OPEN :: A golden bird was singing

[baedalites]

Who: Everyone!
What: St Kelley's evening
Where: The Apache and surrounding environs.
When: Veerdi evening.
Notes:
(1) The topic threads are just suggestions; if you've got somewhere else that your characters simply must be, make your own thread.
(2) All mementos will appear overnight in some part of your character's apartment.
(3) Dance!

St Kelley's is one of the more sedate occasions in Baedal, at least as holidays go. It passes more or less unnoticed by the majority of the population as many of them feel it doesn't concern them. It's not their holiday; it's for the others. Those with severed ties and broken hearts. The temple and church preach that it's a time for reflection or for glorifying the generosity of the gods. It's one of the few days on which no one looks askance at first generation Citizens mourning their missing loved ones publicly.

As night rolls around and floating lanterns are set to sea, the Apache in Mog Hill prepares to accept guests from the newer cohorts. It's something that happens every year, making it a practical tradition. The alcohol will be cheaper for first timers, and the music will be kept at a reasonable level.

Comments

Re: Courtyard:

[djravenfall]

This really isn't the sort of thing that Kaitlyn has money for at the moment, and yet here she is. How could she not, sentimental sap she could be. A stop by the bar had rewarded her with a glass of whiskey, probably her only one for the night, and from there it was out to the courtyard. As much as she loves bars and would rather be leaning up against the jukebox, something about being outside just felt better for the moment.

Glass in hand, she spends most of the time milling about the edges of the courtyard. She'd been mostly trying to avoid thinking about back home too hard, but after finding out what today was all about, it was a bit hard. Still, she tries to keep a smile on her face as she mills about, offering a smile to anyone who looks in her direction. If nothing else, it's nice to be out and be something resembling social again.

[fish]

Congratulations, Kaitlyn, you have been chosen at random and thusly won the conversational lottery this evening. This isn't a pity approach, it's just that sometimes he likes to throw himself at people and see what happens. (Not literally.) (...usually.)

It's not a literal approach, mind, but a friendly look as she passes him. His coat's unbuttoned and there's a bottle in his hand, and between two fingers of that same hand an unlit cigarette awaits its own inevitable cremation. The other's going for his lighter at this very moment, in fact.

"What's up? You're new, right?"

[djravenfall]

Kaitlyn offers a smile as he passes, as she had been doing the whole night, but when actually spoken to she looks a little surprised - it's the first time since she left the bar that anyone's bothered. Probably because she looks a little depressing, standing by herself and occasionally looking off into the distance. Whatever, she's allowed to be given the night, right?

Still, once the bit of shock passes she smiles and nods, turning to face Fish fully. "Oh! Yeah, I am," she replies with a bit of a laugh and a shake of her head. "Is it really that obvious? Maybe I should act a bit cheerier," she says as she feigns a wide smile. It drops after a moment into a grin, and she shrugs. "Only been here a few weeks," she adds, looking back out in the direction of the shore.

There's a few seconds before she looks back over her shoulder and points at Fish's hand - o r more likely the cigarette in it. "You got one more a' those?"

[fish]

"Yeah, definitely." Fish always has more of these. If it were at all practical he'd carry them around loaded into two bandoliers across his chest.

So he taps out a cigarette—some Baedal equivalent to cowboy killers, king size length, extra horrible for you—and hands it over, and then goes for his lighter as a matter of courtesy, too. Because that's just what you do.

"There's no need to act, though, you're fine. I've just been here a while... and I spend a lotta time staring at the cohort network during my shift, so. I see all." He spreads his hand—the one that isn't busy lighting for her—into a stiff-fingered gesture for emphasis. "You're not walkin around with like a new car smell, or anything, so don't worry about it."

[djravenfall]

Kaitlyn takes a deep drag as Fish lights the cigarette, barely stifling a cough afterwards - these are definitely stronger than she's used to, and it shows on her face. Turning away so she regain her composure (and be a bit embarrassed), she sighs and nods. "No, no, I'm joking anyway," she remarks with a bit of a choked laugh. Slowly she's recovering, willing to take another - more careful - drag of the cigarette.

"So you keep an eye out for the new folks?" Kaitlyn remarks with a bit of a smirk. "That's pretty cool, actually. You ever do anything with that? Like help people, I mean." Or keep an eye on the ones that look dangerous, that's what Kait would do if she really cared enough.

[fish]

To his credit, Fish doesn't laugh—he does do kind of a half-assed job of concealing his grin, though, so it shows up crooked. His lighter is purple, by the way, and has a unicorn sticker on, and now it shall take a detour to light up his own smoke on its way back to his pocket. He exhales away from her, of course.

