Red, White, and Blue Rare
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Date: 07/04/2018 Time: 9:00am EST |
Dearborn Heights, MI Visitors to this circa 1980 ranch house in Dearborn Heights will find that there are signs leading guests around into the back yard. Once there, it's clearly time for the cookout. A good-sized US Flag is waving from a post attached to the house, fluttering with the breezes. On the other side of the yard, to keep the smoke off of it, are a grill and a green smoker. Both are active all day long. Close enough to the cookers that everyone can enjoy the smells, are a few tables with white cloths, holding various plates of food, and snacks. Beneath the tables are a pair of coolers, one containing Shiner Bock, the other Mexican Coke. A few of the hot dog buns are intermittently scattered by a tree in the corner, where some ravens fly in and peck at them, perching to wait for more. |
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Cast: | |
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Earlier in the week, Alma volunteered to bring makings for different types of aqua frescas and also some side dishes and things she likes. She explained that Maria would be at a school gathering and that she'd be popping in and out occasionally to go help with logistics there. Maria goes to a magnet school in Dearborn, so she's not to far from Jim's place. Aqua frescas are really refreshing drinks, and Alma brought a few different types. Some with earthy flavors and some with sweet flavors. She brought some buckets of ice for the pitchurs of delicious drinks. She also brought the fixings to make more, except for the horchata. That stuff has too many steps, and so, first come first serve for that. Her food cooler has a variety of tamales ordered specially from her favorite tamale vendor in Mexicantown where she lives. There are pork, chicken, and vegetarian. The chicken tamales have a flavorful green sauce mixed in with shredded chicken. The pork have a red sauce mixed in. The vegetarian ones are assortments of ingredients. She's got some dividers in her cooler with the ingredients labeled clearly for everything. She also made sure there is a lot of corn on the cob and even brought more. People can grill corn and have it very simple, or make elotes. Elotes are so tasty. After setting all of this up and helping in general, she explains she's going to hop on over to help with the school event. "I'll pick up shifts on and off during the day. Send Note over if you need anything." She laughs, "Also you can use the phone." She grins. After Alma has set out the frescas, she sees the raven picnic and grins. But! There are no cheetos or peanuts for the birds. This will not do. "Hey Jim, I'm going to head out and will be right back." She goes out and comes back a while later with a bag of unshelled peanuts and some cheetos. She walks over to Jim and says, "I brought some sides for the ravens too." She chats with Jim for a bit and watches him prep the food so that she can learn how smoking works. After a while, she looks at her watch and says, "Oh, I gotta go do a stint at Maria's thing. I'll be back in an bit. Depending." She points to Note, who is having fun hopping around on the gutters of Jim's house looking for any twigs that may have dropped in recently. "Send Note my way if you need anything," she reiterates. Jim laughs aloud. "Well I'm much obliged to that. I was just doing that off the cuff. I should have been more prepared." He'll help her spread some out. At least, until he goes back to the food, flipping some burgers, making sure the smoker temperature is correct. Then downing some coke. Not wanting to get too much into the beer too early. "She's welcome to visit if she's not too busy." Alma returns back with a small sack of groceries and Maria in tow. She explained to Maria that she wasn't sure who all was invited, but that Jim said she was welcome to visit. Maria decided to take a break from the big all day picnic at her school for a while. She's got a purse with her and after wandering around looking at all the goodies, and then saying hi to Jim, she wanders over to sit down for a while and pulls out a scetching notebook. She draws odds and ends and people in the yard, but is also drawing some characters from her Sophia Germain comic and practicing doing action shots of them. Note, who enjoys watching Maria, flies down to get a closer look. Note doesn't land on Maria, but is on a currently unocupied chair close by. Maria is used to a crow hanging out near Alma by now. She can't always tell crows apart, but this is the unbanded really friendly one that follows her Aunt around and sometimes even hangs out when her Aunt isn't around. She draws Note too. Jim greets Alma with a wave, and a cold beverage, then gets back to the grill and the smoker, glancing over to Maria. "Welcome. They have any good messages for Religious Freedom Week?" he'll ask. "I didn't get to get back home to my parish this weekend or last. We have cokes and what your, uh, your aunt brought." Then once the grill is closed