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

[manipulativni]

Katherine arrives fashionably late, wearing a tiny lace dress with her hair loose around her shoulders. She begins walking, intending to make a lap around the party and seeing who's there before hitting up the bar or the dance floor.

[rhinemaid]

"--Katya," and there's Ilde, coming back inside from the alley-way (she smells like cigarette smoke and perfume), lacking any of the sway on her high, high heels that would suggest she might've been drinking at all this evening. She's neither the most animated nor the most social tonight, but it's been forever since she's seen Katherine and she's missed her, and it's been a shitty week, and suddenly: there are hugs.

[manipulativni]

"Nimfa," she replies, a brilliant grin on her face, and the hug is returned with much enthusiasm. She clings for a few beats, Ilde's been missed greatly and while Katherine doesn't particularly feel like being social herself, the possibility of seeing Ilde is one of the main reasons she came out tonight. "God, it's good to see you again."

[rhinemaid]

"I missed you," she says, when they start to separate again; she doesn't ask what Katherine's been up to, figuring that she'll tell her if she feels the need, but just focuses on how pleased she is to have her company now. (She's off, slightly, but Katherine's known her since shortly after she arrived in Baedal, saw the way she was then; she's made progress, but it's like she's reverted, still and distant and uncertain beneath the immediate rush of relief at Katherine's own presence.)

[manipulativni]

The answer to that question, were Ilde to ask, would be 'not much'; she's been laying low since the anti-vampire incidents. It's too soon to notice much difference in her friend yet, but she does want to get her somewhere quiet so that they can catch up on things (as much as is possible in this kind of setting, anyway).

"I missed you, too," she says, taking hold of one of her hands and squeezing it. "Come, let's get a drink, find somewhere to sit."

[rhinemaid]

"Okay--" they can just...keep holding hands, Ilde is fine with that and perhaps even inclined to hold on, like they're a matched set of disturbing little dolls, pretty and scary, "--not alcohol, for me."

Not tonight, anyway; it might make it easier, but she's too anxious about the loss of control as things stand.

[manipulativni]

Katherine will continue to hold hands until Ilde indicates that she wants to let go, or at least until they need to sit down or get their drinks. She pauses at the bar and orders a glass of champagne for herself, then turns to Ilde. "What would you like?"

[rhinemaid]

"A virgin bellini," she requests, leaning against the bar as they sort themselves out - Ivan is here, somewhere, but she excused herself to have a cigarette outside and she'll find him again in a while. It's not as though she ever has any trouble with that, not since she accidentally marked him. (It's both strange and very useful, the way she can feel his presence like a beacon.)

[manipulativni]

The order is placed and quickly received, and Katherine hands Ilde her glass before taking her own. Now to find somewhere quiet to sit; she would suggest outside, but it seems that they've both just come in from the cold.

"How about here?" she suggests, gesturing to one of the tables in the corner that's unoccupied. (It should be noted that she's still holding her hand, since ordering and getting the drinks didn't require her to let go.)

[rhinemaid]

Here seems good, so -- they sit, and Ilde finally lets go if only because they'll need both hands each to navigate chairs, drinks and not flashing the bar. (The length of her dress means her stockings and garters are partly visible when she sits down regardless, but hey.)

"I thought I saw you at the Vault, but it was as I was leaving--" and she was pretty drunk, at that point, being bundled off by Ivan.

[manipulativni]

"I was there for a while, yes," she confirms, nodding before she takes a sip of her wine. "I didn't stay for as long as I could have, but it was quite an interesting place. I'll have to go back one of these days." When she feels like being social again, but one step at a time.

[rhinemaid]

"A friend of mine - Hasi - performs there, so." A beat later, "A friend from home, sort of." From a different version of home, but close enough that she can just not think about it most of the time. (It's disturbing to dwell on the notion of what she could've been like, without-- everything else.)

[manipulativni]

Katherine nods. "I've spoken to her several times." She tilts her head curiously, she doesn't recall either woman mentioning that they knew each other; but then again she hasn't been doing much on the network aside from observing lately. "How do you mean, 'sort of'?"

[rhinemaid]

"We're from different 'timelines', I guess," she says, a little more brittle than she intends; for all that she's as focused as ever (maybe moreso), her gaze keeps wandering when she's talking and Katherine isn't. Some of the time she's finding Ivan - keeping him in view - and some of the time she just seems anxious, somehow, controlled but unsteady beneath that. "Diverged about half a decade ago, but we know each other the same way."

Close enough.

[captaincocksure]

Jim is headed in the other direction, toward the bar area, empty pint glass in hand. Of course he notices her--lovely lady in a pretty dress--and as he draws nearer recognition lights up his face.

"Hi." He stops when he reaches her, shifting the glass to his left hand so he can offer his right. "Good to see you again."

[manipulativni]

Katherine's at the bar herself, retrieving her second glass of wine, when Jim approaches and addresses her. It takes her a moment to place him, but when she does she smiles.

"You, too - Jim, right?" she says, extending her free hand to him. "How have you been?"

[captaincocksure]

"That's right," he says, smiling, shaking her hand. "Jim. I've been all right, thank you for asking. I see you have a drink already. If you'll indulge me a minute while I get another, we could find somewhere to sit, catch up a little?"

[indiscreet]

Anna's making the rounds as well, as much to see who she knows as to admire (or, given the strength of her opinions, perhaps simply "consider" would be more apt) what everyone is wearing, acquaintance or no. She enjoys the laciness of her own selection, but seeing Katherine's forces her to acknowledge that she might like that one even better.

"The dress is the cat's whiskers, I have to say."