may your life be like toilet paper - long and useful

[subourbon]

WHO: Alison Hendrix and You!
WHERE: Heropa, here, there, everywhere!
WHEN: August 9 - 31
WHAT: Porting back in + whatever!
WARNINGS: None at this time.

Porting in with "gastric upset", wherever!

[Under normal circumstances, Alison Hendrix would be appalled that she has been ported back in this (comparably) grungy state - obvious dirt stains on her pants, one dead leaf tangled in her hair, and some unexplained grime under her fingernails - but she has more important things on her mind.

Namely the loud gurgling broadcasting from her belly and the inevitable "flood" that is about to follow.

So she hoofs it over to the closest door and knocks desperately.]

Hello! I'm... I need your help!

[And she mutters to herself, under her breath, as she continues knocking:]

Johnny Applesauce, this is a nightmare and a half...

[It's going to be a long day on her trek back to Heropa 31.]



Cleaning the bejeezus out of Heropa 31

[Some might argue that if a person has the power to clean an entire room doing nothing more than thinking hard about it, that would be the best way to proceed. But as much as Alison makes use of her power, there's always some niggling doubt in her mind that maybe the cleaning is still sub-par in a way it couldn't be if she put in the time and effort to actually clean. Besides, spending the time to do something as simple and ordinary as cleaning is a little therapeutic, after everything she's just been through.

She starts in the common areas and goes so far as to scrubbing the hallway-facing sides of her housemates' doors. And if her housemates have left a few personal items lying around, well, Alison has no doubt found a new and better home for them.]



Wildcard

Alison can be found all over in various locations due to her work as an event planner, so feel free to find her wherever! If you're interested in a specific prompt or want to talk plot, feel free to PM me or find me on plurk under "canuckleheaded"!

Comments

[magnitudes]

( She almost brightens at the praise, before whiplash jerking into scowling, instead. When people thought well of you, then they only ever got more disappointed. They could get hurt by virtue of her being an utter dickhead, a nightmare of a person. )

Cosima told me to.

( Cosima had not told her to, and it's in direct contrast to what she said just before, and its a spiky, inconsiderate type of lie. Something better formed and thought through would have been, at the very least, more believable.

Still, she scuffs her shoes on the doormat before coming in, making the gesture somehow reckless seeming, and steps inside. )

You, uh. Got a smudge. On your nose.

[subourbon]

[Considering the fact that Cosima hardly pays attention to her own nutrition, Alison highly doubts Cosima is suddenly concerned about hers. But she decides to just roll with it rather than get Sarissa's hackles up any more.]

Well, it's nice of you to follow through, anyhow.

[She fishes out a compact mirror from her apron pocket to quickly locate the smudge and pulls a bit of a face. She has a certain image to uphold so she heads to the bathroom while pointing Sarissa towards to the kitchen.]

You can go ahead and get started while I freshen up a little.

[magnitudes]

( Bless Alison for sparing her delicate, delicate ego. Sarissa, unaware of this insight, shrugs her way into a slight slouch.

First of all, she's impressed Alison had a compact in her apron, and second of all she's about to say something when Alison decides it merits disappearing. She closes her mouth, nods once, and steers herself towards the kitchen, carefully laying out the veggies and the giant dish.

There's a brief moment where she wonders if she should put stuff in the fridge or look for tupperware, and has the realisation that Alison probably has Opinions about how to correctly store vegetables, and stops short, hand awkwardly on the door of the fridge before she slowly draws it back.

She's sort of convinced she has never been in a kitchen this clean before, and she suddenly is full of concern that she might ruin it all, somehow. When she can hear Alison returning, ) So how were things back home?

[subourbon]

Things were... complicated.

[That seems about right for a summary of their lives in general, anyway.]

I made Sarah a timeline of the events, if you want to see it.

[magnitudes]

Timelines sound intense.

( Sarissa just stands there a moment and wonders if that's some vague indication Alison needs a hug. "Complicated" never seemed to be a word that prefaced good things.
She's not really an expert in hugs or when or how to dispense them. For a moment Sarissa just starts there holding broccoli, and stops herself short of taking a step forward.

After a moment of consideration, )

Do you— are you a hug person? Would a hug help?

( Sarissa is equal parts bad at this and trying very hard not to be bad at this. )

[subourbon]

[Alison is not really a "hug person", her kids and husband aside. She will dole out hugs when social conventions demand it of her - and she'll be convincing enough about them. But she was certainly never hugged enough as a child so she still has mixed feelings and an air of awkwardness about them when they're unexpected.]

Oh, I... I'm fine, really.

[She pauses for a second to reconsider how she's reacting to this.]

