(2018-01-29) Impromptu Barbecue
Log Title
Summary: An impromptu barbecue at Tyla's has old friends meeting again and the fresh out of the hedge learning some lessons
Date: IC Date (2018-01-29)
Related: None
Player Characters: Audgrim, Bea, Eddie, Grayson, Tyla

There's a barbecue about to happen at the back and people are gathering up for it. Audgrim is walking around trying to be helpful but mostly being in the way or knocking things over with his tail, so he's sent to the side and told to practice his English; he's got a dictionary and is loudly proclaiming words that he picks out randomly from random pages. "In-sur-ance! Internet! Internet?" He looks puzzled at that, and turns some pages. "Low-lands."

Bea rolls up in an ice cream truck, complete with slow kid-inticing music. Out she hops and calls out, "Hi everyone! I brought the ice cream. And the honey, and some good veggies to roast on the barbeque, and just a couple little sides and desserts I whipped up, to share with everyone and everything." She starts hauling things out of the back of the truck, adding, "Gosh it's nice that the wind has calmed down so much, isn't it? I mean, like, it's weird, but nice, right?" She moves over to Augrim, conscripting him into assisting her with hauling out her food offerings by almost forcibly shoving an aluminum tray of cakes into his arms, "I mean, it makes for /great/ barbeque weather, and that's a good thing, don't you think?" The stream of consciousness chatter dies down to an incomprehensible mutter as she hunts for some lost snack in the back of the truck.

"You remember the phone computer I showed you the first night you were here?" Tyla says to Audgrim as she brings out a rather large (for her) platter of meats to barbecue. "And how you were able to translate on that?" Tyla asks, setting down the platter near the barbecue. "You can get the internet on that. It's like a giant library and a place for people to post pictures of cats." She explains as she heads back in for another load. Hearing Bea she gets a smile and a wave, though it's likely that the icecream truck gets it instead.

Audgrim stares at the whirlwind that is Bea as she starts unpacking - his tail swish behind him slowly as he takes it all in, fascinated. He puts his dictionary in a pocket and gives Tyla a headtilt in confusion. "Cats? I like cats. I watch cats, on internet later." It's probably a good thing Bea shoves a box at him, one he grabs out of sheer surprise so it won't drop, because he showed no signs of helping before that. Now, with a task, he flashes Bea a toothy grin and says: "Hello. My name is Audgrim. Weater is nice today. How are you? Where is te train station." It's those phrases you learn from dictionaries; his accent makes it clear English is not his first language, and he can't really pronounce 'th'.

Eddie shows up in his nondescript little sedan, rolling up around the icecream truck and getting out without turning off the motor. He's been a ghost since the unpleasantness at the Sit'N'Spin, doing what Winters do, and he didn't call ahead to let anyone know he was coming. He looks up, briefly, for birds; he looks at the dead tree that crowns fall out of; he looks back at the icecream truck with a quizzical look on his face, wondering where Tyla gets the money, completely missing who's in back. "I'm here for my phone," he announces, looking like he's kind of in a hurry.

Bea starts to scoot out from the back of the truck, this time with a big bag of candies that look like mistakes- odd shapes and weird off cuts, but still tasty and colorful. "Hi Audgrim, I'm Bea, Bea Bramble, it's really nice to meet you. I'm great! It's been a really good day, and spring is teasing us just a little, so that's always nice." She doesn't miss a beat as she asks, "Are you looking for the Amtrak station or the industrial trains, because I think that those ones park up at a different spot, but if you want to go on a trip, I can put it into your phone for you so you can get there if you like." And there's Eddie! The man gets attacked by friendliness as Bea dives toward him, wrapping him up in a hug unless he really makes a strong effort to stop her. "Eddie! I was just shoveling the barns this morning and I was just thinking of you! It's like you're a mind reader, showing up here just at this time. Gosh it's good to see you. Want a candy?" She holds out the whole bag of sugary goodness toward him as she finally releases her strangle-hold of a hug.

