Nobody Here But Us Turkeys

[worktodo]

Who: Albert Rosenfield (worktodo) and everybody coming to the Justice Farm of SCIENCE!! for Thanksgiving!
Where: Albert's Justice Farm house in Saffron City
When: Anytime between Wednesday the 21st and Friday the 23rd!
Summary: AMERICA. Also there are meetings to be had, pies to be baked, togetherness to be accomplished, and plenty of aspirin for Albert to be consuming during this kick-off of the holiday season!
Rating: Individual threads may vary? Let's go with G overall and warn people if threads veer off in a higher-rated direction.
Log:

Albert hates Johto, and that's why he has no intention of letting it get in the way of one of his favorite holidays. While the decision to change residences from a hotel room in Goldenrod City to his new house in Saffron was based more on a practical desire to have some extra space and stability for getting work done, the move has had its added side benefits — one of which being that a house is much better suited to stuffing a bunch of people into it, and with his own whole kitchen at his disposal, coordinating his traditional annual Thanksgiving dinner just got a whole heck of a lot easier.

And of course, there's no point in spending Thanksgiving alone when two of his coworkers and a fair handful of other refugees are likewise stranded away from their homes in Johto, and there is always the ulterior motive of getting most of the FBI presence together in the same place to make plans and discuss future pursuits, anyway.

(Also, someone besides Cooper's got to eat all that pie.)

As such, the majority of Wednesday is spent between the house and the city, making sure all the necessary accoutrements of a hosted holiday are present and accounted for, and a fair amount is devoted to preparing for the Thanksgiving dinner proper; for anybody arriving early, there are bedrooms with bunk beds (and not much else; he's only been at this two weeks) upstairs to house people in need of a place to drop their stuff and crash overnight.

By Thursday, the house will be clean and reasonably well-lit; the coffee machines will be going like crazy, and woe unto the person who gets underfoot in the kitchen while Albert is Making This Holiday Happen™. The dining room table is set and the living room is cozy, with a fire burning merrily in the fireplace near the piano and plenty of spare surfaces open and available to hold a drink. The lab out back is locked several times over (DO NOT DISTURB ALBERT'S WORK), but the rest of the house is open and fair game for wandering, as is the yard surrounding it. Sneak into the kitchen to snag stuff pre-dinner if you dare; if not, rest assured that there will be a metric buttload of turkey, stuffing, potatoes, vegetables, and yes, Cooper, LOTS AND LOTS OF PIE when dinnertime rolls around. From there on out, it's nothing but togetherness and good cheer — and the aspirin's in the bathroom cabinet, for Albert the people inclined to develop a headache from the noise.

When Friday rolls around, there will once again be coffee in the kitchen (THERE IS ALWAYS COFFEE IN THIS HOUSE) and the leftovers will be fair game to anyone willing to go after them. Just be careful not to overstay your welcome too long — holidays are great, but there's always work to do, and SCIENCE!! cannot be put on hold forever.


[OOC: This is an open log for everybody coming to Albert's for Thanksgiving! Feel free to start your own threads as you please — open them to everybody, close them to specific people, whatever works for you. Just make a note in the header of what day it's taking place on and who all's invited, and have fun, everybody!]

Comments

Reid = Pie Baker of DOOM ; Wednesday to Thursday in the Kitchen

[leftinbasketforfbi]

[Reid can safely say he has never had to bake so many pies at once before. He can also safely say that this is a lot of fun.

The kitchen is buzzing with Reid making pie crust from scratch (man, that's a lot of flour), and then with him whipping up three separate fillings similarly from scratch. He feels somewhat like he's channeling the soul of Garcia right now.

Over two days, he can be found doing anything from starting to create the pie crust dough (he's going to throw in some cinnamon and nutmeg there, just to avoid depending on butter and texture for flavor), to slicing nuts and pureeing pumpkin, to mixing everything together. As he progresses, his arms get white with flour, and that in turn gets everywhere, especially on his nose and cheeks. He managed to do a pretty good job of staying neat at first, but the flour is just insidious in its 'getting everywhere'-ness.

Anyone can stumble in on him at any time, so please specify when it is!]

[remainingtwin]

[After making sure her kimono was folded neatly and put away so it wouldn't wrinkle (she's been carefully hiding it from Reid and everyone, wanting it to be a surprise), she makes her way to the kitchen.

Though Reid's already started (he's probably halfway through the pie crust by this point or more. Who knew how fast he could go when he was in the mood?), Mio feels too awkward just sitting around to stay still.

So it's off to offer her services! It's something to do.]

Spencer? Can I help?

Thursday morning?

[punchandkiss]

[Astrid is wandering around exploring, since she pretty much promised she wouldn't go out and train, which meant she has a frightening amount of time to kill. Her growlithe, Firefur, is following after her, though when they enter the kitchen he curls up by the door as she wanders over to peer at what Reid is cooking without actually asking if she can.]

What are you making?

[doitrockapella]

[OH, HI, REID. Don't mind Carmen spending a fair amount of time after she arrives on Thursday sneaking into the kitchen when Albert's not watching (or otherwise occupied) to snitch whatever illicit tastes and samples of the day's fare she can get her hands on.

It's not even about the food she's taking, really; it's as much the intrigue of trying not to get caught as anything else. Because, of course, it's always a game when Carmen's in play.

—Though this time, it seems she's not going to go completely unnoticed, is she?]

Well, well. That's twice I've found you now, isn't it, Dr. Reid?

Wednesday afternoon?

[canthearyou]

[Gordon’s just sort of been moving throughout the house, helping wherever he’s needed, and saying hi to people. So it’s only fair that he pops into the kitchen to say hi to Reid. After all, he hasn’t had the chance to speak to Reid in person in yet.]

HELLO REID. IT’S NICE TO FINALLY MEET YOU IN PERSON.

[Unfortunately, Gordon is just as loud face to face.]

HOW MANY PIES ARE YOU BAKING?

APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE FOR SLOWNESS but I couldn't resist!

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Heather's pretty sure she's never SEEN so many pies at once, at least not anywhere that wasn't a bakery or a cartoon.]

[It's also the first time she's ever been in a house with so many people in it.]

[The kitchen seems like a place that might be a little less crowded, so it's with that in mind that she ducks inside early Thursday morning, shutting the door behind her and letting out a whoof of breath. Heather's always been a social soul, but she'd grown somewhat unused to it.]

[... And then she turns around. And sees the jittery FBI guy. And his fifty zillion pies.]</sub>

... Whoa.

You look like a ghost exploded on you.

_{[... Meaning all that flour, of course.]}

placeholder as I maybe actually sleep tonight ;;

[darkenedgales]

[How exactly Crow ended up in a house full of people he doesn't know for a celebration of a holiday he has no idea about is still beyond him, but hey, who is he to deny free food and lodging? Besides, Heather said it'd be fun, so he'll trust her word on that.

Thankfully (?), no one even needed to tell the duelist to make himself at home and on Thursday afternoon he's out exploring the place like he owns it. Socializing is nice and all, but the additional perk of staying here is that he gets to hang out in an actual house instead of an inn room for the first time in... way too long, to be honest. Which is why a trip to the kitchen is in order as well!

... Although to be fair, an FBI profiler is the last thing he expected to find there. Oh well. Small world, they say.

Crow leans against the door frame, arms folded and a grin present on his face, his voice slightly teasing as he speaks.]

What, you bake, too? Man, 's there anything you can't do?

IRON CHEF SAFFRON ; Thursday Pre-Dinner

[worktodo]

[ENTER THIS KITCHEN IF YOU DARE. ALBERT IS COOKING.]

[newberktown]

[Oh, he dares. And he doesn't even look worried about it. Hiccup is either very brave or very stupid!

Or both.]

You locked your lab?

[WHAT IF HE WANTED TO SEE MACHINES DOING SCIENCE TO THINGS.]

[canthearyou]

[What was that? Enter if you what?]

HOW’S EVERYTHING GOING IN HERE, ALBERT?

[Gordon just wants to check because wow, some of the grocery stores around here take vague labeling to a whole new level.]

[remainingtwin]

[The arrival of guests is starting to make her more than a little nervous, and in a bid to get some air she's ducked into the kitchen with the hopeful anticipation of finding something to do, away from everyone else.

