It's like paradise, spread out with a butter knife :: [OPEN]

[bonhomme7h.livejournal.com]

Who: EVERYONE
What: Réjean has decided that more people ought to celebrate and help raise a bit of dosh for one of his favourite bars. See: flyer.
Where: The Apache.
When: Misdi night and into the wee hours of the morning.
Warnings: Discussion of Pickman's manky feet.

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. Tonight, the bar is packed with people from all across the city, different cantons and cohorts, all out to celebrate surviving the fungal plague. Patrons are encouraged to buy tickets for a door prize with the proceeds going to repair the damage tunnelling ants made to the cellar.

Comments

[aldabeyoun.livejournal.com]

As Njoki and Pickman arrive, she seems at first surprised by the crowd of people and then pleased by their presence. It's been a while since she's had the chance to get out and get lost in the crowd, but it's something she always enjoys doing.

Breathing in deeply to get a feel for the scents in the room, Njoki turns to Pickman and looks down at his new hooves. "You should've let me put a coat of glitter polish on 'em, Applejack."

[paintfromlife.livejournal.com]

When Pickman had told Rachel he had new feet to test out, he really hadn't been making shit up. No, after his return from the tunnels, Njoki, the bestest fucking roommate ever, had worked a little of her craft on the mess that had been his feet, and now he was sporting some recently acquired (in a completely legitimate manner!) and rather hairy satyr hooves, instead of the rotting messes he'd been walking on for... far too long. They still ache a little, healing, but nothing like before. And now, a chance to dance?

Fuck. Yes.

He giggles, wiggling his hooves for her, and grins wide, one of his front teeth missing. (Tunnels are bad places for group fighting, it turns out.) "Naw, gonna go to one of those fuckin' manicure places that glue flowers an' shit on. It'll be gorgeous." His eyes dart around the room. "It's a goddamn sardine can in here. Gonna be a fuck of a party."

[aldabeyoun.livejournal.com]

Normally, she might not have been able to do anything for him, but since his natural feet were so far into rotting that it had only been a matter of shaving away what was there and sliding the mess into someone else's hooves. Gross, somewhat temporary, but it should be a lot less stomach churning for everyone in Pickman's life.

"You'll be the prettiest princess at the ball."

[paintfromlife.livejournal.com]

He does a clippity-cloppity little twirl, his hand on his head. When he comes to a rest, he gives a curtsey, and steps back. "I'm gonna go make nice with some fucks. Gimme a yell if'n you need a wingman, yeah?"

[hehaseatenthepancake]

Right around then is when Hellboy happens to swing by, a glass of something clear in his left hand. (It's just water, actually.) He actually smiles, as mildly grotesque as that might be, at the sight of his unexpected buddy the ghoul and his hip new hooves.

"Pickman! Hey, how's it going?" Njoki, in turn, gets a 'sup nod and a wave with his Right.

[paintfromlife.livejournal.com]

Seeing Hellboy, and getting an obviously friendly greeting from him, Pickman gives a meep of delight, and a slightly snaggled grin. "Fuckin' peachy. Lookit what my bestest roomie set me up with!" He holds up a leg, and shakes it in Hellboy's general direction.

"How's you?"

[aldabeyoun.livejournal.com]

"'lo, I'm 'Ki." The roommate in question grins and shrugs her shoulders as if to say it's just what any good friend would do. You know, replacing rotting feet with someone else's tissue.

Also, Pickman, you meeped and she is going to tease you about that mercilessly.

[hehaseatenthepancake]

"Oh, hey." He nods appreciatively at the new hooves, wiggling his own little hoof-toes in turn. "Looking good. I'm mostly healed up, myself. Tomorrow, maybe the day after." Someone has some experience with getting wrecked up and recovering from it.

Turning to Njoki, he switches his glass over to offer his left hand to shake. "Nice to meet you, 'Ki. I'm Hellboy." He nods his head over in Pickman's direction. "You do that kind of thing professionally," he asks about the hooves, "or just as a hobby for friends?"

Look, these things may be useful to know, is all.

[deservesadaisy]

It's sometime later in the night when Ivan runs into Njoki, though he doesn't seem the worse for drink.

"I see you survived the invasion of the B-movie monsters." Pot, kettle, Ivan.

[aldabeyoun.livejournal.com]

"You too." Njoki is pleased to see Ivan and grins in response. "Did you sit around on a lawn chair, sipping pina coladas and eating popcorn?"

[deservesadaisy]

"Not far from it. I must say, the effects budget left something to be desired, though. Not quite a Michael Bay production, was it?" He may be complaining that there weren't enough explosions.

[aldabeyoun.livejournal.com]

"Lens flares give me a headache." Njoki chuffs and gently knocks against him with her shoulder. It's a friendly, if odd, gesture.

[deservesadaisy]

He takes it as it's meant, but just shakes his head. "What about you? A lot of mop-up business?"

