[MINGLE] Breakfast Feast

[sixthiteration]

WHERE: Lawn in front of 6I Inn
WHEN: Morning, April 5
OPEN TO: ALL - Mingle
WARNINGS: n/a

---

The day dawns bright and just a little cool, soft mist rolling over the distant mountains as the forest stretches and yawns in the breeze. It's another beautiful morning in this new-old village, just waiting for its inhabitants to begin filling it with the work of the day.

But this day, there is a surprise. A gift, if you will, not unfamiliar to the old timers, although they know too that sometimes these gifts come with strings.

On the lawn in front of the 6I inn, all of the tables, chairs and even the bar has been moved out into the breaking sunshine. A breakfast feast has been arranged, tables piled high with every imaginable delicacy and comfort food of a certain era: Muffins, toast, coffee, fruit, pop-overs, crumpets, lamb chops, porridge, hot chocolate, biscuits, and every kind of egg, just to start. Even the bar is stocked for those itching for mimosas, mint juleps or irish coffee.

Of course, anyone who has spent time in the wilderness can tell you: In a place gone wild, it's only a matter of time before the scent of food draws in unwanted visitors. Eat up while you can, villagers; you may be sharing your plate soon.


[Please read details here!]

Comments

[fromnowhere]

OTA

It's not portions and it's not Resistance scraps, it's actual food and the sight of the table, sitting ready with more real, edible food on it than Rey has seen in an actual lifetime is enough to make her pause and look around before taking a hesitant step forward. That it's just there, without any guards, without anyone to tell her why or how much she's allowed is strange - but not any more strange than appearing out of the fountain (again) with longer hair and more questions than answers.

To that end, she doesn't hesitate to take a plate and a sample of this and of that; foods she didn't recognize, but was more than happy to sample, ended up on her plate. An egg, a piece of an omelet, a muffin, a bit of bread, a veal chop, and some fruit. A cup of juice, a bottle of some kind of liquor, and a cup of coffee (CAF!) and she eased down at the end of the table, barely balancing her plate and glasses, to enjoy what she'd taken.

Few table manners, no remorse.

Anyone who puts their hand too close risks having that shoveled into her mouth, too, but she's clearly enjoying the food. A lot. She's definitely going to take a doggie bag of anything that's left over. Also a mini bottle or two.


FOR KYLO

As soon as Kylo sits down next to her, he'll realize that it's to his misfortune to have added anything she hasn't tried. Is that ham? A biscuit? Lamb? It honestly doesn't matter because she's going to lick her fingers, wipe them on her napkin (very good, Rey), and then reach for a piece. Fingers will lift a potato bite and her fork will follow to try the lamb.

"This is so good," she tells him around a mouthful of the potato, lamb on her fork waiting, wide eyed and clearly delighted. Grant her this, Kylo. There's more good, tasty, filling food on this table than she's seen in a lifetime. Her eyes land on his pastry and she looks up at him expectantly.

[guessihavelostcount]

Claire's plate of food is pretty loaded down too when she claims the spot across from the young woman who is digging into her food like she is terrified that it might disappear if she doesn't eat it all but Claire doesn't rush to take a bite. Instead, she sets her plate down and then spends a few seconds just watching before she chuckles. "It all smells amazing, doesn't it?"

Still, she doesn't touch her food right away because she is focused on opening a small bottle that she immediately starts pouring into her glass of orange juice.

[immunetolight]

Ren has always eaten more or less as a means to an end, especially since coming here to the village. He supposes it's still the village even if they're in some strange, new version of it and the food certainly hasn't changed. Neither has the tendency for food to show up at random intervals in some sort of feast.

He's learned to trust it, since this food is better than the rest, and he'd gotten a plate with a modest amount on it in hopes of actually enjoying something for once. Rey, on the other hand, is a glutton. He guesses that happens when one grows up in the desert.

"How can you even fit it into your mouth, Rey." It's not exactly a question, not exactly a statement - some nebulous place between.

OTA

[notsocommon]

Helen had tried her best to comprehend what, exactly, had happened over the past little while with varying amounts of success. This isn't the first time she's experienced life that felt and tasted and seemed real while being the product of an elaborate simulation but she does wish it could stop happening - once is enough for anyone, truly.

Upon waking up and coming through the fountain again, she'd realized her hair had grown extensively over the past two years, so much so that the bottom half of it was the dark brown she'd kept it dyed over the last several decades and the top half her own natural blonde. As soon as she could locate someone with hair-cutting scissors, she'd had it cut short so that she could simply wear her natural color for the time being.

