Gathering: Summer Party

[concierge]

Outside of the Nexus Hotel, waiters and hotel staff had begun to set up the umbrellas and the tables in the middle of the day. Soon, it became clear that something was happening in the shadow of the Nexus. White tablecloths were draped on the tables and drinks and food were brought out with the help of several waiters and servers, staffing tables with hot and cold foods beside bartending stations. Summery drinks in bright, neon colors are laid out one by one and soon, the afternoon light casts a radiant look on the scene.

Music plays faintly in the background and a note at the front desk invites all the Nexus guests to head outside and join in on the summer party, which promises to continue going as long as there are people to stay and continue keeping the warm atmosphere rolling.

On the lawn, social games had been set out -- lawn bowling, croquet, and tables were set up with chairs for anyone who didn't quite have the will or the spirit to get into such games. Soon, a small number of people had begun to mill around, but as with all parties, there's always room for more.

Comments

[shes_biochem]

After the last few weeks, Simmons has been needing some way to let loose and relax. She knows that she could go home, but there's so much work to be done and she'd feel awful if she ignored it. Instead, she's been spending time in her makeshift lab in her hotel room, only venturing out for food and sustenance and inspiration. Today, though, she accidentally stumbles across the party and, clad in her jeans and t-shirt, she feels awfully out of place, but they do have very nice mojitos and mai-tais and she has been working quite hard.

Really, what's the harm in one?

(Four drinks later, she's lazily reclined in a chair, but she's relaxed and she can still rattle off the periodic table, so really, what does it matter how much alcohol she's had?)

[on_your_right]

Sam is only about two drinks in but he can tell that Jemma is a little further along than he is and wonders if he shouldn't keep an eye on her. Maybe she's a grown woman who can handle her own business but he can't help but feel protective of a SHIELD agent far from home.

Besides, she's funny and pretty, so he definitely wants to say hello. "What are you drinking? Mai Tais? Pina Coladas? Other tropical, fruity, girly drinks?"

Sam, for his part, has a beer because he's traditional that way.

[themadmanwithabox]

In all truth, the Doctor hadn't intended to arrive on the doorstep of the Nexus, not today, not when he's got so much of the universe to explore now that he's stepped off from his cloud above it all and has managed to understand that the Glorious Ponds will live on and there are worlds and people out there to discover in every corner of the universe and if he doesn't stop, he'll never be able to explore it all, not even in his very long life.

Of course, all that must wait -- there is croquet to be had.

Standing there in a top hat, a scarf, white linen trousers, and a bowtie atop his usual shirt, the Doctor uses the end of the mallet to scratch at his nose, sniffing as he inspects the post. "I don't mean to argue the rules incessantly, but I distinctly remember a flamingo in this game," he says, with all the sincerity of a man who's long since forgotten whether Alice in Wonderland is something fictional or a strange world he's lived once or twice.

[buryyouwithmysound]

"Not sure I dig..." Marceline says, floating under a parasol the size of a beach umbrella. Every inch of the vampire's skin is covered with long pants and gloves and, even though curiosity's tempted her out, Marceline's ready to head back in.

"Anybody want to go inside?"

[weighted_reality]

For all of Arthur's aspirations to a higher class, he's never really gotten in the habit of midafternoon society gatherings like this. It's beautiful to see, the bright healthy grass green contrasted against the impeccably white tablecloths swaying at the edges in the breeze. Arthur would have to be stone-hearted not to enjoy the sight.

Slinging his jacket over his shoulder, he walks out to take it all in, picking up a glass of iced tea as he goes.

[seeorseem]

Eames has been making his way through the people as best as he can, intent to get inside. When he comes across Arthur, though, his plans change and he quickly hooks his arm into the other man's. "Quick," he says firmly. "You should help me escape from nightmares of my past life," he intones, so serious that it's come all the way around to jesting again.

[nebaritralk]

Chiana still doesn't understand this place, and how many things are for free. She spends her time here waiting for the catch to appear, but since it hasn't so far, she's making the most of it in the meantime. The colours of the drinks on hand seem more appealing than the 'normal' human drinks, to her, so she partakes happily. Right now, she's sipping something bright blue, sitting upright on a sunlounger, a leg on either side of it, and she's watching the people all around, trying to figure out dynamics, and who the big boss is around here.

