thanksgiving is, after all, a word of action [set on 11/26]

[triskehale]

Thanksgivings in the Hale house used to be quite the big deal. Feeding over a dozen werewolves, many of them teenagers was no easy feat. Derek loved all the chaos, and he helped out in the kitchen since he was old enough to stand on a step stool and reach the counter.

The first year after everyone died, he and Laura each got a rotisserie chicken and some biscuits, trying to hang on to some semblance of tradition, but the food tasted like ash. Laura went to bed early, and Derek pretended not to hear her cry. They stopped trying to do anything for the holiday after that.

It's been almost a decade since that disastrous attempt, and a few months ago Derek decided that he wanted to try again. While Laura and the rest of his family will always be the cause of this gnawing ache in his heart, Derek has a new family here in Darrow. He has so many people that matter to him, and care about him. It's more than Derek deserves, or ever thought that he would get, but he's grateful. He's thankful.

So he decides that he's going to do his best to put on a Thanksgiving of his own, and invite his new ragtag sort of pack. His new family.

The invitations go out and on the big day, Derek arrives at Semele's just after dawn. He puts two giant turkeys in the oven and quickly sets up the long table and chairs in the middle of the bar. With each chair he places, Derek marvels over just how many people he has in his life. It's astounding to him, and it's the perfect day to show his gratitude.

And then, all that's left to do is cook. And cook, and cook some more. If he's lucky, he'll have time to go shower and put on something nice before all his guests arrive.


[Hale pack Thanksgiving! Treat this as a gathering post. Tag in, tag around, give thanks! ♥]

Comments

[strongerthanevil]

"It is an Elven food that tastes of honey. A few bites leaves one feeling full and restored for many days. I fear it would ruin a meal such as this. It is an excellent food to take on a long patrol though," she said. Perhaps she would make some for Derek though as a gesture of thanks for all that he had done.

"Though I have found many things in this world that are an improvement on what I know- do you know of yoga pants?- I have found nothing to compare to lembas."

[triskehale]

"I would be interested in trying it," Derek tells her, and not just because it would make the teenage nerd trapped somewhere deep inside of him totally lose his shit. "With my metabolism, I need to eat pretty much constantly. That might help."

He gets a very brief mental image of Tauriel in yoga pants, which are, in Derek's humble opinion one of the greatest inventions of mankind, and then shakes it away with a laugh. "I've heard of them, yes. How does electricity and indoor plumbing rank against those?"

[strongerthanevil]

"I could easily do without the use of electricity," Tauriel admitted. While phones and computers were truly an amazing convenience they were nothing more. Perhaps if there was life outside of the city that she could communicate she would think differently but it was simple enough to go find someone if you wished to talk to them.

"Though I find hot showers a most wonderful indulgence," she said, giving a small smile. "While I do not get cold as humans do I have found myself luxuriating in a hot shower in the morning for some time."

[triskehale]

"I could if I needed to, but I'd rather not," Derek says with a laugh, biting his lip before continuing. "It's easier as a wolf. This time last year, I was living out in the woods in that form. Hard to care about electricity when you don't have thumbs."

He smiles back at her and lets out an amused chuckle. "Yeah, I indulge in those myself time to time. I run pretty hot myself, but I love a good shower."

[strongerthanevil]

"Do you keep your mind when you are a wolf?" Tauriel asked, knowing that it may be considered rude but since he brought up the subject she could not resist asking him about it. Derek was a good man, so different from the werewolves in her world, that she wanted to know all she could about him.

[triskehale]

"I do," Derek tells her, taking no offense to the question. He'd rather that she ask than assume the worst. "My instincts are a bit stronger, but I don't do anything in that form that I wouldn't do in this one."

He laughs a little, and shakes his head. "Well, except for hunt, maybe."

[strongerthanevil]

"You do not hunt in this form?" she asked, almost stating it as his "normal" form before catching herself. To do so would imply that there is something abnormal about Derek, but there is not. He is exactly as he should be for a werewolf and there is nothing wrong with that.

[triskehale]

"No, and if I did it'd probably involve a lot less fangs and claws," he says with a laugh. "I don't do it too often, usually when I'm spending more than a day as a wolf."

He turns to her, raising an eyebrow curiously. "Do you hunt here?"

[strongerthanevil]

"I do not always come to your food truck to feed myself," she said, giving Derek a small smile. While she was not so regular a customer it would seem she did not eat elsewhere neither did she require require as much food as a human. Still, hunting was not merely to feed herself.

"I spend a great deal of time in the woods."

[triskehale]

"So do I," Derek tells her, "in either form."

He laughs a little and gives her a charming smile. "So if you see a black wolf cross your path, don't turn your bow on it."

[strongerthanevil]

"A shame, I am sure you would make a good meal," she said, flashing him an almost feral smile before she patted his arm reassuringly. "I assure you, while I stalk the predators of the woods at times I do not slay them. They have the same right to kill and feed themselves as the rest of us do."