2024-11-30 - Rooftop Grillin'

Turning Leaf Apartments — Rooftop

A deck that encircles a large greenhouse in the middle of the roof here, filled with plants tended by residents, from herbs to veg and flowers. The outer ring of the deck has several small seating areas, an outdoor grill, and a fire pit with an octagonal seating pit situated around it. Tonight the fire's lit, cheerfully crackling, providing warmth against the chilly autumn night.

The grill's likewise fired up, already stacked with a selection of veg, pineapple, black bean burgers, and some meatier options. Sweet corn grills on the top rack, slathered in a spicy herb butter. A cooler of beer, water, and root beers is stuffed with ice, a tub of fresh ice and cups beside it.

It's not an official gathering, just something informal, and anyone who shows up is welcome. Low music plays in the background.

Me & The Devil — Soap&Skin

King's sat by the grill in a cozy hoodie and dark jeans, generally rocking the black. Her hood's up, and she gestures with the metal spatula saying, "... And then he looked down, saw a tiny finger stick, and passed right out. I mean, yeah, that uncovered an underlying heart condition, and he's fine now, but also, y'know. Make sure the epi pen's facing the right way before you try to inject a friend in need."

Tales from the medical rotation at the park, when she arrives just one moment too late. Or right on time, as it were.

Jack, likewise, is in a black hoodie that has a faded Horde symbol on it over other layers. On his head are little snowman deelie boppers because it's snowing perhaps? This musician remains low key festive. In hand is a cooler to which the French Canadian shares "Got venison sausage to share tonight. Long story. Helped a guy win a bet." His voice is just hoarse right now, but it was a long set too. Those there might have caught him belting out some Joe Cocker earlier and paying a bit of a price for that right now.

"You see all this snow? Was afraid we would have to fight an ice wall to get up here. Is looking good, King."

Wearing wranglers, flannel shirt, and wool-lined jacket with a ballcap, Elijah nods sympathetically at King's story. His own contribution is a cooler full of amber bottles of some of his homebrew ciders that he claims to have brewed last year as a holiday brew. It's crisp rather than sweet, with nice warm spices. He's sitting on a seat, polishing his prop sword with a rag and some pink polish. He clicks his tongue at Jack, both for his story and drawing attention to the chill in the air.

"Not natural." He grumbles regarding the snow as he shoves hands into his pockets, even if he can't technically feel the cold, "An' I gotta say, 's a good bet that ends in sausage." And he waggles his brows at Jack.

"Epi pen backwards? That sounds horrible." Eddie has a six-pack of local microbrew in each hand, "I mean, in the moment. It sounds hilarious after the fact." He's got a gaudy red, white, and green Santa hat on for 'full holiday cheer,' but hasn't made much accommodation for the weather with a khaki field coat, t-shirt, and jeans. "Been a while since I had venison," he greets Jack, lifting the six-pack in salute.

A glance over to Elijah, and Eddie chuckles, "Strapped at a barbeque, eh? I like that style. And the snow may be cold, but it made for some great pictures during setup."

Michael is off shift today and so he heard there was some grilling going on and is up on the roof ready to partake. He brought a six pack of hard cider with him in a little cooler and that is his contribution. He may have also helped carry some things up. Whatever King needed help with.

"The snow's pretty great, not going to lie," he says as he sets down the cooler with the ciders and grabs one out of it. He's dressed in a pair of dark washed jeans, running shoes, and a plain grey hoodie with something on underneath it -- enough to be warm and cozy out by the fire pit.

"There are sausages?" That's what he caught out of that conversation.

"Hey, Jack." King grins when she looks up from the grill and sees the piano man with the compliments is dressed similarly. "Nice." Considering it's lightly snowing up here, it's pretty warm thanks to the fire pit. "Nice frosting." She means, of course, his headwear. "Dubiously acquired sausages, can't go wrong with that." She scoots some stuff over and makes room on the grill for Jack's bet begotten bounty of bambi.

