Let's partyyyyyyy! [open]

[livingdeadgirl]

Who: EVERYONE.
What: A meet-and-greet party for everybody in Anchor!
When: early October
Where: the VR room lobby
Warnings: none yet
Format: go wild!

[ The day before, a wild network post appears, from the username @aa : ]

hi everyone!
i just wanted to let you all know
the meet and greet party previously discussed in this space
will be held tomorrow afternoon!

it will take place in the vr room lobby
and of course everyone is invited
refreshments and games will be provided
but if you would like a little extra challenge
please feel free to bring something to share!

attendance is mandatory!
(lol just kidding)
seriously though i do hope to see all of you there ;)

[ She's also posted handwritten signs to that effect in the mess hall and several of the staircases. Just in case! ]

---

The day of, a party appears in the VR Room lobby area, as promised!

Though it's not brightly lit, the lights there are are brightly colored, creating a chilled-out evening atmosphere like you'd find at a club. Plush chairs and couches are interspersed throughout the room, and there's been a solid attempt to clean the place up, or at least do something about all the dust.

A shortage of conventional party supplies has forced Ami and Cho to get creative, so the tables and parts of the wall are decorated with paper flowers, and the buffet table is presided over by a number of ... weird, pink, glitter-covered, vaguely animal-shaped sculptures made out of spare plastic pipes and stuff. With googly eyes. If nothing else they're a conversation piece.

FOOD: The main offering is barbecue! There's a pretty wide assortment of meats, all of which Cho has certified safe for human consumption, and also certified delicious. Chips, dried fruit, and a few different desserts are available, including homemade chocolate chip cookies that Ami made herself (wich Cho's help). All the trays are helpfully labeled, including allergy information.

Any and all potluck submissions are welcome as well! Just set it down over here and make a little card of your own.

DRINKS: Sadly, the coffee machine is still out of order. But there is a cooler stocked with ice and a few different choices of juice and soda. Alcoholic selections are limited to two types of pre-mixed drinks, which are intentionally weak on the alcohol, but at least they're not tequila sunrises. If guests want anything stronger, they'll need to bring it themselves.

ENTERTAINMENT: In fiddling with the controls, Ami got the overhead speakers to play some music, but couldn't figure out how to modify the playlist, so it's just one song on loop. Maybe if she keeps the volume kind of low, no one will notice. No live music is scheduled, but if anyone wants to bring a guitar and jam for a while, they will be more than welcome to.

And most of the arcade games are online! Anyone for Fruit Ninja? Air hockey? Dance Dance Retribution? Virtual Billiards? Or perhaps you'd like to try out a full-simulation game in the VR Rooms proper? Now's as good a time as any!

Oh, and don't forget to enter the raffle! The winner will be chosen randomly and announced a few hours into the party.

Comments

Kieran Duffy | OPEN

[sleepyhollowed]

[Kieran promised Ami that he'd arrive to the party early, and that's exactly what he did. If your character is one of the first to arrive, they'll probably catch the local cowboy carrying some trays of snacks and food around, or wiping down tables before settling anything onto them.]

[Otherwise, Kieran will mingle around and try to join in on some fun conversation in that delightfully awkward way that anyone who's known him for any amount of time will probably expect. He'll perpetually have a glass of something in his hand. Get him drunk enough and maybe he'll start singing some cowboy songs for everyone. Get him even more drunk, and he'll probably try to get people to join in, even if they don't know the lyrics.]

[If your character won't approach him on their own, then Kieran will probably approach them at one point or another with a big grin and wide, open body posture.]

Hey, buddy!

[He'll greet them the same way, regardless of whether or not he's met them before.]

[itsnotaonesie]

[Peter isn't intentionally avoiding anyone, but he is keeping to himself more than anybody who knows him would probably expect. Fretting over weirdos spying on them has him exhausted, and the booze isn't helping in the alertness department. Which was the plan, to be fair, but at least he still manages to look excited when Kieran approaches him.]

