Christmas Eve Dinner

[lulu8889]

Who: Lulu, Moira, Clarice, Troy, Neil, Bod, Castiel Ianto (and if Ianto feels like inviting him, Jack), and Richie
What: Christmas Eve dinner + celebrations
When: Christmas eve, seven or eight PM ish
Where: The Lulu/Moira/Clarice abode
Rating: C for Christmas

Comments

[troyboltonav]

Troy was really looking forward to this dinner party, he'd gotten all dressed up and had his present for Clarice in his pocket. He knocked on Lulu's door with a bottle of sparkling cider in his hand.

[moirabyrne]

Lulu yelled for Moira to get the door. Rolling her eyes slightly, she headed toward the door as Lulu was rummaging around for everyone's presents and making sure the table was perfect while keeping the puppies and the cat away from the plates, the food, the presents, and the tree. It was more than enough work for one person that Moira took pity on her friend (who INSISTED that she didn't need any help), and went to the door.

She opened it to see Troy dressed very nicely with a bottle in hand. Putting on a smile, she ushered Troy into the house. "Happy Christmas," she said, trying not to be too antisocial.

[troyboltonav]

"Hey, Moira! Happy Christmas to you." Troy had heard that Moira's boyfriend had disappeared and he figured she must still be pretty sad. "Uh, I brought you something."

He took a necklace with a crystal pendant at the end out of his pocket. "The guy at the store said this would draw positive energy to you, I figure since it's winter in Canada we can all use a little extra positive energy."

[moirabyrne]

Moira's eyes widened at Troy's gift. She didn't expect it and it was really sweet. No wonder why Clarice liked him so much. She smiled slightly with a small shake of her head, accepting the gift. "Thank you, Troy, that was really sweet of you." She held it gingerly in her hand, examining it before smiling back at the teen. "Let's see if we can't find Clarice around here somewhere."

[owingnobody]

Bod had spent most of the afternoon in a state of quiet agitation. He'd paced around his room for most of the morning, occasionally venturing out into the hall and pacing there. He'd gotten tired of being inside and had walked up and down every street of the town, but it hadn't taken him very long, so he'd done it again, until he was rather cold. Then he took himself over and let Neil scold him for doing ridiculous things, and paced up and down his halls for an hour or two until Neil kindly suggested that a change of scenery might do him some good. So they went to church, which was a little strange, but he sat quietly and listened; the story was slightly more familiar to him now, even if he DID have the odd inclination to laugh at the mention of Mary and Joseph. It had helped, a little; the sermon was about uncertainty, and what could possibly be more uncertain than-- than what, Owens? Dinner at Lulu's house

[notdead_poet]

Clutching a shopping bag full of wrapped gifts in his right hand, Neil managed to maneuver the front door open. He shivered slightly as the freezing air shot through the heated room, but adjusted quickly. Neil locked the door and tugged it shut with one hand before turning his attention to Bod. "Long time no see," he grinned, leaning in to peck his cheek. Bod was all bundled up, which pleased Neil, and his cheeks were flushed and pink, which made him look twice as adorable. However, he also looked just as horrified as he had when Neil had seen him earlier that day.

"Calm down, alright? It's just a meal with a friend." He took Bod's hand with the one not holding the shopping bag, and started to lead him toward Lulu's. It was an amusingly poetic bit of irony. Bod had lived in a graveyard, had stood alongside ghosts and ghouls and all manners of terrors, both dead and alive. But he was petrified of Christmas dinner.

[owingnobody]

"Calm? I am calm," Bod said, climbing to his feet. "Look at how calm I am!" Giving Neil a big, bright smile, he picked up his own bag in his off hand and took Neil's, firmly and with confidence. "Let's go!" he said.

I can do this, he thought to himself. I'm just going to pretend that I'm totally fine, and no one is going to know that I am a ROILING MASS OF FEAR on the inside. And everything will be okay. ...Right?

[notdead_poet]

Neil laughed and shook his head, wondering if Bod honestly thought he was fooling him. "It's going to be great, okay? I promise. It's going to be a nice dinner with good friends, and probably some presents. There's nothing to feel nervous or uncomfortable about."

At this point, they were at Lulu's door. Neil squeezed Bod's hand for a little addition of reassurance before ringing the doorbell.

[richie_bucko]

Richie was still thrilled to be back in Aternaville, and had gotten his old apartment back. Old habits died hard, however, so he was dressed up with brilliantined hair, holding a bouquet of flowers on Lulu's front step. He knocked gently.

[lulu8889]

Lulu went over to the door and opened it. There were few people left that it could be. When she saw that it was Richie, she couldn't help but grin with the tiniest hint of pink on her cheeks. It could have been because she was running around but probably was for an entirely different reason. And he had flowers!

