abraxaslogs | ( open ) an informal family dinner

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( open ) an informal family dinner

Who: the summoned of cadens
When: beginning of august
Where: the sarstina inn and tavern
What: the welcome committee (sam wilson, hilda, jesper) has come back together again for another cadens welcome event! everyone might remember the last event and this one will be much of the same. Including, but not limited to, another invite by hilda! | sam art credit!
Warnings: will update as needed!

THE DINNER

Just as before, this is kicked off with Hilda's invitation, and if any of the Summoned come by Sarstina's that evening, they will find it set up a little differently than usual, but very similar to last time.

There is a long table set up near the bar that has a whole party-spread, a ye-old-southern-party kind of set-up, if you will. There are dips, charcuterie plates, sandwiches, drinks, a pastry/dessert bar and almost anything else that Sam could get his hands on. It is all, of course, limited by what’s available in Cadens, but thankfully he’s been here long enough to figure his way around the food options. Behind the bar is Mag (because no one else is getting their hands on the alcohol stash, thank you very much) and she will serve whoever it is that comes up to ask for a drink and will refuse any sort of payment - it appears someone is covering the tab tonight.

The rest of the tavern is set up for a party, with tables and chairs scattered around, a stage set up in the corner, and a decently sized space in front of the stage for dancing if the night gets to that point. There may or may not be some live music later in the evening, no promises have been made, but if anyone else wants to get up on the stage they are more than welcome.

Nadine has been kind enough to provide little apothecary bags filled with a mild sleeping tonic and things to help settle the nerves that new (and old) Summoned can take with them. There’s a table near the door and by the bar that have these bags in wicker baskets with a small sign that reads: Visit Salves and Stitches for all your medical needs!

The vibes are definitely low-key and casual – come get an ale, come eat some food, and if you're new there is a very good chance you'll end up (gently and in the most friendly way) cornered by either Sam, Hilda, Jesper, or any of the other Summoned. They are here to help answer questions and give a bit more background on what the hell is going on. And also let you know about the deal that has been going with Mag and the Inn for almost two years now. Aka, if you're looking for a room, there is one here for you in exchange for work. You can leave whenever you have a job, or you can stay as long as you like. It’s all about helping Summoned get more settled, and as long as you’re good at taking instruction and picking up after yourself, Mag hasn’t had any issues. Not a bad gig, right?

And if being social isn't your thing, or you’re just not the party kind of person, the Welcome Committee understands. But also, really, who is going to turn down free drinks and free food? The Cities work on coin and commerce, so turning down a free meal isn’t really the smartest thing. Plus - there’s alcohol. And the food is pretty damn good.

OOC INFO

- this is a totally open post! There will be some TL’s below from the Committee Members, but otherwise, have fun, meet some people, and put up a TL of your own! there are various places to run into people around the tavern, and if you find someone who is willing to help you into the Horizon (Sam is happy to help, but he’s helping Host), Sam's been letting people know they can use his room upstairs.

- the only Rule is there will be no fighting. You want to duke it out? Take it somewhere else. There will not be warnings or second chances, so don't be an ass. Summoned have lived in this Inn since they were all portaled here ages go, this is their home. and if ANYONE is seen giving Mag a hard time, there are a few people here who will not hesitate and who are not afraid of squaring up. Also, you cause problems, and you will not be invited back :)

- The whole purpose of the Welcome Committee is going to be going overboard to be welcoming, especially to new faces. Even if your character didn't see the big invitation, feel free to have them invited by word of mouth, or chased down by any of the members. Some Summoned may have also checked the barracks for any new Summoned to bring them into town.

- Mag is an NPC who you can read a little more about in the NPC section of the Cadens setting page. Feel free to have her come in and out of your tags as needed!