Too bad it's Albert in the kitchen. She fidgets with the sleeve of her kimono and hesitates] ...Mr. Albert? Do you need any help?

[PLEASE NEED HELP WITH SOMETHING.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[An angry FBI agent.]

[Multiple not-turkey corpses.]

[Dozens of sharp objects.]

[An oven.]

[All of these are ingredients that would normally scare away the faint of heart. Pregnant women, steer clear. If you enter this room, there is a strong chance your baby will wind up with crippling self-esteem issues.]




[But one brave soul will enter.]

[One being cares not what danger it faces by doing so.]

[Is it courage? Or foolishness?]</sub>


Grk grk grk.

<sub>[... Probably the latter.]

[A tap-tap-tap of claws on the linoleum sounds as a feathery black football with a horrible hairdo fearlessly struts into the kitchen. Because food.]</sub>

[darkenedgales]

[The owner of the house is occupied with preparing the dinner? Sounds like a chance this one bird simply cannot miss.

Sneaking past all the people in the house unnoticed (he thinks so, at least), the Delibird finally reaches his goal: the kitchen. Upon entering, he immediately leaps to the side, figuring he will be able to avoid that strange man here by staying close to the wall (and apparently missing the fact he still sticks out like an Onix among Caterpies). The bird slowly makes his way through the room until he's directly in front of the drawers, which is where he ditches his stealthy strategy and pulls a nearby stool closer, climbs on it, opens the drawer--

... and proceeds to take out any and all pieces of cutlery he can find and put it into his sack-tail.

Admittedly, Blizzard the North Pole isn't exactly the most subtle Pokémon out there.]

I'd make a social butterfly pun here but that might be inappropriate given the target; Wed-Thurs;

[remainingtwin]

[Although she disappeared quickly to put away her kimono, Wednesday Mio can be mostly found exploring the house, when she's not baking with Reid in the kitchen. Actually, after she'd down exploring, she's pretty much stuck to Reid.

She seems really reluctant to leave Reid's side, and on Thursday her self-consciousness is kicked up a notch. Though she tried her best to make herself look pretty with a little make-up and the gorgeous kimono, she's also probably the only one wearing a kimono. But it's the nicest thing she owns and she was taught to be traditional, and on holidays you wear your best kimono and--

Yeah Mio'll be hugging the walls and trying to avoid attracting attention. Not that she's not already doing that, but she'd like to pretend she's invisible.

Just specify if you're meeting her in her normal clothes on Wednesday, or her fancy kimono on Thursday at the party!]

[newberktown]

[He had yet to really meet Reid's travel companion, mostly just catching glimpses of her here and there while he explored the house and the city, so he's a little surprised when the opportunity presents itself on Thursday. What's less surprising is that she's dressed much nicer than he is, with his Berk garb on.

She...doesn't look like she's having much of a good time, though.]

Hi! Mio, right? I'm Hiccup.

[doitrockapella]

[There's a certain irony, possibly, in the way that Mio is dressed to the nines and trying desperately to avoid drawing attention, while Carmen is actually dressed down somewhat from her usual go-to red coat and hat, yet still moving about the party with the sort of sleek confidence of someone used to commanding the spotlight. She's admittedly a little out of her element today, too, having never really had the opportunity to join in on a family-esque holiday get-together before, but she's certainly not showing it. To all appearances, she's as comfortable as always in a red cashmere sweater and dark jeans, sans hat but still with a curling lock of black hair obscuring one eye from view.

It's the kimono that pings her, first and foremost; it's the fact that she hasn't yet met the girl wearing it that solidifies her resolution to walk over and say hello. But first she'll duck into the kitchen (carefully evading the Wrath Of Albert™) and reemerge with a pair of large chocolate-covered strawberries, one of which she offers to Mio once she's made her way over to the girl against the wall.]

Here. Nothing says we can't start on dessert a little early.

[tapestodiane]

_{[Coop had been told Mio was coming, but not much more than that - and naturally he doesn't know her at all other than her name and the fact that she came in with Reid. So when he crosses paths with her on Wednesday he'll naturally take the moment to stop and say hi, because he's nothing if not friendly and she looks a little lost.]}

Hello! You must be Mio.

