singillatim | Hot Potato (party log)

Who: Chloe Frazer & any and all party people!!
What: Harvest Celebrations/Halloween Party/Ruby’s Birthday/Rat Marriage/Big Communal Cooking Party so Chloe doesn't burn down her house
When: October 12
Where: At Chloe’s house on Greene Street

Content Warnings: Food descriptions, probably.
Other Notes: Feel free to make this a mingle and reply to other characters!

Chloe had wondered whether to go through with the harvest party once Lalo had disappeared, but as they say, the show must go on. There's still a lot worth celebrating, and people need something hopeful after the mess last month. Luckily her house had made it through everything all right.

The poster had said to wear a costume, so she's hoping to see a lot of those, and she’d recruited some people to help her put together the menu exactly to Lalo’s specifications, so unfortunately no one is safe from British Potatoes. There are even candles for the birthday cake.

Chloe herself is dressed as a sexy lumberjack, with one of Lalo’s old flannels tied in a knot under her breasts and denim cutoffs made from the jeans Kostya had gotten blood on (shh). She's got a fire roaring, because otherwise she’d freeze.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Reiner shakes his head. "Not where I grew up."

Maybe it exists in some far-flung corner of the world. (Maybe it existed, more accurately.) Their conversation thus far has opened Reiner's mind to the possibility, at least. But if it did, he never heard of it.

“I think it kind of had religious connotations once, but now it's a time to dress up and have fun. In a world where I could buy stuff we’d have candy, maybe a scary movie playing.”

Chloe hasn't hosted a lot of parties herself, but she likes going to them.

Cocking his head slightly to the side, Reiner repeats, "'Movie'?"

He's never heard that word before, and has no idea what it could mean.

Hm. Chloe might not quite be correct in her assumptions about where this guy is from.

“Do you guys have television, where you come from?”

"No," Reiner says, feeling a bit bad for saying it so many times. "At least not by that name. What does it do?"

Chloe thinks a bit about how to explain it.

“We have equipment that you can use to record what’s happening at a given time, and then some places have a signal that they can use to transmit those recordings to a device in your house so you can watch them. Like a radio with pictures. A movie is like a play but it's recorded and they just play the same one over and over.”

Thankfully, Reiner is familiar with radios, and visibly impressed by the idea of transmitting images as well. It would completely change how news traveled, lessening the iron grip of newspapers—for good or ill.

"I'm familiar with radios and records," he says, nodding. "So, these movies are like records: played for entertainment?"

“Right, yeah,” Chloe confirms. “Well, there are documentary films that are more informative but I don't think I’d play one at a party.”

Reiner breathes out a chuckle. "I can see why. Although," he adds, a thought occurring, "for some people, a documentary from a different world could be considered entertainment."

“I suppose,” Chloe says. She hadn't thought of it that way. “It would seem like a story to them.”

Edited (Typp) 2024-12-12 23:11 (UTC)

"That's right," Reiner nods. Then he makes a face. "I'm not sure how I feel about that."

Imagine someone finding his world entertaining. The idea is bewildering and disturbing.

“Yeah, the stuff that makes a story interesting isn't always fun to live through.” It usually leaves you with at least a few bruises.

"I agree," Reiner says, "especially if you're at the center of it."

“It can be a fun story to tell later, though, depending on how it shakes out.” She really hasn't had a lot of opportunities to brag about her adventure in India considering she got dragged here directly from it.

"Do you have many stories that ended that way?" Reiner asks.

He doesn't offer any of his own; none immediately come to mind.

“Stopped a guy from bombing a city by making a train fall into a canyon,” Chloe says with a little shrug. “It was pretty cool, but I think I broke every single one of my ribs doing it.”

Reiner's eyebrows shoot up. "That's impressive. On all counts."

“Thank you!” Chloe grins. “I thought so too. We were celebrating it when this place zapped me away. Didn't even get to finish my pizza.”

"Did your ribs at least have time to heal?" Reiner asks. If not, he imagines that was a painful arrival.

“Nope,” Chloe says, sounding almost proud. “I was rattling like a box of nails when I got here, let me tell you.” She taps a faded scar on her cheekbone. “This either.”

Reiner glances at the scar, thinking of a similar one on a friend's cheek. Maybe it would've healed smoothly if looked after immediately, but that wasn't on the cards. For either his friend or Chloe, it seemed.

"Was there a doctor or medic to help you out?" Reiner asks.

Chloe shrugs. “There’s not a lot you can do for the ribs, unfortunately. Just gotta let them heal naturally. One of my friends back home at least got a chance to help me patch up my cuts a little. We were swimming in some pretty gross water.”

Briefly, Reiner appears puzzled. Then he nods, a lightbulb apparently going off.

"Right. Infection."

It may be apparent from his tone that that's not something he had to worry about before.

“Exactly. No good, especially out in the jungle like that.”

The confused pause was a little weird, but maybe this guy just never used to go outside.

"I didn't have to think about it before here," Reiner explains, shaking his head. "I had an ability that prevented it."

Which is an extremely simplistic way of putting it, but it's still true.

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