Temporarily occupied warehouse, Friday evening

[vdistinctive]

Everyone was on the island and in one piece, even if their homes weren't. There were no classes to worry about, and Eliot had finally stopped ranting about whether or not he needed to hire contractors to fix up Luke's.

It was time for a family dinner night.

"Okay," Eliot announced as he wiped his hands dry on a dish towel. "We've got spaghetti and farfalle -- bowtie pasta, Parker -- marinara and alfredo, both meatless, and meatballs for the carnivores. Everyone has to take at least a little salad, and there's wine or soda to drink. Please tell me someone remembered to set the table."

The "table" in question was some leftover counter top from rebuilding Luke's kitchen, propped on two saw horses, but that was okay. It matched the "kitchen". Which was several camp stoves arranged on a salvaged desk.

They really maybe needed to think about getting an actual house to live in again.

[for thems what know, up early to be nice to scheduling!]

Comments

[whoisalicewhite]

Parker had already snitched one little bow-tie (or two) to nom on, and was now looking around their makeshift table. With paper towels as napkins, and mis-matched cutlery, and some plastic and paper plates. "I want all of it. Everything. Why wouldn't you want salad?" Eliot made it! It was going to be great!

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"An' I made a little somethin' too," Hardison said, carrying a plate of Hot Pockets over to the table. "Much as Eliot ain't wanna admit it, I'm sure."

He set it down with a flourish, showing he'd lined the edges with gummy frogs. "Even got a garnish. Y'all are welcome."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Raven and I set the table!" Kathy called, poking her erstwhile roommate and shoving the salad bowl into her hands. "We can bring the rest of this out there now, too."

It reminded her of setting the table with Sarah, years ago, and for once the reminder was as sweet as it was bitter.

[tigerundercover]

Raven pouted at the pasta, but brightened when she saw the hot pockets. "I love the presentation," she said, throwing Hardison a grin. "Very classy."

[vdistinctive]

"There's something wrong with both of you." Eliot put a bottle of orange soda down in front of Hardison and frowned at the table. "Gummy frogs are not a garnish."

[whoisalicewhite]

"But they're garnishing. So they're not an appetizer." Parker took a few to eat with her stolen bow-ties, and was pleased at how they meshed and smushed together. She flopped down on a bar stool salvaged from somewhere, and started serving herself. "Either way, I'm glad you guys cooked so I don't have to try." She frowned. "Although, I guess I could. Maybe." That might be interesting. "When we have a full kitchen again."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"It is too a garnish," Hardison argued, hands on his hips. "Better garnish than a head of parsley or whatever. You can at least eat gummy frogs!"

Or use them for crime!

[vdistinctive]

"Sprig. Sprig of parsley!"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Still ain't edible!"

[vdistinctive]

"Yes it is!"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Well then you can go chew on some the next time it's layin' all useless on a plate!"

This could keep going forever.

"I wanted somethin' normal people would actually wanna eat!"

[vdistinctive]

"The purpose of the garnish is to provide a light, complimentary flavor as well as color to the primary meal. Gummy frogs aren't light or complimentary!"

[whoisalicewhite]

Parker took another gummy frog and then a bite of meatball. "Yssh th' arr."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"See?" Hardison said, grinning at Parker. "Mama here gets my vision. 'Sides, it's hard to cook on a buncha camp stoves. But I did cause I wanted to contribute to family dinner."

And tweak Eliot's nose at the same time. Bwaha.

[vdistinctive]

"Oh sure, now you wanna contribute. Not when I asked you to chop stuff for the sauces."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"I was tryna figure out which options to present for dinner tonight," Hardison declared. "I know Raven's favorites an' was makin' sure I had a variety."

[whoisalicewhite]

"Why didn't you ask me to chop stuff?" She was good with knives, come on!

[vdistinctive]

". . . You were in charge of making sure we had a table?"

[whoisalicewhite]

"True." Parker still gave him a side-eye for that. "We need to get a new place, don't we."

Seriously, she would be fine with living out of a warehouse indefinitely, but she kind of got the impression that Kathy wasn't completely happy about it, and she and Raven deserved somewhere more comfortable with fewer mutant dust-bunnies.

[vdistinctive]

And Hardison would probably want a real house sooner rather than later, too. "Or get on fixing up the old one." Eliot hadn't put much thought into that just yet, being mostly occupied with getting the diner back into shape. "Ain't that much residential property on this island."

And the three of them needed more space than an apartment.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Between their equipment for their various lifestyles, their individual need personal space, and their relative unconcern for the finer points of ownership (and their tendency for their homes to end up destroyed), it would be better if they owned their own place.

"Ain't gonna say I'd like to get outta here," Hardison admitted. "This is kinda fun, but it ain't...long term."

[whoisalicewhite]

"Do you want to fix up your place?" Parker sounded tentative about that. "Only. It looked like a lot of work. Which is fine! But." But, if they were going to put that much work into something, shouldn't it be perfect? Parker couldn't quite articulate that to Eliot, but it's where her mind was tending at the moment.

