meet the (grand)parents...

[theresalwayshope]

Allison felt a little like she was going insane.

She started out just planning to invite Aramis and Porthos over to meet Jason. Dinner and drinks, nothing big. Then she realized she didn't just feel obligated to invite Athos, she wanted to. So, if she did that, she obviously had to invite D'artagnan, and she really wanted to meet Constance...and she'd promised Grey a chance to help her bake a cake, so if she did something more than dinner, she could let him come over at some point...

The small family dinner became a small dinner party, and with a few more additions morphed into an impromptu potluck for the whole building...or anyone that wanted to show up. She told the family about it privately, asking Porthos and Aramis to make sure the others at least stopped by (with a subtle warning that Jason would be there), told everyone else she knew in the city, and for the rest of the building she posted a couple of handmade fliers: one in the elevator, and another in the laundry room announcing that, with either a main course or appetizer offering, an invitation to the holiday celebration taking place in apartment #39...dressy casual to formalwear welcome, bring your favorite Christmas CD as a bonus.

And, of course, she told Jason...and told him her family would be there.

By the night of the party, Allison was ready...she just felt a little like she was going insane.

She kept her outfit cute, but simple, and took care of dessert by baking some cupcakes, gingerbread cookies, and a two layer chocolate cake which she invited Grey over to help her bake. With a little careful scheduling, she also managed to contribute to the food on hand with her second ever attempt at beef bourguignon: rich, hearty, and sort of impressive under the right circumstances. By party time, she had her front door standing open, some Trans Siberian Orchestra carols playing on her stereo, and while she didn't yet have a tree, she'd gotten some cute plastic holly garland to hang around the apartment, and for fun had ringed her whole living room ceiling in multicolor Christmas lights for good measure.

The party was good to go. The place smelled good, the food came out okay with more to come...the evening was good to go.

And when Jason showed up, her family would show up...and they'd all meet each other...

While she waited for her guests, loved ones, and boyfriend to start arriving, Allison puttered around in her kitchen, swore to herself she was not hiding, and tried to pretend that she wasn't having visions of someone either drawing a sword or a knife by the end of the evening.

Tonight had to be perfect.

(HOLIDAY GATHERING POST! Treat it thusly. :P Front door's open, come and go as you please, anyone in the Bramford Building is welcome, and if you know Allison even remotely she told you about the party. Gather at will, and leave a call for Allison in your subject line if you want to play with her directly! Open eternally, will probably be linked near the end of the month. :D)

Comments

[sciencesaggressively]

It's the first holiday party of the season for Newt and it's Allison's, so he'd had no intentions of passing on it. He shows up looking as holiday ready as he can be for the beginning of December, thumbing at the ring on his left hand as he walks through the door. He'd left home with a promise from Kate that she'd try to make it after she's done studying but until then, he'll be content to nab a few munchies and have a drink or two while he finds people he knows--or inevitably crashes into someone he doesn't.

[priordivergence]

It's stupid, but the second I see him with his sleeves rolled up to expose even more ink than I've ever thought of carrying myself, I breathe a sigh of relief. I don't really know how to be at a party or to be a good guest, but I can talk about tattoos. I slide off my cardigan and drape it over my bare right arm. The sharp neckline of my sleeveless dress exposes my tattoos and I feel braver now that the birds all down my left arm and collarbone and the faction symbols on my shoulder are exposed.

"Those are beautiful," I say, pointing to his tattoos. "Do they go all the way up your arms?"

[sciencesaggressively]

"Hmm?"

Newt's distracted by the plate of cheese and crackers he's put together for himself when he turns to see a girl he doesn't know pointing down at his arms. He follows her gaze, brightening when he realizes she's talking about his tattoo because aside from kaiju and Kate, his tattoos are a subject he could never tire of talking about. "Oh, hey, thanks! Yeah, they go up and up, over my chest and back. They kind of all go together, y'know, like one big portrait."

There's a scar over a section of the tattoos on his left side now, plus that one empty spot he'd left for something special that he hasn't filled yet--though he still has that certificate for the tattoo parlor that Kate had given him last Christmas--but for the most part, he's pretty much got a second layer under these clothes.

"I'd show it to you but I'm not sure how much Allison would appreciate me disrobing before her party's even really started. Actually, I'm thinking my wife would be less thrilled about it than anyone else."

His gaze locks onto the tattoos that she's showcasing, the birds that line her collarbone and arm, plus a few he can't quite place in terms of what they represent. "I like your birds. Mind if I ask what the others are?"

