Let us eat quickly-- let us fill ourselves up. {Harvest Feast}

[lastofthekellys]

WHO: Kate Kelly
WHERE: The Inn
WHEN: 24th November
OPEN TO: E V E R Y O N E
WARNINGS: TBA
STATUS: OPEN

---

Aside from the days when she'd been too drunk or too hungover to get up, Kate's kept a farmer's hours all her life. Even in winter, when the bitterly cold winds that'd come up from the south and make its way through the cracks and holes in her ma's hut, she'd get up, get dressed, do her chores. But lately, it's been harder to extract herself from her bed. Benedict's been sharing her bed more often than not lately, and the chasteness of their interactions does nothing to change how warm and safe she feels. How little she wants to get up, get dressed, go out into the colder spaces of the Inn and do her work.

So, today, she's late getting out of bed - at least, by her standards. She's late getting down the stairs. She's late, so she's hurrying; she lazed in bed, and now she needs to start the fire in the main room. Start the fire, open the shutters, show that the Inn is standing and warm. And welcome, so she moves the -

No, Kate doesn't move the chairs stacked precariously at the front door as a rudimentary alarm of someone, something, coming through, because the chairs are gone. She neither dismisses it as one of the residents not getting the message, nor panics. Instead, she just opens the shutters to let in the dawn light and see if there are footprints, except, no, the snow has mostly cleared. The day is sunny. As welcome as it is, that doesn't help at all. Miss Hoppity jumps down from the foyer's desk to rub her face against Kate's skirt, apparently entirely unconcerned.

Kate eyes the cat for a moment, then approaches the closed doors leading to the main room. Closed, but with light coming through the cracks between door and floor, door and door frame. Cautiously, Kate opens one of the doors and peers in.

Then, she gapes.

The fire is blazing - hot, cheery - but so are the candles. The candles: candles on the unused candlesticks, candles clustered on tables, light up sideboards. Candles bobbing in bowls of water and apples. Candles white, yellow and red, when the village had none. Boughs of wheat, corn, decorate tables and the mantle over the fire, apples and pumpkins and collections of yellow, orange, red flowers seem to be everywhere.

And the food.

Each table is piled high with food. Roasted, baked, cooked on stoves and Kate knows how to cook, she knows how long this would all take, how many people, and it's impossible. What she's seeing is impossible to have done with the resources on hand: even an attempt would have woken up the whole building.

Disbelieving, Kate walks in. For a moment, she's entirely dumbfounded. Miss Hoppity, however, is nothing of the sort. The cat has leapt up onto the sideboard next to Kate and - well, Kate isn't sure what happens next. Just that suddenly there's movement and something large seems to lunge at her. Miss Hoppity yowls and speeds off: Kate screams as she battles something, falling backwards and hitting the floor along with a broken bowl of water, spilled apples and some tiny candles, and her attacker.

Pushing the food-turkey off her, Kate sits up and is, for once, entirely lost for words.

Comments

[thecatinahat]

What Cougar wants most right now is a deck of cards. He thinks that he could win himself all manner of possessions off of people if he could just get some cards into his hand. He enjoys seeing the others so happy and once he gets enough alcohol in his system, he's going to enjoy the moment while he can.

"Then maybe I will be your test," he says, popping one of the desserts into his mouth. He might be hungry, but his sweet tooth overpowers all other needs, at times.

[thekittenqueen]

She makes an obvious show of watching him, resting her chin on her hand as she waits for the effects that she know won't come. After a few moments, a grin breaks over her face. "Well, I suppose it is safe then. How does it taste at least? I imagine it tastes particularly sweet, given we haven't had pastries for a long time."

Perhaps even longer for some. She hadn't had a good meal since her release from the black cells. "I think an event like this requires games or dancing."

[thecatinahat]

Cougar has to take a long moment, because though he wants to tease, he has to pause when the sweetness hits his cheeks and an unbidden sound comes from his chest. He wants to steal these away, tuck chocolates into a bag and hide them for when he needs them again, sighing a little when he swallows and the sweetness vanishes. "It tastes better than anything," he vows, his secret sweet tooth causing trouble for him, seeing as he doesn't think he could ever resist them. "I don't dance, though."

It would be very amusing to see Jensen's best attempts, though. He will say that. "Maybe, if you ask nicely, someone will sing for you and then there will be dancing."

[thekittenqueen]

She grins, the last of her restraint and observation ended by the sound he makes when he tastes the sweets. In a matter of minutes, she returns to the table, her plate covered with food and dessert. She did her best to appear nonchalant, but she has been longing for something more than stew.

"A pity. I should have rather enjoyed watching you dance." She might be back to teasing him again, if her smile is any indication. "I suppose you have removed yourself from those that I could ask?"

[thecatinahat]

He may be graceful in a fight, might be able to scale a house with ease, but dancing is something he limits to crowded and packed dance floors that require little more from him than a slight move of his hips. He doubts they're going to be in any situation like that here, so his dancing days are far from him. "No singing, either," he says, which is only half a lie this time. He sings, sometimes, low and slow lullabye type things that he'd used when his sisters were little. Now, though, he only uses them sometimes at night to keep himself company when he can't sleep and it's only him and the stars above.

"Jake, he will sing," he offers. "Loudly. Badly. Constantly," he says, thinking of how often he'd hear it in his earbud.

[thekittenqueen]

"Not even after several helpings of wine?" She's hoping by the end of the evening, there will be at least some drunken singing. The sounds of merriment and celebrations had been gone too long in her life. There were too many days of gloom and paranoia. To actually relax and enjoy themselves again, it felt as though they plunged into cold water. It was a shock to their systems.

"You won't sing and you won't dance. What will you do for amusement?"

[thecatinahat]

He holds her gaze, faintly amused by the answer that he's going to give, but she did ask. "Sex," he says, bluntly, because as far as what Cougar had done with his spare time, it's pretty much the number one hobby that he'd had. "Cards," he adds, though that did come second. "Sometimes, strip poker," he finishes, because that's the helpful one that combines the both of them.

"Is that not amusing enough?"

[thekittenqueen]

She grins in response, amused as well, but not surprised. "That simply goes without saying." She raised her glass in toast. "I doubt there are many here that would disagree with that fun, but that's not something all of us can join in on." Well, they could, but that's not about to happen. This wasn't Baelish's brothel.

"You will have to teach me poker then. Not strip poker though. I am a lady, after all."

[thecatinahat]

"If you find a deck of cards, then I can find the people to round out a game," he promises, not mentioning how badly he cheats when it comes to cards. It's not like she needs to know, especially if they're going to end up playing for money at some point down the line. "Strip poker is only unfortunate if you lose," he points out. "And very profitable in shirts and hats if you win."