Let's get the party started!

[poor_unlucky_girl]

Who: Everyone including YOU
What: Pride month celebration!
Where: Mess hall
When: First weekend of June, after the brain quest.
Warnings/Notes: Probably alcohol, language, might lead to sexy stuff

Ah yes, Jennifer is in pure delight. Back in her day, this wasn't a thing and now not only she, who will romanticize everything, gets to celebrate love, she gets to witness people be happy as they celebrate with her. She waves happily at whoever enters and nods towards all the available material.

There is indeed lots of booze, which one wouldn't expect from Jennifer but hey, Price helped. There's rainbow cake, and biscuits with the flags on it. Before everyone arrives she innocently asks one of the staff members in the kitchen if she can eat a lesbian one. There's a box with pins and facepaints. Some people are sporting funny or sexy costumes. She is wears her usual hairdo, but decorates it with a rose, paired with a simple white dress. She drinks her tea and is happy, and just a little bit too clueless of what can happen during these kinds of celebrations...

Comments

[myagents]

Price is perfectly aware that Jorgmund's intentions are not nearly as wholesome and naive as Jennifer's, but helping with the organization was nice. It reminds him of the good old days when he could examine the freelancers' relationships with one another, it's not like Jorgmund isn't trying to spot incidents of fraternization. He'd like to spot them too, just for fun.

Also despite being unable to get drunk he just needs a drink. He looks over to the box of pins with pride flags. He considers wearing the aromantic one, but then he refrains from doing so because he already knows what kind of backlash that would come with. He then eyes the one with the gay flag. It's so strange how happy he used to be with being this figure who is just this looming unnerving presence staring inside people's souls, something so impeccable and perfect that no one could ever possibly see him as a human with a beauty, sensuality and sexuality to him.

It comes to him just now how uncomfortable he is with being just Aiden Price instead of his titles. He walks away from the box, the Director wouldn't approve anyway because displays of human behaviour from him would not be professional. After all, he will always be the Counselor, and as such he's just there to watch people and to mold them after the situation he wants to achieve. The Counselor doesn't belong in the LGBT community, the Counselor doesn't belong...anywhere.

[hallelujahjunction]

Dan doesn't have an opinion on Pride. Dan doesn't consider himself anything in particular, feeling as if he's just what he is and if people think assigning words to him - gay, straight, pansexual, male, female, whatever - helps them figure him out, then that's both their business and their prerogative. It doesn't bother him, but it doesn't particularly resonate with him. He's a person for whom looking like a man is convenient and privileging, who intermittently works at gay bars but sleeps with any consenting adult who offers, who cares more about the joyful oblivion of mutual satisfaction than he does about the shape his partners take, who mostly schlubs it in t-shirts and hoodies but looks great in women's jeans, and people will make of that what they will, and he won't stop them.

Dan doesn't have an opinion on Pride, but he does have an opinion on partying, and the combination of colorful cocktails and cake are a siren song to call him from the firing range in the training center, where he's been calming his mind from how pissed off he is over the happenings with Planker. He's not surprised to see Price there, because Price tends to end up places where he'll interact with others, which Dan assumes is because even people who compulsively burn their bridges like Price and Mac need social contact and community. But he is a bit surprised to see Price picking over the pins, because the Counselor doesn't seem the type to want to firmly stake claim on an identity.

"Counselor. Having a nice time?" Dan's mixing up his Blue Hawaiian with the knife used to cut the sheetcake, hoping that the sugar in the frosting sweetens the drink; he's got slashes of glitter across his cheeks and a burgeoning hickie from having made out with a Jorg mechanic in a hall closet a few minutes ago.

[myagents]

Hearing Dan behind him, Price flinches and stops looking at the pins. It's like a reflex, like he's doing something wrong even if for once he wasn't doing anything.
He turns to him.

"Oh." he can't help but notice the glitter and the hickey, and he won't comment on it but he is wondering how can something so trashy look so good on Dan. "Good evening."

Price himself is keeping it simple, with a navy blue suit and black tie - the shirt is white for some nice contrast - and nothing special, really. He does wear lacey panties underneath, but it's more of a thing he did to feel pretty for himself because he hasn't had an occasion to dress up. He's not even considering the idea of showing them to someone else, people have already been bullying him enough. He just likes to think that no matter how ugly he is on the inside, he's still pretty. Well, he's trying to convince himself, at least, aging is such a dreadful experience for him and he wants to hold onto his beauty and skills before it's too late.