There's always someone in power, and that's the someone she wants.

[armedagainstlove]

The problem is that there is wine. There is copious amounts of wine and Athos has precisely zero reasons to stay sober and ignore it. He cannot stop living that fire, through that memory of Anne hanging, and as ever, he is stuck and clings to the alcohol like a lifeline. His vision has gone hazy and he believes that he cannot focus on any precise thing because of it, stumbling through the party and spilling wine haphazardly as he goes.

He does manage to mumble several apologies, knowing that he can be quite a brusque drunk when it comes down to it. "More," he says to a passing waiter, and when the poor man dares to ask of what, Athos regards him with a curt look and holds up his near-empty glass.

It's enough. The waiter goes skittering off for more red wine.

[nebaritralk]

If there's a type of people Chiana's used to handling, it's drunks. They're so much easier to read than even regular folks, and that means that she is particularly fond of them. So when the human stumbles into her, she steadies him readily (she's stronger than she looks, by human standards), and gives him a quick smile. "I don't see what all the fuss is about," she tells him, with a nod to his almost empty glass. "The blue stuff's much better." She had in fact been on her way to get herself another glass.

[votecrowley]

This was one of the weirdest damn places he had ever been, and Crowley had been to a lot of strange places, with strange people, and strange happenings. But like almost every place he ever found himself more than once, there was a steady supply of well-made alcohol, which made the steady supply of well-made idiots that were also always present more palatable for him.

Crowley preferred to not get involved in things, if only because that required effort he would much rather save for more important endeavours, ie, his own. Still, the inhabitants of the hotel that he didn't find stupid he would find entertaining, and since he was feeling completely done with the idiots on his own plane of existence, the Nexus was a nice break. And naturally the hotel suddenly decided to have a summery afternoon garden party as if this was a bloody Austen novel. Was Mr. Darcy about to ride up, act standoffish, then walk out of a pond a la the BBC? Oh, if only.

"This is foul," he decided, inspecting his drink, and supremely uncaring of the fact that the person he was addressing he had never met before in his life, or at least didn't care enough to remember. "I should just be back in Hell."

[sixsciencecredits]

Darcy had spent many hard, cold months in a very hard, cold place, and while she wasn't sure the typical 'summer party' was exactly her bag, she was happy to pop in anywhere that food and booze was just being handed out, and the party taking place outside of the Nexus was no exception. She was parked firmly under the shade of an awning or an umbrella or something like that and was working on keeping herself cool with a steady supply of alcohol. People watching was suiting her just fine, though when someone spoke to her left, she did turn her head to look the man over.

That he was older and dressed in an all black suit that had to be sweltering on top of drinking something brown and straight without ice were the things she noticed first. His accent second, his words third.

"Whelp, it's party booze," she offered. "Be thankful there's something other than two dollar vodka in Hawaiian punch to drink. Not that I wouldn't drink my share of that if there weren't." Darcy, who had been to her share of college parties, had also in turn drank her share bottom-shelf booze with shit like blue Kool Aid and Tang for a mixer, but that was just the burden of being young, broke, and fabulous, she had to figure. This guy looked like he could pony up for bottle service though, so sticking close was probably a good idea.

[malachai]

"Oh come on," Nick said, approaching with a beer bottle in his hand, "it can't be that bad."

[nebaritralk]

"Yeah?" Chiana asks as she gets herself another glass of that bright blue stuff. She doesn't know what they call it, but it tastes a little like cold raslak and she'll take what she can get, here. "Hell where you're from?" She's never heard of it, but he looks like a human, so that's not exactly surprising.

[beretta_70]

The chill of the glasses Sévérine held neatly in each hand set perfect counterpoint to the heat of the afternoon sun overhead, though the former rather than the latter held the greater portion of her attention. The scene painted across the Nexus' grounds was at once like and unlike many she had seen before, but where she was more familiar with assassin's names murmured over cocktails and tidbits taken from trays, of oil and water rights mixed with the ever-present promise of blood-shed, this looked...almost wholesome.

Almost was thrown out of the description upon catching sight of a game of croquet being played on the grass, the players laughing with an abandon she associated with children and few children at that.