She had never been someone to eat to excess but she was rather hungry so she made a large enough plate to garner some stares and paired it with a mimosa. She'd also never been much of a drinker, either, but the luxury of champagne after being forcibly temperate for most of her two year stint in statis again was irresistible.

Once she'd sat down, she realized she'd completely forgotten jam and smiled at the person alongside her, wanting to correct that error. "Jam? I don't care which kind. I simply forgot to get it before I sat down."

[ethnobotany]

Helen's not the only one having hair issues since coming back through the fountain. Beverly discovered that her own hair has grown out, but that the bottle of dye she used to turn the blonde back to red doesn't seem to have made the transition. Somehow her hair is half-blonde and half-ginger, with the bottom half blonde and the top half her natural red. It's made several things fly through her mind again, most notably her holodeck theory, as uncomfortable as it is.

Still, she's not about to turn down a decent meal, even if there's still a chance that something's been poisoned. And given how much she's wanted a drink, even just a small one, after some of the trouble of the last few months, she's not about to turn down what she sees. She chooses a light berry drink to go with her breakfast and Helen is lucky enough to have found herself next to another jam-lover. Beverly has plenty to spare.

"Easy to do when we're not used to having it," Beverly points out with a smile as she passes some over. "I think I've been in a strawberry mood today. Strawberry jam, strawberries to eat. Even strawberries in my drink. I swear it wasn't intentional."

ANIMAL INVASION | OTA

[fishermansweater]

They hadn't been intending to stay for a meal; Finnick and Annie have been carefully investigating the village for any obvious signs of further changes each morning since whatever that was had happened, and they'd been drawn in by the sight and smell of the feast laid out. There'd been coffee, and meat that nobody had to hunt, biscuits and muffins and bread and fruit. It was a spread that would have been depressingly dull for the Capitol, but beyond the dreams of most in the districts, and here, it was luxury.

So, even though they still didn't know what to trust in this new version of the arena, Finnick and Annie couldn't turn down the food. That's the thing about the feast in the Games, and here, too: no matter how suspicious it is, it's always needed.

After he and Annie have loaded up their plates, Annie stays behind with the food, and Finnick heads for the drinks. He's standing behind the bar, trying to decide whether he should make a mimosa or just take a bottle of straight champagne. He looks up from the bottles to glance over to her, but for once, something other than Annie draws his attention. At the edge of the lawn stands a moose, staring at the gathering. Next to it, though, are two other animals, covered in some sort of purple wool.

"What?" he starts, staring. Then he hears a squawking sound and looks to the left and sees a group of some sort of dark-colored birds, about the size of their geese, but not like any sort of goose Finnick's seen. Gathering all around the edge of the lawn, so far at a careful distance from the food, are all sorts of animals: something like a badger, a skunk, more of the woolly purple things, some sort of dog with horns ...

Things he's never seen before, even in the Capitol's mutt experimentation in the Games.

"We've got company," he says to anyone near enough to hear.

[girlwednesday]

The fact that Felicity had even been at the Inn is a minor miracle in and of itself; ever since they'd reappeared in the fountain, she'd had to listen to Oliver talk about how this is why they had to be on their guard constantly and this is what all the training was for and this is why they have to be looking out for one another and if it hadn't been for an early morning jog to shut him up, they might have missed out and she'd be on her eighth bit of squirrel that week.

Instead? Coffee. Actual coffee and orange juice and Felicity was telling herself that she fairly certain that she was going to have some kind of minor orgasm from the bacon when Finnick spoke up and she lifted her eyes from pouring a second cup of coffee to follow his gaze around the edge of the clearing.

"What--" Her eyes go wide as she takes in what could be animals or could be. Well, not. "That definitely doesn't fall into the 'more the merrier' for this kind of party."

Samantha Moon | OTA | CW: Blood and Vomit

[thegreatexperiment]

She should have figured it all out sooner. And Sam would have been cursing herself with every variation of every swear word she knew for her lack of scientific conclusions, if she could have. Unfortunately, the only sound she was able to make was a sickly retching noise as she fell to her hands and knees on the lawn, bloody vomit coming up on her with each heave of her shoulders.

After she'd first been turned, she'd blatantly ignored Karen and tried to eat a bag of Cheetos. In the subsequent aftermath of that particular trauma, she'd wanted comfort food--comfort, really--so desperately and she'd resented Karen so much that she just refused to listen. After regurgitating it all up, Karen had stroked her back and, for once in their entire relationship, actually hadn't said 'I told you so.'

There was no reason. Sam was smart enough to come to her own conclusions there: Kindred couldn't eat human food.

It was funny, how quickly she'd gotten used to being human again, how quickly she'd started taking things for granted again, things she'd sworn she never would. A steady heartbeat. Breath in her lungs. The ability to dance in sunlight without fearing the flames. She'd let it all just meld into who she was again.