"Yes, it's-- ...It's a nice event."

He eyes the knife with equal amounts of wonder, confusion, and concern. He steps away so that Dan can look at the pins properly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm blocking the view." he points at them "Here."

[hallelujahjunction]

Dan waves a hand, ignoring the pins. He's a habitual pickpocket, but there's no practical use in these; the backs aren't even long enough to be useful as budget lockpicks. "Don't worry. I'm not really a pin guy. I don't even know what half the colors on here mean."

He pulls the butterknife out of the drink and sets it aside; unfortunately, the frosting in the cocktail didn't do much to sweeten it to Dan's typical diabetic coma-inducing preferences, and just messed up the texture somewhat. He looks disappointed.

Dan's still in his Jorg coveralls but, in combination with the glitter and hickie and the way his sleeves are rolled up, looking extremely casual. "Not bad fo mandatory fun. How've you been?"

Dan isn't sure if Price has been avoiding him or if it's just that Dan's been avoiding everybody - he suspects it's the latter. Dan's gotten quite withdrawn following Planker's death, down to the point of passive-aggression, ignoring people when they speak directly to him and hiding out in the training center.

[greyerrant]

Loken is fairly uncertain about what's happening here, so he just shifts his feet and stands in a corner, watching people awkwardly while trying to surreptitiously figure out what sort of celebration it is.

[prairietroubador]

"You alright there pardner?" Greg asks, walking up with a pink, purple, and blue flag pinned to his chest.

"I'm guessin' from the expression on you're face y'aint got a clue what's goin' on here, am I right?"

[greyerrant]

Loken smiles, sincerely pleased someone had ascertained his confusion and distress, and nods.

"You are correct. I would appreciate any light you can shed on this mysterious festival, friend."

He looks at Greg's flag meaningfully.

[myagents]

"Greetings." Price walks up to Loken, a plate with a freshly cut slice of rainbow cake in his hands. He extends it to him. "Here, have some cake."

Yes, he remembers perfectly well that he lasered Loken for no reason some time ago. He was just looking for a fight, and maybe he still is. He also wants to make up and have some friend to manipulate be a human being with manipulate. He just wants the thrill, and while he might not seek it in a stereotypical way he sure has been indulging in risk taking behaviour.

"We hope you are enjoying this celebration." he announces, slipping into his professional persona. Who is we? Jorgmund? He and Jennifer? He is tempted to use it all the time, honestly, like it's a royal we, because he's just one with Project Freelancer to that extent. So he likes to think. If it has to come with disadvantages, it might as well come with the feeling of home. He likes to be someone whose contribution is important, for better or worse. And, once again, he tells himself in his head that the Director absolutely loved and appreciated him although he refused to show it. Yes, he's doing great, he really likes holding onto the Counselor persona, and so he keeps acting accordingly.

"There are pride flag pins, cookies, and make up, if you are interested. I also made sure there was enough alcohol to boost the morale of our troops. Jennifer was very excited to organize this event, and I'm glad I could help. How can I be of assistance?"

[greyerrant]

Loken remembers the lasering too, and seems to have decided on a certain reserved politeness. "It would take a lot of alcohol to get me drunk, even with my oolitic kidney nonfunctional." He looks over the cookies, pins, and the make up.

"I appreciate a celebration of survival, though." He nods towards Greg. "Our fellow inmate over there explained the situation. I approve."

He will take and eat the cake, and says, "I am uncertain I need assistance, except maybe in understanding what all the flags mean. There are so many."

[icluciandance]

There's a new girl in town.

The idea of celebrating all of this is rather new to her, too (she can't recall the last time she met an Eternian who cared enough to put a label on who they loved), but - when in Romn, as they say.

She's not at all dressed for the occasion, so she immediately starts rummaging through the box of pins, so she can find something at least a little properly festive.

"Do these all have different meanings?" There are an awful lot of color combos in there, after all.

[tr1xx]

"Aye, they sure do. Honestly, they probably coulda done with puttin' out a guide, 'cause clearly not everyone here comes from some place where they have 'em."

