Almost Like Family (Invite Only)
It had been a long productive day. Alexander had spent most of it cooking, or getting things ready to cook. According to most of his recipes, much of the action would take place about an hour before the turkey was ready.
Thanksgiving dinner was definitely a massive undertaking for one person. But Eiryk was asleep; he couldn't be expected to pull and all-day stint. Alex had done most of the prep work by himself and secretly he sort of thought that might have been for the best.
It was a good day so far; they were expecting Aishe and Kem over and Eiryk had invited two of his other friends as well. There was work being done (not today of course) on Alex's store and he'd be back in it, and his apartment, before Christmas. Things were looking up and he'd been in a very good mood all day in spite of a few small (and easily corrected setbacks).
Now, however, was time for the Waking of the Beast (and not that beast... they didn't have time). Eiryk had asked Alex to wake him earlier than usual. He almost never woke up when his alarm went off. Alex was pretty sure air raid sirens wouldn't wake Eiryk up.
He walked to the bedroom and went through the door; he'd finally learned after two weeks of being a live-in guest that it didn't actually matter how much noise he made during the day. When Eiryk slept, he was dead to the world. Much as he was now. Alex grinned a little as he looked down on Eiryk, who was sprawled all over his bed. Amazing. It was a king-sized bed yet Eiryk managed to somehow take up more than half of it.
Alexander sat on the side of the bed, then lay down next to Eiryk, slipped his arm under his head, and kissed his forehead. Then he rested his mouth next to Eiryk's ear.
"Eiryk. Time to wake up. Company's coming. Your hair is a mess. Someone scuffed up your shoes. Your shirt is completely wrinkled and your pants have pleats in all the wrong places. There's a bottle of really bad 2005 white wine in the ice bucket and Aishe just called and said she and Kem are bringing a case of Budweiser."
If that didn't startle Eiryk awake, Alex didn't know what would.
Chuckling at the idea of Artemis in tie dye she shook her head as she passed him too. She nodded at him. "Pak is that dangerous," she said. "Tiny, but dangerous."
She and Alexander had the table cleared shortly, but Aishe didn't have any more success convincing him that the cook wasn't also supposed to clean. The only distraction that worked, she couldn't take credit for... the buzzer on the oven finally went off and when it was opened, the smell of hot pumpkin pie filled the room.
Aishe tried not to drool.
Raising his eyebrows at Artemis he said, "Of course pink is worth shock value.. it's just, now we're talking quality! That's not exactly the right kind of shock value. I was looking for less of a 'helpless little girl' vibe, personally."
And then Artemis reminded him that Meridian had, like, an attendance policy or something.
"Okay. Supposing I were to go with pink and, say, green spots. You think they'd let me take sick leave at least?"
He was distracted by the smell of dessert. Not much of an eater and already stuffed, Kem thought there might be a small portion of his stomach that could be convinced to have some more.
"But how do you get those neat spiral patterns in hair?"Â?
Pak asked, genuinely puzzled. This was going to require some trial and error but it seemed worth investigating.
"Besides I think you'd probably manage better in more of a camouflage pattern."Â?
She was going to quit work as an IT professional and start doing extreme hair coloring. Might not look great on her resume in a few hundred years but she was willing to take that risk.
Deciding she'd take that compliment, Pak just beamed but didn't dispute any of it. So she was a little on the dangerous side when she set her mind to it. Nothing wrong with that. Kept life interesting. Besides, Artemis wasn't exactly... er... safe?
Pak rolled her eyes at Aishe, who was about the same size she was.
"Dangerous things come in small packages. You'd know."Â?
The smell of pumpkin pie just make every thing cozier. There was something about the smell of pumpkin and spice that felt homey, even if it wasn't something she'd grown up with. She subtly half leaned against Artemis smiling to her self at his whisper.
"Eiryk would have a heart attack if I stood on any of his furniture."Â?
Actually he might not mind, as long as she was careful, he'd just never let her hear the end of it.
"Really? Spots? No one is going to buy that."Â?
"You are going to get us in to trouble."Â?
He murmured with a huge teasing grin, then grabbing Alex's ass and wandering back to the table where the hair debate raged on.
"Spots are always tricky and not always on trend. You might try stripes or plaid is big this season."Â?
