Feeding the Masses

Posted on Tue Oct 8th, 2024 @ 3:32pm by Connor Bruin & Kurt Wagner & Bliss Hawkins & Kennedy Kelly & Meja Vikström

1,572 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 5: Days of Fortune Past
Location: X-Mansion | Kitchen
Timeline: November 2nd, 1990

Meja had taken one of the plates out of the oven that now held a stack of the thinner Swedish pancakes, the scent of baked buns wafted through the air and into the halls, enticing any who where waking to venture into the kitchen for something a little different from usual. Before mixing the next batch of pancake batter, Meja retrieved the punnets of fresh berries and the syrup to place them next to the large stack of warm pancakes, before returning to the stove, humming a little to herself as she worked.

Helpful as ever, Connor carried the platters and plates of food to the dining room. Naturally he helped himself to a few morsels along the way. When he hurried back to the kitchen for another round, Kurt had shown up.

"Guten Morgen," Kurt said without as much as a yawn. He had been awake for hours after performing his Lauds. "Vhat is zhis heavenly smell?"

"MEJA COOKED BREAKFAST AFTER OUR DANGER ROOM SESSION," Connor said. "SAY THANK YOU."

Kurt chuckled at Connor's forward manner. "Ja, zhank you, Fraulein Meja. Zhis vas very kind of you."

Meja chuckled as she put the last plate of pancakes on the island and shrugged, "I offered one of the students to cook breakfast so I could have more pizza, then my Swedish genes took over. I hope you enjoy the food." She finished with a smile as she washed her hands.

"I am sure I vill," Kurt said. "Can I be of any help?"

Meja shook her head as she picked up the punnets of berries, "Everything is ready and in the dining room but if you're ok with washing up, I'm sure there'll be a lot of dishes later."

“I can do the dishes afterwards.” A lissome blonde entered holding an empty coffee cup. She was dressed in sweats and had a full set of Velcro rollers covering her head. “That is if I can have some too.”

Her blue eyes locked onto the new girl and she stepped forward and offered her a hand to shake along with an introduction. “Hi, I’m Kennedy.”

Meja smiled as she put one of the punnets down, giving Kennedy's hand a strong shake. "Nice to meet you, I'm Meja. The food's been taken into the dining room if you're looking for breakfast."

With Connor already in the dining room, Kurt bamfed away as well. When he reappeared, he took a seat and folded his hands together with head bowed. "Bless us, O Lord, and zhese sThy gifts vhich ve are about to receive from sThy bounty. Amen."

Bliss bounced down the steps from the dorm area into the kitchen. She poured coffee into a lidded mug and dumped enough milk and sugar into the black to make a small cake. Her school attire was proper for a change. Her white blouse was wasn't tied off at her waist.
"God bless you for cooking, Meja!"

"YES, THANK YOU TO MEJA," Connor agreed. He signed with one hand while loading up his plate with the other.

Kennedy had held the door for Meja as she carried her punnets from the kitchen and discovered that the rest of them were already eating. She offered her thanks to Meja and then good mornings to the people eating. Kennedy helped herself to the meal but her portions were bird-like in size and she picked at them rather than eating mouthfuls like everyone else at the table.

There was silence around the table for a moment, between Connor and Bliss being on the outs and two very new people it wasn't terribly surprising to have a conversational lull. So Kennedy felt the need to continue with polite conversation rather than letting them sit and eat.

"Are both of you settling in?" Kennedy asked while looking at Meja and Kurt.

Meja had just downed her last spoonful of rice pudding as she shrugged, sipping at her juice before responding, "It's my first morning here, so hard to tell but so far so good." Her spoon clattered into her bowl slightly as she released it. Smiling as she looked around, many of the students seemed to be intent on their food which made her grin broaden as she exhaled lightly out of her nostrils.