Most of the stuff set out was probably carried by Michael. "My roomie did the heavy lifting," she says. "I'm just grillmastering for the night." She laughs in agreement with Eddie, "Yeah. I'd never seen that reaction happen in real life before, so I maaay have looked a little unprofessional for a couple seconds after he dropped. It all worked out in the end." There's a brief pause before she says, "Everybody got a drink t'hand?" She flips some items to get those sweet criss cross grill marks. "Anybody interested in a game of truth or drink? Exactly as it sounds, but you don't wanna tell the truth, you don't do a dare, you do a slug of whatever you're already drinking."

Jack chuckles at Elijah's complaints on the cold. "Is not the worst it can be. I tell people growing up we had to ice skate everywhere. No one had need of a car. All horse shit but some winters it did feel like this." He does take one of the drinks Eddie brought over. As they're adjacent to the brewing and distilling peninsula there's always something interesting.

"Cannot wait to see them You have, hmmm, a gift for not letting people now they're getting a picture taken so it never looks awkward. If you ever quit you would maybe make a very good PI?" The grin widens as Michael agrees about the snow. "Exactly, is pretty. Maybe is the island's confetti to say woo you hung stuff up and did not fall off the ladder." His head wobbles making the snowpeople on his headband look like a cheering section.

As King makes room he gets the deer brats out and says "Okay, the challenge question is 'what is your most fun snow memory?'" looking to Elijah he says as if breaking terrible news to him that grieves him so, "And going back inside and hiding from it is, I am afraid, not permitted as an answer this round."

"As long as we ain't on t' clock an' someone don't tattle." Elijah says that slyly, pointing the amber bottle towards Michael. He grimaces at Jack's question, and firmly says, "Pass." Beat. And he drains his bottle in several generous gulps, before continuing. "M' snow memories are kinda borin'. Don't tend t' get much snow down south, an' when we do we make like Ted Cruz an' go to warmer climates."

Eddie sets the bottles down by the cooler, pops it open, and then adds them in where there's space. Keeping one for himself, he steps over to a bench, using the edge of it to pop the cap off the bottle. Collecting the cap, he tucks it into a pocket. Saluting Michael with his beer, he looks over to King a little more warily, considering for a long moment before he sighs a little heavily and moves over to settle onto one of the benches around the firepit. "Okay, deal me in."

The question from Jack causes him to nod slowly, "Most fun snow memory? The year I was in Anchorage, went cross-country skiing and ran into a moose. Literally. I'm pretty sure I set a land speed record going the other way, and so did he."

"What happens on the roof stays on the roof," Michael says to Elijah with a tip of his own bottle in his direction. "Unless it requires an ambulance or a fire truck. Then, we're calling someone who is on duty because I am not." He then takes a long swig from his own bottle.

Making his way over to the cooler he grabs a drink for King and hands it over.

"Most fun snow memory was that growing up we had a big chestnut stallion who really loved the snow. He loved rolling around in it. But every time he'd run out there and roll around in it, he'd get himself stuck, and then just flail sadly until someone went out there to help hoist him up."

"I'd like to see that picture from the bonfire sometime, if it came out." King says, looking to Eddie and then back to Jack. She turns the grill down a little, does some minor rearranging, and accepts that drink from Michael. "You're the best," she says with a warm smile for her roomie. She settles enough the grill to step over easily in a couple minutes, when some stuff should be ready to plate.

"Oh shit. A moose? Are they really bigass horse sized danger puppies? Never ran into one myself, but I saw some videos..." She shakes her head, listening to Eddie's brief but evocative tale. "Sounds beautiful, anyway. Never been cross country skiing in the snow. All that stillness, crystalline landscape... and a moose." She nods. "Yep." She nods and points her bottle to Michael. "What Michael said. What happens here stays here, and if we need emergency services, we just align our stories and tell as much truth as they need to treat you properly."

