The Apartment Above Luke's, Monday Evening

[spin_kick_snap]

The lack of private function space was perfectly solved by the empty apartment above the diner. Kathy had spent the afternoon cleaning and setting up for dinner tonight. Her anniversary dinner, if you would.

A year ago today, she'd woken up in Eliot's house, surrounded by tight, worried faces. Her friends, pretty much en masse, had gone through a portal to LA and fought through hordes of exes to bring her home, in hopes that Nanika could bring her back to life. Or maybe just so she'd stop chanting Kathy's name. For whatever reason they'd done it, though, they'd succeeded. Kathy was alive again and had been for a full year.

A dizzying, challenging, terrifying year.

It seemed only right to hold some kind of commemorative dinner for it, somewhere between a celebration (which she still didn't think she'd earned, exactly) and an appreciation dinner. Not just for what they'd done, but for sticking with her this past year, for weathering the ups and downs, for reaching out and checking in, for reconnecting and promising to be better and stronger friends from here forward.

And, well, even if that didn't all come through, it would still be a delicious dinner cooked by Eliot and would give her a chance to just spend some time with the people she loved best, getting caught up with those she hadn't seen in awhile and offering an opportunity for them to get to know one another better, too.

If nothing else, they could all just stuff themselves silly with whatever delicious things the kitchen downstairs had whipped up and the super, extra, very chocolatey desserts Kathy had promised Alluka in her invitation.

[For those invited and up early for SP. No OCD, feel free to just ping in and around.]

Comments

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo turned up early. She'd even brought snacks if the pastry box in her hand was anything to go by.

It wasn't old times, though, and she knew it. But that didn't mean things had to be worse than they had been. Just different.

So there she was, determined to have a good time catching up with her senpai and other friends she hadn't seen in a while.

Knocking on the door with one hand and balancing a box of sweets on the other. Well, that brought back memories, and a nostalgic little smile.

[spin_kick_snap]

It wasn't going to be awkward. Kathy wouldn't let it be awkward. There was going to be happiness and reconnecting and good feelings all the way around.

"This brings me back," Kathy teased, noting the box as she tried to pull Ringo in for a hug. "When you open it, am I going to find cheesecake or taiyaki?"

[tigerundercover]

"Hey Ringo!" Raven greeted. "How's it going? It feels like we haven't talked in forever."

She was pretty sure her whole 'I don't see what's wrong with killing people' speech had a lot to do with that fact, but she wasn't going to be the one to bring it up.

[not_every_mage]

"It's been forever," Anders said, when he wandered over to Ringo. "How have you been?"

Was Ringo still in school? He couldn't even remember.

[that_oldsaying]

Annnnd--INCOMING HUG.

Sorry not sorry, Ringo!

"Ringo," she said, giggling, "Ringo, hi! Guess what I got?"

[tigerundercover]

Raven was there, mimicking a chic, pale yellow partty dress and doing a very good impersonation of a young woman who wasn’t basically half-feral at this point. She’d helped out with the prep as much as Kathy would let her, and if she occassionally wandered off to sit in her old bedroom, well. Shemissed this place, okay?

[spin_kick_snap]

"Thanks so much for helping me bring stuff upstairs today," Kathy said, wandering over to stand next to Raven. She reached for her bestie's hand to lace her fingers through Raven's blue ones. "Never would have made it by myself. Story of a ridiculous percentage of my life."

[not_every_mage]

"How's it feel to be back here?" Anders asked when his wandering and Raven's crossed paths. "It's a nice place."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante was relaxed. He'd showed up early in his wrecked jeans and a red leather jacket (but only because wearing the full coat Anders had given him seemed weird right now) and dropped his ass into a seat.

"So what's cooking, Kat?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Awww, you dressed up," Kathy teased, dropping a quick kiss on Dante's cheek. "That a request for the menu or one for the rundown of how tonight's supposed to go. Because, fair warning, one involves me shrugging and saying, 'I didn't get passed the idea of getting everyone into one room and feeding them.'"

[not_every_mage]

"Hey, you," Anders said, looking faintly amused as he walked toward Dante. "Ready for the party?"

