1832/Boston-666 Barbeque

Boston-666 Barbeque
Date of Scene:	18 March 2015
Location:	Boston-666
Synopsis:	Goaded by Kongou, Psyber hosts a barbecue and everyone's invited!
Cast of Characters:	Kotone Yamakawa, Arthur Lowell, 40, Priscilla, Fiora O'Brien, 183, 253, Theo Morrison, 415, 481, 494, Riva Banari, Ayako Hasekawa, Wo, 614, 637, Shigure, 707, Corona Arclite

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Psyber (253) has posed:
    It's an unseasonably warm day in Boston-666, as Psyber predicted about a week ago when he first announced the barbeque on Union channels. With a week's worth of prep time, he was able to set up a pretty decent event for visitors to his office to participate in, with several coolers full of meat sitting next to him as he works in front of a very large grill clearly meant to cook for large functions.

    The entire setup is on the big lawns in front of the office proper, with the building itself locked up for the day so people can take the day off. Residents can still get in and out via their home keycards, but most people won't be able to access the building while Psyber's not in it at the moment.

    Around the large grill, there are several setups for people to eat at. There's a table that's (mostly) empty, save for some grilled corn on the cob and bowls of chips with dip. It's mostly left empty, though, so people can bring side dishes since so many of them volunteered to. There's a couple of HUGE tubs of ice, one packed with sodas of numerous different brands while the other has beers and the like in it.

    The other table, though, is packed with some food Psyber cooked before the official meetup time so that people could have something to dig into while he was cooking the rest and give him a buffer zone to keep up with. There's about 3 trays of chicken, each done in a different sauce: One spicy, one normal, one sweet. There's also a tray with a couple steaks on it, very basically cooked with a salt and pepper rub. There's also about 6 different trays of beef and pork ribs, each one done in a different sauce, ranging from 'sweet and spiceless' to 'scorchingly hot'. There's also some burgers and hotdogs and less saucy stuff for people who don't want any of the above.

    The half-angel and organizer of the event is hanging out next to the grill with a beer in one hand while the other works a pair of tongs and rotates pieces of meet on the grill, turning or adjusting things where he can. Once in a while, he sets down the beer and takes a brush out of one of about eight bowls full of barbeque sauce next to him, slathering it onto one thing he's cooking or another before putting the brush back into its designated sauce.

    Overall, it looks and tastes pretty good. There's a small boombox and speaker setup playing a basic classic rock playlist.

Kirika (481) has posed:
    BOOM

    BOOM

    BOOM

    One may hear exaggerated thuds growing louder and closer to the lawn of the office. This is not the footsteps of a large beast, but instead a massive blue man with horns and a GREAAAAAAAAT BUSHY BEARD dragging a massive kanbo behind him. "Ach, see? What'd I tell ya? We're probably late because you had to go off and not bother to ask directions." The oni says, his accent /thick/ with something, but it's definitely hard to say just what the hell accent he is speaking with.

    A more wiry, red-hued oni dressed in a ragged kimono compared to his husband's leather apron and a tunic made with animal hides. Akai-Toh carries a large, ornate daikatana stucked in his sash, as well as a big jug of sake that's enough for the both of them. "Please, Kirika said we'd be fine long as we followed this...thing. Whatever it is, anyways." The red oni's hair is more trimmed, with a topknot and a goatee lining his angular features. He's also a good foot or two shorter than Hagane is, too.

    He's also toting some sort of smartphone, but having pointy fingernails and a touchscreen aren't a good combination as he tries to red despite mulitple scratches on the screen.

    Kirika meanwhile is just trying really hard not to look like she's affilated with these two. Which is a bit difficult, considering that she's perched atop of Hagane's hulking and broad shoulders this whole time, her finest yukata worn today.