She's about to take a sip when Michael talks horses, and she laughs. "Did your neighbors ever call you concerned he'd expired when he was just stuck?" She laughs again at the visual, having grown up around horses and horse people. "I ditched the cab of an 18 wheeler when my grandpa tried to teach me to drive stick on it. Thought he'd be pissed, but he just opened up a thermos of hot chocolate once he was sure we were ok, then waited on a tow from a neighbor to try again. Probably not the best idea since I was fifteen and the cocoa was spiked." She lifts her bottle in a toast. "Country living."

Jack looks to Eddie impressed, "Wu Tang Moose is nothing to fuck with. See you're smart, You know to get the hell out of the way. That's fantastic." Looking to Elijah Jack says easily with a rasp, "Ehhh if you do not have one we work on one. We start here. You'll be okay." He seems optimistic about this.

"Aww that horse sounds like a very big child. I love him." Looking to King he snickers and cheers, "Country living.
That you could se out of it is impressive, and he sounds pretty great, and also prepared. See you can't worry too much about these things. I remember one winter we lost power for like three days so my cousin and I went and built a snow fort in the back yard. Hardly noticed. My dad just kept the beer and cheese on the lawn in a box. It was fine. I could not understand why they were not having as much fun and were excited about it as we were. Adults man." Looking around he gestures with his drink, "Who has a something?"

The cowboy chuckles at Michael's reassurance as he sets his now-empty bottle aside and goes back to polishing the sword with smooth, regular strokes of the rag. "Well, reckon I could take a stab at it." The Texan says stoically, nodding towards Jack. The stories about winter are met with a chuckle, especially regarding the horse stuck in the snow. "Had that happen once at a Ren Fair. 'Cept it was mud."

He pops open another bottle with one hand, frowning consideringly, "So how 'bout this? What's the worst thing 'bout workin' here you've discovered so far?"

"I don't know which of us was more surprised," Eddie notes to Jack. "And okay, I didn't actually make contact, but I was about two feet away. And they're way bigger than most horses. At least the horses I've been around." That's to King, even as he's chuckling at Michael's story, "Michael'd know better how they stack up to moose. That sounds pretty hilarious, like a dog that can't roll itself over again." He toast's King's story as he chuckles, takes a sip of his beer, and nods, "Learning to drive in the cab of an eighteen-wheeler and spiked hot chocolate. Teenage King's best day or worst day ever."

At Elijah's question, Eddie whistles soft and low, taking a sip of his beer and considering, "It'd be really easy to say 'the guests,' particularly the whiny or entitled ones. But I think it's actually how utterly insipid some of the attractions are. It's just... God, if I hear that one song again, I think I'm going to go crazy."

Michael shakes his head and chuckles at King, "Nah. We were out on a lot of land. Most never saw it. And we told the stories enough that if they did, they'd probably just call us up and tell us that Barnaby was out making snow angels again. But yeah, moose are a lot bigger than most horses. You get a real big draft breed and they can be bigger than a moose. But even a little moose is pretty big. They've got signs up in Maine that say 'Break for Moose; It Could Save Your Life' and they're not kidding."

But Elijah's question is an easy one to answer, "The smell of the tunnels that run near the sewer pipes." Hands down. He will be taking no further questions.

Jack shakes his head chuckling as Eddie clarifies, "22 meters is still too close. Choose life and keep out of that moose's way." He snappoints at Michael and watches the little sizzlers cook for now seeming happy to relax and enjoy the stillness on the roof.

What's the worst part of the job. He squints and goes to answer though says, "Outside of someone requesting Paradise by the Dashboard Light every damn night? Hmmm is a good question." He really thinks on that one finally answering, "I think I have to go with that damn goose that keeps chasing me. When you are the size of a baseball this is a big deal I assure you. I try to tell him, hey you can't do that I'm Canadian we're supposed to be on the same size and the lil asshole beaked me."

"That's exactly it, Jack. If you don't need medical treatment, you're fine, so let's get on with it mentality. Also with drinks, and he always had a stash of peanut butter cups in the cab somewhere." King's amused by the stories shared so far, shaking her head again when she pictures a horse butter side up in the snow. She looks to Eddie and says, "One of the best memories I have, kinda a mixed bag. At the time, I wasn't sure about it, but now I look back fond."

