InsaneJournal

Kate had been avoiding Al’s since she got back, for the most part. She’d stopped in once after Yelena and Leon had gotten home, where she’d literally banged right into Carol – which worked out, since that was who she’d been looking for. They’d hugged, and Carol had welcomed her back again, and they’d sat in her office for a few minutes, both wallowing in the misery of their losses.

Emily. Natasha. Emmeline. Tony. Pepper. Francis. James. She knew Carol felt their absence as painfully as she did, as Yelena did, but Kamala was right. She was pushing through as hard as she could manage, and she’d quickly turned the conversation to trying to soothe Kate. It was kind, but she hadn’t stayed long to take it in. She couldn’t be in this place without seeing Emily everywhere, not anymore.

Ásynja Meadery, while also a hotspot for the people she was missing now, was easier to stomach. The Nordic decor wasn’t really her vibe, but she knew Thor and Torunn had loved this spot. She admired Daud for taking it over when it was passed into his hands out of nowhere. She also found a little amusement in how obviously overwhelmed he was with it all. He may not be the most emotionally open person, but even if she hadn’t gotten good at gauging his expressions in their time together, she knew enough to read the irritation behind the message he sent her this afternoon.

So, of course she told him she would help. Did she want to be a bartender? It wasn’t her dream or anything. Did she want to be an event planner? Well, no. But it would be a good distraction, and she knew she could handle it; she’d been bred for it all her life. With Regina joining her on the disappearance list, her private investigator job had disappeared, too, and she needed something else to occupy her time and her brain while she readjusted to what, at times, felt like yet another whole new life in this weird world.

“Alright,” she said, circling the bar without invitation to join Daud behind it. He’d confirmed things were slow enough to come by, and they did seem to be a pre-rush lull right now. There was time to breathe and get some business talk done. “Where’s those event plans? Show me what you’ve got.”

Daud brought out the folder: bright pink, labeled “Smooches Abound!”, holding a few hopefully helpful papers. One was a list of names and orientations, some of which Daud recognized and some of which he did not. Another appeared to be some sort of seating chart with numerous directional arrows and “for everyone!!!” written in one of Thor’s beloved glitter pens. On another page was written “Host??? WCS: Me!” and below it were several “getting to know you” style questions with “on cards!” pointing to it with an arrow. To the right, a collection of words in Old Norse that Vallo had thus far failed to translate for him appeared in a box. The only word of those Daud recognized was the one for mead.

“I can’t make sense of much of it,” Daud admitted. “He clearly never thought anyone but himself would have to interpret any of this.” He pulled out the paper with the names listed on it. “This must be who’s signed up so far, I think…and maybe the one below it is a table setup?”

Kate blinked in surprise for a moment. For some reason, she’d assumed “Smooches Abound!” would be a file on some sort of work computer. Not that it didn’t make sense for it to be a physical file, especially if there were sign ups, but it took a second for her brain to wrap around the idea. Vaguely, she felt even more impressed than he’d taken the time to hand-label a folder “ehehhehehe”; she’d have to look for that later.

The sheets Daud pulled out were somewhat helpful but also kind of unintelligible. The sign-up sheet was clear and had enough information to work with if they were going to have to pair people off. It wasn’t much of a crowd, but they still had some time for advertising if they wanted to expand the group. The cards were unexpected, but she liked the idea of having topics ready instead of having to come up with them yourself – some people weren’t good under that kind of pressure and could be put at ease with help.

“I think we can… kind of throw a lot of this out,” she suggested. “Especially because it’s written in Thor, and he’s not here to translate. But most speed dating events are pretty similar. Sit a bunch of people at tables, rotate them through so everyone meets everyone they might have a connection with, then they kind of take it from there.”

“So for this ‘host’ question…we just need someone to tell people what’s happening and when to rotate?” Daud asked. It sounded less complicated than he had feared. Still probably not a job for him—a base level of charm was necessary—but this was surely a role they could manage to find someone to fill.

“Basically,” Kate confirmed with a nod. “That and, like, maybe sure everyone’s feeling safe. Speed dating can be a little intent when you’re trying to figure out if you’re compatible with someone in five minutes. The host should be somebody who can just keep things light.”

Thor would have been good at that. She was sure that was why he’d written himself in. She could chat people’s ears off, but she wasn’t sure that would be super helpful in this instance. Maybe they could find a comedian somewhere to take the job on for the night.

