Tabula Rasa Day

[broken_brushes]

Even with all the parties that I helped coordinate throughout the year, Tabula Rasa Day had become my favorite. I'm not sure who started the tradition, but civic-minded as I'd become, I appreciated the idea of us having our own, self-determined tradition that celebrated not some holiday brought from another culture, but us as a community. Half

Comments

[sortofaman]

It was the day before the Doctor's...well, unbirthday, and in lieu of celebrating with a party of his own, he figured that the island's own celebration day would be more than enough party. Besides, it was far more fun to see absolutely everyone and eat way too much roast boar.

And so yeah, he would happily come out in the absolutely gorgeous day to celebrate the island itself, and being there, and being alive. Not too much drink, though. Mostly.

[dr_robchase]

Chase had let Nate wander off about five minutes ago given that he had a tendency to settle and inspect more than run off and be rambunctious, and it gave him time to find the Doctor and approach with something of a smug smile on his face. "You're getting older," he announced, first off.

[sortofaman]

Oh, that smile. The Doctor knew it well.

"So're you," he pointed out, mostly because, while he was near to a millennium old, he was about five at heart some of the time. "General result of time being linear here. Biscuit?"

He offered Chase a cookie.

[dr_robchase]

"Yeah," he drew out the word with a flicker of a bemused grin, "but I'm not reaching a millenia. Not that you don't look really good for a millenia, but..." He pulled a face that he felt summed up 'a thousand' best as he could. He leaned in to nibble the biscuit without actually taking it from his hands. "I've been here five years and change, now. That's insane."

[curiously_cora]

Coraline sat on a blanket by herself watching the festivities around her. Coraline would have normally been the life and soul of the party, helping out and making a nuisance out of herself but now she felt like one of the ghost children. Quiet and sad, waiting for someone to come back for her. But he wasn't coming back, no one was coming back for her she was alone.

Pulling her knees to her chest, Coraline brushed her short hair back behind her ears and looked up at the meteor showers.

"Make a wish Coraline," Coraline said putting her hands together. "Please, please bring my family home."

[polly_okeefe]

It broke my heart to see Coraline so sad. I saw a lot of myself in Coraline -- a lot of the way I used to be, before Joshua died and we left Gaea. And I hated the thought that she would go through the same sort of things that wiped my own smile off my face, even if things turned out mostly okay in the end.

I sat down beside her and put my arm around her. "Hey, Coraline. Doing okay?"

[curiously_cora]

Coraline wasn't doing okay. She hated the Homestead, it wasn't her home and it had too many memories of Cain and her. She hated the rooms, she hated the quietness and she hated the way everyone looked at her. It wasn't her home and all she wanted was her family and her happy home back.

"I guess? I don't know," Coraline said. Coraline wasn't wearing her wellies, her hair was cut and she didn't look like herself. "Did you see the rainbows?"

Harry would have loved those.

[polly_okeefe]

"Yes," I said, looking up at the sky. "Yes, I did. It seems whoever's controlling this place wants to celebrate."

I didn't know how I felt about that. Actually, I did. I was willing to celebrate what we had built here, and the friendships and love we'd built, in spite of the hardships. That I could party for. Those who had put us here and played with us? Weren't invited. But what could you do?

"Coraline?" I said, gripped by a firm desire to say things now, rather than regret not saying them later. "I want to tell you something."

[number_unlucky]

First order of business with regards to improving myself was enjoying myself. Nothing could be a better opportunity than Tabula Rasa Day. I'd managed to scare up some cookies that weren't too bad, for my own contribution--it was easier to work through things while, you know, actually working.

I felt slightly more comfortable in my own skin than I had at Halloween, partially because I wasn't lit like a Christmas tree. Nothing to stare at, and so I mingled, nibbling on a sandwich.

[nothingtomiss]

"We can't both get drunk."

He appears at her shoulder, drink already in hand, cookie that he's pretty sure she baked half eaten in the other. He's gotten used to these parties, and he's learned to relax and enjoy them.

"I'm pretty sure Nate can only handle having to herd one of us at once."

[number_unlucky]

"Oh, come on, if he gets drunk too, then everyone's in the same boat." I brushed my hair back behind my ears, scattering a few crumbs along the ground in the process. "Can't we all just have a good time?"

[nothingtomiss]

"Now you just sound like you're setting us up for a drunken threesome," says Brad, eyebrows arching as he takes a swallow from his glass.

"What the fuck's Terry supposed to do while she's waiting for us to all sober up and see the error of our ways? She doesn't knit."

[1struleiscardio]

I am...trying to remember the last time that I actually went to a party. I...I mean, there were school dances, but an actual party, thrown by...people, that didn't involve...relatives? Cousins?

You know, I think this might be a first.

I've got juice spiked with...something, which reminds me of Wichita. But I am not going to be miserable at my first party ever...so I knock my drink back (admittedly inadvisably quickly). And I go looking for another.

[just_hormones]

"Hey, Apocalypse Guy!" Aphrodite says cheerily, coming up next to him. The nickname's totally a work in progress at this point, because that's kind of a mouthful. "How's it going?"

[1struleiscardio]

As nicknames go, I'm pretty sure I prefer Columbus. I can feel myself giving her a look, and then I shake my head.

"Alright? I guess?" I swallow hard. "It's a nice party."

[just_hormones]

She nods in agreement. "The parties are pretty decent around here, considering what they've got to work with," Aphrodite comments. "So, you hanging in there, sweet pea? Find a place to stay and all that jazz?"

[poison_lipstick]

Normally, Saffron would have closed the club for the Tabula Rasa Day party, but since it was Sunday, she didn't have to worry about it. She'd contributed several varieties of food as usual, glad to have a purpose for her cooking which had increased in frequency since the whole fiasco of Halloween. Saffron liked to cook anyway, but as Jack had once correctly assessed she tended to cook more when she was upset.

There was nothing like a party to help a body forget what was bothering them, and Saffron mingled with drink in hand, determined to enjoy herself to the fullest extent possible. She didn't think that was going to be terrible hard to accomplish.

[scoobys_heart]

Xander also noticed Helen's tendency to cook when distressed and it had been hard not to comment when he'd seen her in the kitchen more then usually lately. But, he'd kept it to himself because he had a feeling he knew what was wrong and he really didn't want to talk about Halloween either.

But, a party was something different and it was no problem for him to approach her and kiss her cheek. "Having fun tonight boss lady?"

[poison_lipstick]

"Even more now that you're here," Saffron replied with a smile, easily slipping under Xander's arm and inserting herself at his side with an arm around his waist. Seeing him brought up the memories of that day, but she pushed all that aside, not wanting to taint her enjoyment of Xander's company by getting into the habit of making that association whenever she saw him.

[scoobys_heart]

His arm automatically went around her shoulders, easily holding her close. It felt comfortable and just the right thing to do.

Xander kissed her cheek in greeting before he asked, "I think a lot of us needed this party. I'm glad everyone seems to be having fun."