"Worst thing about working here..." King thinks on that. "When people aren't honest about what they ate, drank, or ingested that's making them really ill, and I have to play the trust game till they believe I don't care, I just want to help them feel better. But y'know, that's the job anywhere." She takes that combined Mooseformation from Eddie and Michael and files it away somewhere for safekeeping. Along with a mental note later to google whether moose can swim distances. "I guess my here-specific answer is the slushies at that one stand in fantasyland taste like burnt hose water and food dye. I keep forgetting, because they look so good. It's always the blue ones. But the smell in the tunnels in that one spot, whew, yes."

She just starts to laugh when Jack brings up Paradise by the Dashboard Light, but quickly cuts that off with a cough. Ahem. Ahem. "... Ok, so question: What's one thing people think about you that isn't true?"

"Well, f' me, it's a toss up between the parasocial relationships 'twix the guests an' the performers." Elijah grimaces into his drink, before taking a deeeep drink and adding, "Plus t' magic ain't all it's shaped up t' be."

He chuckles, and adds, "Kinda funny how it was t' hardest question f' some, an' the easiest fer others." He pauses, and adds, "Geese're evil, Jack. Ain't no loyalty t' their brothers, apparently." He finishes off his polishing, lifting the sword to see how it catches the light and if there's any blemishes he missed. He nods in approval at it, and then blinks at King. "Ain't sure people think o' me, honestly. Don't think anyone gives a rat's ass 'bout any specifics."

Eddie grimaces broadly at Michael's choice, and he nods, lifting up his bottle and taking another sip as he does. But Jack's response causes him to laugh under his breath, shaking his head in amusement. King's choice causes him to grimace, and he nods, "Yeah. People lying to protect their feelings or yours is a pain in the ass. I might have to try the slushy though, just to see if it's as bad as advertised." Elijah's complaint about the magic causes him to tilt his head to one side, curiosity flickering his eyes for a heartbeat before he lets it slide on to the next question.

He considers that one for a moment as well, and then shrugs, "I did not serve." Which may be surprising, given many of his military mannerisms and stories.

Michael nods with sympathy to King and says, "That one slushie stand needs something done about it. Nobody wants a disappointing slushie." He then studies Jack and says "Or to be bitten by a goose." He gets up and goes over to the grill to get some of the corn that has the spiced butter on it and gathers that up on a plate along with one of the dubious sausages and some veggies. "Anybody want anything while I'm up?" He seems prepared to make plates if people want to continue to lounge.

Eddie's revelation gets a slow nod but then he says to Elijah, "I don't know if that's entirely true." But then he has to think about his own answer. "It's not really about me specifically, but a lot of people think Cornbread is my horse. He's not. We were just assigned to each other when I got here. He technically has seniority."

Jack looks to Eddie suspiciously, "If you did not serve who the hell I get this beer from?" He squints a little harder then winks and goes to get something good off the grill. "Raise your hand if you need us to plate something for you?" it's a question but also an offer.

Jack asks Michael curiously, "So you are his assistant then? Understood." He's trying to think on this answer as King asks a tough question. Thinking on it he says "People think I'm honest. Truth is I'm bad at it... or am I? Half the stories I share on stage? They are BS but make for a better story. People don't come to the show for the truths, they come for a spectacle and sometimes we improvise. If the life you ordered isn't exciting home made is fine. You craft your own. This is a story place anyway yes?"

King hms when Elijah answers he's not sure, then looks over at Eddie. "May whatever god, entity, or snack pack you believe in have your back on that adventure, my friend," she says of the slushie stand. "You..." She was gonna say are a braver person than I, but swaps last minute to, "You'll have to give us your honest review." She thumbs over to Michael, who seemed to agree something funky's afoot at that one particular stand. "Maybe they put real smurfs in them or something, I dunno." It might actually be organic low sugar fruit juice and mineral water. She doesn't have refined tastes.