THE INN

Magmara (or Mag) has run the inn for years and has been a familiar face in that neighborhood as a woman who always made ends meet, almost in spite of the way she took care of her friends and neighbors above all else. Most weren't always sure how she managed to run the place on her own, but she made due, though she always seemed a bit overwhelmed and exhausted. When the Summoned arrived in the Cadens through that first portal, Sam managed to stumble in and make quick friends with Mag. In exchange for manual labor, fixing up and cleaning up the inn, as well as whatever other various tasks Mag needed to be done around, Sam would be given free room and board (a deal she now offers to any Summoned that arrives in the city for as long as they need it).

The inn itself is 4 floors tall, with the top three floors making up the 15 or so rooms (around five rooms per floor), and the entire bottom floor reserved for the restaurant area. The tavern makes up the entire first floor and is a large open floorplan, with a small stage in the corner, a walled-off area for the decently sized kitchen, and a large wooden bar where Mag does all her business for both the inn and tavern (where can almost always be found standing behind). It serves drinks of some variety (though not nearly as large a selection as some of the more well-known taverns) and some food (usually a single, large meal that will be served to the tenants and whoever comes in throughout the night for a moderate price). It can be busy some evenings, but in general tends to keep a more 'dive-bar' kind of feel, filled with more locals and regulars than a casual dinner-going crowd.

The rooms themselves vary from fairly simple, single-bed inn-style rooms with a small bathroom and little else, up to a two 'bedroom' suite style with small kitchenettes and spaces for sitting rooms. Each bedroom has its own small bathroom for the tenants, with cleaning, washing, and chores left to those who live there. What used to be more of a working inn now serves as a kind of boarding house for newly arrived Summoned (or simply those who won't leave), and Mag has found herself quite okay with that.

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If you did try to argue, then I'd be really worried. We'd have to intervene immediately. They definitely don't serve anything like this up at the barracks. Everything they have there has bits of sand in it.

[ That's probably an exaggeration but she'd swear that she tasted something incredibly grainy in the first bowl of food that she had received after being pulled from the summoning pool. The war at home meant that she'd had to eat less than stellar food on multiple occasions, but that didn't mean that her taste buds had acclimated to bits of sand blown in by the wind.

The calluses on his hands don't go unnoticed, nor does the grip of his strength. Both those things could be indicative of anything however. Just because someone had callouses didn't mean they wielded a weapon. He could easily be a tradesperson of sorts.

She gives him a firm shake back before withdrawing her hand so she can rest her chin on top of it in thought. Apparently she's going to take this question Very Seriously. ]

Hmm...I'd say that depends on the person. And that's saying something because sand can be pretty annoying. [ She cracks a smile then. ] How have you been adjusting to everything? Have you spoken to Mags about getting a room at the Sarstina?

I noticed.

[ Less about the sand, more about there not being anything like this up at the barracks. It almost reminds him of Greez's home-cooked meals—and how clearly he showed his love through them—which sends a pang of homesickness through him, for all that he's been here less than a week.

Then he pushes the feeling aside for later. For meditation, where he can let it go.

Her smile, after the Very Serious way she'd considered his question, earns a return one out of him, fleeting but genuine. New criteria unlocked: is this person more annoying than sand? ]

Not yet. I heard she had a few rooms here for Summoned, but I'm not exactly swimming in credits right now.

[ Yeah, he's broke broke. The brokest he's been since he crash-landed on Bracca ten years ago, probably, and that was not a good time for him. But no Scrapper Guild willing to look the other way from a very clear child labor law violation awaits him here, so he's... trying to figure things out. ]

[ Hilda doesn’t have the faintest idea what credits are, but she assumes it’s the word for whatever money is where Cal is from. ]

You mean money? I wouldn’t worry too much about that.

[ She gestures towards Mags who is keeping court behind the bar, laughing and chatting with new and old faces alike. The woman really had become a bit of a way point for some of the Summoned in the sense that she rarely turned anyone away. She had even put up with Hilda whose work ethic was severely lacking most shifts she picked up at the tavern. ]

Mags knows that we’re all a little lacking when it comes to the money thing. All she wants in return is some help around the bar until you can find something else that pays. How are your bartending skills?

[ His gaze follows Hilda's gesture, landing on Mag, the look in his eyes turning thoughtful. That's a generous offer... very generous. Not that Cal has reason to doubt her, but—well. Let's just say that he isn't accustomed to this kind of hospitality.

