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

[all7seas]

"We have an accord, then."

[herotypical]

She fell into a quoting voice: "He'd be too frightened I wouldn't like him if he told me everything." Buffy sank to her side on the bed. "That's what Archie first told me, tonight. And by he? He meant...him. Older. Lieutenant Archie."

[all7seas]

"Hmm." Jack stretched out on his side of the bed, shoving some pillows aside and burying himself in the rest. "He's always been a bit tense, Kennedy. When it comes to the people he cares about."

[herotypical]

She faced him -- leaning her chin on one palm. All of this conversation! It was typical of them; equalizing. As bright and blinding as other parts of their us were, this was the most habitual. The longest standing tradition. Dialogue. They had become collaborators.

"And he said the Lieutenant'd have secrets. Which -- okay, we've all got them. All of us. But he said it like...like those secrets weren't kept back home, for him. And being here allowed him to. He said..."

She leaned a little closer. Her voice dropped. "Jack. What do sailors gossip about, on a ship? What would they say behind another sailor's back?"

[all7seas]

"Hmmm?" Jack wouldn't be satisfied until Buffy was tugged close beside him. "I suppose all sorts of things. There's lots of talk on board a ship, Buffy."

[herotypical]

She didn't have to be tugged twice.

"Either way? I'll keep an eye on him."

you know I want to use the icon....but I WON'T

[all7seas]

"Buffy?" He had to tell her. It probably had to be now. Jack scrunched his body up against hers, steeling the muscles in his arms. Now. It should be now.

it'll come when i'm least expecting it.

[herotypical]

"Mmhm?"

Archie was rapidly fading. The closer she got, the more settled she felt. Buffy wrapped one of her legs of his. Her ear on his chest. "What is it?"

yus. as it always seems to do.

[all7seas]

"Tomorrow I'm....tomorrow I'm leaving. It's a mission. A Malnosso mission."

1/2

[herotypical]

She sat up.

[herotypical]

"...Tomorrow?"

[all7seas]

"Tomorrow." He wasn't letting go, so Jack had to sit up with her.

[herotypical]

"How..." Her voice shook; she tried again. "How long've you known?"

[all7seas]

"Since the day we met Elizabeth down by the docks."

He had gone back and forth so many times about telling her. In the end, Jack had decided she had enough to deal with without that worry on her plate. Now, though, he was beginning to wonder if he'd made the wrong choice.

[herotypical]

"...It's been over a week. If you told me earlier, I could've--" What? Demanded to go along with him?

She lifted her hands to her face, pulling still-damp hair away from her eyes. Raking it back with her fingers. "Kind of a down-to-the-wire news-bomb, Jack."

[all7seas]

And he was doing it for her. All of it. But she could not know that.

"It'll be a cargo mission," he rushed to fill in that information gap as quickly as possible. "Out on the sea. Defending cargo ships from the Third Party; unloading them at port." Possibly it would even be at the same port near where the Elizabeth had gone down.

[herotypical]

"How dangerous are we talking, here? Do I need to start holding a vigil? How long'll you be gone?" Rapid-fire.

[all7seas]

"You were out there, Annie. You already know." He was speaking about the draft. "And I don't think it'll be...probably won't be that dangerous. Not so bad. No vigils, savvy? Please?"

[herotypical]

She repeated her unanswered question: "Do you know when you'll be back?"

[all7seas]

"I'm...hoping I'll be back for the ball. Because I want to see you in your finery, outshining every woman in the room, and I want to dance with you."

[herotypical]

"...You better be back by then." Buffy coped with this news by finding something entirely trivial to be abrasive about. "Or you'll be making a whole lot of dress-shopping completely useless. Pointless."

[all7seas]

"A week," he said softly, trying to find a way through that abrasiveness. "Annie. Just a week."

And by the end, the Malnosso would give him his prize: a delicate, beautiful ring set with a jade stone, because her fingers were still bare, and it had been far too long. It would match her eyes.

[herotypical]

"A week," she turned her head. "And if it's a day over? I'm stringing you upside down in the woods from one of your own snares and leaving you there."

[all7seas]

"A week," he stuttered in return. "I promise."

[herotypical]

"What if you hadn't stayed over tonight, huh? Then when would you've told me?"

...Buffy clearly had a lot of feelings about this issue. She would work through them in a truly bipolar fashion. Incredulity in one moment -- concern in the next.