[aldabeyoun.livejournal.com]

"Plenty of work. Lots and lots of wards got smashed from the inside out by infected people inviting anything inside. Not to mention that, ah, there's a lot of 'raw material' up for grabs right now." Pickman'll be eating well for a time and Njoki can offer to fix up more than she'd been expecting. In Baedal there are a reasonable number of people who 'hock' their bodies while they're alive and an equal number of legitimate after-death body purchasers, but right now, it's a buyer's market.

[warped-inside.livejournal.com]

Having made contact with a few folks she already knows (and having had a couple of beers and therefore feeling somewhat less shy about things than usual), Tosh figures it's time to actually put the effort into making a couple of new acquaintances. So when moving through the crowd in order to see about turning two beers into three puts her right into someone else's personal space, Tosh suppresses the first urge (apologize and flail) and goes with the second (apologize and say hello).

"I'm so sorry, it's a bugger of a crowd, isn't it?" She sticks out her hand. "Hi, I'm Tosh."

[aldabeyoun.livejournal.com]

"Allô, Ki," she says, moving her drink from one hand over to the other so she can better shake hands. "It's a bit busier than I'd expected, but that's not so bad."

"You new to the city?" Njoki's accent is fairly strong North African francophone, but most people in the city have been able to make out what she's saying.

[warped-inside.livejournal.com]

"Crowded, yeah," Tosh agrees. "But it would have been depressing if only a few people showed up, I think."

She has a pretty good ear (living in several places with very different flavors of speech has helped with that), so she understands well enough not to have to hesitate in her answers. "Pretty new, I guess. I got here a couple of months ago, so long enough to get settled, but not long enough to have expected more things to show up and try to kill us so soon. Yourself? Have you been here long?"

[aldabeyoun.livejournal.com]

"Not long at all." She doesn't seem too broken up about being pulled into another reality, but Njoki's always known that it was a hazard of the job to eventually attract the attention of Something. "Could be worse, I suppose, at least I've got work and a place to stay."

Ki stands a little straighter and points out Pickman to Tosh, "With him. He's not bad."

[warped-inside.livejournal.com]

"It's not a bad place, really, outside of the occasional alien-monster invasion." Tosh is definitely not bothered by the change of living arrangements, and doesn't seem too put out by the 'alien-monsters' either. "Hopefully I'll get a little more time to look around and explore, now that things are quiet again."

She turns to follow the line of sight Ki indicates, and her eyes widen at the hooves, but at least she manages not to say anything stupid. It's almost nice that there are still things that can surprise her, though. "Oh. Well I'm sure you could put him in his place if he got out of line."

[cailisairgid]

The push-pull of a crowded room is a joy of Sol's, as well; the sheer variety of people here this evening only makes it more fascinating, more...just more, really, as far as he's concerned. On the other hand, the variety of people is sometimes- interesting.

Shifters are, generally, not his favourite people; that's fine, mages often aren't theirs, either. And, in a previous life, not this particular mage. This may have something to do with why he's politer than he might be (until he needs to be something else), stepping out of Njoki's way with a good-natured, "Ma'am," when they narrowly avoid a collision on his way back from the bar.

[aldabeyoun.livejournal.com]

For a single shining moment, someone somewhere thinks that Sol is actually sort of cute. Njoki is rarely, if ever, called "ma'am" and the novelty of it makes her bark out a short laugh.

"No need for formality. Sorry if knocked you, y'okay?"

[cailisairgid]

"Yeah, no problem- I'm good at not getting knocked into." A little bewilderingly good at it, actually, considering the crush of bodies in this room at the moment. That's just how he rolls. "Uh- Sol, by the way." Since we're ruling out ma'am, why not give him a name, stranger-lady?

[aldabeyoun.livejournal.com]

"Njoki, but Ki works if you can't manage it," she says with the sort of rhythm that comes from having to give that line every time she introduces herself. There's a little reshuffling of her drink and if Sol's not opposed, they can even shake hands.

Unconsciously, she adjusts her posture to be polite but still a bit wary as she tries to size him up and get a proper scent for who and what he could be.

[cailisairgid]

"Njoki," he repeats, gets it pretty damn close- with a little practise, he should be able to say it just fine. He shakes her hand as he does, callused and warm and not inclined as some are to turn a greeting into a pissing contest; he has a good grip, but he's not making a production of it. Roses linger on the scent of him, and blood, and ... children's shampoo? Look. He's not wearing his Hellsing badge (off-duty, partying, this is so far from official business), but he does have it hidden away on him in case Sebastian's concerns lead to needing to go abruptly on duty unexpectedly. Better to have it, just in case. "It's a pleasure."

[aldabeyoun.livejournal.com]

The handshake relaxes her. The smells of roses and blood are common enough in the city, but it's the children's shampoo that convinces her he's probably a reasonable man.

"You too, Sol, and thanks for trying my name. Most people aren't brave enough. You new in town?"