InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Just because it's not nice doe"

Amrit Nikesh (piece_o_dat) wrote in paxletalelogs,
@ 2011-02-06 00:05:00

Current mood:	excited
Current music:	FOX NFL news
Entry tags:	aphrodite, ares, freyja, hermes, osiris, tlazolteotl

[Open] "Green Bay will feel Hammer time"
Who: Open!
What: Seventh Floor Superbowl Party
Where: Rick's apartment (706), Pia's apartment (708), Samuel's apartment (707), the hallway, and wherever else the party might leak to
When: February 6th 2011, 3 PM - 10 PM
Warnings:   Usual party warnings, anything can/might happen when you get a pile of god-possessed people drunk in the same place.

Notes: The noise from the party can probably be heard from the sixth and eighth floors. Game starts at 3:30 PM. Totally feel free to riff on the halftime show/commercials as you please.   I, Sage, actually am at work all day today (boo), but you can assume that Rick will greet your character during the party. I'll be around in the evening to post.

-----

Superbowl is more than a football game. To many, it is a celebration of the spirit of America itself, maybe moreso than the Fourth of July. Because today, more than any other, men and women live to celebrate their united right to get drunk with a group of friends and strangers and scream at the television.

And the black, yellow, white and green colored balloons and streamers, and tiny themed Nerf footballs lining the seventh floor hallway was the first indication that Superbowl mania had infected at least part of the building.

Rick's apartment looked like a fiesta waiting to happen, even on a normal day. The kitchen was painted a chili red normally seen on sports cars, with food and drinks piled buffet-style on the island and the counter bar, and plenty of team-colored cups and plates to go around. The living room itself was painted a bright golden yellow, and for this occasion, had banners of GREEN DAY PACKERS and PITTSBURGH STEELERS draped in the empty spaces between artwork. At least 15 people's worth of sofas, chairs, and oversized floor-pillows were arranged between the living room and kitchen combined. The wide-screen television in the corner of the living room possessed nearly an altar-like feel to it - today, even though Rick was the host, the TV was the central star.

The hallway even had a few card tables scattered through it, with bowls of popcorn and junk food to accompany the playing cards and poker chips. A radio sat out there as well, blaring off stats and scores so truly, nobody could miss a touchdown on that floor if they tried. Though perhaps one could duck into the other open rooms on the floor - one with exquisite food smells wafting out of it, and the other loud with the squeals of slain assassins.

Rick himself works through the rooms and crowds, greeting new arrivals, chatting, and porting food from Pia's room around. Between the black Steeler's jersey, yellow Nikes, and black and yellow greasesmarks under his eyes and his unsinkable grin, his own investment in the Superbowl is impossible to miss.

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Re: Room 703 to Stairwell [Lia]

arkhospheleteon
2011-02-20 02:53 pm UTC (link)

Philip had never been a hostile or aggressive personage, and yet, when the surprise at last managed to vanish from his expression, it was replaced not with a smile but an almost accusatory look. His arms were folded across his chest, his eyebrows knitted together with a distinctive crease between them, and his mouth twisted in a petulant frown. He had taken no notice of her sling, having not yet moved past the fact that this was Lia, a friend from his childhood, and he could not fully take her in as she stood there before him. Even if he had, while Lia might have made strides toward more mature behaviour upon their reunion, the passing years had nevertheless failed to endow Philip with a similar grasp of adulthood. He clung to a rather childish reaction of new found resentment, the emotion as potent as it was only because he'd not given Lia much thought since the last time he'd seen her, and it therefore rendered all previously unconsidered conclusions fresh and unaddressed by more reasonable justifications.

"You... You..." He shook a finger in her direction. "You never visited again after you and Nathan broke up!" His proclamation came with a look of wounded puppy, whatever boyishness remaining in his looks only exaggerated by his sudden, sulky demeanor. "I know things didn't work out between you two, but I thought we were friends." Philip scuffed a foot against the floor, and conveniently ignored his own lack of effort made in reconciling the change that had left them socializing in entirely different circles. After all, if he were to reflect upon the event accurately, he surely could have called her on the phone or stopped by her home, but when she had slipped out of his life like so many others, the sting of such losses passed as quickly as it came. None of this, however, held much relevance to him now.