Cammie, for her part, has a rainbow pin attached to her shirt. The robotic rabbit ears attached to a ring around her ponytail react with her as she speaks.

"Pretty sure I can identify most or even all of 'em. Lookin' for a specific meanin' or just curious?"

[icluciandance]

"A bit of each, I suppose. We didn't...really put words to it, where I come from. You love who you love, and it's between you and them."

She taps a finger against her chin a few times, thinking it over.

"But if I had to describe it, I think I'd say that it doesn't matter to me? Sex, gender, race...none of that feels so important when someone's spirit is so bright it's dazzling."

cw: underage drinking

[tr1xx]

Cammie's perched herself on the edge of one the mess hall tables, happily munching away on a rainbow-iced cookie. She's already squirreled away a bottle of beer she's definitely not quite the legal age to drink, but she's yet to crack it open, leaving it tucked between her legs and her body where it's probably getting warm.

(Because hey, who knows which New Hires are gonna be total squares, let alone any Jorg supervision? Gotta be careful, it's got nothing to do with the fact she keeps hearing Yaz's voice telling her off in the back of her mind, not at all.)

The flag she's pinned on is the basic rainbow, too, but when she arrived she could be seen sorting through multiple pins before she settled on it. Bi, pan, aro, ace—she spent a moment thumbing the genderfluid flag, but that was nothing to do with her and everything to do with Valentina (or is it Val, now? Have things changed back home? Has Val made the switch official? Has Kazu figured out that it's okay to be as attracted to Val as he is to Valentina?).

But the rainbow suits her just fine, it says all it needs to say and it's not like this is a normal pride, anyhow, for all Jennifer's innocent intentions. Shaking her head, Cammie stuffs the remainder of the cookie into her mouth and finally opens the beer, and anyone who so much as glances her way as she sips it gets it pointed at them and a mostly joking:

"Snitches get stitches, or whatever," directed their way.

Re: cw: underage drinking

[freakenstein]

Cammie catches Merton with that line as he was about to pass by, and he pauses throwing her a friendly smirk.

"I won't tell if you don't." He quips back, holding up a red solo cup that might be filled with flat red pop, but judging by how dark it is, it was much more likely some cheap box wine he'd snuck into a cup when no one was looking.

Giving a brief look around, he seems a bit awkward and lost standing there. Partly because he's just not used to parties, and partly because he didn't really expect so many people. He sort of pictured this turning out like one of his Gothic Fantasy Guild meetings, with five people tops hanging out in a room together. But, no, this was an honest to god party.

It was one thing to essentially come out to a tiny group of people and dip his tow into the scene. It was something else when it was what felt like half of their motley crew, and he was stuck not knowing any of the traditions or even enough about the various flags to chance donning a pin.

"This...this is kinda crazy, right? I didn't really expect there to be so many of us here." Catching himself when he realizes that could come off too negative, he quickly adds- "It's nice. Just...weird."

Re: cw: underage drinking

[tr1xx]

"Ma lips are sealed," Cammie flashes him a grin and a wink, taking a slightly-too-quick swig of her beer that makes her cough a couple times when it goes down the wrong way.

She matches his glance around the room, one ear turning to listen idly to the party chatter whilst the other stays aimed squarely at Merton.

"Apparently whatever was used to bring us here picked a queer ol' bunch," she half-jokes. Both ears tilt sideways, now. "I've been to crazier, but that was all on the Ether—virtual reality internet space—and everything's crazier on the Ether. People can come from all over and when ye put a bunch of kids figurin' 'emselves out in a space they can make 'emselves look like anything they can imagine, things go a wee bit nuts."

The Ether's a prime place for self-expression; sometimes that means making your virtual body match what you want it to look like on the outside world, sometimes it means turning yourself into a rabbit.

His awkwardness isn't lost on her, though. "Guessin' ye not used to shindigs like this?"

[takenalive]

Some company person whose job this isn't was told to set up a table and given a budget of nothing and prep time of negative two days, and so... There's a table with a sheet of pink tissue paper flung over it, PRIDE on a rainbow background printed out on five sheets of copy paper taped down, and five small empty vases and one coffee mug on top. The vases and mug are each next to a post-it note - Asexual, Bisexual, Pansexual, Pride, Lesbian, and Transgender. There is also an empty basket, and a laminated picture of a much nicer table. Effort!