    "I can't take you two anywhere..." she murmurs as the oni approach the picnic grounds.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Eleanor Lamb has some visitors with her tonight. The Sisters are here in force and all of them are carrying containers of some sort or another. It looks like the girls have made various potluck type things, including potato salad, ambrosia, some sort of jellied savory thing in a mold, and three containers of cookies. All of the sisters are in their Sunday finest outfits, perfect for getting full of greasy BBQ stains.

    Eleanor herself is dressed in her Heaven or Hell patched leather jacket and her Dad Clothes, carrying a cooler full of Various Alcoholic Beverages.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Yay! A barbeque! For some reason, Ayako likes barbeques. Even though she doesn't eat. Even though she can't smell the wonderful smell of barbeque cooking. Even though she can't cook herself. She still loves them. Of course, she's staying far, far away from the cooking area. Her presence tends to... make cooking go badly, to say the least.

    So where exactly is the water spirit? Ayako is actually in one of the huge tubs of ice. Yes. Buried up to her neck in ice. What? Where do you think all the ice came from? For now, she's just watching Psyber cook and looking around. It's not like she's being sneaky, although if someone isn't paying much attention, Ayako's current spot could catch them off guard!

Samar (494) has posed:
    Suddenly, a voice booms over a megaphone from somewhere across the street.

    "THIS PARTY IS NOW THE PROPERTY OF THE ABYSSAL FLEET! I, SAVO, THE AIRFIELD PRINCESS, CLAIM THIS ARRAY OF PUNY HUMAN FOOD IN THE NAME OF OUR GLORIOUS ADMIRAL SAMAR!"

    Savo, standing across the street from the Heaven or Hell lawns, is holding a megaphone in her gauntlet-covered right hand. That, however, is quickly tossed aside to scatter across the pavement once the Princess feels her job is done. She doesn't have any of her weaponry with her, so it looks like she's not intending to back up this conquest with lethal force. Just noisiness.

    The Airfield Princess immediately flashes a bright grin and skips across the street, somehow managing to not fall over on those strange pointed shoes she wears. Her path takes her right over to one of the ice chests containing various sodas - "Oooh, /score/!" - where she scoops one up, holds it like a piece of corn on the cob, and just...chomps into its side. A mouthful of aluminum and fizzy orange soda are torn away, no doubt spilling down her chin and along the ground too. As she chews, her ever-wide eyes are cast over to Psyber, who she lifts her gauntleted arm to and waves cheerfully. "Hey," she murfs around her mouthful, "you must be Psyber! Awesome! You're way bigger than I expected."

Kazusa Ujikane (415) has posed:
    Not long after her arrival, Psyber developed an audience consisting one very curious and very /focused/ schoolgirl.

    "I don't think I've ever seen American-style barbecue in person before...!"

    Kazusa is almost stereotypical in her tourist vibe. Escehwing her usual cardigan in favor of more comfortable warm-weather wear, the girl with the glasses has come to visit Heaven or Hell and immediately become enamored of the sight of an angel working a grill as if it weren't a big deal. "...it's kind of funny seeing an angel making food, though. Like, that one manga where Michael descends from heaven because of reasons they don't quite explain, and then he has to get a job at the local Burger Kong to make ends meet, and he's surprisingly good at it, and..."

    And now she's not even really seeing the food anymore. Earth to Kazusa, come in Kazusa.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
In the course of her comings and goings, Xiaomu has picked up some side dishes for the party/barbecue. Predictably to those who know her, this amounts to several large boxes of fried tofu, but she's also made some inarizushi (sushi rice in fried tofu pouches). She's also brought some drinks, specifically a few big bottles of fruit soda in various flavors and a case of ramune.

If the presence of the two oni puts her on guard at all, the fact that they're just stomping through and not swinging at any of the local architecture seems to put her mind back at ease. Seeing one of them clutching a smartphone actually makes the Chinese foxgirl grin, and Xiaomu calls out to Akai-Toh, "You know, they make screen protectors that are designed for use even with long, sharp nails and claws ... some of my more supernatural co-workers swear by them, in fact. Want me to get a pack or two for you?"

