theresalwayshope | meet the (grand)parents...

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)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Alec flashed a smile. He was finding this Biffy fellow surprisingly easy to talk to. "You lived here long, then?"

"A few weeks only," he admitted, tactfully leaving out any mention of the nights he'd spent chained in a cage at the full moon. It would have been rude to burden him with unnecessary details.

"And yourself?"

"Jus' over a week. I arrived on the train. Never knew anything so strange could happen. Reminds me of those fairytales I heard as a boy, like the farmer who fell asleep in a field and when he woke up a thousand years had passed and his farm and his family were long since gone," Alec chattered on, the way he did when he felt relaxed and comfortable, "Never believed those stories, not even as a boy. But now I'm here and they're tellin' me it's twenty-fourteen, and after some of the things I've seen so far, I have to admit I've found myself believin' it."

"By Washington Irving," Biffy said, recalling the story of Rip van Winkle. More to the point, however, he sympathized and nodded. "I came from 1837, so I quite understand."

"Eighteen seventy-three?! I weren't even born yet!" Alec looked at Biffy's youthful face and laughed, a few people in the room turning at the loud noise.

Edited 2014-12-15 23:06 (UTC)

Biffy chuckled as well, though a little uneasily. It wouldn't have mattered if he had arrived in Darrow via the natural progression of time; he would never look older than the day he'd taken the bite.

"And what year were you born?"

"Eighteen ninety-one, and I came here from nineteen thirteen."

Alec's tone turned teasing before continuing, "Let me guess, you were a real proper and fancy gentleman back in your day?"

He teased because he knew he could get away with it, because he wanted to make Biffy laugh, and also because he wanted to make sure Biffy knew he wasn't going to let himself be treated as an inferior by him.

Edited 2014-12-22 14:17 (UTC)

Biffy smiled at that, thin and wan. "I was a gentleman in all ways save for the ones that counted, such as money and lineage." The metamorphosis to werewolf had done something to improve his standing among Londoners, but not enough that he could go to any but the most populated balls.

"I tried, at least, for good behavior."

It wasn't quite the answer Alec had expected, and it intrigued him, but not enough to ask more. It was all a load of rubbish, that stuff, in Alec's opinion. Alec had to work hard to earn his living, and he had to keep his opinions to himself most of the time in order to stay out of trouble, but he was glad he hadn't been born with money and position, because then he probably would have grown up to be a well-behaved snob. That wasn't the life he wanted, and that wasn't the person he wanted to be. But perhaps Biffy had his reasons for wanting to be a gentleman, Alec realised, so he wasn't going to judge him for it right off the bat.

"People don't seem to care so much about money and lineage in this place. I quite like the way it this way, myself."

Biffy nodded, though it was a thoughtful nod. He had, after all, only had a few weeks her to compare and he had been very attached to parts of his old life.

"It seems to bring a great deal more opportunity," he agreed. "I've found work already, simply by means of my talents, and no one frowns upon my involvement in trade."

"Nor should they," Alec's chin was tilted up slightly, and his voice was defensive, not against Biffy but in support of him, "I come from a family of tradesmen and publicans, respectable men and women. My father's a butcher, and he's as kind and as hard-working as they come."

"A wonderful trade," Biffy said, trying to ignore the growling in his stomach as he considered raw steak or perhaps some diced liver. "And a necessary, vital one."

The corner of Alec's mouth lifted in a smile, pleased with Biffy's response. "S'pose I'll need to find work here soon. Get my hands on a newspaper and see if anyone is advertising a need for a gamekeeper or groundskeeper. Do they even have newspapers here? The men at the bus stop outside are never reading 'em, they're always on their self phones, or whatever they're called."

"Cellular phones. Cell for short," Biffy said, all too ready to enthuse on the fantastic little devices.

"People can find news on them too and job listings."

meet the (grand)parents...

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject