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

[tapestodiane]

_{[He's familiar enough with the custom and bows as well. He didn't go to Japan, which he'd guess is her home, but he'd like to fix that at some point. Come to think of it, he's seen far too little of Asia in general.]}

Dale Cooper. I heard you were coming in with Spencer?

_{[Which is both small talk and an answer to the questions in her face.]}

[remainingtwin]

Pleased to meet you, Mr. Cooper. [Ah, that explains it. People tend to know of her if they know Spencer, so she nods. There's even a hint of a smile]

Yeah, that's right. Spencer and I have been travelling together since we arrived.

Are you one of Mr. Albert's friends? [She assumes he must be something like that if he's here, at least.]

[tapestodiane]

Pleased to meet you too, Mio.

_{[He's glad to see that smile, however faint, because the girl looks like she could do to relax a little. He nods at the confirmation, then smiles a bit brighter as his own means of 'yes'.]}

I am. I actually know him from back home.

_{[It's pretty damn nice to be able to say that, really.]}

[remainingtwin]

[She pauses, because honestly she wasn't expecting that. From her brief interactions with the man, he didn't seem the type that most admitted to being friends with.

Instead she latches onto the other part of that reveal, curiosity getting her] You're from the same world? What's it like? [Pause.] Your world, I mean.

[tapestodiane]

_{[Well, hopefully she'll stick around long enough to learn that Albert really isn't All Bad. Coop's aware of this, but he's one of few.]}

That might be hard to explain without a frame of reference. _{[Since he doesn't know what her world is like, after all.]} But if you come from any variety of Earth, you probably have an idea.

_{[There's a bit of curiosity there too, and an invitation for her to elaborate on her own home, should she want to.]}

i'm watching Twin Peaks now and it's all your and Albert-mun's fault. JSYK

[remainingtwin]

[She nods lightly, recognizing the invitation for what it is. There's a shrug though] It's a lot different from this world. It's Earth though, and the year was 1988 when I left.

There were cars and planes and phones. But I grew up in a small village, so I didn't see much of that until we'd moved. [Mio hesitates and wonders what else she should say. After a moment she admits] There are ghosts, too. I'm sure every world has ghosts though, even if people don't see them.

I guess it's normal...?

:D OH BOY I hope you like it! it's my favourite show.

[tapestodiane]

_{[Coop's expression softens as an understanding crosses it. Ghosts, he gets. Maybe not always in the traditional sense - then again, few things are, when you look close enough - but things you can't explain, that aren't quite of the usual world? He's aware of that. And he completely believes that Mio is, too.]}

I believe it to be more commonplace than most of us imagine but still quite different from our idea of normalcy.

_{[It'll always be hard to imagine it as just that, won't it? Normal, by a human standard, can't quite agree with what a ghost even is.]}

[remainingtwin]

[There's another little smile in response and she's almost made up her mind to like him.

She changes the subject though, wanting to know more about him--and Albert.] What do you and Mr. Albert do?

[tapestodiane]

We're federal police. FBI.

_{[He's not sure if that'll tell her anything in particular, but if not, 'police' usually gets the message across pretty well - and it's the easiest way to sum it up.]}

[remainingtwin]

[Aaand it's gone. Her shoulders tense and she frowns at him, not sure what to make of that] Like Spencer? A- a profiler? Or something else?

[tapestodiane]

_{[Aw Mio no, what's that face? Coop tilts his head slightly, not sure if he should be concerned.]}

No, I work in the field. My job is to pursue suspects and bring them in.

[remainingtwin]

[She looks pained for a second] Oh. [A part of her knows it's irrational, because, as Spencer said, this isn't their world so it's not like anything could be done to her here. But she can't help the anxiety that twists in her stomach.

So her fingers briefly bunch up the material of her shirt before she forces herself to exhale slowly and loosen her grip] Do you do that here too? I haven't heard about much of a law system here...

[tapestodiane]

<sub>[He frowns as he considers that reaction, takes her body language in. There's a lot of uncertainty there, but he can't put his finger on the anxiety- well. Unless she did something wrong.]

[The signs of confusion on his part clear for a moment as he tucks that little theory away for later. It's hardly appropriate on Thanksgiving in a foreign world, is it? Not unless she chooses to tell him.]</sub>

It's not exactly in my jurisdiction.

_{[He could tell her about the group trying to reel in Team Rocket, but he decides against it.]}

The only work I seem to get around here is filing papers at the local Centers.

_{[WHICH IS SO BORING.]}

[remainingtwin]

[That gets a little smile out of her again and a breath of a laugh.] That sounds kind of boring.

[There's a slight pause as she tries to work in a way to make this less awkward. It's reassuring to be told this isn't a place that he can fully operate in, so he probably couldn't do anything to her anyhow.]

I'd switch places with you, though. You can listen to Spencer's lectures on physics and do homework, and I'll file papers.

[tapestodiane]

It's incredibly tedious, but at least it gets you pay.

<sub>[... Coop would have plenty of other ways to make money if he wanted, really, but it was a small joke and he's glad to see it put her at least somewhat at ease. Whatever she did she's either paranoid about being found out or regrets it - or a combination - but in either scenario it's better if she's calm.]

[He smiles a little as well at her response.]</sub>

You're not a friend of science and analysis, Mio?

[remainingtwin]

[She wonders if maybe she should look into getting a job, but it seems like it'd make it harder to travel if she had to keep job-hopping. Instead she turns her attention to answering his next comment, crossing her arms lightly over her chest]

I live with Spencer. Even if I was a scientist I probably wouldn't want to hear it. [Then she shakes her head, feeling a little bad. That was kind of mean.]

No, I like listening to Spencer talk. Sometimes he talks to fast or uses words I don't understand, but it makes him happy, I think. And I like learning; I'm pretty sure Spencer knows everything. If I can learn even a quarter of what he knows, I'll be set for life. [SHE THINKS VERY HIGHLY OF SPENCER OKAY]

[tapestodiane]

_{[... wow yeah seriously Mio that was a bit of a burn, but Cooper seems amused more than anything else; eyebrows raised slightly as he observes her, but still with a small knowing smile. Because he can tell there's some idolization going on too.]}

A word of advice: you're never set for anything.

_{[Take it from a guy who knows.]}

[remainingtwin]

[Mio is totally secretive and sneaky about how much she idolizes Spencer okay shhh.

She makes a face at him] Don't say that, I was starting to feel optimistic. Now I'm going to be depressed. [okay not really]

[tapestodiane]

_{[Coop's smile grows with that and he inclines his head slightly as he responds, in a sort of 'well now'.]}

Consider it a reason to keep your eyes open, your ears peeled and to keep learning. There's always something more to find.

_{[Life is EXCITING. c:]}

[remainingtwin]

[Mio stares at him a moment, not sure how to take that.

Finally she settles on just shaking her head] You're so weird. Are you really an FBI agent?

[tapestodiane]

<sub>[Oh my god Mio just wait. You have no idea how weird this man is.]

[Perhaps unexpectedly, that makes him look a cross between amused and kind of ... pleased, or at least content. Like it was a bit of a treat getting to hear that.]</sub>

You're not the first to tell me. But the Bureau hires weird people more often than you'd believe.

_{[HE IS TOTALLY LEGIT]}

[remainingtwin]

[She gives him a look as if to ask him to remember who she lives with.]

I believe it. This just keeps confirming my idea that America is really weird.

[SHRUG. But Mio's smiling a little; she doesn't really mind, she finds it pretty interesting.] But that's okay.

[tapestodiane]

_{[Again, more amusement on his end. Then he refocuses on her - those bruises on her neck haven't gone unnoticed, but that's not why he does.]}

You're from Japan, aren't you?

_{[It seems most likely, for several reasons.]}

[remainingtwin]

[Mio pauses a moment having not expected the question]

I am. I used to live in the Minakami region, in Northeastern Japan. It's all mountains and forests there. Why do you ask?

[tapestodiane]

America is really weird.

_{[... whether that's the reason or explanation (or humour), who knows. But he says it with a straight face.]}