so pile your boots up in the corner -- hang your jacket from the door

[herotypical]

Who: anyone invited to house seven's thanksgivingstravaganza -- as well as anyone walking by who might be curious about all the brouhaha.
What: giving thanks!
When: forward dated to november 24th due to predicted holiday hiatuses!
Where: house seven!
Summary: friends, food, fondness. family. festivities.
Rating: g for goin' up.

House Seven was decked out in soft oranges and browns. Gentle reds and yellows. The table was shoved up against a wall and dish upon dish of delicious Thanksgiving dinner-bits adorned it. Plates to one side, a pile of cutlery. Feel free to line up and pile your arms high with roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, carrots and green beans, cranberry sauce, sinful gravy. Stuffing. Steamed broccoli. The amount of food would almost be laughable had the guest list not been so long. Chatter abounded.

It was, by all accounts, a fairly casual gathering. No ceremony (Buffy, by this point, was all ceremony'd out after some fiercely dedicated meal-prepping) to stand on and no customs to keep. Just food and friendship. The only thing customary about Buffy Summers would be her delighted, enchanted grin throughout the evening. Very little pleased her more than a social event that was going well.

Mix! Mingle! Make merry!

(ooc; threadjack into oblivion and don't forget to add your character to the entry tags! have fun! note that this is forward-dated. i'll be tagging around myself later this evening. )

Comments

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

She laughed. "I definitely think it counts." Smiling, she held up her hands. They were clean, carefully scrubbed before the cooking had begun, but flecks of paint could still be seen wedged under her fingernails, little specks of color against her pale skin. "I'm alright, as long as I'm paying attention, but I tend to get a bit...distracted.

[pugilistinpink.livejournal.com]

He squinted at her fingers, trying to understand what she meant. "Is that nail polish, or somethin'?"

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

She laughed. "The only kind I'll probably wear, really. It's paint."

She smiled. "If I start cooking in the middle of a project, I tend to go back to it while I'm waiting for my meal to finish...and then I forget that I actually need to return to the kitchen."

[pugilistinpink.livejournal.com]

He scratched absently at his jaw as he listened, his eyebrows tilting with a look of concern. "Gee, yeah... y'gotta be real careful." If he had been about to share an anecdote of some horrible disaster in the kitchen, one would never know, since an irrelevant thought surfaced in his mind and he burst into a sudden exclamation. "...Aw crap!" Hand, meet forehead. "Geez, I completely f'got..."

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

One eyebrow went up in surprise. "Forgot?"

[pugilistinpink.livejournal.com]

"I was supposed t'bring flowers with me. Jack told me t'get some 'cause he said you an' Buffy'd like 'em. I ain't used t'givin' gifts like that on Thanksgivin' so... I guess I jus'... kind a' f'got." It wasn't a very good explanation, but it was the best he could offer, and the honest truth. "Sorry."

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

Her eyes brightened with a laugh. "Oh goodness...don't apologize for something like that. Just the thought was sweet."

[pugilistinpink.livejournal.com]

"Well, it ain't really mine, so..." He scratched the back of his head half-absently. "I guess y'should be tellin' Jack that, heh."

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

"Let's call it a joint thought and give you half the credit."

[pugilistinpink.livejournal.com]

"'kay, if y'say so. Thanks."

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

"I do."

Her head tilted slightly. "What part of New York are you from?"

[pugilistinpink.livejournal.com]

He cracked a grin in response as if to say, 'guess'. "The Bronx. An' you? M'hearin' somethin' but... I ain't too sure I know where y'from."

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

She smiled. "Newford. It's only a couple of hours from New York City." A quick smile. "Though, I have to admit, I haven't actually made it there. yet."

[pugilistinpink.livejournal.com]

"Wait..." His eyebrows lifted questioningly at the latter remark rather than the unfamiliar name. "...I don' get it. Y'mean, like, you was visitin' the place or tryin' to, an' then y'ended up here in Luceti, or somethin'?"

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

She shook her head. "I just don't travel much. I keep saying I'll go, but I usually end up busy." Or strapped for cash.

[pugilistinpink.livejournal.com]

"Ah, gotchya." An understanding nod. "Well... guess y'jus' gotta make time, y'know? It ain't easy, but... iunno, maybe there's gonna be a time later on when you's even more busy with everythin' an' then y'can't really go see it no more. An' if that happens, y'gonna be feelin' real bad y'didn't do it when y'could. Y'don' want somethin' like that eatin' atchya."

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

"True enough." Though, really, Jilly's desires to travel were more across worlds than cities.

"How about you? Did you travel a lot?"

[pugilistinpink.livejournal.com]

"Me? I move around when I got m'matches; depends where they have 'em. But before I met Doc an' all an' I went pro - nah. Couldn't. I'm kind a' used t'stickin' 'round here anyway... New York, I mean."

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

She nodded. "Have you been fighting for long?"

[pugilistinpink.livejournal.com]

"Started droppin' in at the local gym 'round, uh, thirteen, fourteen." He scratched at his jaw for a moment, gazing towards the ceiling. "Some days, it don' feel like I been doin' this for a long time... but then other days, when I'm sparrin' with Doc or somethin', I keep thinkin' 'bout all the fights behind me, an' how much better I've gotten." Pausing, he began to run a hand over the knuckles of his right hand, back and forth with a thoughtful slowness. "It's a long road to the top... wouldn't a' gotten nowhere without Doc, that's f'sure."

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

Her head tilts slightly. "Do you enjoy it?"

[pugilistinpink.livejournal.com]

"Yeah... a' course. It's... m'life, y'know?" His lips pulled into an irrepressible smile, his eyes aglow with enthusiasm. "There ain't nothin' like steppin' 'tween those ropes, hearin' the crowd shoutin' around ya, an'... jus'... feelin' so alive. Feelin' like y'somebody. People say y'gotta be crazy t'wanna do it, but y'don' think 'bout it like that. Y'jus' do it. It feels right. It's, it's in y'blood."

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

Fighting was the last thing that was in her blood, but the fact that he could light up so much talking about it intrigued her. He didn't seem like the kind of person to enjoy inflicting pain...so she was genuinely interested. "What got you into it?"

[pugilistinpink.livejournal.com]

Mac's expression sobered at the question and he unconsciously slanted his gaze to the side. "Uh, well... a lot a' things." He offered a wry smile as if to apologize for the vague answer. "...Know I used t'watch boxin' matches sometimes with m'dad. An' Rocky - y'know Rocky? We watched that a few times t'gether too. It was... it was nice, spendin' time like that." He let the words hang in the air, absently reaching over his shoulder to rub at some sore spot for a while. "A character like Rocky... he gave guys like me hope, y'know?"

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

She nodded. "I know it. It just came out two years ago. Or three now, I guess, with how long I've been here" She gave a small smile. "Everyone needs something to hope on."