And then she'd forgotten.

Well, there was no forgetting now. Sam was Kindred again. The Galatea of the Ordo Dracul again.

Fuck this place. Fuck it hard.

She was so dead.

[lastofthekellys]

With all that has been happening, it is all too easy for Kate to go back to how she'd been in the earlier days of this place. As the self-appointed innkeeper, she'd watched everyone here when they came to the inn, but leading up to the disappearance-reappearance-another-trip-through-fairyland that the last few days have been, she'd become more complacent. Not now. Now she's all sharp, watchful, concerned. So she notices when Miss Samantha Moon leaves, and how fast and unsteady she'd been, and so, she'd followed.

"Miss Moon, are you-"

She stops, noticing exactly the colour of the mess coming from the young woman.

"Oh, God in heaven," Kate whispers, and moves forward. Stupid thing, coughing up blood means death but she can't help it. "Here, here, steady," she says quietly, coming up to her and gently pulling her hair out of the way.

[theintercessor]

At first, he thinks he's seeing things again: it's the kind of gross inversion of the world he's used to out the corner of his eye. The bullshit his brain does to everyday sights and smells when he's worn down, and being uprooted as badly as they have left him pretty worn.

God, but it smells real.

Jude can't let that back him off, though--if nothing else, Sam probably is throwing up behind the inn. "Shit," he exhales, just to make his presence known before he's right up at her side. He hovers a hand at her shoulder, not quite taking a grip. "You alright? Can I get you anything?"

It still looks and smells like blood, after a few steady blinks and attempt to focus past it, but sometimes the fits can be persistent.

[ithuriels_blood]

"Fuck, Sam."

Clary dropped her plate and knelt at Sam's side. "What is it? You're obviously not okay but what is it?" She wasn't about to ask if Sam was okay since it was glaringly obvious that she wasn't, only that Clary couldn't guess what was wrong.

"Sam." She lowered her voice, hoping that it was somehow comforting.

Major Lilywhite | OTA

[majorlyugh]

If there's one thing Major loves in the whole wide world, it's food. Good food, to be exact. Sure, he also loves video games, and sex, and a good craft beer, and some other things that are pretty basic in terms of where they fall on the Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs pyramid, but food trumps everything. The smell of breakfast food hits him like a swift fist to the teeth, and whatever things he had in mind for this particular day are immediately thrown out of the proverbial window.

He wants that food, in his belly, and he wants it yesterday.

He piles his plate high with everything there is to offer before happily plopping himself down at one of the tables closest to the buffet. He knows these feasts often come with some kind of caveat, but if Major's going to go out one way or another, this is how he'd like to go, so he throws caution to the wind and begins to chow down.

Only ..

He realizes that nothing .. seems to taste right. Everything tastes .. ashy, and bland, and boring. Even the succulent lamb chops, which he had been particularly excited about, feel like a pile of flavorless mush in his mouth. He's not rude, though, so he chews and swallows whatever he's shoveled into his mouth already, but it's very evident that he's not enjoying a single bite. Eventually, he stops eating all together, leaving an almost-full plate of food in front of him.

Major looks like he might start wailing any second, if it wasn't for the consternation currently weighing on his brows. He had enjoyed himself during the last feast, stuffing himself 'til he was pretty sure he was going to vomit all over the place. What changed? Did coming to this new place .. do something?

Oh shit, he thinks, coming to the realization. Am I no longer human? He suddenly looks panicked, getting up from his chair, looking like he's just seen a ghost.

[super_seal]

Steve is digging into his own full plate of food not far from Major when he notices the other man doesn't seem to be really enjoying his food. At first he doesn't really pay too much attention but when Major stops eating all together, Steve starts to get concerned. Looking down at his own plate, he wonders if there's something wrong with the food. Slowing in his meal he takes a sip of his coffee contemplating the situation.

After a moment, he stands and picks up his plate in one hand and his coffee in the other with the intention to move closer to Major in order to find out if anything is wrong. He's just a couple of steps away when Major suddenly looks panicked and stands.

"Whoa! Hey!" Moving to Major's table, he puts his dishes down. "What's wrong? You okay?"

[underpinnings]

It's the kind of thing Owen's had an eye out for since arriving: individuals reacting against the grain, people breaking off on their own. There's no trusting what the natural leaders of a group say about it--you have to weigh it against the stragglers, the voices of dissent.

Survival of the fittest, but--you still weigh the merit of a settlement against how it treats the weak. At least, he'd been trying to.