Savo's bombastic declaration draws Xiaomu's attention next, and the sage fox quickly unloads her cargo onto the empty table before gripping her staff again. "Long as you leave some for the rest of us, no problem!" she grins ... maybe a LITTLE more toothily than necessary for a friendly grin.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    Did someone say that the table around the grill was mostly empty?

    Well, yeah, no. It is not anymore.

    Palora is somehow sprawled out across two stools and has comandeered a portion of the table large enough to accomodate the fine dining of three distinct biological presences and has begun to stuff her face with so much animal carcass that it could totally put those people in Scandinavia during Walpurgis to shame. She is giving a new definition to the word 'chow down', and she would likely only stop in her feasting briefly to raise a flattened palm at Psyber. Her way of indicating that she's here... for better or for worse. Then she would got right back to mutilating a leg of chicken, using her monstrous, fang-like incisors -- she does look vaguely vampiric, come to think -- to literally rend the flesh from its bones. After this bloody ritual has been completed in full, a chicken drum would go flying back at some unfortunate passerby.

    But not just any unfortunate passerby! That unfortunate passerby is Mizuki, and she is... actually not as perturbed as she usually plays at being. Instead of allowing the chicken to hit her in the forehead, though, she instead fades out of existence briefly so that it will phase through her and land on the floor instead. Or hit someone else; she doesn't care. She's through trying to discipline this girl, so as far as she's concerned she belongs to someone else. Like Psyber. She wanted to move into the tower, after all, right? And he had accepted. That makes her his burden.

    Even so, she has phenomenal trouble disconnecting her emotional attachments to her imaginespawn, and she still runs an exasperated hand down her face in the pink-haired reaper's honor. Then she finds a corner to brood in, likely in reasonably close proximity to Psyber. She waves to Priscilla and Arthur as they arrive.

    Savo, by the by, would get and extremely pronounced -glare from Palora. She drops a half-eaten rib and licks copious amounts of sauce to her face before replying, "Sorry, but this food has already been nabbed hardcore by the S.S. My Freakin' Stomach. Gonna have to try harder than that if you wanna steal my shit, man."

Fiora O'Brien has posed:
Fiora O'Brien is here, with a whole twine-bound stack of returned letters of checques, as she mans a real wooden bar counter which was lass majykked into position special for the bar-be-que. Inside the bar counter are well alcohol, beer taps that draw from nowhere, and, generally, a little slice of Irish Pub to dispense sauce to Psyber's customers. There are even stools and such.

    Fiora is carding people.

    But mostly she leans at her counter, smoking a cigarette and blowing sparkling clouds of black smoke out, amusing herself with her wealth (or lack) of 'customers'.

    Thankfully it's open bar. Fiora isn't gonna make Psyber's guests pay for booze any more than he's making them pay for food.

Wo has posed:
    It's certainly more comfortable than the last time the Wo-class carrier had paid a visit. Not that it was that bad for her, but it had conspired to usher her more alive peers indoors. Making it a point to arrive early, but without the precocious, abyssal destroyers in tow, she had a chance to get more comfortable with what promised to be a quite lively event. It also wasn't that she intended to come unaccompanied: Other sisters of hers had been invited, or at least those she thought she could trust not to cause trouble, but it was uncertain how they may respond. Even with Wo's approval of the arrangements Psyber had made, some are likely still apprehensive of a place that also shelters the enemy. Not that this was apparently stopping their defacto second-in-command, and easily one of their most outgoing.

    Nonetheless, it seems peaceful enough here for the time being, and like so many others doubtlessly will, she's brought a side gift of her own. It's uncertain how many other denizens of the multiverse might share her kind's twisted metabolism, but she does her best not to drip sea water all over the side dish table, as she hefts a bucket of what looks to be some kind of minerals into place. Not exactly gourmet presentation, but they don't have a lot to work, besides what they can salvage. "Wo," she huffs after the light bit of effort for her, but what must weigh a good deal in practice, taking a moment to adjust the similar weight of her rather large hat. A hat which visibly seems to be breathing on its own, judging by the subtle gaping of its toothed jaws.