"I don't think pink is the color of helpless little girls anymore. Women's Liberation and all that. Still, I am fairly certain it is in the employee handbook that if you voluntarily have it done, you still have to come to work."
He gave Kem a wicked grin before offering his next suggestion.
"Of course we could all get you drunk and once you pass out choose the color and style of our choice. You might have an excuse to stay home then."
Artemis was sidetracked before any further planning could be made regarding Kem's hair. Camouflage? Really? He didn't really think he came across as the Army type. Although, he supposed the green went with his eyes.
"Camouflage? I thought the point was to stand out, not blend in with the surroundings."
His smiled at her, but the gleam in his eyes quickly turned playful and mischievous.
"Fortunately, I am quite happy with my hair the way it is. Although, if you would like to experiment with body paint later, I am certainly game."
Laughing softly, he kissed Pak on the cheek. The delightful scent of pumpkin pie made its way to him. For someone who didn't do Thanksgiving, he would freely admit that he had enjoyed this one.
"That smells wonderful Alex. Thank you for all the hard work you put into the meal."
Aishe seemed content to wash dishes and Alex sighed at her but didn't complain. Who was he to turn her down? She looked perfectly pleased. He hadn't been following the conversation too closely, but it appeared that now Artemis' hair was not safe either. Fortunately his was already short and plain... it would be hard to dye.
He smiled at Artemis' thanks. "Oh no trouble," he said, raising his voice to be heard over the whir of his little immersion blender as he whipped cream to top the pie with. "I've always wanted to do this. I'm glad we had some convenient guinea pigs around."
Within minutes, the cream was whipped and the pie was on a wire rack on the table. Alex directed Aishe to the plates and forks and they brought out cups for the coffee Eiryk had started. Everything was placed and served quickly before any of it got cold.
He almost couldn't tell the crust was storebought... almost.
She smiled, her best young innocent sweet smile, and helped Alex carry things into the dining room. "Oh, you'd stand out in camouflage," she said to Artemis, with a grin.
Nothing like a tall long-haired vampire with camo-dye. Why, it practically screamed, 'OMG you can't SEE me!!!'
She passed around slices of pie when Alex cut and served, and bit into hers around the same time as everyone else. She closed her eyes and smiled. Hot pumpkin pie... it was delicious. The day she stopped eating would be they day she really died.
He returned Artemis' wicked grin with a hairy eyeball. "Although there's merit to the camouflage idea. If it works, that is."
It was impossible to ignore the two couples flirting around them. Kem leaned over and brushed his lips against Aishe's cheek. "You forgot gorgeous, and funny, and all those things like that," he said, adding to her list.
Pie seemed to stall the banter for a little bit... it was pretty damn good. And he'd never had whipped cream that was homemade before. It hadn't taken long. And it might go well in coffee.
"If this is how you experiment, you can call us any time," Kem said to Alex. "I'm good with this kind of guinea pig stuff. Dyeing hair, maybe not so much."
"We could discuss that."Â?
She said lazily as Alexander and Aishe finished up dishes and brought over pie and coffee. Eiryk's coffee was always a treat. Not quite as good as Kem's but pretty damned close.
"Oh I was just thinking about the pattern, or maybe something jigsaw like, the colors... subtle would be wasted on you."Â?
Pak batted her eyelashes innocently before being thoroughly side tracked by the pie. Thank goodness for that too she didn't need to see Kem and Aishe flirting. Sure it was sweet and all but... yeah.
Thank god she was dead and didn't have to worry about gaining weight. Lord how did human's eat like this?
"What holiday is next?"Â?
He slowly ate his pie, having a hard time taking his eyes off Alex and a harder time not smiling. Alex might have been the quietest one tonight, but he had come alive a bit as he got comfortable with every one. Still he might have gotten the most out of the evening.
"I may not let him out until the Fourth of July. We can try a barbeque with the fireworks."Â?
Remembering who he was talking to Eiryk hastily added,
"Fireworks -none- of you will be allowed any where near or to set off unless we are 500 miles or more from the Towers."Â?
Mai had explained his hair to him once. She had told him that for some, more drastic physical changes occurred because of their mindset at the time of their turning. Granted, he was paraphrasing a bit now, but the general idea was the same. Apparently, absolute hatred and defiance made his hair grow. Artemis was ok with that. It suited him.
