Sam's Teki-Terra Christmas Cram Jam!!

[noonecandestroythemetal]

⭐ Who: Sam and you, especially if you got a word-of-mouth invite, but "party crashers" OK!
⭐ When: December 23rd.
⭐ Where: Sam's apartment in Akabeni!
⭐ What: She's hosting a get-together for people to experience Kaiju Christmas...
⭐ Warnings: uh, are the Teki-Terra movies PG-13?




It's the weekend of Christmas, and Sam had invited a few people over to bear witness to a time-honored tradition. (It's her family tradition, but Sam will literally be darned if she forces her friends to watch Hallmark movies...) Instead, she's kicked it up a notch.

It's a kaiju movie-fest, starring the subject of the Teki-Terra movies and his assorted friends! To prepare, Sam has made a bunch of food and snacks for folks to literally devour during the shows.
And of course, there's popcorn.

"Come on in!" Sam's face is a beaming beacon of excitement as she opens her apartment door. "Just find a spot where you can.squeeze in, the floor, the couch, whatever. There's food in the kitchen, though it'll probably be best if we all take turns."

Mostly because Sam's apartment isn't a huge one, for all that it's nice. For one person, it'd be downright roomy, but who knows how many people will be shoving themselves into her place tonight? She'd invited a few people (Shinsha and Keiwa, as examples), but she had specifically not said that they couldn't bring a friend (or two!) if they liked.

For Sam, whose family is back in America (and might not welcome her anyway!), having a friend-filled Christmas is the next best thing...

Comments

[hanamane]

[The few gatherings the DU has done lately aside, Amane hasn't really been to a ton of parties throughout his life-- let alone smaller, more informal gatherings like these at somebody else's house. That would require having actual friends, which... unfortunately he hasn't had a lot of up until recently! And although he was excited at the prospect of being brought along to a party (a Teki-Terra party, even!!!), the moment he steps in the door, clad in his absolutely-not-nerdy kaiju kigu hoodie, he starts to feel a little nervous. Sure, Keiwa and Shinsha were here, but was the host really okay with him tagging along...? She seemed friendly enough, and he recognized her from the Halloween thing, but there was something about her that seemed extremely familiar...

After a bit of awkward lingering around the apartment and figuring out where to put his stuff (his mom made sure he didn't arrive empty-handed and thus saddled him down with some age appropriate Chanmery to share with the others), he winds up wandering into the kitchen to check out the food options-- and is immediately struck agog by the spread available. He's not even sure what some of this stuff even is, but--]

There's more than one type of calzone...??

[Maybe..... he needs help narrowing down his choices.... just a little......

Once he gets his plate loaded up, though (and it definitely will be, as a teenage boy he's nothing if not a bottomless food pit), he's going to settle in at the foot of the couch, happily munching upon his snacks and enjoying the films. Compared to his nerves earlier, he's much more in his element while the movies are actually going, eyes sparkling and excitedly piping up with some random factoid or two on occasion whomever is close enough to listen.]

Oh, oh, did you know? Teki-Terra's tail actually caught on fire in this scene, but the guy in the suit kept acting until the take was done. Isn't that nuts?

[At a certain point, though, after checking his phone casually a few times, he quietly slinks off to retrieve something from his bag, before briefly slipping into the bathroom. And if anyone saw a small, moon shaped box in his hand... don't even worry about it.

By the end of the evening, though, even the excitement of Teki-Terra can't keep him fully awake (and especially not on a full belly) and he starts to doze, either tilting gently against whomever is nearby, or just slumping against whatever cushion he stole from the couch. Mmmmmaybe somebody should probably nudge him awake, probably....??]

[noonecandestroythemetal]

Yeah, there are four types! Mostly 'cause they're smaller than normal, so I decided to do variety, y'know? Those are roasted veggie, those are cheese, those are cheese and meat--sausage and pepperoni--and then the last tray are white calzones--ricotta, spinach and artichoke hearts. I tried to do a little something to tempt everyone's palate! And if there's leftovers, hey, I'll package them up so you can take some home, eh? I've got some Christmas crack, too!

