Closed | Tonight We're Gonna Party

[portolan]

Who: Balthier portolan, David helpdesk_hero, Bart kid_flash_found, Otto doctopoda, MCU Peter tinglesense, Strange rehandle, Loki ikols, Billy wordiness, Eddie slidesrightoff, Aleks morozova and any +1s I missed
What: A fancy dinner party at Balthier’s house
When: May 14
Where: Balthier’s House
Entry
Living Room
Kitchen
// generally beautifully restored historic late 1800s building in muted green and gold accents with antique furniture. pls compliment or insult him //
Content Warnings: none yet



[ The antique table has both leaves in it, extending from the dining room into the living room with twelve chairs around it. It's got a stately tablecloth and pale gold napkins. All the places are set with white china trimmed in gold, except one, which is green and gold and clearly for Loki, with a matching cup. There are name cards. There's a seating chart. The far wall of the dining room sports a buffet laden with stunning food in matching dishes, and the kitchen counter serves as a bar with a ridiculous amount of nice wine and alcohol.

The furniture in the living room has been rearranged to accommodate the table. The windows and doors are open to create a breeze and the back porch has additional seating. If people are looking for privacy, they can disappear to the basement, which is just a storage room, bathroom, and laundry unit, or upstairs where there is a loft study, a bathroom, and two bedrooms. One is locked. There are no bathrooms on the ground floor so excuses abound.

There’s also Romantic piano music playing on an honest-to-God gramophone. The whole house is restored original wood, antique furniture, old books, and nice art. Balthier is extremely pleased with his ship-like house and happy to finally show it off. He also asked Strange to enchant it to make it more or less metaproof for the evening.

TLDR:
-There will be a fine meal and plenty of alcohol
-Balthier will be giving Loki poison as condiments at some point (don’t @ him David and Billy) ((definitely @ him))
-There’s music if anyone wants to dance
-There are private places to slip into
-The house has been metaproofed to some extent by Stephen but Balthier will frown upon breaking his stuff
-Chaos pls

Feel free to thread jack! Mark things you don’t want threadjacked ]

Comments

[portolan]

My old partner was like that. Reminded me to eat, kept me from blazing off into ill-informed plans. Kindness really is precious.

[ It's surprisingly comforting, to talk about those losses a little. Even if it's hard.

David is easy to talk about though, and Otto's comment pulls a warm, dreamy smile to Balthier's face. He glances over at David, who's chatting with some of his friends. ]

I could say the same. Thank you, though. This kind of domestic relationship is new for me. I'm finding myself more suited to it than I'd have thought.

[doctopoda]

[The sight of it brings another pang to Otto's chest, but this time he smiles. It hurts, but it's not...entirely unpleasant. It's good to remember. The actuators shift a little, looking at him, and with barely a thought he stills them.]

Yes, it does seem to suit you. You should cherish that.

["While you can" goes unspoken. But not unfelt. Otto shakes his head.]

I'm sorry, I'm bringing down the mood. Tell me - does David tell you much about his work?

[portolan]

[ He hears the "while you can" anyway, but doesn't disagree. ]

I'm making an effort to. [ Trying to be bold, to ask for things and admit things he wouldn't have before. So far, that's going better than he could have imagined. ]

It's no trouble; I have people I need to talk about sometimes, too.

Truth be told though, no, other than how extremely busy they keep him. I think sometimes he assumes I don't know enough about technology to fully follow. Which is maybe true, but I enjoy being out of my depth.

He does prosthetics and limb-related things though -- I'm going to presume you've worked with him?

[doctopoda]

Oh, all I've done is forward him a bit of my work.

[He clicks a couple of claws demonstratively.]

But it's very exciting! They're trying to link the prosthetic devices directly to the user's nervous system - like I did with these, but less involved. It'll be an incredible medical advancement!

[portolan]

[ Balthier's smile is small but entirely warm and dreamy. ]

That sounds like David. And it sounds like it has the possibility of making a lot of people's lives better.

[ At home, magick was widely available for immediate treatments, but there wasn't much to be done once a wound or disease set. Prosthetics were nowhere near this advanced. ]

[doctopoda]

Oh, yes. Almost makes me wish my friend Curt was here, he'd have loved this.

[Also the ever-present College Friend urge to make your buddy test out your thing!]

But it's probably for the best. I think my world was largely safer than this one.

[portolan]

You know, I think this world may be a tie with home for danger. For me personally, it's been less so far but I feel like I'm risking my safety saying that.

[ being a sky pirate and teaming up with a lost princess, her guard who was accused of being a king-slayer, and two idiot teenagers to save the world from his father and a meddling god hadn't exactly made his life average danger levels. but there was also the war and the constant presence of monsters.

the occasional confluence here and the addition of magical friends made it downright cozy ]

I wouldn't wish coming here on my friends, but I certainly wouldn't be as upset as I ought to be if a few of them happened to show up.

[doctopoda]

True. I do miss Norman...I don't know how I'd have gotten through those first few months without him.

[He did, of course, tell Balthier about Norman's apparent Confluence-related disappearance already. Had to update that RSVP and all.]

Ah, but I'll be alright. Our world has its moments, but overall it's much more stable than here. Even if you ignore the Confluences. [Like, what was their new average, a new supervillain every couple of years? That's a far cry from all the other places he's heard about.]

[portolan]

[ Balthier briefly puts a hand on Otto's arm. They've talked about it, of course, briefly, but loss is loss. Balthier doesn't envy him losing a friend so quickly. ]

Certainly a new adventure regardless of what we come from. I'm thankful this world has some structures in place for handling all this.