[Semi-Open] A Gathering for Thanks!

[mincingminuet]

WHO: Penelope, Orihime and Friends.
WHERE: Penelope's house
WHEN: 11/23
WHAT: Friendsgiving with friends.
WARNINGS: Language at most!



It's that time of the year, a time for everyone to get together and have a good time with their families, found or otherwise. Not everyone has a home to go back to, and thanks to the strange goings on around Recolle city, nobody seems to really be able to leave or call out, either. Knowing what a shame it is to not have a wonderful turkey and a potluck with your favorite people, Penelope and Orihime step in to fill the gap.

Putting together a little announcement and sending out some digital invitations card to their friends with a request to bring something to eat, along with a link to a signup sheet for food is no trouble at all. And neither is getting Pen's house in order. The only rule was that anyone that came had to bring food of some sort, even if it was just frozen veggies.

The decor is kept simple, with pumpkins and fall colors all set out, along with the finest tableclothes and silverware that Pen had inherited in use all throughout the rooms. The living room is (for once) devoid of electronics save the TV, and the kitchen is set up to recieve whatever food is available. A central dinner gathering is just not possible in the somewhat small confines of a college house, but there's plenty of smaller tables laid out for anyone and everyone that happens to stop in. Non-alcoholic drinks are prepped for everyone, as this is meant to be a happy time and Pen isn't willing to risk anyone being the drunken uncle.

The spread is absolutely fantastic, with a gigantic turkey prepared by Orihime at the center. The usual Thanksgiving fair is ready go to, with greens and stuffing, sliced ham and turkey, even a bit of venison sent by one of Pen's sponsor's. There's also macaroni and cheese, baked in the oven and oozing with delightful cheese, as well as fruit salad, cranberry sauce, gravy, rolls, and other things that friends brought. Pen herself had prepared a unique rice dish that her grandmother had taught her as a child, passed down on that side of the family for generations. The desserts are no less impressive, pumpkin pie and cake and all the sweet things you would expect.

Eat, drink, be merry with your friends. Have a good time and don't start any fights. The meal is a buffet, so just serve yourself and mingle away. As the night grows later, Pen will bring out board games and set up movies for anyone that feels like staying.

The gathering is meant to go till everyone either passes out or heads home, so mingle away and have a good time. And above all, be thankful. For friends, for food, for a safe place, for memories regained or new talents uncovered.


[OOC: This is a mingle log for any character that has positive CR with Penelope or Orihime. +1s are welcome provided they do not have antagonistic CR with either host. Feel free to make top levels, thread jack, and generally tag around and have a good time. Please note that Pen has a strict no-alcohol policy for this get together and asks that your character respects that.]

Comments

The Spread

[mincingminuet]

Leave a comment here with what your character brought if you like, and feel free to use whatever is listed here in your threads!

[belligerentwarrior]

• A second, smaller turkey, with an odd hole at the top of the breast. It may or may not have been one of the turkeys wandering around the city earlier this month. (It definitely was.)


• A big pavlova, courtesy of Freya's mother.


• A big pot of venison stew.

[mincingminuet]

The basics from Pen, some of which are store bought:

Turkey
Mac and Cheese
Cranberry Sauce
Fruit Salad
Gravy
Rolls
Baked Ham
Venison
Tahdig scorched rice

Pumpkin Pie
Chocolate Cake
Xocolatl

[lastcomfort]

Other than the gigantic turkey that she cooked...

✽ A jar full of jellybeans with the note "guess the count and win the jar!" Because why not? (Spoilers: There are 1027.)
✽ Candied sweet potatoes
✽ Various flavors of manju
✽ Eggplant with ponzu

[compendiem]

Minato isn't used to cooking for more than one or two people, so his entrance ticket is pan-fried gyoza. There's enough for maybe twelve people... if everybody only eats... one... He has no idea how many people Pen invited but he assumes people can eat other stuff.

[lostapprentice]

Ren brought some homemade flatbread. It's not a lot (what is cooking for many people), but he guarantees it's tasty.

[maidhem]

Felicia brings along a crockpot filled to the brim with chocolate rice pudding. She was told to make a lot and she made way too much.

[heiroglyphs]

Vera brought:

Pumpkin spice donuts!

Like ten gallons of fresh apple cider

Vanilla bean custard

[destiny_key]

Sora brought an artichoke dip, which you can either eat with the tortilla chips he brought, or you can, idk, put it on potatoes or something.

(Don't worry, his mom made the dip.)

[long_live_the_queen]

Lucy brought a box of pears! It's a pretty flat box that was actually intended as a gift.

They're still in the netting though. Get them out yourself??

[activatingcombatmode]

Zack drops THIS BEAUTIFUL THING onto the table for general consumption. Is it edible? What flavor is it? Who knows? He sure as hell isn't going to be touching it It might taste good since it resembles jello and look at all those pretty colors. You know, aside from the green parts actually being gray which means it might not actually be real fruit... But, tradition is tradition! ENJOY!

[fiddlestick]

Elliot, to make amends for whatever that thing his cousin Zack brought, has brought a dish of Tomato Gratin, coated in a layer of melted cheese, as well as a bunch of small apple tarts made in in the shape of roses.

[chaoticwhimsy]

A big jar of olives. Slightly old. Stolen from Lucy's fridge.

OTA

[lastcomfort]

[ Welcome to the party, everyone! If she's not in the kitchen, Orihime is happy and ready to greet guests as they come in. A big gathering of friends and new acquaintances is just what she thinks they all need right now. ]

Welcome! Happy Thanksgiving!

[ But cooking is very important to her and though it is a potluck, Orihime tasked herself with making sure there would be enough turkey for everyone. So when the buffet really gets under way, you can find her carving the turkey that happens to be the size of a small child. And she'll be very generous with the pieces, too. ]

Would you like white meat or dark meat? Or both?

[ Please, help yourselves!

Food is really her main focus, as is being a little...well, Orihime-ish. Which means that your character can guess how many jelly beans are in the jar to win them! Because when there's a giant buffet, what you need is more sweets, right? Right. And she figured there should be some games anyway. ]

Care to take a guess?

[ But that's not all, oh no. If you're not too full or if you need some help working off the calories, you should join Orihime for some...pumpkin carving? Yes, pumpkin carving. You can say "Orihime, that's the wrong holiday", but her response will just be, ]

That's why we're carving turkeys!

[ Yes. Turkeys. You can carve anything Thanksgiving-y, really. Some might see some very artistic creations, while others may be a preschooler's five-fingered turkey drawing, but it's fun. So that's all that matters. ]

jellybeans...!!

[compendiem]

[ Minato almost balks at the jar of jellybeans, not having touched any of the sweets at dinner and not exactly wanting to win a jar of something he won't eat, but he can think of others who would take it off his hands. He hasn't played a guessing game like this since elementary school, but he's fairly confident in his ability to get a good ballpark number. ]

...Am I allowed to hold the jar?

pumpkins tho...

[loudmouths]

[ keigo really didn't know much about this version of thanksgiving, other than it was primarily a north american thing. back home, they had something similar, but it was markedly less... turkey-focused. or food focused, really. but after a few minutes of cautiously walking around, having brought a perhaps out of place box of colorful macarons, keigo started to understand the general theme...

...only for orihime to confuse the hell out of him all over again. wasn't the pumpkin thing for halloween? keigo approached her with a raised brow, eating one of said macarons as he watched her prepare yet another pumpkin for her artistic touch. ]

Turkeys really are, uh... an important thing around here, huh?

[ why were there so many turkeys everywhere. ]

Greeting!

[activatingcombatmode]

Hey there! Thanks! Happy Thanksgiving!

[Have a tall dude walking in with his cousin somewhere nearby and in his hand a bag carrying carious foodstuffs.]

I'm Zack, friend of Pen's. Thanks for having this! [He sees the spread of food.] Holy, look at it all!

ota

[compendiem]

[ Minato knows maybe two? three? people here, but doesn't seem intent of getting to know any more. He stacks several bread rolls on his plate and retreats to the living room couch to curl up on the end, drawing his legs to his chest so he can balance his plate on his knees and nibble away at nothing but carbs. Food holidays are honestly the best, though. He gets to be in people's company and have the excuse of eating so he doesn't have to talk to anybody; this is great, everything is great.

