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]

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."