"Am I to understand," she began, her words pitched low and almost intimate for all the fact of their surroundings as she came up beside Crowley, looking out at the scene from his same angle. "That your Hell is less abysmal than this?" Her smile was a touch conspiratorial as she offered one of the glasses up to him, the oak-colored liquid within it licking at the sides of the glass. It had taken little difficulty to track down a full bottle of the Glencraig 1975 vintage, rare as it promised to be, and the expense nothing to be sneered at, but as an investment, it was one she believed well worth the sticker price. "I've had the rest of the bottle sent to your room."

[powerof_water]

Adam had always liked summer. Midsummer was one of the most celebrated days among witches and it had only just passed. This celebration wasn't the ceremony he had performed alone but was, instead, a public celebration among all those who lived in the Nexus. He didn't have anything alcoholic to drink but ice-cold juice was even better, taking off some of the edge from the heat.

Of course, there was one person who would cool him right down, as strange as it was to say that. "Have you seen Bella?" he asked, hoping to get pointed in the right direction.

[vampire_shield]

Bella heard her name from across the gathering and grinned. She made it over to stand behind him before he'd barely finished asking the question and raised on her toes to just below his ear.

"Haven't seen her anywhere. Can't trust vampires to turn up when you need them, can you?"

[royalunderachiever]

Adrian was well on his way to being fall-down, sloppy and miserably drunk. Spirit had taken a toll on him for the past few days but he was unwilling to cut himself off from it completely, too frightened of being unable to protect Sydney if he needed to. Maybe it would have been different before she told him that she'd been captured by the Alchemists before showing up at the Nexus but now? He was never cutting himself off from Spirit again, no matter how miserable it made him.

But sometimes he needed an escape and alcohol and cigarettes provided an easy one. He hadn't even bothered with drinking from a glass anymore and instead used compulsion to convince one of the bartenders to give him a full bottle of whiskey. No sense in dirtying things up just to get drunk.

[sage_alchemist]

Sydney sighed when she saw Adrian with a bottle of something in one hand and a cigarette in the other. She knew, in her logical mind, that it helped him cope with Spirit and numb the effects. She knew he did it to keep himself sane.

It didn't mean she had to like it. But she also wasn't about to go railing at him in the middle of a party, though.

"What did your poor liver ever do to you?" she asked instead, as she approached him.

[thelostprince]

Barton was gone.

Well, set free, rather, as he had promised Natasha. Now Loki was out one very talented and well informed sharp shooter, but he would recover. He had enough intel gathered from the rest of the agents he had taken to understand the precautions to remain one step ahead; he also had Selvig. While a human, he'd still had enough base knowledge to understand the truth of the Tesseract once it had been dropped, sudden and burning, into his brain.

Not for the first time, though, he wondered if he ought to have forced Natasha to serve in Barton's place; that would make things on Earth easier. Then again, he supposed if it was easy nothing would be any fun, and he wasn't afraid of anything, even what she and everyone else might do to undermine him. He reclined back on one of the lawn chairs, virtually uncaring if anyone might stumble upon him, but well aware he was out in the open and that was invitation enough to be approached here.

He ran hot and cold more often lately, and as was his habit in the Nexus now he had shed his many armoured layers and settled for an outfit Ruby had picked out for him of jeans, boots, a thickly stitched jacket that reminded him of the formal military uniforms he saw on Earth. He didn't mind it, so long as he was covered. He had a tall drink of something which he understood to be mostly composed of gin and ice, balanced on the arm of the chair, his hand continuously hovering around it. If he wasn't careful, he would fall asleep. The weariness was bearing down on him.

[the_allmother]

"You look tired, my little one," Frigga commented as she came to stand beside Loki, her hand smoothing automatically over his hair. Her voice was unmistakably fond. It completely concealed the worry that had brimmed just underneath the surface ever since Loki had returned to the hotel. It was in her nature to worry over her sons, but she was concerned that Loki might have found himself in some real trouble.

She remained standing for the time being, a perspiring drink that was quite fruity in one hand. She looked amongst the guests for her other son. She had seen less of Thor, although he had given her less cause to worry this far in the hotel. Thor's problems, while present, were always easily spotted at the very least. She had to be more careful with Loki, who was more apt at slipping underneath the radar.