Hey, man! How's it goin'? This music isn't too weird for you, is it?

[sleepyhollowed]

[Oh good, because Kieran's going to throw an arm around Peter's shoulders. PLEASE, TEENAGER, LET YOURSELF BE A TEENAGER.]

Naw, this is great! I'm really happy to see everyone together, havin' a good time!

[Look at him, grinning like a doofus.]

It's like a big ol' growing family!

[itsnotaonesie]

[Peter might just stumble into Kieran a little when he throws an arm around him. His balance is a bit compromised at the moment, don't mind him.]

Yeah. Yeah, kinda. I think this is the most chill I've seen everyone since I got here. Y'know, when we first started showin' up, the robots tried to throw a party for us. I guess it was kinda successful? Mostly I just stole a bunch of fruit.

[sleepyhollowed]

[It's okay. Kieran isn't about to notice a little bit of stumbling here and there. It's par the course with the parties he's been to in the past. Why wouldn't it be the same here?]

Y'don't say...

[Except he just did, Kieran, get with the program.]

Were they just that happy to see some new folks comin' in?

[itsnotaonesie]

[Oh good. Peter's trying not to lean on him too much, but he kind of is. Sorry bro.]

Y'know, that was kind of the impression I was getting? It had probably been a really long time since they'd seen people.

[sleepyhollowed]

[It's okay. Kieran's a tall, mostly sturdy bean pole of a guy. He can handle some leaning.]

Eh, I don't blame 'em fer tryin', then.

['Trying' is the key word. Those robots didn't seem like the most reliable when it came to doing anything useful.]

That said, this party is much better. Could use more singin', though.

[Someone get a guitar and place some real music!!!]

[itsnotaonesie]

[Oh good, sometimes Peter just needs to lean on a dude.]

Aw man, I wish I'd thought to get some kind of karaoke machine up and running for this. Er-- that's a machine that shows you song lyrics and plays music that you can sing along with.

[But nope all we have is this weirdo techno music, if ONLY someone had a guitar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

[sleepyhollowed]

[Sometimes we all need to just lean on a dude.]

Wait, it does both of those things at once?

How's it show you the lyrics while playin' the music?

[Also are you insinuating that Kieran has a guitar because he's a cowboy because SIR, THAT IS A STEREOTYPE.]

[itsnotaonesie]

Well, you remember the screen in the arrival area? You could see a guy and hear him talking. This is kind of the same idea, only the screen shows words instead of a guy, and instead of someone talking, it plays music.

[YEEEEHAW BUCKEROO]

[sleepyhollowed]

[Ignoring those BLATANT STEREOTYPES, Kieran's eyes widen as Peter explains what a karaoke machine is.]

Woah!!! Who thought of somethin' like that?

[He's completely AMAZED. Even though he can't read lyrics, just the idea of a karaoke machine is super cool.]

[itsnotaonesie]

Pretty sure it was Japan. If there isn't already one just hidden in a closet somewhere, I'll see if I can whip one together for the next time we do something like this.

[Bro you're gonna be reading like a CHAMP by then]

[sleepyhollowed]

Yeah, could ya? I wanna see how it works.

[Everyone’s spoiling him with all of these cool gadgets from the future!!!]

You think it’ll have any songs from my time?

[It probably won’t.]

[killedwithlove]

Cole really hadn't planned on coming to the party. There's been a lot of tension and fighting and in his experience, large social gatherings end up blood baths, either emotionally or literally.

But he's aware that someone's looking. And he can't resist that call, which is why he moves through the crowd, unnoticed by many because he's not prepared to let everyone see him right now.

"Hello, Kieran. You're lighter than you were. It's good."

[sleepyhollowed]

The first and only conversation that Kieran had with Cole left such a profound mark on him that he'd found himself returning to it at odd hours of the day and night. As simple a concept as it is, that intense session of pure, cathartic relief had cleansed Kieran's emotions into a state of purity that he never believed possible. Enough that for the next few days, he felt like he'd been walking on air, the weight lifted from his shoulders.

