[MINGLE] Breakfast Feast

[sixthiteration]

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

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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

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."

[notsocommon]

"Strawberries were always some of my favorites," Helen agreed. She took the jam and spread it on her toast before continuing, just happy to be doing something perfectly mundane and normal after the turmoil of the last few days. She'd always spent her life stealing moments of normal among the fantastic and it seemed that hadn't changed here in this village.

"I wish I could say this was the first time I've ever woken up from an extremely realistic simulation but that would be a lie. I believe you and I probably have the most spectacular life experiences to fall back upon. I'm trying to take it all in stride even if it is a bit of a shock all around."

[ethnobotany]

Beverly takes a few moments to get some of her own jam ready before she responds, choosing her words carefully as she goes. "You know, Jean-Luc and I had a theory that the entire canyon was one big holodeck simulation. There's no other explanation for things like the sun refusing to set suddenly or the weather or any number of things. Honestly, we're not entirely convinced this isn't a simulation, too."

And it wouldn't be the first one she's woken up from, either. Granted, this is better than discovering she was in a tiny warp bubble universe born of her fear of losing people, but only just.

[notsocommon]

"I once encountered a particular sort of Abnormal with my protege that could put a person in a state of suspended animation. It would lure the victim into an incredibly realistic hallucination while devouring it whole," Helen explained.

"So then it would never know it was being eaten and, since the digestive process took quite a while, it prevented the victim from actually seeking escape. In the abstract, it was wonderful to study but I could do without the personal experience. It seems I've had it again."

She paused for a moment, thinking. "Your explanation has more weight. We don't seem injured the way we would if we'd encountered that particular species."

[ethnobotany]

Beverly shudders inwardly at the thought of being eaten in that way. Given what she's experienced in space, though, she can't say it surprises her. It's not like temporary amnesia is something Starfleet has never come across.

"I can't say I'm disappointed in that," she jokes lightly, referring to the lack of injuries related to Helen's experience. "We've had plenty of holodeck malfunctions over the years. It almost seems like they happen every week. The trouble is that sometimes you might not really know you're in a simulation. Our technology can create everything: sights, smells, sounds, the feel of everything, sometimes even the tastes. There would be no way to tell the difference between what's real and what isn't."

The food they're eating, for example, might actually exist, simply because the people, assuming they are all real, need to eat to survive.

"We were looking for signs that the simulation was failing - not even the best of our technology can keep going forever - but so far we haven't found anything. We'll probably get back to it now. There's no reason to let our guard down."

[notsocommon]

"No, there's no reason to believe this might be real. The only thing I can imagine would push it into the territory of reality is, honestly, the fact that my hair has reverted to its natural color."

Helen hadn't been a blonde since the late 19th century. "Even still, it could be another complex simulation, some way to make us believe that we've woken up when we truly haven't."

[ethnobotany]

"Yours and mine both," Beverly agrees dryly, pulling at a chunk of her own hair to demonstrate the drastic difference in her hair. It's unfortunately not long enough for her to cut hers like Helen did. Beverly hasn't been in the simulation long enough for that, apparently.

Letting her hair go, she nods thoughtfully, letting out a soft sigh in response. "I wouldn't be surprised at this point. It's probably smart not to assume anything. The Observers have never seemed to be the type to make things easy for us to deal with or figure out."

[notsocommon]

"No, they seem to delight in obfuscating the truth at every turn," Helen agreed. Still, this was at least a step toward cracking this mystery and she was glad to know that both Beverly and Jean-Luc had experiences with this sort of thing; there were many people in the village who did not.

"Sometimes I wish I could send them a sternly worded letter. I know that sounds absolutely silly, and it is, but if they're scientists don't they want fellow scientists to help them? We could be more of an asset than the lab rats we are."

[ethnobotany]

"Especially given the technology Jean-Luc and I have access to," Beverly agrees. Not that she would ever encourage stealing from Starfleet, or stealing at all, but given that the people have already been taken, what would stop the Observers from bringing some of their smaller technology with them? A hypospray in hand or a tricorder in a pocket? Medicine? Anything that would give them an advantage over what little they have as it is.

"If we could figure out what they're up to at all, we could help or hinder, but that might also be part of the point. They don't want to risk us turning on them. If they'd come to us at the beginning, many of us would have been more willing to help, but now... I doubt there are many who would try after everything we've been put through."

She might, if she felt the situation warranted it, but she's far kinder than a lot of people here and she wouldn't blame anyone for disagreeing with her.