(Untitled)

[huntersdaughter]

Who: Jo and the people she invites to stay with her.
Where: Her house which is also the Continuing Hope Art Gallery
When: Sunday - Monday - Tuesday (all three days can get clumped into this one post. Just put the day in your subject!)
What: Duh. People have been locked out of the castle. This is because of that.
Notes: Sunday, we will assume she

Comments

sunday night }

[whatialways_do]

Not wanting to keep herself cooped up all day, Max didn't swing around to the gallery until that night and the weather really started to cool. Her higher-than-normal body temperature kept her warmer than most, but there's only so much a thin tank top can do against a fall chill. So when the sun started to go down, Max went to find some shelter.

Everything seemed pretty quiet when she strolled up to the gallery. She gave the cursory glance around streets before she opened the door and made her way inside.

"Yo." Announcing herself tended to be the smart thing to do around this crowd. "Anybody home?"

[black_dog_bite]

Jet decided it would probably be best to stay out of this one. He still felt a burning desire to feel in-the-know, but saying something had already been taken care of. Jo had it covered. Besides, if he knew Spike, he knew that when he's upset, he tends not to want to be bothered.

A little something had been discovered the night before, but Jet had a feeling he was still missing something.

[gwaine]

Gwaine finished off his drink. He shrugs at Spike's question in that vague 'I'll be anything to please the ladies' way and tries to verbalize an answer. The only roadblock in an otherwise perfect plan is that he was trying to sit down at that precise moment and, in his inebriated state, he missed the chair entirely and landed on the floor. He bursts out laughing instead.

[whatialways_do]

"Okay. When you start missing chairs, someone needs to be cut off."

Gwaine breaking the tension saved Max from having to do it. Because she would have, if things had gotten any more heated. Taking a few steps over, she moved one hand to Gwaine's arm to help him up and get him properly into the chair before he hurt someone. Or something.

[itwas_raining]

Julia had picked up on that tone immediately, even despite how many drinks she'd had. She knew Spike well, after all. Years of experience had led her to become fluent in those nonverbal cues, and she was usually able to translate fairly well from what he didn't say.

... Except for right now. She couldn't tell what was going through his head, and that was starting to bother her more than anything. Something about that comment had set something off, or else he wouldn't have responded like that. What she didn't know was why.

But, fortunately, a well-timed sparing of the tension on Gwaine's part had effectively distracted her, causing her to leave her thoughts on that behind for the moment. Allowing her the opportunity to continue to ignore that nagging feeling that she was in the dark about something, and to continue to pretend that nothing was wrong. She let her eyes wander over to Gwaine and Max, taking another sip from her drink.

[gwaine]

He lets Max help and does his part to keep his weight off of her. He still has enough sense to know a woman should not be half-carrying a man. When he's finally in a chair he spares her a grateful smile.

"Thank you, Max."

He's not entirely oblivious to the tension, but the haze of alcohol makes him ever so slightly less attuned to it than the rest. For now, he's happy to ignore it.

[gottaknockhard]

Spike kept his eyes on the other side of the room long enough to see the man fall; somehow that didn't seem to make it any easier to dismiss what he said. He'd always felt that people were more honest when they were drunk. Could be why that innocent connection bothered him as much as it did.

With a forced exhale, he brought his eyes back to Jo. He couldn't blame her for being nervous, since he was clearly restraining himself because of something that none of them had a clue about. Far be it for him to spoil the mood.

"I'm fine," he replied finally, firmly refusing to confirm that he was sulking, and doing his damnedest not to keep surveying the people in the room like he was sizing every one of them up. Maybe that smoke break wasn't long enough. " -- Just asking a question." He'd missed the introductions after all.

[huntersdaughter]

Jo nodded, frowning a bit and still wishing that he'd sit down. She moved from the front room and toward the kitchen, moving to get another bottle and a clean glass. She poured herself a drink, opting to finish it there instead of waiting then poured a second before heading back out to join everyone else.

She moved to take a seat behind where Spike wasn't sulking, but she reached up to grab at him, and pull him down onto her lap. She'd wanted him to sit. He should sit!

[gottaknockhard]

For about a minute, Spike thought Jo had given up on trying to get him to warm up to her company. He'd spent the short time she was in the kitchen wondering why he came back. A wordless nod to Jet, and he hoped he could read what he was thinking: Spike was ready to head back out, he didn't care where, but he needed someone around to keep his eyes on them. There was only one man he'd trust enough to do it

[huntersdaughter]

Jo didn't mind that he'd moved aside so quickly. Honestly, she just wanted him to sit so that he'd stay put instead of trying to bail again. The conversation had gotten odd, but she didn't want the night to continue on this trend.

"Does anyone need another drink?" Jo had after all brought the bottle back with her.

[itwas_raining]

That plan might have gone off without a hitch, that no one would have noticed and things would carry on as usual. Except for one small detail

[huntersdaughter]

Jo watched, a bit of confusion on her features. That... wasn't what was supposed to happen. She was drunk, but clearly not drunk enough to not realize what she'd done. The things that Spike couldn't remember, the things he didn't tell her... they suddenly came to the surface and Jo felt a sobering amount of regret

[gwaine]

Now there's a sobering sight. Gwaine leans forward in his chair, balancing his elbows on his knees. He doesn't make the same connections as Jo-he doesn't have the information that she does-but drunk or not he recognizes distress for what it is. He's not the kind of man to stand aside and do nothing if someone else is troubled. Especially a woman.

Staggering to his feet, he nods to the others in the room and follows Jo after Julia. He's not really thinking about what he might be able to do, just knows he has to at least try.

[whatialways_do]

Max turned to watch them all go, eyebrows going up in concern for a moment, before shaking her head.

"Yup. Definitely cutting everybody off. It's getting way too serious in here."

[itwas_raining]

Lost in that one thought, that she needed to get out of there if it was the last thing she did, it took her a moment to register that there was a voice behind her. That someone was trying to get her attention. It didn't matter. None of it did. All that mattered was the distance she needed to put between herself and what was causing her to lose that last little bit of grip that she had. For her own sake.

But, regardless, something caused her to stop. Even if she couldn't quite explain what it was. Maybe it was the fact that she knew she wouldn't get very far. Or maybe it was the faint, lingering possibility that she'd been wrong.

After what seemed like an eternity of hesitation, she took a steadying breath and turned around.

[huntersdaughter]

Jo if anything was the stubborn type. She couldn't ever walk away from a fight and most of the time she just walked right into the middle of situations she had no business getting into. It wasn't really the worst trait to have, but it was one that often got her into more trouble than she assumed she needed on a day to day basis