But that sure is actively weird phrasing, Yuri's eyebrows lifting a tiny bit. ]

Me? Heh. Pretty sure I've got a lot of friends who'd say desserts, generally. I once made a milk and cookies cake with little chocolate mice on top.

[kingside]

[—Oh, what? He may just brighten a little.]

How did you sculpt them?

[at_heart]

[ And suddenly they were both on a completely different wavelength? Yuri rubs the back of his neck but grins. ]

Balls of white and dark chocolate, milk chocolate kinda painted on the outside. Little flakes for the ears, a line of sauce for the tails.

[kingside]

[... Hmm. Actually pausing to think about that for a moment.]

Not marzipan, modeling chocolate, or fondant. Perhaps I should introduce you, assuming those are new.

[at_heart]

[ Ew, fondant. ]

No, more like truffle.

[kingside]

Also acceptable.

[Yes, acceptable, you're welcome. He's looking amused, though.]

Perhaps we ought to have a competition one day—not the two of us exclusively, that is, but a city-wide affair.

[at_heart]

[ His lips do quirk, but he's amused rather than offended. ]

Sure, maybe sometime next month when everyone's out of leftovers from today.

[ The sheer volume of food that showed up to this potluck remains very funny to him tbh. ]

[kingside]

[He shrugs.]

The opportunity will present itself, I'm sure.

[Although, yeah, there's... lots of food, isn't there. He may just be glancing over it again.]

Best to emphasize to all the guests that they're encouraged first to bring home whatever is most perishable. We're fortunate that a few seem especially voracious.

[at_heart]

Oh, did you meet Saya?

[kingside]

[Given that there's more than one big eater here that he's observed, Yuri drawing that particular connection may just be getting a noticeable p a u s e before he responds.]

I did, yes, but I wasn't referring to her.

[Not specifically, anyway, even if she'd 500% been included in that category. He also remembers her embarrassment, though, so, changing the subject(ish).]

Are you two already acquainted?

[at_heart]

[ smh Saya why are you embarrassed ]

Oh, yeah. We go way back. All the way to the last weird world I got kidnapped to.

[kingside]

[a mystery!!!] [Ah. His eyebrows lift.]

Are there many of you who were taken from there?

[at_heart]

A few. [ An easy shrug. ] I haven't taken a survey.

[ This next part is less easy, but there's nothing he can even begin to do about it until this place is fixed up, so: ]

Here's hoping everyone who didn't end up here still wound up somewhere decent.

[kingside]

[At least three that he's met, four counting Venti but he didn't say shit, so. If he scours that absurd network post, he's sure he'll find more, but the information only seems useful within the context of building relationships. It might be better to allow it to happen naturally, then.]

Well said, and I'm glad that you have others you can relate to at the least. It would be rather isolating otherwise.

[at_heart]

Maybe.

[ Wry. ]

Dunno, still the only one here from my planet, apart from Repede. [ And Thistle. But we're not counting Thistle. ] Does it really get that much more isolating?

[ The least bothered, though, by all appearances. ]

[kingside]

[His head tilts.]

Specifically with regards to the sort of trauma you might have experienced in, say, a version of hell. Not that I expect you talk much about it to begin with.

[If he's reading Yuri right, but anyway.]

I'm fortunate to have a friend here from my world. It would be both better and worse if he weren't here.

[at_heart]

[ Waving a hand dismissively which is probably not gonna do much to dispel that impression, lbr. ]

I don't really plan on letting anything they did get me down.

[ And yet, if pressed even a little, he would agree that that would be a wildly unfair thing to expect of anyone else. You can't control what does and doesn't get you down. ]

—But yeah. I can see that. [ Half a smile. ] At least this isn't the sort of place where you have to feel too guilty about other people being here.

[kingside]

[Yeah, Yuri is getting a Look for that, but Lelouch is inclined to let it go. It isn't his responsibility, so.]

It wouldn't make sense to feel guilty about it regardless. It's hardly anyone's choice to wind up in a place like this.