kollo_rpg | Summer 1 - Welcome dinner

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Summer 1 - Welcome dinner

[ It's the very first dinner on Norrhamn and the kitchen staff (???) has really gone all out. The counter is covered by a variety of the finest cuisine Sweden has to offer — sandwich cakes of every variety, from the classic salmon and shrimp to ham and horse radish or more modern, vegan varieties with avocado and cherry tomatoes. There's a smaller table set out with strawberry and cream cake, and the traditional spread of seven different types of shortbread cookies. Of course there's coffee and tea by the bucketload, along with other drinks such as elderberry or lingonberry squash. The community center has been decorated for the occasion with bunting and strings of lights leading out into the garden. It's still early summer so the nights are mild and surprisingly bright — the sun has yet to fully set by the time the celebrations kick off. Better get used to the light, it's not getting darker anytime soon. ]

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[ It's hard to know just where to start at the feast (how can all this just be called a dinner?) and Evelina spends a long minute just staring at the assortment of foods. It's only when she recognizes the tea that she perks up and takes a cup, sweetening it with honey. She takes a few shortbread cookies and heads out into the garden, looking perfectly dressed for the weather in a long, flowy dress and sandals.

It's peaceful here, and from the way she looks out at the scenery, it's clear she's a person who has been desperately searching for such a thing in her life. ]

It almost seems like a dream.

[ It's murmured aloud in a faintly accented voice of which it's hard to pin down the origin. ]

Martha was also taken aback. She always was at an excess of food, ever since the Paradox Year. Even a modest Christmas feast at home was enough to take her breath away. But then to add the actual sandwich cakes? Yeah, that was a bit much. She heard someone near her murmur something about it being like a dream and Martha turned to match the voice with the speaker. Her eyes alighted on a young woman dressed significantly nicer than her.

"Almost an excess of food. But one that I'm eager to try."

Evelina offers a shy smile in return. Going out of her way to talk to people who aren't customers in her little potions shop will be a new challenge for her.

"I fear my stomach won't be able to take it before long. Once I start, I don't know how I will ever stop. It all looks so good." Her eyes drift back towards the open doorway. "Especially the cakes."

Martha nods. "I'm thinking one bite of everything... and then going back for more of the best ones. But then, I'm afraid I'll be full once I finish my sampling and not be able to indulge. It's certainly a quandry.

"That's one solution, yes. And I agree; it would be possible to grow full on the samples alone." She examines her shortbread cookie. "I have not seen its like before. Perhaps I should limit myself to these. At least the tea is familiar." Tea must be universal.

Martha chuckled. "Oh those are yummy. That being said, you might want something a little more varied. Limiting yourself just to shortbread won't fell great in a couple hours."

"It won't? Will it make me sick?" She gives the cookie a suspicious look, like perhaps it's been deceiving her.

"Oh no! Well, a couple won't harm you. But I'm sure there's plenty of sugar and other rich foods which will likely give you a stomach ache!"

"Oh, that's a good point; thank you." She nibbles on the cookie and smiles. "I won't overindulge, but this is very good. Very... smooth, I suppose." Since buttery isn't really a flavor she's used to at home. They mostly use olive oil and butter is used much less.

"My name's Evelina," she adds, a little shyly.

"Oh they are that... it's all the butter," Martha replied, nabbing one off the tray for herself and taking a bite. It is quite buttery, and she takes a mental note to come back to that table after trying something a little more substantial.

"Martha," she supplies with a smile. She brushes the crumbs off her fingers and holds her hand out to shake the other woman's. "It's nice to meet you Evelina!"

"Is it? How tasty." She puts the rest of the cookie in her mouth, telling herself she must try more things with butter in them.

The handshake isn't unfamiliar to her, since she's lived all over and most recently in a port city, so she takes the hand and gives it a gentle, almost timid shake. It's almost as if she's testing something, which she is, though she isn't about to admit it. But Valborg has given her a magical bracelet that will hopefully stop her cursebreaking ability, and she shouldn't be afraid to touch others now.

"And you as well. Thank you for being so friendly."

"Of course! Are people not usually friendly towards you?"

Martha's a little shocked by that. Of course, people in 21st Century London weren't necessarily friendly or unfriendly. Just focused on where they needed to be next and not real worried about anyone else.

"Oh, no! It's not that at all." She looks abashed that she may have accidentally insinuated such.

