[location: John Everton's House] [OPEN TO ALL!] BLOCK PARTY!!!

[aesthetic_mojo]

The time had come. Charlotte left John in charge of setting up the bar, giving him only the one request that he have a decent selection of beer, and did the work of dialing up the food. She knew she was going way over board. For all she knew no one might show up, even though she'd gotten a bit of a response to her invite. How could people resist, though. Food, drink, Dean's music, kittens? Okay, and an ex-vampire, but that wasn't his fault.

Pushing that thought away, she continued laying out the food and the carefully crafted warding spells that would protect it from the kittens. They had been given run of most of the patio, but not the yard, and not the food area. That meant they'd still be popping in and out of people's laps, but at least they wouldn't do it to plates.

When everything was ready, Charlotte ran up to change into skinny jeans, a crisp white button down and a ridiculously shiny pair of cowboy boots. Not unlike Dawn, not that she knew it, Charlotte was having too much fun with the fashion options the replicators afforded. Properly armored for the event, she headed back to the patio to wait for their first guests.





OOC: This is an open event, folks, anyone should feel free to tag in, even if they just discover the party. Start a new thread with a label if you want or just tag in on another thread. Feel free to hop around, too. IT'S A PARTY, PEOPLE! Also, this will go on as long as people are interested, so backtag all ya like. We know people will be in and out all weekend. Have fun, drink all the booze.

Comments

[notcursed.livejournal.com]

HAY GUYS, it's Toby, and he's brought Canadian beer (bow down). He smiles upon seeing the crowd that's formed, although he's expecting a headache from trying to block out all these thoughts.

Pillage away.

[lapsedsaint]

John came up to Toby to take the beer. "Canadian. Nice. That's the one kind I really can't get the hatches to do justice to for me. I'm not drinking it enough."

He stuck his hand out and smiled. "John Everton. Welcome to my house and Charlie's party."

[notcursed.livejournal.com]

Toby accepted the hand with a smile. "Toby Logan, thanks for having me."

[lapsedsaint]

"Of course, of course. Best way to meet people here, give everyone something to do together." He gestured toward the gathering. "Easier to talk escape later if everyone's had a chance to mingle."

[notcursed.livejournal.com]

Toby nodded in a 'hey, you have a point' kind of way. "You're right. I think this was a great idea."

[lapsedsaint]

"All Charlie's idea, really. I'm terrified of these things." Grinning, he held up his drink. "Come on, let's get you something to wet your throat."

[biverbam.livejournal.com]

River isn't much for pillaging Canadian beer. She is, however, going to get close to invading his personal space and just kind of stare at his ear.

It looks like a wall.

[notcursed.livejournal.com]

Holy -- blocking, blocking, Toby squeezes his eyes shut before turning to look at River with a look that's part confusion and part influenced by the thoughts eking through.

"Um -- 'm sorry, can I help you?"

[biverbam.livejournal.com]

Her head is like an echo chamber (echo, echo, echo), wide and open while everyone bounces in and out.

(Not all of it is sound; she has goosebumps on her arms even though the house is warm, so many people so much body heat and the frayed nerves and guns and bubbles of varying degrees of intoxication-- (some are round and smooth and perfect, dark and red, red as blood, all the blood she wants to keep inside her but there isn't a single flaw as it sinks) --with snakes flicking tongues at the edges, brick and mortar and everything is so porous.)

"You have a wall," she says. Distant. There was a great wall on Earth-that-was...

Sorry, Toby. She can't help it.

[notcursed.livejournal.com]

What she says almost makes sense as he squeezes his eyes shut, but soon enough he loses his hold on the 'wall' and things pour in. Toby manages to put the beer down, but the poor guy looks like he's fighting off an aneurysm.

He's heard thoughts, seen inside memories of what seems like all of the metropolis of Toronto. But this? This is a mess.

[biverbam.livejournal.com]

River stumbles back as everything cracks, the floor under her feet crunching with rubble and (there's a whole city where everything is loud, amplified by buildings, per-square-mile, and she wishes she was back on Serenity, floating in black with just one little two little nine little fugitives) it's like the screech of mic feedback in her ears.

"Duì bu qǐ," I'm sorry, and she's backing away into the wall that isn't the wall that should be there.

Then, suddenly, there's a kitten on her shoulder and everything comes to a soft fuzzy screeching halt against her neck.

[notcursed.livejournal.com]

Mental whiplash is possible, as that's exactly how Toby would describe the sensation. He holds his head, and after a moment opens his eyes to look at River warily. Dean's memories may have been the worst he's seen, but that... that was different. Weird. Borderline painful.

He can't think of anything to say and finds himself just looking at her.

[biverbam.livejournal.com]

River is only half paying attention to him, now, and the sting that's settling in nicely in his head and the feel of it in her fingers. He's looking at her and she feels it in waves, sees it in the corner of her eye, but right now she's a little distracted.

There's a kitten on her shoulder, a tiny ball of fluff and strangeness batting at her tangled hair, and she's smiling at it, a little vacantly, like nothing had just happened.

[aesthetic_mojo]

Sometime before she went to watch John grill meaty things, Charlotte spotted Toby. She came up beside him and saluted crisply. "How you doing, doc?" She looked infinitely better than the last time he'd seen her. Her color was better and she actually smiled.

[notcursed.livejournal.com]

He smiled at the sight of her, very glad to see her looking and feeling better.

"Hey, I'm good. I'm good. You?"

[aesthetic_mojo]

She even gave him a quick turn, showing off that she wasn't stiff anymore or jumpy. Sleeping next to John had cut back the nightmares enough that she'd mostly caught upon her sleep. "Better. Shoulder's just about back to normal."

[notcursed.livejournal.com]

And the smile stayed. Finally, some good news. "That's great. You look good."

[aesthetic_mojo]

"You think?" She glanced down at herself, then shrugged. She felt good. "Thank you. And thank you again for your help. It was a great relief." It had been, too, a real relief to know all she really had to deal with was the immediate physical injuries. Nothing sneaky showing up months later. "I have been hiding out though. Have I missed anything exciting in Taxon?"

[notcursed.livejournal.com]

"Really, it was nothing. You don't have to thank me."

Toby glanced around the party before looking back at Charlotte, shrugging. "Uh... aside from new arrivals, some weird stuff happening to a couple people, not really."

[aesthetic_mojo]

She raised an eyebrow at that. "Weird stuff? Weird like waking up a vampire weird or weird like forgetting your keys six times weird?" She'd had a day like that once, back in London. After the last time, she went back to bed and gave up.

[notcursed.livejournal.com]

The paramedic scratched his head. "Nothing dangerous or life-threatening as far as I know. Just weird."

[aesthetic_mojo]

She shook her head. "Come on, doc, it can't be that much weirder than what I've seen. What happened?" She shrugged. "You don't have to name names."

[notcursed.livejournal.com]

Toby shifted his weight a little. "Just... a few friends of mine having memories messed with." He thought about Dean, nearly shivered. "You've seen that happen before, right? Somebody waking up with new memories from back home, or with no memory of here at all?"

[aesthetic_mojo]

That took Charlotte aback. John and Vala's changes, not to mention Dean's had been dramatic and obvious over the tablet communication. She hadn't noticed that kind of change. "No, I haven't. That's frightening." The thought of not remembering her family might not be the worst thing, but there were more good memories now than bad in her life. "This place gets weirder every day."

[notcursed.livejournal.com]

He tilted his head a little, looking to the side. Oh, yes. "Tell me about it."