NYE - Post Two

[wildlyconflictd]

If you had been upstairs in the Compound or in the Hub at six in the evening of December 31, you might have thought your eyes were playing tricks on you, or that you'd once again been whisked off to some strange, new place. Within the blink of an eye, the rooms had changed, sparkling instantly with festive decorations, and it was all so

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[jim_halpert]

Jim had always felt a little out of place with big parties. He'd had Samantha lately to distract him for most of them, but Pam had her at the moment, leaving him among the big crowd. He did grab the Philly cheese steak he spotted on a nearby table, though - it was hard to resist.

He had just turned around when he realized he was about to bump right into someone. He barely managed to not get the food he was carrying all over the person.

"Hey, sorry," he apologized immediately, wincing. "I didn't get anything on you, did I?"

[realnicetrip]

Given Harry's own general lack of stability, it was a wonder that they didn't both go skidding to the floor, but disaster was somehow avoided.

"I think you got a bit of cheese on me," Harry said, and lifted his sleeve to his mouth to lick off the stain. "Yeah, that's cheese. Don't worry, it's gone now." He peered over at the offending foodstuff which had smeared upon him in the first place. "Holy crap, is that a Philly cheesesteak? I haven't had one of those in years!"

[jim_halpert]

With how messy it was, he was relieved that was all it way.

"There's a whole line of them right over there," Jim said, motioning to the table he just walked away from. Unsurprisingly, the cheese steak he just took was already replaced somehow by another. Jim didn't ask questions on this kind of night. "They look good, too."

[realnicetrip]

"Aw, yes!" Harry promptly scuttled over to grab one for himself, coming back holding it carefully balanced so no cheese or steak fell out of the edges. He took a bite, and made a loud, appreciative noise.

"Oh, that's good," he said. "Damn, I'd hate to be one of the chefs round here, knowing the island's a better cook than them."

[jim_halpert]

"I think they're too busy stuffing their faces to mind," he remarked after taking a bite himself. "Most of this stuff they couldn't make here even if they wanted to. I'd say the island has an unfair advantage."

[realnicetrip]

"Doesn't it always," Harry said, and it wasn't a question so much as a statement of depressing fact. He had some cheesesteak, which cheered him up again.

"Still, we're technically all its guests, only right the damn place plays the host once in a while. Not sure this makes up for all the screwing around with personalities and random sex changes and weird weather, but at least it's being nice for once."

[jim_halpert]

"I've come to terms with the fact this is probably it playing a sort of keep away game with us. Give us some of this food just before we stop missing it so much," he said. He'd been on the island long enough to see the pattern, anyway. "As long as we get it sometimes, you know?"

[realnicetrip]

"Yeah, I suppose so, though I got this theory," Harry said, "That it's a bit like what people do in interrogations. Y'know, good cop, bad cop, give you some benefits, smack you around, until you've not got a clue what's going to happen next and you'll do anything they tell you to." He tilted his head upwards - he never was sure why he did that when mockingly addressing the island, but that was his habit - and called out,

"We'll talk! We'll all talk!" He laughed, bitterly. "Oh, this has got way too dark for a conversation with a stranger at a party, I'm sorry."

[jim_halpert]

"It's okay," he said with a laugh, shaking his head. Jim didn't doubt he might be right. "I think when it's a party where things magically appear, it's allowed."

[poison_lipstick]

Fortunately Saffron had time to react and take a step back, otherwise on account of their height difference Jim's sandwich might have ended up on her head.

"No harm done," she assured him with a smile. "How's your night going, Jim?"

[jim_halpert]

"It just got a whole lot better," he said, a grin forming after he saw he hadn't made a mess. Motioning to his sandwich, he asked, "Have you ever tried one of these?"

[poison_lipstick]

"No, I don't think so," Saffron replied, getting a closer look at it. "What's in it?"

[jim_halpert]

"This is something special from around where I'm from," he explained, opening it a little to let her take a look. "Beef, cheese, onions, peppers, and ketchup. It's less crazy than it sounds, I promise."

[poison_lipstick]

Saffron's eyebrows raised in a 'hmmm' sort of expression. "That sounds pretty good," she said. "Not very forgiving on the hips, though."

[jim_halpert]

"It's a party," he reminded, holding the sandwich out to her. He hadn't bit into it, and he could always go grab another. "A party that happens once a year on an island that makes you walk miles every day. I don't think you'll have much of a problem."

[poison_lipstick]

She hesitated a moment, then shrugged. "Oh, all right," she said, taking the offered sandwich. "Thank you."

She took a modest bite, and her eyes fell shut almost immediately as she let out a small pleased sound. "Ai ya, that is good," she praised once she'd swallowed.