logsinthenight | You wanted them to bring friends over, Aziraphale [Closed]

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You wanted them to bring friends over, Aziraphale [Closed]

characters: Bucky/Soldat, Sora, Aziraphale, Crowley, and Misty
location: Miner's Castle #3
date/time: January 10, after this
content: Dragging a cold kid over for dinner
warnings: Nothing beyond the usual for these guys

On the way back from the armory after Sora's ill-conceived decision to hare off alone in a blizzard, it's not hard to change direction on the way to the library just enough to wind up somewhere else, instead. The Soldier would be surprised if Sora managed to figure it out until they're already almost there, if not already climbing the porch, between the dark, the flurries, and the snow piled up everywhere making the world seem new and different. If they hadn't been keeping up patrols once a day even with this storm, they might not have been able to get them both back in a timely manner, themselves.

"Inside," they say through their scarf, gruff with the cold, the need to take the damn thing off before they start feeling the mask instead, and the desire be inside where it's warm and they can take out the stress of the day by feeding people. "You're getting hot food before I take you back to that damn cot."

Besides, they know perfectly well Aziraphale invited the kid a while ago. They follow the network pretty obsessively, and that conversation wasn't private. So this is okay. After stamping snow off on the porch, brushing it off their hair and coat, they open the door to the cozy living room, repeating, "Inside."

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"Three," the Soldier puts in mildly. "Don't know mine." Not super fond of parties, either, but that's neither here nor there. They carry the pasta pot off the stove to the sink to drain. "Silverware is in the furthest drawer, over there."

Easy to guess what he's after, really.

Also important question: "Do you want your vegetables in your pasta or on the side."

An innocent shrug; what are you gonna do? Sometimes you just don't know how old you are, Sora. Life gets weird. That Soldat doesn't even know his own is as saddening as it is unsurprising, and met with a fleeting frown.

"We'll do a cake for the day I met you at least, then. Or a really nice dinner. Either or. Both." She intended it to come out more final than that, but remembered as she spoke that it's likely to be downplayed if not pressed. Celebration's been earned.

"In, please."

Sora frowns, but heads obediently to the silverware drawer, thinking very hard about his birthday that everyone will be invited to! And also a birthday that only a few people will be invited. Hey, if he's going to have to deal with the fact that time's weird here and he'll have a birthdate and a day where he will have lived twenty years (wow), he'd might as well fit in as many birthdays as he can.

Both sad and unsurprising is right, and this frown? Not fleeting. Pretty obvious, actually, until Misty chimes in. "I say both! If you guys can't finish both dinner and a cake, I can." Sora doesn't know how to tone anything down - he's way too full of Youthful Bullshit. Two parties in August? That's more than one! Sora's down for that.

"Ummm..." Still carrying a fistful of forks, he moseys on next to Misty to look at the sauce she's stirring. He doesn't know names, but he knows what he likes when he looks at it, and this sauce is looking like a veggie in thing to him. "Me too! In." Sora looks up at the two adults. "Do you guys already know what Crowley and Aziraphale like?"

"Kid, you have seen me eat. I can definitely eat both cake and dinner." They start dishing the bowtie pasta into bowls, along with the mix of broccoli, carrot, and onion they cooked before starting the sauce. "Aziraphale will take his separately, and Crowley." They pause, head tilted as if listening, then sigh when they don't hear Crowley's voice or footsteps upstairs. Probably still buried in bed, then. That worries them a little, even if Aziraphale says it's not really a problem. "Will probably not eat."

She knows how Aziraphale takes his, and couldn't care less about what Crowley ends up getting, and thus has no further commentary on pasta.

"Well there we go, then. Sora-party, and then we'll have a two-days-into-Beacon dinner and dessert. Better than parties, anyway. More food per person."

Misty, that is harsh but fair. Crowley deserves a bit of a bad time, but only maybe just a little. Sora follows the soldier's motions, maybe mirroring them a little as he listens himself (he hears nothing). "Is he sleeping?"

Ah, right, food will be a problem here for any potential huge parties. If there's going to be a party, there has to be food. Sora nods to himself. Okay, so big party in August, small party in March, whenever he turns twenty back on Earth. He's probably going to have to sit down and do the math on that.

Sora looks at Misty a bit more appraisingly, but not in a bad way. His birthday's already being included in her mental timetable, huh? It might just be a courtesy, but it's one he appreciates. "Not gonna say no to that. Were you guys here for the Night Market? Did they have food?" He's too new to have gone, but he's heard tell of this mysterious Night Market and Pluto before. He figures that Rastus gets enough requests as it is. Might as well spread out party plans over the year, across different venues.

"Candy. That sometimes did weird things like change hair color. And more kinds of coffee than I thought existed." That coffee cart was almost their favorite thing about the Night Market. The jukebox won out on first place, though.

