If there's no one beside you when your soul embarks...

[coldsong]

It's customary to have a Wake after the subject thereof dies. Even Loki knows that. But this is a special occasion. Ego-death is coming to his alternate, and the idea of letting him go off to perish alone, uncertain he will even be mourned, is too dark a proposition even for a flawed and callous person to contemplate.

That, and this Loki has been in a melancholy mood since speaking to the spirit of Frigga. He anticipates a dark choice of his own, sooner or later, and where the fates will send him after that, he can't know. Maybe oblivion, although even at that rate there may be worse places.

What's important right now is that no one dies unremembered. And honestly, any excuse for mischief a party. The first text rolls out to Harley, an innocent enough invitation to join them for milkshakes. Cricket is next, because it occurs to him that Cricket has plenty of liquor, which is good for a reckless celebration.

Things snowball from there.

As long as they don't destroy too much property, they'll call the night a success.

Comments

[alittlehinky]

"Someone told me I should make bacon and jalapeno flavored," Cricket tells Kinner doubtfully, cracking open a jar of clear apple for himself.

"I reckon that'd just about kill people. What d'you think?"

[outpostcook]

"Bacon and jalapeno." Kinner raised an eyebrow before taking a gulp of moonshine. That sounded...interesting, but probably a bad idea. "Whose idea was this?"

He has some guesses floating around in his head, mostly one of the Lokis or Alastor.

[alittlehinky]

One of the Lokis is a good guess, indeed! In point of fact, Cricket saw bacon 'shine in a recipe book and was musing aloud about who the hell would think it was a good idea. Loki-the-elder decided to be whimsical. He also suggested broccoli and cheddar. Which is definitely not happening.

"Well, I found just bacon in a book in the library. Bacon and maple? But Loki was saying sriracha was popular and it's spicy and I should try jalapenos."

"If I do, he's gonna be the first to taste it, for sure." Cricket and Loki have a real interesting rivalry going, here.

[outpostcook]

"Well, better him than me. If he's, uh, all right, I'll think 'bout tryin some." Kinner's not opposed to trying new drinks, but he's willing to let Loki (whichever one) take it first. "I ain't a scientist, but my scientist coworkers ain't here, so I guess it'll have to be me."

Hey, Kinner's curious, and not above attempting new things with his recipes. He has all the time in the world now.

"Bacon and maple, huh?" In response to Cricker's comments, Kinner's thoughtful for a moment. "If you ever need ingredients for new types of shine, feel free to ask and I'll see what I can fix you up with."

[alittlehinky]

Cricket laughs a little, nodding. "I always ask Loki or Harley to test for me, 'cause they're immune to it. So if it's too strong, they can warn me and they'll be a'ight."

"I've had bacon cured with maple and then sugared before cookin' it. It was pretty good. So I can see how it might be okay in a drink, too." He smiles and shrugs again.

"I'll take you up on that, though, if you don't mind. I'm not always sure what flavors to try, but the best way to figure it out is probably just experimenting."

[outpostcook]

"That ain't a bad idea," Kinner says. "Sugared bacon and maple. I might ask if I could try that sometime, or have some to use in a recipe."

He enjoys experimenting himself, and the Nexus gave him a variety of new ingredients to work with. It's paradise for someone in his line of work.

"Bacon ain't bad. Though..." The cook smirked, a sly look on his face. "Recent, uh, events left me with a bit of a taste for beef."

[alittlehinky]

"I ain't making beef-flavored moonshine," Cricket laughs. He doesn't actually mean it. If he thought he could pull it off and there was a market, he would absolutely make beef moonshine.

He's curious, though. "Do I wanna know why you got a thing for beef?"

[outpostcook]

Kinner smiles. He’ll explain to Cricket, since the young man’s been decent and won’t tease him about it.

“When I was killed, I was milking a cow, one of my jobs on the team. The Thing was takin’ the form of the cow and decided to use the chance to have me for dinner, I guess. So I like evening the score a little bit.”

[alittlehinky]

Cricket blinks, and his eyes get big, and he cups a hand over his mouth like he's not sure whether he's allowed to laugh or not. It's a perfect storm of weird and gross and funny all wrapped up in gallows humor and he can't deny he's tickled by it.

"...Well, Kinner," he says at last, voice cracking with laughter, "reckon I'll take you to Lord of the Fries to celebrate that one of these days, then. Get you a burger and a big ol' milkshake."

Shit. If only there was some way Cricket could do the same kind of thing, to sort of laugh in the face of his own death.

[outpostcook]

“Well, we can’t have cows eating people. That’s against the natural order of things. They might start gettin’ ideas.” A joke, of course.

Kinner doesn’t mind if Cricket laughs. He knows and likes the kid, and Cricket’s light years nicer than Alastor. Even with Alastor he doesn’t mind his laughing about the cow thing. It’s more the nickname that annoys him.

The skinny cook gives Cricket a knowing smile. “Don’t mind if I take you up on that offer. I ain’t a fan of cows, myself, but my stomach loves ‘em. What kinda place is Lord of the Fries, anyway? Meat place, I’m guessin’.”