"Didn't you miss me at all?" He glanced over at her from beneath the disheveled curls of his bangs.

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Re: Room 703 to Stairwell [Lia]

philommeides
2011-02-22 10:38 pm UTC (link)

Lia bit her lip, momentarily taken aback and a little shamed by his seemingly earnest question. While she may not have acted the best way possible back then, she'd been just a girl, and hadn't had much of a grasp of how to navigate the perilous waters of post-dating social mechanics. That Philip still held onto it surprised her. She shifted the tray on hand.

"Of course I missed you," she said. "Things just got awkward after Nate and I broke up; I started seeing someone else, then I moved to LA..." she looked at him helplessly. "High school was kind of a strange time." She gave a little laugh, shaking her head. His sullen, accusatory tone had worked on her like a charm, and she saw it now. She wondered if he was being manipulative, or if he was genuinely bothered by a slight from so long ago.

She smiled at him, though, even so. "But don't be upset with me," she said. "You can't be. It's been so long, and there's so much catching up we can do! I did miss you, and it's actually really lovely to see you. This was the last place I'd expect to!"

Shifting the weight of the tray again, she leaned against the wall slightly to ease the burden of it.

"So you never did tell me what brought you out to the left coast."

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Re: Room 703 to Stairwell [Lia]

arkhospheleteon
2011-02-25 02:28 am UTC (link)

"Oh, this and that," he said vaguely, which was an immediate sign of his distraction. Philip was mentally weighing her reassurances of affection, ultimately concluding they had been sincere (though in truth he rarely took much convincing in this regard). The change in his demeanor upon this decision was immediate, his expression turning to one of open warmth as he regarded the girl from his past and gave her a hug, somehow narrowing dodging the tray of freshly cut fruit but not as skillfully avoiding her wounded shoulder when he tugged her closer. It was strange to see the subtle difference imbued by the passage of time, her features once youthful and pretty maturing with a more elegant beauty in adulthood. "I've really been all over and ended up here by accident. But I suppose I can't be too upset since we ended up in the same place after all. That's a pretty big coincidence, don't you think? I mean, small world, or maybe just the result of converging unseen forces directing our paths. All the same I'm glad to see you, 'cause I always did like you lots better than Nathan." He added with an affectionate smile. Even when the latter sentiment had been tacked on with genuine enthusiasm, it was debatable whether or not Philip's statement had more to do with actual preference over proximity.

"Say, Lia," Philip said at last noticing the sling that kept her arm at a comfortable angle and he made a gesture toward the injury. "What happened to you?"

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Re: Room 703 to Stairwell [Lia]

philommeides
2011-02-25 01:22 pm UTC (link)

She tried not to hiss as he pulled her into the embrace, but pain shot through her shoulder into her arm and chest at an alarming rate. It took a moment to process anything he'd said as when he released her she slowly exhaled. The pace of his speech and the sheer volume of it left her reeling a bit, especially in light of the small agony of her shoulder being pressed, but she managed a smile, or something very like it, at his claim that he'd liked her better than Nathan.

His last question would require a lie, but fortunately it was a lie she'd had plenty of opportunity to practice since she'd gotten back to work. "Really stupid," she told him. "Freak skiing accident." It had been difficult to come up with a freak accident that could have injured her as severely as she had been - Lia wasn't one to engage in activities that required high physical risk, with the possible exception of driving, but a car accident was too easy to disprove. Skiing, though, was easy. Lia didn't have a lot of experience at it, she was known to like to go away on trips for the weekend, and no one would be surprised at her letting a date take her skiing even if she'd never done it before. It allowed for charming stories of her own clumsiness and her nameless date's chivalry and heroism which were hardly feigned at all - only slightly altered, really.

But for Philip, she kept it simple. "I'll be fine, really. Are you here for the party?"

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Re: Room 703 to Stairwell [Lia]

arkhospheleteon
2011-02-25 03:43 pm UTC (link)

"No," his voice dragged out the word, the tone shifting slightly during the extension of the syllable. "I've got to go to work, but from what I saw, it looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. Everyone's got there doors open, and I saw a few people swinging by with food like the way you've got." Philip wondered briefly if Lia really required this fabrication. Perhaps their history together might have made her more understanding of his circumstances, and the fact that he did not actually have a legitimate residence there like the others. But he supposed that in the end it was far easier to have one false story consistently told than several for which he would have to keep track.