[She's probably going to have to explain that, too, so she does.] It's candy, sort of. Saltine crackers smothered in toffee and chocolate, and then there are nuts or busted-up peppermint canes spread over the top. I did candy canes 'cause generally, they're safer.

[That's not all, either, but that's a lot for now, after all, especially considering the fresh veggie pizza and the fried chicken!]

[hanamane]

[... whoops, and now he's drooling a little, THANKS SAM-- but that, plus a well-timed tummy grumble, is enough to snap him out of his food reverie, sending a bit of an embarrassed flush to his cheeks. Thankfully, he hadn't eaten much before they got there, in anticipation of whatever food spread might have been available, but he didn't think it was going to be as much as it was in front of him right now. Heck, even the DU didn't cater their parties this extensively (at least... as far as he could tell, anyway!)]

I'd be surprised if there weren't leftovers after all of this, to be honest. Wasn't this a lot of work...?

[Still, he doesn't hesitate to grab a plate and start tentatively loading it up, going for the KFC first (it was Christmas, after all, how could he NOT--), as well as some of the festive pound cake and the aforementioned Christmas crack. Eventually he gets to the mini calzones, immediately picking up the cheese and the meat kinds (can't go wrong with the classics!!), the roasted veggie after a moment of hesitation, and then:]

Um... what are artichokes, anyway? Are they good? I don't think I've ever had them before...

[Although he was going to try it out regardless-- it would be rude not to after all the cooking she's done! But the "hearts" part of it was making him think of yakitori, and he didn't think those white calzones had that sort of meat in them... did they...?]

[noonecandestroythemetal]

Well, I've been out of class for the past week, and I used my time wisely. A lot of the stuff I made myself can be pregamed, so to speak--make fillings ahead of time, same with the dough. Then it was just cooking it today. The chips and dip and the KFC I tasked to someone else to get.

[It was totally Zeke. Which is one of the big reasons why he is acting the way he is. But he's not overboard yet in Sam's mind, so he can keep up his shenanigans freely, for now.]

Where I'm from, they're a plant that has a head that looks like a flower--that's the edible part, and it really does bloom, eventually. You take out the petals and just eat the tender parts at the end, mostly. That's what they call hearts, I think. You might be able to eat the inside of the choke, too, but I never looked into it that far. They're a little salty from being preserved, but the cheese and the spinach cut down on that. I like them! They're popular as a dip with spinach, too. And Parmesan cheese.

Mostly I wanted to have some vegetarian or vegan options, too. Not everyone enjoys meat, and that's fine by me. They shouldn't have to suffer through just a veggie tray! I've seen that happen way too often in high school back home, and it sucks every time, you know?

[hanamane]

[He listens politely as she explains, nodding where appropriate-- honestly, now that she's put it like that, he's pretty sure he's seen his mom do the same for large gatherings too. Not that it isn't a lot of effort regardless, though-- she could have easily just ordered pizza or more chicken, but the fact she went to these sort of lengths for them was kind of admirable. As for the artichokes...]

Ooooh-- I see, I see. So they're kind of like bamboo shoots, huh? [Maybe... not the best 1-to-1 comparison for it in regards to appearances, but as far as eating the tender part of a plant goes, it's not... too far off, maybe??] It sounds tasty, though! But anything salty and cheesy is bound to be good, I guess.

[And at that, he plucks one of the artichoke calzones up from the food spread and adds it onto his plate. It wasn't as if he was going to avoid it in the first place-- it felt rude, when she made all this food and he had no dietary limitations-- but now that he knew what was inside, he was kind of eager to try it. He does hum a little in contemplation when she mentions the vegetarian stuff, though, pausing in his hunt for more snacks to add:]

Mm... I mean, I like meat, but I know Shinsha-san isn't crazy about that sort of thing, so I'm sure they probably appreciate having some actual choices for once. But it's pretty hard finding stuff here without it, y'know? I didn't even know fish counted as meat until I was trying to find some snacks to gift them.

[Which... frankly, sounds pretty ridiculous, but considering what a major staple it is for Japanese cuisine in general, it feels almost impossible to leave out.]