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

[itsnotaonesie]

Peter grabs a seat on that ledge, giving her a little shrug.

"It's fine, I mean, everyone's been busy lately with all the weird stuff going on. I haven't really been the most social person either. Like honestly, I almost didn't even come to this thing. Figured I should at least try to relax, wouldn't wanna give myself wrinkles this early."

It's bad enough he's already developing dark circles under his eyes, wouldn't want to add to it.

[eudorapatch]

"Oh yeah." Patch gives him a deadpan look. "You're really one wrinkle away from totally hideous." Says the woman who definitely has the faint beginnings of smile lines on her own face. She should probably be nicer, knowing how easily he gets flustered, but she does like messing with him.

She nods her head at his drink. "How is that one? I haven't tried it yet." She reaches for his glass, intending to taste a sip. Partly because she wants to see if she likes it any better than the one that she has, and partly because she wants to see how strong it is, so she knows if she wants to be concerned about this development or not.

[itsnotaonesie]

Peter's just a little too buzzed to get flustered this time. He chuckles and doesn't even think twice about letting her take his glass. Have at it, this isn't suspicious at all.

"Not too bad, maybe a little too sweet. It's free though, so I really shouldn't complain."

[eudorapatch]

Patch takes a small sip, and is relieved to find that his drink is just as weak as hers. So the drinks aren't a weak one and a strong one. Seems to be more one citrus-y one and a one kind of almost tropical one, both sweet, and both low on the alcohol. Good.

She hands Peter's glass back to him. "Our situation is really messed up. You can complain about it as much as you want. Just don't let it drag you down." Plenty of ways to be dragged down, and she's seen the end result of almost all of them. "Do you do this at home? Drink?"

[itsnotaonesie]

He's had like five of them already, but also he's got a crazy metabolism. They're hitting him, but not too hard.

He huffs, nodding in reply to her first statement, "I'm really tryin' not to." He's a sturdy dude, but he's starting to realize that maybe even Spider-Man has his limits. Too bad he's been pushing himself past them for a while now. "I think this is the first time I've had anything to drink in... gotta be about a year, now. I don't really like alcohol, don't like to have my senses dulled. I just didn't... really know how else to relax for this thing, though."

[eudorapatch]

Patch nods, sips her drink, stares ahead of them both, out at the party. "All right," she says, speaking clearly and quickly. "I'm not going to mother you or police you. You're a sharp young man with a decent head on your shoulders, and trying to tell people your age what to do never works, anyway. I will say that the sugar masks the alcohol, so they're probably stronger than you think. Pace yourself, let each one hit you before you have another one. I figure, if you're old enough to save the world, you're old enough to have a drink. You're my friend, though, so if you get stupid about this at any point in the future, I'm going to become a very un-fun friend. I'm a huge pain in the ass when I'm the un-fun friend. I want to trust you to make good choices, so be someone trustworthy."

Only now does she cock her head to the side and look at him again. "Sound fair?"

[itsnotaonesie]

The sugar masks the alcohol, he had not considered this. He stares at one of his hands, flexing his fingers a bit like ah yes, that explains why my fingers feel numb, but doesn't vocalize this.

"I think what you're describing is actually called a mom-friend, but yes. That sounds fair to me."

[eudorapatch]

"You know, part of me wants to refute that... but I think we'd both know that's a load. I'm totally the mom-friend." She tips her head back, looking at the ceiling and letting out an explosive sigh. "Not really sure how that happened. Doesn't the oldest sister usually end up as the mom friend?" How often is it the baby of the family who takes on the mantle?

[itsnotaonesie]

Of course Peter is grinning like a total brat, but it's a friendly total brat sort of way.

"Dunno, I've never had any siblings, or had too many mom-friends. Or maybe I was the mom-friend all along?" Not quite, but he was definitely the super hero friend, which is almost the same thing.

[eudorapatch]

Patch raises one eyebrow delicately in Peter's direction. "Kid-o, I say this with genuine affection for you, if you are the mom friend of your group, I'm amazed any of you survived grade school." Peter is a great kid, but he's a very different kind of reliable. Still important, but not quite the same. Considering that he forgets to eat and perform other basic acts of self-care, and he knows it, she's pretty sure he's kidding.