Log:Barbecue At Jack's

Barbecue At Jack's
Participants Zephyr McTaggert, Sylvana Lefevre, Jack Fry	23 May, 2018 A relaxing barbecue dinner at Jack's. Zeph and Sylvana get to meet.
Location
Another nice day, even if there's some clouds in the sky suggesting there might be rain later - and Jack's not working for days. WEll deserved time off, after that wildfire hassle. So, he's invited over people if they want to barbecue and just hang out, including Zephyr and Sylvana. Since it's a work day, it's early evening now, the barbecue is spreading tantalising smells of meat and vegetables both. Jack might not be much of a cook, but he /can/ barbecue. So, at the back of his house, there's some garden chairs and a table, the barbecue, a cooler with beer and soda, various condiments to the meat, potatosalad and so on. There's also a Zephyr. Wearing a blue and white striped sweater with a pair of short black shorts and slip-on shoes, she's currently lounging in one of the chairs and enjoying letting Jack cook. There's an open beer in one hand, a silvery thumbnail scratching at the label on the glass. "I'm glad you finally got some sleep," says the West Coaster. "You looked like you were going to just pass out while standing there by the end." Sylvana of course accepted the invite, anytime she could spend with her dad was good with her. Today she rode her bike as the poor jeep had suffered enough at her hands yesterday. She had a basket strapped to the bike and once she stopped she unstrapped the basket and started to head towards the back. Greyson, her Northern Goshawk, screeched loudly and then landed lightly on her shoulder. "DAD! I brought some baked beans!" She called out as she made her way to the smell of meat a smile on her lips. She knew soon enough Goblin would pounce her so she kept the basket up out of reach. Today she was wearing a long brown skirt, flip flops and an orage spagetti strapped top her hair down. Yep, Goblin does hop around Sylvana and wants to get at that basket, but also get scritches, abandoning his spot next to Zephyr momentarily (he likes to stay where the food is so has patiently waited until now.) "I got three days off. I plan on doing very little. Except maybe y-" Jack begins, then cuts himself short as he hears Sylvana. He takes a gulp of beer, flips a burger and waves his daughter over. "Great, I don't got any of that. Come on, meet Zephyrine McTaggert. The woman I'm dating." He's not too ceremonial about it, but he does glance between the two. Zephyr's grin blossoms with the sort-of-introductions. "And you said it without turning the shade of a beet or choking! Progress!" The blonde stands up and places her beer on the table, going to meet Sylvana with a bit less of a run than Goblin. Ok, a lot less of a run. "Pleasure to meet you, Sylvana. Here, let me take that off your hands," she reaches for the beans, "so you can greet Goblin." She's all smiles and warmth, red glossy lips turned up and white teeth visible. Sylvana blinked, she was not expecting that kind of announcement upon arrival! She turned her eyes to Zephyr and smiled brightly, her blue grey eyes glittering brightly. "Oh yes thank you! It is a pleasure to get to meet you! This is Greyson" She reached up petting the feathers of the hawk on her shoulder after relinquishing the basket to Zephyr and then reached down scratching and petting Goblin happily. "Hello to you too Goblin, yes its good to see you too. I hope you have been a good boy!" She laughed and then looked to her Dad giving him a smile before her eyes go back to Zephyr really taking her in for the first time, nipping on her bottom lip some and her brow furrowing as she does. "I'm sure I'll have many chances to choke and turning red, yet," Jack notes wryly, giving both women a wink. He puts some of the grilled vegetables on a large plate; corn cobs, red peppers, some big mushrooms. He also gets a plate ready for Goblin first, cutting up a big piece of meat into smaller pieces and setting it aside to cool for awhile. "Greyson, you want any of this?" he asks the bird directly. "And what do you ladies want? Burger, sausages, steak - all of it?" When Zeph reaches for the baked beans it's with both hands, and for someone enchanted like Sylvana... The left hand 's skin is thin and older. Beneath the soft parchment flesh the veins can be easily seen, only instead of bluish, they run with jets of coronal gas in sun-bright shades. The right hand remains youthful in appearance. "Hello to you, Greyson," the Changeling greets the bird, as if this were just a normal thing to do. "You're both quite the pet people, I see." If allowed, the Telluric takes the food off to put it with the rest, giving father and daughter a moment to themselves. "Ooooh, a steak, please." Zephyr calls over her shoulder. A second beer is found and opened, brought back over so Sylvana has a beverage. Sylvana does her best not to stare at Zephyr as it would be rude but she does look a second or two longer perhaps than is normal. When she spoke to Greyson though Syl smile and snapped out of her daze. Greyson hearing Jack speak to him hops about on Syl's shoulder letting out a screech of acknowledgement at the question and bobbed his head a couple of times. She just laughed and shook her head slightly. At the question of food her head tilts and she thinks a moment. "What kind of sausages and steak do you have today Dad?" It was an honest question considering he was a hunter after all. Her hand instinctivly reached out to take the offered beer from Zephyr with a soft smile. "Thank you! Yes we both love our pets. Dad is going to help me get a stable set up so I can get my own Horse and I am going to get chickens and goats, maybe some geese and ducks too" Yup...she was going to have a farm at this rate. "You'll become this crazy lady