He still startles fairly easily, though, and when Cole pops up (literally, in Kieran's eyes), he jumps.

"Oh my Lord!"

Give him a second to calm down... annnnd... okay good.

"H-Hey, Cole. Nice to see ya! Didn't notice you comin' in! I was wonderin' when you'd show up."

[killedwithlove]

"I know you were, that's why I came."

He glances around, the weight of people's disagreements and anger simmering below the surface.

"Because you wanted to see me. Just to see me. You don't want anything, you just thought it would be nice."

[sleepyhollowed]

The fact that Cole just knows when someone is thinking about him, no matter the time or place, is a little bit unnerving to Kieran. But when combined with the sort-of spirit’s genuinely benevolent nature, it doesn’t seem bad. The source of a lot of different questions, sure, but not necessarily bad.

“Is that somethin’ you don’t get often? People who just wanna see you just because?”

[killedwithlove]

Cole thinks about it and then he gives a very small, very shy smile. "Well, Ben does. Ben gave me a gift, just because he wanted to."

And Cole... seems a little less deathly. That might even be a touch of colour on his cheeks (though under the hat, it's hard to say).

"But no. Most people don't remember me. I try hard to be remembered here."

[sleepyhollowed]

Kieran spies Cole's smile and matches it with a small one of his own. He can understand the bashful life, having lived its tenets for quite some time.

"Yeah, Ben's a good guy. Makes sense he'd do somethin' like that for ya."

Although Kieran hasn't really had any terrible interactions with his fellow arrivals on Anchor, there are a few people in particular who've made his time here worthwhile. Meaningful. Ben is definitely one of them, especially after that open and raw heart-to-heart following their first reading lesson.

"I-Is there a reason why yer tryin' to be remembered here? Didja try to be remembered back home, too?"

[killedwithlove]

Cole sways from side to side, humming softly. "I was in a place before this. The Drift Fleet. People got uncomfortable seeing me and only half remembering, not being sure if they dreamed me or not. In Skyhold, there were so many people no one noticed. Here... I don't want to cause people distress like that."

He makes the effort, mostly. When he interacts with people.

[sleepyhollowed]

That's understandable on both ends--it's easy for people to feel a little perturbed over a pseudo-specter, no matter how much they wish to help and mean well, but it's not as if Cole had malicious intentions. He's proven that well enough just with that talk with Kieran.

"If it helps, uh, you've been doin' the opposite of causin' distress. A-At least as far as I've seen. Hell, yer doin' some real good things fer the people here, Cole!"

[killedwithlove]

"I try. I don't always get it right. I don't always help like I should. And sometimes..."

He pauses, watching Loki.

"Sometimes I can't help, because it's not right yet."

He looks back to Kieran. "I'm glad I helped you. You deserve happiness."

[sleepyhollowed]

Kieran definitely sympathizes with Cole on that delicate balance between doing your best and the failures that can still arise from those ventures. But Cole manages to summarize it in the best possible way: sometimes you can't help because it's not right yet, and sometimes you just don't get it right. That's okay.

Feels like crap, but it's okay.

Kieran nods and, upon that last assertion, blushes a little.

"I, uh, th-thanks."

It's still slow going, getting used to these earnest displays of well-wishes, but it's the kind of slow-going that Kieran doesn't mind. He just wishes he knew of a way to reciprocate, what with his highly specific set of skills.

"I-I'm glad yer glad!"

[killedwithlove]

Cole tilts his head slightly, then looks out to the crowd again. "You remind me of Cole, in a lot of ways. Your life didn't have much kindness."

[sleepyhollowed]

Oof. That was pretty direct.

But not untrue, and Kieran can't protest against that.

"Nah, not really."

It feels weird, unsettling, saying that aloud. Acknowledging it with someone else instead of just in his own head.

"You said Cole had it the same way?"