HSS holiday party

[wotanon]

Who: HSS and friends
Where: HSS dorm
When: Forward-dated to 430

[Tis the season for holiday parties! If you're close to anyone on HSS, you've definitely received an invite for this one off-screen.]

[In the dorm itself, someone has hauled a big pine tree in a planter into the center of the main room. It's undecorated except for the lights, so far, but there are craft materials nearby - glitter and glue and pine cones and ribbons and brightly-colored paper and everything else you might need to make your own decorations. There’s also a box out, filled with the decorations everyone made at the HSS party last year, ready for hanging]

[Strands of lights and delicate dangling snowflakes hang from doorways, and holly garlands give the whole dorm a festive atmosphere]

[Hurricane has been busy in the kitchen, and the table is set with a Christmas ham, prime rib, fried chicken, mini hasselback potatoes, mashed potatoes cauliflower gratin, stuffed acorn squash, maple pecan sweet potatoes, a citus and fresh greens salad, and cranberry sauce. For dessert, there's a variety of puddings as well as Santa's hat cheesecake bites. The drinks include eggnogg, hot apple cider, and enough booze to spread a little extra Christmas cheer]

Comments

[Very early morning, day 430]

[crossmyheartandhope]

[A couple of boys are up before the sun, because honestly, neither of them sleep anyway]

[Hurricane's sitting cross-legged on the table in HSS's living room, leaning over to write on a card]

[The boxes of decorations for the party have been dug out but not yet put up; the tree stands bare in the center of the room]

You think glitter's overkill?

Re: [Very early morning, day 430]

[bondsofsuffering]

Glitter's important for the holiday spirit.

[Nodding sagely. It's a very cute card though.]

Re: [Very early morning, day 430]

[crossmyheartandhope]

She seems like a silver glitter kinda gal, don't you think?

[Dotting in some glue in a snowflake sort of shape on his half of the card, before sprinkling on litter and then turning it upside-down to get off the excess]

Re: [Very early morning, day 430]

[bondsofsuffering]

Totally! It even matches with her hair.

Re: [Very early morning, day 430]

[crossmyheartandhope]

[Gluing in a tiny origami star, too, to take up some more space on his half, because all he wrote, in his sloppy handwriting, is "Happy holidays dude! Thx for taking such good care of the city all the time. Ur awesome!"]

Annnd, done.

[Handing it over to Izanagi]

Re: [Very early morning, day 430]

[bondsofsuffering]

[Taking out a pen to start writing, too!

"Thanks for another year of hard work!"]

...Well, close enough to one in spirit, anyway.

Re: [Very early morning, day 430]

[crossmyheartandhope]

Eh, it counts. There's seasons.

Re: [Very early morning, day 430]

[bondsofsuffering]

[Adding "Here's to another great one!" after that.]

In a way, we're kind of like coworkers...

Re: [Very early morning, day 430]

[crossmyheartandhope]

Huh... yeah. Guess I never thought of it like that.

Re: [Very early morning, day 430]

[bondsofsuffering]

Anything else we should add? [A beat.] Should we even bother sticking it in the envelope?

Re: [Very early morning, day 430]

[crossmyheartandhope]

I mean. I guess it don't hurt?

It's like... unwrapping a present or something, right? S'part of the experience.

Re: [Very early morning, day 430]

[bondsofsuffering]

Does she have a physical enough form to unwrap things? I haven't talked to her too much.

Re: [Very early morning, day 430]

[crossmyheartandhope]

Oh.

Y'know... maybe no envelope's better.

Re: [Very early morning, day 430]

[bondsofsuffering]

...No envelope it is.

So, should we do this summoning thing?

Re: [Very early morning, day 430]

[crossmyheartandhope]

Yeah... let's head out.

[Hopping down off the table and wiping the glitter absently on his pants as he heads for the door]

Where you wanna do it? By the Escape Room, or...?

Re: [Very early morning, day 430]

[bondsofsuffering]

The Escape Room seems like our best bet. And if she's AI, there's no reason for her to sleep or anything, either.

Summoning an AI... I was thinking candy since it's the holiday season and all, but maybe that's the wrong route after all?

Re: [Very early morning, day 430]

[crossmyheartandhope]

I mean... I usually do candy. Just seems nice to offer em something I like, y'know?

[Patting at his superhero belt pouch, where there is in fact candy]

But we probly oughtta do blood, too. That part's traditional.

Re: [Very early morning, day 430]

[bondsofsuffering]

I'll take care of the blood part, then. Just save a candy for me so I can heal it.

Re: [Very early morning, day 430]

[crossmyheartandhope]

Hey, we can both do the blood.

Doesn't gotta be a lot, and if it's a little from each of us, that's even less, ain't it?

Re: [Very early morning, day 430]

[bondsofsuffering]

[Lightly flicking him in the forehead.]

It's super easy for me to fix a little bloodletting. If you're already contributing candy, I'll handle the blood!

Re: [Very early morning, day 430]

[crossmyheartandhope]

You sure?

I mean, it don't feel fair for you to be the only one getting hurt.

Re: [Very early morning, day 430]

[bondsofsuffering]

It's fair because you're already contributing candy and I can numb myself and regenerate the wound with like, a single sweet.

Re: [Very early morning, day 430]

[crossmyheartandhope]

I mean... when you put it that way.

Re: [Very early morning, day 430]

[bondsofsuffering]

So let me handle that part.

Re: [Very early morning, day 430]

[crossmyheartandhope]

Long's you numb up first.

[Nudging against him]

C'mon. Let's get going.