Tyla brings another bowl out potato salad and immediately spots Eddie, despite his Winter-ness since he currently has a Bea him locked down in a hug. "Eddie!" The bowl gets set down abruptly and she's heading over in that direction as well. Eddie gets another hug out of nowhere from Tyla, strong (for her) and lingering like she doesn't want to let go. "Eddie! Lucas told me you were okay, but I didn't hear anything from you. Are you okay, really?" She asks, looking him over as much as she can while not pulling away from the hug. "Your phone is safe, the cops never asked about it, I wiped the cameras…but they were going to check out the ones across the street though. I'll go get your phone though." She finally lets go of Eddie, hair flickering and swirling happily.

A new day and a new problem. Grayson eventually comes wondering into the yard. He probably walked, he walks everywhere. Who knows what the intent of his escape today is from the bakery. He looks, a little tired and a little more pale than usual. He rubs and his eyes and wears a frown where normally he would not have much of an expression. New people are in the yard, he notices the voices right away. As that always does, it causes him to hold to the outskirts of the gathering and look on. His stomach rumbles at the first smell of food, but then he looks like he might be sick. He just flops down on the grass to a sit, holding his head.

The barrage of words aimed at Audgrim is overwhelming and confusing, but Audgrim bears it all stoically, gives Bea another grin and makes some grunting confirmative noices though in truth he didn't get much of it. Except "Phone", which is a word he hears all the time. "No phone," he adds. He stands there with the box, watching Eddie get hugged and focusing on him now, taking in his appearance. "Hello," he offers raspily. Thankfully, he doesn't hug Eddie too, but wanders over to set that box down on the table and notices Grayson. "Grrrrayson. I have big shirt now." He tugs at his flannel shirt, remembering the offer from the other night.

Eddie nearly jumps out of his chitinous skin when Bea grabs him, thrashing and buzzing his wings. He goes kind of slack when he sees who it is, dumbstruck, and then Tyla's got him too and he just looks confused. He takes a step back, to try and figure out what just happened. "I'm okay?" He tries to answer Tyla, doesn't get it right, tries again: "I'm okay. Thanks." He's got most of his attention on Bea, his face somewhere between hope and suspicion. It's a weird look on him. Hope usually doesn't even make it out the gates. "Bea?" He finally asks, reaching out one hesitant gray finger to poke her, right between the eyes.

When Tyla comes in to join the hug, Bea's little wings start buzzing happily as she envelopes Tyla with one arm, making it a proper group hug before she pulls away. Eddie gets her widest grin as she nods, giving him a reassuring pat on the arm as she agrees with unusual solemnity, "Yup, that's me." She takes a deep breath, a sigh of contentment as if everything is right in the world, and then looks to Tyla, "Right, so, what's cookin' good lookin'? Can I help with anything? Does anything need grilling, because I brought some stuff that might be fun to try, and it's just something a friend sent me, this nice sauce, and it's maybe got a high Scoville for New England, but I think you might like it, if it doesn't burn off your tongue, but I think that's only a rumor and not the truth, so don't worry. You want to try it right?" She looks around from Tyla and Eddie, over to Greyson and Audgrimfor a general consensus on who's willing to vonuteer to risk a permanently damaged esophagus.

Tyla steps back to go and get Eddie's phone under Bea's barrage and grins waving to the barbecue. "Normally I don't let anyone near my egg but I can certainly try some sauce on some of the things, sure!" She exclaims happily, but then Audgrim is drawing out the r in Grayson's name, so she looks around with a smile, purpling a little with her blush. She goes pale though when she spots him. "Grayson?" she calls out, hair getting more agitated. She rushes over and kneels beside him. "Grayson, are you okay?" She reaches out and places a gentle hand on his arm.

