@eugene.hicks

[preseance]

Would anyone like to go dancing? You don't need to know how, I can teach you if you're at all amenable to things from the 1920s on through the 1940s. Ain't no bother, neither, so go on and put that thought right out of your head.

But if dancing ain't your style, I'm planning on putting down a dinner on Sunday. I can't promise I'll make the best insect protein steak roast you've ever had, but it'll probably be pretty damn close. RSVP if you'd like to come so I can get a decent headcount and won't leave nobody hungry.

Hope y'all are faring well after our latest adventure.

I do sincerely appreciate your time,

- EPH.

( maybe it's on account'a his southern hospitality an' all, but he's feelin' a queer sort'a loneliness an' he knows the best way to get outta his own head a spell is to reach out to others. findin' out most'a the places he might've otherwise wanted to see for yourself ain't accessible in this new world surely didn't help his head none. )

Comments

@kate.bishop

[fledges]

Sign me up for both. You still owe me a dance, remember?

[preseance]

I surely do. I work at All That Jazz on the south side of town, you can drop in any time after about 21:00 and cut a rug. They've got all the best music, too.

( he's biased. they play alarmingly little vera lynn, of whom he is frankly quite tired. )

@nill.klein

[culver]

I’d like to come to your dinner. I’ve never had insect steak roast. Can I bring something?

[preseance]

Miss Klein, nice to hear from you again.

Well, to be quite honest the insect steak roast may have been hyperbole. I'm going to see if I can get my hands on some good, old-fashioned chicken. But the insects may be on standby just the same.

Of course you can bring anything you'd like. Make it sort of like a potluck.

@diana.prince

[monomachy]

Those were the best decades for dancing. I’d love to join you, if you have room for another partner.

[preseance]

( okay but he adores diana so. )

I think my dance card can squeeze you in just fine, Miss Prince.

You got a favorite dance? So's I can brush up on any rusty skills and all.

@angela.roberts

[unlucky7]

I won't say no to dancing and dinner.

[preseance]

Hey, Angela. How're those recipes coming along?

You are of course more than welcome to attend both. You much for dancing, yourself?

@caroline.forbes

[gasping]

if you'll teach me how to swing, you can use our kitchen for the dinner.

[preseance]

I mean, I pretty much invented the swing scene in Agathine all by my lonesome, so...

( not an exaggeration. agathine was very 'leave room for jesus in a two-step'. in the span of time after new york an' before he shipped on out, he snuck a gramophone into the ol' mason's hall an' caught hell from the locals for darin' to play duke ellington, but it'd been well worth it. )

Be happy to, Caroline.

( it ain't entirely true. he's still plenty scared, but. he ain't about to admit it, so. here he is, bravura to the nines instead. )

@melisandre.voktys

[voktys]

I would not mind assisting you in your cookery endeavour, if you would like a hand.

[ it strikes her as a convenient way to learn how to hold her own in a kitchen not meant to feed a templeworth of people. ]

[preseance]

I can always use another set of hands in the kitchen, I'd welcome the help.

Some gals I know are going to let me use their kitchen and they've got the works, let me tell you. Ought to be a grand time.

Is there anything from your home you reckon we could recreate here?

@cassandra.cain

[lucubrare]

I am interested in learning to dance
and going to the dinner

[preseance]

Sure thing, Miss Cain. Do you know any dances now, or would we be starting from scratch? Just to get an idea of how I ought to start you off.

( gene 'about to get his mind blown by bats' hicks, tbh. )

I'll mark you down for a plate. Anything you won't eat?

@james.barnes

[deadthenred]

You must be the guy people keep telling me about.

[preseance]

( gene sort of blinks to himself, an' for a moment he ain't actually got much (if anything) to say to that. )

I suppose I might be? What all's being said?

( fella didn't give him much to go on. could be people passin' on that he's medic or some such, he supposes, but. better to get more information first. )

@terrence.ephemera

[requiemshark]

I will never turn down food. Might take you up on the dancing another time.

[ Things have been fraught in unexpected ways since he got back, but food sounds like a good time. ]

[preseance]

You're always welcome at my table, fella, you don't need a special occasion for that.

How've you been?

@jason.todd

[reneger]

so formal
what's the 'p' for?

