A toast to that invincible bunch [OPEN]

[primogen_vampirate]

Who: Mina and YOU
What: A "thank God we're not dead" party
Where: Common Room, Valhalla Inn
When: Wednesday evening
Notes: Party log; please specify if you're tagging someone in particular, or if it's open season on your character
Warnings: Angering Mina probably results in unhappiness

There were two things Mina rarely did; over-indulge and wear dresses. Tonight, she decided, was a night to throw both inhibitions to the wind. And so, as she made her way up to the common room, she made her way in style, wearing a slinky crimson gown with no back and a plunging neckline. She looked good. Classy, as any society woman of her day. Well, the 1930s, anyway, since she would always consider her day to be the 1720s, really. The only drawback of the dress was that it left both her pirate brand and her Valkyrien Amazon tattoo uncovered, but at this point, Mina was fairly certain that no one would recognize or care about either marking.

The room had been arranged to her satisfaction. She enjoyed ostentation immensely, but opted for a more low-key take on the celebrations. The lights were pleasantly dimmed and there was jazz music playing out of some marvelous contraption that Mina had borrowed. Around the room, she had a few trays of food arranged. Since Mina had no sense of taste to speak of, she hired someone to take care of the food and drinks. The only culinary arrangement she had made for herself was a special mixed drink; store-bought blood (dreadful though it was) laced with ample amounts of rum. That was being kept under a table for now.

She glanced at her reflection in the mirror, adjusting the angle of her fedora slightly. There was no telling what to expect tonight. And frankly, given her experiences in Chicago, she probably should have known better to arrange for any kind of public affair. But Mina was in a bad mood and when she was in a bad mood, she tended to revert into her flippant, false persona to spare herself of too much thought. Besides, she was in the mood to dance with someone handsome.

Comments

[edsidlemirth.livejournal.com]

"So! We meet again!" Eddie waves back, and waits to see if he should stand, or if Mike's going to join him. He's significantly more relaxed than he was at their last meeting, looking downright comfortable, at the moment.

[heardmermaids.livejournal.com]

"Hellsing, mostly, but there's a Handyman's Guild that I'll be applying to once I've got the dues saved. What sort of work do you specialize in?" Sebastian gestures that they should go get some punch and safely escape from Apollo's range of 'assistance'.

[indiscreet]

"Oh," she says. Then it hits her, all horrible embarrassment and awkwardness and she does not usually make mistakes like this and what was that word Mina used? sapphite? "Oh."

She takes a step back, hands straying to tidy her dress (it looks just fine) for the sake of giving them something to do besides covering her face.

"I- " If Anna were mortal, she would be flushing deeply; as it is, she struggles to regain her composure.

"Yes, of course, they can be terrible pigs sometimes, can't they?" A smile and nervous laugh. "My name is Anna. Anna Demirovna. A pleasure, Ms. Njoki."

She doesn't extend a hand, though.

[wandandsickle]

"Oh, I am running out of punch, aren't I," Jones says, catching his drift. "I suppose I'd call myself a sort of jack-of-all-trades inventor and fix-it. I've actually been doing some work with the local academia, particularly at the big school for physics—that's University of Chicago—and for the mechanical engineering department at the Armour Institute, which is really quite an honor."

She carefully avoids the matter of her academic background. Her lack of education has always been something she regards with mixed feelings—on one hand, it is what it is; on the other hand, some days she wishes she were the one going to school instead of Petras and Justina, as much as she loves them.

"I've been doing a little bit of work with electrical signals, since a friend of mine was doing some... projects with radio signals." And the less said about them, the better. Actually, most of the Ordo Dracul's work was a little on the disreputable side. "Although I do a little bit of everything, honestly. I've been doing some work with experimental photo developing; special chemicals and the like." She grabs the ladle to pour herself some more punch, and then dips it again and holds it out, offering it to Sebastian.

[aldabeyoun.livejournal.com]

"They can indeed, Ms Demirovna," she says with her mixed North African French accent adding an interesting twist to the vowels in Anna's name. Njoki's grin is toothy and only slightly amused at Anna's expense. "There's no need to be embarrassed; I'm used to this sort of introduction."

"What year are you from, if you don't mind. I'm at 2010, so things are a bit more..."

[heardmermaids.livejournal.com]

"You are a kind and good person," he says a little sheepishly once they're out of Apollo's general vicinity.

"Truly, I owe you one for this." While he's had years to adjust and gain some measure of control over it, Sebastian was beginning to lose his temper. Rationally, he's aware that getting angry at a being that was or was once a god is a supremely poor idea. "And, that's fantastic. I don't know the first thing about photography."

[wandandsickle]

"Ah—" Jones flushes slightly. "Oh, don't worry about it! It's what anyone would do, you just looked so uncomfortable." She laughs. "I'd ask how you got roped into that, but I've met Mr. Apollo before. He seems to be the sort of person that wouldn't even ask."

She fiddles with a loose strand of hair. "Photography's really a very fun hobby, once you pick it up," she says. "I should see about getting a camera here. I could teach you sometime, if you like."

[heardmermaids.livejournal.com]

"He decided that I needed to meet more people and somehow that turned into a cattle auction." It's taking him a little time, but Sebastian is able to cool his temper and regain his usual subdued expression. "I think he was trying to be helpful though."

"I had a friend who was very good with a camera and he lent me his sometimes. I know I've no eye for it," he says sincerely unbothered by his lack of talent. There are other things he's good at and he'd much rather enjoy art than make it. "But I do appreciate the offer. I'd like to see your shots, if you get a camera."

