[closed] alcohol is a misunderstood vitamin

[heiroglyphs]

WHO: Vera, Dante, Ari, Alison, Yin, Arlene, Pen, Freya, Minako, & Lucy (also being crashed by Prompto and Terra)
WHERE: Pen's place
WHEN: Afternoon/Evening of 7/1
WHAT: 4th of July Weekend Party!
WARNINGS: Underage drinking, recreational drug use and potential PG13 acts

It's Saturday afternoon in the dead of Summer, where the grey grass burns under the bright sun, and you can never quite be sure if it's going to rain or not because the sky is always grey too. This whole colors situation can be pretty depressing if you let it get to you, so a group of college buddies decided to get together and throw a big ole bash to bring everyone's spirits up. Better yet, with the holiday around the corner, they can make it into a cookout to celebrate the old Red, White, and... Grey.

I. - Afternoon
There's plenty of ways to keep cool in the summer heat. The fridge is stocked with beer and spirits, along with tea, soda, and lemonade. Outside, the group work in shifts to cook up a mountain of burgers and dogs. Pen's big back yard offers all the room you need to stretch out and relax, either at the table, or on a blanket on the lawn. Someone brought some Cornhole to play, and eventually someone has the good idea to set up some Beer Pong tables.

So come mix yourself (or someone you like) a drink, grab some grub, and come play some games while the sun is still up!

II. - Evening
The sun goes down and the bugs come out, meaning the party has moved indoors. Not that things have slowed down at all. In fact, with the buzz setting in, things are just starting to warm up. Leftover food is sitting in the kitchen, and the booze still flows.

Everyone's gathered in the common room, telling stories and catching up. A game of Never Have I Ever breaks out, leading into Truth or Dare. Time to show the others just how confident you really are.

III. - Night
Things are starting to wind down, but before everyone conks out for the night (or heads home in an Uber-- Vera's not letting her friends drive home drunk), there's one last surprise. It took a bit of effort setting up, and an ample amount of drunken fumbling, but a display full of imported fireworks has been diligently assembled in the back yard. Though guests are welcome to do more than watch! There's also firecrackers and sparklers for anyone who wants to have some explosive fun of their own. Just don't aim them at anyone else, okay?

After the show, everyone is more than welcome to stick around. Some citronella candles burn outside, keeping most of the bugs at bay. Now might be the perfect opportunity to get close with that special someone, maybe watch the dark clouds roll by, or stare at the big bright moon in the sky. It's amazing how beautiful life can be when you stop long enough to notice it.

Comments

[belligerentwarrior]

[Freya quietly comes to lean up against the railing a couple feet from Lucy, a cup of water in her hand. She watches the firefly for a little bit.]

Glad you stayed for the whole time.

[long_live_the_queen]

[Lucy glanced over Freya's way for a moment, but doesn't startle at her presence. She goes back to staring across the yard.]

Weren't so many people this time. And I wasn't going to leave you here. Or Minako.

[The firefly landed on what seemed to be the shimmer's edge, apparently sitting in midair. The insect seemed not to care, cheerfully blinking away.]

[belligerentwarrior]

[She shrugs half-heartedly, still curiously watching the little bug.]

Good of you. She needs someone to watch her after how she took to her drinks in that game.

Numbers aside, you seem to be doing better. It's hard to tell with you, whether you actually want to be around or not.

[long_live_the_queen]

[Lucy didn't know if she should be disgruntled at that or not. It was true, yes, but it should have been obvious. To Lucy.

Maybe not others so much.]

Am I?

[The vector hummed softly, startling the bug away from whatever made its stage vibrate.]

...I didn't want to be alone right now.

[belligerentwarrior]

[Freya's brow furrowed a little, tilting her head to try and locate that weird hum a little better.]

Well, sure. I thought you did wanna be alone, sitting by yourself the whole time.

[long_live_the_queen]

[Lucy's shoulders stiffened up a bit, a more familiar posture.]

I was around enough. Just. Not so close to all those people.

[belligerentwarrior]

[Freya makes an amused sound with an almost imperceptible shake of her head. She looks at Lucy.]

Just sayin' it's not so obvious to us. Did you enjoy yourself today?

[long_live_the_queen]

I did.

[It's not the loudest or the most enthusiastic response, but it came without thought.

The shimmer in the air stabilizes again, and the indistinct riplles form into translucent fingers. The firefly flits back to land on one of them.]

...I guess I was a little nervous.

[belligerentwarrior]

[Her gaze flickers back to the firefly, amused.]

What about, specifically?

["People" was obvious. What about them, Freya had a harder time understanding.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[Lucy shuffled her feet a little.]

...it's been too nice. For too long. I keep thinking someone's going to show up and take me away again even though I'm too old for that now.

[belligerentwarrior]

[Huh. Not what she was expecting. At all.]

[Freya reached up, scratching at the back of her head, expression drifting into something a little more serious.]

Never been in a situation like that, or even close, but... wouldn't that be more reason to enjoy what you've got while you've got it? Not that any of us are just gonna vanish.

Still... Sorry. Sounds rough.

[long_live_the_queen]

[The teenager shook her head, tensing up her shoulders again.]

It gets exhausting when it keeps happening.

[Social workers she didn't like wouldn't find her if she didn't come out of the wash room. Or store room, or an unfinished one, or any other kind of hiding place. For another day, she wouldn't have to worry about those connections being severed again.

