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

[livingdeadgirl]

When she notices someone's playing live music, Ami quickly goes over and turns off the Darude Sandstorm (or whatever has replaced it by now), then comes over to listen, bobbing her head in time. Her tastes lean more toward metal, but this is cool, too. What is that instrument, anyway? It's like ... half a guitar, kind of?

Well, maybe she'll ask at some point. Ami applauds gently as he finishes this boppy dance tune, but before he can start another, she interjects, "Onni! Are you taking requests?"

[scowlish]

It's a relief when whatever insipid music is playing in the background turns off, and Onni makes a point of playing a bit more loudly to compensate. He remembers Ami from when he'd first arrived, and it's nice to see her again, especially when he sees that she's enjoying the music. Besides alcohol, an audience enjoying the music is the most encouraging thing.

And then, once he's finished a song, she comes closer and he nods at her, an acknowledgement of her presence - before he can start another song, she's coming up to him and asking if he's taking requests.

"Ah, yes, if I know the tune. If not, I can do my best to learn it."

[livingdeadgirl]

Ami grins. "You might know it! It's Finnish."

It is, in fact, the only Finnish song she knows! And she didn't know it was Finnish until that one time Lalli sang it at karaoke. But apparently she's not that familiar with it, because - shoot, what was it called?

"It's called, uh..." She snaps her fingers a few times, trying to remember. It's on the tip of her tongue! "It's - you know, the leekspin song. 'Loituma'! - or is that the band?" She looks to Onni, sheepish. "Should I, like - I could hum a few bars?"

[scowlish]

"You know a Finnish song?" he asks, his brow raising. Unless it was a song from an Old World rock band or something similar, he hadn't expected her to know Finnish music.

When she stutters over the name of it, he realizes she doesn't really know Finnish music, but just this song. He has no idea what a 'leekspin' is, but the word 'Loituma' sounds familiar, and he nods.

"That's the band's name, Loituma. I know a few of their songs. If you hum some of it, I might know of it."

[livingdeadgirl]

"Okay." Ami nods, clears her throat, and sings a few bars.

Once upon a time, she would have been shy about singing in front of people. But by now, she's done enough karaoke and summer caroling and starring in a high school production of offbrand "Wicked" that it's not as big a deal. It'd be smoother if she knew, like, any of the words, but she knows the tune well enough to attempt one of the scat phrases. It definitely starts with "yap pap pa" and ends with "kitty gun glue," but the rest would be ridiculous to actually write out phonetically, so you will just have to imagine it.

[scowlish]

When Ami starts singing, Onni's brow raises. He recognizes the tune, of course, but she's speaking absolute gibberish. If he doesn't focus on the individual words, though, but rather just the sounds of the syllables as they bleed into each other, it does sound Karelian, in its way, if not directly Finnish.

"Ah. It's Ievan Polkka." he says after a moment, nodding.

A moment later, and he lowers his gaze to his kantele, strumming the first few notes of it. It's strange, to hear it sung by a teenage girl who's most decidedly not Finnish, because it's such an ancient folk song from his home. But he lets that go, humming for a moment or two while he gets a feel for the song again, and then he starts singing it, his voice confident.

[livingdeadgirl]

Right! Ievan Polkka! Ami stops singing and lets Onni take over, sitting down on the floor to listen. She's never heard the song with an accompaniment before, only a capella, so this is an interesting new take on it.

She closes her eyes, bobbing her head and shoulders with the beat, and imagines the airy, enchanted woods of Bosuma. She doesn't quite recall what Lalli's singing voice sounded like, but hearing Onni's reminds her of it, if a bit deeper in pitch and more robust in tone.

It's a little bittersweet, she supposes. Is it weird to feel homesick for a place where you also felt homesick? Is it weird to miss a friend who's currently hanging out like ten feet away? It's probably weird.

When the song's over, Ami starts a soft but enthusiastic round of applause for him. "You're really good!" she exclaims. "It comes out a lot better when you actually speak Finnish, doesn't it? Haha."

[scowlish]

It's a very old song, and the particular dialect it's in would be unfamiliar in his mouth if he weren't used to singing it through years of practice. It's a nice song, soothing and energizing all at once, and it's nice to have someone ask for him to play it; it reminds him of evenings spent around outdoor fires after sauna with the other mages at Keuruu, relaxed and passing around a bottle of vodka while they requested songs from each other, going in rounds.

When he finishes and Ami applauds, he raises his brows and nods a bit at her assertion that it sounds better from someone who speaks Finnish.

"Mm, I suppose it does."

After a moment, he idly strums at the kantele, not playing a particular tune but just enjoying the familiar sound of it.

"Where did you hear of that song? It's a very old folk song."