"But I guess since I can't go, I'll take one of your fruit cups now," Philip said with an impish smile as a skillful hand slid one of her prepared appetizers off the tray with almost invisible speed. "Not that you could stop me with that bum arm of yours. I am sorry about your injury though, Lia. Maybe I could stop by your place sometime and do all the things you can't that require two hands."

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Re: Room 703 to Stairwell [Lia]

philommeides
2011-03-02 08:06 pm UTC (link)

As he spoke, Lia quirked her head to one side, wondering about what in his voice was making her wonder. Philip had always been charming, but in that way that meant the truth wasn't necessarily of the utmost value to him - it had seemed like often enough for a foster kid, it was more of a liability than anything else. But before she could consider this or his tone too deeply, though, he'd scooped up some fruit, and she couldn't help but laugh and shake her head.

"Well, I'll graciously concede that cup to you, sweetheart. I give it freely." she smiled softly at him. "I'd love for you to come by; you don't have to do anything, but I love having company, and it'll be nice to catch up."

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Re: Room 703 to Stairwell [Lia]

arkhospheleteon
2011-03-03 03:06 pm UTC (link)

"Yeah, definitely," Philip said between stuffing pieces of fruit into his mouth so that he barely tasted the delicious tang of their flavour. Yet, the introduction of food to his once empty stomach was somehow only making him more ravenous. It was a strange thing, that suddenly obvious gurgling tug in the center of his abdomen. He hadn't even realised he'd been hungry before having that first bite, but since he was and Lia had been so obliging, he decided it couldn't hurt to help himself to another one of her plate of snacks. After all, she did have plenty to share. He opted for a veggie cup on his second round.

"I'd love to see what your apartment looks like and have you tell me everything you've been up to. I mean, you were always the coolest person I knew when I was in school. I bet you've done all sorts of interesting things since," Philip's tongue never tripped over a single word despite his lightning fast delivery. "Anaheim's lucky to have gotten you, but say, Lia, do you really like it here?" He blinked up at her, meaning more than just the city, but the apartment complex itself even when he hadn't clarified such a jump in concepts.

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Re: Room 703 to Stairwell [Lia]

philommeides
2011-03-04 05:32 am UTC (link)

"Well," she said, shifting the tray on her hand and taking some time to digest his question. "Anaheim's OK. I actually like LA a lot more, and San Diego even better, but..." she shrugged her shoulder only to wince at the gesture. "Something about the building kind of... drew me, I guess." She didn't know how to better explain it than that, but it seemed as though it had happened that way for a lot of residents here she'd talked to. She wondered if Philip felt the same. She continued.

"Living in the building has been..." she laughed, shaking her head. "Well, it's had its ups and downs. But my apartment's nice, and I've made some... friends."

The word made her smile as she thought of Samuel. Her focus shifted, though, as she looked at Philip. She'd seen the way he'd gobbled down the fruit and now worked on some veggies. It looked like he was hungry; more hungry than a snack would cover. For some reason, Philip seemed to awaken some nurturing -- she wouldn't call it maternal -- instinct in her, and it made her worry her lip a bit.

"But listen -- are you OK? Do you want a sandwich or something?" She tried to think if she had anything in her apartment, and she was almost sure she had at least almond butter and maybe some bread in the freezer. "Do you need anything?"

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Re: Room 703 to Stairwell [Lia]

arkhospheleteon
2011-03-05 12:57 pm UTC (link)

The sudden inquiry surprised Philip, that strange and bewildering expression of concern that appeared painted over her elegantly carved features and communicated in the intensity of dark eyes that had the alluring capability to captivate the full breadth of his attention, at least briefly. His life had rarely been met with any consistent interest in his well-being, that it often caught him off-guard when it was given, but then this was perhaps one of the reasons why he had always like Lia so very much as even in his youth, he had been prone to attaching himself to any who showed him the barest glimmer of affection. His smile broadened.

