(no subject)

[almosthonorable]

"Y'know, Miss Bar, the holidays're over."

A napkin appears beside Ben's elbow.

"I ain't complainin', just didn't expect this when I said 'surprise me' -- "

Another napkin appears.

"Well, no -- "

And another.

" -- yes, ma'am."

He rolls up his shirtsleeves, sets aside the saucer of gumdrops, and picks up some licorice to lay track.

He's building a gingerbread train station. Complete with a gingerbread train. Comments from the peanut gallery are not only expected, they're damn near unavoidable.



[ tiny tag with a bullet in its heart: charlie prince ]

[ tiny tag with a heart of gold: charlie monroe ]

[ tiny tag that ain't stubborn: dan evans ]

[ tiny tag with a tiny stutter: aaron stampler ]


[ ooc: EEE, you guuuuys. *hearts all around* sadly, i must dash away for work, so all threads are boarding the slowtime train; i'll be back a little before 11 p.m. EST to pick up any and all tags! aaaaand, back! ]

Comments

[gotaheadstart.livejournal.com]

Cuddy peeks over, her amusement very obvious.

"I guess it's really true, what they say about boys and their toys." Even the edible ones, apparently.

[almosthonorable]

"Is it, now?"

He finishes gluing icing a giant yellow-and-white swirled lollipop disc to a gingerbread wheel before glancing over.

"You wanna play, Miss Cuddy?"

[gotaheadstart.livejournal.com]

She doesn't say anything at first.

Instead, she rises from her chair and sits down next to him, noting the progress he's made.

"You know, for an edible train, it's very accurate."

[almosthonorable]

"I'd take all the credit, but Miss Bar provided the materials."

He picks up a piece of blue cotton candy from the smorgasbord and holds it against the smokestack, eyeing the effect critically.

[bonny-prince.livejournal.com]

How about from the official Ben Wade peanut gallery?

"That's a mighty fine train there, boss."

[almosthonorable]

Ben's lips quirk; he nudges a piece of red licorice a sixteenth of an inch before straightening in his seat.

He turns.

"Why, thank you, Charlie."

[bonny-prince.livejournal.com]

He nods slightly in return and takes a seat on a stool. No drink, just yet.

"Strange place we find ourselves."

[licensed-pro.livejournal.com]

Charlie's been watching this for a few minutes, smiling quietly. The idea amuses him to begin with, but actually watching a grown man build a gingerbread train station--accurate, from what little he knows about them--is just funny.

"Having fun, over there?"

[almosthonorable]

Ben puts down the icing for a moment and licks a stray dollop from his thumb.

(It's good stuff -- sugar and vanilla.)

"Been years since I played with my food this much."

[licensed-pro.livejournal.com]

"You seem to have picked it back up nicely," he says, wandering over and looking at the piece from a different angle.

"It looks very good, but very different. It's a train station?" He has to ask. Given he's got only the smallest grasp on what they looked like, prior to the turn of the millenium, and their decline.

[lasthalfmile.livejournal.com]

Dan hasn't said anything, yet.

But he is watching Ben, from a few stools down. Thinking.

Because this? This requires a comment. He just hasn't...yes he has.

He hops off the stool, walks over, and then reaches into his pocket for the watch he got the other day. A glance at the timepiece, and then he looks up at Ben with a completely straightfaced and sober expression.

"'Fraid that train might be runnin' late."

[almosthonorable]

Without missing a beat, "Goddamn trains never do run on time."

He pushes over a saucer filled with sour Gummi worms, gumdrops, and rounds of peppermint, then offers a rectangle of gingerbread.

"Decorate me a door for this station, Lazarus."

[lasthalfmile.livejournal.com]

He takes the gingerbread, and then reaches for a bag with some icing in it.

"You'd think they'd learn after havin' to replace all the plate glass in those nice windows that got shot out the last time."

Oh, well. Some people never learn.

[realmrsreynolds]

"What in the good gorram are you making, Mr. Wade?"

[almosthonorable]

He almost asks what kind of curse gorram is, but he's sucking on a peppermint stick.

So.

"Variation on a gingerbread house," he says after the candy's deposited on a square of wax paper. "It's a train station and a locomotive."

He looks over and smiles.

"Ms. Reynolds."

[realmrsreynolds]

Sallie's smiling, but staring beyond Ben at the gingerbread.

"Folk from Earth-that-Was played with their food too much," she mumbles disapprovingly.

First stuffing turkeys, now this.

[ooc: Augh, suck. Be back in an hour.]

[young_gun_billy]

Billy comes downstairs looking rather neat and trim. His hairs been cut, clothes are washed and pressed and his bowler derby is sitting rather fine on top of his head.

Even the handles of the cross holstered six-shooters on his hips have been polished.

The other man's dress attracts Billy's attention first. The gingerbread construction is what makes him pick a seat one over from Ben's.

"That sweet frost icin' you're usin' for glue there, mister?"

[almosthonorable]

Ben glances over, frosting in one hand, a piece of gingerbread in the other.

He takes in the guns and the hat (and a damn fine hat it is) as he nods.

"Sure is. Tastes like sugar and vanilla."

[young_gun_billy]

"You gonna be usin' all them gumdrops on that train a yours?"

Billy asks, nodding at the dish.

[nneverwas.livejournal.com]

Don't look now, Ben, but you have an observer.

He's sitting at a nearby table, shy and quiet and hunched in on himself like a boy living in perpetual expectation of sudden loud noises, and in between making steady progress through a little bowl of peanuts he is watching the train take shape with enthralled fascination.

There's a faint smile on his face, which keeps slipping away and then sidling back again, but never leaves his eyes.

[almosthonorable]

Ben keeps working, taking a cursory glance around the bar every so often, just to see who's about.

(Or who's not.)

He's noticed the stranger's amusement and interest; when he drops a piece of peppermint on the floor and moves to pick it up, he tries to catch the boy's eyes.

"I told her to surprise me," he explains, inclining his head toward the counter.

[nneverwas.livejournal.com]

Aaron grins slightly.

"Looks l-like she's pretty, pretty good at that," he notes.

[noattachments]

Kate, on her way to the bar, slows down a little to watch, and a smile creeps across her face inch by inch.

When she sits down, it's with a polite bar stool's distance between her and the gingerbread artwork.

"That's not half bad," she offers after a second or two.


(ooc: hope you don't mind another late addition! I can hold off until some other time if that's easier.)

[almosthonorable]

Icing in hand, he looks over at the unfamiliar voice and smiles at the pretty stranger.

"So it's half-good?"


[ ooc: you kiddin'? it's AWESOME, yo. i will so never turn down quasi-belated tags, even days later, so. *g* ]

[noattachments]

"Well," she goes on with mock thoughtfulness, turning to give the train a more critical look, "maybe two-thirds good?"

She gives him a grin. "It's better than I could do."

She'd love to see Sayid and John do something like this on the island. And if anyone can, it's them. To scale, even. Maybe with some construction assistance from Michael.

The idea makes her grin broaden. Whatever they made couldn't taste as good as what this guy's working on.