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]

"I mean, it's kind of hard to pinpoint exactly what they did, there's all kinds of accounts. General consensus is that they'd cut down an evergreen and bring it home to decorate to honor their gods. It was called a 'heathen tradition' for a long time until hey, all of a sudden, sixteenth century rolls around and Western Germany decides it's totally cool to decorate a tree because this time, it's celebrating the Festival of Adam and Eve. Only at Christmastime, though, otherwise it would just be weird."

He rolls his eyes because none of it really makes sense but then again, Newt had always loved Christmas--Weihnachten, rather--because it had meant two holidays, the 25th and 26th, in a row. Plus presents and the roast he'd always help his papa make, one he thinks he'll probably attempt this year for Kate even though he hasn't tried in in years, since long before he'd joined the Jaeger Academy.

"Y'know," he says, observing her eat her two cookies with amusement, "if you're only good for a couple before you're stuffed, you've already screwed yourself over. That's way more pressure to keep the rest of this party light than you ever needed. I'm kind of at an unfair advantage, I'll be honest with you. Two cookies is probably about a solid tenth of how many it'll really take to get me full."

[priordivergence]

"They sound like nice traditions anyway." Really nice, ancient and mystical but also with their own kind of beauty. Walking down the street, I've been able to smell the pine needles, mixed with cinnamon and apple cider and hot chocolate. The smells are comforting, making the hard days easier.

The day after I'd been rescued from the tank, I'd bought a wreath for my door and sweet smelling candles and lit them in my apartment. Still scared and still aching from my near brush with hypothermia, the soft lights had eased my pain and fear.

"I can see why ancient pagans liked them so much. All the lights in the darkest part of winter, you know?"

[sciencesaggressively]

Newt nods, gaze shifting to the tree Allison had set up for the party, and he smiles softly. "Yeah, it's nice. I've been here a little over a year, y'know, so I got the whole holiday spirit thing last year, too, but..." He shrugs, taking another bite of his cookie and using the back of his hand to wipe the crumbs from his lips. "Before I got my ass dropped here, we didn't really make much room for Christmas or anything like that. Kind of hard when the world could end any day and all, I guess."

He's always been a fan of holidays, with Halloween being his favorite--even moreso now that it's not only the anniversary of his first date with Kate but also the anniversary of their wedding--and Christmas a close second, so he'd made an effort every year without much return fanfare. Hermann had indulged him most of the time, even Pentecost had kept quiet about the way Newt would decorate the lab, but for the most part, the concentration had always been on what devastation the next day might bring.

"It's nice," he admits with a shrug, "being somewhere that actually allows for celebration. Even if it means none of us can leave."

[priordivergence]

It is nice. Even though I don't know the holiday, it seems to have put something into the whole city. Even in the face of darker realities, there seems to be a greater softness in people, as if buoyed on by hope. Whether or not it's to do with religion or just the soft, small lights against white snow, I can't say for certain.

"I think I like holidays. This...seems a lot more generous than Choosing Day. Giving gifts and being kind...I like the sound of all of that," I say.

This place can be cruel. Even Allison, the host of the party, knows that since she's seen the worst of me here. Even so, a place with Christmas can't be too terrible.

[sciencesaggressively]

Newt doesn't know what Choosing Day is, but they're not supposed to be talking about depressing things and as far as he can tell, it doesn't sound like it could be anything especially awesome--not from what he's heard about her world so far, at least. So he brushes past that, nodding with a smile instead and breaking off another piece of his cookie to eat.

"I still have to use one of my gifts from last year," he admits. "My wife-- Well, she was my girlfriend at the time but still, totally my wife now anyway, but she gave me this gift certificate to one of the tattoo shops." He gestures to the left side of his chest, glancing down even though he knows there's nothing there to see. "I have one space left, was saving it for something epic. I've known for a long time what I want it to be, I just-- Life just kind of happens, y'know? I never found the time."

Yeah, life kind of happens. Being stabbed had happened, more specifically, and he hates the scar that's been left behind even if he's pretty much accepted the fact that it's not going anywhere. It's only been recently that he's gotten more comfortable with the idea of someone--the tattoo artist--other than Kate see him without his shirt on again.

"Anyway, what about you? Any more tattoos on your agenda?"

[priordivergence]

"Congratulations," I say, because that seems to be the done thing to acknowledge a recent marriage. Not that I know much about marriage customs here, which is just another thing that leaves me stranded in space and time. Saying as much breaks the rule my new friend has set for me and I'm glad when he asks about tattoos.

"Sometimes I think about getting my faction's motto tattooed on me. Even though the people didn't always live up to it, but the manifesto still means a lot to me." Before he can say I've broken the rule, I put on a thin smile, "We believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another."

I still want to live up to those words. Not for an instructor's approval or to pass as normal in my city, but because I think those ideals still have meaning.