cafeteria | mid afternoon | wednesday | 25 november

[see-beyond.livejournal.com]

Apparently, there was a holiday tomorrow. From what Jonas had gathered from the books he'd read, it revolved around a lot of food, togetherness and was descended from a shared meal by two very different groups long ago.

Needless to say, Jonas had never celebrated Thanksgiving in the Community. Besides ceremonies for Days of Birth, nothing had really been celebrated so Jonas found these specially singled out days as half a curiosity and half enjoyment.

And, while today wasn't the holiday, Jonas found himself in the cafeteria, idly picking at his food (mashed potatoes had a very strange texture) and paging through a book on various holidays. Christmas would, undoubtedly, be the next thing he looked up that. That holiday just seemed...complicated.

[open, sure!]

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[living_endless]

Didi was already eying her tray dubiously as she took a seat near Jonas. "So do you think these are potatoes, or some kind of potato-ish mold? And hi."

[see-beyond.livejournal.com]

"Hello, Didi," Jonas said, picking his head up and giving Didi a smile before glancing back down at his potatoes. "And I haven't--I hope it's not mold."

Jonas hadn't really experienced a simple illness like food poisoning and he was fine with keeping that streak alive.

"They're cold," he continued, poking at his potatoes with his fork, "but they don't taste awful."

[living_endless]

"I don't get cold mashed potatoes," Didi said, as she forked a tiny bit into her mouth.

Not good. But probably not mold.

"How have you been, Jonas?"

[see-beyond.livejournal.com]

"For the most part, I've been well, thank you," he said, smiling. "Lately though, I've been exhausted. I was assigned a robot baby to care for in Ethics class and it's been...difficult."

[living_endless]

Didi made a sympathetic face. "I heard about that assignment. Hayley gave hers to her partner's dog, if you can believe that."

[vanillajello]

"Hey Didi," Kate greeted the other girl. She was a little suspicious of the food on her tray. "Do you think this food's actually edible?"

[living_endless]

"It's definitely edible," Didi said. "The question is if it's actually food, or if it's some kind of high-tech simulation."

She smiled."How are you, Kate?"

[vanillajello]

Kate poked at her mashed potatos with a fork, frowning, then smiled at Didi. "I'm pretty awesome, thanks." And she really meant it, for once. "You?"

[living_endless]

"I'm always awesome," Didi said cheerfully. "Class was fine, it was just a movie, and now we have a long weekend. Are you going home?"

[future_sandworm]

Like Jonas, Leto had never celebrated Thanksgiving either. Unlike Jonas, he hadn't acquired a book, but as he sat down at a table next to the other boy, he couldn't help noticing the subject of the book.

"So, how would you summarise this holiday?" Leto asked.

[see-beyond.livejournal.com]

Jonas looked up, gave the other boy a polite nod before saying, "It seems to involve a lot of food that you're supposed to be thankful for. Being thankful for our food seems to symbolize how the first settlers to this world were thankful for the help they received."

Of course, Jonas had only read the bare essentials to get an idea of what Thanksgiving was and had tried to put together his own conclusions.

[future_sandworm]

"It seems like a reasonable thing to be thankful for." Leto smiled a little. "One of the very basic needs of human existence fulfilled."

[see-beyond.livejournal.com]

"I agree," Jonas said, nodding and peering back down at his book. "This is, apparently, one of the more major holidays for this country. Thus, the size of the meal is larger than normal. I suppose more food is always helpful for bigger families or bigger groups of friends."

[future_sandworm]

"That is to be expected," Leto agreed. "Where are you from?"

Clearly not from anywhere close in time or space.

[living_endless]

Didi waved. "Hey, Leto. Happy almost-Thanksgiving."

[future_sandworm]

"And to you too, Didi." He smiled at her. "How have you been?"

[living_endless]

"It's been a good week," Didi answered. "My class was just watching a movie, and the movie wasn't bad. You?"

[future_sandworm]

"A quiet week," Leto said. "Although the weekend before last I went on a trip to experience more of the mainland area nearby."

[vanillajello]

"Hello, stranger."

Well, it had been over a week, and it seemed like a longer time, because a lot had happened. So this was the greeting Leto got from Kate as she was claiming a seat by his table.

[future_sandworm]

"I'm suddenly a stranger?" Leto gave her an amused look. "Hello, Kate."

[vanillajello]

"I might have amnesia," she remarked. "Mr Whatever-your-name-is."

[vanillajello]

Kate was more bored than hungry, but tomorrow she'd be doing the cooking – well, some of it – so she'd thought she might as well take advantage of the cafeteria while she could.

She was kind of regretting it as she eyed her tray, but Jonas still got a smile when she seated herself nearby. "Hi Jonas, how's things?"

[see-beyond.livejournal.com]

"Hello, Kate," Jonas said, giving her a smile when he noticed her. "And things are busy but they're not bad. I'm learning about the holiday that's occurring tomorrow."

[vanillajello]

"Oh?" She grinned. "I hope you've already learned that it's all about over-eating."

[see-beyond.livejournal.com]

"I've gathered that," he said and laughed. "That'll be a change for me since I've never celebrated Thanksgiving before and we never had large feasts like the ones described where I'm from. The Food Distribution people made you enough for your family unit."