Happy Mother's Day! [Mingle]

[ourearth]

Date: 31st of March
Characters: OPEN

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It is Mother's Day, the temperatures are summery (the forecast promises a high of 19 degree), the sun is shining almost relentlessly, birds are singing, a mild sea breeze blows...

And all across the echo boundary, people are waking up on this beautiful Sunday. Probably an hour later than normal, unless they have to go to work, since daylight savings happened. Ew. They open their eyes, and it smells of flowers and tea and baked beans...

And something sits over their lap. Or butt, or hip, if they aren't back sleepers.

This something turns out to be a tray on which sit:

• a hot cup of tea, a bowl of baked beans, a single slice of white toast and one burnt fried egg
  
• an empty card
  
• some cheap chocolate
  
• a bouquet of flowers complete with a balloon reading Happy Mother's Day
  
• either one of those three gift sets OR a shitty parfume.

Don't sit up too quickly in shock, the tea is really quite hot.

Now, whom does this happen to?

Well. Literally everyone who is more or less human. And yes, that includes three day old babies, eighty year old men, teenage boys, people in hospitals... everyone, really. And among the scents of flowers, food and beauty products, those with the right abilities will be able to scent someone familiar.

Comments

[Audio]

[lovedramamoron]

Who eats baked beans for breakfast?

Re: [Audio]

[iamnotgod]

No one in this house.

[Walter's not in a good mood.]

I could've sworn this was a British stereotype at one point... one I'm glad to have missed out on, at any rate.

[There's a sigh.]

How are we going to avoid the press on this matter? This is more- personal, than the coal. Certainly more than the flowers and bluebirds.

Re: [Audio]

[lovedramamoron]

I didn't even know this was a thing. At home we only eat baked beans at picnics and barbecues.

Do you think this happened to everyone?

Re: [Audio]

[iamnotgod]

Check around.

If you're the only one in your household affected, it may be another Numbered thing.

But if the posts on social media so far are anything to go by... it's hit everyone that's human.

Or at least all the light sleepers who have social media.

Re: [Audio]

[lovedramamoron]

Hold on. I'll check with my host family.

[He is gone for a few minutes.]

It's everyone here, so far.

Re: [Audio]

[iamnotgod]

[Walter lets out a long, fatigued sigh.]

If these supplies were stolen from somewhere, we're about to find out in what quantities soon.

[Audio]

[spaghettimonster]

Walter speaks for himself - but I don't eat beans that've been all over the bedding.

[Russell's mostly joking, out of nerves. If he lets himself think too much about mystery trespassers somehow dropping things off in every home in the area without waking anyone, well, it's hard to feel safe. Anywhere.]

Re: [Audio]

[lovedramamoron]

Don't baked beans have molasses in them?

[And here Jimmy was thinking beans for breakfast was bad enough. Cleaning molasses off bedding was worse.]

one thing that's fun with SoE - i'm always finding things to do a quick search for, like bean recipe

[spaghettimonster]

Molasses...? Not breakfast beans. That would be entirely too sweet.

[British baked beans are different than American baked beans, thank goodness. But it'll still take some cleaning to get that bedding back in order.]

I've been reading up on differences between American and British baked beans

[lovedramamoron]

Baked beans aren't sweet here?

[Jimmy privately thinks that that sounded much more interesting. Most baked beans at home were too sweet for his taste. ]

It's such a big difference, I'm baffled by it

[spaghettimonster]

Of course not! That's just... Can you imagine?

[He's tried, and the tastes just don't go together.]

If... If you're missing the other sort, I'm sure you can find a can in a store somewhere, in one of the American sections.

[Assuming it's not all sweets and chips.]

[Audio]

[catted]

...You haven't stayed in a hotel and had breakfast there yet since coming to the UK, have you?

[Since, while she wouldn't eat it at home in the morning partly due to preferring a light porridge, it's a very typical for the "we need to give you a reason to eat here so there's more than porridge and cereal" type of food you find at hotels.]

Re: [Audio]

[lovedramamoron]

No? I was going to go to London and do the tourist thing, but I kind of put that off between the numbers and the earthquake and tsunami. [He shrugs.]

I usually skip breakfast, anyway.

[Audio]

[catted]

[Sorry, this just makes the doctor kick in. People, eat your breakfast, it's good for you. Why do teenagers tend to do this (because it's the easiest to skip and they want to lose weight, etc, she's been told. BUT. Stop.)]

Breakfast is what really starts your metabolism up. And that includes your brain. So if you really want to be able to figure out all those clues to the best of your ability, you should better eat breakfast.

