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

[theduff]

It was crappy. No doubt about that. But I'm lucky, I know, because though I can't help questioning if my dad loves his dog more than his own daughter, at least I still have him around. Even though I can't talk to him now any more than I can talk to mom.

"That sounds absolutely terrible," I tell Thomas. The more I hear about where he came from, the more I'm glad he's here now. "Was like a pandemic? You didn't get sick?"

[shuck_you]

"I thought I was sick for awhile," Thomas said, rubbing the back of his neck and recalling those days when he was so worried that the Flare was taking over and he was so close to becoming a detriment to his friends here.

"But, turns out I'm immune," he added quietly. "I guess it was a pandemic, yeah. It didn't happen naturally. A few organizations...released it because they thought it might help control the population in a burned out world. They underestimated the severity of the disease. It's killed a lot of people and it's still going as far as I know."

He thought of how he'd helped Newt and wondered if there were other immune people that could help those that were sick. "It's not good."

[theduff]

That's some dystopian novel shit right there. Like The Stand, only I know and like Thomas and consider him a friend. I hate to think of him having to go through something like that.

"Doesn't sound so good, no." I'm not sure what else I can say. "Jesus Christ dude, I knew you didn't come from a great place, but that sucks. That really sucks."

[shuck_you]

"Yeah," Thomas said because that was the simplest yet best way to put it. It really sucked. He hated that he'd even been associated with it even if he hadn't authorized the release of the Flare.

"I spent awhile trying to think how this was the best option and why it might have been necessary but I came up with nothing," he added, shaking his head. "It sucks and it killed a lot of people. They didn't deserve that. No one deserves that."

[theduff]

"From my very limited experience watching politics in my world, thinking about why people in power do what they do only leads to a whole lot of headaches and grief." Doesn't stop me from trying and thinking I can eventually make a difference, but I only just managed to fight my way through a tidal wave of high school politics battering me down. Actual real world politics is a whole other thing.

Goddamit. I turn eighteen next month, and I won't even have a chance to vote if I'm still stuck here. I mean, I can vote here, but who am I going to vote for? That McDillet guy?

[shuck_you]

"The bad thing is," Thomas said thoughtfully, giving his head another shake, "that the government in my world is really...I don't know if it even exists. There's an organization there that's doing tests, Trials, to try and cure the disease and they've been given a lot of power. Too much power. I think they're pulling the strings now."

He didn't know for sure, had no proof, but with how rampant WICKED got to run, they had to have a long, long leash in order to do what they did without anyone getting suspicious.

"This place is confusing and impossible but at least there's a government and they're not a bunch of cowards."

[theduff]

I make a face when Thomas goes on about his world, a cross between horror and disgust at the idea that something like that can exist for real somewhere. Even if it's another universe or whatever, it exists and is very real for Thomas.

"They're not." I can agree with that much, even though I have nothing so different to compare it to. Darrow's government doesn't seem that much different from my own home town, and I'd only just recently started to care about that sort of stuff. "For what it's worth, I'm glad you're here and safe from all that."

[shuck_you]

"I am too," Thomas agreed, nodding. He held off on saying that he missed his friends, that he sometimes wished he was back there just to pay penance for what he'd done. This wasn't the time or place for guilt and self loathing. Thomas would have plenty of time to do that in the future.

"I'm glad you're doing okay too," Thomas told her with a gentle smile. "See, with you being here, if I fall asleep, you can make sure I don't drool all over myself like a stupid shank."