Something's wrong when you regret

[unwheeled]

When; Saturday 16 Feb, evening

Rating; PG? Maybe PG13 for language

Characters; Charles has invited the following:

• Luke
• David Allard
• Astrid Allard
• Tommy Shepherd
• Billy Kaplan
• Darwin
• Alex Summers
• Jocelyn Lassiter
• Bobby Lassiter
• Ginny Weasley

By virtue of living on the Floor of Mutants in this building, Raven Xavier and Sean Cassidy are expected to be there. Or wrangled into the cooking/cleaning crew, however one wants to take it.

Including Charles (the octomom-host) and Erik (the disgruntled bitchy head shark-chef) that brings the total guest list to 14.

Obviously if a guest brings another guest Charles won't make a fuss. This is all his fault, anyway.

Summary; MUTANT/MAGIC DINNER GATHERING (in Erik's one-bedroom apartment, whoops) Human to powered ratio? 3:11

Log; Charles managed to clear out the entire produce section of the first store he went to. Not to mention gaping holes in quite a few shelves (barring the freezer section, though Charles does stand there and stare at ingredient lists in building horror for a while). Naturally he somehow also manages to convince the store to loan him their delivery truck, as he proceeds to greatly diminish the shelves of at least one of the first store's competitors.

Hopefully there's someone around to help Charles bring all this food up. Hopefully they don't mind having their picture taken with the small camera Charles pulls out of his pocket, because that will happen if they mind or not. 

Charles' kitchen, seeing as how it's merely an extension of Erik's at this point, is definitely expected to be used in the cooking preparation - probably by Sean as Charles has been forbidden to assist (no one has TIME to throw a cookbook at his head is what this boils down to, and there aren't enough fire extinguishers around to cope with what may happen if he's rushed otherwise). The bulk of the dinner party will be occurring in Erik's apartment, where the bedroom door is welded shut without a visible seam. Charles' apartment door is open, though by the time things are underway there is a distinct lack of furniture - apparently it all migrated next door.

Barring Sean's apartment, all the other doors on the floor are open with keys in the lock with yellow, blue, or magenta tags labeling the apartment number. No one else lives on this particular level of this particular apartment building, imagine that? Not a single neighbor in sight, how useful.

Charles will say hello to each and every one of you and be the consummate host. Contrary to how it may seem, he's never actually THROWN a party before. Add that to the knowledge that six of the invited attendees won't be around come Monday and Charles will know it the moment they leave, he really wants this to go well. 

Eight mutants. One witch. One god. One Astrid. The Lassiters and David as the partridge in the pear tree only humans on the entire floor.

What about this party could possibly NOT be amazing?



[ooc: HERE THERE BE NO TAGGING ORDER. Just go for it, whatever it happens to be, and have fun! For reference: Erik's apartment is full of metal, complete with a very modern kitchen (though some of the seating and small tables have been liberated from Charles' apartment, and this is very clear.) However in case you were worried your character would be alighting on only metal seating do not fear! There is a low, long black couch that is more than comfortable.

The kitchen and dining room area are connected by large archways, collectively acting as one large room. The bathroom and bedroom have actual doorways - the latter of which is practically impassible as Erik has sealed the door.]

Comments

The Lassiters' arrival

[horseish]

[Jocelyn managed to force Bobby into the only dress she apparently owns, because they were invited for dinner and she intends to put an effort in, dammit. Bobby did manage to convince Jocelyn that they're not expected to bring anything, but she did force them both out to buy a centerpiece from the nearest florist. Some things are just appreciated, apparently.

Bobby is the first one to knock on the door (or a door, anyway. This one looks promising), still scowling a bit about the dress.]

[unwheeled]

[Charles steps out of a door several down and there's the definitive sound of a shutter snapping. Enjoy that, Bobby. This dress, immortalized on film.

Charles will totally let you hit him for that later.]

Down here, sorry. I haven't gotten around to labeling doors. [You know with colorful arrows pointing which way is the correct one.

The camera and the photograph it spits out goes into Charles' pocket and he takes the centerpiece from Jocelyn with the widest, most genuine grin.]

I'm glad you could make it; you'll have to send my apologies to Dr. Banner for wresting you free of his company for the evening. [A headtilt in Bobby's direction.] You look very fetching, I promise.

And you, [to Jocelyn] Ms. Lassiter, are radiant. Come in, come in.

