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!]

Comments

[living_endless]

"It's -- not a choice I would make," Didi said diplomatically. "Who's your partner? And I'm not sure parenthood is the kind of thing you can ever be prepared for."

[see-beyond.livejournal.com]

"Her name is Ellie," Jonas replied, letting himself wondering what Ellie and Sarah were up to right now. He had confidence that Sarah hadn't been given to any dogs. "And while she didn't seem prepared, she knew a little more than me. I've cared for my brother but he wasn't a newchild like this...machine seems to be."

Pause.

"And Gabe isn't a machine either." That was the biggest difference, yeah.

[living_endless]

"That would be a bigger difference," Didi said dryly. "But I'm sure you're doing fine? You seem like you're basically a kind person. I think that's what matters."

[OOC: That icon is just gorgeous.]

[see-beyond.livejournal.com]

"Thank you," he said, ducking his head and blushing. "My father was a Nurturer so I've been trying to remember the sorts of things he did when he was working with newchildren but I've found I've forgotten a lot of that."

Jonas knew that leaving the Community had caused that and he wasn't sure if he'd ever get those memories back but it was nice to know that he might have once known how to care for newchildren.

[Thank you! It's a new one!]

[living_endless]

"They say stuff comes back, right? Like riding a bicycle," Didi said, and thought about what she knew of childcare. "Did your dad sing? They usually like that."

[see-beyond.livejournal.com]

"I don't know if that will come back to me," he said, distracting himself by poking at his potatoes again. He knew he could re-learn the majority of things but personal memories were probably gone. "And I don't remember, unfortunately. I'm pretty sure he didn't sing to me. We talked. Sometimes."

[living_endless]

"What kind of stuff did you talk about?" Didi asked.

[see-beyond.livejournal.com]

Jonas pursed his lips, trying to remember those conversations. There were wispy snippets scattered around and he grasped onto those. "The day's events, mostly. What my sister and I did that day, where we volunteered, and school mostly. Each member of the family unit took a turn doing that."

[living_endless]

"Like a dinner ritual?" Didi said. "It sounds nice. But when my family gets together it's mostly about keeping my siblings civil."

[see-beyond.livejournal.com]

"How many siblings do you have?" Jonas asked curiously. "My sister and I never argued and Gabe's really too young to do anything but eat ice cream and laugh."

[living_endless]

"There are seven Endless," Didi said. "I'm second. One of my brothers took off a while back." And two had died and been replaced, but that was hard to explain.

She raised an eyebrow. "Never argued at all?"

[see-beyond.livejournal.com]

"Seven," he said, fascinated by the thought of so many siblings. That large of a family just wasn't allowed in the Community. "I can see why arguments might occur. That's a lot of personalities in one place."

At her question, he shook his head lightly. "No, we really didn't. It was against the rules."

Like most everything was.

[living_endless]

"Yeah, one of my siblings and the brother right after me had a fight about a girl a long, long time ago," Didi said. "Basically they do everything to annoy each other when they're together. "

She smiled lightly. "There are reasons we don't have huge family get-togethers that often."

[see-beyond.livejournal.com]

"Does that mean you're staying on the island for the upcoming holiday?" Jonas asked.

[living_endless]

"I wouldn't miss them here," Didi said. "I take it you are, too."

[see-beyond.livejournal.com]

"Yes," he said, nodding. "Aside from being curious at the holiday, it's hard to resist something that encourages you to eat a lot."