Gathering of friends

[survivesitall]

It had taken a lot to convince Clayton this was a good idea. He didn't like having people around his home he didn't need to, and liked crowds even less. But Elena had insisted, some of the people invited as close to Pack as they'd have here, and others hopefully trusted friends. He'd even coughed up a name or two when she pushed, something that made her happy. She found she had a lot of leverage since she'd agreed to start trying for children, even if that was something that scared her no matter how much Jeremy had told them of their future.

The setup was simple enough. They'd opened up the doors to the barn and set tables around in front of it. Clay had set up a spit with a deer, and it was likely better if no one asked how they'd caught it. There was a regular grill sizzling with sausages and for whatever people brought, and a bowls of salads for anyone who wanted them. Elena wsn't sure of how much others ate, but she knew she and Clay could pack away enough for three humans. There were pies inside the house for later, once they'd all eaten their fill of everything else.

There might have been a chill on the air, but that just made the day more special to Elena. There were only a few more weekends they could do this before it got too cold for most.

Comments

[survivesitall]

"Where I'm from deer was served in fancy restaurants and called venison." Of course, it was like that in any big city. Humbler foods repackaged and overpriced for a fussy clientele most of whom would blanch if they saw an animal on a spit. "Most people in the city didn't think of meat as coming from a farm, never mind hunting."

"I'm glad you came," Elena says sincerely. She misses this, she misses her pack and having people she knows around all the time. It's not the same but it is the best she'll get here. "It's good to have people out here."

[not_crazy]

"Yep, venison," she confirmed. Saw it on menus, stuck with things she knew. She liked routine sometimes, especially after her life sort of went nuts. "You're probably right, though I promise all I'm seeing is the deer right now, not the fancy name they give it."

Hard not to see anything but the fact it was a deer. Pulling her gaze away to look at Elena, she smiled.

"Not a lot of visitors yet?" she guessed. "I'm still living in that little apartment I got when I first showed up here."

[survivesitall]

"It'll be carved up later. Think of it like... A Thanksgiving turkey." Those looked as much like the bird as this looked like a deer, at least in her mind. "You'll never remember."

"We're mostly the sorts that stick to ourselves," Elena says, even though today shows another thing entirely. "We had a big family, but a close family. I miss that."

[not_crazy]

"I'm sure it'll taste fine," she said. And yes, she meant it. She was pretty good at trying new things. Glancing at her, she smiled. "It sounds nice. The big family, I mean. I sort of had a small one, but they meant a lot. It's hard here sometimes being without them."

Nathan, Audrey, Duke. Especially Duke. They'd welcomed her in and it meant a lot to her. Maybe that was why it was hard to let go.

"Did you live in a place like this back home, too?" she asked, not wanting to get all gloomy. Really not her intention. "Sort of out of the way, I mean."

[survivesitall]

"We did. I mean, not always. I grew up in Toronto," she explains, knowing that the city would always be a sort of home for her. It was a touchstone in her life, a constant no matter what else had been happening. "But we had a house in Upstate New York. Bigger than this, but this is enough for just the two of us."