"Richie! Hi! Merry Christmas, come in!"

[richie_bucko]

"Hi, Lulu! Merry Christmas!" He handed her the bouquet as he came into the house. "These are for you." He stopped to look at her for a minute. "You look beautiful tonight."

[lulu8889]

She took the flowers, looking at them as Richie looked at her. "Thank you. You really didn't need to. But thanks." When he told her she looked beautiful, Lulu shook her head slightly and turned away, leading Richie further into the house, toward the kitchen so that she could get a vase for the flowers. "Thanks."

[teapot_jones]

The knock on Lulu's door was, well, shy, if a knock could be shy.

Outside, in the bitter cold, a very warm feeling Ianto stood bundled in his black greatcoat with a blue hat on his head. The hat had a bobble.

Occasionally, he shot glances over towards his dinner date, smiling sheepishly and feeling like a stupid schoolboy. There were worse feelings he could be having, he supposed.

[greatcoatcapt]

The man who stood beside Ianto was anything but shy. His hands may have been shoved deep into the pockets of his greatcoat, but he was here. Jack didn't often like going into a place without knowing what he was up against -- especially when it seemed as if he'd been in this place once before.

There was a potentiality for hijinks. Or a few very awkward moments. Or some strange amalgamation of them both.

Jack's smiles in return were warm and after a moment, Jack withdrew a hand to rest on the small of Ianto's back. He stamped his feet in the cold. Hopefully there'd be an answer -- and soon. It was bloody freezing.

[owingnobody]

Once in the kitchen, Bod had put the bag on the table and collapsed into the nearest chair, and just sat there for a minute, thinking. This was a familiar place. He'd just been there a few days earlier-- granted, being scolded by Lulu for unlawful impersonation of a hamster, but even then, it was still a friendly, accepting sort of place to be. So he'd unwrapped the candy cane and stuck the end of it in his mouth. It did taste good

[lulu8889]

Lulu popped up behind Bod giving the boy a quick hug. "Thanks for getting the door." She looked at her two guests brightly. Ianto and Jack.

"Ianto!" Lulu grinned happily seeing her friend looking happy and adorable. And with that hat. She couldn't help but give him a huge hug. Lulu was very glad he was back. She was about to give Jack the same sort of hug before she remembered that this Jack didn't know her. Mid-hug she stopped and stuck out a hand. "I'm Lulu. It's nice to meet you." Even though she'd met him already. Goodness, these sorts of things never got less awkward. "This is Bod. Oh! And Merry Christmas. Can I take your jackets?"

[never_blink]

Clarice was scrambling to finish wrapping her gifts. The year before, she'd sort of cheated; she'd never had so many people to buy gifts for before, so she'd pretty much gotten the same thing for everyone, only slightly varied based on the recipient. This year, however, that hadn't felt right. She knew people too well now to 'cheat' and get anyone anything that wasn't specifically chosen for them. So her shopping had taken a great deal longer and she kept convincing herself that no one was going to like any of it and why was she so terrible at this??

Well, what was done was done. It was Christmas Eve, and everyone was here, and her presents were bought and wrapped whether they were acceptable or completely wrong. She started to gather them up awkwardly in her arms, then thought better of it.

Laying her hands on top of the pile, she concentrated hard on a space under the tree that had been empty. With a sudden glitter of pink lights and a muted BLINK, they vanished, and reassembled themselves beneath the gaily lit Christmas tree

[troyboltonav]

"Clarice, hey!" Troy said with a big smile, giving her a hug. "Wow, you look gorgeous!" He really liked that dress on her.

"Hey, so, um, I have a little something for you." He took a small box from his pocket. It was giftwrapped too although his giftwrapping skills weren't the greatest ever. "Merry Christmas."

Inside was a silver locket in the shape of a heart, with a picture of Troy and Clarice together. He'd asked her to pose for it ages ago with exactly this in mind.

[never_blink]

Clarice hugged him back, beaming and blushing a little as she always did when he complimented her. She was learning to accept it with more grace - sort of - and actually, her gift to him had a tiny bit to do with that. "Thank you," she whispered. "You look really handsome. Merry Christmas..."

When he held out the small box, her eyes flicked from him to it and back again, then a smile blossomed across her face and she took it almost reverently. "Thank you. Oh, this-" She held out the flat package she still held. "-this is for you?"

Inside was a music book. The songs were widely varied, but all on the same subject. And someone had carefully handwritten, on the inside of the back cover, the lyrics to a song not from the book. This song was one Clarice would have sung for Troy, if she'd had the nerve to do it, which she didn't. Still... she hoped he understood the things she wanted to say with it

[troyboltonav]

Troy gazed down a little at her flattery. "Thank you. Merry Christmas to you too! This party is awesome. Lulu sure knows how to do her thing