OOM: Christmas dinner with Pyrrha and Egil

[ostro_goth]

[[Ctd. from here.]]

Teja opens the door, laden as he is.

His usually comfortable, creatively untidy room is still that -- there is even Ferdinand the cat, sprawling all over Teja's bed, fast asleep. There are simply two new doors, one of them leading to a kitchen that provides all the modern comforts and appliances as well as a space to comfortably sit and eat, the other leading to Egil's room in Loki's apartment on the 12th floor.

One better should not think about how that works.

Comments

[ostro_goth]

"As long as the cats would not consider them prey?" Teja says, smiling.

[scarred_grin]

"So no catnip or crinkly things in them?" she asks with a grin. "I wouldn't be that mean. Oh, look--you got another present."

She offers it over. Spoiler: it's a pineapple. It is a pineapple gift-wrapped in a very form-fitting way, so that its shape is very clear in spite of the paper.

Loki gave Pyrrha one, and she's just passing it along. The concept, not the individual pineapple. Her pineapple got turned into rum cake months ago.

[ostro_goth]

"This is a -- plant that feeds upon itself?" Teja guesses, after unwrapping it.

[scarred_grin]

"Aw, you got pineappled," she grins.

"He wants a pineapple chain. I don't know. It's a fruit, and it's really good, and I'll make things from it for you--but the next time you give somebody a present, you also have to give them a pineapple. And they have to keep it going."

As far as semi-godly whims go, it's pretty mild.

[ostro_goth]

"Then whoever next gets a gift from me, will be very astonished," Teja says. "Good thing I tried to give Javert his blades today already; of course, he refused them."

[scarred_grin]

"That would've been funny. I'm sure he wouldn't think so, but... it would've."

She's picturing a look somewhere between seriousness and what the hell is that.

[ostro_goth]

"It would have," Teja says. "Unluckily, I will not get to give him anything else, any time soon."

[scarred_grin]

"I have something for you to pass along to Carlotta for her daughter for me, if you'd be willing, but since that's technically from me and not from you, you don't have to give her a pineapple. Unless you think she'd like one, in which case you can."

[ostro_goth]

"I think," Teja says, "Carlotta would be a very good recipient of a pine-apple."

[scarred_grin]

"As long as it won't make her think I'm luring you into some kind of fruit-cult," she says. "Because if I were gonna do that, it'd be an avocado cult, not pineapple. Nothing against pineapples, but avocados are my favorite."

[ostro_goth]

"They are the soft green savoury ones, are they not?" Teja says.

[scarred_grin]

"The ones Egil dressed up as," she nods. "I wouldn't make him a pineapple costume. He's more an avocado kind of puppy. Aren't you, puppy?"

Right now he's more of a keeping his cup from tipping over kind of puppy.

[ostro_goth]

And one that hopeful cats are looking at hopefully.

"So, dessert?" Teja then says, getting up. "Where shall I fetch it from?"

[scarred_grin]

"You still got two presents--well, one's for both of us but I'm afraid to open it--but if you want to do dessert, we can," she says.

They're both from Loki, so.

"The tray's in the fridge, and they're on separate little plates and everything. We'll just need spoons."

[ostro_goth]

"Perhaps we should open these presents first, then," Teja says.

[scarred_grin]

"Right there," she says nodding toward the pile. "The ones in the paper. Egil's aren't wrapped."

One is about the size and shape of two DVDs bundled together, probably because it is. The other is a little bigger and heavier, a shallow wooden box of some kind.

"He can open his after dessert. Or we can open them for him. They're clothes and a blanket."

[ostro_goth]

Teja takes the one in the paper, and unwraps the DVDs.

[scarred_grin]

Hey, look at that.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch--in her world, a documentary--and Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times, which continues to be fiction.

Loki's spending most of his time watching TV these days. He appreciates the value of movie night plus cuddling.

[ostro_goth]

"I have met her, here!" Teja says, looking at the first DVD box in amazement. "She used to come, a long time ago. Had I not known her, I would not have learned many important things."

[scarred_grin]

"You were saying," she says with a grin. "I love her art, and she can really sing. Andi and her band do one of her songs."

[ostro_goth]

"So now, we can see what she is like in her world," Teja nods.

[scarred_grin]

"I already know every word by heart," she says. "You're in for a treat--I hope it won't change your opinion of her too much. It's not always a pretty story, but then again, whose is?"

[ostro_goth]

"I know that mine is not," Teja says, nodding.

[scarred_grin]

"Yeah."

She catches Egil's cup before it can fall off the edge of the tray, and hands it back to him. Apparently foster-mothers develop mother-superpowers too.

[ostro_goth]

Teja slowly reaches for the wooden box, and opens that, too.