And Let Us Gather 'Round [ Video + Action ]

[universal_charm]

Who: Kirk and The Fine People of the Fleet
Broadcast: Yes
Action: On the Iskaulit, Specifically at the Melting Pot - Note: After the Broadcast
When: After they start heading away from the system

Video
<sub>[ Kirk appears on the screen, and probably like many people he looks tired and a bit beaten up. Scratches not yet healed on his face, one even covered with a bandage on his cheek, that sort of drawn look around his eyes after all the sleepless nights and the battles and general horridness. A little to pale, perhaps.

Even so, he gives as warm a smile as he can as he begins to speak. ]</sub>

For those of you who might not know, I come from a world called Earth - or at least, one of the versions represented here. On my world, in the country I hail from, we celebrate something known as Thanksgiving roughly around this time of year if I've done my calculations correct. Some people call it Friendsgiving, but it's all the same really.

Essentially, it's a time to a give thanks for the good things in your life, your friends, and your family. In the spirit of that, I've arranged for a gathering at the Melting Pot - a thank you to Jarvis for that. Everyone who wishes to come is welcome.

I just thought we all could use a day, a place, to be together and to just enjoy each other. So I hope to see you there.

Action: The Melting Pot
<sub>[ The restaurant is set up to allow as much mingling as possible when people arrive - places to sit, of course, but there's gentle music playing for those who might want to dance and just to give some atmosphere (but not loud enough to stop conversation at all). Food and drink is laid out - things to nibble on rather than the usual feasts associated with a Thanksgiving. Not particularly ideal, but it's what could be managed. Unless, of course, anyone decided to bring something else to add to the spread.

Not a fancy party, to be sure, but it's warm and inviting, which is what Kirk had hoped for. A place for them all to come together and enjoy each other and just be glad they were all there and if not quite completely whole, then, well, able to be there. ]

[ooc: Open mingle! Feel free to create your own starters and do as you like - tis a warm Friendsgiving party for the Fleet! ]</sub>

Comments

[servantnotserving]

[It's fine, Lumière can be proud enough for all of them.]

Oh?[He tilts the candle that serves as his head, waxy brows furrowing- concerned.] What troubles you, mon ami? Is there anything I can do to help?

[candothat]

[Bless.]

Nothing that I would want to put on someone I have only just met, but thank you for offering. Your name is Lumière?

[servantnotserving]

Think nothing of it, helping people find joy in their lives is what I do best.

[He is such a people pleaser. ]

That's me! The one and only. Enchanté.

[candothat]

That sounds like a difficult and unrewarding calling.

[Says the less than successful people pleaser, but the candleman seems entirely immune to angst and depression, so maybe it's a matter of talent. Or maybe it's the difference between being French and being Russian.]

I have exhausted all of my polite French, but it's good to meet you as well. I'm Pavel Andreievich Chekov.

[servantnotserving]

Oh no, mo ami, it is very rewarding. Just to see someone smile and know you brought that happiness to them is the greatest reward I could ever think of.

[It's less immunity and more a dogged ability to push it as far down as he can and pretend it's not there. Not very healthy, but there you go. ]

You've done more than a lot of people here can. I'm impressed. Russian, from the sounds of it, no?

[candothat]

Only difficult then, especially now. Not many people here are happy.

[That is both healthy and wise, what are you talking about.]

Da, ya gordyy Russkiy. Was it the name or the accent that betrayed me?

[servantnotserving]

With good reason. It has been a difficult few months. But I plan to do my part ot ease people away from all of that.

[So they're in a better frame of mind when the NEXT awful thing happens. ]

Perhaps a little of both.

[candothat]

Very ambitious. Good luck to you.

[That is an extremely sincere good luck wish. He's pretty sure cheering the fleet up is going to take excellent luck and a few minor miracles... and that's assuming there isn't a next awful thing in the immediate future.]

I'm happy to be identified. [Even if he still sounds miserable.] If I may ask a strange question... you are here and you are French, a talking clock is here and I believe he is English... are there Russian items in your world? Samovars, perhaps?

[servantnotserving]

[Confusion spreads across what functions as Lumière's face for a moment, before realisation dawns. ]

OH! Oh. You think we are from a world of living objects?

[He laughs, shaking his head. ]

No, it is a mistake I have seen...worryingly regularly here, but it is not the case. Both Cogsworth and myself are from Earth. Just...Earth. The prince we serve, and his household along with it were placed under a curse. We're both human just....altered, currently.

[He taps a candle to the side of his head in thought.]

I do not believe we have any Russians working in the household currently.

[candothat]

Oh, of course.

[That's far more logical and less bizarre!]

In that case, I am sorry for my mistake, sorry that you are cursed to be a candle, and also sorry that you are unfortunate enough to lack Russian company.

[servantnotserving]

That is a lot of sorries. But it is alright, no harm done. People tend to make that assumption. I am never sure if I should be glad for it or worried.

[candothat]

I am a sorry person. [He does smile a little, so... good job?] A world full of living objects isn't so unbelievable, all things considered. Maybe that is worrisome.

[servantnotserving]

[Yay he wins something. ]

It is worrying. I never would have thought such a thing would be possible. Well...until it happened to us, anyway.

[candothat]

[Don't get excited, it's not like it's a cool prize or anything.]

All of our lives have been very strange. Yours more than mine, I think. I have been many things--older, younger, a dog, a version of myself from a different reality--but never an animate household object.

[servantnotserving]

[Well, that makes it way less fun. ]

You have been...a dog. That must have been an...interesting experience.

[candothat]

[¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

I didn't mind it. [An unconcerned shrug.] In a way, becoming a woman for a number of days was more disconcerting.

[Chekov, what has your life been.]

[servantnotserving]

[Chekov, when the guy who has literally been turned into an inanimate household object is looking at you with abject confusion- maybe it's a sign your life has been super freaking crazy. ]

That...must have been an...interesting experience. To see things from the side of the other sex.

[candothat]

Many, many of my experiences have been interesting. [They're just not that interesting to him since he knows about all of them.]

You said that you are altered currently. This is a temporary state?

[servantnotserving]

Oh yes, that I can well believe.

ER- yes and no. I have been stuck like this for ten years, but I really hope the spell will be broken soon. The window of opportunity to lift the curse is...rather short now. So I hope that it's temporary.

[candothat]

[Ten years is a really long time to be a household object. He makes a sympathetic Russian noise.] I hope that as well. Is there anything that can be done here to break this spell?

[servantnotserving]

There is. Our master has to fall in love, and have that love returned.

[candothat]

...Ah. [He manages to look gloomier than he did at the beginning of the conversation.] A difficult thing in any world, even when time is no issue.

[servantnotserving]

It is. But a young lady has been staying at our castle. [Because she's a prisoner, but he'll skip THAT detail. ] They have been getting closer, so there is hope, yet.

[candothat]

To hope that they will both fall in love, then. [He raises his bottle only to remember that he's in the company of... well, a candlestick. Who can't drink. The gesture is awkwardly aborted.] It seems strange to me, placing someone under a spell that can only be broken by something as undefinable and incapable of being substantiated as love. Very inexact.

[servantnotserving]

Here's hoping.

[Lumière at least finds it amusing, chuckling at the action. ]

It is. Perhaps she assumed he would not be able to break it at all?