Rising, King moves over to the grill to check the black bean burgs, which seem to be done, along with most everything else on the grill. "Wouldn't mind a black bean burger stacked on one of those buns I toasted earlier. We got plain regular and whole grain." She points to the whole grain for herself. "I'll get the sauces out." There's homemade pesto along the with the usual condiments and a selection of cheeses.

She looks over to Eddie. "Hm. You know what's funny? People used to ask me all the time if I did." She did not. "I don't know if it's all the ink or that topics best not discussed over a meal don't put me on the floor." She finishes setting up the the sides, and grabs another cold one while she's up. "It's a good place to tell stories, Jack. Couldn't agree more. And who we were, who we are, all how you tell it, I guess."

Although technically he answered, Elijah still polishes off his amber bottle of cider, and reaches for another with a rolling of his shoulders as he puts his sword away one-handed, the bottle hiding the grimace before he pulls up that good ol' Texan stoicism. He nods at Michael's explanation, chuckling slightly. But he knows Matteo pretty well, so of course the horses would have seniority over the staff. Only the best out of Matteo's stables.

"Amen, brother." Elijah nods at Jack, setting sword and beer both down to lift his hat with one hand and run a hand through his hair with another, "Little surprised no one mentioned the flyin' Karens. They're brutal."

King bringing up the black bean burgers makes his nose wrinkle, a carnivore on an island of herbivores, but he glances at his beer, towards the grill, and then at Jack before raising a hand. "Nab me a plate of somethin' that'd eat y'all's dinners?" He suggests with a chuckle, "Defaultin's got me feelin' nice an' fuzzy."

Michael goes about putting together a black bean burger for King and sets that on a plate and passes it over to her so she can add whatever accessories she wants. Then he grabs another plate and adds a selection of meats for it for Elijah, one of each, no veg. This he passes to Jack and says "Can you bring that over to Elijah?"

While he's getting things off the grill and commandeering Jack's offer to deliver plates, he reaches over and grabs a bite off his own.

Eddie waits for the others to collect their food, waving offers to get something for him, but Jack's mock suspicion draws a chuckle, "You know what I mean." The reveal from Michael, however, has Eddie chuckling, "I mean, I always knew that the horses had more to do with where they went than the people do." He nods agreement with Jack's point about the spectacle and improvising, "Some of the best stuff that all of you performers do is when you're improvising."

Focusing in on King when she mentions her own similarities, he nods, "There's a lot in common between servicemembers and first responders. There's an instancy of action and -- hopefully -- purpose. When something goes wrong, the people running toward it are usually one of those two." Pointing across the little area at Elijah with the mouth of his bottle, he notes, "I mean, I sort of covered them in my second worst part. I'll hit the grill after everyone's been by."

Jack looks to Elijah with that concerned face performs learn to have answering, "Cannibalism is still wrong, also we are out of T-rex. If you are being literal we do have mushrooms for he burgers." He might be a professional teller of tall tales on occasion but he remains a smartass always. "I got you."

He does look over to the black bean burgers, "Those smell good. Okay plates coming in. We eat in nice Karen free beautiful snowy garden." Lifting his drink he murmurs, "To getting to act like very big children and getting paid for it. Salude."

King's been drinking regardless of answers, and though a person could call it a failed game in that respect, the conversation is flowing, so she ain't mad at it. And now: food. What could be better than good company and hot food on snowy little night like this one?

"Can't say I've seen a flying Karen as yet. Been lucky, I guess. My line of work, it's not usually something comes my way." She looks to Eddie then, and her attention focuses briefly, "Yeah, you're right there." She takes the plate handed over by Michael, smiling warmly in thanks, and doctors it up while she says, "Being trained to run into the scary thing is one of my best and worst qualities." Her little smile grows at that. "Here's to many more days getting guests and each other through our problems." She takes a big ol' bite of her burg and says, "Mm. Hell yeah." She glances out over the view of the park, the way the snow flies lightly across everything. Even if it doesn't stick, it adds a little glimmer to the air, ice facets reflecting light.

"I'll drink to that," King says at Jack's toast, raising her bottle to the snowy night sky.