Luke

[infernoandhearth]

Luke enters at the same time as David. He's really been hoping this is representative of times to come, because he loves food, and he especially loves it when it's free. He and David had a conference and decided to bring a savoury jelly because people bring that sort of stuff to parties, don't they? It's funky party food! Anyway, the moment Luke enters the room, the jelly is brought to the kitchen and carefully placed into the fridge, Luke carefully dodging any cooks and helpers.

After which, he makes his way back to the main room. Or hallway. Or other room. Or wherever people are congregating because Charles and Erik's friends are bound to be interesting.

[lionesque]

[Jocelyn got an eyeful of your jelly thing before it got whisked off the the fridge.]

Well that was certainly something.

[fiveagainstradley]

David is really looking forward to the savoury jelly. Mrs. Thirsk never made anything like it before.

He's getting more used to the idea that they've come with their grown daughter, as well, no longer stealing furtive glances at her from across the room.

Alex

[wreakings]

[ That's a lot of people, and Alex knows some of them — has been learning to trust some of them to some extent — but there's just as many that he doesn't know at all and it makes him uncomfortable. This entire place has him on edge, but that's beside the point.

He's shown up early, helped with setting the table because he felt like he should, somehow. The more people trickle in, though, he more withdrawn he becomes. ]

[horseish]

[Oh hey Alex how do you feel about being forced into social interaction with small children?]

Is there more punch? I think we're out.

[Which she just informed him after crawling out from under one of the buffet tables where drinks and nibbles are being served.

[hexuality]

[Because she doesn't do this hovering at the edges of parties thing, Ginny marches right up to someone she doesn't know to introduce herself.]

Hullo. Who brought you along, then?

Alex

[evolv]

[Darwin sees you there, looking uncomfortable. He walks up behind Alex and starts rubbing his shoulders.]

Loosen up, man, it's just dinner.

ginny.

[hexuality]

[This ginger witch arrives fashionably late because she's been caught up in reunions—so she might not stay very long, either, but as if she could decline! So Ginny slips in when there's a handful of people already there and she hasn't brought anything except an apple pie (picked up from her favourite bakery in the City on the way here). And instead of risking it being knocked over in her hands by navigating through people, she settles for levitating it over everyone's heads and into the kitchen, wand aloft as she does so.

Yes, there's a pie floating just under the ceiling. Mind your heads.]

[horseish]

[And here's a very short ten year old trying to jump and touch it. Not luck yet.]

[evolv]

[Darwin is washing dishes in the kitchen when Ginny walks in with the flying pie.]

Very groovy.

open to everyone, wherever and whenever <3

[team_sociopath]

[Tommy, actually, has been slinking around a while, because he doesn't mind being quietly helpful as long as no one calls attention to the fact. It's a family thing, okay. But he's cool with dragging in extra chairs (vibrating them through the walls, because he's a bit of a show-off), helping out with cleaning dishes and any less-intensive cooking things, whatever.

Other than that he's hanging around, stalking his weirdly young grandfather watching people, sneaking bits of food, and trying not to think anything incriminating.

For someone whose life is basically a continuum of weird situations, this dinner party is still setting the bar pretty high.]

we're meant to be together I'll be there and you'll be here?

[lionesque]

[Jocelyn is attempting to carry something out from the kitchen (yes she is a guest, but everyone is being so kind and she couldn't not offer to help) when it slips slightly out of her hands and someone with hyperspeed powers might be useful about now...]

sharkyyy the friendly shark

[violenthearted]

So because this is Erik's apartment he is in fact, present, usually on the periphery of things. He's not the kind of host (he would in fact maintain he is not the host at all, despite living here and providing the food) who circulates and refills drinks and inquires after everyone's comfort or how they're finding the food. He just expects that the meal is good because he made it, and everything else seems superfluous.

But he's there, and he doesn't look miserable. Out of place? Yes. Even in his own home he doesn't fit in in this kind of cheerfully cohesive mass. That's all right, though. He likes the edges, where he can watch and be aware that he's part of what made this happen.

So he's not miserable, or angry even if he is a little unsettled and virtually always has a full wine glass. It's--a change, that's for certain. He doesn't know what else it is, but it is that.

/pokes sharkfais

[horseish]

[Alone until a very small person sidles up next to you holding a cracker. She's hiding from her sister, hush.]

but not too friendly

[infernoandhearth]

"I brought--" begins Luke, and then cheerfully amends it to, "We brought a jelly." He is holding said jelly on a plate with a glass bowl upended over it, standing just back out of the area which constitutes the kitchen. "We made it. Is there room in the refrigerator?"

