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

[captaincocksure]

Jim shakes his head. "No, nothing like that, either. There's just one human species on Earth. When we spread out to the stars, some people, over time, developed certain adaptations to their new homes. Sort of like the way a person raised in a high-altitude city is more acclimated than someone who was raised at sea level. But they're all the same species at the end of the day."

But he's curious, always has been about other cultures, races--and now universes, he supposes. "Are they common, where you're from? Human subspecies and nanotechnology?"

[captaincocksure]

"Well. It's only the Federation's flagship." Yes, it's a bit of a boast, but even as he says the words and summons the swagger, it's clear he's proud of what he's achieved, not just trying to impress.

He raises his eyebrows at her explanation. "That's definitely not something that would be antiquated in my time. We still grapple with those kinds of things once in a while."

[truth_is_cold]

"There are. Castellians are adapted for wet planets- some of them breathe water. Inari see in the dark. Heavy Gravity Worlders are adapted to extreme gravity. I'm a Nietzschean, homo spapiens invictus."

He reaches to the strap of one of his arm-wraps, something that appears very much to be a guantlet at the moment, with the boneblades capped by metal spikes. But he loosens it on one arm and slips it off, showing Jim the boneblades beneath.

But they're sawed off two thirds of the way down, uncomfortably blunted like a rhino deprived of its horn.

"A poor example. Usually my people have these." Then he puts the armwrap back on, carefully so the spikes cap the docked bony protrusions.

[swiftdawn]

"Oh, thanks!" She grins with the effortless ease of someone who is reasonably tipsy. "I practically never do anything to it, honestly, but I like to give it some TLC when I get the chance, you know? Half the time it's stuck up under a helmet or a hat and it's a real shame."

[hehaseatenthepancake]

He so-sos with his Right Hand. "Not every year. I occasionally had a case come up around Christmas, or was somewhere I couldn't get to a TV, or whatever. I'd say I managed it probably... two years out of three, on average?"

[swiftdawn]

"Exactly." She grins back. "I have to say, it is so great to go to a party that isn't a complete sausagefest for once. And... like, one that is in a nice bar and doesn't have impromptu wrestling matches breaking out and animals running all over the place." She doesn't filter when she's buzzed, okay. "Anyway. Pretty lady high five?"

[swiftdawn]

Ah, a familiar face!

"Hello, Fair Shawn!" she says, sidling up. "I figure you must've been doing all right so far, since you haven't had to cash in the get-out-of-trouble-free card, amirite?"

[ruinedu2]

"Good to know some things about the universe never change." Sort of. Knowing that stability might never be completely achieved both takes some of the pressure off her shoulders while simultaneously dimming hope just a little.

"It doesn't sound like science is actually too popular here. Magic seems to be the oddity of choice. Was that weird for you, too?"

[hearditbothways]

It's the mozzarella sticks that draw Shawn in. He still hasn't found a job - not that he has been actively looking, because he plans on working the psychic routine as soon as he knows more about this city - so free food is a high priority. He may or may not have already started stuffing his pockets at this point.

"That's quite a display," he praises, while the first handful of snacks makes his way to his mouth. "Inviting. Effective. Like a candy truck, but more open and less creepy." He stops, because that is the moment where he sees Tadgh's eyes. "I may have to revise that statement."

Not that it stops him from taking another stick.

"I do have one question-- Are those eyes real, and if not, are they removable? Furthermore, are you planning on tossing them at people at some point in the near future, and is it possible to receive a warning beforehand? I'm a spitter when startled. You don't want that. Nobody wants that. Except maybe tiny animals who live off remains that larger species left behind. Like sparrows."

[wandandsickle]

"Well, are parties not for drinking?" She casts only the slightest glance toward Sebastian LeMat, who is just a little bit behind her and tries to ignore the butterflies in her stomach.

[wandandsickle]

"A Wonderful Life, A Wonderful Life..." She looks thoughtful. "What a shame. I must've missed it at the cinema. I have to say, this thing where you can play back whole films on those discs is quite the invention." In a way, she seems to be studying the associated electronics as much as she is the film.

"I don't believe we've met, have we?" she adds, after a distracted moment. "I'm Jones; you are...?"

[hearditbothways]

Shawn's face light up - doubly so at the nickname - and he meets Alexia with a grin. "Look who's here! And by that exclamation I am not addressing myself but you."

His eyes stop briefly at her ears with a mixture of amusement, curiosity and impressed awe. "It's a special card. I will hold on to it for as long as I can."

[hearditbothways]

"Me?" Shawn nods. "I do. However, they do so only in very cold weather. And I am shy, so I will not show them. Mainly because we are not in a deep freezer, so it wouldn't make any sense."

[mightymorbid]

There was very little Mozenrath had to say on the subject of 'getting' how other people felt, a matter which Destane had made an art out of ignoring and had more than a decade to impart to his apprentice. It was something the good guys did. The old man couched it in loftier terms, of course. He still got Martha, though. He got most everybody on some level. There was no one here that hadn't wanted to get away at first.

He hoped her tears were some sign of resistance. He didn't want to be in this place forever, and his detriment for so many years had been his tendency to automatically assume no one else ever felt the same way that he did.

"You're right," he whispered, looking resolute.