_{[It's with an easy smile and a hint of eagerness to his tone, like he's glad to meet her, but he's unobtrusive and keeps a polite distance for now.]}

Apologies in advance for slow tagging! [Wednesday]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Mio's not the only one exploring today-- during the two years Heather had spent in Johto, visiting peoples' houses had become something of a rare occurrence. It was funny how life on the move could make you ill-accustomed to actually BEING IN A HOUSE. One that's like... occupied.]

[So she's strolling around and actually marveling a little at the amount of bustling activity-- when carelessly throwing a door open winds up bringing her face to face with Mio. She hastily grabs the knob again in order to avoid like, whacking her right in the face with it.]</sub>

--Oh man, sorry! Almost clocked you a good one, there.

chilling outside for a bit; early thursday

[tapestodiane]

<sub>[There's a lot to be said about Thanksgiving - the thing is, Coop spent a lot of years not saying anything about it on account of not really celebrating it. Of course this isn't an option to Albert, entirely different world or not, and Coop will have to admit that the last few days have been nice if not even quite lovely; both helping Albert moving into the hosue and preparing for the holiday.]

[He's found a different sort of camaraderie in this world, after all, and he's happy to delight in it where he can.]

[Right now, though, things are coming to a lull - things are more or less prepared and everything's at its own natural pause between the short afternoon and what will settle into a long night in just a few hours.]

[So, Coop's outside, breathing in the crisp air and watching the visible warmth of his own breath for a moment before patting his leg to gather Sheriff's and Rosie's attention to take them for a short walk around the yard surrounding the house.]</sub>

[doitrockapella]

[It's been a long time and a longer journey, and surprisingly enough, Carmen's ready for it to be over.

It's been more than a month now since she and the Vikings embarked on their whirlwind tour of the western half of Johto, and there's no denying it was a fruitful one; she's coming back now with a bagful of souvenirs and a mind full of memories, plus a few rather useful badges and HMs to boot. It was a good thing that they went. There were practical reasons and emotional ones, and before she left she'd had a question on her mind, one that could only be answered with time and distance. Once that couldn't be answered while the object of that questioning was still within her reach.

She still doesn't know if she's coming back with an answer yet. What she does know, though, is that she's ready to be —

(Well. It's not home, and never will be. But it's something like it, something that echoes that old feeling, I want to be where you are.)

It's Thanksgiving, and so she's coming in dressed in preparation for the holiday, her coat and hat secured safely in her bag in lieu of one of her vacation acquisitions instead. The directions to the house are easy enough to follow, and the Baron's still got plenty of stamina left in his wings. They're soaring high and fast, sweeping through the air with ease as they draw near the house, and —

Oh.

Look who it is.]

ALL CUTE ALL THE TIME ; Late Thursday Night

[worktodo]

[So it's late Thursday night — very late, to the point where all the people remaining in the house are probably sleeping — but it turns out that there are still a few creatures stirring around the Justice Farm.

"A few" being more like "Estelle the Lab Cat Eevee".

And the thing is, there is a lot of residual love in this house and she's feeling it something fierce and OH SHIT WHAT'S THAT —

Oh.

Welp.

Looks like she's "Estelle the Umbreon" now, hmm.

ALBERT WILL PROBABLY BE CONFUSED AS ALL HELL WHEN HE WAKES UP TO THIS TOMORROW.]

Wednesday or Thursday, outside.

[punchandkiss]

As much as Astrid was enjoying being around people (and she actually was, surprisingly) after a while she just needed to get away. She had promised not to sneak off and train during the holiday, and she was keeping that! But that didn't mean she couldn't just go outside and let her pokemon muck about.

So at the moment she was sitting out back, watching Squishything the Clefairy attempting to get Slither the Dratini to actually exercise. Which mostly consisted of the clefairy running in circles around the Dratini being encouraging while the dragon pokemon reluctantly did some exercise.

Man, she had the laziest dragon...

[tapestodiane]

Said dragon isn't alone in being lazy, at least not usually, but this Espeon isn't part of the lazy club. She's exploring since she didn't have a lot of opportunities to do so yet, and naturally sooner or later comes across the two other pokémon that are out right now - the ones that are distinctly someone else's and not like the wild ones, hiding out further on.