As for his bartending skills— ]

Uh, I wouldn't call them great. [ A beat. ] Or skills.

[ He barely even drinks, let alone mixes them. And his customer service skills? Nonexistent. Actively detrimental. Greez would probably rather shut down Pyloon's altogether than allow Cal to work behind the bar. Or in the kitchen. Sure, part of that is just Greez being a control freak, but regardless—the point stands. Cal is much better suited for... ]

But maybe she has some things that need fixing up. [ It's a statement, but—he looks back towards Hilda—actually kind of a question, since she seems to know this place pretty well. ]

[ The admission draws a good natured laugh from Hilda. She had been more or less in the same boat as Cal when she had arrived. What skills does a nobleman's spoiled daughter have after all? (She's got several but she still denies being able to swing an axe over her head as one of them. Even if she did, it wouldn't be a useful skill in this tavern.)

Hearing the question in his voice she leans her elbows onto the table, resting her head in hands. ]

Things break here frequently. I was doing some mending for her before she needed more actual bar help. It was a sad time for my nails.

[ Which is a small lie. She didn't actually do any bartending work so much as she did chatting with the locals, maybe convincing them to spend a little more coin on food. That's neither here nor there though. ]

Are you some kind of inventor back home? Or some kind of smithy?

[ Well, at least he's not the only newcomer living the broke lifestyle—her laugh tells him as much. But it does make him feel slightly better that it's a common predicament. (He has no idea what to do with the nail comment, though. That's beyond his life experience.)

But he does smile and hold up his hands in front of him, as if he's been caught red-handed without either of those useful skills. ]

Neither.

[ Not that he knows what a smithy is. But since he doesn't, he assumes he isn't one. ]

I just know how to fix droids and starships— [ She has no idea what he's talking about, does she? He quickly amends: ] —machines. I could probably figure some other stuff out, if I had to.

[ His psychometry helps to that end, allowing him to look into past memories of people building and maintaining things. How they did it. But beyond that, he just likes to tinker, since it keeps his hands and mind busy, and if he can somehow leverage that into credits... all the better. It's not like he hasn't, in the past. ]

[ Most people have nails, Cal. Haven't you ever broken a nail and when you did it hurt (physically or internally because looking at your uneven nail causes you emotional damage)?

Had Hilda not befriended Garrus or Shepard, she wouldn't have the first clue as to what a droid or a starship were and the amendment would have come in handy. But, miraculously, a light of recognition goes off behind her eyes. ]

Oh! I kind of know what those are. Kind of. I've never seen either of those things, but I have friends who talk about that kind of stuff all the time and it just goes right over my head.

[ There's no shame in admitting it. They clearly both hail from different worlds so it isn't a stupid admission by any means. ]

If you know how to do that stuff though, pouring a drink should be easy! There aren't as many parts involved.

[ He can't say... he's ever thought much about his nails... or taken emotional damage because of them. With the abuse he puts his hands through climbing, tinkering, lightsabering, and hanging over open air by his fingertips, it's probably for the best. ]

For what it's worth, it goes right over most people's heads in my galaxy too.

[ So not a stupid admission at all. Just because people use things doesn't mean they actually understand how they work. In fact, that's probably the vast majority of people.

As for the suggestion that bartending should be easy, he rubs the back of his neck, his smile turning self-deprecating. ]

I don't know. It's less about pouring and more about... customer service. Not sure how good I am at that.

[ Cal is not an extrovert. He thinks of Monk, how easily he chats up customers, makes them feel at ease, remembers their favorite drinks. Then again, he's a droid who's literally programmed for that... but still. ]

[ Could Hilda suggest something called protection for your hands? Most people call them gloves? Those tend to do a good job of protecting someone's digits - even the fashionable looking ones.

She appreciates the reassurance despite being so wholly comfortable with her lack of knowledge due to exposure. Genuine kindness is a sure fire way to endear someone to Hilda. So is some good ol' self-deprecation though. It's easy to spot in his sheepish smile. Well that won't do at all, will it? ]

We're talking now though, aren't we? It's easy!

