[MINGLE] Crab Boil

[markwatney]

WHO: Mark Watney
WHERE: 6I Inn front lawn
WHEN: 21 June 2018, afternoon/evening and onward
OPEN TO: ALL - MINGLE
NOTES: A few thinsgs: You may assume your character helped set up; There are tubers in pot with the red salt, negating the warmth effect; The list of of potluck dishes is here; The list of local provisions is here

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The weather is great, the sun is starting to dip toward the horizon, and it's pleasantly mild. Time for an (extremely) old-fashioned low country boil.

We've got two small fire pits built out in front of the inn, each with a massive pot filled with loads of vegetables — corn, carrots, potatoes, onions — and of course the rainbow crabs Finnick and Annie discovered not long after we arrived here. We've even got salt, if you can believe it, although the red salt in this place is pretty spicy and usually makes me sweat, so I've only put it in the one pot, and then set a bowl of it out for garnishing.

Tables and chairs have been brought out from inside, a couple of them set aside specifically for piles of plates, bowls, cups and whatever potluck provisions the rest of the village brings.

Comments

[oorah]

I guess. Tabling that shit, hard. She'll know the expression for LATER by now. What she says next takes up all his attention anyway, going slackjawed and eyes going wide and round. No! Who?

[morphogenia]

O-W-E-N. Kamala spells diligently. That means nothing without context. Really she ought to let Frank know who they can depend on to do the right thing around here. She doesn't doubt Owen's word for a minute, but still. Actions do speak louder than words. It's why she trusts these strange men in the first place. He led me here. Told me how the people act. He doesn't stay, but he helps. He calls them c-l-i-c-k-e-r-s. Description matches ours.

[oorah]

Don't know him. Not yet anyway. But if Kamala already trusts him, she'll know he has to sniff the guy out. Frank puts a gentle hand on her arm, staring into her eyes as if to assess if she's really here, really safe with him again. "New York," he says suddenly, voice hoarse but even. "You remember?"

[morphogenia]

That's his deal. Kamala might apologize if she didn't understand the necessity of it. She's always been the one who trusts too quickly. It is smart for Frank to see what's what since he's the exact opposite of that. She meets his gaze with a gentle smile. She remembers their talk. She has to wonder if he really does too. Can he trust his own memories when they're repeating history over here? That would be a valid question.

"I bought you as many pancakes as twenty dollars could get us." She responds confidently. For better or worse, she trusts her sense of reality. She has zero doubts it matches his. She grows more somber as she recalls the rest of it. Her gaze slipping away from his steadily. "We got out of Reims; at least for a while. We went back to our families. We tried to get our lives back together. I guess it wasn't meant be, huh?" She can't look at him when she asks that. It's a cruel thing to ask, but Kamala is so hurt by what's happened. She can't contain it forever... but she tries to for him.

Those kind brown eyes meet his again. "We'll try again. They can't keep us away forever." Who is the they this time anyways? Kamala can't even pretend to know what's happening. The only thing she understands is what it's like to be with Frank in a situation she can't control. Everything else is a mystery to her.

[oorah]

The relief in his gaze is palpable when their stories align. Our families. He had been with the Liebermans, it's true, but... they're not his family. He was just borrowing them. While he hates that Kamala's been torn from her home and her true family again, maybe this is all he gets. He was already having trouble coping with being back there, and he's not confident that ever would have changed. But here, he knows the score. Keep people safe until they go home. Or - apparently - to another place like this. He swallows, looking down at his lap while she speechifies. On one hand, she's right - they have to try. And somehow, even after everything, he hasn't given up. He is trying, and he'll only try harder now that he has to try for her too. But there's no guarantee they'll see home again. If that even what it is anymore.

His hand darts out to close around hers and his eyes come up next to collide forcefully with her gaze. Frank will choose to believe her, because it helps. Thinking about her tearful reunion with her parents and brother could get him through another kidnapping scenario. If she's here he has to keep fighting.