shardbond | olive garden

olive garden

🎈GET YOUR ASSES TO OLIVE GARDEN🎈

Sometime in the morning on Sunday, there are little notes that have been slipped under everyone's doors. Written in markers reads the following:

Let's celebrate getting Knuckles back at Olive Garden tonight at 6pm!!!!
Also I'm bored
-Percy

…Yeah………but hey, at least these notes will be customized! Each note has two characters, but, uh, these might not be accurate to who's actually in the room. He doesn't know who everyone's roommates are, so he's just hoping for the best I guess. (Someone's note includes the new guy, More. Shizuka is also on one of these as a pink dolphin with glasses.)

Anyway, the Olive Garden seems to have some balloons floating around. With the current state of the residents, nobody seems to care! There are also chefs in the kitchen who will make whatever you ask, but pushing them around enough will get them to leave the kitchen to anyone who wants to make something. (Thank you Redd.) Drinks are available for everyone, alcohol and regular soft drinks alike, and really? The world is your oyster. … Olive?  You get the drill.

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[ Chicago is overwhelming and exhilarating to More - a world so much like what he once imagined, with buildings rising high to the sky without giving praise to any God and only one tribe united in their magic-less daily lives. He could spend hours getting lost in the cityscape, observing what had been nothing but flights of fancy to him before.

By comparison to that grand revelatory experience, the inside of Olive Garden feels mundane. In the end, a tavern is a tavern. In some ways, the united one tribe and the eight tribes are still aligned.

Still, More's heart is pounding in his chest as he sits at one of the corner tables and observes the goings-on. While he's seen more of the world by observing Will from the inside of his prison, it's been forever since he's been in a place like this. Smelling a variety of dishes, hearing laughter and conversation... How is a man meant to experience such pleasures without a little sentimentality?

So. You may find More sitting here, looking so touched that it is as if he's attending a beloved relative's wedding. He's fine, don't worry.

Later in the evening, you can also see him sketching in a little notebook - just impressions of the scenery: the Chicago Bean(TM), the streets, the interior of Olive Garden, maybe even a little absent-minded drawing of some of the group. He's a very decent artist, yay! ]

[Oh, someone is doing art!]

You is will run out of paper soon.

[That's a lot of things drawn already, and just from that sample Ed can tell this guy is the kind who would immortalize so, so many things he'll need far more space than just one little notebook. Who knows how full the rest of the pages are -- but Ed is willing to bet they're crammed full of stuff]

[ The only reason the notebook is not already filled is that More's been distracted by running around too much through the day and hadn't found the time to immortalize his impressions yet. Now that he's seated at a table... yeah, the rate of sketching is maybe a little alarming.

He laughs, short and sheepish. ]

Oh... that may be so. Sketching helps me organize my thoughts, so I may have gone a bit overboard.

Drawing on something more permanent than paper could help. Walls, are good for art.

[As More might have noticed upon his arrival to the hideout, the walls have been decorated thanks to Yeager. Ed took that as confirmation that people around here, just like him, like to paint on the walls]

[ He has noticed, and thought it a charming decorating choice, but... ]

I think I'd run out of wall soon enough. Though for something so permanent, I'd also like to put a bit more thought into it... These are all far too off-the-cuff to burden the world with seeing them every day.

The little things are important. Daily things, things you see often...those are what makes your life. Drawing, putting it somewhere, is important too.

[Whenever Ed draws it sure is mundane stuff, without putting too much thought into it, yeah]

[ More considers this for a moment. ]

... I think there is great wisdom in your words. It is easy to lose oneself in grand ideas and forget the little things that our lives are built on. There is something unspeakably precious about a simple day under the sky, isn't there?

Is what a life has the most of. Big moments happen only once, simple days happen all the time. If you not appreciate things that happen often then what is left?

[It's a matter of quantity, in his opinion! Although that's also influenced by how for a long time all he has had are 'simple days', really]

What is left is what the people would consider 'history', surely. A chain of monumental events leading into one another, slowly forgetting all the little lives that were lived to shape it into what it became.

[ It was a rhetorical question, More is aware of that, but it also happened to be a good springboard for musing. ]

Yes! That is why Ed paints. Even after Ed is gone, the things he makes will stay. Is a little moment, captured forever!

[True, it partly is to remember some things, and also to pass the time, but yeah, part of the reason is to leave something behind.]

Though you see me drawing right now, this is how I feel about my writing. It is proof that I was alive, that I was thinking and believing.

[ And for a time he thought it was the only kind of legacy he'd ever be able to leave, bereft of any social legacy at all. ]

I would like to see your paintings at some point, Ed.