They beckon Misty over with the sauce to pour over the mix. Almost time for food, guys! This was such a group effort, it was awesome. There's an extra for them to take upstairs for Link, if the guy doesn't come down. And nothing for Crowley. (The Soldier is the only one sad about that, that's fine.)

"I saw it, but I didn't poke around much." Doesn't trust it. There's a running theme here. "A once-over of the stalls and then home."

Pour she does, trying not to look like she's in any particular hurry. Of course, she is. It looks and smells good, she's already hungry, and the immediate brainstorming for birthday/Beacon anniversary meals is taking a toll.

"Is this an at-the-table arrangement, or can we hover wherever?" Because there's a torch, and she'll cozy right up to it at first opportunity.

"Oh, I've seen that! The candy. Rosinante used it to rescue me once." Sora is going to definitely keep some of that info in mind the next time the Night Market comes into town. He will definitely drag both the soldier and Misty with him! After all, they'll be safe as long as they stick together. (He has a lot of confidence in this plan.)

Sora is bouncing in place now that the bowls and forks are set out. "I'm good with either!" This is a very bold attempt to cover up the fact that he is nineteen and starving. He knows the courtesy drill, and he also knows that they should probably wait for Aziraphale, but that looks way better than what he has waiting at the library. He neeeeeeds an adult here to make up their mind. Soldier. Please!!!

Making decisions for other people, when not in some kind of life-or-death situation, is still something they're working on. So there's a hesitation, but then: "Sit where you like. Aziraphale will probably eat upstairs with Crowley. And Link wherever he's hiding. It's warmer in the living room." Closer to the torch, too, so seeing each other is easier.

"Excellent call." Decision making must be encouraged and praised specifically. Not the most nuanced approach, Misty understands, but she's not particularly of the opinion autonomy and expression of wills - serious or whimsical - need be nuanced. She'd ply him with sweets and money if they were reliably on her person enough.

With this, bowl in hand, she's leading the charge and occupying the far side of a sofa. Warmer, higher visibility, comfortable seating. Superior.

"We all need radios," she muses aloud, "Something to fill the gaps when you talk over dinner." Fleeting as her familiarity with it is, she misses television ferociously.

"Yesthanksforthefood," Sora says in a rush as he scoops up his bowl and dive bombs his way into the living room, putting his food on the coffee table... then running back out to get water because that's not exactly a dive-bombable food item. "Does anyone else want water?"

And he'll poke his head out one last time in the soldier's direction. "Wait, Link? Blond? Dressed in green? With the ears?"

They look vaguely amused at Sora's zoominess. Cute kid. "I've got to take these upstairs. But yes, him."

And you know what, Misty? Your wish is their command (literally, sometimes). They retrieve their tablet from one of their inner pockets, set it on the coffee table, and flip to one of the folders of softer music to start it playing. Bam. Radio. She gets a little grin as they straighten up.

Then they slip upstairs to deliver more dinner to more people. They'll be back in a minute-- skip them for a round here?

There's a nod for water, here!

Then a hand is honest to god pressed to her heart. The surface level has to play off casually, but she's more than a little touched. Grin: returned. "Thank you."

She watches him retreat, and allows a brief pause to inhale a few mouthfuls, swallowed before she has to ask, "Are there people here that don't have ears, or-?" What's special about ears? "I don't think I've met him! What's he like?"

"Nice, tell him I said hi." Sora says, disappearing back into the kitchen to grab two waters. Knowing Link is here and out of the snow? Very good news! Sora had lost track of the guy in the two weeks he'd been there, and neither of them knew how to use the tablets very well. He'd tried to keep an eye out for him, but the only news he's had is the lack of his name in the obituaries. Not the greatest way to know that a bud's alive, but it was better than nothing.

He walks back in... to music? On the tablet? "Man, they've gotta show me that app. I'm miserable with technology. Here you go," he adds, setting the glass on the nearest flat surface next to Misty.

"Doesn't ha- oh!" Sora laughs, settling himself on the floor and putting his own water down. "Okay, first off, I was about to say that most people have ears, but then I realized that I don't remember if Daylight has ears or not? Anyway, Link's great. He came on the same boat I did - we ran into each other on our first day there." He scoots in closer to his bowl, picking up his fork. "He's got double the ears most people do. Like, you're from Earth, right? Did you see those movies with, uh, the elves and dwarves and kings and the towers and stuff? From, you know, somewhere around 2000?" Sora makes big pointy shapes outside the edge of his own ears to demonstrate. "Elf. Sort of."

And now he turns to his food. "Bone apple tea," he intones before digging in. (This is the only way to silence the child - with food.)

"Four ea--" she starts, blessedly cut off by Sora's incredibly important ear-elaboration. Thank god. "Lord Of The Rings," she corrects with a grin. "Didn't see them, but I like the books. Elf guy. Neat."