"A little. I mean, it's my job, right... I work the desk at the inn. Most people are just in a big hurry to get outta there, though, they don't really ask for anything extra."

[djravenfall]

She wouldn't have really minded if he had laughed. She would've deserved it. "Well, I can't really blame them," Kaitlyn admits with a more genuine laugh. "They should add, like, an official debriefer to that room or something. It's kinda daunting when all you have a pamphlet and somethin' that looks like a phone or something." She quirks an eyebrow, nudging Fish. "Sounds perfect. Talk 'em into paying you extra for it, and you're set, right?" They may not ask for it, but she's pretty sure most people would appreciate it. She knows she would have.

[fish]

Fish seems a touch surprised by the contact, in a subdued way, and although he doesn't actually look uncomfortable, he will make sure the usual restless, swaying weight shifting leaves him just a little further away the next time he settles.

"Heh... uh, nah, I don't wanna be pushy. That's, uh, it would basically like trying to squeeze a buck out of a kidnapping victim... so..."

[djravenfall]

"Well, I guess that's fair," Kaitlyn replies with a bit of a shrug. "So, you've been here a while..." she repeats as she takes a drag, eyeing him curiously. "Working a job like that must be kinda neat. Get t' see lots of interesting people. Kinda sucks about the circumstances, though." A sigh, and she shakes her head. "Graveyard shift parts kind of a bummer, but hey, whatever works, right?" She grins, leaning back on her heels as she looks around. "What brings you out t' a night like this if you're not new? Just for a good time, or checking up on the new arrivals you've seen?" She sounds genuinely curious about this, in fact.

[fish]

While she's on a conversational roll, Fish decides to take a bit of a long pull from his bottle of beer-or-something. This finishes it off, it seems, as he then reaches aside to leave it on whatever surface is conveniently close enough. Table, stone ledge, whatever.

"Uh, I dunno why this time in particular. It's kind of a sad holiday... but there's a bar discount, so." Le shrug. "And I figured I'd see some people I know." Cigarette poised for another puff, he pauses to add, "It's not that bad, though. The nighttime part. I kinda like it."

[djravenfall]

"Oh, good. So I'm not the only one who thinks that," Kaitlyn remarks, cigarette free hand making a bit of a motion as she talks. "About it being a sad holiday." Kaitlyn's only been here a little bit, and she doesn't know a lot about Baedal, but everything she's heard about this particular holiday has left her with more than a few mixed feelings about it. "But it kinda has a sweet side to it. That's nice." She shrugs a bit.

"But yeah, I think the bar discount is why I decided t' come out." Not really, but it made for a good excuse. "I mean, you can't turn down a free drink and a discount, right?" She chuckles, nodding again. "All the best stuff happens at night. Concerts. Parties. Peace and quiet. So on, so on. I guess it's good if you like that, then."

[fish]

"Yeah, that's true. There aren't a ton of parties happening in the lobby, though, so..." He gestures vaguely toward the party in general, as if to indicate, hence, my presence here. Not that this is the best party ever, in his opinion, but hey.

"And I'm kinda nocturnal. So having a job that happens at night is, y'know. Helpful that way."

[djravenfall]

"I used t' be nocturnal!" Kait replies with an amused laugh, looking around as Fish motions. "Then I had t' become a responsible adult instead of a starving artist. Kinda sucked, but that's the way things go sometimes, I guess." She gives a small shrug. "So, where do you come from? I mean, if you don't mind me asking. I haven't really- figured out if that's rude or not." It might be like just up and asking someone back home if they're evolved, but it can't really hurt that much, can it?

[fish]

"Nah, it's cool, everyone asks that. If you weren't allowed to, I'd die of curiosity." He doesn't quite make it through another drag before looking like something else has just occurred to him—so he speaks through the exhaust. "I mean, you can't just go up to anyone and start askin questions, obviously." And, exhale. "But in the cohort it's pretty safe. It's good to know each other, right."

He sniffs, though he doesn't really need to, and folds his arms loosely across his chest, using his free hand as a sort of ledge for his elbow. Cigarette held up, wrist loose, casual. "I'm from Earth. Born in Pennsylvania, if you know where that is." You never know. "It was January in 2011 when I...left, or whatever, so I've been here about a year. Longer than a year now, I guess."

[djravenfall]

Kaitllyn can't help but laugh, leaning bakc on her heels as she listens. "Yeah, I imagine I'd go about mad if I couldn't ask at all. I don't want t' be rude, but you can't blame a person for wonderin' in a place like this, right?" SHe hopes not at least, and she's glad that Fish seems to be on the same page about that. It makes her feel a bit better about asking.

