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

Cho Takahashi | OTA

[tenuefarfalla]

A
Cho is at the party early, bringing in trays of hot food and the containers of the mixed drinks to set things up. She also has a tote bag full of additional origami decorations, some folded the night before during her bout of insomnia, and some temporarily removed from their spots around her room, where they've been serving as permanent decoration to make the place seem a little less alien. Once she gets the food set up, she moves around the space with her bag, a stepladder, and a roll of tape. An extra helper, or even just someone to hand her tape strips and steady the stepladder, would be very welcome. As would the conversation. Mostly, though, it's the steadying hand on the ladder. In hindsight, she probably should have brought some flats to wear for this part of the day, but she just hates giving up the extra few inches of height that the heels give her, and she doesn't have any flats that match her dress.

B
Once the festivities have actually gotten underway, Cho takes the time to get herself some food and enjoy that warm fuzzy feeling that she gets from seeing people enjoy the taste of something she's made. Ami had a really great idea with this party, and Cho didn't realize how much she needed the distraction. People seem to be enjoying themselves, and after everything that's gone on in the last few months, it's very much needed. She tries to keep her eye on the food and drinks, scanning for when something seems to be running low. She's made extra of everything. All of the meats will keep well, and can be re-purposed over the week in other meals.

Whenever something looks like it's about to run out, she takes a little wheeled cart, and makes her way back to the mess hall kitchen to get the back-up. Which means she spends a fair bit of time scurrying between the two locations, pushing food through the city and resisting the urge to push the cart fast enough to ride on.

She is only marginally successful in that regard. Especially when it's empty. Nothing wrong with having a little fun, right?

C
It takes Cho a while to notice the music. The volume is low, and the chatter of conversation is high, and she's not really sure it isn't intentional. Somehow. She doesn't like house music all that much, and so it takes her a while to focus on it enough to confirm that, yes, it is the exact same song playing over and over and over again. Which, all right, even if it is intentional, surely Ami wouldn't get super mad at her for wanting just a little break.

Which leaves Cho crouched by the sound system with her ipod, trying to make sense of the thing. The speakers are working. All she wants is to have them play from a different source. That's got to be possible. Right? Maybe.

D
All in all, aside from a few hiccups, the party seems to be pretty self sustaining. People make their own entertainment, and Cho joins them. She eats a little bit of everything, and nurses a single drink for most of the evening. After a while, bolstered by the presence of other people, which must surely lessen the chances of getting stuck in them, she even tries a few of the games. For the most part, though, she just circulates around the edges of the crowd, watching people enjoying themselves. This is nice, for her. It feels almost normal. Throwing parties, being social, forming community. It's nice and normal and extremely comforting.

[[OOC: I don't like writing in brackets, so I'm a prose only person. I don't mind if styles don't match, though, if you only write brackets.]]

A

[kaballin]

Her favorite helper has just arrived to hold one of the origami stars about four feet above her head and see if she'll jump to grab it. Because he's a nice person.

"There's about a million of these things up already, you can cool it with the decorations." He shouldn't have worn the full mask so she could see his eyeroll, but alas, maybe she can feel its presence anyway.

"Did you actually make all these?"

[tenuefarfalla]

Cho reaches for the star a few times, but stops shy of actually jumping for it. Instead, she purses her lips at him for a moment, and then tears off a piece of tape and holds that up, instead. "I'm almost done. Just one more bag. Would you please hang that off the ceiling above you?" They're far enough from anything of interest that tall people shouldn't run into it. "And no, not all of them. Ami helped with the flowers that are on the walls and around the table edges." Cho points to one garland near them, folded from the loose pages of one of the alien books from the library that was far too damaged to salvage. "You don't like them?"

[kaballin]

That's not nearly as amusing but he supposes it's all he's going to get.

"Fine. You get one. One only." He holds up a finger to emphasize the whole one thing as if she doesn't know how to count. Taking the tape he sticks it to the string holding the star and the whole thing to the ceiling where it dangles a few inches above his head. There. He's officially a helper. What a swell guy.

"What are they for? I thought this was food and alcohol and shit. You look like you're getting ready for a high school dance."

[tenuefarfalla]

Cho just smiles at him, because hanging just one is still helping. It's one that she doesn't have to climb up on the step ladder to hang herself, and she'll take it. "I've never been to a school dance," she says, as she moves the ladder a few feet to the side of the star he's just hung to do another one herself. "They're to make the place look nice - different from the usual. Ami seemed excited when I mentioned decorations, and I find it soothing. I-- don't sleep well here, and I promised a friend that I wouldn't go wandering on my own. So, when it's late, and everyone is in bed, and I can't sleep... I do this." Kabal would probably judge her so hard if he ever saw her room.

