apocalypsehowcomm | (mingle) It must be party time

Who: Ren Amamiya, Wanda Maximoff, you!
When: 12th of September
Where: Good Harbor Beach
Summary: Here's the barbecue log! Eating, playing games, having a bonfire and sleep-over on the beach!
Warnings: Alcohol? Ghost stories?

ɪ. ᴡᴇʟᴄᴏᴍᴇ

Congratulations, you've made it to the Good Harbor Beach September barbecue! With the weather cooling, but still pleasant enough, it's a pleasure to have a hangout involving ADI's residents and those who live at Bonnie's. There are still so many people who don't know one another, and many to strengthen bonds with, so the hours your dearest Wanda and Ren spend cooking and flipping and seasoning are nothing but rewarding! Seeing people enjoying themselves is great and it's motivating for them to keep doing these encounters every now and then.

On the menu, we have:
- Burgers;
- Steaks with jacked potato sides;
- Ribs;
- Zucchini-and-Pecorino fritters;
- Several different salads, including ovcharska;
- Aubergine kebabs with charred onion salsa;
- Salmon yakitori;
- Takoyaki;
- Cupcakes
- Apples and honey;
- Cherry dumplings;
- Sarmale filled with rice;
- Bundevara (pumpkin pie);

For drinks, there's a selection of alcohol, as well as coffee, water, tea, and a variety of sodas. Take in the nice view, jump on the ocean, sink your toes in the sand and enjoy yourselves. There aren't any usable tables, but there are several blankets on the floor for your perusal.

ɪɪ. ᴛɪᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴘᴀʀᴛʏ

With bellies full, now it's when the real fun begins. There are a few decks of cards being passed around, as well as one of their single tables now organized to a beer-pong competition. Individually, games such as Never Have I Ever, as well as Truth or Dare can be seen, and those who wish to use their skills for entertaining are more than welcome to do so.

A little bonding here, a little drunken chatting there, this is your time to shine!

ɪɪɪ. ᴀ ʙᴏɴꜰɪʀᴇ

With those who have a curfew to worry about in mind, a bonfire is lit, and a few tents are set around the beach (may have to be shared). If anyone's got a nice story, now it's the time to share it, or perhaps if anyone can play an instrument, it's about time to break it out of its case. The night will be lively until the early hours of the morning, and of course, mindful of those who couldn't stay up this late.

The next morning, everyone will be properly thanked for their attendance and tupperwares will be distributed with leftovers for those who'd like to take some food home, the beach will be cleaned impeccably and everyone will go their own way, hopefully with smiles and a new sense of unity and connection from the amazing night they've just experienced.

ɪᴠ. ᴀ ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ ᴏᴏᴄ ɴᴏᴛᴇ

(Please put in your top-level subject line or prompt line whether it's okay to threadjack! Just to keep things more dynamic, we encourage it!)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[As Loki makes rounds getting to know folks at the barbecue, someone he passes over several times is... that young man from the flophouse, the one with the questionable pastries. Loki isn't avoiding him, per se, but there are a lot of people here, you know? And their previous conversations hadn't exactly left him curious.

It isn't until he overhears someone call him "Jeff" that Loki puts the pieces together. He hadn't bothered to ask the man's name before, but he recognizes Jeff from the network. When he has a chance to catch him alone (which may or may not involve ripping Jeff away from a different conversation), he points a somewhat drunken finger at him.]

Butthole Surfers guy?

[ Did you know that there are not one, but two members of the Butthole Surfers named Jeff? ~~Because I just learned that right now.~~ ]

Oh... No, that's another Jeff. Jeff Pinkus? [ He blinks. ] I don't look like him, do I?

[ Wait. Jeff's eyes light up as blessed clarity strikes through his haze of intoxication, just for a moment, and he points a finger back at Loki. ]

Oh! You mean-- my thing. On the message board chatroom thing?

Yes, that! On the network! I had said I didn't like them—and I stand by that, they're simply not to my taste, but what you said did convince me that they have merit in the field of music. It was... [He snaps his fingers several times, trying to remember.] Learning the rules and destroying them. I respect that.

[For some reason, Loki is really adamant about getting this message through to Jeff. Like it's been on his mind for days.]

Yeah... Yeah, exactly! [ He's practically bouncing on his heels now, full of sunshine and excitement. ] That's exactly-- you get it, man! [ Oh it warms his heart to hear that. Hey, even if Loki still doesn't like the music, at least he gets why somebody like Jeff does, and that's meaningful enough for him. ]

And it's like, that's how it is, like... In art, and magic, and life and everything, you know? It's the only way to-- to really take shit to its full potential.

Yes! You know where we should really be breaking the rules? Society.

