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

[everyonetakes]

"I don't know, it was weird at first," she says. "I felt like I was going totally batshit insane, but I think what maybe helped was that I went home at the same time, too. Me and Newt. We woke up in my bedroom in Kansas. It was only temporary, it was one of those things this place does and I know my family wouldn't remember it if they came here, but it all felt so real to me."

It was just so many levels of crazy that somehow trying to work our the memories had seemed like the least of her problems.

"By the time everything settled and we ended up back here again, it was like they were already a part of me," she admits. "I wish I knew how I dealt with it, like I had some kind of advice or something, but the thing you'll probably figure out about me soon enough if you haven't already is that I don't know what I'm doing like, almost all the time."

[shuck_you]

"Holy shuck," Thomas said, wide eyed and slack jawed by the time she'd finished talking. The sudden influx of new memories was one thing but hearing that you could go home albeit temporarily was a whole new thing. It brought the question roaring back to life: what was this place and how did it do the things it did?

He knew, if anyone knew the answer, they would have shared but he couldn't stop thinking about it. The magic he'd seen from some of the different people that called Darrow home was nothing compared to the magic that the place itself did.

"And it was home?" he asked quietly. "You weren't dreaming or anything?"

[everyonetakes]

"Not unless me and Newt had the same dream," she says and she figures that's not actually impossible, given the weirdness of Darrow, but it would be kind of impressive. "It was like we were actually there. We spent days there. And you know how with dreams everything's just... not quite right? Like the door that used to lead to your bathroom now leads to a park or to your driveway? Nothing was like that. Everything was right."

And she remembers it all with perfect clarity. Even now, more than a year later, she remembers it all. That had been home and Newt had been there with her. He'd met her mother, he'd met Marshall, Max had appraised him and had actually been nicer than Tara in the end. It was like Tara had been making up for lost time and she'd gone full third degree on him.

"But time was different. We were there for ages and here it was only a day or two," she says. "I missed a shift at work, so I know it was at least one day."

[shuck_you]

"Wow, that's -- that's something," Thomas said, struggling to come up with words to describe how that sounded. He wondered if there was a way to just stay there if he got the chance to go home. Maybe there was a way to anchor himself to his home and not return when the time came.

He quickly realized that something like that would be too easy. Darrow or whatever controlled Darrow was powerful. It'd had the ability to find him in the Scorch and take him right out of that world and into this one. He knew that he couldn't hide if this place wanted him back.

"Every time I think I've managed to get my footing here, someone tells me something new and I end up on my shucking ass again," he said, laughing at the absurdity of it all. What Kate was telling him should not be possible and yet he absolutely believed her. He couldn't not, not after everything he'd witnessed.

"This place is just...bloody insane," he said, taking a word out of Newt's (his Newt) vocabulary because it just seemed to fit.

[everyonetakes]

"Got it in one," she agrees, having long since given up trying to understand or explain this place. What she knows is that without the island and now Darrow, she wouldn't be the person she is now. Her mother's bullshit had always taken top priority and Kate had needed to be physically removed from the situation in order for that to change. As much as she misses her family and even the alters, she still knows it was for the best. Seeing them now would be different, she thinks, she's learned how to be on her own without them and having them here wouldn't just suck her back in, but it's been almost six years. She needed that time.

And so, insane or not, this place is home. It's where she found freedom and autonomy and her new family. Her friends, her dog, her husband, her potential career path. It's given her everything. And yeah, it's insane, but Kate's lived with insane since the moment she was born.

"I guess having a crazy mom probably prepared me for this shit better than some," she admits with a grin. "I mean, when your mom sometimes turns onto a poncho goblin, it's sort of hard to be surprised by new memories or turning into a dude for a week."

[shuck_you]

"Wait, what?" If they hadn't been having a fairly serious conversation and he hadn't been watching her face, Thomas would have sworn she was saying these things just to get a reaction from him. He'd barely started to digest the fact that he could one day wake up and know if they'd gotten to the Safe Haven or if they'd all died in the Scorch when she'd had to spring something else on him.

"You turned into a guy before?" he asked, eyes wide yet again. He knew that questioning Darrow was ridiculous and did no good but he'd never thought that changing someone's gender would be something he'd have to deal with. "Really?"

[everyonetakes]

"Yeah, for like, a week. I was super hot, which probably isn't surprising, since I'm super hot to begin with," Kate says. "But it was kind of both insanely awesome and scary at the same time, because I just wasn't turning back. I was stuck as a dude for ages and I kind of like being a woman. I'm an awesome woman."

Then she pauses and grins. "But Newt and I had fun anyway." Which is probably way too much information, but she's never really been known for her filter and it's not like someone wouldn't wonder about it anyway. She figures it's probably just easier to say it out loud and then no one has to awkwardly ask about it.

[shuck_you]

It took Thomas a second to realize what she meant by having 'fun' and then he winced and shook his head. It wasn't that he was embarrassed or afraid of that type of thing, it was more that it was new to him and he wasn't used to people talking about it so candidly. It didn't surprise him that Kate would be the one to be blunt about it, though.

"You're an awesome woman," Thomas agreed with a quiet laugh. "I don't know if I want to experience the wonders of being a woman because I would not be awesome. I'm barely managing to get by like I am now. Changing my gender...yeah, let's avoid that."