[ She gives her head a little tilt to the side, the easy grin remaining on her face by means of encouragement. ]

Tell me how you got so good at fixing droids and ships. Did you grow up learning how to do it? Or are you just one of those geniuses that the Abraxians were lucky enough to summon?

[ It's easy, huh? Maybe to other, more sociable people—like Hilda herself, probably. Between the formative years he spent trying as hard as possible to reveal as little as possible about himself, to the other formative years he spent running around with terrorists and rebels, he feels shockingly maladjusted to... normal life, really. Too rough around the edges.

But he still appreciates that she's trying to be encouraging, smiling even as he shakes his head. ]

Maybe you're just easy to talk to.

[ As for how he learned to fix things... ]

I actually learned how to take them apart first. I was a scrapper, for a while. [ Unthinkingly, he gestures with his right hand, turning it over—brandishing the bar code-like Guild tattoo on the inside of his forearm, a permanent relic of his life on Bracca. ] Where I worked, we salvaged a lot of old decommissioned ships from the war.

Aw shucks. I feel like it might have more to do with talking with older, fussy nobles all the time more than anything to do with me.

[ Clearly they could both go round and round in a compliment circle for hours - so she puts a stop to that, gently turning the conversation towards things that he might be more comfortable with. Who didn't enjoy talking about themselves? ...Actually there were several people she could name off the top of her head that wouldn't enjoy it, but at least it was sort of an easy subject to discuss. ]

Learning that way makes a lot of sense. I guess my worry is that I’d forget how to put it back together afterwards.

[ It was far easier to make things mostly from scratch and by hand for her. The exposed tattoo draws a look of curiosity from her as she peers at it. Some of the Summoned she knew had them, but she had never considered one herself. It felt like an awful lot of commitment that she wasn’t equipped to handle. At the mention of war though her eyes flit back towards his face. ]

Did you have to fight in it?

[ He shifts his weight in his seat at the direct question, suddenly a little uncomfortable—or cagey, more like. Where he comes from, no one would think to ask it, since only clones, battle droids, and the treasonous Jedi Knights fought in the war. The first two are recognizable on sight, and the final one should be dead. All of them. Every single one.

Back in his galaxy, saying yes would bring the entire Imperial machine down on him in an instant. And even though they're not in his galaxy, he still can't quite shake that tendril of dread threading down his spine. ]

It ended over ten years ago. I was just a kid back then.

[ Which is... okay, yeah, it's fully a lie by omission, but it's not a lie lie. He didn't look her in the eye and say no way, absolutely not. Mostly because he's a terrible liar and he knows it—he's averting his gaze right now even with the technical truth—but also because he doesn't particularly want to lie to her. It's just... old habits. Well-worn ones that have kept him inexplicably alive all these years.

Hopefully, his baby-face is really selling things better than his body language at the moment, even with the beard. Subtracting ten years or more from this face? Yikes. ]

Why do you ask?

[ Time to switch the subject around to her! Also, it was a very particular question to ask, so he's curious. ]

[ Hilda would never openly admit that she's good at reading people or that she's perceptive. For one her delicate flower persona doesn't really lend to that and most importantly she doesn't really believe it herself. But the fact of the matter is that being around nobles constantly wanting something means she's picked up on enough body language to know she's touched on something. What that something is she can't be sure.

Something she is sure she possesses however is enough social graces to understand when someone is also uncomfortable about a not very pleasant subject. The baby face is probably lending something to this though. So instead of being suspicious she gives him an apologetic smile. ]

I was fighting in one before arriving here.

[ She'd be happy to elaborate if he asked more. The circumstances of Fodlan's war were...considerably less sensitive even though she knew more about it now than she had a month ago. Namely that she and her friends all had different versions of a war that still feels largely unnecessary but had been triggered anyway because one white haired Emperor. Hilda still can't say with confidence how she feels about her, but at least she knows more of her perspective.