[The Dead Serious look on his face dissolves after a moment, making a realization.] You do magic?

[ Jeff's nodding along in total agreement, making a note that Loki's definitely the wisest person here.

But magic, now that's his favorite subject. Honestly, it's probably his favorite thing in the world-- or close to it. ]

Oh yeah. I'm-- [ He's about to say Gifted, but nobody here really knows what that means. So he gestures vaguely. ] --uh. Magic. A bard! I'm a bard.

[He gives Jeff a quizzical look.] What does being a bard have to do with magic?

It's like-- [ He twirls two fingers in orbit of each other. ] Magic and music are all connected for me. [ No, that's not straightforward enough. Here, he's got it: ] I sing and make shit happen. Which can be a total pain in the ass sometimes, I mean, I can't sing that good while a dude's trying to punch me in the face, you know?

[Loki’s mouth falls agape. He has never been more jealous of anything in his entire life. Not even the throne! …Maybe the throne. As he’s been drinking, he can’t hide his excitement as well as he’d like to.]

Show me. Right now.

[ Loki's reaction only further cements him in Jeff's mind as the coolest person here, and his own excitement rises up to match the trickster's. ]

Oh! Fuck yeah, okay!

[ He looks around for an opportunity to do something quick and flashy. Should he, like, lift up all the desserts with a song-- no, that could end in disaster, like a shower of cupcakes. And he's sure as shit not going to do anything tampering with moods, not here and now. He considers casting something on the bonfire, but given the whole circus thing... Probably not for the best.

So that leaves him with a tried and true classic: fairy lights. It's silly, frivolous, kids' stuff. Perfect for a party. He holds his palm up as he starts to sing a melody without any words, where each shift in pitch and rhythm, no matter how seemingly nonsensical, seems to be significant in some way. And as he sings this nonsense song, some lights begin to float and dance up from his palm, coming together like a flock of birds, or a school of fish, forming a pattern of lights. It looks like a hand rising up from some invisible sea, stretching into an arm, a head, a body-- with a fishtail.

He's definitely making the vague figure of a mermaid out of fairy lights, because they're at the beach and he's got mermaids on the mind. (And yeah, he's totally been thinking about writing a song about fish ladies.)

It isn't an illusion, though; it's far too primitive for that. More like a swarm of lights doing its best impression of an illusion. But he's having fun with it, making it swim and dance in the air as his song shifts into something more cohesive and he starts singing the words to Where Is My Mind?

Which might seem on the nose, given his patron and all that's been on his mind lately, but hey. It's not about that. His reasoning is way more innocent and straightforward: the song's about swimming!

And don't ask how he can cast so easily right now. He definitely hasn't been feeding any eldritch entities... ]

[Loki begins to doubt Jeff as he spends all that time looking around. It's like he's hoping something will happen that he can take credit for.

...And then what Jeff is able to conjure is clearly his own, and Loki is sucked right back in. He's always been a fan of fancy light tricks. And mermaids! Even the song is winning him over, despite his distaste for Jeff's... well, taste in music.

He lets the display go on as long as Jeff casts it, and claps for him once he's done.]

That's amazing, truly! I couldn't even do that. I mean, I could probably conjure up a nice light display and sing at the same time, but, you know, it's not the same. [Even in his envy, he manages to think himself superior...

Now, there is one thing Loki had noticed, but he'd been kind enough to save it for after the applause. There's a distinct shift in tone as Loki takes a step toward Jeff, lowering his volume.]

I am curious as to how you accomplished it. Someone must be pleased with you to have given you the power to hold that display up for so long.

[ Applause! He lives for applause. Or, at least, he usually does. Back home, people cheering and shouting and clapping would send him on highs that he could only describe as spiritual. They lifted him up, brought him to keep striving to go higher, and higher, into the stars, close enough to touch...

It doesn't cut it now. He thinks it should-- he knows it should-- and there's something disquieting about the way he feels so unfulfilled by it. Sure, Jeff's still grinning, and he's happy, he thinks, and eager for Loki's approval. And he's not even bothered by the other's self professed superiority!

But there's some swirling, hungry part of him that's just so dissatisfied by everything. By the spell he chose, by the delight and amusement it brought...

It doesn't scratch the itch. Maybe that's why there's some weird melancholy behind his smile, which dims into a nervous grimace as the trickster steps closer and pretty much calls him out. ]

Yeah, I'm-- I dunno, it's-- [ He thinks about what Fenix said to him. Your type, the memory of a skipped beat, tangled melodies, spinning and twisting. He twirls a finger absently. ] It's nothing.

[ What a lame evasion. ]

(mingle) It must be party time

CLOSED to jeff calhoun

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sorry to make u wait over a week for Just This orz

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