He's not one to talk a lot, unless 1) you're Pen, or 2) you're standing near Pen and can get her attention for him, in both cases he'll ask for the wi-fi password, or if she has a PS or something to hook up to the television. ]

open!

[lostapprentice]

[Look.

Ren is mostly just here for the food.

As such, he spends most of his time with a plate in front of him, sort of off to the side somewhere, just watching the others. He feels a bit odd being there at all for a number of reasons, but the atmosphere sort of reminds him of places he can't go back to. His family sure wasn't a stranger to large gatherings, even if they typically weren't all that personal. Then again, it's not like he knows most of the people here, so this isn't really that personal either, is it?

Sometimes his watching devolves into staring distantly at nothing, continuing his practice with his new ability by hovering his empty plate or a fork or spoon a few inches above his hand. Maybe his recent quiet birthday is making him a bit nostalgic.

But if anyone needs someone tall to get some things, Ren is definitely the guy to ask. He's getting free food, so the least he can do is a favor or two. He supposes. If he really has to.

He's certainly not opposed to a little conversation, either, even if he's not the most fond of small talk. He's capable of being polite, just be warned that seeming interested isn't always his forte.]

[compendiem]

[ Minato approves of the sitting and eating and not talking, and might have gone through the entire evening doing just that, if Ren's "magic" isn't so obviously "magic." Minato's experiences with such things so far involve light, healing, and transformation on separate occasions, so levitation is a new one for him to observe, a little ways off to the side from Ren, tearing off bits of his rolls before popping the pieces of bread into his mouth.

Eventually, one of these little get tossed towards Ren's hand from Minato's direction, not even discreetly, just to see if it'll be able to hover too. How does this work. ]

OTA

[maidhem]

[Friends. Fun. Food. Felicia is here for it all.

Armed with her giant crockpot of chocolate rice pudding Felicia found her entry into the festivities and proceeded to flit around to enjoy the conversation and any mayhem that would ensue.

She can be found filling her plate with venison and mac and cheese, and as many buns as she can find, and chatting up anyone who seems to have a willing ear to listen. It's not hard to get her talking and, with the amount of soda she's consumed, even harder to get her to stop.]

OTA

[mincingminuet]

[Definitely welcome to the party. Pen is absolutely positively overjoyed that people even showed up to this thing. It was something that absolutely meant a lot to her, having 'family' show up to anything that was remotely considered a normal holiday. It helped her put aside the ache that always began to build up this time of year, that frustrating feeling of being left alone...and for the first time in several years she wasn't just faking being happy for someone else's sake. It was weird not having Vaan around, but the emails and calls she'd sent to Phoenix for him had all bounced back...so she'd just make do.

Early in the day you can catch her playing host, moving from person to person checking on them and thanking them for showing up. Really, genuinely, perhaps awkwardly so.]

I am so, so glad you came.

[Later on she's gathered up an enormous pile of food and settled at one of the tables to talk. There's no reason not to say it, so...]

It's Thanksgiving...tell me what you're thankful for?

[And as the evening wears on, she mingles with everyone. Eventually, she has to step outside for a moment, citing a need for a bit of air...and it is pretty stuffy. She has other reasons, though.

When it gets late, Pen finds herself flopped down on the couch with a cold drink, staring at the TV and totally ignoring the game of Dokapon Fiefdom that she'd set up for everyone to play. Maybe poke her?]

playing host

[destiny_key]

[It feels like Sora's just stepped in the door when Pen zooms up to him, and woah, geeze, slow down a little? He's carrying a small crockpot, balanced precariously in one arm, and a grocery bag with two big bags of tortilla chips with the other. It's a little hard to carry, actually.

Sora blinks at Pen for a second before his brain catches up to the rest of him, and he smiles politely back.]

Really? Well, uh, thank you for having me.

OTA

[activatingcombatmode]

[Zack has a lot of things to be thankful for. His friends and his family being the top things. That’s why it’s so much harder to be away from home for this holiday. His family has always been big on Thanksgiving dinners and it’s strange not being with the entire clan this year. So, he’s that much more thankful for Penelope setting up something like this so he and his cousin can spend a part of the evening with good friends and good food. It makes it a little less stressful on Zack who’s worrying about his parents a lot.