[vdistinctive]

"Not my place," Eliot said. "Our place. We could remake it into somethin' we all want. Or we could start over somewhere else. Pretty sure the mansion over by the doc's place is empty." He grimaced faintly even as he said it. Hannibal was someone he considered an ally, for the most part, but that didn't mean he was too interested in being the man's neighbor.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"I hear tall trees make good neighbors," Hardison said. "Whatever we do, we also gotta figure in the apartment above the diner, too. The girls need a permanent place, too."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy set put the bowl of meaty marinara next to Parker and the meatless one next to the chair she'd mentally tagged as hers, then brushed a purple lock of hair behind her ear. Thy guys sounded like they were beginning of one of their long-standing arguments, so she turned to Parker and asked, "What would you cook?"

[whoisalicewhite]

It was a comforting white-noise-argument that Parker only poked at when she wanted to keep it going. So yeah.

"Something with chocolate. Maybe. Something with meat? I like meat. Well, I'd make something without meat for you." She smiled at Kathy and sniffed at the marinara, which looked delicious. "Chocolate toast? Is that a thing? It should be a thing."

[vdistinctive]

"I'm . . . actually kind of curious to see how that would turn out," Eliot said, looking faintly appalled with himself.

[whoisalicewhite]

"See, this is why we need a new place," Parker said, giving him a pleased look, and then putting lots of pasta on Kathy's plate. Then her own. Then Kathy's. "Eat, eat, eat. I can experiment!"

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy looked a little nervous. "Wait, experiment with our plates? Like right now?"

[whoisalicewhite]

"No, no." Parker gave their plates a speculative look, then relented. "No. Fair warning when I do, though. I'm going to make you eat more. And something proteiny so you get more muscle back on. Eliot, what goes with vegan protein?"

[vdistinctive]

"I mean, basically anything," Eliot said. "Most vegan proteins are pretty bland. They'll pick up whatever flavors you cook them with."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'm okay with eggs, too," Kathy volunteered. "I'm not vegan, I just can't--" Her mouth twisted and she shook her head. "I think I might start trying fish again, soon? It might not be quite as, err, evocative as most meat."

God, she craved a good steak. Or a hearty plateful of Korean barbecue. Or even that bowlful of meatballs. But she wasn't entirely sure if she were the one craving meat or if it was...something else. Better to deny, then, than to give in.

[whoisalicewhite]

Ooo. This was going to be fun to experiment with. Later, though. Parker gave Kathy a considering look. "Tofu and tofu, and eggs, and something like ghost peppers." Yup. That was her first choice for Kathy.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Thank you, little mama," Hardison said. "Glad to see someone here appreciates creativity in the kitchen."

[tigerundercover]

"Sugar is basically the best thing ever," Raven said. "Other than protein."

She was into quick bursts of energy, yes.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"The Hot Pockets have pepperoni in 'em," Hardison said. "An' some of the other ones have chicken. So you can get both!"

He knew Kathy had been sadly influenced by Eliot's prejudices wouldn't eat them, so he hadn't made any vegetarian ones.

[tigerundercover]

"You're the best," Raven said. "Though . . . I kind of want bowties too. Do they make pasta hot pockets?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"They should," Hardison said. "You mean Hot Pockets made outta noodles instead of the breadin'? An' you could dunk 'em in a sauce. Like a deconstructed lasagna!"

[whoisalicewhite]

"Here." There were now two big spoonfuls of bowties on your plate, Raven. "Could you put pasta in a pocket? Would that even work? Have some meatballs too, they are delicious."

[tigerundercover]

"Thanks!" Raven took a big whiff of meatball and nodded. "I bed you could. Little pastas. Like macaroni."

[whoisalicewhite]

That was going on the list of Stuff to Make. Parker would never be the chef Eliot was, and she knew it, but hey. Sometimes it might be fun.

"Can you cook at all?" she asked, curious. "Not that you have to. 'Cause we have Eliot." Who lived for that stuff.

[tigerundercover]

"I'm pretty good at roasting things," Raven said. "But that mostly just involves sticking it in the oven and turning the heat way up. Or putting it on a spit over fire. I can't do anything more complicated than that, though."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I could always teach you some of the stuff I know how to make," Kathy volunteered. "Though a lot of it is Korean."

As Raven knew already, considering they lived together. Not that Kathy bestirred herself to cook much anymore.

[whoisalicewhite]

"Really?" Parker looked pleased and hopeful. "Cool. Is there a Korean dessert we can start with?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Ummm..." Kathy tried to think of a dessert that was relatively easy easy to make. "There's always Yul-lan, uhh, chestnut cookies. You boil a bunch of chestnuts, cut them open, mash them up, and then mix them up with a syrup made with cinnamon and sugar and stuff. They're really delicious."

She smiled down at the table, eyes swimming with old memories. "Fall fair food. K-town has a bunch of fairs over the year to celebrate."