Bite they little heads off! Nibble on they tiny feet!

[baedalites]

Who: EVERYONE.
What: Catenrat party.
Where: The Apache and surrounding environs.
When: Givdi the 22nd of Toidaren
Notes: The topic threads are just suggestions; if you've got somewhere else that your characters simply must be, make your own thread. When your characters are ready to leave, they'll be given a little wooden cheese, a glass fish, and a voucher for a big basket of snacks.
Warnings: None yet. Please put warnings up on individual threads.

The Apache is much the same as it always is: dimly lit, with the jukebox playing in the background, and the bartender serving whatever's on tap. Above the doorway and wound through a few of the sets of antlers some enterprising soul has placed a garland decorated with little blue and green fish.

Comments

[joiedeviolet]

Surprisingly, Kate would be fine with the name change explanation. She has her own alias to keep secret and she knows people have their reasons. There'll be no judging here. Much, anyway.

Kate nods and slowly takes the book from Hermione's grip, killing any temptation she might get to go back to reading. "It's nice. Not too fancy or stuffy. I would ask the same about you, but I have my answer already."

[gwynn]

Megan gasps dramatically and holds her hands up over her mouth, nearly spilling beer all over herself before she remembers she's holding something. (She's had a few already.) She's trying to look sort-of serious, quite a feat for her, but it's her wings that give her away. They flutter behind her like a physical manifestation of giggling. "Oh my God! Who is it?"

[wandandsickle]

"Ah—if you don't mind. They've got mulled wine, yes?" Jones isn't usually quite as hesitant in ordering drinks—it's not like she's a protestant, after all, no shame in a bit every now and then—but the crowdedness of the party is a little intimidating.

[heardmermaids]

"Pint of whatever's on tap?" For some strange reason, Sebastian lacks Hasibe's flare and skill for attracting bartender attention. He is rather brilliant and blending into the crowd and offering to cover both his drink and hers.

[hareapparent]

Despite still being technically grounded, and furthermore spending his remaining sentence wrapped securely in the arms of his boyfriend - which probably made said grounding more enjoyable than it should have been, but oh well, he's not pointing that out - Billy has not only made it to the party and taken the opportunity to watch It's A Wonderful Life with Captain America, but has managed to secure a strategically positioned sofa to be able to see Kate from.

And her possible date.

The possible nature of which he'd like to clear up, but mostly he's just giving John several suspicious cat looks and observing the situation. For now.

[fuckrobertfrost]

"Eh, don't make 'em do that, I won't take long." He assures her, and on his way to refill his drink, he passes Billy and the timing is such that there's a totally awkward moment of eye contact, during which he realizes hey, that guy was looking at him. It's the guy he saw Remy with at the protest, even. Hmm. But John doesn't say anything to Billy at that time, and he is, as promised, very quick, because he doesn't even try getting through to the bar, he just (once he's somewhat out of sight) steals someone else's, which is a great way to get some kind of disease but that did not even make him hesitate.

On his way back, he nods casually at Billy, but sits next to Kate without any comment.

[joiedeviolet]

For the moment (which probably won't last very long), Kate doesn't notice Billy on his little mini-patrol. She's still under the assumption that he and Teddy are off in a corner somewhere basically attached to each other at the hip and other body parts. If and when she finds out that they've been secretly judging her activities tonight, well, somebody won't be too pleased.

"Welcome back." She greets John with a genuine smile as she holds out her mug to clink with his glass. "They haven't started yet. They're probably trying to explain what a DVD is to Steve anyway. That'll take a while."

[captaincocksure]

"Maybe I should try wearing a dress next time. I haven't been able to catch a bartender yet."

The smile he offers is good-natured, pleased to see her, and warm, if a little tired around the edges (which has nothing to do with her, it's just how he is these days).

"I'll buy your drink, too, if you can get the guy to bring me a beer and a shot of Jack."

[swiftdawn]

Alexia is always happy to have a good stock of reasonably-priced booze around, especially when it's free. She clinks her glass of the industrial-strength stuff no one seems to be able to name against that of her benefactor's. "By the way, your hair color? Totally the greatest," she laughs, and drinks.

[hearditbothways]

"Mmhh, so many auras crashing into me, it is so hard to pinpoint. Definitely someone with awesome hair, yet I am thrown off the track, the way it happens to you in a badly bugged Need for Speed copy which might be bugged because it is actually a copy of your best friend's version - but that is neither here nor there because we all know sharing is caring and oh my God, it is totally you!"

The fingers snap forward and point straight at Megan. Then Shawn also pauses for a second because, dude. Wings.

"Also, let me just point out that these are very impressive."

[captainredwhiteblue]

And then Steve sniffles.

Oh, sure, he tries to hide it with a cough, with fussing with the half-eaten popcorn ball in his hands, but it's a sniffle, all right. He coughs again and then he turns to the person beside him, summoning a smile, ready to confide something.

"...Did you know Jimmy Stewart was turned down the first few times he tried to enlist, too? For being underweight. He's kinda my hero, just a little."

[captaincocksure]

He's tired, anymore, and the three pints of beer in his belly are not helping matters. He is not going to embarrass himself by getting sleepy in the middle of a party. Fresh air ought to help.

He ducks outside, leaning against the wall opposite the Apache's door. He takes a deep breath in, letting his eyes fall closed, savoring how cool the air is. It's more quiet out here, too, but that's all right. A few moments' peace never hurt anyone.

Another deep breath, and he can feel his body starting to settle, coaxed to cool down and be still by the crisp edge to the evening air.