[everyonetakes]

"Oh, my god, dude, but you get to learn so much," Kate says with a laugh. "I mean, you won't really remember it. Like, I don't totally remember what it felt like to have a penis, but actually having the experience is super cool. It's like getting the chance to live a whole different life for just a little while. Besides, vaginas are freaking awesome, dude, I bet you'd find some use out of it."

He should probably prepare himself for it eventually anyway. Not that she can promise it'll happen to him, but it seems to happen a lot more than people might expect and the chances are probably pretty high that some day he's going to wake up in a totally different body. One with boobs.

[shuck_you]

"Can't I learn the same things by asking people or looking it up on a computer?" Thomas wondered, trying valiantly not to blush. He knew his immediate reaction to being a girl would probably be to scream and hide but after that, he'd...probably scream again. There were some changes that Thomas could handle and others that would send him straight into the nearest room with a lock.

Before they'd been dumped in the Scorch, he'd slept a lot to escape his problems. Maybe he'd give that method a try here too.

"I don't think I'd be a great girl," he decided. "I'd freak out and scream until my neighbors complained."

[everyonetakes]

"Not the same. Not even remotely the same," Kate answers, shaking her head in response. It's just not, no matter what anyone says. Learning about what it's like to have a dick and actually having one had been so different. No one could ever explain what that feels like, just like no one will ever be able to explain to Thomas what it feels like to have her anatomy.

"And I'm sure you'd get over the screaming eventually," she adds. "You can't just scream non-stop for a week. Trust me, you would totally adjust and then you'd figure out exactly what I mean when I say it's not the same thing just to hear what it's like."

[shuck_you]

"You are not doing much to convince me that I want something like this to happen," Thomas said, shaking his head and holding up both hands like that might be able to stave off the possibility of him becoming a girl at some point in the future.

"I bet I could get close to screaming nonstop for a week," he retorted with another laugh. "If I got tired of screaming, there's always hiding in my apartment with the door locked and the shades drawn. "I don't think girls want me joining their gender even for a week. Even for a day. I'd be terrible and...exploration would not be my top priority."

[everyonetakes]

"You say that now, but once you figured out how to have multiple orgasms, you'd change your tune," Kate says in the voice of someone who is entirely sure of her position and will never be convinced otherwise. Being a woman is pretty freaking awesome and she thinks everyone in Darrow should get to experience it at least once, especially since they live somewhere that's possible.

And since she's spent a week as a dude now -- twice -- she's pretty sure she's qualified to say being a woman is better.

"Now that you've said out loud you don't want it to happen, I bet it will," she points out. "That's just how this place works."

[shuck_you]

For a second, all Thomas could do was gawp at her. He'd never really thought about orgasms all that much, actually. Since he was a teenage boy, his thoughts weren't totally devoid of things like sex and orgasms but they were actually pretty low priority. He took care of things on his own when he was tense and had some privacy, of course, but that was that. He didn't expect it to go any further.

"Don't tell me that," he moaned dramatically, tossing an arm over his eyes. "Don't tell me that because now I will wake up in fear every single morning, checking for parts that shouldn't be there and doubting myself for like an hour until I know I'm me and not a girl."

[everyonetakes]

"Oh, come on, bro, you'll be fine," she says, laughing. And she would swear she's not laughing at him, except she totally is. At least a little bit. Having lived like this for so long, she knows she treats it all a little dismissively, like it's not a big deal, and for a lot of people it is, but Kate's of the mind that most people should relax a little.

They'd all probably be a little bit happier if they did.

"Besides, you can't doubt yourself, you'll feel the difference like, right away. Your boobs are nearly as big as mine and it would totally throw off your centre of gravity to get this shit."

[shuck_you]

"I never ever thought I'd be getting a pep talk about staying strong when I end up turning into a girl," Thomas said, shaking his head. This city was providing him firsts all over the place. Some were inane, some were amazing, and some were so hard to believe that Thomas wondered if maybe he was dreaming this whole thing up and was unconscious somewhere in a WICKED facility.

"And that's why I would stay in bed all day and hide," Thomas said, circling back to that plan. "If I turn into a girl and I don't know how to control my unwieldy girl body, I'll just stay there and lock the doors and hide. See, problem solved."

[everyonetakes]

"Bo-ring," Kate answers in a sing-song voice. "I wouldn't let you. I'd know somehow and I'd take you out and get you super laid." She sort of wonders if she shouldn't do that now, mostly because Thomas seems a little on edge about a lot of this stuff and it makes her think of her conversation with Eric earlier.

No one really cares about shit like that. Not like Eric had been thinking anyway. Not anyone who's not a total asshole and Kate would never try to hook either of them up with assholes. She's done with that on all fronts.

"And I may not be a superhero, but I have excellent lock picking skills, so I'd get in," she adds cheerfully.

[shuck_you]

"No one wants to do that with me no matter what I look like that," Thomas said, making a face at her. In actuality, it was something he just didn't think about all that much. He looked, he knew people were attractive and he was a typical teenager in that he did take care of himself when things got tense but it was a low priority thing.

"I'd bar my door," he said, not at all serious. She seemed resourceful and determined and hiding for long periods of time was difficult. Eventually, someone found you whether it be Crank, Glader or someone like Kate. "You wouldn't be able to make it in unless I wanted you to."