[priordivergence]

"They're beautiful," I say again, my eyes traveling along his arms and trying to picture what else is spread across his body. Dauntless prefer black designs to match our faction's chosen color, but his tattoos are a riot of color, beautiful and artistic.

"Do you have any pictures? On your phone I mean?" People around here seem to use their phones a lot more than I'm used to. I don't dislike the little device, but it's not as intuitive for me to use as some others tend to think it is.

Self-consciously, a hand trails up the birds to my shoulder and I'm aware, not of my tattoos, but of the bullet scars on each shoulder. "The symbols on my shoulders?" I repeat. "They represent two of the factions from my world. The one I was born into and the one I chose."

[sciencesaggressively]

"I actually don't have half-naked pictures of my body readily available to show people on my phone, but I can definitely see what you'd mistake me for that kind of guy." Newt's maybe being overly facetious, but he flashes her a grin to show it before holding his left arm out so she can get a better look. "Mine are all kaiju. I studied these things, that was like, my entire life back in my world. This one was called Yamarashi."

If Newt were someone else, he might have squirmed from all the attention his new acquaintance is paying him, might have felt awkward because of the way she's staring and how she says the tattoos are beautiful, like she's never seen anything like them before. But Newt's not someone else, and he thrives under attention, so he does what he always does and preens. He tugs at the collar of his shirt, revealing a peek of the tattoo portrait on his chest that ends just under his, spanning the length of his collarbone. "This one's Ceramander. Took two jagers to bring this guy down in Hawaii, which I realize means nothing to you but it was a nasty little guy."

He drops his arm back down to his side, arching an eyebrow at her explanation of her own tattoos. "Factions, huh? We kind of had something like that, too. The people who were content to just wait for the world to end and the Resistance." He holds his hands out, displaying his tattoos again. "I was part of the Resistance. What was the faction you chose all about?"

[priordivergence]

Obviously, he's passionate about these creatures, going on at length about them using words I can't quite translate. Instead, I just follow the spiraling lines, trying to imagine what a real one must look like. I find it's beyond the scope of my own imagination but his movements, his enthusiasm, put life into the pictures.

Dauntless would have welcomed him.

"I was born into a faction called Abnegation. They believed in selfless acts, forgetting yourself in the pursuit of caring for others," I explain, twisting a little to show the joined hands on the back of my right shoulder. "And then I chose Dauntless. The soldiers. They believe cowardice is the root of all problems. They also believe in bold deeds...tattoos that declare yourself to others."

[sciencesaggressively]

Newt blinks, turning the words over in his head for a moment because this Dauntless thing sounds like what he would have chosen to, but he's sure as hell no soldier. He's not really selfless, can't really say he'd put anyone else first, except for Kate and a very select few others. He's not the guy who dives headfirst into danger for the sake of others, he does it as a means to an end that'll satisfy his curiosity, his need to know how things work.

That tattoos, they're reminders of why he'd joined the Resistance. On days that he'd found himself feeling too exhausted to keep facing disappointment after disappointment, of not being able to figure out exactly how to end all the death and destruction because a two-man team can only get so much done at once, the tattoos had made him remember that he'd taken the job--and kept it even after everyone else in the K-science department had abandoned their posts--for a reason. He hadn't just wanted to understand the kaiju, he'd needed to understand them, and he'd succeeded. But he'd done it for himself.

He wonders where that would have put him, between the two factions she's told him about.

"Soldiers, huh?" he asks, leaning his head forward just slightly to get a better look at the tattoo of the hands on her shoulder. "What is it that you were fighting for?"

[herownrules]

"It's my favourite married man," she says, leaning in to kiss Newt's cheek. It's not entirely true, there are other men that she knows that are important to her. But Newt is the most recently married, and married to a dear friend, so that means something special. "How are you?"

[sciencesaggressively]

Newt wrinkles his nose at the smooch but his smile is fond, even as he's rubbing at his cheek just in case Kenya's gotten any gloss on his face or whatever. "You probably say that to all the married dudes you know," he teases, dropping his hand from his face so he can put his arm around her and pull her into a half-hug. "I'm good, totally like, alive and with a badass wife and no new fancy holes in my stomach or anything."

He holds his free arm out, looking down at himself before looking back up at her with a wider grin. "Plus, I think I'm pretty sufficiently Christmas-y without going full elf, right?"