Eddie stands there looking dumbly at his arm for a little while, trying to fight off a dopey grin. He can't quite kill it in time. "It's good to see you, Bea," he says, and he goes to cut his car off while he gets his face back under control. He comes back a minute later and gets his phone from Tyla and finally seems to notice everyone else. Audgrim gets an inspection, then a wave. Grayson… he narrows his eyes. "Who got the new guy drunk?"

Grayson lifts a hand to wave at Audgrim tentatively. Happy, it seems, to keep the distance as it. He's still skittish, especially in big groups and Audgrim is a big, terrifying guy, but it'd be rude not to acknowledge him. When Tyla speaks to him and at such close range his frown worsens, but he nods a slight little shiver when she touches him, but he doesn't pull back, looking past her for a moment to Eddie. He was right, Eddie is alive, nothing to worry about. It's a brief moment of relief on his face as he waves to him too. Then he turns back to Tyla, holding his head once more. "Head hurts. Velvet gave me poison, tasted like chocolate. Very good. Told me not to drink too much. Also something else, also poison, tasted terrible. Can still taste it. I think I drank too much." He is still very slight and not much weight to him, might explain how that was done so easy.

As nobody is watching the hamburger meat that closely, Audgrim steals one and starts munching on it (raw), lazily ambling over to Tyla and Grayson as she shows concern over him. "Burrrger?" he offers with a note of amusement in his voice, holding the uncooked meat out. His Rs are rolling heavily, like Scandinavians tend to. "Drink much, head hurt. Eat much food, better." He drops the burger next to Grayson and leans in to pat him on the head comfortingly, if allowed. So helpful. He turns to Eddie, and greets him next. "I am Audgrim. Nice to meet."

Bea gives Grayson a sympathetic look, "Water," she suggests, "Lots of water and some asprin, maybe. Or some meadowsweet, but that's not in season really." She shrugs and eyes Audgrim, suggesting helpfully, "They're tastier cooked, really, and it might surprise you, but it could make you sick raw. Although carpaccio is super tasty, so I could be wrong." She offers Grayson her bag of candies, "Want some of these? They don't taste like chocolate mostly, but they're really good and I don't /think/ there's any in there that'll get you drunk. I usually keep pretty good track of the drunk-making candies." Ahh, the promises of 'I won't get you drunk' sound dubious, no matter how well intended, when coming out of the mouth of the sweet Spring.

Tyla eyes the raw meat dubiously and scoops it up. "This is how I get ants." She says with a sigh, but then up to Audgrim. "Most people prefer it cooked." She explains. "The whole point of a barbecue is cooking meat and hanging out with friends." She adds, nodding to Bea's comments about water and raw meat. "Lots of water and I'll get you some Tylenol." Tyla agrees gently to Grayson. "And it technically IS a poison, but it's a fun one. You have a hangover. What you need to do is fill a big empty bottle and fill it up with water. Drink as much as you can, and when you get up to pee,, fill it up and drink again. You'll be up a lot, but you'll feel better in the morning." Tyla explains to Grayson as she offers him a hand up. "Do you like coconut water? I find electrolytes help a lot too."

Oh, Velvet got the new guy drunk. Eddie nods, that checks out. He chuckles a nasty chuckle, quietly, while he watches the others dispense hangover advice. Audgrim's approach gets him a closer inspection, a look of approval when he notices the raw meat on the other beast's face. He sticks out a hand, for shaking. "Eddie Brundle. I guess you're one of Tyla's strays? The county's going to come and take you all away, one day."

Audgrim slooowly sidles away from the ladies, realising he made a faux pas from the tone alone. "Cook meat… eh," he says and doesn't seem entirely convinced this is better for anyone. He's quite thankful to leave them to tend to Grayson, taking Eddie's hand in a firm grip, in a normal handshake; he might be fresh out of the hedge but some things you just don't forget from your life before. "Yes, Penny find me… I be in America two days. Strrrrange place," he notes contemplatingly, as if USA is only slightly less odd than the Hedge was. "English not good yet, in Other place, not speak much. From Norway, many time ago. Fell in sea, was on bad ship - I swim away and come America." He tils his head and looks quizzical; "County?"

Grayson does, decidedly, not let Audgrim touch him, recoiling and scrambling away as the big guy approaches and drops meat and then goes for the pat. Not today. The effort that takes probably makes him a little dizzier and gets the blood pounding to his throbbing head. He frowns again and again hands go to his head as he sits there once more. "Water." A nod. This makes sense to his intimate knowledge of biology. He looks up warily at Bea as she approaches, but he shakes his head at the candies, and regrets that motion a little too. The question of coconut water gets a shrug. "I don't know. What is it?" Self-explanatory, but the question is required anyway. He allows Tyla the hand to help him up, still clutching his head in the other. And then stops, not really sure what to do, looking to Tyla.

"N-not c-cool, Eddie." Tyla says quietly, her hair starting to shift and twist, more agitated, flickering faster. as she hands him the raw meat. She smiles up to Audgrim and shakes her head, trying to smile again. "Eddie is joking, saying p-people are g-going to c-come and take them to the mental institution." She explains to Audgrim, and then looks around at the collected Lost. "C-come on, Grayson. We'll g-get Eddie's phone and you a p-pair of sunglasses." The last is said to Grayson, though she doesn't wait for him and starts to head to the house, shoulders slightly slouched as her hair flickers wildly.

Bea starts to busy herself helping to get food sorted and, if Tyla allows her to man the grill, cooked. She hums a little tune off-key, and wiggles a little dange entirely lacking rhythm, clearly happy as can be. When Tyla seems disturbed by Eddie's comment she looks puzzled, noting curiously, "Oh, I thought he was making a joke about the pound." She looks after Tyla with a glance of worry, then to Audgrim, offering the alternative explanation, "The pound is where they take animals that don't have anyone to look after them."

Audgrim takes the meat back and has another bite. There's some dirt on it, but he doesn't mind. "Tank you," he says and grins that too wide grin again, turning back to Eddie, making an amused snort; he understood enough of all this to get it. "We all… strange," he notes, not remembering the word for crazy. He gestures for Eddie to come along, lazily ambling off towards Bea to see what she's cooking up. "You live…?" He makes a gesture to indicate the general area, glancing at Eddie and Bea both.

"Oh." Tyla says quietly with a nod, her hair calming down to it's normal flicks and wisps, sort of like Hades from Hercules, except smokey black fire. "That makes more sense." She agrees quietly. "S-sorry." She mumbles.

Bea smiles as Tyla seems to relax, and gives Eddie a little grin and a wink. Bea surrupticiously sneaks a little jar out of a pocket and drips just a tiny bit on one or two of the burgers as she gets ready to flip them. "So Audgrim, Norway is a far way to swim. Do you plan to stay here or are you thinking maybe you'll go back home, where it's probably safer…Not that it's not safe here, but you know, some weird stuff happens sometimes, and it's hard not to die all the time. But it's nice here, really, and I hope you /do/ stay, since you seem really nice anyway."

Grayson follows Tyla inside or rather moves past hr when she stops to talk. Maybe because he's paying more attention to his head. Velvet is an awful person. He disappears inside for a bit, making some noise. Possibly digging in her cupboards or in her fridge, or both.

"Around," Eddie says, smugly mysterious. He waves an it's-fine wave at Tyla and watches Audgrim eat his meat off the ground. Approval, and a little disappointment, like he was hoping to eat that. He brightens up again when Bea applies the secret ingredient, and follows Audgrim over to the grill. "Wouldn't recommend going home, right now. Not unless your idea of a good time is—" he stops, reconsiders who he's speaking to. It hurts him to let go of a line of chatter, but he does. "You get sick if you leave town. Anything past Forks, maybe Seattle on the water."