with every animal possible," Jack mock-warns Sylvana. "It's moose steak, sausages I bought from a local butcher, cause I really can't make them myself. It's meat in them." He isn't sure what kind. He does put up a sizzling moose steak on a plate for Zeph and holds it over with a warm smile her way, and she can pick and choose from salads, grilled vegetables and sauces on the table. And he gets some of the meat off Goblin's plate for the hawk, setting it down on the grass near the table, then Goblin's plate; the dog is there so fast one barely sees him move, beginning to eat. "Well, Zeph wants her own horse, dontcha? So, she's almost as bad as us." He does even lean in to give Zephyrine's cheek a quick peck, at that. Taking her plate, Zeph heads off to fill it with veggies of one sort or another. "I'm thinking about it. I'm getting _better_ with Troll, but I don't know that I'm ready for a full time horse." She looks pensive for just a moment. "Though Ardis might help me take care of it, and that wouldn't be bad." With a shrug, Zephyr dismisses the idea. For now. "How'd you come to be Greyson's companion, luv?" is asked of Sylvana. Greyson see's the plate go down and hops off Sylvana's shoulder gliding down towards it before he starts to rip into it happily. She laughed and then took a drink of the bottle in her hand her nose crinkling a little when the taste hits her. First beer...yup not sure what she thinks about it but its sure not mead. She smiled brightly at the mention of Zeph getting a horse. "Oh you will love it i'm sure! and Dad will teach you all you need to know and help you with your new horse i'm sure! Hes amazing with animals!" Yup the girl was hyper and had spunk thats for sure. At the question about Greyson her eyes light up and she smiled "My teacher found him out of his nest when he was just a chick. He tried to return him to his parents more than once but they kept booting him out so he was brought to me. I had been wanting to learn Falconry all ready so it was perfect. I got to raise him from a hatchling and we have been together ever since! Hes my constant companion. He gets the ability to fly free all the time but comes when I call. He gets the best of both worlds I think." Goblin finishes his dinner and goes to wait for scraps from everyone else, hopefully looking between the trio. He doesn't touch the bird's treats however - he understands that it's not for him. Jack fills up his own plate, sausage and steak, piling up a good sized portion. Sitting down with a content little grunt, he begins digging in hungrily, letting Zeph and Sylvana get acquainted. "Zeph's helping me with Troll," he explains. "You're a good rider already," he says, pointing his fork at Zephyr. "But - until you can have your own horse, you're free to come ride Troll whenever. In fact, I think you'll be fine riding him now without me being around. Whatcha think?" When she doesn't think Jack is looking, Zephyr slips some of her moose steak to Goblin. Little bites at a time disappear. How did that happen? "Symbiosis. I like it," she says of Sylvana and the bird. "Most of my pets are just little clockwork creations. Wind 'em up, set them on a surface, and let them waddle around, you know?" She gives a warm smile to Jack. Sylvana's eyes glitter at that "Oh that sounds wonderful! I would really like to see some sometime. And yes Greyson is more a partner to me then a pet. He stays of his own free will." She got her plate and sat down putting some of the other fixings on it before starting to nibble here and there. "Did you grow up around here? I just moved up from the only home I have known so its all a bit new to me. Dad has done a good job of helping me settle in though." She smiled over to Jack giving him a bit of a nudge and sits her beer down next to his. "Hopefully Ink will be along before too long. He was taking care of a few things at home." "She fixed the family grand father clock. My Uncle is thrilled about it and now everyone stands around staring at it and rewind it to make it chime," Jack notes to Zephyr. "Maybe you and I should get into business together? I do the wood part. You do the clock things?" he suggests, semi-seriously. It's not the worst of ideas - they're both crafters, and they can combine their work. "You need to go see Zeph's shop - it's fantastic," he notes. "All that steampunk stuff - gotta admit I rather like it." He gives Sylvana's hair a ruffle, because he always does, and pretends he doesn't see Goblin getting treats under the table, the dog the happiest dog. As he always is. "Ink's Sylvana's boyfriend," he explains. "Moved here from Seattle," Zephyr answers about where she came from. Or mostly answers. It's rather obvious that while she definitely moved here from Seattle, she left out something about where she was from. "I'm sure we could put something together if you want, Jack. I'm going to turn that box you gave me into a music box of sorts, I think." Looking back at Sylvana, Zeph asks, "Did you and Ink come back for the family, or...?" Sylvana took a bite of steak and a sip of beer, not wanting it to go to waste! After a moment of chewing she gave a nod and spoke once her mouth was free of food. "Well my mother passed and recently the head of the reservation gave me a letter she had left, it was for Dad. I was told who he was and that I was to deliver the letter to her personally. Ink and I have been together for about Four years now and he of course came with me. He is actually from this area you see. Mom left me her glade and cabin so we moved down here to meet Dad and the rest of the family. Mom's family is from here too." She smiled some and sighed. "I have not met his family yet but they are from here too" Alright, so Jack is giving Goblin some treats too - he drops a large piece of sausage on the ground, totally