Wine's been poured and thank the Lord I've had the napkins freshly pressed... [Party-Thread]

[cookiesandhugs]

Grant Park, on any other day, could be called just a nice little park (or EPIC PARK, seeing as how it appears to have eaten Chicago) where people see other people and other people exercise and some people from different universes fall into Chicago

Comments

[findaconstant]

Daniel very nearly almost forgot about the party, but then he didn't.

He shows up with a thin, book-shaped package, wrapped neatly in some purple paper. Guess what it is!

If you said "sheet music," you would be quite correct.

So there he is, at a party for the first time in a very long time, looking for the birthday girl.

[cookiesandhugs]

Gladys blushes when she sees Daniel holding the gift. "You shouldn't have!" she insists, grabbing him in a hug and giving him a very quick kiss on the cheek. "You are so sweet. Really. I don't think I can accept this." She shakes her head a few times.

[findaconstant]

Did she just -

Please hold, turning a thousand shades of red.

"Oh, um, it's no problem, really. You should accept it, though, since it's uh... kinda for our lessons." So even if she doesn't accept it, she'll still have to use it.

[cookiesandhugs]

Gladys giggles. "Oh, if it's for THAT then!" she says, accepting the gift. She's conveniently ignoring the fact that he's blushing. She's good at being oblivious to things like that. It's kind of how she gets through her life.

"Should I open it right now, or should I wait?" she asks, grinning at him.

[justashitmagnet]

Mike heard about the party, sure. He's been watching his psychic journal pretty closely, instead of going out drinking. He knows there's no alcohol, but that's okay because there are cookies. Mike is sort of a fan of cookies.

He is not, however, a massive fan of crazy old ladies, so he's kind of hiding while he's eating her cookies, trying to work up the nerve to congratulate her on her birthday. He's not really succeeding.

He's not particularly looking for conversation--he's okay with just eating cookies for right now--but he's too polite to turn anyone away should they try to strike something up. So. Have at.

[sittinontrains]

Jamal has slipped into the party stealthily. He still can't read English much. He doesn't spend much time looking at the journal anyway so he doesn't realize that everyone is invited to this party. There is food though so he's going to try to get some, himself.

He ends up hiding near where Mike is kind of hiding.

"Are those cookies for just anybody?" Jamal wonders if Mike is stealing some cookies, too.

[justashitmagnet]

Mike almost chokes on a bit of cookie. He hadn't seen Jamal there. He coughs a couple of times, clears his throat, then eyes the tiny kid warily. He doesn't really do kids. Kids don't like him. But so far this one isn't doing much harm. He just asked a question, after all.

"I guess," he says. "That's what it looks like, right? There's no one guarding them anyway."

[sittinontrains]

Jamal nods looking rather thoughtful for his age as if he's considering this theory with great speculation. He is hungry so it's hard to think much about it. The cookies are right there, but he's learned to be careful.

"People forget to guard stuff sometimes. They don't lock it up, but if you take it, they still chase you. Why are there cookies here?"

[clockwork_doc]

Doc hasn't been leaving the Conrad really at all, but he can't pass this up. Gladys is one of his friends, and he'll be damned if he misses her birthday. He's wandering Grant Park at the moment, a hastily-wrapped package under his arm. Inside is a pair of brightly-colored oven mitts -- he felt he ought to get her something, and this seemed logical enough. He pauses in his search for Gladys to stare at a certain tree. For some reason it seems familiar. . . .

Then it clicks. Everyone, feel free to stare at the guy currently laughing at a tree.

[teenytinyteme]

Chance has come to the party; of course she has. She can't give up the oppourtunity for free food. She can't afford to!

That being said, she's very nervous of the amount of people who could very possibly be absolutely nuts. Take this guy who's laughing at... a tree. "Um, sir?" she asks finally, because no one else appears to be asking the questions. "Um, sir... are you okay?"

[clockwork_doc]

Doc calms down and looks over at Chance, grinning. He's got metal teeth, so it might look scary, despite the fact that Doc's in a pretty good mood today. He's outside, he's at a birthday party for a friend -- life is good! "I'm fine," he tells her, fully aware he probably looks crazy. "I was just remembering how I came here through the Rift. I ran right into this exact tree." He gives it an oddly-affectionate pat. Apparently a year here can make even mild injury after coming through a Rift amusing.

[teenytinyteme]

Chance draws away a little bit at the metal teeth, but she's not rude. At least he HAS teeth. That's better than nothing.

"...Oh," she says. "If I ran to a tree, I wouldn't exactly be laughing at it. I might just kick it. But I guess that's me and not you, right?" She gives him a small smile, then becomes incredibly self-conscious of her own teeth, so she lets the smile fade.

[deadgirlsliekme]

There's a rather nervous-looking Victorian man lingering near the edges of the party, holding a sketchbook tightly. Normally he would have skipped his event (cookies or no cookies), but he happened to recognize the name as that lady Doc wanted to introduce him to when he visited the Conrad. And Doc said he was coming, so Victor's sure of seeing at least one friendly face around here. That helps a little.

He hasn't joined in the festivities much, preferring to keep to himself and watch the others. He feels rather guilty he doesn't have a gift, but he also doesn't know the woman, so. . . . Hopefully he'll at least go over and have a cookie or two eventually.

[andwhosearmy]

Casey doesn't actually know anyone here. It's just that when she hears on the journals that there's going to be a gathering of exactly the type of people the CLF likes to target... it seemed like a good idea to have some sort of police presence there. And by police presence, she means... her, because with the exception of James, she's not sure who else she'd call on to help her.

It's not hard to find the gathering, and Casey can't help but smile a little as she walks toward them. It's certainly impressive, to see the park transformed like this, and cheering in the face of everything that's been going on lately.

[stillaboyscout]

Vaughn's here too, even though he doesn't recognize anyone in the immediate vicinity. He's nibbling on a cookie and glances over at Casey.

"Do you know her?" he asks, nodding towards the giant cake. "This is kind of a crazy party. In the middle of Chicago. I wonder if she had to get police permission or something."

He's kind of awful at starting conversations. That's okay.

[andwhosearmy]

Casey's smile grows just a little. "No, I don't know her. And while technically there probably should have been some kind of permission involved... I'm willing to let it pass this once." As gatherings go, this one is fairly harmless, and not undeserved, Chicago being... what it is.

[stillaboyscout]

Vaughn turns to look at Casey fully. "You're a police officer?" he asks. Not that he thinks women can't be police officers. He doesn't. It just... never occurred to him to think much about the police in Chicago. "Well. I guess since you're not arresting people it's sort of approved then." He shrugs.