Bea frowns slightly as Eddie notes that fact, but nods slightly, "I'm looking into it," she says, as if this is news, and an investigation she feels she alone carries the burden of. Don't worry folks, she's got this! "I was thinking I might go for a little trip, you know, through the thorns, but maybe I might see if anyone wants to have a picnic or something if I do that, even though I'm /pretty/ sure I would be fine, still it's always nice to have company, right?" She looks to Eddie, then Audgrim hopefully, clearly imagining one of them is stupid enough to volunteer to join her on a hedge trip.

"Yes, long swim. And wrong side of America," Audgrim grumbles - he's only realised that in the last few hours, since there was a map in his dictionary. Finishing off his raw burger, he takes a seat and streches long legs out, tail raised up behind him swinging like a pendulum in lazy strokes. There's a serious expression on his face, and he adds, thoughtfully to Bea and Eddie both: "First, I want go home. Now… want stay here. /Must/ do something, here. Don't know what. And home… all gone. All dead." Same for him as for many others, but he hides his emotions on it well enough, trying to be factual. "I can go to Other place. Hedge? You say Hedge, yes?" The violin is moved to the table and he takes it out, just softly picking at the strings with his fingers for now.

"The last time I went into the Hedge," Eddie says, matter-of-fact, "I got eaten by a big plant. Flies have nightmares about that kind of thing." He rubs the back of his neck and looks accusingly at the back of Bea's head and lets out a long sigh. "But what the hell, it sounds like fun. Pack a big basket, I know some people." He fishes into his pockets for a cigarette, strikes a match on his thumb, takes a drag as he watches Audgrim fiddle with his violin. "Not home, not now. The roads are all out. Fastest place the Hedge'll get you is back on that boat you were talking about."

Bea shrugs, wincing a bit and looking rather forlorn for a brief moment, "Well, I mean, /technically/ it's possible to get to the other side, but right now it's pretty hard, and, like….overgrown and stuff. And definitely not the safest route home, like Eddie says." She sighs and then perks up as she pulls the first round of burgers off the grill. She takes the first one, ceremoniously loadng it with an abundance of toppings,and presents it to Audgrim, "Now try /this/ and see if it isn't better this way." The next one is for Eddie and, perhaps having caught the look of excitement, she offers him one of the doctored ones, warning, "Be real careful with this, 'cause it's kinda spicy." Like, ghost chili spicy, nbd. She pouts a little and adds, "I wouldn't let any plants eat you, you know. But if you run into any ever anywhere that /try/ just see if they want to come home and visit me, because I do like that kind, you know. They make good guards." Then her own burger is made, heaped to the brim with pretty much every possible topping, all the usuals like ketchup, lettuce and cheese, but also coleslaw, chips, did she just sneak one of the hot dogs on there?! She's a mad woman, but ends up with a towering, tasty looking beast of a burger.

Audgrim sits up and puts the violin back in its case, eagerly accepting the burger. He sniffs it and makes a growling sound of approval. "I not go home now," he agrees simply, understanding the problems they lay out for him. He tears off a chunk of the burger, making a mess as crumbs and toppings fall down on the table. He solves that by spearing pieces with a claw and put it in his mouth in a contadictory dainty fashion. You don't waste food! "Good," he says and grins at Bea with food in his mouth still. "I learn more English, I stay with Tyla, I help garrrdening. I do this, I do that. I help you and you," he nods to the two.

"Help's good. We need all the help we can get, these days." Eddie takes his burger, nodding his thanks and finding a seat. He takes a bite and tries to follow Audgrim's act of talking and chewing. "But I wouldn't stay here any longer than I had to. You see that—" he goes to point at something, stops. Stops talking, even. His eyes start to water, a little. His cheeks turn a little purple. He swallows, clears his throat, and gets up to go find a beer without another word.