back up, he grabs his coke and come back over. "Nice crow," he says of the drawing. "Remember the shooting back in May?" Maria asks. "It was at the islamic school. I don't know why that guy attacked people or if he was a student there. Some of the reactions in the press haven't been really good. And there are people at my school and online who say things like how they deserved it. It's wrong, stuff like that. So I like the message from Friday. If people could just think on that message they probably wouldn't say those things." She looks solemn for a moment, and a little puzzled. "And you know how people talk about Hijabi? Like! and in some countries they ban them! That goes against religious freedom. Think of our nuns. they get to wear headgear. It is their choice to honor god in that way." She takes a deep sigh. Maybe even two. She points to her crow drawing and then to an action shot with Sophia Germain using a giant protractor to cross a treacherous ice valley with deep crevaces. "I'm practicing to get better at these action shots." She giggles. "And I'm thinking about adding in a new character based on Aunt Alma's friendly crow." Jim purses her lips and nods at Maria's comments. "I heard something about that. One of the students there is an acquaintance. I'm sure some very capable people are going to find out who was responsible." He nods and smirks. Then on to the action shots. "What is that.. is that a protractor? A... giant protractor?" he asks, with a laugh at the end. Maria nods. Sophia and her friends have build a giant protractor with a grapling hook gun. The projector has sensors for how far to shoot the grabling hook and then BOOM! everyone sitting on the protractor is slung across the ice expanse until they skid to a stop across many dangerous crevaces. To stop the skidding, the compass explosive bolt anchor punches down and jolts everyone in the most fun way possible, to a stop. Alma is looking over Maria's shoulder and at Jim and says, "It makes sense when she explains it." She shrugs bemusedly. "I never would have imagined it that way." And then her grin fades off her face a little. "I never see you with family over. I feel like you're so isolated. I'm glad you are throwing this party. You know, I looked over those homilies Maria was reading and they had one about good news." She's got a whatever kind of skeptically look on her face, honestly, because she's not so much about evangelizing that religious stuff, but on the other hand she is totally in to the idea of people sharing their joy. She says, "they said something like you are called to share your joy with others. I totally get that, you know? I love sharing everything I love about the world. Like, don't you just want to go around and share how kickass awesome it is that, I dunno, some moths only reproduce when there's a specific kind of bat around? how weird awesome is that." She looks a bit disgruntled. "Anyone who tries to supress your joy instead of nuture it is not someone I can aprove of." She looks uncomfortable a bit, "I /try/ not to be so judgey, Jim, but I can't help it. Anyway, I'm sorry to get preachy at you like that, but I just want to make sure I'm happy to support you in enjoying sharing information with the world. Like, Open Science! isn't it the best that we get to share everything with all people, not just an educated hidden few?" Jim does take a moment to try to gather Maria's action scene, then turns to Alma. "You have to express yourself ma'am. Well, I reckon you don't have to if you don't want to. But if you want you might could." He sips from his bottle again, sighs, and wipes a little sweat off his brow. "That's the beauty of a good message at Mass. It explains things very well, so you can understand something in a different way. Speaking of, you might like that about going to church, ma'am. One of the most important things your pastor does is make you think about yourself, and how you life your life, and examine if you're living up to standards you'd prefer to set." The talk of open science makes him chuckle. Just really smirking. "It's good to be open. But what if I told you, ma'am, that the people thr.." He pauses and looks at Maria. "suggesting that they be left alone, were, well, a targeted minority group in their own way? How would you feel about me respecting their privacy then?" Then back to Maria! "That's great drawing. The only artistic talent I have is covers of music. I have a gift." Jim is standing over the grill and smoker, checking up on them. Mexican coke in hand. Rounding the corner, Wednesday looks around, noting the ravens tearing up buns, then Jim - with a smile and up-nod for a greeting - and Alma - with the same. He's carrying a couple of cotton mesh bags filled with black- and raspberries, cradling them gingerly to avoid premature berry death. Note is there in a tree and makes a happy noise at Wednesday. Note is perched on an unoccupied chair near Maria. Maria is currently sketching in a notebook and drinking some tamirind aqua fresca. She looks up to see the very tall Wednesday and quirks