[kaballin]

"You missed out. They're great places to get laid since no one wants to be there and they're boring as hell." Said with the conviction that everyone has the same priorities that Kabal has, even back in high school.

"I don't think anyone sleeps well here. We got kidnapped, there's a weird fucking hum from the lights, we're apparently being watched and the beds suck." The beds are probably fine for people who aren't six foot four and weigh nearly three hundred pounds. But since he is both of those things they're too short and too soft which is not helping with the whole sleeping thing. "Why not go wandering on your own? It's not like you can get lost."

[tenuefarfalla]

Cho makes a thoughtful noise in the back of her throat. That... does not sound like a thing she would have enjoyed in high school. And not only because... "I was twelve when I started grade ten. All of my classmates were so much older than I was. I probably wouldn't have enjoyed a dance very much even if we'd had them." She gets down off her ladder, moves it over another few feet, and gets back on it to hang another decoration.

"And the last time I went wandering on my own, I almost got killed. Three people had to come save me from a pack of killer lizards. Two of them got hurt pretty badly. Diego made me promise I would stick to the buddy system after that." She looks guilty. Guilty and deflated. Curiosity didn't kill the cat, but it nearly killed the cat's friends. That's her fault. God, she doesn't want to think about that. "What's wrong with your bed? Not firm enough?"

[kaballin]

"Why were you twelve in tenth grade?" That seems a few years too young for high school. Which would have made her a fourteen year old senior and Kabal has about two standards when it comes to fuck-buddies and that's one of them.

"Maybe you need a gun. If you can protect yourself no one has to come find you." But now he's curious about the killer lizards, he'll be coming back to that later - because if there's something out there that will put up a good fight he will definitely be out there trying to kill it. "It's about four inches too short. And I think the whole thing is going to collapse."

[tenuefarfalla]

"My grandfather made a large donation so that they would let me take the entrance examination, and when I passed it, they had to let me in." It had been quite a feather in his cap. Cho had been mostly lonely and uncomfortable, but it had been an impressive feat, and that was all that mattered.

Cho has never shot a gun, and she's pretty sure it's harder than it looks. It must be. Besides, what if she panics and shoots someone she knows accidentally? She'd never be able to forgive herself. She'd much rather risk being injured herself. Which she's sure he doesn't want to hear. Diego hadn't wanted to hear it, either. Beds, though, they can talk about that. Cho obviously does not have the same problem that Kabal does, but she can sympathize with not being comfortable. "Maybe we could make some kind of... extension? For the bed, I mean. Even if it didn't match up exactly, it might still be more comfortable than having your feet just hanging off?"

C

[superposition]

Qubit isn't crazy about the music either, to be honest. You'd think he'd enjoy everything with "techno" in the name, but he prefers being able to hear himself think, thank you very much. Still, he didn't want to make a stink about it, since he also thinks it's intentional, even if he can't imagine why. Kids these days, or something.

He is, however, on the alert for odd behavior, so seeing her crouched down by the controls makes him curious. He comes over to investigate, standing off to one side a bit, hands in his pockets.

"Everything all right, Cho?"

[tenuefarfalla]

Cho looks up, then tucks her iPod into the pocket of her dress and stands, because it's an awkward angle to have a conversation from. "Fine. Yes. Do you need something?" She leans to the side a bit to take a quick scan of the party behind him. "Are we running low on food again? I feel like I should have made more ribs."

People seem to be enjoying themselves, though. Well, some people do. Others are staying on the edge of the party and looking mildly uncomfortable. Qubit has been walking around like someone asked him to work the event. Maybe that's how he enjoys himself, though. Everyone has their own little quirks, and she doesn't know him well enough to speculate. Even if she did, who is she to judge? She's spent half the party ferrying food trays back and forth, and Ami has been clearing plates and cups on and off the whole time.

[superposition]

Smiling, Qubit holds up a hand in the universal gesture for "chill." Between the iPod, the control panel, and the fact that she's one of the party organizers, he's already connected the dots.

"No, nothing like that. Though they're excellent ribs, by the way." (And as an interdimensional foodie, he does not say that lightly.) "I just wanted to see what you were doing. Trying to change the music?"

There's a hopeful intonation to that question. Because if she is, he will gladly lend a hand.

[tenuefarfalla]

Cho smiles when Qubit compliments the food. "Thank you. Having a Whole Foods out there helped a lot. Molasses to the rescue."

