somethingwithturquoise | MHA #10; Ssaturday Evening [04/16]

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MHA #10; Ssaturday Evening [04/16] - GxG Birthday Bash!

It had taken a bit to get there, but the whirlwind of Summer's burst of party planning was finally coming to frution. There had been the flyers, of course, some good radio coverage, and the ubitquitously handwaved mass text, so hopefully people knew about it enough to show up. Especially since a lot of work had been put into making Goose's apartment party ready. For one thing, it actually had furniture, plenty of sofas and ottomans for the guests to sit, arranged to also allow for a lot of standing and gathering room (and, yes, yes, for all the wall flowers, a few meticulously curated shadowy corners, you're welcome. But most of the decor attention would probably be put into the magic work Summer had Margo and Eliot do.

With the faint scent of rose and mint in the air, the entire ceiling was cloaked in the vastness of outer space. But not just any space, because, in Summer's experience, space was actually kind of boring, so they pumped it up, they amped the colors, they filled it with a ton of glitter (of course). Distant planets and swirls of galaxies and pulsating quasars dotted the starscape in swatches of pink and purple and green, some glowing bright with neon. Shooting stars would occasionally trail overhead and across the walls, leaving behind a dusting of color and glitter and occasionally a message that called out "Happy Birthday, Goose!" with another message trailing behind it that read "(And Gladio, too!)". Occsionally, the starscape would seem to swell a little and expand, so that, on occasion, it would feel as though you weren't just looking at it, but almost being surrounded by space until it moved on.

The spare bedroom had been converted into a karaoke room, there was a jello table and a tended bar set up, with an ice luge embedded with neon lights, and a keg all dolled up to look like a container of Cup Noodle. And speaking of Cup Noodle, don't anyone forget Cup Noodle gift bags! There's plenty for everyone, at a table by the door, so you can help yourself to that excellent tote filled with some of the most random (and pretty moddable) chintzy Cup Noodle junk Summer could find on cheap Chinese websites (the real highlights, though, robably being the slippers and the candle).

The kitchen, of course, was dedicated to be the haven of Ignis, who staunchly refused to do anything Cup Noodle related for his food offerings, which, if you asked Summer, were a bit much for a party where she was hoping everyone would be quickly too drunk to care about what they were putting in their mouths, but, hey, you do you, Specs.

She'd even hired a bouncer, mostly for raccoons, but also for students, let's be real, and since she usually hired Gladio for that position, putting in Billy this time around seemed like the obvious choice, and she was even being very, very good about not just calling him Wish Gladio or Walmart Gladio or Budget Gladio tonight.

And, just like that, this party was ready to get started!

[[ ~~please to wait for the~~ OCD it up, have at it! ]]

[[Convenience Links: Arrive & Mingle | Karaoke! | The Bar | Jello Table | Food Stuff | Birthday Boys! | Gifts | OOC ]]

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Stark was not entirely sure why he was here, other than it was very close by and Summer had asked. The latter reason was more compelling, of course. That, and the fact that there were unlikely to be any raccoons present with this many people here. He didn't have any bandages left from that adventure but there were still visible marks.

Right now though he was looking up at the ceiling in something like wonder.

"Stark!" Summer beamed when she spotted him and bounced her way over. "You made it! And look!" She gestured over toward Billy at the door. "No raccoons! We got a bouncer for it and everything!"

She was so proud of herself, Stark, you had no idea!

"You hired someone to keep away raccoons?" Summer, that was so nice!

"I did make it. I thought...I'd try. For a bit."

"I did say there'd be no raccoons," Summer reminded him with a proud little nod, "and I meant it. Especially if you're going to go ahead and try. Even if just for a bit.

"Can I grab you a drink to get you started, though? Some beer, or Eliot's mixing up some drinks at the bar, and of course there's plenty of jello shots."

"You did say that," Stark agreed. "And I haven't seen any. Thank you." If any did show up he would start yelling very loudly.

"A drink would be good, I think. No frightening jello." It seemed likely, somehow, that there was frightening jello today.

Summer would almost be tempted to go back on what she said just to see Stark yell at raccoons. Almost.