He smiled at Pak. So he wasn't expected to blend in with his surroundings? That was a good thing. His smile widened into a grin as he leaned over and whispered once more in her ear.
"That was definitely not a 'No'"
At that moment, his cell phone buzzed with a text message. Artemis felt bad having the phone with him when he was a guest in someone's home. Unfortunately, when you were in charge of things that could explode, siphon enough power to shut down an entire city block, or both, you were always on call. With a quick flick of his finger, he checked the message and then put the phone back in his pocket. It could wait.
When Artemis turned back around to the table, he realized there was a slice of pie sitting in front of him. He noticed the others seemed to be enjoying theirs. After taking a few tentative bites, he came to the conclusion that he was a fan of pumpkin pie. Just as he was finishing his pie, his cell buzzed for the second time. He checked the message and then shrugged apologetically at the others.
"Apparently there is something at one of the testing grounds that I just have to see."
To Pak he smiled sheepishly, not wanting to ruin her evening with friends.
"They haven't said it was urgent or that emergency vehicles have been called. It can wait a bit longer."
(ooc: Feel free to take them both out if that is what you want to do.)
That might have been the best laugh he had all night. It was a good minute before he could eat more pie.
Dessert was quickly consumed but that didn't stop them from having more fun poking at each other. Alexander lost most of his shyness and by the time their guests departed he was able to turn back to Eiryk with a warm, slightly wine-buzzed smile.
"That was, without a doubt, the best Thanksgiving ever."
He left the few remaining dishes where they were on the table and took Eiryk's hand, dragging him to the living room. There, he practically threw his boyfriend onto the couch and hopped on with him, curling up between Eiryk's legs with his arms wrapped around his waist and his head resting on his chest.
They watched half a movie. Maybe less... well... a quarter of a movie.
He saw the opening credits.
((ooc: Alex out... thanks for the happy Holiday!))
By the time they left she was half amazed that Artemis and Kem had managed to almost talk themselves into and then back out of hair dye, and no one had been seriously injured. No had any tableware floated someplace it shouldn't have, for which she was grateful. If Eiryk didn't want Alexander to know everything about him yet, that was his business, and Aishe respected his wishes.
As they drove home Aishe turned to Kem and said, "See? Holidays aren't so bad. They don't have to be commercialized and overdone."
She rolled her eyes upward innocently. "So, that said... what am I getting for Christmas?"
((ooc: Aishe out))
Eiryk's comment about fireworks made him grin. "How about we let you take them 500 miles away and we just stay here in relative safety and watch for the news report the next morning?"
All in all, a delicious evening. They thanked their hosts, said good night to Artemis and Pak, and were on their way home when Aishe made her point about commercialism. Kem had to concede. "Okay, you're right... that was fun. And all that good warm holiday stuff."
And then she asked about her Christmas present, which had him laughing all the way to their front door. Some things were just given... snow in winter, sun every morning, and Aishe needing to know what was in boxes under their bed. Good to know the world had constants.
((ooc: Kem out too. ))
"Did you want a 'No'? I might be able to arrange that."Â?
She teased.
Pak frowned a bit at the text. She wasn't sure how she felt about text messages. They were better than phone calls, but they did keep you on a leash. She wasn't too worried though, he was enjoying the pie. Mmmm.... pie. When the second one came she cocked an eyebrow at him.
"We can vanish early. I'd hate for you to miss out on the fire trucks."Â?
Although, she did very much appreciate him saying it could wait a bit. Pak wasn't quite ready to leave, she was having a very good time. Even though perhaps it wasn't her smartest move every to introduce Artemis to Eiryk. It was bad enough that Kem and Eiryk knew each other.
They did leave a bit ahead of everyone else, but not awkwardly so and it didn't feel like it was a rushed departure. They made sure to thank both their hosts, a lot as they left. Kem and Aishe... well they were Kem an Aishe. At the very least Pak would see them both again soon.
(OOC... both out w/permission)
"For not celebrating Thanksgiving, I think we did quite well. And you came out uninjured."Â?
Quite an impressive feat considering who they'd had over.
Eiryk let himself be drug to the sofa. He didn't eve know what movie was one, probably whatever they'd ignored while making out last time. They could have watched this movie a dozen times and Eiryk would know or care. He just hoped his Christmas surprise went over half as well.
((OOC... and Eiryk out too))