NEW YEAR'S BASH

[piper90npcs]

Who: Everyone
What: New Year Celebrations
Where: The Rig
When: December 31st/January 1st
Warnings/Notes: Possible drunken revelry, smooches, language.

After everything, it is the end of a long, hard year. Free from Christmas decorations, new ones fill the hall. Snow's still present, and the New Hires will have had time to curse the daily shoveling of the walkways, but in certain areas of the Rig, green onions decorate doorways. Streamers and banners are all over the place. And people are already drinking and making merry, despite the earliness of the day.

They might regret this later, but they don't yet have 2020 hindsight.

Also, with some actual, honest apologies from ol' Dick Washburn, a combined Christmas/New Year's feast is held for the New Hires in their dorm. Yes, there's a dull sheetcake, written with their names (poorly spelled) on it, but there's also stew, a roast turkey, honest to God decent serving sizes... Apparently, it seems, the kitchen staff had found out that the New Hires had been cheated, dealing with missions over Christmas, and had nearly revolted until they got permission to put together a feast for them. Which may be why there's a load of cupcakes, noodles, pasta makings, and everything else that're usually grudgingly held out as treats.

Someone's set up a tree, too. Granted, it's aluminum, but it's decorated. There's a little Jorgmund ouroboros in place of the star as well. Underneath it, the Secret Santa presents. And whatever presents the New Hires might have begged, borrowed, or stolen the money for. And it seems that the corporation also has little gifts for everyone.

Jorgmund may be a heartless machine. But it seems that some of the people who grease the wheels have hearts after all.

Comments

[heterochrocatic]

"Whoa." Right, Tenten can just... do that. Catra is at least wearing the clothes she got given by the pair of them for her birthday. They're comfy and better than the jumpsuit! She reaches a hand out towards Adora as she enters, then tugs her in close.

"Who cares? Let's just... eat the stupid noodles." She's not disparaging your noodles, Tenten. She's just hungry. There's a moment of what might be self reflection and then she hurriedly adds a "Thanks, Ten."

[71lines]

"I came home from the gym one day and, well. Magic jacket, just sitting on my pillow," she says, by way of explanation. This wasn't even transformation, it's a straight up magic jacket. "Sometimes you just want to be a little pretty."

Anyhow. Important things first. "What's a prom?" The idea of Adora in one of these dresses is distracting enough, you can't just dangle new words in front of her like that! Even as she asks, though, she's doling out servings. It's a little plain, but knowing the meals these two have had in the past, even 'plain' noodles with small veggies will probably be great.

She had a whole speech lined up, about the meaning of the noodles, but prom dresses sound important! And pretty! And... Yeah, Catra's definitely cute in herthose clothes.

[princesspower]

Adora leans in and bumps shoulders with Catra, pausing to give Tenten a curious look. They haven't talked much since... well. That. She really needs to find the time and now feels like it would be a little awkward. She reaches out to accept a bowl as she considers the question.

"Well... apparently it's this thing that happens every ten years on Etheria, called the Princess Prom. Basically all the princesses get together and have a party and it's fancy and social and... a lot of things, really."

She shrugs.

"I wore a dress because I had to go to it."

[heterochrocatic]

Catra nudges up against Adora and takes a big slurpy bite of the noodles without waiting for more introductions. Table manners? Never heard of her. She nods in agreement with Adora as she chews.

"Yeah, it's some princess party. I was Scorpia's plus one. You went with Sparkles, right?" She asks, as if she doesn't know that already. Just be casual and don't think about how you kidnapped your girlfriend's friends.

[71lines]

There's a bit of a pause as Tenten processes Adora's pronouncement, then she relaxes. Right. Sparkles was... Princess Glimmer, right? So Adora wasn't a princess.

Social status: unchanged.

"Huh. I mean, I guess it wasn't that fun, from the sound of things. I can't-" Wait, hm. They were dating said nobility. "...say that we've got anything similar where I'm from. Konoha's gatherings are usually either memorials, weddings, or the Hokage changing over. Maybe the Fire Daimyo too, I guess, but that hasn't happened in my lifetime." Noodle noodle, slurp slurp. "We're, uh. Usually pretty private, I guess. Though I hear clans have more gatherings like that. I don't have a family, though, so I couldn't say for sure."

[princesspower]

She's a princess by virtue of being handed the title, not really by birth. So... it's complicated. She's not about to get into it, though. She's more focused on shoveling noodles into her mouth as fast as she can. Delicious.

"I never went to a party or a prom before I left the Fright Zone," Adora points out with a shrug, "So it was definitely a new thing for me."

A pause, "Wait, you don't have a family?"

[heterochrocatic]

Catra slurps up another mouthful of noodles and elbows Adora in the side.

"We don't have families either, idiot." Catra just kind of assumed that families were for people who weren't soldiers of some type.

