new beautiful things come in the first spit of snow on the northwest wind

[heardmermaids.livejournal.com]

Who: Any and all Hellsing Staff & guests they invite.
What: Fall dinner.
Where: Hellsing Guild Hall
When: Shundi evening.

At some point during the week, Sebastian posted a brief notice up on the staff bulletin board:

Autumn Dinner
Sunday Evening. Dining Hall. Potluck. BYOB.

When Sunday rolls around, Sebastian has brought along a tray of fruit, cheese, some preserves, and fresh bread.

Comments

[kiss_evilgoodbye]

Buffy isn't exactly what you consider domestic. She can cook, sure, and on occasion even bake, but she's not very good at it. But she does know what a potluck means, and she will do her best to not make something that's inedible. Besides, she's never managed to have time to actually prepare for a potluck. It could be fun.

Several charred attempts later, she decides that phoning it in might be best for all involved.

She manages to track down some sweet cakes, and other kinds of deserts, as well as bringing some drinks -- non-alcoholic. Alcohol doesn't really do much for her, and she figures that it might be helpful.

She makes her way into the Guild Hall, glancing around and looking for people, with drinks in one hand and a tray in the other. This is all about the social -- and she definitely wants to be a part of that.

[heardmermaids.livejournal.com]

The date has significance to Sebastian, but he doesn't expect anyone else to see this as anything other than an informal meal; a simple coming together of people to enjoy each other's company.

"Thanks for coming," he says, addressing Buffy and gesturing to the table where he's put his own tray. "D'you need any help carrying anything?"

[kiss_evilgoodbye]

She shakes her head. "Nope. I'm good." She places the tray down on the table, and then the drinks next to it, before turning to him with a smile, extending a hand.

"I'm Buffy." Introductions? Always a good place to start.

[platanera.livejournal.com]

For a quick minute, half of Maggie didn't want to go. Work is work and she wasn't there to make friends. She'd say hi to these people if they spoke to her (and only when they did; she remembers the rules from home) but she wasn't going to seek them out. The other half, the emotional half, told her she was being an idiot and she didn't have to take them back to her place for dinner. She just had to show up at this dinner and she didn't have to cook anymore than she wanted to. Plus there might be leftovers nobody wanted and that'll save herself some money if she took those home.

She opts to bring a large container of lamb and chickpea stew and an apple-cranberry tart because if the guild cook comes in with something simple and easy like chips and dip or God forbid, soda, eyes will be watching. Maggie isn't usually interested in making an impression, but this is work, regardless of the party label attached to it.

Walking into the hall, she quickly finds a table to lay her dishes down and makes a beeline to a corner of the room to look as awkward as can be. She's still the new kid around here and it's obvious Maggie doesn't know what being social means.

[returntous.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately for Maggie, lurking in corners is exactly what Mabel has been up to since her rather unfortunate stint in 'could be possession, yeah let's go with that' land. Autumn had given Mabel an excuse to bundle up in a protective layer of long sleeves and thick clothes, but it didn't help her feel any less exposed. Her contribution: a store-bought platter of veggies.

Drifting on the edges of the crowd, Mabel smiles in an awkward, twisted way at Maggie, looking for unspoken clues to indicate she needed to give the girl some space.

[platanera.livejournal.com]

Corners are nice places to be in. You can watch everybody else from a safe distance without having to get involved in things and really, nobody looks at the corners too much. It all works out.

Except now. Maggie feels Mabel's eyes on her and it's a little strange since she never expected to be noticed. But the girl looks like her in a place where everybody else looks as different as they can. That deserves an awkward smile and nod in return.

[cailisairgid]

Getting organized to get out the house of an evening is more complicated when you're dealing with a child, even just the one child, and throwing Conan (the Corbarian, and Sol anticipates hearing this joke approximately a thousand more times before Liesl gets tired of pointing it out to him) into the mix as well after his fruitless efforts to argue that maybe it would be better if the sporgi stayed home...well, that's life. He thinks briefly most people's daughters don't fall in love with dogs that have six legs and eight eyes, but on the other hand, most people's daughters probably don't have the opportunity, and he's willing to bet Dotty's kids would love Conan.

Richard's going to pay for the corgi agenda, one of these days. In the meanwhile, it's Sol who gets to hold the little monster's leash - in the same hand as he holds onto Liesl, with a large tupperware container of fresh garden salad (mostly out of their garden) under the other arm.

He looks slightly less harried than that sounds.

[heardmermaids.livejournal.com]

If he'd like a hand, Sebastian is nearby and moving over to intercept either dog or salad. It's a dangerous run through dog and space-dog filled territory, but he'll do it for Sol, Queen and Country.

Or something like.

[cailisairgid]

"Hey- thanks," with a grin, surrendering the salad and keeping a grip on Conan's leash. (He's on a harness, as Liesl occasionally still is when Sol takes her out into the city - she's getting bigger, though, and better at not wandering off, and he's phasing it out.)