[herownrules]

“I admit nothing,” she says with a wink, knowing that he’s right and she does say it to her married male friends. “Good. Let’s keep you that way for at least another few weeks. Maybe even months.”

“You look like one of those candies,” Kenya traces the shape of a candy cane in the air with her finger. “The peppermint ones.”

[sciencesaggressively]

"Well, that's definitely what I was going for, glad to hear I nailed it." He tilts his head at her, glancing between Kenya and the arrangement of candy canes he'd spotted earlier. "You've had one before, right? A candy cane, I mean? If you haven't, we should probably fix that like, now. No better time than at a Christmas party."

[herownrules]

"Never," she admits to Newt, knowing it's just another thing that she hasn't had the chance to try. The list seems long, most of the time, but Kenya derives satisfaction from discovering new things. "Do they have them here?"

[everyonetakes]

She'd read somewhere that she gets to be considered a newlywed for two whole years after the wedding, which Kate has taken to mean she can be totally forgiven for two years for making a beeline for her totally hot husband at any and every party she ends up at. It's not her fault she's in love with him and finds him super adorable, that's the lovestruck newlywed brain talking, and she's allowed to have it for two years.

"Ugh, can I quit school?" she asks when she arrives at his side, slipping her arm around his waist. "Because studying is kind of the worst." And it's way too close to Christmas to be thinking about exams and tests and papers. She's supposed to be thinking about Christmas trees and presents and how many ways she can pummel Newt with snowballs this winter.

[sciencesaggressively]

"You can totally quit school," he tells her, trying to hold back his excitement at seeing her--because yeah, he definitely still gets all jittery when he watches her walk into a room--in favor of mock sincerity, "but then you'll remember that it only means you wasted all your time and money the last few months so..."

He knows she's not being serious--well, not that serious--but he gives her a sympathetic smile anyway before kissing her on the forehead. He's been trying to help as much as he can but the thing about Newt is that he'd actually really enjoyed being in school. Sure, some semesters he'd been bored out of his mind because he'd been lightyears ahead of everyone else but in the classes that had actually been stimulating, he'd had the time of his life. He's never been a very good teacher, though, considering how short his patience can be, and it's not like he's going to snap at Kate over her studies or anything but at the same time, it's possible so he figures it's best to just leave it alone unless she asks.

Besides, he's been busy enough trying to match up thank you cards to the people who'd attended their wedding and the ones who'd left gifts, and he's pretty sure there's nothing in the world more hellishly frustrating than that task. He'd finally gotten the last of the cards out in the mail just the other day, and he realizes that it's been like, a full month since their wedding, thanks, but he's got shit to do that does not involve writing things that he could just say to people when he sees them.

But whatever, it's done and they're married and work has been kind of chill lately and maybe he has that skin louse from their wedding saved as a hush hush pet at the lab so everything's kind of just good right now. It's nice to take a breather after months of craziness.

"Now that you're here, though, you can pretend like school doesn't even exist, okay? Think of..." His eyes dart around the room until he spots the food and drinks. "Think of eggnog. Or beer. Also, whatever Allison made because if we don't try her cooking, I think she might murder us and nobody wants that at a Christmas party."

[everyonetakes]

"Ugh, it's just this stats class, it's so boring," she complains and it's not even like it's hard. She gets it, she's doing well enough, she's not stressed out by it, but it's incredibly boring that even just trying to study for it feels like a chore. But everyone had told her it would be bad and that's why she's taking it now, so she can get it out of the way and just go on with the rest of her business degree which might not be fun, exactly, but at least it won't be as awful and boring as statistics.

"Allison would never murder me, she thinks I'm wonderful, and she's even less likely to murder you," she points out, relaxing into a smile. It's totally true, Allison thinks Newt is like, the greatest ever, which is completely accurate, so it's not like Kate is inclined to disagree with her or argue in any way. Besides, she kind of loves that Newt has someone like Allison looking out for him, since she knows she has a tendency to encourage his bad habits, like drinking eighteen thousand cups of coffee. Mostly because she's guilty of it herself.

"She went all out, though, huh?" Kate asks, looking around. The place looks great and it smells great and she knows she's biased, she sort of loves Christmas, but she's totally getting into the spirit now. "Are we supposed to be meeting and grilling her boyfriend, though? He's too cute to grill, I don't know if I can do it."

Besides, she's fairly certain Allison can take care of herself and probably doesn't need anyone to grill him. Still, that's like, Newt's job.