Another pause, as she understands the real priorities here. Meals need to be demolished. Conversation must come in small chunks.

"Is he not living anywhere? That's terrible on a normal day, and this is dead winter. I have a spare room and a couch if it's some kind of space thing." Not that she can see that being the case, but - c'mon. Why is every third person in this town such garbage at taking care of themselves. Death is no excuse.

"Oh, right, there were books! Didn't read them." Sora pauses. "Man, those are really old for me... Came out when I was four? I think? I watched them way later - they were on Netflix for a while." Sora may live in the library, and may be super awesome friends forever with the Librarian, but he does not read books to the same extent as even most people are wont to do. Still, it's good to know they're working with roughly the same cultural context. Comforting, even.

With a cheek full of pasta - REAL good pasta, props to both Misty and the soldier - Sora makes a muffled "enh" sound, before swallowing about 80% of that mouthful. "I dunno, he's kind of, uh, earthy? I think he did a lot of exploring back in his world. I don't know, when we first got here he never seemed like he got too cold. Lucky, if you ask me, it's freezing here."

Sora hums. "If he's still around, and this is the first time he's gone to anyone for shelter... I dunno much about him, but I sort of get the feeling that he's not really used to being around people? He'll ask if he needs help. Probably." He hopes. He's very, visibly worried about him. Link was one of his first pals here, after all, even if they did only meet once, and Sora's got himself a soft heart and no body language filter whatsoever. "I hope he does. Everyone needs help sometimes."

"He's not the only one not living anywhere," the Soldier says, coming back down the stairs. "Duster doesn't have anywhere official, either. Or that one." Sora gets a mostly-not-serious stink-eye. And it's a mild stink-eye, given the subtle nature of the Soldier's expressions, but still recognizable.

Then they disappear briefly into the kitchen for their own dinner, coming back out to add, "Aziraphale will be down again later. He says hello, Misty."

"There a reason people are technically homeless?" It's absurd to be living like that, to such an extent she could almost laugh, but it's simultaneously deeply concerning. Her own love-hate relationship with things like having real coats or borrowing a torch aside, winter is taken fairly seriously. "And-- fill me in, who is Duster?"

There's no returning Aziraphale's hello yet, obviously, but there's a smile regardless. D'aw.

"Someone's gotta round 'em up. Real housing. Warm." Would you look at that Sora, the stink eye doubles. Where have you been sleeping, young man.

"Not enough rooms. And, uh." Sora scratches the side of his nose with a finger. "I... sort of wanted some space. Not that people weren't nice, but um. I guess I didn't want to couchsurf with strangers back then."

This is a lie! Or at least it's not the full truth. Sora is bad at lying, but his eyes also flick toward the soldier, quickly latching onto the new subject. "Never met him. Who is Duster?"

"There's the hotel now. Maybe after the blizzard is over, people--" Meaning Sora, and Duster, and Link, and really anyone else still... couchsurfing... what a weird word. They're not even sure what "surfing" is, to be honest. "--can start moving in there. Bring a little more light to that building."

They retrieve their own bowl from the kitchen and settle on the floor in front of the couch, near the two of them but not quite touching distance, leaning a shoulder against the couch itself. "Duster is the one with the little mustache. A little shorter than me, brown hair."

There's clearly more to this, Sora, but Misty will gracefully, mercifully consider it tabled for now. "Wonder if there's room service," ponderously half-murmured, is all she has to say on the hotel matter.

"Is there one with a big mustache, or is this just extra detail?" She, also, has not met him, but that's description enough to keep eyes peeled as needed. "Can handle himself, right?"

Kuai from the network's already told him about the hotel, but he'll perk up a bit at the idea of a hotel anyway! "Yeah, I'd be down for that." He grins. "Bringing lights back. That sounds good." He's not sure if he can rightfully say it's right up his alley, but it's at least he's a topic he's comfortable with. Time will tell if he's any good as... well... he's supposed to be at it.

Sora can honestly say that he has never seen this guy in his life. Then again, he's only been here for a little over a week! Plenty of time to get introduced. It's not like they're going anywhere. "Are there only that many of us? Like, is there only ever gonna be one guy kinda shorter than you with a little mustache?"

"No, just the one, I think. Everyone else has actual beards." The Soldier has a few bites of their pasta, making a pleased little hum at how it came out, before answering Sora, "Don't know. There's more now than there were when we came. Might just keep adding. Can't add too many, or we'll bring the World Eaters." Who knows where the tipping point is, though?

"No jinxing it," chimes Misty, falling short of chiding but not by much. A few bites pass.

"To be fair, we ever miss a shipment of razors or something you won't be far behind 'em." And, speaking of, "Or you'll just out-grow them all for hair anyway. It's getting long." And looks nice! Her tone hopefully conveys as much.

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oh my god i really did leave this hanging... big sorry

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