Ed is thinking to use walls of hideout for that, soon. Is a lot of space, if...if Jeager left some blank for others to use for art.

[Close enough, Ed, close enough. Still, even if Yeager fills the wall and later Ed's imitation of those complex patterns fill the walls completely, Ed would be willing to use the floors, or even the ceiling]

[ This hideout is going to be very interesting looking when all are done with it....... ]

I believe I saw some white wall remaining, here and there. So I'll look forward to your work.

Ed will.

[Oh hey, now that he thinks about this stuff...]

People from this city had their own ways to express. Ed is sure he saw...this big shiny bean. Not sure what it is supposed to represent? But it is blinding. If sun hits it just right, it can blind you.

[Nick too is of the opinion the Chicago Bean can melt your skin off if you look at it the wrong way]

I assumed it to be an object of religious worship.

[ Some kind of miracle matter presumed to be shaped this way by the gods, now displayed prominently to show the might of that deity... ]

I didn't realize it was mandmade...

[ Weird bean... ]

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[Hopefully More doesn't mind being approached by a scruffy guy with a bottle of wine and a few glasses in hand.]

If ain't the new face 'round these parts! You a drinkin' man, er...More, wasn't it?

[Raven can't think of any better way to help someone get settled in.]

[ Mind? More is delighted to be approached. There are people in this world and they are talking to him! He is having the greatest week of his remembered life.

He nods to confirm his name and smiles. ]

Would it sound strange if I said I do not quite remember?

[ He has some hazy memories of places he's seen and things he's done, but don't ask him specific things like his alcohol tolerance! ]

But even as that may be the case, I'd gladly have a glass with you.

Maybe a little, but it's never too late ta find out fer sure!

[Raven just interprets it as More not having had a drink in a long time. He's absolutely here for his willingness to partake no matter the situation.

He slides into one of the seats and passes More an empty glass. The wine is quick to follow as Raven fills both of their glasses.]

This here's the classic red wine they've got on the menu. Nothin' too crazy, which is actually perfect fer someone lookin' ta get back into drinkin'.

[He holds up his glass and winks as he takes a sip. He's curious to see what More thinks!]

[ It's... not entirely wrong to say that it's been a long time since More has had a drink, solely because it's been a long time since he's consumed anything except for one singular neverending pot of tea in one singular flavor.

So he's not going to argue and instead take a slow sip of his own glass, even closing his eyes as he does so. ]

Ah... a nostalgic flavor.

[ Most flavors would be nostalgic to him. But he's smiling, clearly pleased with the experience. ]

You appear to be a wine enthusiast, then...?

[He grins, satisfied that More likes it.]

Looks like you've had a passin' interest, at the very least!

As fer me, I'm not actually picky about what alcohol I'm drinkin'. It's the experience that's more important. [AKA the getting drunk part, but he doesn't go so far as to say that aloud.] This place had a bunch of different wines, so I figured I'd do some samplin'.

A wise decision, if you ask me. It is important to be open to many different experiences... or tastes, in this case.

[ Is More actually not catching onto the fact that Raven has a potentially unhealthy relationship to alcohol or is he being nice about it? Hard to tell right now. ]

I do enjoy the atmosphere of a tavern, also. There is something soothing about a large variety of people coming together like this.

[It's fine, neither of them need to look too deeply into Raven's relationship with alcohol. Talking about taverns is way better.]

Oh yeah, I'm with ya there! Nothin' beats goin' to a tavern ta take a load off after a hard day's work. Lots of great people-watchin' potential.

These occasions also pose a fantastic opportunity to get a feeling for a new place.

[ More doesn't have any detailed memories of it, naturally. But he has a feeling he used to enjoy that first night in a new town, sitting in a corner booth and listening to the locals. ]

Which is why I feel quite fortunate that this get-together was hosted so soon after I arrived here. I felt like a stranger in the warehouse, but strangers can become companions soon enough in an atmosphere like this.

[It's probably a very good thing that Oscar is already well into his cups by the time he spots More over in the corner or else he would have a far more pointed reaction to those horns (another demon here? Do Tails and the others not know anything about demons?). As it is, however, he'll just wander over, glass of wine in hand, and definitely not care about things like personal space as he leans in to get a better look at those sketches.]

Heeeeeh... those're pretty good. You should do some portraits, see if the others can guess who they are. Make a game out of it.

[... this is probably a terrible idea.]

[ More doesn't mind the breach of his personal bubble, but it does startle him - being just around people is a lot already, actually feeling their proximity is almost overwhelming. ]

Everyone here is so unique that I fear it would not be too difficult a game. I do mean that as a compliment though.

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