[MINGLE, ESPECIALLY TO NEWCOMERS] ROOFTOP FESTIVITIES!!!

[icanfixer]

WHO: All!
WHAT: Rooftop festivities!
WHERE: On a rooftop of an office building in the second open district!
WHEN: 8/14, evening!
WARNINGS: alcohol, tba as it goes


Banner displayed inside the train station, outside city hall, and on the most used residence buildings.

Follow the arrows.
So you're unaware. Maybe new. Or maybe you just didn't care the first time you saw it. That's fine. Between the banners hanging around key areas, and the flyers quickly drawn up in a similar fashion scattered across the city, it's hard not to know something is going on -- and there's helpful arrows, chalked on building walls and the streets the day of the party, to let people know where to go.

The Rooftop

A splendid scene awaits those who travel heavensward. Fairy lights connect the corners of the roof access building to metal poles at the corners of the building itself, lifted by cylindrical supports where needed, each one held straight by pots filled with well-packed dirty and stone. There's multicolored stars hanging from some of the lights, while various painted flowers hang on others, and what greets the ears first is some royalty free party music played from a CD player off the the side.

There's a long folded out table in the center for those who'd like to share cuisine, just set and serve yourself! Nearby is a space for Daan to do some bartending as well, a man who can make a multitude of cocktails and mocktails for those who want something less alcoholic. Also, pints of various ice cream flavors in a cooler!

Don't worry -- they won't have any odd effects on them, Don verified the lack of them herself. Not all of them are normal. Think loaded baked potato weird.

For those who'd like a quieter space, there's beanbags and a swirly, fuzzy carpet to sit on more away from the center of the party area. This'll be a great time to play some games, such as truth or dare, spin the bottle, and... whatever else you play at parties. Get to know your fellow man and such. Play the violin.

Naturally, no party... hosted... by Don Quixote would be without a space to fight, if one wishes to show off a little! It's also taking place on a swirly fuzzy carpet, just so no one smashes their head in, and there's a neat little banner hanging down from a string of lights that says thus:

WIN THREE MATCHES AND A PRIZE AWAITS THEE!!!!!!!
- NO KILLING
- HANDS ONLY

What the prize is, no one knows. But come find Don Quixote with your battle scars and she'll grant it -- and stick around a while, 'cause this party's gonna end with a bang... that is, with homemade fireworks donated by "a friend" through Junpei.

Anyway, have fun!!! Share words about your worlds!!! The society your characters are from, the cuisine they've brought, how they're working out in the city -- help the new kids along, too. There's more vets here now than there were a few months ago, after all.

Navi: Truth or Dare - Two Truths and a Lie - Hydra Storytelling w/Junpei - Drink Up With Daan - Qixi Festivites

Comments

[onlythans]

[Anyway, here's Thancred, who appears to have been spending a fair amount of time at the mall lately, if the way he turns up to the party is any indication: rather than his usual gunbreaker whites and armor, he's somewhat dressed down in a pair of nicer jeans, fitted black shirt, and bomber jacket. He's also scrounged up a backpack full of Mysterious Contents™ — indeed, if you watch him long enough, you'll catch him pulling all manner of things out of it, from a relatively normal pen and paper to the somewhat less expected deck of cards to the outright perplexing handful of fortune cookies. How many wonders can one Dad Bag™ hold?

Though he's mostly camping a place to sit and doing more observing of the crowd than participating in it, you can catch him building a house of cards that is almost implausibly tall; watch him long enough and after a while, just to be that slightest bit extra, you might catch him starting to snatch cards out from the supports of the structure seemingly at random. Even as he does, the tower as a whole doesn't topple; it seems he's got a pretty solid idea of exactly which cards are load-bearing and which ones are just for show.

As the party wears on and tower-building grows tedious, you might also catch him throwing cards — and taking suggestions of what to try to hit with them when he does. Again, he's a surprisingly good mark with them, though he's not without his occasional slip-ups. Maybe cards aren't his preferred throwing implement of choice.

Regardless, despite largely setting up camp, he's hardly a wallflower; he'll make conversation with anyone who does appear to be wallflowering or avoiding the festivities out of shyness, and he can fairly easily be dragged onto the dance floor. He is, however, keeping to areas that enable him to see the entirety of the roof. It seems there might be some other partygoers he's keeping a surreptitious eye on, even as he enjoys himself.]

House of Cards

[nomoresharks]

[Hythlodaeus has been casting the occasional glance Thancred's way as the house was built, but the moment the cards start moving around, Thancred has his full attention.