    This also gives her some moments to size up some other attendees of the early evening, though she'll not approach willingly just yet. There's very few that she's made the acquaintance of, and this getting to know the surface dwellers thing is still a new concept.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa has worked quite a bit and become friends with several people who worked for Pysber. She'd also met him a few times as well she'd been hoping to talk to him as well. Also given the things has has some he at lest deserves some meat to enjoy himself. The cyborg is dressed pretty casually in one of her more common outfits. She does wonder where Riva and Ayoko might be. She knows Ainsley was very busy and she doubted she'd be there. She knew she had a lot on her plate, she had a serious mission tomorrow but hey? She could relax tonight be social and get to meet quite a few people. She's also carrying some freshly brought meat from a butcher under once arm.

She now goes to seek out Pysber and thinks she sport him near the grill, so that's the way she's going to be headed for the moment.

Shigure has posed:
    From the Bay area, comes a quartet of girls skating across the water. They don't have their equipment with them, but Kuma, Chitose and Shigure are all carrying various parcels and packets, with Chitose hefting a veritable DRUM of something. Nowaki is the only one not ladened with something... since she's tethered to the others and acting as a guide/tug, bringing the fleet into harbour.

    They mount the shore, and wander on through to the party location, where the laden girls drop their stuff where directed. Savo gets a cautious stare from the group, as does Wo, but they're banking on the Abyssals staying true to the neutral ground treaty. "Saaaaah, carrying that was really hard, kuma~!" complains the cruiser, while Shigure silently rubs at her arms a little. Chitose ruffles Kuma's hair, then saunters off towards Fiora and the Bar. "Hey~ Need some help there? I'm Chitose! Nice ta meetchya!"

    Nowaki gravitates over towards the food, picking bits out onto a plate, before seeming to vanish into the background, joined by Shigure, who grabs a few bits, and snags a can of soda out from under Savo's guardianship, before she fades into the background too.

Assassin (614) has posed:
     No one ever accused the Grim Reaper of being a party person.

     Of course, the Grim Reaper hasn't really been to a lot of parties before. Well, it's been to parties, but never to stay, and the party usually comes to an abrupt halt whenever it shows up. Apparently, nobody's ever accused the Grim Reaper of being the life of the party, either.

     This seems like it isn't liable to change. Ever.

     Not for lack of trying, of course. The Grim Reaper has managed to pull itself out of the Heaven Or Hell elevator for the event. While this is technically 'being out and about', the sheer variety of people here means that the Servant hasn't bothered to adopt any of its usual disguises. Instead, the robed, hooded Servant glides along the area, scythe clutched in bone-thin white hands. Assassin stops to look at *everything* - every person who crosses the arbitrary party threshold, every person who stops at the bar, every hunk of meat in the cooler, every drink, everything. The tall spirit bends at truly unfeasible angles, occasionally giving it a hunched look as it examines the meat and the ice in the coolers. It wouldn't be unfeasible to imagine the Servant plucking coals out of the grill between those bone-thin fingers and holding them up to its gaping, empty hood for examination one by one. What it's looking for, or why it's being so thorough, only Assassin itself knows, and it appears to be in one of its inscrutable moods.

     Assassin has not bothered to let Psyber know it's here. Presumably Psyber will figure it out at some point, likely when he notices the eight-or-nine-(or-ten?-or-eleven?-how-tall-is-this-thing-anyway)-foot robe with the equally vast scythe and bone-thin figners gliding around his lawn.

     If not, he really doesn't deserve to be called a detective.

     Besides, he's probably busy.

Corona Arclite has posed:
If there is one thing Corona is bad at, it's showing up anywhere without being highly noticable. Mostly due to the loudness of her preferred ride in the form of a large tri-wheeler with a crawler track in place of the front wheel and a rediculously oversized engine, most of the noise coming from the two thick exhaust stacks that angle up over the back of the beast of a machine. After it's parked it just looks all the bigger with the fact that the foxgirl that hops off of it is barely over five feet tall.

