singillatim | Hot Potato (party log)

Hot Potato (party log)

Who: Chloe Frazer & any and all party people!!
What: Harvest Celebrations/Halloween Party/Ruby’s Birthday/Rat Marriage/Big Communal Cooking Party so Chloe doesn't burn down her house
When: October 12
Where: At Chloe’s house on Greene Street

Content Warnings: Food descriptions, probably.
Other Notes: Feel free to make this a mingle and reply to other characters!

Chloe had wondered whether to go through with the harvest party once Lalo had disappeared, but as they say, the show must go on. There's still a lot worth celebrating, and people need something hopeful after the mess last month. Luckily her house had made it through everything all right.

The poster had said to wear a costume, so she's hoping to see a lot of those, and she’d recruited some people to help her put together the menu exactly to Lalo’s specifications, so unfortunately no one is safe from British Potatoes. There are even candles for the birthday cake.

Chloe herself is dressed as a sexy lumberjack, with one of Lalo’s old flannels tied in a knot under her breasts and denim cutoffs made from the jeans Kostya had gotten blood on (shh). She's got a fire roaring, because otherwise she’d freeze.

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Hickey...has no idea who this guy is. He's seen him around before, yeah, but that's mostly because Milton's a small town. He still doesn't know who this man actually is. So when Levi approaches him, Hickey gives him a once-over before nodding,

"Yeah. Who're you?"

And though he's not saying anything, the 5'7" Hickey is very happy that there's someone here shorter than him. Petty? Yes. But he's allowed to be petty!

Finally, he gets to loom over somebody!

Levi seems pleased enough with the answer, though he does eye the other man for a little while longer before finally answering simply "Levi," as if that is enough of an introduction and explanation to someone he's never met, or, well, talked to before.

"Congratulations," he then says, his expression remaining dead-eyed and with no hint of any, let alone congratulatory, inflection in his tone, then holds out a package that appears to be wrapped in old newspapers. How festive!

If Hickey accepts it, he'll find some strips of smoked rabbit and a small bag made of vaguely sheet-like fabric with dried herbs inside. It's mostly fermented fireweed with perhaps some pine needles and/or mint mixed in to enrich the scent, suggesting it's meant to be some sort of a homemade infusion tea.

Hickey takes the package, holding it gingerly, like he expects it to start oozing or like he's worried it might explode. Barely touching the newspaper, Hickey unwraps it to see the rabbit and the bag. Meat's meat: no matter what the smoked meat is (though he's leaning towards rabbit), Hickey will happily eat it. The bag, however.

"Is this something you drink or something you smoke? Not complaining either way, greatly appreciate the gift, but it's been getting damn hard to find tobacco in this place."

Levi lets out a quiet huff that sounds vaguely like a noise of offense, though none can be found in his voice when he specifies, "Drink. It's tea."

It's not technically tea, but it's surprisingly close for something he could find simply growing in this place.

"If you want to try smoking it, I'm not going to stop you, but I doubt it's much good."

"Then I'll drink it then," Hickey says, like it's the most obvious thing in the world. He gives Levi a cavalier little smile and a casual shrug as he keeps the conversation going.

"It's not really a secret that I enjoy tobacco. Seems like it would be a perfectly fine gift to give someone. But I'm not going to say no to a hot beverage as well, considering it's only going to get colder."

Which Hickey is obviously not a fan of. Try as he may to hide it, the weather obviously irritates him.

"Maybe you'll get some on your next wedding," Levi suggests, tone dry, though it appears to be an attempt at humor, probably. It's not like he wishes ill on the newlyweds, he just doesn't have quite the amount of respect for the institution most people do. Nothing gets to be happily ever after in the world he's from.

"Are you saying we've been seeing fair weather so far?" Levi arrived around April, so he indeed hasn't yet experienced winter months here. It's already plenty cold for him, and at his size it can be difficult to maintain a warm core without a gazillion layers that impede movement. He's definitely not a fan of it, either.