"Say, Lia, you really haven't changed," Philip said, pleased by this discovery. "Makes me wish you had been around the past few years. You know, they haven't been the most pleasant." Considering the conclusion of his last adventure, this was in fact a true statement, and yet, Philip rarely dwelt in the past, negative experiences confined to dates and brief descriptions rather than saturated with emotional impact. He recalled them with only a distant numbness and superficial regret that seldom took hold to bleed into his present state of mind. But that hardly meant they could not be used to his advantage when something might be gained from it. His voice had dropped at the end of his last statement to a believably troubled tone, and over a set of cautiously observant eyes, his brow furrowed. "I wish I had enough time to stop by your place for a sandwich, but maybe you could just let me take a few more of these instead." He made a vague gesture to her tray, and with the same hesitant note in his voice as though he were reluctant to continue, he added. "And maybe sometime later this week, you could treat me to dinner?"

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Re: Room 703 to Stairwell [Lia]

philommeides
2011-03-13 02:26 am UTC (link)

Lia nodded, watching him carefully. Philip had been a charmer, even when they were kids, but she didn't doubt that genuine need was behind his behavior at this point. Her concern for him was genuine - she had only fond memories of Philip, and had always been aware of her own good fortune when it came to having what she needed, and most of what she wanted, at that.

"Here," she told him, extending the tray as much as she could as she balanced it on one arm. "Take whatever you want, sweetheart. I'm sure there's more food than anybody knows what to do with, anyway." She gave him a little grin.

"Besides, I'm sure at a Superbowl party, the fruit and veggie platter is the last thing anybody's going to touch. There's peanut butter there," she nodded at the red plastic bowl that held it. "Just grab it and whatever else you want."

She wanted to talk to him further, to take him up to her apartment and ask him what was going on, if he needed more help than just some snacks and a dinner. More than once she'd dealt with bad luck and unfortunate mistakes in her own family, and being so far from home had made it hard for her to help as much as she would have liked. Having Philip here was something like home coming to her - and she couldn't help but want to reach out to him. It wasn't that she didn't realize when someone was trying to get over her - there was no shortage of smooth talkers in her family. But it didn't change the affection or concern she felt for them, and the same feeling extended to Philip, both for the sake of the friendship they'd had and the surrogacy for her family he was unwittingly providing.

"And we can do dinner," she said. "Just let me know when's good."

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Re: Room 703 to Stairwell [Lia]

arkhospheleteon
2011-03-13 12:10 pm UTC (link)

With the fruit he had taken gone, and the vegetables (alongside a few extra celery stalks dabbed with a generous helping of peanut butter), Philip stacked the empty containers back onto Lia's tray in perhaps the only action of neat deliberation that he had taken that afternoon. It had been enough to temporarily sate the empty feeling his abdomen had previously possessed, his hunger more from careless neglect than actual starvation. Food, although perhaps not always the most healthy of selections, was easy enough to pilfer from a grocery store or a neighbouring apartment with a set of quick fingers and a jacket with relatively large pockets. But he rarely took more than he needed, and his cabinets and non-working refrigerator were thus fairly barren. Such a situation was not conducive to thoughtless snacking, and so he ate only when he really thought of it. The world had too many distractions, however, for meals to be his main priority.

But dinner with Lia was another matter, his desire for socialization typically more pressing than that of his stomach. "Thanks, Lia. You're the best. I'll be sure to stop by soon." He told her, and then wondered briefly if he might have been in her home before. But Philip was sure he would have known if he had, by some photograph or some other personal affect. "What number are you in?"

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Re: Room 703 to Stairwell [Lia]

philommeides
2011-03-17 07:27 pm UTC (link)

Watching him replace the little cups neatly once inside the other, she smiled, perhaps a bit bemusedly.

"D3," she told him, shifting the tray a bit awkwardly to adjust for its diminished load. "I'm usually around in the evenings, so feel free to stop by." She leaned forward then, pressing a kiss to his cheek even she avoided toppling the tray or agitating her shoulder.

"It's really good to see you," she told him earnestly. "Take care of yourself, OK?"

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Re: Room 703 to Stairwell [Lia]

arkhospheleteon
2011-03-19 12:24 pm UTC (link)

"All right, and you better too. No more accidents like you did with that arm of yours." Philip said with a jovial wave of his hand, and then he was off, dashing down the stairs with one hand falling briefly against the railing as he disappeared beyond the sharp bend of a turn. His thoughts soon darting to other things so that Lia and all promises of visiting her were washed away by the wonders of how to spend a sunny afternoon free of any responsibilities.

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