on purpose. "Constance," Jack says, his expression solemnt. "Sylvana's mom, she was Constance Lefevre." He's given Zephyrine the short version, but now names come up too. "So, Sylvana got both the Fry and the Lefevre side, lots of family around here." He grins at Zephyrine suddenly. "Maybe you should come out to the farm some day - though are we at the 'meet the family'-level of dating yet?" "Those are both big families around here, right?" Zephyr asks in her out-of-towner way about the Frys and LeFevres. As far as the level of dating? Zephyr shrugs. "You tell me. I don't know your family. I mean, I haven't started leaving clothes here or anything, but I don't know the personal scale of a guy that was totally hesitant to kiss a girl half his age." It seems Zephyr can be a bit of a brat when she wants, as indicated by the way-too-sweet-and-innocent smile she gives Jack. "Four years is pretty impressive these days," she remarks to Sylvana. Sylvana looked between the two and could not help but give a little laugh and a smile. She tilts her head back and forth at the question about the families. "Thats what I am told yeah. I have only met a few of them so far as I have been concentrating on getting the cagin in order and settling in. Took some time off to help Dad when he needed it." She took another bite as she thought more on Zeph's words. "Is it impressive? Most people from the reservation seem to stay together for a long time, some never part." Jack puzzles over something. "Wait, you've been together with Ink since you were sixteen? Damn." He can't really say much though - he was sixteen when Sylvana was conceived, and he just shakes his head at it, faintly amused. Then he suddenly sits up straight and turns a wide-eyed stare at Zephyr, coughing as he managed to swallow his beer wrong. "You're not half my age," he protests, clearing his voice. "...are you?" He has to do math, but seems distracted. "No, you're not." Poor Jack. Jack has probably seen the fake ID (a really good fake) that says Zephyr is just barely older than Sylvana. And Zeph isn't going to disabuse him of that idea. "What are you going to do now that you're here? Just chill for a bit? Or do you have some big plans?" is asked of Sylvana. Sylvana could not help but chuckle softly at her Dad and then she shook her head some. "Ink and I have known each other since I was 16 the dating things is more recent but neither of us have had eyes for anyone else since we met. We were just waiting to make it official I guess you could say. We knew we were going to be together just" She shrugs blushing a bit. She looked to Zeph and smiled. "Well right now its getting the glade and cabin set up. Then I am going to have a green house put in, a stable, a chicken coop and goat pen. I am working on flower beds and the like so I can start my herb gardens and vegitable gardens as well. I plan to stay here for a long while. I make herbal medicines if you ever are in need of some." "She made me a herbal drink that put me right to sleep. I'm half wondering if she should be arrested," Jack notes about Sylvana, nudging her with an elbow. He tries hard not to think about Zeph's age, drinking more beer and finishing up his big meal; he leans back and groans, hand on his stomach. "I still need to see Ink, have a talk with him. You know. The kind that dad's do with their daughter's boyfriend?" he teases Sylvana. He's not actually that sort of dad at all - but he can be a pain about it anyway. Goblin manages to beg another sausage bit from Jack, the ranger feeding it to him from his hand and scritching him thoroughly at the same time. "I don't get sick too often, but if I do, I'll come looking for you," Zephyr says. "If you need help putting anything together though, give me a call. I can drive out and put nails in boards or help with the greenhouse." She's only eaten about half her food and now leans back in the chair and shoves her fingers through her hair. Sylvana's cheeks darken some as her dad teases her about talking to Ink again. "Dad..." She groaned softly. She looked to Zeph when she spoke. "Well I can make stuff for things other than physical illness too. Like Dad said I can make you something to help you sleep, or help give you energy if your feeling a bit off. Stuff like that too." She gave the woman a smile and then her eyes sparkled at the offer for help. "Oooo Thank you! I actually h ave someone who is going to help with the green house but I am sure Dad would like some help with the stable and chicken coop...Oh dont forget about the bee hives dad. You did promise to make me two." She laughed looking at him and then looked to Zeph once more. "Um if anything I would really enjoy a clock for my home. I like the sound of the ticking it helps me sleep." Jack snaps his fingers. "Bee hives. I ordered them - I need to go pick them up. The wildfire just made me forget all about it." He gets up, and starts clearing the table off, piling it all in a big plastic container he can carry inside later. "Yeah Zeph - you wanna help me set up the stable?" He asks this hopefully, smiling at her. It's clear he's rather smitten in a way; he's smiling more than he's done in years. "Mmm, big strong man packing wood for my entertainment? How could I say no?" Zephyr winks at Sylvana before standing up. "I'll go wash this up before anything sets on the plates," she offers, while reaching to take up the dirty plates and carry them inside. Jack gets a smooch behind the ear in passing as well. Jack's expression is rather dazed as he looks after Zephyr, letting her walk ahead himself after that smooch. Maybe it was what she said... "Right," he murmurs and wanders after. Sylvana just laughs and shakes her head. She let the two love birds have some time and she went over to visit Troll while they did their work.