Then he's on the music, and she forgets entirely about the food, because maybe he can help, and she won't actually lose her mind? "Yes." She lets out a frustrated breath and crouches by the cables again. "I don't even mind if Ami wants house music. I have some on here." She takes her iPod out of her pocket again. "But this isn't one of those super long playlists where all the songs run together and sound the same because they've been mixed that way. This is actually the same song. Exactly the same song. Over and over again. It's starting to drive me a little crazy."

[superposition]

Ah, of course! Gotta have molasses for scratch barbecue sauce. It kind of makes Qubit want to get his hand back in the cooking game, if he should ever come across some of that mythical "free time" stuff. He did a lot of cooking on Earth-β, but only because he had too much free time. There wasn't the same demand for his skills, the same need that he's found in Anchor.

Speaking of said skills, let's see what's going on with the stereo. He crouches alongside Cho, and wastes no time poking through the menus on the little touchscreen. It doesn't take long to identify the issue. "Well, there's your problem. There is a whole playlist, and it is set to Repeat All, but this is the only file queued that it can actually find." An easy fix, for once. All they have to do is plug Cho's iPod into the aux input, and -

- oh. There is no aux input. There's a little drawer built into the panel where you can plug in your device and leave it, but none of the half-dozen cables available are what he's looking for. Qubit frowns and mutters to himself as he sifts through them. "Hm. USB, USB Mini, iPod charger -" he glances over at hers "- but for an older iPod... and I'm not even sure what this one is," he says, examining a connector shaped like a "Z".

[tenuefarfalla]

"Right?" Cho lets a little of her frustration bleed into her voice as she crouches next to Qubit an examines the cables with him, as though she hasn't already seen all of this. "And the fact that I have a charging cable doesn't do any good, because at the other end..." She jams the tip of a nail file along the edge of the panel, finding the exact spot for the release catch far too quickly for this to be the first time she's done this. She reaches in and unplugs one of the cables from its input port, and shows Qubit the strange figure-eight looking layout for things on this end. "We get this."

She lets out one very quiet and pathetic sounding whimper. "And I don't see any other-- I'm not even sure what I'm looking for, in this thing. I mean, you'd think an arcade would have access ports that you didn't have to go crawling around down here to get to, or a microphone. Or... I don't know. Something."

[superposition]

Qubit nods, sympathetic. "You'd think so, wouldn't you? But that's a legacy system for you." He shrugs, with a little more flourish than strictly necessary, and adds sardonically, "Ours is not to question why, only to keep it running or die."

It's an aphorism true of most things in Anchor. Fortunately, the stakes are a good bit lower in this case. He gently takes the cable from her, spinning it briefly between his fingers. "Well, we've got both ends of the cable we need," he muses aloud. "Just not on the same line."

So why not just snap his fingers and make a cable that works? Because, although he doesn't publicize the fact, his power does have a lower bound. A cable by itself isn't complex enough for him to work with, either as material or as finished product. But hey, there's more than one way to skin a cat. (Or to strip a cable, if you prefer your maxims cruelty-free.)

"Do you have your charger on you?" he says, getting to his feet. "I can splice it with this one. My lab's just upstairs, won't take five minutes."

He may have forgotten to consider that this would require Cho to charge her iPod out of a rare figure-eight plug for the foreseeable future.

[tenuefarfalla]

"I have it in my bag!" Qubit might not be thinking about the fact that it'll ruin her cable, but it occurs to Cho, and she pauses half way to rising to her feet. "I don't suppose-- do you have any quick disconnect male and female connectors in your lab? Maybe a bullet disconnect? I saw some of those in a few of the broken door access keypads. Something so that I can swap out the USB half with the... infinity half?" That's what she's calling it now. That's its new name, as far as she's concerned. "Would that be too much extra work?"

Cho has spliced things herself, but she also isn't really sure what is available to Qubit, or how much of his time he's willing to give to this.

B!

[birdical]

As Cho is careening down one of the long walkways that connects the levels of the city, her path is suddenly blocked when a tall, purple-haired woman emerges from around a corner, running so as not to miss the party. In good news, she spots the cart barrelling toward her, her ears pricking upward in alarm; in bad news, she is definitely too close for them to dodge one another, making a collision imminent.

And in possibly surprising news, she is much stronger than she looks. She grabs the cart with both hands before it hits her, skidding back on her bare feet as they both come to a stop. Despite the fact she was the one nearly hit, she seems more concerned than angry.

"Are you all right, little upright?"