[preseance]

( funny how someone can set his teeth on edge with a few relatively innocuous statements. if he didn't expect them to be the precursor to somethin' inflammatory, he might've taken it as a peace offering, of sorts.

but his experience with this fella ain't been half so clear-cut, an' gene's up in arms waiting for the other shoe to drop. )

Ain't nothing wrong with a little formality now and then.

Percival. Pa was a fan of Arthuriana.

( he an' each of his brothers have the middle name of a knight. just part and parcel. his english ma had vetoed the welsh spelling, but they'd settled. )

private; @david.washington

[hardwearing]

I haven't danced in almost a decade but I'd definitely come to dinner. Do you need people to bring anything?

[preseance]

But what I'm hearing here (seeing?) is that you have danced.

( he'll leave it open-ended for now, but he's teasing in that sort of militaristic camaraderie that crops up now an' then. )

Wouldn't say no to a few extra dishes. What's your specialty?

@robert.plissken

[overrate]

this is so old fashioned, it kind of hurts.

[preseance]

( oh thank the lord, the superior jason and not the one currently mocking his middle name, gosh. )

By whose standards, exactly, yours? 'Cause I can say with some surety that folks fresh off the Mayflower would be up in arms at the scandal at the thought of all this heathenous dancing.

@toni.soprano

[heartstings]

i just so happened to b the dancing sort

[preseance]

Yeah? Any styles in particular you're keen on? I mostly know swing and ballroom.

@riku.masterson

[inherited]

Hey, so.

Do you like cooking for large groups of people?

[preseance]

I ain't been known to mind it, why?

( so many church potlucks. honestly, he's just happy to have a variety of spices an' such. the hard years ain't so far away from his mind that he's forgotten what it was like to make somethin' out of nothin' more than a few chunks of pork bone an' a couple sad potatoes. he does genuinely enjoy the act of cooking, ain't nothin' that brings folks together like food. )

[championofsnark]

Don't know anything about this world's dances, so I'd need some lessons, but it sounds fun! I'm in for the dinner too, if you've got the space, don't know enough people here yet so it'd be good to change that.

[preseance]

There will absolutely be enough space, don't you fret none about that. Always happy to help someone else get situated here, we need to look after our own best we can.

As for the dancing, if you'd like some lessons you can drop by the studio I work at any time after 2100 and I'll show you the ropes.

@richard.grayson

[identifier]

[ since his sister and one brother are a definite here... ]

I can bring a hot dish. [ clark's been a good influence. ]

[preseance]

That'd be mighty appreciated, Mr. Grayson. Right now I'm planning on paella, potato salad and pie, someone else is making cake and another dessert... pretty much anything else would be welcome.

@nathan.drake

[nonscriptum]

rsvp-ing, but only because i'd hate to miss out on your bug roast.

what have you been up to besides this? you didn't manage to get kidnapped, did you?

[preseance]

It'll be a show-stopper for sure, pal.

I managed to avoid the involuntary relocation. I went to New Oslo. Sure weren't what I was expecting.

You did Everest, right? No frostbite to speak of?

@daenerys.targaryen

[dragonwarder]

[She was going to leave this one alone even though it sparked her interest on account of some recent emotional maladies, but she finds herself still thinking about it after a day or two passes.

So:]

What is it that you are celebrating?

[Because like, dinner and dancing? There has to be something.]

[preseance]

Oh, it ain't really about celebrating so much.

( he probably could find somethin' to celebrate, if it struck his fancy, elsewise there's bound to be some saint's day or somethin' for just about every day of every week if he really put his mind to it, but he ain't really one to share religion like that, an' besides — needin' a reason makes it seem a hollow thing instead of just wantin' to share an' spend time with others. )

I just reckon they're good ways to bring folks together, and a lotta people here ain't got nobody else. We ought to have each other's backs much as we can. Ain't met a soul yet who doesn't like a good meal.

( he'd have said that last bit playfully, if he could. damn this whole infernal text-based communication. )

@elizabeth.dewitt

[metaphysic]

I would absolutely love to go dancing!
I might be a little outdated, though. Think you can catch a girl from 1912 up on a few decades?

[preseance]

I'd be honored to, Miss Dewitt. I know a fair few styles from your era, too, on account of my Ma.

( used to be, he'd stand on her feet in the kitchen while the smell of somethin' or other bakin' filled the air, an' she'd teach him how to dance. but he's heartened at hearin' from another soul south of the new millennium just the same. )

Just, if you're feelin' a yen for somethin' a little more familiar. Lord knows it ain't easy bein' so out of date here.