"Vell and good," Kurt said meekly. This had been his second morning here and it was still hard adjusting. Everything from the dynamic environment to the time zone had him feeling out of sorts. "It is all a bit new."

Now that Connor had some food in him, he gave Kennedy a double take at the curlers and quickly began signing. "WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR HEAD, KENNEDY? ARE THEY STUCK?"

“What?” Kennedy said with a laugh before realizing what Connor was talking about. She reached up and touched her rollers. “No, I put these in my hair on purpose. I’m going to a rather fancy party tonight and I want to have nice hair for it. The longer I leave these in for, the better my curls will look.”

Trying to picture it, Connor held up his hands to frame Kennedy's face and looked sideways.

Kennedy was tempted to have another pancake by then she thought about her restrictive dress that she planned to wear tonight. “I’m pretty excited about it to be honest with you. It’s not a party for me per se but it feels special… I dunno it’s hard to explain.”

Not one for parties in general, Kurt just nodded politely.

"CAN WE COME TOO?" Connor was starting to catch Kennedy's excitement.

Meja had scooped a decent size serve of the hash into her cleaned bowl as she listened to the conversation. Taking a seat back next to Kurt, she also stayed silent, parties meant condensed groupings of people and she wasn't so much of a fan. So she continued to eat in silence, enjoying the fact that many of the students who'd joined them for breakfast had enjoyed her cooking.

“Oh no Connor, I’m sorry but you can’t come.” Kennedy tried to deliver the news with sensitive sincerity. “It’s a party by invitation only and I was the only one who was invited…” She felt bad that she had to break the news to Connor especially when he was getting excited. Kennedy momentarily debated telling him it was because today was her birthday but that information seemed like it would only make things worse at this point. “But we can do something when I come back?”

"O-K," Connor said aloud, dejection clear in his voice. He spooned his empty plate for a minute before he pushed it before and stood up. "EXCUSE ME," he signed as he left the table.

Kurt looked around, unsure of table etiquette in such a fancy home. Surely someone would give a cue as to what was expected of him.

Kennedy let out a defeated sigh as a crestfallen Connor left the room. Between her fight with Bobby the night before and now making Connor upset she was batting a thousand when it came to team interactions. It was times like this that she missed Jace the most. He always understood her and they agreed on most things. His absence created a completely different level of melancholy inside of Kennedy that brought her to the brink of tears.

“Excuse me, I have to go,” Kennedy said in a squeaky, emotional tone as she stood to leave the dining room. “Just leave the dishes in the kitchen, I’ll clean up later.”

Most of the students had finished, the younger ones leaving their bowls or plates where they'd sat. Meja was a fast eater and by the time Kennedy had left, she was all but finished her food, she took in the last spoonful and stood up, moving to stack the plates and bowls that were scattered around. Some of the older kids had moved out of the dining room with their plates and she only assumed they would be stacked in the sink or somewhere in the kitchen.

Kurt looked at Bliss, a little unsure of what to do. "Vhat is going on?" he whispered to her from across the table. "Are mornings alvays zhis strange?"

Bliss shrugged with a pained sigh.
"Always depends on what day it is, my friend. There's a lot of love to be found here, and sometimes that can mean easily hurt feelings. "
She dolloped strawberry jelly into a piece of toast before continuing.
"No one's really trying to hurt anybody here. Sometimes it just happens. We all want a place to belong, don't we? Kennedy would sooner hit herself in the face with a brick than hurt Connor. But now Connor is going to obsess over not being invited to a party he didn't know about 5 minutes ago. "

Meja had stacked most of the bowls and the remaining plates, silently listening to Bliss' reply and smirking a little as she picked up the small stack of both bowls and plates, fingers splayed out on both hands as she balanced and held them with elbows bent, close to her body. "Sounds exactly like my high school back home," she stated, still smirking as she moved out of the dining room to the kitchen.

"I hef much to learn of zhis country..." Kurt furrowed his brow and made the sacrament of the cross over his chest.

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