She too had adopted clothes that were similar to what many of the inhabitants of the hotel wore. She was draped in a dress of soft blue fabric stitched with gold. Her hair was pulled up and away from her face, but still curled down her back in waves.

[malachai]

Lawn parties were a big thing in New Orleans, especially where his former boss, Kyrian, lived. Not that Kyrian had been able to have any kind of party like that considering over half the people he knew couldn't be out in sunlight, but he'd had his share of nighttime ones. And Nick, in his former life as his squire, had had to arrange all the details for them.

He hadn't had to lift a finger for this one, but that didn't mean it was still his kind of scene. Still, he was here. Seemed a decent enough gathering and he'd had enough anti-social during the spring here, it was actually kind of nice to be around people again.

He'd come, he would stay for a while, then leave the partygoers to their fun and go check on the vampire to make sure he was behaving himself.

[legendthatwas]

Martha had arrived a few days before, had spent a good chunk of it recovering (time she would have spent at home, to be honest, recovering with endless cuppas) from a rather unpleasant Torchwood mission, and finally found herself facing the world. Well, inasmuch as the Nexus was the world. Perhaps it was more than the world.

One sundress, two gin and tonics, and a strict avoidance of croquet later--she was pretty sure she could see the Doctor over there, making friends and influencing people, but the last time she and he had played croquet had ended in blood and tears--she sank into a chair off to the side next to Nick, just ever so slightly squiffy.

"Hello, mister," she said, with a faint self-deprecating smile. "Been a while."

[prongsdefiant]

James had found that the hotel was a nice little escape from the pressures of a growing war and now that 7th year was done and he'd started training to become an Auror, an escape was always warranted and needed. Perhaps it was a bit childish but he thought if the entire Order had the opportunity to take the occasional holiday from mayhem without affecting everyone else, they would.

Time didn't seem to pass the same in the hotel as it did out in the world, after all, and the few times he'd ducked out, James had returned to find no time at all had passed back in England. It was as perfect a solution as any.

If only there was a way to simply herd the entirety of Wizarding Britain through the doors and to safety, then there would be no need for a war at all. As there wasn't, he settled for the occasional break and leaned against a table, tipping firewhiskey into a glass of ice cold pumpkin juice.

"I'm of age," he said to the first person who passed him by. "Back home, anyway."

[divinestsense]

"I don't think anyone here cares whether you're of age, mate," said Sirius, having sidled silently up on James' other side. Without so much as a 'by your leave,' he grabbed hold of James' glass and lifted it to his lips, only to immediately pull a face and shove it back at his friend.

"Oh, that's bloody terrible. You're a menace to good whiskey, Prongs."

[aliencentaur]

Ax, of course, was stationed by the food. He never meant to be a pig, as the humans said, but not having his own mouth made it impossible in this morph. So, he was stuffing a lot in, as usual.

(Ooc he is morphed human...I'll have to get a pic, thought I had one)

[east_texas_stu]

This would be a decent chance to see more of who was around here, Stu had decided. He was a little less quiet now than before the plague, but he was still more a listener by nature. He could say one thing, this place had a very mixed lot. Some were decent people...or otherwise... others gave him a bad feeling, one he didn't like much.

[65th_victor]

It was too nice of a day to not be outside. It was difficult not having a proper beach, but the ample amount of sunshine and the beautiful grounds that surrounded the hotel almost made up for it in Finnick's mind. He was a bit wary of a gathering of all the hotel guests at first, but quietly, he remembered that there still hadn't been trouble as long as they had been here. So, maybe things would continue being okay.

In any case, he had taken Tristan outside, settling on a blanket in the grass that was under an umbrella. He kept the infant in his lap, lazily watching everything that was happening around the two of them.

[71st_victor]

It's not that Johanna is ignoring Finnick, but ever since the kid was born, she kind of feels like they live in two different worlds now. She'd come here to get lost in the crowd, but when she sees Finnick and the baby, she feels like maybe she should woman up and face him. It's a kid, it's not like the Gamemakers are gonna turn it into an offensive weapon. "He's cute," she says evenly. "I guess. He gets it from Annie."