blow a kiss for all the hearts they gon drop

[gwynn]

Who: EVERYONE IN THE WORLD
What: When it's time to party we will always party hard.
Where: Megan's apartment, Howl Barrow
When: Sukkardi/Saturday night
Notes: Threadjacking is encouraged. Also, again, if you want to tag in but your character wouldn't just show up, feel free to assume Megan befriended them somewhere and dragged them over/invited them personally.
Warnings: Preemptive warnings for drug use, naughty language and sexual situations.

Megan's housepartment (it looks like a house to her, but the realtor assured her it is an apartment, okay, whatever) is a quaint little thing in the middle of a friendly, middle class Howl Barrow street that is deceptively tame by day and comes alive by night. Her neighbours are super chill, which is her favourite part of living here -- she asked around about a party, if the noise would be a problem, and nobody had any problem with it. Howl Barrow rules.

The inside's a bit furnitureless right now -- she's got a few mismatched chairs and a pull-out sofa, that's about it -- but she's already started decorating a little, hanging art on the walls and putting up nice curtains. (Nobody is allowed to puke on her new curtains.) She's well-stocked with a wide selection of alcohol, ranging from mid-price beer to hard liquor, and snacks, nothing fancy.

She's got her bong out too, yeah.

By 7, there's already a couple people milling about and drinking -- coworkers from the Vault, mostly. Music's playing from an old suitcase turntable set up on the kitchen counter, it's something Baedal-native, hard rock, and in an alien language.

For the shy and/or drunken Snow Whites, there's a friendly, fluffy ragdoll cat lounging around, casually draping herself wherever is most convenient for attention and adulation. Caution: do not give cat beer.

Comments

[whattigerscanchange]

"Well, well, well. Where were you when I was dealing with this?" She's deceptively blithe about the loss of her eye, but she's too buzzed to keep her body language from betraying her. "Too bad this place is some kind of technological anomaly."

She shrugs it off, tying the two threads of their conversation together neatly with, "Survival's the name of the game. Whatever it takes, right?"

[requiresssacrifice]

Rex winces briefly. Stop saying things that Wichita would say, damn it. He's quiet, then downs the rest of his drink and nods. "Yeah." He rubs the back of his neck and looks around one more time. "So, what did you study? With virology, I mean. Was it just a general interest, or..."

Or was there some kind of, oh, plague in your world that turned people into ravenous cannibals?

[whattigerscanchange]

Funny you should mention it, Rex...

"I crafted vaccines, mostly," is almost true. If you're going to develop a virus, you should probably also create its cure. Just in case. "I was contracted by... Let's call them private interest groups. They hand me a problem, I find a solution." The corner of Odessa's mouth ticks upward faintly. "It's fascinating work. And there's a certain power in the knowledge that you can be either the saviour or destroyer of humanity."

Not that she would ever strive to be the latter.

[requiresssacrifice]

He cants his head a little as he listens, unable to hold back a smile that comes out more like a smirk. It's just so rare for Rex to find a kindred spirit on this level. Rare and... probably not a good thing for society-at-large. "And isn't that what drives the best of us?" he remarks playfully. "I imagine it's how the scientists working on the Manhattan Project must have felt. Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." J. Robert Oppenheimer, Father of the Atomic Bomb, a hero of his. "The moments that... inspire such awe, that put that power into perspective, they're really very fulfilling."

Or disturbing, in the case of certain demonstrations of Rex's projects.

"Not to mention fun."

[whattigerscanchange]

"I like you, Doctor Lewis." Odessa laughs quietly. They say opposites attract, but also that like attracts like. This is definitely a case of the latter. Which probably only solidifies that the notion that this is not good for society-at-large. "Most people walk away when I mention virology. I had a feeling you understood, though. I could just... tell."

She leans forward sort of conspiratorially. "It's always such a pain in the ass when you have to clean up after someone else's incompetence, though. I had an old colleague who attempted to synthesise abilities - create the superman, I suppose - and instead she wound up creating these..." One hand waves through the air for a moment as she tries to think of an appropriate word for it. "Zombies.

