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

[survivalistcookbook]

Exactly.

[He works in companionable silence for a moment or five, hands falling into the muscle memory of pinching and forming dough, covering finished batches with clean towels as their ranks grow.]

Hey. I know I don't really do any of the religious . . . anything. But it's nice to see that someone's doing it. [He gives a sidelong look, a little curl at the corner of his mouth that's less mirthful than simply wry.] Is that weird?

[stefanged]

Not really.

[Stefan glances up from his dough ball, tilting his head a little.]

Faith's about more than saying a prayer and hoping God'll listen, you know? It's about building a community and giving comfort to those that need it during a difficult time, just as it is about celebrating life and what we have to offer.

[His cheeks turn a faint red, because wow, it's obvious he's thought about it a lot.]

So when you say things like that? It makes me really happy, because uh, that's the kind of leader I want to be.

[survivalistcookbook]

[He hears that, and it's hard not to think of Phil. Phil in the lonely hours of the morning, reading out the rolls of the confirmed dead in the quiet of the radio shed, an unasked-for vigil borne out of simple compassion. He thinks of murmured words over still bodies at the roadside, the gentle steadiness he'd never otherwise hear in his voice. He thinks of drifting from sleep and seeing him on watch, remaining still and quiet just to watch the unselfconscious glide of fingers across bead after bead and the soundless flicker of his lips through prayer after prayer.]

[He looks at Stefan, and it's the unexpected warmth of recognition, the feeling when you've approached a familiar place from a different direction and just reached the border where you know where you are again.]

Hey. If that's what you're going for? I think you're doing a pretty good job of it. [It's about as sappy as he can get, and he plunks down his dough ball before he can worry it to death, redundantly double-checking the temperature on the over.] Let me know what I can do to help, all right?

[stefanged]

[High praise, coming from someone like Eugene. Stefan's expression brightens, as if he's a thousand shining watts - it's his turn to be reminded of an older brother who didn't care much for faith, who eschewed both Dad's and Mom's and carved his own path. Yet faith and culture are forever intertwined. His older brother would still blow into Stefan's shirt three times every night, or murmur his salaams when he entered a house, or even taken his shoes off before entering a masjid.

That tradition - where everyone in the Interfaith Center is either barefoot or wearing comfy slippers - stems from Islam, from keeping the dirt and outside world outside its borders.

At the time, Stefan thought he was being needlessly strict, but now, he has to acknowledge that his faith matters just as much as everyone else's (lack of).]

Thank you. [His voice is quiet, and very awed.] Right now, honestly? You're doing more than enough for me.