[sciencesaggressively]

"I don't know, is that a thing that's cliche? I mean, I'm going to do it anyway, but I hate being cliche."

It's not like Allison needs Newt to actually threaten to break anybody's legs or whatever if they hurt her because she's about a thousand times more capable of taking care of herself than Newt could ever be, but he kind of like the idea of doing it because that's not the sort of thing that had been expected of him on the regular anywhere else. He's not sure that it's necessarily expected of him here but whatever, he can pretend for five seconds that Allison's dude could be intimidated by him.

He turns to Kate, grinning. "You think she would have tried to grill either one of us if she'd showed up before we got together? Not even going to lie, I kinda would've liked to see that."

He tugs on her hand, leading Kate toward the refreshments because if he's going to do this thing with this guy who's apparently just too cute, he wants to at prep himself with at least one alcoholic beverage because maybe it'll harden his resolve.

"By the way, we're so playing strip statistics later. One articles of clothing removed for each correct study guide answer, works wonders. You'll retain everything."

[everyonetakes]

"Oh, god, she totally would've grilled me," Kate says with a nod. "I'm not the adopted sibling." And she's not good at the whole being grilled thing, she probably would have just gotten pissy and refused to answer any questions, which probably isn't the best way to make an impression, but she's sort of never care about that kind of thing. Either people like her or they don't and if they don't, it's not like she's going to start pretending to be someone else so that they do like her. If they don't like her, then that's their deal and they can do whatever the hell they want with it.

Because she's awesome. And she changes for no man. Or woman.

Her expression brightens when Newt mentions strip statistics, though, because she's like, totally certain she can get on board with something like that. They're going to get totally distracted, but she doesn't even care, so long as it means she gets to spend the night getting naked with her seriously amazing husband. "I like this plan, you're full of good plans," she tells him as she lets Newt lead her over toward the refreshments. She stops in front and turns to him, leaning in for a long kiss, because newlyweds and then she pulls back to smile at him properly. "I should always come to you whenever I'm having a hard time."

She's doing fine, she's passing all her classes, but she gets bored easily. There are too many distractions in a place like this. On the island studying had been easy because a lot of the time there hadn't been anything else to do, but here she can do almost anything.

[theresalwayshope]

He was inside all of five minutes before Newt was tackled from the side by a petite teenager hellbent on hugging the stuffing out of him with two slender arms wrapped around his middle.

"And now the party can officially begin." Allison chirped brightly, drawing back just enough to grin up at him, then instantly pouted. "Except you, Mr. Gregson-Geiszler, are missing a plus one. Party foul if the newlywed leaves his wife at home. Penalty is making the kaiju skin louse wear a Santa hat."

[sciencesaggressively]

He's shouting for Allison to cease and desist the second she attacks him upon entry, but Newt can't help his fond grin even as he does. He'd never really been the mushy type back at the 'Dome because, well, he'd never really given a shit about most of the people back at the 'Dome; but in Darrow, it's different.

Maybe it's because he doesn't spend ten thousand percent of his time trying to figure out how the kaiju work or maybe it's because nobody in Darrow had known to look at him with disgust or pure skepticism based solely on his tattoos, but it's definitely different here. He'd made friends, real friends, for the first time in forever, and he's married to the best woman he's ever known, and all of it had been kind of weird at first, but he wouldn't trade any of it for the world. Not even his own.

"I did not leave my wife at home, Jesus, you make me sound like one of those old-timey husbands who demand their wives stay back to cook and clean. Kate's way better at me at the cleaning, by the way, but the cooking... The cooking." He fakes a shudder before grinning again. "Anyway, she's earning her spot on Santa's nice list and studying for a little bit first, she'll be here later. I don't know that making the skin louse wear a Santa hat is really a penalty, though, that sounds like something I'd really like to see and that we should probably try."

[theresalwayshope]

"We can put the Santa hat on top of his jar, 'cause I am never touching that nasty thing again." Allison assured him, making a face through her smile before leaning up to kiss his cheek. "But fine, I'll forgive my adopted sister-in-law for having a fit of sensibility...if you promise to have a brandy and come try some of my beef bourguignon. The beef is awesome, and I've had, like, eleventy people bring brandy to the party."

Steering him towards the food table, she rested her head on his shoulder for a moment, allowing herself a split second of silence to draw a little extra energy and comfort from Newt's presence. With work and the wedding and the craziness of her newly present relatives, they didn't hang out as much as she'd like, and sometimes she missed him a little.