[fish]

Despite the extreme slowness of his typist, Fish does show up to this darn thing—not exactly on time, mind, and he looks a bit guilty in a wide-eyed, alert sort of way, like a kid who snuck out of bed and isn't sure if his parents are lurking somewhere. Whatever, he left a note at the front desk, it'll be fine. ...Maybe. Still, he has come prepared with the excuse that he wanted to make sure they weren't wrecking the place in case not-mom shows up with her arms folded.

Really, though, Fish is pretty much here to check out the food, in case Mina did take his ridiculous advice and made bacon happen. Should anyone intercept him, he will say hello, but thus far is doing a decent job of making a beeline toward the catering table. Subtly. Slowly. Like a ninja.

[aldabeyoun.livejournal.com]

"Has it? How?" At this point, she's been in Baedal less than a day and the openness of the xenian population has floored her. She's not quite ready to out herself, but she is a little more comfortable being seen as 'other'.

[wandandsickle]

"Oh, I will," she says, brightly. "After all, there's no shortage of interesting things here to take pictures of, right?" Jones laughs. "It really is a city full of surprises. So, Sebastian, what do you do when you're not being a handyman?"

[heardmermaids.livejournal.com]

"These days, I read a fair bit, gently argue politics with Malfoy--," he says, pausing while trying to figure out how best to describe their relationship, "An acquaintance of mine, take Velcro out, nothing too exciting,really."

It's also worth noting that he's qualified his answer as something he does 'these days', implying that at one point in his life he did rather a lot of exciting things. For someone in his early to mid-twenties, he can come across as much older and world-weary.

[wandandsickle]

"Oh, politics?" she says, before she can stop herself—after all, there are enough people that dislike her politics that bringing them up in a social situation is a bad idea if one's trying to make friends. "Erm, uh... British politics, then?"

[heardmermaids.livejournal.com]

"While it's in context of Britain, a lot of it is more generally applicable," he replies, clearly comfortable with the terminology and speech that goes into a political argument. "We both want what's best, but have very different views about how to get there."

[wandandsickle]

Ah, a problem with which Jones is not unfamiliar. "I know how that is. I've got a friend—she's actually here, I don't know if you've met Anna—and we've mostly agreed not to talk politics." In any case, it doesn't matter, because Jones has already won that battle, anyway. "What do you think would be best?"

[heardmermaids.livejournal.com]

"That's a loaded question and one I'm not entirely qualified to answer," Sebastian laughs a bit before pausing, "Well, I might be qualified in that I've thought about it and read some, but I don't know if I can articulate it properly."

"What about you?"

[indiscreet]

"Different. I can imagine," she replies quickly, relieved for the excuse for her mistake, for the explanation for Njoki's strange appearance, and for the opportunity to change the subject.

"I am from 1932, and given the state of things then, I can only imagine what you future-types get up to. I'm curious to hear whether your parties put ours to shame." A pause, then she adds, warily aware of how strange it will sound, "The world...hasn't ended, has it?"

[51stcentury]

"There was...well. Some sort of creature invasion not too long ago. I take it that you haven't been here very long, if you weren't around for that," he said, looking at her curiously.

[aldabeyoun.livejournal.com]

Njoki raises an eyebrow before asking for clarification, "When you say 'invasion' do you mean a lot of ladybugs or a lot of little green men with ray guns?"

Either option could be possible, who knows?

[aldabeyoun.livejournal.com]

"Not recently," she replies laconically, before elaborating. "No, it didn't end, although we got pretty close sometimes. I don't know if I ought to be spilling the beans on history but it gets worse, then it gets better."

[51stcentury]

"I mean," Jack clarifies, "swarms of birds that can't be killed, crazy monkey things... Pretty much what it sounds like. Although I guess a more accurate word would be 'infestation'," he said, thoughtfully.

[wandandsickle]

"Oh, God, you'll be in for an earful if you ask me that kind of question!" Jones laughs, a little self-consciously. "I really think governments could be doing a Hell of a lot more to make sure that their citizens are taken care of.

"I don't know how anyone can feel good about the way things are going when a fraction of the population has mansions and lavish meals every day and the rest are starving and dying for their standard of living." She's lost all the self-consciousness by now, though. This is serious business to her.

[aldabeyoun.livejournal.com]

"...huh." It's not that she doesn't believe him, but that she's surprised something so odd would be out in the open. "Well, shit, that's troubling."

[heardmermaids.livejournal.com]

"I think," he says slowly, after what looks to be some considerably thought, "That it's not that people feel good about it, but that they don't think about it. I don't know that it's right to put the onus on governments to change -- in my experience, they're just systems, archaic paper-pushing machines -- and it's dedicated, passionate people who need to change their governments."

While there was economic inequality in the wizarding world, it was never to the extent that was common in muggle societies. The Weasleys weren't well-off, but they had a good home, the children were fed and dressed, went to school, and had a promising future ahead of them.

[wandandsickle]

"Oh, see, you do get it! I mean, that's what I've been working on, getting people to care--we've been making a lot of progress in Chicago, though of course for it to really work like it needs to it ought to be a bit more... widespread."

Someone who gets it! He really does! "It's just so difficult, because I know it's hard for people to take risks when they're struggling, and even harder when they're not..." She sighs. "I just wish I could get everyone to understand."