"I'll have you know," Summer stated with a defiant lift of her chin, "that only two of the jello shots are frightening tonight. The rest of them are all amazing and space-themed, you should definitely have one, but, until then? You need a beer!"

And, with that, Summer disappeared into the kitchen, gave her red Solo cup another of her seemingly infinitate refills, and also grabbed a deviled egg, which she popped into her mouth before handing Stark the bottle.

"And plenty more where that came from."

The odds of future raccoon run-ins were fairly high on an island this size. Summer could probably see Stark yell at raccoons sometime in the not too distant future.

"I'll have to look at the jello." He always looked at the jello. Even the frightening ones. "Especially if it's all space themed. The beer is good for now. Thank you."

Since it wasn't raccoon beer. He'd had enough of that, thanks.

Steph headed over Stark's way as soon as she spotted him.

"Hey, you made it! And so far, we are raccoon-free."

"Summer invited me." Which was reason enough to come, really. Even if it was just for a short time. "So I'm trying. And I was promised no raccoons. So far there aren't any."

Or any other wildlife. Unless Sidon counted? The squirrels didn't, really.

The squirrels were in a category all their own, no matter what taxonomy said.

"Are these decorations wild, or what?"

The little hats made them less wild, maybe? Although the raccoons ran a brewery and were still wildlife so who knows.

"It's beautiful," Stark said, looking upward again. "Not quite like home but...nearly."

The raccoons showed no interest in communications, though. Maybe that was the difference?

"The little birthday message banners trailing along after some of the stars are probably not what you're used to seeing out in space," Steph said with a grin. "Is there glitter, though?"

Stark shook his head. "No banners. And no birthdays. And no, no glitter. Things that sparkle, sometimes."

Zhaan was kind of glittery, with those gold accents in the blue.

"That's... probably better, about the glitter," Steph decided. "The way that shit gets everywhere? In zero gravity? Yikes."

"Moya has gravity," Stark said. "We were never just floating. And the DRDs would have cleaned up glitter, I think. They keep her clean and cared for."

Chiana would probably love glitter bombing her shipmates. Aeryn would hate it.

"Moya," Steph echoed. "Was that your ship?"

It was a very, very good thing there was no glitter in Stark's part of space.

"Sometimes Moya is home," Stark agreed. "But she's her own ship, really. She and Pilot just let us stay. Leviathans are living ships. Bio-mechanoid."

Perhaps Chiana would visit again someday and bring back some glitter. Just to see what happened.

"A living ship? Rad," Steph said immediately, like the geek living her best life that she was. "Were there a lot of you that, um, she let stay?"

If Steph continued asking questions she might get to learn that one time that living ship had a baby, which was always a hit around here for some reason.

"Four others when I left this last time," Stark said. "Five, with the baby. And Pilot. And...two more who went back to their homes right before that. There were more of us before." But, you know, people kept dying.

Edited 2022-04-17 02:22 (UTC)

People kept dying? Yeah. Steph knew that feeling.

"That happens," she said in a tone that suggested she'd picked up on the subtext. "Life just... keeps finding a way to keep moving, I guess."

"You make room for it," Stark said quietly. "Eventually."

"There were...I think when there were the most of us there were 8. And Pilot. She's a big ship. There would have been plenty of space for more of us."

Steph looked at him for a moment; that statement had resonated in a particularly potent way.

"Yeah. Eventually." Ugh, maybe she should try not to dwell on that too hard ~~given that she'd be doing that in a couple of weeks~~. "8's still a pretty good number, though."

8 was way more players than she ever wanted to wrangle at one table.

Stark just looked back at her, then nodded.

"8 was...8 was good. And then..." Then someone very important was gone forever and everything changed. "Before I came back here, the last time, before the raccoons, it was 8 again for a while. Then 6, and that was good too." 6 might have been better. 6 had led to that brief friends with benefits situation that had helped get him started towards improving.

Improvement was a long hard road, as Steph was well aware.

"Must have been some good people, if you kept going back to them," she said thoughtfully. Going back: not a concept she was too familiar with, but maybe she'd be more willing to entertain it these days.

"They are," Stark said softly. "They saved me, once." Then he'd been executed for them and who could keep track of it all now? "We've...we've been through a lot together."

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