so pile your boots up in the corner -- hang your jacket from the door

[slaying]

Who: anyone invited to house seven's thanksgivingstravaganza -- as well as anyone walking by who might be curious about all the brouhaha.
What: giving thanks!
When: forward dated to november 24th due to predicted holiday hiatuses!
Where: house seven!
Summary: friends, food, fondness. family. festivities.
Rating: g for goin' up.

Comments

[consultmybooks]

[Well, this was...all sorts of odd.

Giles was happy. It was a distressingly uncommon feeling. He was determined to enjoy it. And one very, very important thing to be happy about was that he had made it to Thanksgiving without something going horrifically wrong and, most importantly, he wasn't ruining Buffy's fun by believing he was another person and plotting to murder Willow and Xander. Riding high from the relative success of the New Feather party, he was actually look forward to this.

...despite the fact that, in a way, this was something like his idea of hell. Thanksgiving seemed to contain people he didn't know, people he didn't know very well, and people he deeply disliked and had last seen while begging for a pirate name. It was different at the New Feather parties, he wasn't expected to know anyone there and could usually get by just on the questions he was capable of answering. Here? There was a mutual connection in Buffy, and he knew that plenty of these people were hardly new to the village. It was something of a relief that Buffy had extended an invite to Ginia as well, loathe as Giles was to admit it, and he had passed said invitation along at a late hour.

Still. This probably left Giles as something of the odd person out at least at the start of things. And it will probably show, much as he tries to hide it. Yes, he is happy to be here. In his long and painful quest to somehow make things better with Buffy, this is an important step. This doesn't change the fact that he also doesn't have much of an idea about what to do besides grab some food, listen to the small talk, and try to stay out of the way.]

[slaying]

You have to try the gravy.

[ the slayer arrives in a rush of hostess pomp and circumstance, drying her hands on a stray tea towel. why was she drying them? who knows. perhaps some kitchen mishap.

either way, this is how she greets her ex-watcher. there are...things to be said, of course. things about his youngitude that will definitely end up said. but for now?

gravy. ]

[consultmybooks]

[Giles would rather things be said about his youngitude than say, Jack, although he's fairly certain he might have gotten away unnoticed from Hornblower or Kennedy. Until then?]

I didn't notice that there was any.

[slaying]

...Giles? It's Thanksgiving. No gravy would be a sin. A travesty. A crime. They'd lock me up for crimes against culture. I'd never see the light of day again and that would be a crying shame because I definitely look better with a tan.

[consultmybooks]

Crimes against your culture. Not mine. I spent too long on the other side of the ocean to be fussed about gravy. So you can trust me not to lock you up for anything of the sort.

[slaying]

We'll see if you're still singing the same tune the next time I try and serve Yorkshire pudding sans-gravy.

[consultmybooks]

I didn't know you'd taken up even attempting Yorkshire pudding.

[slaying]

If by attempt you mean find a frozen variety in the shop and nuke? Then -- surprise!

[consultmybooks]

[Giles actually shudders at this.]

And not the pleasant sort. I think I'll just try some of the gravy and we'll call it done, thanks.

[slaying]

It's a deal.

[ WELL? she's waiting. ]

[consultmybooks]

[...a little disquieted, Giles goes off to find some gravy to spoon onto his turkey. He takes a bite and returns to Buffy for report.]

It's very good. Well done.

[slaying]

Isn't it amazing? O-okay, so maybe I had some help. With all of this...but I'm not longer the queen of failure in the kitchen, Giles!

[ her self-pride is achingly evident. ]

[consultmybooks]

Yes, I can tell. It's very good. [Wild horses could not drag his surprise at this fact from him.] There's no shame in getting help with Thanksgiving, Buffy, it's only to be expected.

[slaying]

Oh. What's that? Do I hear the cantankerous Brit who just finished excluding himself from my culture now trying to comment on that culture?

[ it's out of love. ]

[consultmybooks]

You hear the victim of one too many Thanksgivings where you tried to manage without assistance.

[Clean up from the Thanksgiving with the Indians probably took weeks.]

[slaying]

Oh, come on. [ she knows the one he's mentioning. ] I had that big psych test to study for. You know that. You wouldn't have wanted me to neglect my studies, right?