[byrightsinhell]

Lucius and Narcissa had arrived earlier; he'd let her take care of the food, and had selected a bottle of wine to contribute. Though they'd started the evening together, eventually they broke apart to mix and mingle and work the room in their separate ways.

Lucius' smile is warm as he comes upon Sol and Liesel. "Good evening, Mr. Koening. Miss Liesel, it's very nice to see you again." He may not be fond of children as a general rule, but he misses his son, and he'd found Liesel charming. The dog, so far, doesn't seem to have thrown him.

[cailisairgid]

Sol's greeting is equally friendly - probably slightly moreso, being the one of them a bit better at this 'connecting to other people' thing - and with the salad since surrendered, he lifts his free hand amicably. "Malfoy, you too."

"This is Conan," Liesl says, tugging on Lucius's sleeve to draw his attention down to the little monstrosity she's clearly smitten with. "Conan the Corbarian."

Above her head, Sol's expression is frantically telegraphing 'find this funny'.

[hehaseatenthepancake]

A little later on, after he's dropped his contribution off, Hellboy makes his way around to mingle... and double-takes as he sees the new addition to the Koenig family.

"Whoa. Now there's something the likes of which I never thought I'd see again."

[cailisairgid]

There's a pause, before Sol settles on what he feels is the only necessary response: "Again?"

[platanera.livejournal.com]

Maggie's still posted up in the corner, not moving very much except to get a cup of soda or two, but that thing gets her attention. She could easily ignore the man and the little kid (though she can admit some kids are cute), but the dog or whatever looks like a dog plus a few extra eyes and legs. Not something she sees often back home.

"What the actual fuck?" Cover the kid's ears, Dad. Her language will only get worse.

[cailisairgid]

"That's a bad word," Liesl declares, with the self-importance of a clever nearly-five-year-old; she also likes to hold forth on her father's smoking habit and her grandmother was teaching her to object when people startle with a 'Jesus' or 'goddamn'. (Sol's training her out of the last one.)

"And that's a corgi, allegedly," Sol supplies, glancing at Maggie with a wryly raised eyebrow. "A, uh, pretty unique breed thereof."

[returntous.livejournal.com]

"Oh my god, he is the cutest thing." Mabel's definition of acceptable pets tended to fall on the side of 'anything horrific that didn't also try to rip her face off,' so Conan gets a pass.

[cailisairgid]

"...you're a unique woman, Mabel Albans."

She's also Liesl's new favourite person.

[rose-obfuscated.livejournal.com]

Any attempt Brie made at cooking real, edible food for humans had ended in total failure. She had never learned how to cook before she was turned, her parents had coddled her too much. And after she became a vampire, well, she didn't really need the cooking skills.

Now that she was mortal again and needed normal nourishment, she had been largely depending on Jones. But she wanted to meet new people and to perhaps find a partner, so she had to come to this dinner. Had to. But after starting three fires in their kitchen, Brie decided that perhaps it would be better to get something store bought.

So there it was. Fruit salad and chocolate cake.

Walking into the guild hall, she looked around for the potluck table.

[heardmermaids.livejournal.com]

"Hullo, do you need any help with that?" Sebastian is miserable when it comes to small talk and isn't a particularly good host, but he is polite. The potluck table isn't far, but when you're navigating whatever other chairs and tables are in the room a little extra assistance can't hurt.

[rose-obfuscated.livejournal.com]

"Oh!" she squeaked at Sebastian. "Yes, that would be extremely helpful."

"Um, would you like to carry....fruit salad? Or chocolate cake?" The whole gesture looked kind of silly.

[byrightsinhell]

Lucius needs to meet more people. Hellsing, for better or worse, was where he'd cast his lot in Baedal, and the need to build new alliances was growing daily more apparent to him.

He lets Narcissa take most of the men; she'll do better that way in any case. As for himself, someone he'd seen Sebastian talking with might not be a bad place to start. He eventually makes his way over to Brie.

"I'm not sure if the fact I don't know many people indicates I've been in the field too much or too little, lately," he says by way of introduction.

[rose-obfuscated.livejournal.com]

"Brie Cormac," she says. "I wouldn't blame you for not knowing who I am. I was just hired as a field agent recently."

Brie is quite stunning to look at, but the man in front of her seemed to demand a sort of respect.

"To whom do I owe this pleasure?"

[hehaseatenthepancake]

With things somewhat settled down on the cruor relations front, Hellboy had finally been able to get back to the case he'd been working on previously. He'd done just about all of the research he could, and was starting to plan for going back into the field, when he saw the notice. He'd have to adjust his schedule a little, but there was no way he'd miss this.

So, on Sunday, having done some shopping and some cooking, he comes into the dining hall with a large crock pot full of chicken paprikash and another container of the accompanying dumplings.

[returntous.livejournal.com]

"Hey, big guy." Having thoroughly chased herself out of corner hugging, Mabel is still pretty chagrin about associating with the Hellsing regulars.

[hehaseatenthepancake]

Hellboy turns from setting his contributions down on the table, and he smiles what passes for his smile. "Hey! Long time no see. Been keeping busy?"