food glorious food [open]

[drewthetower]

WHO: August, his aunts, and Literally Everyone
WHERE: August's very small house
WHEN: Early February
WHAT: His aunts are in town, that means food, which means his aunts told August to invite people over, which means he is inviting folks from the Zodiac app
WARNINGS: August swears? Like a lot?

aunts are here. if you can see this you're invited to food. feel free to bring your own dishes, Marianne'll love that


actually if you're veg or gluten-free you might wanna bring something, Marriane never met a meat she didn't like and this kitchen ain't GF-friendly by virtue of me loving bread

August's place looks about like you'd expect a college kid's rental to look: small, not the newest, and hilariously crowded. It does have two bedrooms, but only technically. The second bedroom is tiny, and is also where August technically sleeps.

What? Did you think he wasn't going to turn the master bedroom into his craft room? Please.

When you arrive, you'll be greeted by one of three things:

-Julian cawing happily and landing on your head (if he knows you personally)

-Marianne (small, a bit rowdy, always eager to embarrass August or Cat) calling out to August in French, August replying in French, and then Catherine (taller, calmer, and always ready to bemoan why both her wife and nephew-son are wimps) sighing and turning to you with a "hi, you must be friends of August!"

-the above, but with loud and colorful swearing from the kitchen instead of Marianne and August bickering. Listen long enough and you'll probably learn to swear in another three languages!

If you brought food, Cat'll take it and set it on August's tiny table or the card table they brought because they know their son. If you didn't, Cat will point out the stuff already laid out--and there is a lot. On top of the typical relish tray and other snack-y foods, there's already three types of salad, two kinds of soup, a pot of chili, a crockpot full of very fancy cheese dip, another crockpot full of hot cider, a third that seems to be full of some kind of bean dish, and whatever else Marianne is making.

If asked why they brought so much food for what was likely going to be just August, August will say "they're empty-nesters" before dodging whatever Cat is throwing at him for that pun while Marianne cackles in the background.

Comments

[drewthetower]

Is Dolores related to you?

[He can already tell he knows the answer to this.]

1/3

[wedonttalkabout]

Okay, so that's a big assumption to make and-

2/3

[wedonttalkabout]

[Does he have a point here? No. If he did, it's gone, sailing away on the breeze. There it goes. ]

3/3

[wedonttalkabout]

...Okay, so she's another one of my sobrinas, but STILL! She's still a person! That I talk to!

[drewthetower]

Uh-huh.

[August should start keeping track of how many Madrigals show up. Anyway.]

It's not saying suddenly become a social butterfly or an extrovert, it's just saying that now may be a good time to start trying. With people not your teenage nieces.

[wedonttalkabout]

[Honestly, setting up a tracing system for them all would probably be wise at this point. ]

Oh don't worry, neither of those things is ever gonna happen.

[He snorts lightly, even before he went into the walls, he wasn't exactly super social. He always left that to his sisters.]

Dolores is in her twenties soooo. [That's not the point he's trying to make Bruno, you both know it.] Anyway- I'm trying. I'm not...good at the people. I'm out of practice. Don't really know where to...start.

[drewthetower]

[August will not comment on the totally pointless correction. His point stands.]

I can't help there, back home I had like, two and a half friends I-R-L and then Jun online before I moved here so...

[Yeah.]

Anyway, next card.

[Fool, upright.

Huh, Mirabel got that card too. May be connected, may be random.]

So, Fool tends to represent new beginnings and that sorta thing, so hey! Good news, things are lookin' good for you even if they also probably look absolutely fuckin' terrifying.

[wedonttalkabout]

I-R-L? Is that... a group or...something?

[DO THEY HAVE WEAPONS? It sounds like they have weapons.

Weird. Just this weird family being weird. It's probably nothing. Bruno manages a little smile.]

Oh! Well, that's- that's good! I like that. New beginnings, less so here, but that's what was happening back home too so...yay?

[drewthetower]

Uh, it's a text acronym, short for "in real life".

[It's one of the few he uses in real life since...it's a good one, honestly.]

And yes, yay. [. . .] Mirabel mentioned something like that--everything okay?

[wedonttalkabout]

So...like everything is?

[Why is the future like this August? He shifts, uneasy.]

It's...complicated. Things are better now, but they...definitely weren't for a long time.

cw: lots of swearing???

[drewthetower]

...remind me to get Jun to explain the internet later.