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka showed up right on time, bunny in arms. She was possibly over-dressed but then, really, that was just Alluka's style. Her hair had taken her the longest to do.

She wasn't really sure what to do once she was there, though. Her nerves from the day had made her feel shy and awkward about being here.

[spin_kick_snap]

Showing up was enough. For everybody, just showing up was enough for Kathy. Just like a year ago, it would have been enough. Success was never guaranteed, but Kathy was moved when people just tried.

"Alluka!" Kathy gasped, seeing her. "Your hair is gorgeous." She opened her arms. "Can I get a hug?"

[vdistinctive]

"Nice to see you, Alluka," Eliot greeted with a broad smile. He didn't know the girl very well, but she was instrumental in getting Kathy back, so she was always going to hold a special place in his heart anyway. "How've you been?"

[not_every_mage]

"Hi," Anders smiled at Alluka, brushing his ponytail out of his face. "All of a sudden I feel underdressed."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Hey Alluka," Dante greeted, grinning at her. "'sup?"

[vdistinctive]

"Cookie says they got plenty of extra to send up if folks want seconds," Eliot reported, putting his phone back into his pocket. (What? Just because he wasn't in the kitchen on this one didn't mean he wasn't going to make sure his staff didn't screw around on it.) "You notice anything we forgot, darlin'?"

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy glanced over at the table, counting the bowls and dishes and sides one more time. It was sorta like a Korean dinner with all the little banchan, but based on Italian cuisine. It made her smile and she was pretty sure that it was entirely Eliot's idea.

"I don't think so," she said, giving him a smile. And then a giant hug. "Thanks for helping me pull this off."

[rebelseekspizza]

Was Dante giving Eliot a guy-nod?

Well, yeah. Obviously.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"There's chocolate an' there's Parker an' I'm thinking we did not think this through," Hardison murmured in an undertone.

[not_every_mage]

As he arrived at the party, Anders was ... pensive. Pensive was a good word for his mood.

That and grateful.

He grabbed a bottle of beer from the cooler and propped himself in a corner, trying not to think about how different his life could have been.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Hey," Kathy said, drawing close to him. Pensive was a good word for how she'd been feeling for the few days leading up to this. She gave him a small smile. "Sorry I didn't see you come in. Checking on everything."

[smilestopscars]

Ezra showed up in a tailored suit and with a bottle of wine.

And then proceeded to sort of... casually stay out of everyone's way. He was good at that: looking absolutely at ease while watching people, regardless of whether he was actually at all at ease or not.

(He wasn't.)

[spin_kick_snap]

"You're here," Kathy said with a warm smile, reaching out to him. She didn't sound surprised, or like she'd had doubts; just glad that he'd arrived. "You look amazing."

Kathy was in a plain red dress, warm and cut flatteringly, but with no real embellishments. Only the back saved the dress from being utterly plain--though Kathy thought it did a rather good job of that.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison was another one of the guests who'd decided to err on the dressier side of things, wearing one his nice suits for the occasion. Look, sometimes a man just liked getting dressed up, strutting around a bit for the appreciation of his partners, reflecting well on his TA, and then heading home to enjoy the earlier partner-appreciation he'd built up.

[that_oldsaying]

Okay.

Okay, so.

Alluka knew Mr. Hardison vaguely. And she also vaguely knew that he knew Kathy's Papa, Eliot, and that radio said they lived at the same place.

Beyond that, she was a bit clueless about everything, and it was a bit nerve-wracking to approach someone but... well, she'd thought about approaching Kathy, but it was Kathy's party and she didn't want to upset her.

So... approaching Mr. Hardison was the other option.

"Um, um... excuse me?" she said hesitantly.

[whoisalicewhite]

Parker also appreciated all the chocolate. Almost as much as she appreciated that it had been a year since everything changed again-- in a good way, this time.

So there might have been side-hugs, while offering Kathy more of the treats.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was happy to keep getting Parker side-hugs, especially knowing how Parker felt about hugs in general. "It's so good to see you," she said, passing Parker another chocolate-covered strawberry because no one had ever told her to watch Parker's chocolate intake! "I'm sorry, I know I haven't been terribly social lately. What've you been up to?"