her eyebrows at this very unique looking individual. "Wednesday!" Alma says. "Meet Maria. Maria, this is Wednesday. He's a friend who studies corvids too." Jim looks back and waves to Wednesday. "Help yourself," he says as he pulls a few more burgers off of the grill, and buns them up on one of the tables. "Let me run one of these in to Monday real quick, I'll be right back. She has a giant project to do this week." He then makes a quick round trip in before returning. <<DICE>> Wednesday rolls Perception + Dream, difficulty 6 <<DICE>> 2 successes (2 3 3 4 6 10, Specialty: No, Willpower: No) "Can I take these in a rinse them?" Wednesday holds up the bags of fruit, some stems and leaves still attached to the clusterberries. Turning back to Alma and Maria, he adds, "I guess you could say I study them, but mostly we just chat. Good to meet you, Maria." He grins at her, winking (or blinking?). Jim comes back out and holds the sliding door open for Wednesday. "Help yourself, sink's right over there." Presumably that won't take long. "Maria, one thing you'll learn about talking to corvids is that calling them by the right name is very important. Or you'll confuse them and scare them away." It doesn't take long. Wednesday's back out and finding a spot on one of the tables for the berries. As he sets them down, he gives turns to glance warily at the birds. He reaches under the table for a Coke. "Happy Independence Day," he says by way of toast, before taking a gulp. Jim raises his own glass to answer the cheer, as he goes to the berries. Fingering a few, he tosses them toward the ravens. Letting one make a mid-air catch, and the other drop down to peck at them. Making a little smalltalk with Maria about her drawings, and her comic, and with Alma about Maria's drawings, and her comic, before turning to Wednesday. "So what did spark your interest in ravens, if you don't mind my asking?" There's another wary glance, this time at Maria. Wednesday takes a sip before beginning, "They're smart birds. You ever try to talk to a robin? Great singers, but the memory of a Blue Tang fish." He inclines his head a bit, giving a conspiratorial look. "It's less interest - they fit me, and I them. There's an Urd to it. Well, overall, anyway." Jim grabs a burger for himself finally, and this time grabs a Shiner Bock. It's almost 5. Cooking's basically done. Sitting back, he cracks it open. "Th... well it's not for me to say how smart a raven is, but I reckon you're right. Begging your pardon though, what's Urd?" Wednesday grabs a burger, too, and finds a seat nearby - he seems to be considering the question for a moment. "You ever miss a light, then see an accident that you would've been in?" Chomp, chew. "Good stuff. Thanks for the invitation, by the way - it's kind of you. Urd is the plan Creation has for you." Chomp, chew. He does not eat a burger gracefully. Jim gives a thumbs up, holding his beer between his knees. "Thank you for coming." He smiles. "Not the word for it I'd use," the man adds with a nod though, glancing to Maria. "There used to be a good, old word that people stopped using. Providence." Wednesday's eyebrows shoot up. "That's a pretty good word for it - but Urd's also the plan that puts you in the car accident if it's your turn. Fate. Destiny. Urd was one of the norns." He waves his hand in a 'whatever' gesture. "I could go on, I warn you." Jim smiles. "Well on today of all days, we should look back at the things they used to say in the old days of America." Sip. Toss a berry in the direction of Note. "But now I don't know what the norns are." "It's a good time for reflection, yeah." Wednesday snags a blackberry, popping it into his own mouth. "The norns were the three women in Norse mythology that decided everyone's, well...fate. There's Urd, Verdandi, and skuld. They spin, weave, measure, and carve." Jim digs into his burger a good bit, as without thinking he sticks the last berry into a side-of-the-leg pocket. "Oh I see. I'm not up on the Norse stuff, I reckon. I dind't know y'all had those, too." "Yeah, close to the Greek Fates." Chomp, chew. "Anyway, Urd. If you can see it, if you know it's there, you can do something about it - but I'm fond of the birds. Haven't run into wolves, yet, but it's only a matter of time, I think." Maria has been drawing on her sketchpad this whole time. She's flipped to another page and has been sketching Odin with two ravens. There are a lot of models her for to work from. She's looking from her aunt to the Weds and Jim. Jim has turned in a Texan in a dirigible floating over the glaciel flow. Wednesday is in a rope harness and lowering himself to the ground to meet with Sophie Germain and her crew. Two ravens have flown from the airship to converse with a small crow. They have metal spurs attached to their legs. They are Texan ravens. scribble scribble. She draws in her book. Jim is curious, since Maria has been scribbling away. "Wolves? Wikipedia says they're extirpated around here, but I wouldn't bet against them." With a chuckle, he walks on up behind Maria, and takes another