Still, it wasn't...all that nice. Hiding from people. Winding herself up until she existed on a paranoid knife edge and didn't know how to get off again.

Hearing Freya's apology made Lucy's shoulders lose their tension, though she didn't fully relax.]

[belligerentwarrior]

...How many times?

[Freya wasn't quite sure why that was the next question out of her mouth. It was probably all kinds of prying, but then again, Lucy didn't have to answer it if she didn't want to.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[The answer was surprisingly easy to give, like it was just another bit of trivia Lucy had down by rote.]

Twenty seven. No one wants a devil kid.

[Only one of her foster parents had called her that, but it'd been absorbed into the same self-depreciating mass that insisted all of it was her fault. Because she was a bad person.

Lucy's knuckles went white against the railing for a few moments before releasing.]

...but things are better now.

[No one would take her away again. No one would throw her out because they didn't want to deal with her again. She had a home here. A home in a city going strange, but a home nonetheless.]

[belligerentwarrior]

[Twenty-fucking-seven?]

[Freya's at a loss. She couldn't even begin to fathom something like that. She now understood the feeling of being orphaned, sure... but this was something else entirely.]

[Her speechlessness was accompanied by a gnawing guilt. Even after how Freya'd taken out her anger on her just two weeks ago, Lucy considered this the best home she's had?]

[Freya didn't know how to process that. She stands there, letting the silence stretch.]

[She turns from the railing to look directly at Lucy. The apology's etched into her expression as much as it is her words.] I shouldn't have screamed at you like I did. You didn't deserve that. [Not then, anyway, when Lucy was expressing concern in that stunted way of hers.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[At first, Lucy didn't notice Freya was looking at her. The sound of her roommate's voice is what made her look, and she...blinked. The teenager remembered that, yes. It dinged up how much she was willing to trust Freya for awhile, and made her hesitate a few seconds more when called.

But it didn't happen again. Not a second time, not a third time, not every time Lucy came in through the door, just once. Lucy didn't forget, but it hadn't seemed so awful in comparison.

Her expression wasn't angry, or hostile, or even very confused—just very lightly puzzled.]

You already said sorry.

[belligerentwarrior]

[What, that's it? Like that angry little utterance was enough?]

Yeah, well, I mean it. You should get a real apology, not some half-assed thing while I was still comin' unglued.

[long_live_the_queen]

...oh.

[Lucy's surprised expression softened briefly before she broke eye contact for a moment, scratching at her cheek a bit awkwardly. This was an...unfamiliar feeling. It wasn't something that felt uncontrollable, though. Just sort of relieved, and soft at the edges.

Her eyes slid back over to her roommate, who was still looking at her. She should say something.]

...thanks. For...saying that.

[belligerentwarrior]

[Freya blinks in surprise, as if she might've misheard those words.]

Your welcome.

[Awkward pause.]

So... we're good?

[long_live_the_queen]

Yeah.

[Lucy kept scratching at her cheek, even though it was getting a little uncomfortable now. Should she...touch her? Put her hand on Freya's shoulder, like that was reassuring? That was reassuring, wasn't it?

She came to a sort of stunted halfway; the spectral hand dropped to rest on Freya's shoulder. It was cold, but that was reassuring too, right?]

So you and Penelope are...

['Together,' she meant to say, but her voice kind of trailed off.]

[belligerentwarrior]

[She startled a little at the cold, unpleasant tingling; the hand was even harder to track in the dim light, and Freya really hadn't been trying to. She visibly relaxed when she glanced down at her shoulder, seeing that it was because of Lucy and not some weird and/or awful new bullshit.]

[An odd smile—one with a shadow of embarrassment in it—crossed her face as Freya turned back to lean on the railing, watching the others playing with smaller fireworks. She idly reached up to scratch at the side of her head.]

Yeah. Two weeks now. Never imagined the news'd come out that way.

[long_live_the_queen]

[A snort.]

I don't think anyone did.

[Especially not Lucy whose choking was probably audible in half the house.

The vector dissipated after a moment.]

...will you still be around?

[She'd asked Penelope a similar thing before, but paranoia was practically engraved in her mind by now. She had to be sure.]

[belligerentwarrior]

[Freya turned her head with a quizzical little tilt. Why wouldn't she? It took her a second to follow Lucy's line of logic. She shrugged.]

'Course. Not like we're getting married or anything. I am gonna be spending time with her, but I'm not movin' out. [With the serious answer out of the way, her lips quirked up at the edges in a smile, her tone picked up an amused note.] Careful there. It's starting to sound like you actually want me around.

[long_live_the_queen]

[Lucy made a grumbling sort of huff, her relief giving way to irritation at being laughed at. Then she processed the words behind that, and stopped grumbling. She glanced away.]

Wasn't...wasn't it obvious?

[There were some times she really didn't want to be bothered, when she holed up in her room for most of the day and didn't come out until dinner. Most of the time she just quietly existed in the same room as the other two, sometimes playing with the cat, sometimes glancing at them, but not staring at her roommates like they were dangerous things she had to keep an eye on. She didn't mind them being there.

...and a room felt all the more empty without Minako's voice in it, or Freya's laughing.]

[belligerentwarrior]

[Freya's expression fell somewhere between puzzled and mildly concerned.] I'm... honestly not sure if that was a joke or not. [Lucy's body language certainly didn't frame it as one...] Not really. You've usually got this look like you're puttin' up with me because you've got nothing better to do.