The First Annual Adopted Family Thanksgiving

[smartass_captain]

It's not that Jim forgot about the second present he gave Verity way back a month ago on her birthday. How could he forget, when he'd had to dig out the key to the house to get it replicated? It's sat out on his desk in his quarters every day since, a bold reminder that Jim Kirk was seriously doing this.

Jim Kirk was going to try to have a normal family. A family who celebrated (some) holidays. A family who came together. Not a relationship. Hell no. But...you know..siblings? A family? He almost worried Sam or his mother would try to reach out to him. Thankfully no such messages yet. Which means Jim is free to spend time with the people he actually wants in his life.

And that means getting Thanksgiving put together.

He'll call Clint later. First things first. Calling Big Sister.

"Verity? It's Jim. You busy?"

Comments

[smartass_captain]

Sam's half-restored hover bike. I gave mine away, but his was an old model. He was fixing it up before..."

Jim makes a vague sort of gesture before he finishes.

Before he bailed and ran away.

"We're cleaning! You never said we had to do it quietly!" The work still takes a while, but with Auto-Vacuum bot following obediently behind them, they can make fairly short work of all the dusting.

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--2tey4kbw--/foqrgvghcufqevlzjivs.jpg

[aw_hawkguy]

Hover bike, huh? Wonder if it's anything like my old sky-cycle. We could take a look, if you like, maybe tinker with it some?

Clint doesn't want to tread on sensitive lost-family feelings here. Also, a raccoon mafia would be awesome.

"Maybe we could ask Roomba-guy here to turn up the volume, drown us out for you?"

[brave_heart_verity]

"If you two are going to continue your weird homoerotic sibling bonding, would you mind if I put on some music?"

Whatever she's doing in there it's starting to smell good. There's bacon and onion smells.

[smartass_captain]

I have no idea what a sky-cycle is, but damn are you hard to impress with toys like that. Could be fun, we should go take a look after we get the place cleaned up.

Plus, how surprised would Verity be if he and Clint could fix something instead of causing trouble and give her a fun ride as a thank you for all her hard work? They are planning a public service here. Way better than watching football.

Jim leans his head into the kitchen and smirks as Verity is working away at some sort of preparations or another.

"After we've lifted the drop cloths I'm gonna open some windows and air the place out. Might get a bit cool in here, so just a heads up. Where do you want us to start putting the decorations you bought?"

Jim spies an open grocery bag on the counter and peers into it. Bag of apples. Oh man. Verity hasn't turned around yet. Does he have time to snag one up?

[aw_hawkguy]

All in the name. It's like a motorcycle, but it flies. Also, no wheels.

If Jim and Clint could fix something, they might need to use the sky-cycle to fly Verity to the hospital for the heart attack she'd get from the surprise. Fortunately, they'd have just fixed it.

[brave_heart_verity]

Oh no! Jim can see something green and vegetable-ish in the skillet. Where did all the bacon go?

"You're that much done already?" She's impressed. They must have been more focused than she thought. "Thanks for the warning. Why don't you set the table then wash up, and we can decorate after we eat?"

She has no doubt they can fix things. Just like B. S. Johnson. She's looking forward to all that unwritten mail.

[smartass_captain]

Hopefully in with the green stuff in the skillet--Southern style. Jim likes vegetables well enough. Truthfully he's easy to please as replicator-food is his standard for comparison. Though he has been eating at Nana's a lot.

"Well, vacuuming isn't taking long, so really all we had to do is dust." Verity will meet Roombot at some point. "Sounds good. I'll set the table as soon as we're done." Apple is tempting, but if food is soon coming, he should leave it where it is. Good boy, Jimmy.

"Verity says we should set the table and clean up when we're done dusting." Sorry Clint, Jim did not steal food from the kitchen, or he would share. "Probably for the best, I don't want that raccoon to feel like it has to defend itself again so soon." Later, they will go see.

[aw_hawkguy]

That's okay, food is coming. Clint wouldn't want to spoil his appetite for the stuff he can smell. "Sounds good. I kinda feel like we should make up a plate for the little guy, whaddaya think?"