[Not sorry Jun.]

I see. Well, like I said: good news is things are gonna keep getting better for a while. Now, hopefully you don't get the same fucking card as everyone else...

[August flips the last card and promptly swears. Loudly.]

Ten of fucking Cups, fucking reversed, this goddamn motherfucking--

August!

Sorry!

Re: cw: lots of swearing???

[wedonttalkabout]

Duly noted- will do.

[Jun is going to teach him all the things which will make everyone around him have a much more difficult life!

He watches with soft amusement- because this, at least, is something he's used to. Cruddy predictions no one likes are his bread and butter at this point. He sits back, brows raising.]

Not what you wanted, huh? Is this...what everyone's getting?

[drewthetower]

Yeah. This fucking card means relationship trouble and I'm sorry, but you especially are not having relationship trouble any time soon.

[You're a cool guy but also.]

Mirabel is probably not having relationship trouble. I sure as hell am not. So why the fuck.

[wedonttalkabout]

Oh. Yeah...no. [He laughs a soft little hah-hah sound.] That's definitely not...something I do. Not the uh- romance kinda way anyway?

[He considers.]

And no, I don't think Mirabel has that sort of trouble, either.

[God, he HOPES not. He's still trying to nagivate parenting a teenager without adding romance to the mix. ]

Hmmm, so if everyone is getting it, even if they're not in a place to...worry about that. It's...odd. Especially if the rest of your cards are working okay.

[drewthetower]

[You are too anxious to ever be in a romantic relationship Bruno, and he's sorry but he had to say it.]

My aunts got totally normal readings, so it's gotta be something about...Kaisou, maybe?

[wedonttalkabout]

[He'd very much rather not ever. His sisters did all the marrying and extending the Madrigal line, okay.]

Oh. Hmmm. Maybe? I mean- I definitely didn't understand the electric rat thing my vision showed? Though what that has to do with romance I don't think I could guess.

[drewthetower]

If anyone's idea of romance is electric rats, I do not wanna know. They can go be weird somewhere else.

[Just saying.]

This is just--it's frustrating. I can usually figure out what the fuck the cards are hinting at but this? Fuck no.

[wedonttalkabout]

Right? That's a whole new level of weird.

[And if Bruno says something is weird...well, it's really weird.]

I understand. My visions are always clear and they're never wrong. [The only time they'd ever given him pause was Mirabel's and that was...complicated.] This place? It feels like I'm half-blind.

Frustrating is definitely the word for it.

[drewthetower]

Maybe you just need to get used to Kaisou for that to clear up. Hopefully, because fuck that would be really useful right now.

[wedonttalkabout]

Maybe?

[But does he really want it? His entire life his worth has been bound to his gift. A gift that's made him ostracized for the vast majority of his life. A gift that's been actually painful and exhausting to bear. He's frustrated by the lack of clarity, but does he really miss it?

Of course, the really useful comment hits home. That's what it always is, isn't it? Being useful. He thought he was finally getting past this, but it turns out those skeletons will tumble out of his closet if he wants them to or not. His shoulders sag, his expression fading.]

...Yeah. Yeah, I guess it would be, huh?

[drewthetower]

[Well, August may not be aware of all the baggage, but he is no idiot. Clearly something about what he said does not sit well with Bruno.]

Kinda, but eh. Just ignore me, I'm frustrated because this is weird. I've dealt with weird vague bullshit for twenty-two years, this really should be nothing.

[wedonttalkabout]

[Sorry, August, one day he might sit down and explain all his everything to you, but today is not that day.]

Hah...I guess you're used to it, huh? [God, how much easier would his life have been if his visions were vague? The pressure would have been definitely off. Or at least...less.]

But it's still frustrating. Especially when we don't know how dangerous things can be here.

[drewthetower]

I've dealt with the Spirit Realm like. Once, when I thought that was where my mom went after I was bo--

[August stops mid-sentence and just sort of stares at nothing, lost in thought or something. Julian seems only vaguely concerned by this, so he's probably not dying?]

[wedonttalkabout]

[Uh oh. Bruno's lived through enough touchy family issues to know when they might have stumbled one. He raises his hands, gently.]

It's...okay if you don't wanna talk about it. I get it. Moms are...difficult.

[drewthetower]

[That snaps August out of the daze and he shakes his head.]

No, no, it's not that, just...hey, what do your visions look like when you have them?