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

[stefanged]

Praise be to Allah, [He lets out a small, relieved sigh.] I'll give you a little bit of everything.

It's always something in the back of my mind, since well - I've got restrictions of my own.

[mucked]

[ a knowing nod. although his faith hasn't been the subject of much outright conversation, peggy stitches the details together with ease. although, in truth, she wonders whether those restrictions from from religion or from whatever strange circumstances have made him immortal. a deeper conversation, perhaps, for another day.

instead, her answer is circumspect and polite: ] It's rarely a bad thing to be thoughtful of others.

[stefanged]

Of course not, but it feels more pragmatic when I'm doing it for myself.

[See: the complete lack of alcohol in this space, even though Islam is the only faith that outlaws it.

Or maybe Stefan's still uneasy with the idea of him being considerate, or thoughtful, or whatever good qualities people have come to associate with him. His immortality's a curse, and while he understands its quiet blessings, he can't say he wishes it upon anyone else.]

[mucked]

Oh, my dear, anyone who thinks pragmatism and thoughtfulness can't go hand-in-hand ought to be shot. [ an easy, off-cuff remark. peggy breathes in her laughter and shakes her head and clarifies: ] Well, maybe not shot.

But they deserve to have their toes stepped on, at the very least.

[stefanged]

[He's laughing too, because well - if Ms. Carter shot anyone, it would be for damn good reason. It would also be the one and only occasion where he'd turn a blind eye to whoever landed themselves in that sorry mess.]

I wouldn't disagree with that. But uh, you know how people of the next few decades think. "Waste not, want not" isn't exactly in their vocabulary.

[mucked]

-- Nor is make-do and mend, from what I gather. [ a low, melodious laugh. she remembers the funny little pamphlets put out by the home office, maybe. or the board of trade. she can't quite recall the origin. little men made of thread-spools and banged up pots. mend and make-do to save buying new. ]

There's a lot of complaint over the god-awful protein gels and, certainly, they are god flipping awful. But I suspect a great many of our fellows haven't had to eat mock apricot flan or mock goose.

[ certainly, the gusto with which she still eats the present feast suggests she's more than happy to take advantage of better food when it can be found. but she's lived with some sort of rationing present for most of her life -- born in the shadow of the first great war, and cutting her career's teeth on the second. if anything the awkward little protein gels and powders manages to take some of the desperation out of 'mock' recipes. ]

[stefanged]

[It's been a really long time since he's had to think about mock flan or mock geese. The Depression and the subsequent war hadn't been kind to the American populace - and Stefan's grateful that he had lived to see a subsequently plentiful era.

His sympathetic wince is indication enough.]

No, that would be far beyond them. Our world grew so plentiful that most of us - from Earth, anyway - don't really stop to think about what had been. Or what may be, if their worlds later experience invasions.

[Even he doesn't think about it, and he had lived through it. Admittedly, he also didn't feast on human food to begin with, so maybe he had been more focused on the wildlife.]

At least the protein's edible.

[mucked]

Supremely so, whatever the flavour. [ she isn't happy with the protein substances, certainly -- and she'll always prefer something realer and better-seasoned. but peggy's spent a great swathe of her life first at school in london and then in the army. then, new york saw her staying in a boarding house with a plethora of other women. truth be told, 'meals provided' has been a basic feature of her life. the quality varied, but the lack of choice remained. ]

Not quite so edible as all this, however, [ she clarifies. quick to assure him she still very much appreciated the feast. ]

[stefanged]

Ah, thank you. [He beams, having almost forgotten about the meal that he had prepared. Almost because well - the protein gels had been entirely why he wanted such a lavish dinner. It was a giant sign to Atroma that they could do better. They would do better too, with or without their captors' help.] If their goal was to get us to hunt and build a better kitchen, I think they succeeded.

[mucked]

You know. [ a puff of her cheeks. ] As far as entertainment programmes go, we might be more nature documentary than [ reality tv, but the concept escapes her again. ] Than one intended for its drama.

[stefanged]

If so, I really hope we get that overdramatic background music.

[Stefan pauses, freeing his hands up so that he can probably make that grand conductor's gesture, as if he's signaling to an invisible orchestra.]

See, by the time 2016 rolls around, nature documentaries become insane. You'll watch a thing about meerkats and then the music shifts and you know that something terrible's gonna happen to the little guy but you don't know what. Just that the violins are getting insanely fast.

[mucked]

[ a crinkle of her nose. ]

Poor bastards. [ and that was her cue to shovel another forkful of food into her face. peggy works through it as much grace as she ever does. ] Sounds downright Shakespearean.

[ you know. the foreshadowing. ]

[stefanged]

I think that's the point. To take some perfectly innocent footage of a meerkat colony and dramatize it to the point of no recognition. [beat] Or Hamlet.

[Now there's a thought: Hamlet as performed by a bunch of wild animals. Sell that to a future audience, Atroma.]

[mucked]

[ good god, that sounds horrid. but she smiles all the same. there's something bizarrely entertaining about the thought of meerkat colonies reaching such dramatic lengths. ]

I take it all back. I used to say we must make for an awfully dull programme, but perhaps if our competition is the likes of that? We must be very entertaining indeed.

[stefanged]

That is very much our competition. I'm afraid to say, American programming gets so bad once TV's invented.

[He pauses, taking a moment to hold up a finger and amend - ]

British TV, at least, knows when to let a good thing go.

[mucked]

I'm proud to hear it. [ peggy smiles -- it's genuine enough. but she blanches a little at the next thought: ] I'd better go and do my requisite amount of mingling. I'll grab you again before I leave to claim that food you promised. Don't let me leave without it.

[stefanged]

Of course not. I'll make sure to have it all ready by then.

[He grins, making a shooing gesture as he reaches for a couple of takeaway containers and starts ladling food into it. Whenever she's ready, it'll be there - and he left extra for her security officer, as thanks for supporting him all this time.]