Nonetheless he’ll be around happy and cheerful to talk with anyone and to eat his fill of all the excellent food. Maybe you saw him come in the door with a strange offering? Feel free to ask him what the hell that is.

Or he’ll be helping around with wherever he’s needed.

Near the end of the night you might just catch him clicking through his phone trying to text his family again. But dang it, still not working!]

[fiddlestick]

[Elliot had mixed feelings about being away from the rest of the family for the holiday. A huge part of him felt sad. He missed seeing everyone, especially his mom's side of the family that he didn't get to see much. But he couldn't deny feeling a tiny bit relieved that he'd be going without seeing his aunt and uncle from his dad's side. Which also made him feel a little guilty for feeling that way. Emotions are messy, honestly.

But he is thankful that Zack had a friend that was holding a thanksgiving meal. He was a good cook, but he had no idea how you go about making the sheer amount of food needed for Thanksgiving. Some of which was now piled on his plate as he sat next to Zack.]

Eheh, think anyone's gonna have that jello thing...?

ota

[chaoticwhimsy]

[Luna had tagged along with her sister Lucy, mostly as a way to get out of having thanksgiving with her foster parents. She'd brought a jar of olives she'd swiped from Lucy's fridge (why were there so many...) and set it down on the corner of the table assuming no one was possibly going to actually want any.]

[After that she could be found mostly just wandering around, listening to people's conversations, sitting somewhere playing with her phone, or just watching. She didn't know anyone except Lucy, really, so it was a bit awkward. She'd talk if people talked to her though.]

[Someone force the teenager to do thanksgiving things.]

[windeity]

[Kid, what are you doing. John's eventually going to notice her sitting off by herself playing with her phone and come join her, sitting down next to her with a plate of half-eaten pumpkin by.]

You know. [He starts out, mostly sounding amused.] Usually at big gatherings it's nice to talk to people instead of just hanging out on the sidelines.

OTA

[long_live_the_queen]

[Lucy had wandered in a bit later, with a box of pears and her sister following after like a kitten following an older stray. And she wasn't wearing her hat indoors this time, leaving those bone-white stubs of horn clearly visible. There was a bright blue ribbon tied onto one of them, even. Minako had insisted on her not wearing the hat all the time at home, and again here. And Lucy hadn't fussed too much.

She was starting to feel safe at Penelope's house. Freya was usually there too, which helped significantly. She didn't know all the people here this time either, but that was fine. As long as there was space to retreat to. Is someone in her space? Someone might be in her space.

And Lucy kept self-consciously touching her horns when (she thought) no one was looking. The bow was about halfway to coming untied by now.

Maybe she spotted you. Maybe she just happened to look up at the wrong time.]

What are you looking at?

[compendiem]

[ If he wasn't staring at Lucy before, he sure is now, especially when being spoken to. When Minato had first gotten an invite from Pen, he'd imagined maybe three people? Four tops. Any more than that and he isn't sure what to do with himself, claiming one end of the couch for himself where he can be closed off on two sides with a plate of nothing but bread.

He doesn't speak, but he also has very little tact, lifting one hand to his head— where Lucy's horns would be if he had horns— while the other hand busies itself dipping a roll into gravy. ]

OTA

[fiddlestick]

[Elliot had come with Zack, as Zack wasn't about to have his younger cousin spend Thanksgiving alone. To make amends for the...thing...Zack brought, Elliot had offered up some more edible dishes.

He doesn't really know anyone, so he feels a little out of place. Still, he'll be happy to strike up conversation with anyone who is sitting nearby at the table. He's quieter than his cousin, but still just as friendly and outgoing.

You might also find him offering to help out with anything that needs doing. Sure, he's not the best for heavy lifting, but he's glad to help with setting the table or any last minute cooking needs. ]

[mincingminuet]

[Well he does actually know this person. Somewhat. sort of.

And when Penelope spots him, she makes a beeline for him.]

Hey. Elliot, right?