"I wouldn't say fair," Hickey muses, with a little frown, "but it could be worse. After all, we've still got daylight."

Wait. Hmm. Levi's newer, yeah? He might not know about the whole polar night of it all. Poor guy's going to be in for a shock in the next few months.

"You do know about the long night, yeah?"

Levi indeed does not, and he goes still when Hickey brings up daylight of all things. Yes, they have that. Why wouldn't they? They're on the surface, they can see the sky and breathe the open air. That means they also get daylight.

Right?

"The long night?" he repeats, suspiciously, staring at the other man's face as if to demand an explanation. He's lived without daylight for 25 years and he is not keen to repeat the experience.

"So because of the way the earth rotates," he thinks, "for a few months in the winter here, there's barely any daylight. It'll get lighter at times—you'll have stuff like twilight for a bit. But there won't be any proper, actual daylight."

Hickey shrugs before, "And that's not a Darkwalker thing. I was in a place like this back where I'm from and the same thing happened there."

There's not much of a visible change to Levi's expression, but his nostrils seem to flare slightly with disgust.

"The earth is full of shit," he grumbles, but he has no reason to doubt what the man says; if his world had a place like that too then maybe it's 'normal' here. Doesn't mean he has to like it. "Better stock up on firewood, I guess."

He doesn't know if he can realistically get enough of that to last him the winter, but if what Hickey says is true, it's going to be a lot more unpleasant (and dangerous) to venture out into the wilds in the coming months, whether to hunt or pick up kindling.

"Indeed, earth sucks," Hickey very dryly responds. He doesn't know where this person is from (though not Earth??), but Hickey is perfectly fine sassing back if needed. Earth sucks and the polar night sucks and truly, some of these newer people are in for a rude awakening.

"If you run out of firewood, you're welcome to warm up at mine. Billy and I are making sure we're prepared for the winter."

It may very well also be called Earth! He simply used the same word to refer to the world that Hickey used earlier; whether or not he's aware of why days are shorter in winter, planetary rotation had never affected his region to such a high degree as to stop the sun from rising altogether.

He's put away firewood for the winter, sure, but he'd assumed there would be daylight to go out and gather more if needed, even if it was frigging cold. He may need to adjust his plans a little bit. "Thanks. You should probably tell me where you live, then."

"5 Bear's Bend, Milton," Hickey says, with a little nod. "You know Billy, yeah? We live together. If he's there but I'm not, just tell him that we talked at the party. He'll understand."

After all, it's not like weirdos showing up without any say-so is the oddest thing Billy's had to deal with being married to Hickey.

"Yes, I know him," Levi confirms simply, no inflection in his tone. "He seems to prefer William." The man seemed to nearly break out in hives when Levi suggested he simply called him Levi.

He also hadn't given him his address, but, well, so much for that. It's not like privacy is their biggest concern here anyway. He jots it down mentally, though he hopes he won't need to intrude on them.

"He's more formal than I am," Hickey muses, with a wry little smile on his face. Honestly, it's a miracle Hickey managed to wear down Billy enough for him to use the nickname. Because Levi's not wrong: he does prefer William.

"Still, you're allowed a nickname or two when you're married."

Which he is. Very married. And hey, don't mind Hickey as he adjusts his hair to show off his ring again.

He sees what you're doing there, mister. Levi may not have dealt with that many people trying to show off their marriages, but he's seen his fair share of ones trying to flaunt their wealth, expensive jewellery included. In this case, he assumes the value is more sentimental, unless of course someone found an intact accessory store around Milton, but he notes that unnecessary movement for exactly what it is.

He thinks it a little ridiculous, but it doesn't exactly bother him. Of course to someone just married their freshly baked spouse will look like the ultimate catch that needs to be shown off. It seems rather sweet, in all honesty.

"Suppose it's ought to come with some perks," he agrees, his voice still betraying nothing but the way his arrows narrow slightly in amusement may suggest he's mostly jesting. "Nobody would get married otherwise."

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Hot Potato (party log)

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