An Orphan Thanksgiving (open to friends/coworkers)

[Deleted]

@friends

It was with a surprising smile on her face that Savannah rolled out of bed on a particular Thursday morning at seven. There were only two days a year that Savannah voluntarily got up that early besides work. Anyone who was remotely close to Savannah would know that the holidays were her favorite time of year. Any day she was off work and got to eat a lot of food and be with family? She was in. The year previous, Savannah had hosted a friendsgiving a few days after the actual holiday, inviting friends to bring leftovers and even rewatch the Macy's parade for those who missed it (Savannah was undoubtedly a big parade fan, but an even bigger fan of the dog show afterwards). This year, however, Savannah wouldn't be seeing her family for Thanksgiving, and as a result, planned on offering a holiday spot for any of her friends and close coworkers to gather and not be alone for Thanksgiving.

As Savannah trudged down the hall of her small apartment to the kitchen area, Toulouse trotted behind her, much more awake than she was. The young actress rubbed her eyes and reached her arms high above her head to stretch, lifting her leaf-patterned pajama top stretch just far enough to show a very slim portion of her stomach. The moment of relaxation lasted only a few seconds, however, as Toulouse began to drag his food bowl around in an effort to get Savannah to feed him. She laughed, going into the cabinet for a new can of food.

Savannah wasn't the world's best cook, that she knew. Fingers crossed she could make food just a little more complicated than cat food, and the heavy turkey in the fridge seemed to taunt her as she put the half-eaten leftovers of the can of wet cat food in the fridge with a cover on it. Turning on the TV for the parade that would start in an hour and forty five minutes at the conclusion of the morning news. She hurried to get ready, taking an abnormally quick shower by her standards, dressing in an a-line, fall-themed red dress. Savannah let her hair dry and curl naturally while she applied subtle, neutral colored makeup and a calm and somewhat dull smoky eye. By the time she rushed into the kitchen in a pair of plain socks, knowing she would never be putting on a pair of shoes at any point in the day if it was the last thing she did. At the door of her apartment was a mat for her guests' shoes as well, though she assumed that more than one of them would probably not listen to the subtle cue.

Toulouse raced up and down the hallway while Savannah started prepping the food, namely the turkey. Struggling to get set up with the massive bird, Savannah heaved a massive sigh. She didn't have a dining room table, just the small granite countertop island in the middle of her kitchen. Fold-up chairs rested against the wall to be set up when the food was ready. The news station announced that the parade would start in five minutes, and the tall woman let out yet another sigh. She loved hosting holiday parties, but the prep was always atrocious.

WORDS 549

NOTES open to really anyone who knows sav and would want a place to go for thanksgiving. this takes place on thanksgiving day!

MADE BY ★MEULK OF GS

[River Blue Ashford]

River had slept over Savannah's place the night before. It made sense because, though she might protest, there was no way that little Savannah would be able to handle cooking such a large meal all by herself. Sure she would get through it but she'd probably end up making a mess, burning something, getting frustrated, get upset.. Especially if her burning the popcorn the night before during one of their regular movie nights was any indication. Her couch wasn't the most comfortable spot in the world but he wasn't about to be some diva and be picky about his sleeping arrangements. What mattered was getting Savannah through the day's events, which she had grossly under anticipated, without burning her apartment down.

When she finally made her way into the kitchen with that big smile of hers River (showered and clean) had already been awake for an hour or so (he was always on top of his game) and with an apron wrapped around his waist and a goofy green, monster winter hat to go with his black rocker tshirt and jeans (folks had another thing coming if they expected him to dress up for this) he appeared to have already been cooking for a little while. "Morning Sunshine." He teased proceeding to whisk the contents inside of the lime green bowl before setting it down on the counter and opening the over door and retrieving one of the things he had made already setting it on top of the over to cool. "Sweet potato casserole." He explained dipping a spoon into it and taking a little bite to test it. "Vegan." He added for good measure deciding it was fine before moving to the next dish he had been working on.

River didn't look forward to much in his life, being a child actor he liked to think (and have everyone know) that he had seen it all, but he had been looking forward to this little Thanksgiving gathering. the food, for one, was going to be good but then also he didn't have to film on the sitcom he hated and apparently Savannah had been kind enough to extend an invite to Emmy and her Uncle who apparently didn't have any plans (that was weird wasn't it?.. River had his own guesses as why that could be, none of which he liked, but at the end of the day he was just glad the little girl was coming). "Better watch your back Tou. Em loves cats. You'll be lucky if your paws touch the floor." He warned the friendly cat scratching it's hindquarters before returning to his cooking. "It was nice of you to invite her." He noted popping the top off of a Becks by hitting it against the counter like a pro.

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Ah Thanksgiving. A day of parades and over eating. Well at least for most people that was the case. At least from what she’d been told and seen on TV. Well alright Anna had seen the parade before but for her it was just a day without shooting. Her family didn’t exactly have Thanksgiving at this time of year. She tried to visit time during this month but it wasn’t always possible. Christmas was hard enough.