[this is taken directly from my workplace.]

Alloran pauses besides it and takes a look, stalk eyes surveying the rest of the room, which is better put together. There had been some colorful symbols displayed on the Rig last year, just nothing so overt in New Hire-accessible areas, and nothing as puzzling as this display.

He sighs, which from an Andalite is more of a visual gesture than anything else. <I will never understand humans.>

[walkingballpit]

Wanting to help, Robbie comes to check out the table as well. He hasn't gone all in for a look, but he's obviously gotten ahold of the facepaint and put a Pride flag on his cheek. It becomes more noticeable as he tilts his head to the side in confusion.

"Is that what you'd call an interesting tableau?" Robbie gestures at the vases. "Do you think we're supposed to put something into the vase that we identify as? That sounds like a joke, but isn't. Or.... no, that doesn't work. I've never heard of anyone identifying as "Pride".

[runes_brand]

Brand, per his usual at parties, finds a wall to hold up where he can keep an eye on the entrances and exits. Maybe he'll get to hit someone getting handsy, that'd be fucking nice. 'Pride Month' is less familiar, because it's a human thing -- while there are a few people who prize reproductive partnerships over others, most don't fucking care. Someone once explained all the flags to Brand, but he didn't care to remember the details. He skips the pins and the facepaint, but grabs a couple cookies based on their nearness to the edge of the table rather than what the colors mean.

Maybe Jennifer didn't get to eat a lesbian cookie, but Brand certainly is.

[ownperson]

"You got something you wanna share with the class, Brand?"

Look, what is South supposed to do, as Brand's friend and a lesbian? Not give him a little shit the second she notices what cookie he's grabbed? Pfft, don't be ridiculous.

She's not wearing the flag herself, though there's a cookie in the hand that isn't wrapped around a bottle of beer. Sure, Pride's a thing back home, but it's a different kind of celebration when humanity's mostly gotten it's shit together in the last couple hundred years, in that regard anyway. She's pretty much just here for the alcohol and food, because her idea of a proper party is one with music and good booze, where you stand a chance of getting laid by the end and can actually forget your bullshit problems for a bit—and, well, any party in this corporate nightmare world sure isn't any of that.

[runes_brand]

Brand raises his eyebrows at her, because that's the only possible fucking answer to "you got something you wanna share with the class". Brand has never wanted to share something with the class in his life and South certainly knows it.

"This about the cookie?" he asks, spotting the twin to his own in her hand. "I can't keep the fucking flags straight." He lets that statement hang there. "Appropriately, I guess."

[zerg_rush]

Kerrigan is vaguely, vaguely aware there used to be an issue about sexuality, the way your average modern-day American knows there was some big deal about Catholics and Protestants in Britain a while back. That high-quality Confederate education is showing. Buuuuut there's free food and drinks and the only way a soldier, even a specialized one like her, is going to miss out on that is if they're dead.

"Uh." Kerrigan looks to the person next to her. "Does the color coding mean anything?" If it does, she's sending some mixed signals—she's holding a little cocktail plate that's got enough cookies to qualify as a Pride parade in itself.

[prairietroubador]

"I don't think it much matters when it comes to the cookies, but on the puns and flags it does."

He gestures to his pink, purple, and blue flag.

"Mine says I'm bi, fer instance."

[zerg_rush]

"Oh." Kerrigan chews on that for a second, metaphorically and literally while she finishes her cookie. She can barely manage a heterosexual relationship, and those are the ones society expect out of her. Widening her dating pool just seems complicated. "I guess it's useful so people don't waste their time?"

After Vigilante

[greyerrant]

Loken moves towards Kerrigan with purpose, not in an aggressive manner but clearly a determined one. He looks paler than normal, his lips a pale line as he crosses to her, and almost bumps into people several times. He is apologetic but brief, and will make eye contact with her before closing the distance. He says, almost formally. "Kerrigan, I have a matter I would like to discuss with you"

[zerg_rush]

Loken's hard to miss, especially when he's bearing down on you with a distinct air of unease and almost running people over in the process.

"Hey." Kerrigan squints up at him, happy to talk but concerned about his uncharacteristic mood. "You okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."