[captainredwhiteblue]

"Still. It's gotta be a nice tradition. We should do this every year."

He's already thinking, already planning.

"Or as much as we can, if work doesn't get in the way at the holiday."

[fuckrobertfrost]

His attention preoccupied with this Steve, Person of Interest from Roughly Magneto's Era, John fails to notice the peanut gallery they've attracted. Which surely, Magneto would gently chide him for! But it's a party so fuck off shoulder Magneto.

He does, after a moment, follow her glance to Billy and Teddy and now Tommy. QUICK GUYS LOOK LIKE YOU WEREN'T TALKING ABOUT HIM.

[captaincocksure]

Jim nods thoughtfully as Rhade re-settles his arm wrap. "Homo sapiens invictus," he echoes. His expression softens, a faint smile curving his lips. "I'm reminded of something," he says, and then he recites:

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

"I was reminded of that recently, by a friend," he goes on. "Invictus. Great poem. Also, it means 'unconquerable', if I'm remembering my lessons right."

He leans against the bar, curiosity fully engaged. "I can't imagine 'Nietzschean' was chosen without some thought as to the meaning. Are you and others like you the supermen? The superior men and women, striving for power and authority, not afraid of risk? ...If I remember that right, too."

And there's no judgment in his questions, no implication that he finds those ideas wrong or unworthy. They're merely different, and he merely wants to understand.

[joiedeviolet]

Kate, for the record, hasn't moved from staring back at Teddy and Billy and then suddenly Tommy. She was fine with Billy and Teddy looking at her, but with Tommy there, she quickly realizes that they aren't just looking around while the movie starts. They're peeping, spying, stalking, and badly, by the way. You'd think that none of them have any experience in patrolling without being seen.

Oh, man. The embarrassment. Really, Kate should be used to the boys acting up like this, but she always holds onto the slim hope that maybe one day they'll just stop and behave themselves. But that day is not today and all she can do is eyes them warily, silently mouthing, "What?" in their direction. Please don't let them assume this is something more than what it is.

[truth_is_cold]

"Henley." He perks up at that, pleasantly surprised that Kirk knows of it. "It does. The unconquerable wise man." Almost amusement. He once believed entirely that their name was truly the case, that they could stand against their enemies fearlessly. He didn't know they would foolishly turn on each other.

But it is nice, for a moment, to remember again what it's like to be proud of what he is.

"We were intended to be. However, due to less favorable factions of my people and war in recent years, other humans have taken to calling us 'Ubers' as an insult. The Superman concept has been unfortunately abused and is not what our progenitor intended for us."

[captaincocksure]

"Completely." The boyish grin comes back, and he shakes his head. "I've been offered so many fixes for things involving charms, spells, magic items, the works. Working at Hellsing made me have to brush up on my knowledge of things I swore were made-up, back home. The state of technology threw me, too."

He digs around in his pocket, fishing out his CiD. "You have these," he says, waving it. "Pretty elaborate communication devices. But not much else in the way of computers. Trains but no motor vehicles. I have to wonder how much of what little technology there is is native, and how much was brought here by people like us."

[joiedeviolet]

"Why not? Because it's a party and you'll look rude and out of place," Kate replies, gently teasing Hermione. She isn't the type to force a person to party if they don't want to, so all of this is nothing but good natured.

Kate's expression changes from a smirk to curiosity at Hermione's words. A confession? Of what? "What? You have another book in your purse?"

[alan_shore]

Alan's smile changes--cynical, gentle, and amused all at once, it's the sort of smile awarded to homespun gifts. That's very kind, it says, and at the same time, What on earth am I going to do with this? "Others still," he says, sipping again at his scotch, "would call it perversity. And not a one of them would be wrong."

He cants his head, his interest undisguised but not overstepping the bounds of politeness. "What about that idealist of yours? Cary, was it."

[pokewarrior]

"Maybe we should do the investigating during a time when Kate isn't right next to him...? Come on guys, we're in the same building, and besides, it's Kate. Need I say more? She's more than capable of handling one guy by herself. Let's just relax and have fun," Teddy encourages. "If he tries anything, we can see it from here."

[captaincocksure]

Jim nods, sadly. "The concept was abused in your time, and it was abused in Nietzsche's. People co-opted it and corrupted it to justify their grabs for power and their striving toward superiority. The wrong kinds of superiority. They forgot--or overlooked--what the man himself said. No one had yet reached those ideals. But people decided they had. Or they tried to convince others."

Something about the way Rhade confirms Jim's supposition, and the way he discusses the diversion from what their creator intended, leads Jim to think that Rhade still takes a great deal of pride in who he is.

"I'm sorry if it's an insensitive question," he offers, treading lightly. "Did something similar happen among the Nietzscheans? Corrupted ideals? Or factions using them to justify their own ends?"

[truth_is_cold]

"A combination of those. It's complicated, but there's no longer a Commonwealth where I come from. There's only the one ship with a makeshift crew. And there was a much larger threat coming. People from either side were too busy squabbling and bullying one another, preying on the weak, to focus on what would bring them advantages in the long term."

He takes a drink from his glass again, swallows and purses his lips as he looks at the rim of it. "Do you suppose you'll be able to return to your Starfleet?"