“I’ll ask the staff,” Daud said. “If that fails, I can put a call out on the network. There’s probably someone there who both likes a spotlight and doesn’t have a lot of plans for the holiday.”

He looked at more of the notes, his eyes resting on the getting to know you cards. He could see the value, especially for shy people, but he didn’t have the first idea what kind of questions to ask.

“Can you help me with the cards?” he asked. “If I write them alone, everyone’s going to sound like a serial killer.”

Kate nodded along. That was a good plan. They had all types on the network; there was sure to be someone who wouldn’t mind offering up their Valentine’s Day for a last-minute hosting gig. If all else failed, she’d suck it up and do it herself. She definitely wasn’t at a point where she planned on participating in the dating part. Emily was both a fresh wound and a memory softened by a year away, but she didn’t feel ready to put herself out there like this yet.

“I’ll help make the cards,” she agreed with a chuckle. “But a serial killer set might be fun. There’s probably enough psychos here who would enjoy them.”

“Probably,” Daud dryly replied. He could just imagine the delight from some of these people at asking people their favorite weapons and if they’d ever put time into building an immunity to most conventional poisons. Some of Vallo was entirely too enthusiastic about murder. Maybe he should ask the Countess to host; she loved cracking jokes about the (entirely fabricated) ex-husbands she may or may not have dispatched.

“So we write up the cards, and then we…” He looked down at the papers, then out at the meadery’s tables and chairs. “Make a seating chart and try to map out the rotations, I suppose. Because everybody is supposed to talk a few minutes with everybody they might match, right?”

“Ideally, yeah,” Kate confirmed. “Five minutes is probably the high-end limit.” She pulled the list closer to look at names. There were ages and gender preferences there as well, which was bound to be a good help. “I need a–” She looked around briefly before spotting what she wanted clipped to Daud’s shirt pocket – a pen – and snagged it for herself. “I’m gonna have to work around the arrows, but I think we can manage to fit everyone here. Best way to do it is probably to have one group that stays seated the whole time and the other circles through? Otherwise, y’know, chaos.”

It might not be so simple because of the gender preferences. Most speed dating events she was aware of (one or two of which her mother had hosted for various charities) were pretty heterosexual. She was glad at that moment that the sign-up sheet wasn’t ridiculous or they’d be in for a hell of a headache.

“Let’s avoid chaos if we can,” Daud said, though he wasn’t sure they could manage that entirely. They had mostly people who weren’t particular about gender, but a few who preferred exclusively their own or another, and the people in the stationary circle would also need to talk to each other if they weren’t careful about who they put there. It was going to be a complicated matter to arrange. Luckily, Daud was good at projects with multiple moving parts. He thought they could work this part out one way or another.

“If you want to start on that, I think I have an idea for a host,” Daud said. “I can make that call, and then we can start writing those question cards.”

“Yep, I’ll take a shot,” Kate said with a nod. She straightened up, though, and looked at Daud, straightening her shoulders. “But hey, I was wondering if, aside from this, you might need a hand around here? I know dealing with people isn’t your favorite thing, and since the PI thing is a no-go with Regina gone, I could use some more work to keep my mind busy. What do you think?”

Daud was seldom surprised, but that offer managed to do it. He paused a second and blinked, taking the question in and processing it so he wouldn’t stammer on his answer. It was touching that Kate would even think of volunteering to help, and even after a couple years of friendship with Thor, Daud still struggled with having emotions and expressing them. He’d come far enough to try, though.

“I would be grateful for it. This place…” He grimaced and stopped just short of a sigh. “I knew it would be a lot of work, and I knew it was work that wouldn’t come easily for me, but it tires me more than getting up before dawn and hauling nets all day ever did. I’ll take any help I can get.”

Kate hadn’t entirely expected to make this offer herself. She had come in here intending to help get the speed dating off the ground and spin a plan to ease some of the pressure from the situation. She hadn’t intended to offer herself up as an employee – especially given she knew next to nothing about bartending. But despite her brain being a mess on a good day, she was a quick, apt learner, and she wanted to help. Getting out of the house some nights was just an added bonus.

“Then count me in,” she said with a grin, twirling his pen between her fingers as she knocked her shoulder against his. She’d see if she could recruit Yelena over here, too; she’d been at Galahd forever, but maybe she’d like a change, and what could be better than bartending with her little sister?