"I'm serious. These people just went fucking nuts and attacked everything." Wide eyes and enthusiasm are traded away with a shrug, for a passive expression that edges on bored. "Until their cells deteriorated. Her test subjects wound up resembling cherry cobbler." Can you imagine?

[requiresssacrifice]

He was going to comment on something else-- on cleaning up after others. Oh, how he knows what that's like. But something else catches his attention instead and derails his train of thought entirely.

"Zombies." She can't be serious. Was she or wasn't she some kind of... alternate universe Wichita? Every time Rex leans one way, she says something that pushes him in the other direction. There's a strain in his smile again, and the expression's practically stuck on his face-- almost a grimace-- as he forces out a soft chuckle and looks down at his empty cup.

"You..." He shakes his head and brings his eyes up, forced smile sticking on his face. "...remind me of somebody." Testing the waters a little. "You don't have a sister, do you?" A playful question, but pointed-- if she really was some other dimension Wichita. One thing she and Rex had in common, after all, was their attachment to their sisters.

[whattigerscanchange]

If presented with this theory, Odessa might be inclined to believe it herself. She's seen alternate timelines in action more than once before. Calling herself Wichita wouldn't at all be out of the ordinary for her. When Rex asks her about a sister, she smiles widely and shrugs. "Oh, maybe somewhere. I wasn't raised with my family."

There goes that smile. Even she can only crack wise at her own expense so much. "Could be that there's a better version of me running around out there somewhere. Stranger things and all."

[requiresssacrifice]

"That's unfortunate," he murmurs, then purses his lips slightly in thought. "Maybe you have an evil twin." A beat, then he adds teasingly, "Or maybe you're the evil one." Really, with Wichita, it's hard to say. She wasn't exactly a morally upstanding person. That's one thing Rex loves-- loved-- about her. "Tell me you don't have any family in Kansas."

[whattigerscanchange]

That elicits a giggle. She's got him on a hook now, she realises. He's on his way to convincing himself that she could be someone he used to know, or at least related to her. "I wouldn't know if I do or not, to be honest. If she's my good twin," and she'd have to be. It takes quite a bit of talent and malicious intent to be worse than Odessa - and that's if you ask her, "then I hope I do have family in Kansas."

She leans a little closer then, not encroaching, but entreating. "What's this friend of yours like?"

[requiresssacrifice]

When Odessa leans closer, Rex almost reciprocates, but he catches himself and stiffens his back, keeps from getting too comfortable around her. Even though they share a face, Rex is hesitant to actually share any details.

"She was..." Keep it vague. "Tough. A survivor." A cutthroat con artist. Somebody as vicious as he was (was, because he knows they made each other softer). His first girlfriend. First love. First everything, and she really doesn't need to know any of that. "That's all."

[whattigerscanchange]

"Then we definitely have something in common." Her expression softens, and it's due to conscious effort on her part to keep herself from looking too predatory. She doesn't want to spook him, and he looks like he might be the type. Easy, 'Dessa. You have to work with this guy. You've got time.

"You'll have to tell me more about her sometime. I'm sure you have plenty of great stories from back home. Can I get you another drink?"

[requiresssacrifice]

"Nothing as exciting as yours," he claims, although that's far from the truth. He's got a pretty excellent story involving the destruction of the Eiffel Tower, for starters. Not to mention some zombie stories of his own. Killing a vampire or two. Taking over a space prison. Blowing up said space prison...

"And no, thanks. I think I've had enough to drink tonight." Any more, and his tongue might get looser than he'd like-- in more than one sense. He'll take looking like a boring buzzkill over that. "That blue stuff is pretty strong."

[whattigerscanchange]

"Excitement isn't always a good thing." She stares into the bottom of her glass then, not terribly contemplatively, but more because she's curious about how much of that blue stuff is actually in there. "I know," she remarks on it. "It's pretty fabulous. I may have to tell vodka I've found a new love."

She giggles at herself. Not because she thinks she's terribly funny, but because it seems the right follow up to her dorky comment. Like it's to be expected. "I'm glad you came out tonight. I was hoping for a chance to get to know you better."