Re: [Audio]

[lovedramamoron]

Holmes says that the brain works better on an empty stomach. [He knew that now because he'd spent the last month speeding through every Holmes story ever written. ]

[Action at the Flat throughout the day.] Also Keywords

[iamnotgod]

[Walter has not had a pleasant night. While it was true he was no longer as attached to a normal circadian rhythm as he'd once been, he had fallen asleep at one point. As was more the case than not, lately, there'd been nightmares.

This morning is not a pleasant contrast.

Thus, the first noise in the flat occurring after 6 AM is a tremendous CRASH.]

What in the world IS this?

[The webcam feed does not clarify much, and that's only partially because the items from the tray are now on the floor...]

Later in the Day:

Walter is not heading outside today. However, if people want to meet him, the company would be much appreciated.

[Action at the Flat] - papyrus icon for the expression and splashing

[spaghettimonster]

[The sound of the crash doesn't make Russell jump from his sleep, he's a slightly heavier sleeper than that. But it's enough for him to wake a little, yawn, and roll over.

And that's enough for his hip to jostle the tray, knocking a tea cup over, setting it to pouring hot tea pouring into the blankets and mattress he's curled in. And that's enough for him to yelp, and knock the whole tray over, and set off his own crashing sound.]

What the hell!

[Action at the Flat] perfect expression, 10/10

[iamnotgod]

[Well, that makes two of them. Walter crawls to the wall next to the door, using that to help stand himself back up.

His breathing is short and shallow as he pieces things together - and then he calls out, voice curiously flat:]

Someone was in the house.

[He is Not Panicking, with all the capital letters imply.]

[spaghettimonster]

[There's still toast and beans and egg on the tray, flowers fallen sideways and a cheerful balloon bobbling in his face. The mystery breakfast is still an option... But probably not one he's going to take up on.

He shoves out of bed, and heads to the hallway before answering. It's too early in the morning for shouting across the house, anyway.]

So breakfast in bed, that wasn't you.

[Was Walter's voice strangely flat with surprise and wall muffling, or is something wrong with his voice in a computerized way?]

[iamnotgod]

No.

[Just Walter bluescreening; if the tray had been paired with an Echo - let alone one of that nature - he might have been too stunned to say anything at all outside of processing what had happened.

Walter reaches for the door, much more willing to let Russell in if he's going to be heading the man's way anyway.]

What- well, just what, though to start with questions, what was on your tray? The same as these?

[He says, gesturing all around at the floor and bedspread.]

closed to family / action

[catted]

It's Sunday, and one of the few days in the year that both Janice and Mary Ann sleep in. Rather pointedly.

After all they want to give the kids plenty of time to prepare for them waking up.

...Though they might sleep very lightly once the sun has risen. It's just the instinct of being awake in case someone burns down the house trying to fry an egg. Still, both women are still more or less asleep at this point in the morning, when they would normally already be up and about.

[vernal_miss]

After the stress of the recent months, it had been decided among the five children to make certain this year’s Mother’s Day is a little more special. All of them had contributed as well as they could to a pool, and food supplies were picked up yesterday with a trip to the market by one of the older kids while the others kept their mothers occupied. After everyone had gone to bed, Nel and the youngest had quietly pulled out the gift they had picked a week before from hiding to wrap and decorate with an unnecessary amount of ribbon and stickers on the gift wrapping.

Come first light, Nel wakes to a quiet alarm on her phone and discovers the weight on her hip. Phone silenced, she carefully maneuvers to avoid spilling the tray as she turns and sits up. That’s...well it’s weird. Setting it aside, she looks across to the youngest sibling, still sound asleep, and is surprised by the presence of a matching tray. Nel gets out of bed and takes the tray off to put aside with her own, and goes about getting dressed. Leaving the youngest to sleep in a little longer, she slips out of her room to knock quietly at Thom’s door.

[dreamtamer]

Thom, unfortunately, had slept through his alarm. And so when Gizmo wakes up and barks at the sound of Nel's knock, Thom startles awake and accidentally knocks his tray onto the floor.

After a couple of moments of loud clattering noises and barking, a very flustered Thom finally manages to get to his door and let Nel in.

[vernal_miss]

Cringing outside the door at the sounds of barking and clatter, Nel glances nervously down the hall. Don’t wake up, Mum and Mummy! Lunch may be the intended highlight of the day, but breakfast in bed had been included in the plan.

She is only able to relax after things quiet and no one else comes into the hall; although she thinks she hears the second eldest sibling rousing to a similar surprise with a brief rattling. Weight shifted between her feet while she waits, she slips inside as soon as Thom allows the space. Holding her words until he shuts the door, she asks, “Did you have a tray on you when you woke up? We both had one in our room.” Her and the youngest.

[dreamtamer]

He stares guiltily at the mess.

"Yeah. That's what happened. I wasn't really expecting there to be a tray on me."