Bea grins at Audgrim encouragingly as he tries the cooked burger, "English can be hard, but it's good you're learning. There's lots of people who can help, like, um, there's a whole ESL program, usually not for…Norway-ians, but, like, I'm sure they would help you too. And anyway, it's good you're helping. If you ever want to get out a little, you're welcome to come help out at the farm in Forks, or at the candy shop if you want to. There's always something to do, and I can do trades or money or whatever, if you want." She takes a bite of her burger, watching Eddie with an excessively innocent look on her face, offering only, "I /did/ warn you it might be a little spicy. Maybe some milk might be a good idea."

Audgrim lazily eyes Eddie as he wanders off, not sure what's up; he leans in to sniff at Eddie's food, and though the he's rather tolerant of any sort of food, he stifles a sneeze from the spicy smell alone. It causes him to grin widely at Bea, amused. He munches on his own burger, it seems to take only a few bites for him to finish it off. "I come help," he promises simply, looking a bit excited for a chance to go see other places, tail flicking quickly. "You, Eddie, Tyla, Grayson - you have strange… things. Eddie, like cold. You like flower." He struggles to find the words to convey his meaning. He points at the insects buzzing around here. "You have wind. What is that?"

Eddie finds a beer and drinks half and pounds his chest. "I'm fine," he coughs, then drinks the rest and belches. "I'm fine," he repeats, and seems to mean it this time. His nose is dripping a little, but he's doing better than any of those jerks on Youtube. He chucks his bottle at the dead tree he was going to point at earlier, grabs another, and returns to the table. "Mantles. They're called mantles. You get them from out of a talking hat when you learn what Court you're in."

Bea smiles at Audgrim and winks as he sniffs Eddie's burger, whispering conspiratorially, "That's from my friend who experiements with chilis, and it's real hot, like eating a lava pit, kinda, but it's good." She considers the question, then smiles, "Oh, that's what we can our mantle, like when we make a deal with a season that we fit in best with them. Me, I'm Spring, which is like…desire and new life and health and just…all the nicest things, I think. And then Eddie, he's Winter, and Winter is about all the moping and the sadness and cold and hiding and scaredness, and they are the bravest, because they're the only ones who hold how really nervous and sad we all are. And then, like there is also Summer, who are angry and hot and like to fight and be strong, and they're great fun and do just what's needed beating heads and making things happen quick sometimes. And then also Autumns, who are the smart ones, and they are about fear and smart thinking, and keeping the knowledge of all the spooky magical things, and they're pretty fun too, and at least like to know about my encyclopedia the most, even if sometimes I just think it's 'cause they're nosey. But then also sometimes people don't choose any of those, or choose one of the other ones, which aren't so common around here." She shrugs as if she's got nothing to offer on the subject of the 'other ones'.

Audgrim might now know the language that well, which to some might suggest he's stupid; but he's figured out a few things about English already, and that is that many words are the same thing in Norwegian. "Mantel… Vr, Sommar, Host, Vinter," he says in his native language. "Spring - nice things, winter - hiding, summer - fight, autum - smart fear." That might be summing it up a bit TOO much, but it's a start. "I learn more, later. Maybe I have mantle too."

Eddie puts on a scowl when Bea gets to the part about Winter bravery, and throws a little slice of tomato vaguely in her direction, but he nods along with the rest. His eyebrows go up, impressed, when Audgrim repeats back his version. "Sounds like you've got it, pretty much. You're going to be less work than the last new guy." He takes a bite and makes a determined face and seems to do better, this time.

Bea laughs in delight as Audgrim seems to get the gist of things, "Exactly! Good job. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it soon and decide if you want to be in one of the clubs." She sticks her tongue out at Eddie at the tomato flick and watches as he takes another bite, "Good right? Once you get used to the heat, it's pretty tasty, I think."

Audgrim smiles a bit smugly, quite pleased with his own cleverness it seems. Then he suddenly yawns widely and stretches out, standing up. "Tank you for food. Go sleep now, but nice to meet. I come to help, soon," he promises Bea. He nods at them both, and then simply saunters off towards the house for a nap.

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