She gave herself just that second to sort of cuddle up to him before she felt renewed, lifting her head to grin up at him.

"I also want to make sure you have your strength so I can introduce you to my uncles later." she pointed out. "Have you met them yet? Athos, Aramis, Porthos? Yes, those Athos, Aramis, and Porthos. Aramis? Totally my ancestor...I told you that, right?"

[sciencesaggressively]

"Whatever, Seymour wouldn't want your mitts all over him anyway," Newt counters, lifting his chin up in defense. "He's a good little skin louse, okay, all he wants to do is live his life in his ammonia. I don't even want to experiment on him anymore, he parasited his way into my heart and now I can't let him go. I will happily have brandy and beef bourguignon, by the way, give me all of it and give it to me now."

Newt doesn't even know what he's saying anymore but he figures that's okay because it's Allison and at this point, he's pretty sure Allison just barely bothers to indulge his rambling. To be fair, she definitely indulges him more than ninety-nine percent of the people in the 'Dome ever did, and this is why he's so fond of her. He reaches up with one hand to pat her head when she rests it on his shoulder, careful not to muss up her pretty hair even though it's so tempting.

"I need strength to meet them?" he asks with a laugh, reaching for one of the cookies laid out on the table. He is adamantly against the belief that eating sweets before entrees ruins his appetite; if anything, it only ever enhances it. "Guess I better put on my big boy pants, huh? And no, you conveniently left that whole thing out so thanks, Little Sister of the Year award, Christ."

[the_other_guy]

Kenzi was making her rounds, leaving Bruce to digest a little food and gather his thoughts when he spotted Dr. Geiszler meandering around the room, scanning for either someone he was meeting or possibly someone he knew.

Bruce recognized the gesture because it was one of his patented moves.

With a beer still in hand, Bruce wove his way towards Newt, waving a little as he did. They'd met briefly on Bruce's first day, and ran into each other occasionally around the lab, but they'd never really had an in depth conversation and Bruce kept meaning to talk to him, namely about his biological specialty.

"Newt!" he called out with a smile, offering his hand when he reached him. "Good to see you, man! Heard through the grapevine that you just got married, congratulations!"

[sciencesaggressively]

He glances around the room before he matches the voice with its owner, grinning when he sees it's Bruce and holding a hand up before reaching out to take the other man's outstretched one. "Dude, yeah, I totally did!" He pulls his hand back so he can lift up the other one, wiggling his fingers so he can show off his wedding band with a laugh. "I'm Mr. Newt Gregson now, which is fine because I don't have to change any of things I don't have monogrammed."

He doesn't see a whole lot of Bruce outside of the office, they barely even run into each other there because they work on different floors, but he's a good guy. Newt's kind of glad they're running into each other now because it's always kind of nice to be able to talk about work stuff without actually feeling like he's boring people by talking about work stuff. "What about you, here with anyone? Any surprise marriages since the last time we ran into each other? Because I'll tell you what, my wedding wasn't a surprise, but we totally got rained down on my these skin lice that I have to show you sometime, I've got one loving life in ammonia back at the lab."

[the_other_guy]

"I'm, uh...my girlfriend's meeting me here." Bruce replied, caught a little off guard by the mention of skin lice raining down...and morbidly intrigued by it at the same time. It was great to see Newt so happy with his newlywed status, the guy deserved it and Bruce wished him all the best...

...but the skin lice...

"I may regret asking," he continued with a laugh and a shake of his head, "but...what sort of skin lice are we talkin' about here?"

[sciencesaggressively]

"Oh, dude, you will so not regret asking." Newt pulls his phone from his back pocket, flipping through the photos in his gallery until he comes across the one of the skin lice he'd collected with Allison's help. "He's fresh off the back of a kaiju. Or at least, he has to be because these little guys die pretty quickly if you don't soak them in ammonia. Haven't really found much practical use for him yet, not like how a kaiju's good for fertilization and-- well, their bone powder's supposedly a pretty good supplement if you can't get it up, but Seymour's not aggressive. Oh, right, his name is Seymour."

Maybe he shouldn't have named it. Maybe that's kind of weird, but Newt doesn't have anything else from back home and even though this is isn't exactly an ideal reminder of life at the 'Dome, he's grown pretty fond of the parasite.

"You need to drop by to see him sometime, help me run some more tests. Nobody else in the lab seems interested."