stateofdecay | Thanksgiving @ Lundegaard (Forward-Dated to 11/28)

Thanksgiving at Lundegaard

Order of Events

ARRIVALS/VIBES @ 3:30 PM

MINGLING, DRINKS, & APPS @ 4:15 PM

DINNER @ 5:00 PM

LEADERSHIP BINGO @ 7:00 PM

LINE DANCING @ 8:00 PM

Vibes & Playlist

Mismatched furniture, tableware, and cutlery in the B&B, dining hall, and town hall. Wooden carvings of animals hung up with burlap ribbons and hand turkeys made by schoolchildren. Bouquets of dogtooth daisies and boughs of marescent leaves in red, orange, and gold. The smell of freshly baked bread, hay, and woodsmoke. Warm lights from firepits, candles, and dim, flickering fluorescent bulbs.

John played some of these chill tunes.

ON THE MENU

Drinks & Appetizers
🍹 Maggie's Pear Kombucha
🥛 Malted Milk
🍹 Whatever other drinks folks brought
🧀 Charcuterie board

Mains & Sides
🦃 Turkey
🍗 Pan-fried goose in (mostly) huckleberry sauce
🥗 Green and red leaf lettuce salad in lemon vinaigrette
🥬 Mustard greens with salt pork
🥔 Mashed potatoes au gratin
🍞 Sausage hand pies
🍞 Dinner rolls
🍽️ Any other food folks brought

Desserts
🥧 Apple pie
🍮 Baked egg custard
🫐 Wild berries in cream
🍽️ Any other dessert folks brought

VOLUNTEER SLOTS

VOLUNTEER 1 arrives too early and is enlisted to help whip cream by Lundegaard's resident tree whisperer, Alice Samayao. On the bright side, your forearm strength is going to be off the chain once you're done...

After they're released from hwhippin' it, Volunteer 1 sneaks away with some whipped cream to playfully smash it into VOLUNTEER 2's face.

DUTCH and DUKE RATTRAY spy a ladder leaning against the roof of the barn and climb on up. They get a nice view of Lundegaard in the crisp autumnal night. But—whoops—Bill Rhoades takes the ladder away when they're not looking. Dutch and Duke have to jump down (safely) from the roof into a bale of hay. Oof.

VOLUNTEER 5 stuffs themselves on food. Feeling wretched and incredibly sleepy, they knock out in an empty barrel. VOLUNTEER 6 finds them 30 minutes later. You good?

COURT SLAUGHTER makes a daring request during line dancing and gets all the dancers grooving to Rihanna's "S&M" (feat. Britney Spears). Vrow.

GAMES & DANCING

Leadership Bingo
Quaid and John have prepared 3x3 bingo cards using old notebook paper (so... bingo leaves), each randomly populated with the names of community leadership (sans John). The winner gets the honor of being THE BIG TURKEY of the evening and a dozen apple donuts.

Line Dancing
To these classic tunes! Before the outbreak, John spent some time at his local senior citizens center carefully observing line dances and at times participating. So while he claims he can't dance, he is able and willing to help anyone pick up the steps.

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"We could probably get cheese for a saganaki," Zelda adds, also wistful. "Or vegan spanakopita with a bunch of substitutions."

Once again, she misses the entire food service industry because everything sounds good to her at this point. "We might have to do this a few times, if we want to get through all our recipes."

"I gotta warn you, if you feed me delicious food I will just keep coming back like a cat," Blythe kids and bumps against Niko's shoulder. "But I'll come bearing presents to make up for when I break into song."

"You say that like it's a problem," Niko teases. Then, to Zelda: "He's very good at presents. He knows how to make basically everything!"

Hearing that Blythe is good at making stuff unfortunately resonates with Zelda's very stuff-deprived brain. "What kind of things?"

Blythe blushes slightly under Niko's praise, which means his entire face turns a light shade of pink. "I sew a lot, mostly! I'm the costume guy for the theater troupe these days, which means a lot of creative crafting and tailoring."

"Oh!" This delights her, when she was already excited at the idea of Blythe making everything. "Please help fix my dad's wardrobe. I will make as much food as that takes."

"Glory, thank you for the permission." Blythe laughs loudly, the idea of quiet protocols and danger far from his mind. "I've had my sewing kit ready to tailor a whole closet since I spotted him jogging in chinos."

There is a second where Niko has the impulse to protest, but it passes quickly. "You know what? Fair. I'm at both of your mercy."

"You're making the right call," Zelda beams, because she loves a makeover even if the person whose wardrobe is being fixed is her dad's. "Even with the worst outcome, I don't think we could make your wardrobe worse so you win no matter what!"

"Aww, but I like the cardigan!" Blythe kisses Niko's cheek and loops an arm around his back. "I mean, off-the-rack never looks as good as tailored, so I'm still gonna take in the shoulders and move the buttons a little, but we won't axe it JUST yet."

"Awww, what would I do without you both? Besides look atrocious, I mean," Niko wraps his arms around both of them and pulls them into a group hug.

Thanksgiving @ Lundegaard (Forward-Dated to 11/28)

SCENES: Mingling: Blythe & Niko & Zelda

SCENES: Mingling: Blythe & Niko & Zelda

SCENES: Mingling: Blythe & Niko & Zelda

SCENES: Mingling: Blythe & Niko & Zelda

SCENES: Mingling: Blythe & Niko & Zelda

SCENES: Mingling: Blythe & Niko & Zelda

SCENES: Mingling: Blythe & Niko & Zelda

SCENES: Mingling: Blythe & Niko & Zelda

SCENES: Mingling: Blythe & Niko & Zelda

SCENES: Mingling: Blythe & Niko & Zelda

SCENES: Mingling: Blythe & Niko & Zelda