He watches with cocktail in hand, making sure to keep some distance between himself and the growing tower. The last thing he wants is to make any movement that would result in it tumbling down before it's able to reach its highest potential.]

Now that takes some skill. I'd find a second deck to offer you but [He gestures to the tower] you've hardly any need.

[It seems Thancred has the leg up on Hythlodaeus thanks to their earlier conversation being over text--Hythlodaeus doesn't recognize him at all.]

[onlythans]

[All things considered, the length of time he'd actually spent in the presence of Hythlodaeus at Ultima Thule would have been barely enough to fit in a figurative teacup — but an early awareness of the fact that the (what even is the correct term, he wonders? Amaurotine? Ancient? Proto-Ascian?) man is present in the City based on interactions on the network goes a long way toward facilitating his memory putting two and two together, and really — how many people out there can boast a braid that peculiar shade of violet, regardless?

Under normal circumstances, the approach wouldn't make him wary. Under present circumstances, with Ryne recently arrived in the City, everything makes him wary — though he disguises it well behind a seemingly concentrating furrow of his brow, and the delicate application of another layer of cards to his structure.]

There's another in my bag, believe it or not. Never go anywhere without a spare.

[Out of the corner of his eye, he automatically checks for Ryne's red hair, gauging her distance from this interaction, and the risk of her notice falling upon it.]

Enjoying the evening, are you?

[nomoresharks]

That I am! There's nothing quite like the chance to share a bit of ourselves with others. And with so many perspectives to hear from as well.

[He chuckles]

And that's all without mentioning the food and drink available.

[The eye movement doesn't go without notice, and out of curiosity Hythlodaeus tries to follow it to the crowd.]

Keeping an eye out for someone in particular?

[onlythans]

Aye, my date for the evening.

[It's not strictly speaking untrue, for all that it gives a very different impression from the reality. More to the point, he raises an eyebrow in response to the commentary.]

You've a set of sharp eyes.

[nomoresharks]

So I've been told. I do try my best to put them to good use.

[He continues to look out at the party, trying to see if he can spy who Thancred was spying on.]

Which is your date, by the by? I wonder if I've spoken to them already.

[He has half a mind to make a game out of trying to figure it out if the man doesn't tell, if only for his own amusement.]

cards!

[abstractart]

[well, the thing about this is that it's good entertainment to begin with, but great entertainment if you're kind of drunk and suffering from a lack of eye-to-brain reaction time that makes it seem like thancred is just about teleporting these cards when he throws them. whoa.]

...hey, how far do you think they can go?

[onlythans]

Accurately? I'd start somewhere around ten yalms. Throwing for throwing's sake? Now that's a different story.

[Is he underestimating his own capability? Maybe. But he does pluck a two of spades out of the deck and deadeye it into the empty wine glass he's been tossing the cards into since he started, for all that it proves his point.]

Care to take a turn?

[abstractart]

Yeah, sure.

[there is so much drunken confidence involved in this answer. most of the time, he would know better, but he plucks a card up anyway; there's not much dexterity in the motion, but his hand's still calloused enough to imply he's used to working with them in some fashion.]

So- to that glass, right...?

[it goes so far wide that it's kind of impressive he didn't hit anyone with it.]

[onlythans]

The one with the card sticking — ah.

[LORD that card missed the mark so hard it might as well be Vauthry trying to set progressive social policy.]

...Well, who needs a knave of clubs, anyway. Likely the deck's better off without it.

[Netzach did you yeet it OFF THE ENTIRE ROOF..........]

[abstractart]

Oh. I guess it's harder than it looks...

[you know, he actually might have. it's funniest that way.]

conversation

[bemist]

[ She's not wallflowering. Rather, she's not doing it out of any sense of shyness, having also placed herself in an area where she can easily see what's transpiring everywhere on the roof. Old habits, perhaps. Slight protectiveness of her coworkers, perhaps. Slight wariness that her coworkers are going to get into trouble because one loves to drink and will enable another one, her boss is dealing with a lot, and--

Well, either way, she's watchful, and her head cants slightly as someone approaches her, cigarette clamped comfortably between her lips before she gives him a simple nod of acknowledgment. ]

[onlythans]

I don't suppose you've one of those to spare.

[The cigarette, he means, more because one doesn't live the life he leads or do the things he does without having an almost habitual understanding of extremely natural conversation starters. It's not even that he's so much interested in the smoke, really, as he is at getting this curiously vigilant woman to talk to him.