Today, he's also just suspicious of the food. Control of supplies is control of people, where he's from, and it's too soon to trust a handout. There's something wrong with this guy's food, or maybe something wrong with him, and Owen gives it a minute of poking around his plate, letting the man pass him by at the edge of things. Another minute, laying the plate down under a bush and arching a brow at the oddly scaled snout that drags it out of sight--and he moves between alarming fauna and alarmed villager, finding him on the next open path.

[minus1twin]

Wanda felt like she was an object of bad luck in Major's life. Whenever she came across him something terrible seemed to be happening. Today appeared to be no different. She had grabbed herself a plate but had only been picking at her food.

"Major?" She walked up behind him, placing her plate down so she could focus on her friend. "Are you okay?"

She knew that he was a zombie before he had arrived to the village but she hadn't realized that people were turning back to their inhuman selves. She didn't have her powers but otherwise she looked human.

[zomboligist]

Ravi had been across the room to try and find as much food as he could, trying to secretly ferret some of it away, but when he sees Major from across the room, there's a panic in Major's expression and a wariness that makes Ravi feel like he knows how this song ends, and it's not one that he particularly enjoys the dance to.

Setting the food down, he excuses himself from what he's doing and grabs Major's arm to tug him away from the food and all the people, though if his suspicions are right, then they've still got some time here. "Major," he says, giving him a worried look. "Do I need to get a sedative for you?"

He wishes he had a cure. Why can't village-Ravi be as clever as the version back home? (Though he already knows why and it's a story that heavily features a lack of tainted utopium and Max Rager to work with).

Ned Stark | OTA

[learned_to_die]

Although Ned is mostly wary about the feasts that seem to conjure themselves up out of thin air, he has also come to sort of relish them, even enjoy them. The foods offered are far cries from the ones he'd known growing up in Winterfell, both in taste and in composition, but he enjoys them with just as much gusto as he had before. And, given the ordeal all of the villagers have just gone through with resurfacing in another fountain, he thinks that this may be a reward from the Observers, perhaps for having survived this long.

Or, he wonders, that might be foolish, idealistic thinking.

He tries to push those lingering thoughts from his mind as he surveys the morning's offerings, unfamiliar with some of what's been laid out. He decides to start off modestly, with a mixture of things he recognizes and things he doesn't, before sitting himself down far enough away from the large tables so as not to be in anyone's way.

He'd gotten himself a mug of something he was told was called "hot chocolate," though he's never tasted or heard of such a thing before. He brings it to his nose, giving it a tentative sniff, before allowing himself to take a sip. His eyes glitter with delight.

"What a drink," he comments aloud, "I've never had anything like it."

[ethnobotany]

Beverly had actually started with a light breakfast cocktail, but now that she's been here for a bit, she's eyeing some of the other drinks available. When she spots Ned, she makes her way over, happy to see him more than the hot chocolate.

"It is a good drink," she agrees with a smile. "Do you not have chocolate in your world or just not the hot liquid version?"

It isn't such a longshot to assume that some places just don't have farms of cacao or even wild-grown variants. Maybe Ned just isn't in the part of his world that does.

[seekingcrocodile]

The hot chocolate he'd been introduced to in Storybrooke had been different from the hot chocolate drinks he'd had occasionally before then, but still is plenty worth it. Although he'd noticed it among the offerings, he'd gone for the coffee himself, since real coffee is rare around here, especially when there's also whiskey to put in it.

"Next time you should try it with some cinnamon sprinkled on top." If there ever is any cinnamon around here, of course.

Re: Ned Stark | OTA

[tooktheblack]

Jon, too, had discovered hot chocolate and he had a taste for it similar to Ned's. It was an extraordinary drink, sweet and hot all at once, and Jon thought it would keep him warmer than any spiced wine or warmed over mead at the Wall. Then again, the hot chocolate tasted an awful lot like something that would be kept as a treat in some lord's house and not sent to the Night's Watch. Hmm.

"I've never had it before either, Father," Jon said, grinning at Ned for a moment. "It tastes like something Sansa might invent. You know she's always liked sweets."

Then again, the chocolate didn't taste anything like a lemon cake.

Danny OTA

[dann_0]

Danny had woken up to a very excited Steve telling him about breakfast and coffee and all sorts of good things. He finds it hard to believe but soon enough he finds himself dragged over to the table. He grins as he sits down. A lot of this isn't stuff hed consider breakfast food but he isn't going to complain. Especially not when he finds out that Steve was right about the coffee. That is what he goes for first, a nice big mug of coffee that he spends a few seconds just smelling with a blissed-out look on his face before he takes a sip.

Then he starts loading up his plate. "This is pretty damn impressive for breakfast."

