interfaith dinner mingle!!

[stefanged]

Who: Interfaith Center regulars & the not-so-regulars (party crashers are welcome too!!)
Broadcast: Nope
Action: Interfaith Center on the Iskaulit
When: Forward-dated to November 4th

[The Interfaith Center sounds far more bustling and busy than usual - and anyone peering inside would quickly figure out that a communal dinner is underway! Take off your shoes and walk in: the lounge has extra tablecloths on the floor as well as buffet tables with non-alcoholic beverages and all sorts of food, including Jordanian cuisine (or the outer space equivalent of Jordanian food).

The board games are out of their hiding nooks; the furniture's arranged for the maximum seating possible; and even the teddy bears donated by Kitty & Winn are out for cuddling, should anyone want them.

The kitchen's bustling with helpers - Stefan's running around at vamp-speed to make sure everything's a) done on time and b) cooked to perfection - but he sure wouldn't mind an extra hand. And if you're still not up for some food? Well, the prayer rooms are open as usual. There's always a quiet moment to be found, even if the laughter's louder and the scent of freshly-baked mansaf's wafting through the long corridors.

Anyone and everyone who's ever been inside the Interfaith Center has been invited (via text message - and Stefan even used the fancy emoji). If you're not particularly faithful or devout? Well, drop by anyways. There's more than enough food to spare.]

Comments

Kirito | ota

[huaaaaagh]

[Kirito isn't big on religion, really - he can take it or leave it and he's got no reason to judge, but he's never been especially spiritual - but the dinner is a thing of passion for Stefan, and he'd be a crap friend if he didn't contribute. He's dutifully on standby for whatever random jobs someone like him is useful for: set-up, decor, cleaning. He'll probably spend at least half his time in the kitchen doing dishes or stirring things at the stove when Stefan's busy.

When he isn't in the kitchen, he's mostly mingling, saying hi to people here and there and attempting to be halfway social. He's a bit of an adventurer with food, especially snacks, so he'll happily munch on just about everything that's available.]

[bythewaves]

[ Maglor is quite interested in all these strange foods, so since Kirito is happily sampling them all... ]

You seem quite familiar with these foods - do you have them in your own world as well?

[huaaaaagh]

[Kirito lifts a hand to half-cover his mouth, chewing hastily to finish his current mouthful.]

Probably, yeah, but I've never heard of most of 'em. It looks good, though, doesn't it?

[Food this nice-smelling can't possibly be bad!]

[bythewaves]

Ah, so you are more like to experiment. [ Maglor smiles ]

They do, but I was wandering if anyone knew what they were. Ah well. It does not make them taste any poorer.

[huaaaaagh]

If you want details on what everything's called, then Stefan's your man. Most likely you'll find him in the kitchen. I saw him cook a lot of it, though, so if you just want ingredients I can probably help a bit.

[bythewaves]

Stefan did? Ah, I should thank him, later.

[ Maglor nods ] Just that would be helpful, in truth! I simply do not recognise most of these dishes. Is there anything from your own world here?

[huaaaaagh]

Pretty sure most of it is, actually. There's a few dishes from the place Stefan's from, so I don't know what the names are- they're, uh. Kind of hard for me to pronounce.

[Sometimes the auto-translator is unhelpful. Anyway, he starts pointing out dishes.]

I know this one's rice, meat, and... I think yogurt? And there's these deep-fried fritter things with hummus- it's like this pea-bean dip thing, it's pretty popular. I can personally vouch for the tempura and stir fry, that stuff's amazing. Especially the pumpkin.

[Of which he is currently filling up his second plate. The pumpkins on the planet were enormous, so there's a lot of it.]

[bythewaves]

[ Maglor nods, copying him, although Kirito might notice he only takes small samples ]

I notice a lot of pumpkin dishes... do you know if that was because of what was available or is there some significance to it?

[huaaaaagh]

Oh, it's probably Halloween. On Earth, several major countries celebrate a fall holiday by dressing up in costumes and carving pumpkins.

[bythewaves]

Is there any reason for pumpkins in particular? [ Maglor blinks, curious ]

And why costumes?

[huaaaaagh]

Mm... not really sure, actually. Halloween's more of an adult thing where I'm from, so I've never celebrated it. I think the pumpkins are just easy to carve faces into? And costumes... lots of people like an excuse to dress up.

[bythewaves]

I suppose that would make sense, although I confess curiosity as why one would wish to carve faces into pumpkins... or anything really! At all.

But I can understand that last, I suppose... the urge to pretend to be someone else, even for a little while...

[huaaaaagh]

Yeah, I get the appeal, too. Some people do that kind of thing whenever they get the chance, not just on a holiday like this.

[Hell, it's what he used to do before SAO. Sometimes he still does it with the avatars, even here. It's more out of comfort and convenience than necessity, these days.]

[stefanged]

So, I kinda wish I'd known Caster could summon up Japanese food earlier, but...

[Stefan holds out a bottle of soy sauce as if it's the most valuable thing in the entire room. To be fair, everything and everyone in here is valuable, but!! It's the principle of the matter here.]

I think we can finally make some of your favorites too.

[huaaaaagh]

[The light in his eyes when he sees that. Stefan. Stefan.]

I don't know who that is, but they're my new hero. Is that legit?!

[stefanged]

Completely. But if you don't believe me, you should try some with the tempura.

[huaaaaagh]

[He holds his hands out almost reverently. He's so excited...!]

C-can I try it, then?

[stefanged]

Sure thing. [He hands it over, biting on his lip because dear God, that expression's priceless.] Let me know how it tastes.

[huaaaaagh]

You got it!

[Most of the food in the kitchen is still cooking, so he accepts the bottle and scampers off into the main room with it, returning a minute later with a little plate of fried vegetables (pumpkin included) and a small bowl with some sauce poured into it. He sets the plate on the counter wherever there's space and immediately snags a fork, spearing a pumpkin, dipping it, and holding it out towards Stefan, a hand under it to catch any drops. His mouth is half-full and he's still chewing, obviously having already sampled it. His expression is very serious.]

Try this!

[stefanged]

[When Kirito's taking this whole thing so seriously, Stefan can't help trying to match his friend's intensity. He'd be the same way with tahini, he's sure, so he leans in and takes that pumpkin for himself.

Oh.

Oh holy shit, it's just like he remembered -]

That's incredible.

[huaaaaagh]

Right?!

[His serious face is gone in a flash, and he looks absolutely delighted again.]

I seriously need to thank this Caster person. I thought it'd be ages before I got to taste soy sauce again!

[stefanged]

She's not hard to find. If she's not in the kitchen, I imagine she's in the prayer room...

Just look for a flash of pink hair.

[Because seriously, that's really hard to miss, even in a crowd as large as theirs.]

[huaaaaagh]

I'll look for her later, then.

[Stuffing another piece of pumpkin in his mouth. Ahhh, god, he just can't get enough of that taste. It's perfect.]

You are officially my new hero.

[stefanged]

Me? Come on, I didn't even know she'd march in and summon up this stuff.

[Credit should go where credit's due, right? Stefan can't possibly see how his little dinner would lead to soy sauce.]

If anything, it's all her.

[huaaaaagh]

I already said I'd thank her. You're allowed to take some credit, you know- if you hadn't organized all of this, she might not have done that, right?

[Plus you handed the stuff over. That was the best part.]