Did you need a hug?

[magnitudes]

No.

( Quickly, that, possibly too quickly, before she summons up a grin. ) Hugging Australians is probably risking life and limb, anyway. We got spines that secrete neurotoxins.

( And!!! because feelings are stupid!!! Sarissa redirects her focus to the pastitsio. ) So my Yiayia taught me how to make this. It's like— meat and pasta and bechamel sauce and stuff.

( Sarissa may be awkward about hugs sometimes, but food is caring. Feeding people is caring in the least chaotic and disastrous way she knows how. )

[subourbon]

Yiayia? Is that your grandmother?

[Alison is trying to learn to be more culturally sensitive. Really.]

[magnitudes]

Yeah. I'm Greek. Or—

( And with that she frowns a little, thoughtful and just faintly uncomfortable. ) I guess I'm not actually Greek.

( Clones and all. Sarissa rolls her shoulder, trying to shake off the tension rising up her back, latching tight between her shoulder blades. ) She can't speak all that much English, and I never learned all that much Greek, but she's heaps good at cooking.

( There is a brief hint of softness about her, for all of half a second before she looks at Alison. ) Want me to shove it in some tupperware?

[subourbon]

[Alison goes to pull out some containers from a cupboard for Sarissa as she talks.]

I think you can still call yourself Greek. Whatever else we are, we're still the product of our families.

[She grimaces a little at the thought of hers.]

[magnitudes]

( That is possibly one of the nicest things someone has said to her, here. Or in a long time. Sarissa starts, almost turns towards Alison, and instead opts to just smile as the drawer that she's opening to fish out some utensils. )

Shame. Means I'm still obnoxious, too.

( But she sounds pleased, all the same. )

Whereabouts are you from, anyway? In Canada, I mean. ( She's not that oblivious, at least. ) I've never been. Pretty much everything I've heard about Canada is that it's better than America and that there are waterfalls of maple syrup and galloping moose everywhere.

( It's said seriously enough, only just enough ridiculousness to mark that she's not being genuinely serious. )

[subourbon]

[Alison shrugs a little before turning and placing the containers in front of Sarissa.]

I grew up in a suburb of Toronto and have never seen a moose in the wild in my life. We have a lot more nature, a lot less people, and a vastly superior health care system to the US.

[magnitudes]

( A grin; obnoxious? Yeah, probably. )

Ah. So it's basically Australia, but the rowdy, annoying neighbours are a lot closer.

( Except, let's be honest, Australia IS the rowdy annoying neighbour. ) I hear Toronto's nice. You... have a hockey team.

( A+ knowledge, Sarissa, well done. )

[subourbon]

[That seems to hit a nerve with Alison.]

Don't even get me started! My loyalty will never waver for the Leafs, but they've been making it really hard for their fans for the past few decades. Not that I'd ever admit it to anyone else, but frankly it's an embarrassment!

[magnitudes]

That's bullshit. ( It is said with genuine sympathy. ) My footie team got these salary cap breaches a few years back. Dickheads. They got stripped of two titles.

( And!!! Now she thinks about it, ) And the Sydney Swans used to be South Melbourne, for seventy years. More than, probably. Then they buggered off to Sydney and started winning games - AFL is a Victorian sport, it's bloody disgraceful that Sydney ( SYDNEY, ALISON, UGH ) has one of the bests teams there is. And they took it from Melbourne.

( ... before Sarissa was even born, but hey, details. ) Sounds like your Leafs need a kick up the backside.

( This is the most intense division of food into tupperware ever seen, possibly )

[subourbon]

Footie? Is that like football?

[She's not exactly well-versed in Australian sports. But she's sympathetic to Sarissa's obvious passion for this "footie".]

The same thing has happened to a few Canadian teams. Winnipeg and Quebec City are still bitter about it.

[magnitudes]

It's—

( Wait, hang on. Do they say football in America, or soccer? Are they weirdly British that way, or normal? She has to consider for a second. )

It's not like soccer-football or American football. Rugby football, more like. AFL is full contact, eight people per side, couple of goal posts at each end. We got Rugby League and Rugby Union and there's gridiron too, I think. All comes down to a bunch of burly blokes smashing into each other on a field wearing shorts.

( She shrugs, unhelpful, as she pots some more food and grins at Alison conspiratorially. ) Isn't bitterness part of the fun of sport?

[subourbon]

[Alison secretly thinks that sport sounds violent, but she only says:]

Well, it sounds like a very... entertaining sport! And I personally think watching your team coast to victory is what makes sports fun. At least I can enjoy Team Canada winning the gold medal in hockey every four years!