[wreakings]

[ Alex is feeling no less out of place than Erik, really — and sooner rather than later he discovers the balcony and the relative quiet of it, so he's out there with a glass of punch that he's technically too young to drink, shoulders tense. ]

[hexuality]

So I suppose I ought to thank you for hosting this thing.

[She knows it must have been Charles' idea by the way Erik's holding himself, but it is his flat and Ginny knows that, too. So thanks, even so.]

[team_sociopath]

It's funny that Tommy would accuse Billy of stalking, when he's the one skulking around Erik's place all day, ostensibly being helpful but mostly just being there. He doesn't really mind-- and this is the kind of thing he'd do for Mrs. Kaplan, as long as no one commented on it, so it's not just the grandpa thing. And a lot of the people he knew in the City are gone, so he's not exactly got a full dance card.

But here he is, not just hanging around the edges of the crowd, but edging certainly toward hanging around the edges of Erik's expansive bubble of personal space.

"Thanks for cooking," he says eventually, when it seems not too awkward to do it. He can't exactly thank him for inviting them since that was all the Professor's doing, but it's something.

Astrid/Frjalsa

[meansfree]

[Frjalsa arrives along with her dads, going by her middle name for the time being as it's easier to pronounce. She hasn't brought anything but her smile, but she's more than happy to help light the candles.]

[unwheeled]

I'm glad you were able to come. [Here, Astrid, have a glass of punch. Inebriated punch, but punch nonetheless.] Let's see if I can manage to give you some names to work with, shall we?

The quieter ones are Erik (the taller) and Alex (with the broad shoulders). The ginger young man is Sean. There's Darwin [Charles indicates with a nod of his head.], Raven is my sister, Bobby and Jocelyn Lassiter. The young man who seems everywhere at once with the white blond hair is Tommy; his twin is Billy.

I think that's everyone who is here thus far.

Darwin

[evolv]

[Wanting to help in the kitchen but having no culinary skills whatsoever, Darwin will be washing dishes.]

[horseish]

[And Bobby got roped into helping clear up which is NOT EVEN FAIR she's the only not-grownup here. But clearly most of the grownups are drunk by now and would just drop things, fob it off on the ten year old time).

She brings in a pile of plates and slides them onto the counter with a dramatic sigh so everyone can see HOW HARD she's working.]

[plugyourears]

Having been helping with the cooking, back and forth between Erik and Charles's apartments, mostly in an effort to make sure that Charles didn't do pretty much anything but set things up and greet people, Sean is feeling oddly in his element here. He's abandoned his own rather empty living space in favor of a lot of noise and people and action action action! It's one of the few things he's really ever found himself missing about his family back in Boston. Everywhere he's lived since has felt like not enough people and too much space.

So he's pretty chipper, weaving through people and making sure everyone's had food and nothing's running out and just generally spending all of his energy on whatever's at hand. His self-medication has been limited since his little rooftop celebratory episode, partly out of necessity, and he needs his outlets.

Also, for the benefit of anyone who may want to comment on the fact that he's looking tremendously Irish with his own current meal options, it's worth noting that tonight he's eating a lot of salad and potatoes. Because yes, he's been helping Erik cook dinner even though half of it is stuff he can't eat during Lent. THAT IS HOW MUCH HE LOVES YOU, MOM CHARLES.

[evolv]

Darwin does notice. "I didn't take you for a vegetarian, man."

HAVE A CHARLES

[unwheeled]

Charles is one of those people who seems to be constantly moving around during a gathering; it's not anxiety exactly, it's that bizarre driving energy that makes someone very good at paying attention to the needs of others (the needs of themselves, however? Not nearly as important.)

So, you know. He doesn't actually sit and eat himself until someone practically shoves a plate into his chest, and he's at least half as fond of taking photographs as he is of talking to everyone but he actually manages to just sit the heck down and stop checking up on everyone around the third glass of wine.

He never stops smiling at everyone though. SO BOTHER HIM.

/has a charles

[horseish]

[By half-way through the night Bobby is hyped up on enough sugar and calories and excitement to be bouncing off the walls. Which is maybe why she waits for an opportune moment when he isn't eating or drinking or talking to someone and POUNCES. She really is a good jumper and manages to get her arms around his shoulders, too, giggling madly.]