Still today was a nice day and Savannah had invited anyone with nowhere else to go to come over for dinner. Why not? It seemed like as good a reason as any to join them and maybe bond with her cast mates.

Knocking she opened the door and let herself in as instructed, calling out as entered. “Hey there everyone. Hope I’m not late or anything.” Putting the bag she brought down Anna slipped off her coat to hang with the others. Following the lead of the imagery Anna slipped off her sneakers, content to walk around in socks. Snagging up her bag she called out again. “I brought Cranberry Sauce, that OK?”

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Clarissa was running late, which was unlike her. She had slept through her alarm somehow, and had forgotten to purchase some ingredients for the dish that she was making for Savannah's Thanksgiving dinner. She wouldn't be able to go home to her family in Georgia as she had to go in to work that weekend and she didn't want her family to hound her about her lack of a boyfriend or husband. Her family wasn't quite aware of her relationships, well lack of them, and would definitely disapprove even more. After rushing to the only open grocery story in the whole city of New York, she hounded by a few preteens, who liked her character in a romcom, for autographs and pictures, which Clarissa happily obliged, but was nonetheless annoyed since she had things to do. She quickly prepped a green bean casserole, a recipe that had been in her family for generations. All she had to do was pop it into the oven for a bit once she got to Savannah's home.

Clarissa threw on an outfit that was comfortable, yet still festive, and rushed back out to her car, casserole in hand. She carefully drove to Savannah's home, hoping that no other mishaps would occur. After parking her car as close as she could, she slowly walked towards Savannah's home, hoping and praying that nothing would happen to her green bean casserole. She rearranged the dish, so she could open the front door. Unable to take off her jacket, Clarissa brought the casserole into the kitchen where her cast mates, River, Anna, and Savannah, were already. She smiled sweetly at the two females, her expression quickly changing to a glare when she made eye contact with River. "Sorry I'm late. I slept late and had go to the store and was just an overall mess this morning."  She paused, biting her lip. "The casserole just needs to go into the oven for twentyish minutes."

[Deleted]

River Blue Ashford @anna @clarissa @friends

Savannah was grateful to River in a lot of ways, generally, but today topped the chart. The fact that he was willing to sleep over to help her cook was something that she had never expected to find in a castmate. She had assumed she would form some kind of friendships, but she considered herself extremely lucky. It was such a pleasant site for Savannah as she had walked into her kitchen to see River already at work with an apron around his waist with a light greeting. Savannah made no comment on his attire, she expected nothing less of River, and she would much rather have him like this anyway. Just as she was about to ask what was already done and what she could do, River displayed a casserole already in the oven, making Savannah release the breath she hadn't even realized she had been holding.

"You're a life-saver." Yet again, the actress found herself wondering how she was so lucky as River spoke to Toulouse and warned the feline of the dangers to come with the little one arriving later. Savannah hadn't thought much about the invitation of Emmy and her uncle, she figured if anyone at USBC didn't have a place to go for the holiday, why not house them here? Perhaps she wasn't the best cook, but she had help, and to her, the holiday wasn't solely about food, it was about being together with others and enjoying a day free of work and stress.

Then again, cooking was definitely stressful for her.

Savannah shrugged at River's comment, "It's no big deal. Everyone ought to have a place to go and people to see today, don't you think?" Savannah wasn't ready for alcohol at this point, but she clearly did not care what River was up to as long as the food came out fine. This was just an average day in her apartment, for the most part.

It was at this point that Savannah heard someone entering the apartment, and she grinned when she spotted Anna (in her socks!) offer cranberry sauce: "That's perfectly okay! You can just set it down on the counter for now. Besides, cranberry sauce is my favorite." This was no joke, and anyone who had been with Savannah before for a holiday meal would know this. Cranberry sauce was her absolute favorite, and was the key ingredient to any Thanksgiving meal for her. She didn't have any time, however, to inform Anna that she was by no means late when Clarissa also appeared at her door. In all honesty, Savannah had been afraid the night before that no one would show, and she would be left to eat all alone. Her cast never let her down, this was clear.

"Nope! You guys are just in time for the parade." Unfortunately, it was impossible to see it from her window (she didn't get that nice of an apartment yet), but Savannah was a large fan of the parade, especially the Broadway performances.

Savannah was conscious of the tension between Clarissa and River, but chose to ignore it. If it came to it, she would step in, but not until that moment. Sav liked to consider herself the Switzerland of the cast of Our Chaotic Life, as she was close to both River and the girls. She nodded as she listened to Clarissa's needs for the casserole. "No problem. We can stick it in the fridge for now until it's closer to time to eat." With that, Savannah whisked the dish out of Clarissa's hands and side stepped to the fridge to put it away, trying to stay out of River's way.

"How can I help?" She asked River patiently, very aware of the fact that he could either tell her to just shoo or actually put her to work, to which she did not have a preference.

WORDS 647

NOTES open to really anyone who knows sav and would want a place to go for thanksgiving.

MADE BY ★MEULK OF GS