look. Laughing. "Oh that's fantastic. I'm flying up there with the ravens? Mind if I get a shot of that with my phone?" Wednesday finishes his burger - wolfing down the last part, huge bites and large swallows. Finished, he shakes his head. "Don't bet against them. I'll probably end up working with them, too, and...they'll probably be my doom." He says this last part with a mild frown, with the air of someone realizing their team lost a game - mildy frustrated, but still casually. Jim glances back at Wednesday, gesturing where Maria. Pointing down at her and tilting his head. Phone then comes out, and he gets a shot of the picture. "Well, working with animals is fun." Wednesday grins slowly in response to the gesture. "Yep. Looking forward to some of that." He stands up, curiosity leading him over to Maria. Hesitating a few feet away, he asks, "Mind if I get a look, Maria? I can't draw worth a darn, myself." Jim can't really TELL Wednesday not to talk about werewolves in front of the girl. It's against his nature on a few levels. But hinting is all he could do. "It's fantastic. I reckon she's been working mighty hard on her drawing." He then grabs another burger for himself. and a coke. Not a second beer yet. He takes another step closer, and peeks. "The rope harness is a nice touch - looks pretty comfortable, relatively speaking. Are those...spurs, on the ravens?" His grin gives way to a belly laugh. "That's awesome." Jim smiles and thanks Maria again. Having finished her snack, she expresses a need to get back. So Jim offers her a coke to take with her, and another burger if she wants (he sure made enough). And she will depart. Once she's gone, he chuckles to Wednesday. "And people say I'm bad." Maria looks at her phone and tells Alma that she'd like to get back before the band starts its act. Alma lets Jim know that she's going to head back with Maria and then will come back around later. "Good to meet you again!" Wednesday waves to Maria and Alma, and then smiles back at Jim. He sits back down with another burger. The smile is a carefully benign expression of someone who is trying to learn more. "They say that?" Jim laughs as he sits again, and sips his coke. "Yeah, they do. Because I don't always keep secrets. But there you are implying werewolves to Maria." "Werewolves?" Wednesday blinks (or winks). "Sure, I mean, they might fit the Urd. Something wolf-y, definitely." He considers while chomping and chewing again. "I guess it's not likely that regular wolves would be my doom, given my charms...you think it'd be werewolves, then?" Jim is taken aback. Head tilting. "Wait, when you were talking about working with the wolves, what wolves were you talking about? I wasn't lying when I said there aren't any nautral wolves around here." Wednesday wink/blinks again. Twice. "Just..." he gestures vaugely, "...wolves. Wolf-y things, um...creatures that are, in some essential way, wolves. Are you saying there are -were-wolves around here?" Jim closes his eyes a moment, taking a breath. "Yes. There are. Those are the only wolves in Detroit, and there aren't many of them. I would suggest being very careful in dealing with them. They're secretive, and for good reason." Chomp. Chew. Slow grin. "Of course - I'll try hard to be careful. A wolf may be my doom, but I hope to get a lot done before that happens. Do they know that you know about them?" Jim sits up, putting his bottle aside, and his plate. "Okay. I have to speak very carefully here. I'm promised not to tell y'all about them.I only brought them up because you were talking about wolves in front of Maria. They care about their secrets, very much. They're at war, and they tolerate me because I'm a useful ally. But not all of them like me. I have to work very hard not to tell things about them I shouldn't." "You're an -ally-?" Wednesday's grin briefly becomes a sharp thing, like long knives, before it fades abruptly. "Hey, I don't want to get you in trouble, Jim. You want to talk about something else, we can do that. I mean, they're at war, so, I get it." Alma returns from returning Maria to the school picnic in time for the band to set up. She returns to the backyard. "Wednesday, Alma wants to know if you cosplay like this all the time." Jim chukcles himself. "Cosplay, heh. Well it's fine Wednesday. You saying what you want won't have any impact on me. However... I have to watch what I say, to keep my word." "Welcome back, Alma - tell her pretty much all the time, yeah." Wednesday turns back to Jim, adding, "Right, but why tempt the Urd on that?" He looks at the sky, seems to be considering the light. "Actually, I have errands to run, but maybe I'll be back - how late is the party going?" Smiling at Wednesday Alma says, "I think you are one of the more theatrical people I know. Come back later." She decides to try one of these beers out. Jim waves from his seat, picking up his food and his coke again. "Thanks for coming out. Happy Independence Day." he'll say to the departing Wednesday. "That was some art by Maria. How much do you think she suspects?" Wednesday up-nods