She gives him a brief fluttering laugh that doesn't really have any mirth in it. At a surface level it's probably a silence filler. Go any deeper and it's probably a nervous tick. ]

It's an awful habit of asking people I've gotten into that I should grow out of. I'm sorry.

[ Oh, the apology is just making him feel so guilty for the mostly-lie, and learning that she's a soldier fighting in a war of her own right now only makes it worse.

Because he has been there. His Master did his best to keep Cal away from the heavy fighting whenever possible, on account of his age, but it wasn't always avoidable. Cal still saw action, whether by accident or as glue at his Master's side, where Master Tapal could keep him safe. Relatively. ]

It's okay. Really. [ He puts stress on that. Really. It's not a platitude.

But she could definitely tell he had some sort of weird reaction, so he feels like he needs to explain himself. A bit. He rubs the back of his neck, feeling slightly abashed. ]

It—uh. The war didn't end well. For anyone, really, except the Emperor when he seized power. [ There's a pause, a humorless smile pulling at one side of his mouth. ] I guess you could say a different war started when the Clone War ended. One we're still fighting.

[ A war of rebellion. A guerilla war, far-flung rebels against the grinding machine of an endless Empire. Cal has no more Masters to keep him safe in this fight. ]

[ The mention of the word Emperor makes her shift in her seat but her facial expression doesn't change. It's clear that they aren't from the same world, and the war or wars that they were fighting probably weren't started for similar reasons - but the term and the outcome of this Clone War definitely brush up against something still tender and sore for her.

Being here in Abraxas for as long as she has means time has separated her from Fodlan's war. Add to the fact that she's already adept at pretending things away, it . But Linhardt's arrival had stirred up a reminder of a timeline that she wasn't a part of where Edelgard prevailed. Her response is sarcastic and her lips quirk in a similar manner to his. ]

Isn't there a saying that's something like to the victor goes the spoils?

[ The smile drops but there's a look of understanding in her eyes. ]

We're fighting a war against an Emperor too.

[ To the victor the spoils and the loser... total annihilation, in the case of the Jedi. Well, maybe not total—the Order may be gone, but a few Jedi remain. Cal still breathes, for one. Against all odds.

It's not much, but it's something.

He recognizes that look of understanding and acknowledges it with one of his own, his expression softening. His fingers trace the ridges of his glass, slowly and solemnly, and he lets out a flat hah sound. ]

I guess some things don't change, huh?

[ Even across universes, which is a depressing thought. But there's something... almost comforting about finding someone who's had the same experiences, who gets it. It probably shouldn't be comforting at all, but. ]

I, uh. [ He clears his throat, aiming for a slightly less bleak tone. ] I hope your Emperor is easier to topple than mine.

I guess not. [ The smile she gives him remains humourless. ] But you can't help but hope that things would change. Will change.

[ Because war? Not fun. Definitely a mood killer. She only makes light of it in her mind because it makes it easier to cope with the fact that they both have to experience it at all. That doesn't stop her from wondering if there's any place that isn't ever touched by war. She knows far too many of the Summoned here who have experienced it in some capacity; it's comforting in an odd way.

Cal's words bring a little more levity to the situation, effectively drawing her out of her thoughts. A part of her is tempted to say that they do in at least several timelines and they don't in another - but that feels like far too much oversharing for a first meeting at what should be a welcome to this new, strange world dinner. Nor does she feel particularly inclined to show sympathy for a woman she was once a classmate of. So instead she settles on a smile by way of thanks. ]

I hope it gets easier for your world.

[ She lets out a punctuated breath like that will somehow dispel the heavy cloud that had settled on them. Her expression brightens as she nudges the plate she had brought over still full of food in his direction.]

Talk about being an awful hostess though. I can't believe we're talking about all of these heavy things. You have to eat - have you tried these before? I wasn't sure what I would think about them but Sam insisted that they were good.

[ Conspiratorially she leans a little closer although there's no need when Sam is on the other side of the room. ]

And between you and me they are - I just like giving him a hard time.

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( open ) an informal family dinner

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we can probably wrap in your tag if you want!