[tenuefarfalla]

Cho is grinning like mad, riding down a gentle decline in one of the walkways on her way to the kitchen. Her whole body is pitched forward over the handle, feet kicking in the air, bright laughter trailing behind her. Sometimes, you just need to indulge. If any of her colleagues could see her now... they already barely tolerate her, making a point to call her Miss Takahashi while she addresses them as Doctor. No matter how often they belittle her own accomplishments, she refuses to show them the same disrespect. Which is probably why they keep it up. She knows it's because of her age, her gender, her stature, because she is the type of person to ride an empty cart down a hallway, but she's had plenty of time to think about this during her first stint away from her own world, and she's come to one simple conclusion - she likes this about herself. So there.

Very immediately, she likes it a whole lot less, when it becomes apparent that she's going to collide with a poor innocent bystander. Her natural instinct is to try and topple the cart over before she connects, and hope that she won't hit her head, but then the woman is grabbing hold and halting her progress, so abruptly that Cho tumbles entirely over the handle and almost dumps herself into the woman's lap. At least the cart is empty. She's not sure she would have ever lived down face planting into a serving platter of ribs.

They speak over one another, their concern each only for their new acquaintance. "Oh my God, I am so sorry. I shouldn't have been going so fast I can't believe I was so stupid are you all right?" It comes out in a rush, all as one word, while Cho makes a frantic attempt to right herself without falling onto the floor, and make an examination of Elleru. It is possibly the least graceful flailing of limbs she has ever managed in her entire life.

[birdical]

Elleru and Cho do indeed talk over one another; Elleru stops when she realizes they're both more concerned about each other than themselves, her worry replaced with surprised laughter. She could have been irritated at how recklessly this upright was speeding down the walkway, or how she nearly brought injury to them both, but she owes her own presence in this place to reckless behavior. It's hard for her to pass too much judgment over that. If nothing else, that commonality helps her relate better to the people she's now surrounded by, makes her feel more like one of them.

Seeing she's having trouble righting herself after having nearly tumbled across the cart, Elleru sidesteps the tray and offers to help Cho up -- and by offers, she means to do it herself by picking her up with both hands to set her on her feet, not even asking if she should before she moves closer.

"It is all right!" she exclaims. Her voice is warm, melodic, befitting of her accent. "Do not call yourself stupid, for I am unharmed. Is fine, no?"

[tenuefarfalla]

Cho falls silent and holds very still when hands grasp her tightly and lift her like a doll to rearrange her with her feet firmly underneath her. Well. That's new. Cho knows she doesn't weigh much, comparatively, but this woman must still be incredibly strong.

Not to mention tall. Really tall. Wow.

"I suppose it is," she agrees, running her hands over herself, surprised to find that she isn't injured, either. She'll probably have a bruise on her hips where she was resting on the handle before impact, but that's really a relatively small price to pay. In these shoes, if she'd fallen wrong, she could have broken an ankle. No, this is a far better outcome. "I was on my way to the kitchen," she explains, as though having a destination makes it more excusable. Or maybe she just wants to chat. "We're out of pulled pork at the party, but I made extra."

[birdical]

It's when Elleru puts Cho on the ground that she realizes just how short she is, and feels her naivety prickling at the back of her neck. Is this a child? Or do uprights come this small? She made something (pork, kitchen, food perhaps), so surely she is at least an adult, Elleru decides. She'll endeavor to find out just what age uprights are considered mature later.

"The party?" she asks, her ears pricking upward. "I was looking for it just now! Perhaps I may help you, and you could show me where it is?"

[tenuefarfalla]

Elleru should see Cho without the heels. She might genuinely freak out. Cho brings her hands up, as though she's going to tuck hair behind her ears, and instead she runs her fingers along the shell of her ears from front to back, un-tucking any hair that has managed to get stuck back there. It's a nervous tick of hers. She's self conscious about her ears, and wears her hair to keep them at least partially hidden.

Then Elleru suggests going to the party together, and all of her anxious energy melts away. "That would be wonderful! Have you been to the dining hall yet?" Cho hasn't seen her - she's sure she would have remembered a woman like her, but that doesn't mean she hasn't found her way there outside of the scheduled meal times. "It's just down this way." She takes hold of the handle of the cart again, and begins pushing it at a much safer pace.

Whoops, I thought I replied to this!

[birdical]

"I believe I have, yes," Elleru replies, following along. She keeps herself close to the cart, just in case it should get away again. Unlikely, but she would rather be prepared this time. She suddenly remembers her manners, most of which were lost in the excitement of the moment.

"Ah, what may I call you? We did not introduce."

[tenuefarfalla]

"Oh goodness, you're right." Cho giggles, holds her hand to her mouth. "I guess we were a little flustered. My name is Cho." Now she holds her hand out for Elleru to shake. "It's a pleasure to meet you, even under strained circumstances."