[brave_heart_verity]

Clever boy, Jim. Yes, the bacon is in with the veg, to make the one more palatable and the other a treasure hunt.

"We're not feeding the racoon. We don't want it coming back in the house."

Long pause. Imagine the sigh.

"Someone look up what racoons can eat."

[smartass_captain]

Jim exchanges a look with Clint. The brothers are victorious once again. And really, they scared and stunned the poor guy. It's a fair idea. Plus, Jim doesn't really mind it living in the barn. No one else is using the damn place.

"Verity it eats trash. They're omnivorous." Pause. Yeah some idiots are looking this up just to be sure. "Fruit, plants, seeds, insects, frogs....so pretty much anything."

Jim holds up a hand for high fives with Clint.

[aw_hawkguy]

Jim will not be left hanging. "That sounds like some fad diets I've heard of," Clint muses. "Or it could be one. The raccoon diet--eat whatever you want, just wash it first."

Maybe after the obligatory battle upon first meeting and the conciliatory gesture, they can move on to the eventual team-up. That's how these things work where Clint is from.

[brave_heart_verity]

"I grew up in the city. How much do you think I know about racoons?" These two farm boys need to remember that their big sis has a whole different life experience. None of this Iowa corn stuff.

Teaming up with a racoon would be easy. They come with masks.

"If we could wash off the calories, we'd really be on to something."

[smartass_captain]

"They don't have animals in central park?" They have talking trees in her world, surely an ordinary raccoon isn't that weird. Jim supposes he didn't see many of them in San Francisco while he was at the academy though.

With the last of the drop cloths pulled off and dumped into the laundry room in a pile, Jim is content to let Roombot do the remainder of the tidying up while he opens up some windows to air the place out and then goes to wash his hands and beat the dust off his clothes so he can set the table.

[aw_hawkguy]

"They're at work all day," Clint points out. "Rent's bad enough for a place next to Central Park, the rent inside's just unbelievable! Or, y'know, they're at the clubs, tearin' it up."

Clint, too, washes hands and un-dusts himself somewhat (could a compressed air arrow have helped? Clint, where the hell do you even come up with these things?) to help set the table. "Somethin' smells really nice, Verity," he adds, on his way to get (or at least find) the dishes.

[brave_heart_verity]

"There's plenty of animals in the parks. I don't hang out with them and have deep philosophical discussions. Not since that duck tried to get my number."

She's got dishes out and set down where they won't be getting in the way while she's moving hot things. She's a planner. "Thank you. One of you grab the beers from the fridge please. I will be right in."

[smartass_captain]

Jim is quick to drape a table cloth over the dining room table. No one needs to see the stains and gouges, not if this is going to be a happy day anyway. Verity's already dug out the best of the family dishware so that will be helpful.

That, and there's only three of them. Setting the table doesn't take long.

"Clint, you want to grab the beers please?"

[aw_hawkguy]

"On it." Beer retrieval is one of Clint's better skills. He doesn't even need arrows to do it! "Verity, you met Howard? You want a beer, or are you set with wine?"

The latest Thanksgiving dinner. :P

[brave_heart_verity]

He might not need arrows, but he probably has some with grabby-claws or something for emergencies.

"Yeah, he was... he was wandering around by the duck pond naked. It was weird. And this was during my 'hang out with Loki' phase." Weird was pretty normal for her, is what she's saying. "Beer's fine. I won't be finishing a whole bottle of wine today."

Once the tablecloth is on the table, she brings over the decorations that she's been working on in-between cooking. Some she bought, some she's scavenged from around the house. It's not floral, but it's more appropriate for their family. It seems... farm-y? Harvest-y. Something. Wheat, gourds, candles, pinecones. Very pretty, she thinks.

Then she starts bringing out the food. A spatchcocked turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, French bread rolls and mini cornbread loaves, stuffing baked inside a pumpkin, cranberry sauce, brown sugar green beans with bacon, roasted carrots. Everything they asked for (and it's too late now if she forgot something). There are smells of apple and spices still coming from the kitchen; dessert is not optional. Not today.

"Not bad for the last minute," she remarks mostly to herself when she sets the last of it down. "Jim, since you're hosting, would you like to carve?"