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

[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."