[71lines]

Tenten makes a rude face at Catra after her comment, then nods at Adora. "Mine were killed by a fox demon when I was about a year old. It... Kind of happens. By the sound of things, they were just peasants, not part of a clan or anything." She swirls her noodles around, then takes a decent slurp. "I wonder what it's like, sometimes, but then I think about what happened to Master Guy's father and the Uchihas and I'm kind of glad that I never knew them before I lost them."

You can't miss what you never knew, after all.

It doesn't stop her from dreaming about being, oh. Haruno Tenten. Akamichi Tenten. Something like that. But those are just idle fantasies.

[princesspower]

"Well, yeah, but I thought that was mostly a Fright Zone thing..." Adora shrugs at Catra and then turns her attention back to Tenten. She slurps another mouthful of noodles, brow furrowed in thought.

"Well... Catra and I never really had a family either, but... I think what's important is the family and friends you can make now, right? Even if you don't remember who your parents were."

Oof, this hits different.

[heterochrocatic]

"Well maybe it's a Fright Zone thing and a ninja thing," Catra replies between mouthfuls of noodles. They're good, okay? She's just gonna keep chowing down like an animal.

"I never had a family or any friends, so it's like... whatever."

[71lines]

"Most ninjas come from clans. That's why they're so hard to keep up with, family secret techniques or bloodline powers. But..." She waves her hand dismissively. "Sorry, it's a dumpster of a subject and I shouldn't've brought it up. Not what the noodles are about, anyway."

At least no one's (openly) offended.

[princesspower]

"Hey, I'm the one who asked about it," Adora replies between mouthfuls of noodles. These are really good, honestly.

"I just thought... most people had families who weren't us."

[heterochrocatic]

"So like, what are the noodles about? Aside from just, you know, eating noodles?" Slurp, slurp.

[71lines]

"Oh, um." She pauses, blushing, and holds up a noodle with her chopsticks. "It's, um. Good luck. And a promise of a long life, the same way the noodles are long. Also, if you bite through them," and she does, "It represents breaking away from the past to have a clean slate for the future. And luck and strength, because... Well, a lot of reasons, I guess, but the buckwheat you make the noodles from is a hardy plant."

She pauses, then slurps another batch and laughs. "I like lo mein noodles better, though. Anyhow these're technically somen noodles. Made like soba, but they don't have buckwheat flour in storage, so..." Tenten shrugs. "Honestly, I'm just glad I managed to make some good friends here. I'd call that lucky."

[princesspower]

"I feel the same way," Adora replies and then clarifies, "About making friends. It's good to have you around, Tenten."

There's something so stupidly earnest about the way that Adora says that that it can't be anything but sincere.

[heterochrocatic]

"All noodles are good," Catra says absently as she takes another bite. "I like that. The good luck and long life and breaking away from old stuff." She smiles slightly, glancing over at Adora when she speaks.

"...Yeah. I'm glad we met you, too. You're a good friend. Adora's right when she says it's good to have you around."

[71lines]

"All noodles are good. Just some are better." But she's smiling as she says it, cocking her head to emphasize the teasing.

There's a bit of a sting of guilt as the two of them proclaim her to be a good friend, but it's washed away in just... Look. Back home, she knows people appreciate her, that they consider her a good friend, someone who can be relied on. But they don't tell her. Hearing it said out loud, instead of just having that trust and affection implied, hits differently, and leaves her feeling about as warm and fuzzy inside as Catra is outside.

So forgive her if she doesn't say anything else just yet, she's just enjoying the feeling.

[princesspower]

"Well these are great," Adora laughs, slurping down another mouthful. She feels... good. Weirdly content. If they weren't on the rig, she'd feel almost at home - but she misses home. She tries not to think about it.

"One day, I'd like to show you Etheria, you know."

She pauses.

"I think you'd like it there."

[heterochrocatic]

"Etheria isn't that great. It's better than the stupid rig, though," Catra admits around a mouthful of noodles. She slumps over, leaning up against Adora bit more fully.

"But yeah, sure. We can show Tenten Etheria, I guess."

[71lines]

She smiles and shakes her head. I'm never going to see Etheria. "I'd love to see Etheria, where you guys came from. Mmmaybe not the Fright Zone, though. I'm a delicate lady, you know?" She laughs a little, setting her bowl down, then shakes her head, a sad smile crossing her face. "But there's a war to be won back home. Any visit would have to wait until that's done, you know? But given the forces involved, it can't last more than a day or two."

Ever since she knew she'd die there, it's been weird. She shouldn't be making any future plans. But not doing it, making everyone suffer with the knowledge she had, that seemed worse somehow.

Better to keep everyone happy while she could.

"Maybe I could show you Konoha, when it's all done. I've got some friends who'd probably love to meet you."