Emily's not on the prowl, exactly, but she still crouches down in the way cats tend to sneak as she looks at the two. The Clefairy in particular, because it's moving, and movement is always exciting.

Let the night owls and early birds swoop in [friday morning]

[remainingtwin]

[The only problem with sleeping at someone else's house is remembering that you have horrible nightmares that force you to wake with a strangled sob in the dead of night.

When she's finally gotten her breathing slowed down enough to a semi-normal rate, Mio moves to the kitchen, knowing she's not going to be going to sleep again anytime soon.

The butterfly-shaped bruise on her throat burns, but she's so used to the constant ache that it only gets a cursory acknowledgement as she putters around the kitchen. A glance to the clock tells her the time is somewhere past 3 in the morning.

Maybe she should feel a bit more awkward about digging around in someone else's kitchen, but really she's just more concerned with the complete lack of tea in the house.

Feel free to catch her at either around 3am, or later on in the morning when people might be starting to wake. From about 6am on, Mio can probably be found sitting at the kitchen table, head pillowed by her arms as she dozes]

[leftinbasketforfbi]

[In case you forgot, you're not the only one with sleep terrors, Mio.

Reid had woken up around fifteen minutes before her. He had grabbed a leftover piece of pie (because sugar makes everything better) and ate it on the porch, curled up and letting the cold air slowly distract him from visions of madness and death.

About five minutes after he came down, Flora followed him, so then he cradled her in his arm while she cooed and purred and whimpered.

Twenty minutes after that, he decided to go back to the kitchen to wash the plate he used. So five minutes after Mio goes to the kitchen, Reid is stepping inside, and he pauses at the threshold, a Munna cradled in the crook of his arm and a plate in his hand.]

...Glad to know I'm not the only one up, I guess.

All Three Days | Living Room Or Porch

[canthearyou]

[When he’s not yelling at people in the kitchen, Gordon’s been splitting his time between Albert’s living room and that nice covered porch outside. It’s nice to have a few quiet moments every now and then, isn’t it?

Of course, that doesn’t mean Gordon’s going to stay quiet for very long. With so many people here, he’s more than happy to talk to anyone and everyone he meets. Hopefully, Albert’s house has a steady supply of Tylenol and earplugs. If not, there might be a problem.]

Wednesday

[foolishwren]

<sub>[It's safe to say that a house full of people is going to be crazy no matter what world you're in. But in this one... it's guaranteed to be at least 50% crazier (if not more). Why? Because every person is just about guaranteed to have at least ONE superpowered animal with them at just about all times.]

[And Heather's happen to be escape artists.]

[Gordon may become aware of a sudden large, slobbery presence on the floor in front of him.]

[Because CUJO IS HERE and oh look it's a NEW PERSON that he has NEVER SEEN BEFORE and maybe he has food.]

[Or if he doesn't have food, maybe judicious use of enormous brown puppy eyes will make some magically appear.]</sub>

The Best Part of Waking Up ; Outside, Friday Morning

[doitrockapella]

[The holiday was admittedly a pleasant and fun-filled one in a multitude of ways, but come Friday morning, certain bits of time-honored routine demand Carmen's attention once again — and as a result, she's outside sunning herself in the morning light, hat tipped carefully to keep her eyes shaded. At her side is, as always, her Pokegear (with Zack the Porygon2 hopping in and out at regular intervals), but she's also got out three of her latest additions to the roster — her Rufflet perched on a branch nearby, and her Smeargle and Metagross in front of her.

The Smeargle, armed with what appears to be a massive heavy-duty sketchpad propped against a rock, is furiously painting away with its tail, and the Metagross appears to be deep in thought, occasionally conferring animatedly with Zack.

And shortly thereafter, the tinny, jerky sound of the Gear's text-to-voice reader rings out through the morning: ]

THERE ONCE WAS THANKSGIVING IN KANTO
THAT MADE TRAINER ALBERT SAY "OH NO"
BUT DESPITE HIS CHAGRIN
WE SURE DID PACK 'EM IN
ON THE PURE SIMPLE NOTION OF "YOLO"

[Ladies and gentlemen, Cliff Hanger's morning masterpiece theater.]