[hearditbothways]

Shawn is actually having a great time, considering. It's good to see so many people of the city in one place. He collects impressions and tries to gather information as he strolls around, randomly flirting and chatting up people.

There are some who are definitely not human, which throws him for a loop, but so far they haven't tried to kill him so he can deal with that. He can think of this as a costume party for now. Or a convention. A costume convention even! That works.

It will at least keep him from pointing his finger and yelling out obvious mutations.

For now.

[gotbottle]

A cat. Maybe she should get a cat, Rachel thinks as she lifts her free hand--the other one is occupied holding a drink--and gives one of the hanging wooden cat-shaped decorations a poke with her index finger. A cat would be nice company. A cat would be someone to come home to.

...Irene, the lady whose diary she's been reading, she had a cat. If Irene had a cat, she should have a cat. It makes sense to her, somehow.

She's in jeans and a black wrap shirt that ties at the waist, with a black wool pea coat over it. She's quiet, weary almost, but she still has a friendly smile for everyone who passes.

[joiedeviolet]

He's crying. Captain America is crying. Again, Captain America is crying. Never had Kate expected to see this from the man who in another universe yelled at her and her friends and denied them the opportunity to be heroes.

However, she can't say much about the movie bringing out his waterworks because there are tears running down her own cheeks and she's sniffling herself. No shame with her emotions here. What for? Clearly she isn't the only one sobbing over this flick.

"I didn't know," Kate whispers, slightly distracted from the conversation by the overwhelming emotions. "But he did well for himself anyway." Just like Steve did.

[pokewarrior]

Teddy is indeed attached to Billy's hip, one arm draped around his boyfriend's shoulders and sitting close enough that someone would have to be blind to not be able to tell they were close in that way. It's half to make sure Billy doesn't get into anymore trouble because trouble just seems to like following Billy lately and also because he has six months to make up for, even if it wasn't his fault he hadn't been around.

He notices the way Billy looks at the guy who passes them, notices how he's sitting with Kate. He just raises an eyebrow silently at Billy for an explanation for why he's watching him so intently.

[hareapparent]

Oh damn, that awkward moment of eye contact means he's totally busted. He quickly turns away and burrows himself up against Teddy's side. He really did miss having the reassuring and fairly constant presence of his boyfriend warm against his side, and he's not going to let his curiousity about just what kind of a possible boyfriend Kate has found herself distract him from that too much.

And he shrugs at Teddy's questioning look, leaning in to whisper. "Wondering if they're on a date or just friends, T."

[swiftdawn]

"Ooh, ooh! Eggnog for me!" Alexia practically slides down the bar. She's a little flushed, and has an empty glass in hand, but doesn't look too much worse for the wear quite yet, and is wearing a slinky green dress that matches the color of her eyes almost uncannily.

[captainredwhiteblue]

"He sure did."

He looks over at her, sees the tears, realizes she's choked up. He's too much a gentleman to say anything aloud, he doesn't want to embarrass her.

But he does shift his popcorn ball over to his left hand so he can pull a handkerchief out of that sleeve. He offers it to her without a word, but with a faint, kind smile on his lips.

[fuckrobertfrost]

Party aside, John might start feeling paranoid if there were no connection between staring dude and Remy, but there is, so there's most likely no reason to worry. Besides, staring dude seems to be fairly preoccupied.

It takes him a moment to work out what bothers him in Kate's comment about 'Steve'. People without various levels of familiarity with 20th century technology are pretty common in Baedal, but he presumes the only people who want to watch It's A Wonderful Life are people who at least know what it is.

"He from, uh, earlier times too?"

[joiedeviolet]

"Yeah. From around World War II or so." A few years pre-It's A Wonderful Life and a ton more pre-anything nearing decent technology in Kate's eyes. But explaining new fangled gadgets to Steve will take forever and tonight is not a night for that anyway.

In a moment of randomness, Kate glances over her shoulder, finally spotting Teddy and Billy snuggled up on another couch. Cute. They deserve a little happiness and Kate can't help but smile softly at the scene, though on another note, jealousy has never been her style, but underneath the happy expression, there is a bit of envy running through her from missing her own family and even Eli. She's only human.

[joiedeviolet]

It's impossible to embarrass her now that everybody's probably seen her crying and besides, she's clearly not the only one choked up. Accepting the hankie in hand, she smiles back and nods as she dabs at her eyes.

"I'm totally pathetic watching this movie when I know it makes me cry every year."

[pokewarrior]

"Is it bad if it is a date...?" Teddy says quietly back.

He catches Kate glancing at them and gives a smile and a lift of a hand in return, then points at John at a moment when he's not looking but Kate still is and silently raises an eyebrow questioningly at her this time.

[gwynn]

"Oh my God! It's me!" Megan does a little flail-dance of happiness that looks a bit like an overstimulated puppy presented with a new toy. She has so many feelings, and also, so much energy -- she's had a few beers, sure, but also some caffeine, which is not the greatest combination with alcohol.

At least she's refrained from pills.

"Thank you!" She beams -- compliments about her wings are a pretty new experience for her. Oh, sometimes in District X, usually at work, someone would say something nice about them, but she's more used to them being a symbol of what's hated and feared -- coming to Baedal, where people just see some kind of faerie, has been a total mindfuck. They love them at the Vault. "I grew 'em myself."

[gwynn]

"Thank you!" She beams -- she's been getting a lot of compliments about her hair colour of late; she'd probably have gotten more at home if she weren't so visibly weird in every other way. She also appreciates meeting other visible xenians; they're a minority of a minority where she's from and evidently that's true here as well. She knocks back another drink before going on -- "I love your hair, oh my gosh. I could never get mine that wavy."