[super_seal]

Steve is nowhere near as dignified or reserved as Danny. Being a SEAL he's far too accustomed to knowing you have to eat quickly and as much as you can when you have the opportunity. And this is so much better than having to eat what they catch and being cautious of rations as they have been.

As Steve fills his plate he's also filling his mouth in between taking sips of coffee. He's still not quite trained in the rules of table etiquette and manners so he thinks nothing of talking with his mouth full.

"This is awesome!" He smiles, while still chewing then swallows, taking a sip of coffee before popping a hard boiled egg into his mouth. "We need to take some of this back to the house for later."

OTA

[minus1twin]

The breakfast was like any of the other feasts that the overseers provided, only that it was in what felt like a new place. It was exactly the same but Wanda couldn't shake the feeling that something had changed.

She picked at her plate, sitting off to the side to watch everyone else milling about. She kept an eye on her friends and those she'd seen around the village and while it appeared as if some things were off, it didn't seem like the food was the cause of it. Maybe something else had changed? It felt like she was trying to put together the pieces of a puzzle when she had only been given half of the pieces.

Wanda slipped into her thoughts as a Groffle came up to her and began to eat off her plate. The beast was large and a little like an ox so she gave the animal her plate without complaint. It was cute and she didn't think it was going to hurt her so she began talking to it.

"You're new too." She replied as he munched on her food. "I can't say I've seen anything like you." It was such an odd

[super_seal]

Now that they were out of the simulation, or whatever that happened to be, Steve wasn't sure if the food was going to be regular feature or if this, like the times before, was a one time thing. With that in mind, after having his first breakfast with Danny, he'd gone up for another large mug of coffee and a couple of fruits.

Looking over the crowd, Steve spotted Wanda with the Groffle and felt compelled to join her.

"Looks like you've made a new friend," he says with a friendly smile as he sits opposite of her. "You know what he is?"

claire temple | open

[theluckygirl]

Last time a spread was put out for them, Claire was skeptical and had good reason not to trust that the food wasn't altered in some way. It had happened before she got there from what she heard and people knew it could happen again.

And even though she was still not sure why any of them were there, or the reasons they were moved from version one settlement to version two, when Claire saw the tables set up with all that delicious food and there wasn't a chance she'd pass that up.

So after loading up a plate and picking a spot, Claire sat down to enjoy her food and shortly after, felt something nudge her elbow. Not expecting to see what she did, she jumped slightly and then saw an adorable face glancing evenly between her face and the strawberry in her fingers.

"Guess it was only a matter of time before I started feeling like the female version of Dr. Dolittle." she said, shifting around a little more. "Let me guess.. you want this?"

Claire held it out carefully, really hoping that it wasn't going to eat her fingers along with it. But no, the zalpaca took it carefully and ate it quickly before looking at her expectantly for more.

[digging]

Surprising no one, Karen is irritated by this spring morning breakfast feast. She's taking advantage of it, to be sure — She climbed down off her high horse in that regard a long time ago. But it feels like a disingenuous apology, like a treat given to a child so they'll forget the spanking you gave them earlier.

Still, it's food, and it smells so good, and the truth is she's got a lot more pressing things on her mind at the moment than trying to untangle their overseers' questionable motivations in providing them pastries.

It's only because she's juggling a plate piled high along with a cup of coffee and a mimosa that she misses the large, fluffy purple animal sidling up to Claire. Karen carefully slides her items onto the table, huffs out a pleased sigh, and then glances up, freezing.

It's probably the cutest damned thing she's ever seen, even though it looks like it was created from the drawings of a five-year-old.

"Holy shit."

Bela Talbot | OTA

[cleptes]

When Bela clapped her eyes on the food and the set-up outside the inn, she can hear her stomach grumble. Her next instinct was to practice caution, especially when it came to a feast being laid out for everyone in the village; Bela remembered what others had said about feasts in the past.

She was so hungry though. Her need to eat was so much more important than stressing about what would happen as a consequence of partaking in this feast.

Rather than piling her plate up high Bela started with a rather modest selection, deciding that she could always go back up for seconds (maybe even thirds.) Of course she also picks up a mimosa and brings both her plate and it over to a table, claiming a free spot.

This discovery has put Bela in an amiable mood, up for talking to people and having an enjoyable time.

[theluckygirl]

By the time Bela takes a seat, Claire, who was seated across the table and down two empty chairs, had eaten, indulged in a mimosa and was currently basking in the sunlight with a tasty Irish coffee. She was full, happy and completely enjoying the morning.

"You know, if they started every day like this, I doubt there'd be much complaining." Claire said with a soft laugh. "It doesn't make up for everything, but it's something."