both Jim and Alma, and munches on his burger as he heads out. "I don't know how much she suspects. Not enough to be dangerous, that's for sure." Alma takes a sip. "There are a lot of eccentric people in the world, including her aunt. She probably makes a lot of allowances for any friends of mine. You'd have to be weird to want to be friends with me, yeah?" Jim laughs and shakes his head. "You're not that weird. Note and your research go together. But then there's me, with a tree full of ravens, and then Wednesday. And he starts blabbing about wolves." Sighs. "Monday busy. Not many folks coming here. I reckon the Garou aren't used to social events." "From what she says, Wednesday is cosplaying Odin, who is destined to be eaten by a great wolf." Alma rubs her shoulder. "I think it's easy for us to think people know more than they do just by reading in to things people say." Jim currently is sitting back on a lounge chair, a Mexican Coke in hand, and a plate with a hamburger. Alma is around with a beverage she brought. Alma brought some aqua frescas of various flavors, but righ tnow is trying out one of these Shiner Bochs. Jamila shows up fashionably late, which is to say she shows up just before the fireworks fun starts. She's dressed rather differently than most people are probably accustomed to seeing her: short denim shorts, strappy leather sandals, and a black crop-top tee-shirt that says "BLACK LIVES MATTER" in white block lettering. She's carrying a case of pamplemousse LaCroix and a medium sized cooler. "Hey Jim," she calls out with a smile on her face. "I brought steaks." They're halal. Jim raises his hand on seeing Jamila "Miss Jamila! Welcome. Plenty of food left. Please help yourself. Oooh. Steaks. I can grill 'em right up." He takes a bite of his burger, then climbs to his feet, taking his food over beside the grill, and flipping it back open. "Nice food for what should be a nice fireworks show. I went all out. The law here is very kind to private fireworks." One table has some buckets of aqua frescas of various flavors sitting in buckets of ice. Alma has finished the Shiner. It's not bad, but she likes the fresca more. She pours herself a tamarind drink. When she sees Jamila she says, "Hey!" and runs up to give her a hug. She doesn't know many of the other people here other than Jim and Monday (who is very busy right now, so not out and about). Rayne has come for the celebration, she looks around and she smiles looking about she gets some bbq and she grabs a beer that may be about looking around she waves to jim but seems not to know any others. "Just cook mine long enough to put marks on both sides, Jim," she says, as she entrusts the cooler to him. "They're good steaks. Got to treat them right." Of course she has opinions about her meat. She walks over to the drink cooler that is surely right by the food table, and sets her case of LaCroix next to it, crouching down to put several cans into the cooler before grabbing one and popping it open. Hydration is important. Jim grins back to Jamila "Blue Rare. Got it." He gets the grill going a little hotter then. "Miss Rayne, Howdy. Welcome, Help yourself to all the stuff we've got out here. I'm going to fire these steaks then go warn Monday we're going to have some fireworks going. She's got a huge project she's using the day off to get done." Rayne smiles a little as she looks to Jim, and then to Jamila with a small wink, "hey people" she says to the pair of them, "thanks for the food guys" Alma sits back down after Hugging Jamila. "I'm pooped," She says. Alma is a little tired from biking back and forth between Maria's event and Jim's place. She's taking a break. She's sat in the chair Note was using and has opened up a book to read. The Baltimore School of Urban Ecology. When she sees a new face, Raynes, she waves a bashful "Hi". Note flaps up from the chair and perches in a tree near Alma. "It's nice here." She nods and starts reading. Jamila is hugged and hugs in return. "It's muggy out, you been out in the sun all day?" Jamila follows after Alma and sits down in a chair next, cracking open her can of soda, and looking around with a content sigh. Jim gets the grill sufficiently HOT, and then carefully gets each steak on there. "Done!" he says with a laugh about the first one, though he's hardly joking. "This is my first time running the cookout and the fireworks show. I feel out of place, but it's fun too." Alma turns a page in her book, and looks up. "You're doing a good job. Lots of good food, drinks. friendly host." She tells Jamila, "yeah, I've been helping out with Maria's school picnic too. It's not too far from here. but what a hot day. I brought some ice and stuff to help with keeping people hydrated." Alma is a busybody dogooder. "Oof, that's a lot, definitely take a load off," Jamila says, doing just that and taking another sip of her drink. But then she hears the magic word and hops up out of her chair. "Hopefully not _well done_, though," she says with a laugh. She grabs a plate for her steak, and some utensils. Meal of champions. At least