It's time to party!

[atailoftwoworlds]

Who: Anyone!
What: After all the shit that went down in August and September and to help the newbies get settled, it's time for a party!
When: 26th October
Where: Outside the Denny
Warnings: Label any relevant warnings in your posts! Otherwise none that I can think of.

[It took a while to organise but it’s finally here! Outside the Denny is a warm fire with dragon meat and all sorts of other meat cooking on it. There is also food strewn on tables and various modern music in the background thanks to Michael’s phone.

Not only that but there are also games on a few separate tables provided by the Denny.

Feel free to bring your own food, drinks and games. Maybe you’re even helping cook some of the food yourself? Or you are keeping watch to make sure nobody causes any trouble! Or are you the person causing trouble yourself? Of course, none of you would dare do that, would you? WOULD YOU???? Or are you having a dance? Or maybe you're that wallflower who is just sitting there drinking and refusing to talk to people? Either way, feel free to come up with your own prompts!]

Comments

[vagabone]

[Ah, Yukio, the poor kid who was temporarily stuck piloting his sad collection of bones, once. Surely that means they have a kind of... very bizarre bond.]

Yukio! How's it going? [He pauses, actually looking the guy over instead of running his mouth.] You doing alright?

[reflash]

[Yukio's smile freezes for a second, held just a beat too long before he answers, with a slight, self-depreciating sort of laugh.]

I've been better, but I think everyone here could say that. How have you been?

[vagabone]

[Oh, he knows your type, he is the type. He can see right through that smile!]

Good enough. Do you need anything?

[reflash]

I already found the food, but thank you. [He lifts up a snack of some kind to show the skeleton. Is he actually eating the food? Yes, actually. There's enough food for everyone and he's an active teenager who hasn't been eating enough recently, so he has been getting his snack on.

Never mind that the man wasn't asking about the party snacks.]

It's nice, seeing... how enthusiastic people are about this.

[vagabone]

[Well. No. But food's a start, living teens need to eat just to stay alive. Eat, drink, sleep, all those things.]

Isn't it? Nice to do fun something together once in a while.

Hey, do you play cards?

[reflash]

A little, but it's been a while. [And his brother never had the patience for card games.] What games do you know?

[vagabone]

Bah, what games don't I know?

[He plays a lot of cards back 'home'. Sometimes that's all there is to do, when you're old, tired, and almost forgotten.]

You pick something and if I don't, you can teach me.

[reflash]

Do you know two-ten-jack?

[vagabone]

[Eating his own words ten seconds later, that figures. He's amused.]

Nope. But I can learn. We're all from different worlds, I bet I know some you don't.

[reflash]

In that case, I'd like to learn some from you. [Yukio doesn't have a lot of confidence in his ability to teach card games.]

[vagabone]

[It seems he carries his treasured skeleton-faced deck with him at all times, because he's whipping it out just like that. What respectable skeleton wouldn't!]

How about Conquian?

[reflash]

[He bows, just slightly.]

Thank you, I'll do my best to learn quickly.

[vagabone]

[He's taken aback for half a second--never in his unlife has someone bowed to him, of all people. Gosh.

The moment passes and he waves Yukio to a random table.]

You'll get it, it's not hard. [Cards, not chess. He'll sit down with a plonk and get to explaining...]

[reflash]

[Yukio is nothing if not intensely polite, and he sits and listens and nods and asks questions at a few points for clarification.

He's not going to be perfect at it the first time through, but he's a decent player, and seems to be quietly enjoying the game.]

[vagabone]

[So they play for a while with him saying nothing that isn't game-related, until he thinks the kid's got the hang of it... he doesn't particularly care whether he wins or loses, and he has a shitty poker face, honestly. Too smug.]

How are you doing, really?

[reflash]

[It's nice, learning a new game and playing it and being able just to focus on the simple thing in front of him. As they play, Yukio starts to relax, settling into the rhythm of the game. He doesn't play card games much, but he's smart and has a good poker face.

And then it just comes crashing in. Startled, he drops his cards, which is probably better in the long run than inadvertently ripping them, but as the pieces of paper scatter in front of him, it feels like the worst thing he could possibly have done.]

Oh, sorry. Didn't we have this conversation already? [He asks, and the little bit of tension that faded out of his body language during the game is back in full force, and more. He picks up his cards, careful with his claws.

He needs to look polite, friendly, keep a smile on his face and a soft tone in his voice. He needs to steer this conversation away from things he can't answer, from questions no one wants to hear the answers to.

Don't press, Héctor.]

[vagabone]

[Nope. Not going to work. Snapping at him might have, he'd at least think of backing off... politeness isn't going to stop him. Be more firm!

He keeps hold of his cards, but doesn't play, keeping his eyeballs on the kid.]

It wasn't much of a conversation. [Softer, voice a little deeper.] Been eating enough? You don't want to turn into me.

[reflash]

[He wants to leave.

Instead, he smiles, and nods.]

Not as much as I would like, sometimes. [But it's fine. He's getting enough food. ] But that's all right.

[vagabone]

Why not? You don't have to go hungry, there's plenty for everyone.

[Persistent little bastard, isn't he? A very bad, no-good shabby skeleton. Apparently the card game was just bait.]

[reflash]

Thank you for the concern, but you don't need to worry about me getting enough to eat.

[vagabone]

[Uh huh.]

Listen, no one is fine on this island. Not even me. And you don't have to be. And if you don't let some of the pressure out, you're going to explode.

...Which you'd probably hate even more.

[reflash]

I understand your concern. [He says, polite, polite, so polite. His tone stays soft, held to gentle with an effort.

Behind him, his tail curls in a low, tense arc, the tufted end held out beside him. It's not really normal positioning for a tail, but it's instinctive. (Hopefully the reasons for that won't ever be made clear).]

But it might benefit you more to focus on yourself, if you're not doing well.

[vagabone]

[He glances at that tail with the slightest hint of nervousness... but then, it is just essentially a knife, and stabbing a skeleton is not the way to go. It won't hurt.

Much.]

No reason I can't do both.

[reflash]

[The tail stays poised, tense and ready. It's not intentional, it's just an instinctive reaction to how threatened he feels. But his smile stays in place.]

Please, don't worry about me.

[vagabone]

[It's definitely not helping your case, Yukio. More proof that someone is very very stressed out. He stares at the tail pointedly for a long moment...]

Okay. Why not?