"Oh, hey, I lived in New York!" she replies excitedly, a grin across her face. "Same year, too..." A bit later, though. "That's kinda funny. I mean, I guess I shouldn't be that surprised. Still, I guess as unpredictable as this place seems t' be, it's always nice t' meet someone from a similar home. Though- well, I hope yours wasn't actually similar t' mine. My home sucked."

[gwynn]

Megan is halfway to drunk by now and starting to feel stifled indoors, which suddenly feels very hot -- it's not, she's... you know, just drunk. So she traipses outside for a little chilly Kavadry air, polishing off her something-eenth beer and thinking she's going to have to piss like a monsoon sooner or later, when she nearly runs right into some chick. "Hi! I love your hair!" Well. Okay then!

[djravenfall]

Stumbling back from a sudden impact is never a good thing when you're as much of a klutz as Kaitlyn can be. Thankfully for everyone around her, she manages to keep her balance, though not without the highly noticeable flailing of her arms. Eyes wide as she rights herself back up, she turns to face the source of the incident - and rather than get angry, she grins. Hard to get mad at someone's state of mind, from the looks of it, is where she hopes for hers to be at some point tonight.

"You're isn't too bad either!" is kind of a lame reply, but it seems appropriate. "Havin' a good night, are we?" she asks amicably of the stranger.

[gwynn]

"Gettin' there!" It's nice to hear an accent from her corner of the world, even if Megan's been living in the States so long she's practically a native New Yorker. There's an awful lot of Americans in their Cohort, and she's spent most of the past few years surrounded by them. She's making some gestures that are apparently supposed to mean something, but are mostly just vague hand-flapping. "Sorry, I didn't get ya, did I?"

[djravenfall]

Vague hand flapping indeed, Kaitlyn's eyes raising a bit as she chuckles - it makes her think of all the times she'd been this far gone, and she really hopes she'd been so amusing all those times. "Nah, you're good!" Kaitlyn replies as a hand reaches out and pats Megan on the shoulder. "Might want t' be a bit careful though. You're libel t' smack the wrong person flailing about like that.

She looks a bit off to the side, and then motions for Megan to follow her. "Come on!" she instructs, waving for her to follow her. She has no idea why. Possibly to keep her from doing just that.

[gwynn]

"Okay!" Megan says immediately -- it's not hard to get her to do things, it mostly amounts to telling her 'do this!' and then she does. Possibly this is a terrible habit of hers, considering how much trouble she winds up in; possibly she doesn't give a shit. So follow this random chick she does!

It's a long pause before she asks, "Where we goin'?"

[djravenfall]

Kaitlyn hadn't thought that far ahead. She just wanted to make sure Megan didn't actually knock someone over. So she stops, tilting her head a she looks back at Megan. "Dunno," she answers honestly, before laughing. "Over here!" she says as she points, a bit back off to the side.

"Kaitlyn," she randomly introduces as they move. She figures if she's leading this poor drunk girl around - particularly with how she's used to that working out - she should at least give her name.

[gwynn]

"Okay!" Well, going somewhere random is totally fine with her and she teeters after Kaitlyn, a little off-balance, with no excuse for that since she's not even wearing heels. Annoyed, she flutters her wings a bit to keep her upright. There, that's better. "Hi, Kaitlyn, I'm... Mmmeegan. Yes. That."

[djravenfall]

Whoa. The wings were something Kaitlyn had totally missed in their collision and her subsequent scramble to get Megan out of the way of anyone else. She turns back just in time to catch the flutter, barely managing not to stop dead and stare. She's seen people fly, sure. She's never actually seen anyone with wings. Particularly not like this.

"Megan?" Kaitlyn replies, sounding a bit dumbfounded. "That's a nice name." Her usual comment sounds a bit hollow this time, distracted as Kait is. "That's so neat," seems like the best segue, even if it's a bit rude. "The- wings," she clarifies after a moment.

[gwynn]

"No, it sucks. It doesn't even mean anything, it's supposed to be a nickname for 'Marguerite,' it's like naming your kid 'Jenny' -- oh, thanks!" She cranes backwards to try and see them and ends up turning in a circle over and over like a dog chasing its tail. "They get in the way a lot. Though. I mean. Is it conceited to be like 'oh yeah I know'?"

[djravenfall]

"Names that mean things are so trite!" Kaitlyn counters with a laugh. "An' besides, I'd rather be named Megan than Marguerite. A little too old fashioned for me, I think." And Kaitlyn really can't help but laugh as Megan spins around, though she does at least try to put a hand over her mouth and hide it. "That makes sense, I bet they would. And no, totally not!" Kaitlyn replies with a grin. "There is totally nothing wrong with knowing you're awesome," she remarks, holding up a hand and producing a small, round ball of light. "Or that you can do something awesome. Or have somethin- you get the idea!"