champions who are obligate carnivores some of the time. Jim does flip her steak shortly after he called out done, and by the time Jamila's up, he's ready to get it onto a plate. Well, it's a paper plate she'll have. A red, white, and blue paper plate. "Ma'am, the day a steak comes off my grill well done is the day I never again return to Texas." Once Jamila's is off, he'll turn down the heat, and close up the grill, letting the others get to medium. Drink. "I'm keeping myself strick-ly hydrated with a 50/50 mix of beer and coke." That earns another laugh. "Of course," Jamila says, then she carries her plate back to a table and sits down at it. Socializing is good, but steak is better. Mmmmmmeat. Jim glances at Alma, sees she's completely lost in thought. She'll get medium. He grabs a beer and sits. "I wish we had more time to prep for the fireworks. I'm sure Monday could have made some amazing drones to fire stuff off. I'm just going to do it the old fashioned way." "I'm sure your display will be just fine, Jim," Jamila says in between bites of her steak. "Besides, why go all out? I always think the homey stuff is more fun to look at. Feels more real, you know?" It's very close to firewarks time and Alma shuts her book and puts it away in her bag. She takes a sip of her drink and sighs contentedly. Jim smiles "Thanks." He gets back to the grill, and starts plating the rest of the steaks. Two are set to rest, the third is brought inside. "Pardon me. It's showtime." Not long after, he's seen coming back out with a large cardboard box, and a long lighter. They're set down, Alma is brought her steak. "Here it comes. I have notes." He's then seen referring to his notes, taking out various implements, wiring them together, with everything going to a master controller, which is a raspberry pi in a red, white, and blue case, with a hat containing a large array of connectors. "I reckon I could handle some M80s. Can't hurt worse than a bear claw. That's homey. But honestly, the fun was in programming this." Jamila sits back and watches. She seems vaguely amused but otherwise unmoved by the fireworks display. She doesn't even ooh or aah. Jim doesn't seem to mind when, after he pushes the button and the fireworks start going off in waves, he doesn't get oohs and ahhs from the panther. He finds his seat and digs into his steak, just enjoying it. Not quite sitting back, since he's ready at any moment to go light something manually, or get the hose. Fairly anxious, eating a little quickly. The mad ornithologist oos and ahhs enough for two, maybe even more. The waves of explosions begin just before Wednesday rounds the corner slowly, obviously enjoying the sights and sounds. He hangs back for a moment at the corner of the house, before calling out to others, "Nice!" He doesn't move to join them just yet, just leans and watches. Despite not reacting with more than a smirk, Jamila does seem to raptly _watch_ all the fireworks. She even ignores her steak the whole time. <<DICE>> Jim rolls int + computer, difficulty 6 <<DICE>> 3 successes (2 3 7 8 10, Specialty: No, Willpower: No) <<DICE>> Jim rolls willpower, difficulty 7 <<DICE>> 2 successes (2 7 8, Specialty: No, Willpower: No) Jim apparently managed to pull this off. The finale is lighting up the sky over the backyard, as Jim's pre-programmed fireworks show is popping off. He gets up, also managing to keep from getting caught up in his own lights, and once its' all done, then he fires up the hose to start cooling off the ground in the area. "Whew. I was nervous until the last one went off." Alma welcome's Wednesday back. She says, "I can't remember if I recommended cheetos to you for bird snacks. It's a very popular treet. Unshelled peanuts, too" Joining the group, Wednesday smiles at Alma's greeting, replying, "Cheetos. Well, I'll see if I run into some - thanks, Alma." He glances around, hesitating as he looks as Jamila, then considers the house for a moment before offering his arm to Jamila. "A friend of Jim's? Call be Wednesday" He grins at her, but spares another glance at the door to the house. Jamila turns her eyes up toward the newcomer and considers him for a moment. "I'm not sure I'd characterize our relationship like that," she says, sounding suddenly serious. "But, he cooked my steak for me and it's good to be out." She doesn't take his arm or hand, though. She does offer him a smile. "I'm Jamila. Nice to meet you." Jim was going to do some introductions but that took care of itself. "I'd like to think we're on friendly terms. Usually. But allies is probably the best term." Soaking the ground, then getting the hose turned off. "This was fun. Thanks y'all for coming out. I'm glad to have met Maria too. Have to do something for another holiday. And please, take all the food you want with y'all. We got enough for at least double the people." Alma thanks Jim for inviting her to his party and welcoming Maria. "I enjoyed myself and Maria did too. She enjoyed sketching you. Maybe some of you will end up in her comic." Alma starts packing up all the stuff she brought | |