Or maybe he just has a soft spot for redheads.]

[bemist]

Not usually, but I'm feeling charitable.

[ Is she? She says it fairly flatly, as though she is accustomed to this being one of the first questions people ask her. It's hard to say what she's seeing when she gives him a swift glance, but whatever it is seems to mollify her and she reaches into her pocket; she is definitely not dressed in festive party gear, it's just black pants, a burgundy shirt and a dark gray trench coat.

Within only a few seconds, she fishes out a carton and flips open the top of it, offering him one. ]

[onlythans]

Lucky me.

[He knows those types of glances — the fast, appraising variety — and at least a handful of the variations they come in. Some are from women sizing up just how much of a Problem™ they think the resident fuckboy who's just approached them is going to be. Some are from professionals accustomed to taking the measure of a person as rapidly and efficiently as possible.

Idly, he wonders which of the two he's just been subjected to. Mayhap it's both.]

Luckier still that this city never seems altogether unwilling to oblige, either. Aside from a few notable exceptions, it rather seems inclined to produce for its guests anything they could possibly want.

[bemist]

[ It's probably both. Rather, it's definitely both. ]

A few "notable exceptions", huh.

[ She takes a moment to inhale, gathering the smoke in her lungs to let it simmer there, before she turns her head ever so slightly to exhale. Maybe only Roland gets the dubious pleasure of her blowing smoke in his face, but maybe that's also just because it's Roland. ]

Unfortunately, what I really want probably falls under that category.

[furibund]

[ If there was something she was watching most it was the fights people were undertaking. The only way to know if providing anything was worthwhile was if she could trust people to use them, afterall. And so far, she doesn't hold that opinion of the people she's met. ]

[ The fights keep attention, but it'd be a lie to say she didn't notice the white-haired man near the corner making houses out of cards. He's really not that far away, after all. She's seen cards used in games - played a couple herself - but someone using to build something out of it is new. Or, as it later turns, throw at people. She snorts to herself at one point, watching, and then as he decides not to throw but pull a card from the center of the house she offers idly, dryly: ]

Be a shame if someone knocked into it.

[onlythans]

Is that an observation or a threat?

[Either way, he doesn't seem altogether concerned by it; he takes the card he's just pulled and redistributes it to a different place in the tower, a minor adaptation to its shape.]

[furibund]

What do you think?

[ She turns the question back to him, voice low as she steps forward - attention on the house rather than the man: ]

This what they do at parties where you're from?

[onlythans]

I'm not one to share my thoughts without courtesy in kind.

[He regards the tower with a scrutinizing eye, then removes two more from near the base and readjusts them, shoring up some previously undersupported aspect of the foundation.]

Clearly it's what I do at parties, as here I am, doing so.

card throwing.

[uglybug]

[ The card throwing catches her eye. It reminds her of something Peter would do -- except Peter wouldn't be nearly so good at it. Mantis makes her way to a seat nearby. Elbows on knees, chin in hands, she grins as a card hits its mark again. ]

Do you ever miss?

[onlythans]

That I'll admit to? Never.

[And because he's a massive show-off, he glances over in Mantis's direction, keeping his gaze steady on her while pulling another card from the pack and flicking it again — deadeyeing the glass on muscle memory alone, without needing to look to aim.]

...Though I suppose I've just made myself look altogether foolish, if I didn't just land that as I suspect I did.

[uglybug]

[ Her lips twitch in a not-exactly-suppressed smile. He reminds her of Peter, a bit. There's a confident air bordering on arrogance about him -- and it's familiar to her. ]

You did. Do you throw things besides cards?

DAD BAG

[firstwaters]

[ An uninformed observer might describe the backpack as 'Thancred's bag'. Not Ryne. To Ryne, it is the bag, as much hers as it is anyone else's* and there is no reason at all for her to refrain from rooting around in it.

Or, as is currently the case, to dig through it until she's half-consumed by the thing. ]

Thancred, [ And she emerges from the bag, looking mildly put-out. ] I put my notebook in here, didn't I? Did I take it out and forget?

[ *'anyone else' describing herself, thancred and y'shtola. ]

[onlythans]

[Obviously that is not His™ bag, it is only His™ by virtue of the fact that he is the one who carries it around. His responsibility of which everyone is the beneficiary.]

You put it in the pocket. The so-called hidden one you were so enamored with, remember?