"It's... me. I usually prefer to keep to myself and all this is so new." It's actually difficult to put into words what she means without giving out too much information about herself.

"People aren't unfriendly. I simply don't talk to them very much beyond business. That's all I meant. I'm sorry I wasn't clear."

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notrosesshadow - 2018-10-25 18:33 (UTC) - Expand

[That really is a stunning outfit, and it isn't long before Jack saunters over. (It's not that he's actually that shallow, but he is drawn to the exotic and beautiful, and Evelina looks both!)]

Quite some dream, yeah. [Coming up beside her, gazing out at the early shades of the sunset spreading gently across the wide expanse of sky.]

Really beautiful. [With a smirk that indicates that he's including her in that assessment.]

[ Evelina nods along, though she can't quite tell if he's speaking of the garden or not. She's been flirted with before, but has always tried to keep conversation to a minimum or to business only that she doesn't possess an accurate gauge for this sort of thing. ]

You are new as well?

[And he on his end can't quite tell if she's ignoring the compliment or if she didn't quite get it. He hopes it's just the later!]

Yep, just arrived today! I think most people here are new. Most of those here were on the boat, I think.

[He smiles, and offers her a hand.] Captain Jack Harkness. And you are...?

Oh! [ She looks at the offered hand, a little startled. ] I, uh, prefer not to shake. I'm sorry.

[ She winces, but she can't take the risk of being outted as a Cursebreaker. She really needs to talk to someone about putting a stop to that ability. ]

I'm Evelina. Are you a ship's Captain?

[That's the second time today he's had his handshake refused, and he makes a mental note to stick with just saying hi from now on. Perhaps it makes sense in a way. There's a fairly good chance, after all, that the people who've chosen to come here are damaged in some way, or have good reason not to want physical contact.

He gives her a smile, sticking his hand casually in his trouser pocket instead.] Of course. Nice to meet you, Evelina. Pretty name!

Not a ship's Captain, no. I've been Captain of quite a few things over the years but these days it's mostly just an affectation. No formal Captaining nowadays - just freelancing! [He grins, eyes twinkling.]

Thank you.

[ She ducks her head a little at the compliment, not really sure what to do with it. She didn't name herself, after all. ]

I'm only familiar with ships having Captains. And militaries have them too, I think. Should I be calling you by your title?

Oh, all sorts of organisations have captains. The military, sports teams, police forces... But no, please, don't call me Captain. Jack is fine! We're all off duty here, aren't we?

[With another disarming grin.] So! Where do you come from, Evelina? I can't quite place your accent?

All, right... Jack.

[ There's a slight blush here. Surely these questions are simple ones to answer, but she's been dodging talking about herself for so long that it's hard to start. ]

Delphi. It is a city-state. [ And large enough that someone like her can easily hide from her past. ] But I am from all over, really. A traveler. Your accent is very different to my ears too.

[Jack knows a deflection when he hears one, mainly because it's exactly how he answers such questions too.]

Another traveller, huh! Guess that's something we have in common. I'm kinda from all over too. [He sounds more or less American, but his coat looks like something from the British Air Force. He's quite a mixture, just as she is.]

Delphi, now - haven't visited Greece in quite a while! Had to see a man in Athens once, about a stone nymph that was actually a dormant alien, but that was years ago!

[Delivered, as always, with that bright, faintly teasing smile that makes it absolutely impossible tell if he's serious or not. (Though this time he is.)]

Oh?

[ She looks cautiously intrigued at his traveler comment, but if she asks to hear more, he might do the same in turn, and how to explain without getting to the heart of why she's always been running? ]

Um, an alien? What is an alien?

[He quirks an eyebrow.]

A being from another world? Another planet. Or another dimension.

The stone nymph turned out to be a Wnaglypheron, from Xclypiof. Its spaceship had got knocked off course and crashed here several centuries ago, and it had been stranded there ever since, poor thing!

((OOC: The whole nymph thing is straight out of my head, btw. Jack's always full of these stories. It keeps my creativity active!))

[ Her eyes grow wide on hearing that. She didn't think it was possible, but then again, she's never thought about how vast the night sky really was out there. And she's not sure what to make of the word "dimension." ]

Those words are so... different to my ears. But it's lived here hundreds of years? And it came in a ship that sails across the sky, in space?

[ She has so many more questions that it's difficult to untangle them all in her mind so she can ask them. ]

[ ooc: sounds good! it's always fun to flesh things out like that. ]

Evelina | ota

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