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.

Re: [Audio]

[lovedramamoron]

Have you heard anything on the news yet?

Re: [Audio]

[iamnotgod]

Mostly confusion. Nothing organized; no coherent explanations either.

Considering this appears to have happened to everyone who'd been asleep within the Boundary, it'd be more worrying if it were otherwise.

Re: [Audio]

[lovedramamoron]

No kidding. Just think of the logistics to pull something like this off. And they do it to give everyone beans and burnt eggs for breakfast?

[Jimmy was still stuck on that part. ]

[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.]

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

[lovedramamoron]

[He makes a face.]

No thanks. I never liked the beans we have at home. And they usually just get served at barbecues and potlucks. Never for breakfast.

[spaghettimonster]

[Ohoho.]

Is that right... It sounds like you should try some proper beans. Maybe these will be more to your taste.

[He had to.]

[lovedramamoron]

Beans are just beans, aren't they? I doubt there would be that much of a difference.

[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. ]

[Audio]

[catted]

He probably compared it to a brain directly after eating a large meal, because then your body is so busy digesting that it focuses on that.

Small meals barely affect the brain, and no meals mean that your brain is in energy saving mode, so it functions less than it does after a small meal or a while after a big one.

You know when your phone is in energy saving mode because it's under 10%? That's what your body is before breakfast.

Re: [Audio]

[lovedramamoron]

[Jimmy gives in. He couldn't argue against science.]

Fine, I'll try to remember to eat breakfast.

I can still have coffee, right?

[Audio]

[catted]

[Excellent]

Of course you can. Just don't overdo it - I'd recommend no more than two to four cups per day, depending on how you feel after them. But if it necessary so that you don't drink energy drinks then have as much coffee as you want, that's still healthier.

Re: [Audio]

[lovedramamoron]

I like the taste of coffee better anyway.