Date Point: Who cares? This didn’t happen, but if it had, it’d be now.
“Okay, everybody! Dinner time!” Adam called the motley group to the table from where they mingled uneasily outside. The scent of soup and other rich food wafted through the air, as the screen door slid open and everyone filed in.
Getting the SOR: HEAT guys all together for a meal had been the easy part. Less simple was the arrangement of seating for their other guests, since the Vulza and the Alpha-of-Alphas not only wouldn’t quite fit through the door, but both of them kept trying to eat some of the other guests. Myun had had to smack the Vulza on the nose about it, and only the threat of having to wear a Hello Kitty costume for the rest of the afternoon had quelled the Hunter. Well, that and promising that whatever they were going to serve it had died screaming. Eventually, everyone was seated at their individual seats.
“Okay….here we go. This is what we humans refer to as a ‘potluck’,” Adam said with a big grin. “I’m glad you all made it here. We’re gonna start off with a soup.” Firth and Burgess came walking out of the kitchen, arms bulging as they carried a small toureen in each hand, making several trips. Everybody got a huge serving of soup to start off with, and there was much chatter around the table.
“Madre de Dios,” Ava said, looking down. “What is this, and how am I going to eat it all?”
“It’s a stew – you’ll like it a lot, and the funny thing is, regardless of how much you eat of it, you’ll really want more. There’s a lot in it, but I think what holds it all together is the ham bones that have been in it since the beginning,” Firth said with a grin. “Whoa now, slow down there!” This last was addressed to the Alpha-of-Alphas, who had downed the entire thing and was busily chewing up the bowl. At one end of the table, Gabriel, Powell, and Regaari were busily talking in a low tone, the former two trying to explain philosophy to the third without a lot of success, Xiu looking on with amusement.
“…what, that text written by Hume? I read it, but I don’t really understand it,” Regaari said finally.
“That’s okay, Regaari,” Xiu broke in. “You’re not really supposed to read it, you’re supposed to experience it.” Regaari shook his head and tried eating his soup with moderate success.
“You are right, Righteous,” he said finally. “I can’t get enough of this…although that may be because I can’t get all of it at once.” There was some chuckling around the table.
“…Guido? I wouldn’t say he’s my best friend,” Myun said, to a question from Blaczynski. “I haven’t heard from him in some time. I’ll try to salvage things with him once he’s done with his run to Iran from wherever it was he’d started.” Across the table from her, a guest who wouldn’t tell anybody his name, and who the rest of the guys had started just calling “Dude” nodded.
Several more courses made their way around the table; everyone ate until they were nearly ready to explode. Mother-Superior Yulna looked up suddenly.
“Hey, where did that …minstrel…. go? He was here a moment ago, and now he’s gone,” she said to the room.
“He may be missing in action,” Regaari replied. “I’ll search after dinner, assuming I can move.”
“I hope you all left room for a slice of pie,” Adam announced, as they were nearly done eating. “It’s a really old recipe.” There were groans from around the table.
“God, no more. I can’t take even another bite….I’m not in training anymore,” rumbled Daar. “If I have to even look at food before tomorrow morning, I’m going to take it out in the field and blow itt up with some C-12.”