Armored cowboy boots clatter across the pavement as she walks around to the back of the tri-bike and opens a storage compartment behind the engine and pulls out a large contraption that can only be described as some kind of steampunk crockpot, that fortunately has a set of wheels on the bottom so she doesn't have to carry it over to the area. "Hey y'all. Psyber said to bring side dishes, so here we go."

She stops next to one end of the 'side dish' table, undoes the latches, and there is an audible hiss and a poomf of hot smoke as Corona pulls the lid off. "One buffet sized pot of gen-yeeu-ine Brimsteel volcanic chili... don't worry folks, it ain't actually volcanic. Just hot." She waggles a gloved finger at the smoky red contents with chunks of beans, bacon and other seasonings floating around in it. "They call it that cuz it looks like a buncha rocks floatin' in a magma pool, is all."

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    ARTHUR LOWELL is here! That is because a certain grumpy stoic man is still either asleep or right back in his work, and as such the eels have smiled upon the Mage of Space, and generously allowed him to come to his time-dad's barbecue like a son who isn't a jerk. As a young teen, his first appetizer target is CHIPS AND DIP, which, after he swaggers confidently onto the scene, he immediately takes a seat and digs into with broad sweeps and extremely emphatic chewing.

    "'EY!" He calls out, eagerly to the angel at the grill between bites. "Thanks for the INVITE, man! Been TOO LONG since a real HANGOUT, too much ADVENTURING and not enough PARTYING. How's it been HANGIN'?" He recognizes neither Kirika nor her companions tonight, nor Xiaomu, and Eleanor is only loosely known, but all get eager, bright waves, same as he gives to everyone else apparently. He's all friendliness. Ayako is better-known, but she's settled in, he won't be hassling her too much. Savo is regarded with a raised eyebrow and a wide grin. "HEYA, SURE. I mean, you can CONQUER some CHIPS or whatever. Just don't fuckin' BOGART 'em, yeah?" And Kazusa is given a laugh. "Shit sounds GREAT! Yeah, PSYBER'S all about the JUXTAPOSITION. Bringin' in some MAD DIVINITY up in this shit. Sometimes DIVINE STUFF is just PEOPLE, y'know? Make FOOD or get JOBS like ANYONE ELSE."

    Mizuki! Yaaay, Mizuki's here. Arthur catches the chicken leg that's tossed through her, spins it deftly around one finger, and slips it to the side of his plate. "MIZUKI! Good t'seeya! Even if you're gettin' the GHOST on here. Don't let PALORA get ya down, she's just gettin' INTO THE PARTY, y'know? Gettin' RELAXED. Don't worry, nobody's gonna get JUDGY about it, she'll HANDLE HERSELF FINE. 'EY! PAL!" He calls out to her, somewhat more distant at the other table. "How YOU been?"

    More assorted Fleet people here. Arthur met some of them before, kind of! He fought in their vicinity, that's SORT of like meeting. Some are loud and brash, others are quiet and keeping distant, but Arthur just provides them the same friendly waves. Assassin stopping to look at everything will only get a reaction when he stops to look at Arthur; the mageling gives him a wink, a grin, and a pair of finger-guns. Arthur has dealt with death long enough to have a pretty solid understanding of things, and not lose his shit too much.

Kongou (637) has posed:
    Psyber is not alone at the grill. Though keeping a respectful distance to stay out of his way, just a meter or so to the side, Kongou leans forward with her hands tucked behind her back and her eyes fixated on this marvelous American invention known as 'Barbecue Grilling'. Of course she's familiar with grilling in general, but this is something totally different! The approach, the seasoning! "Admiral, it smells so good~! Your technique is different from how I learned to grill. Is this the difference that makes it <Barbecue?>"

    The other members of the Fourth Mobile have been absent most of the day, as well. However, their presence is announced when the distinctive sound of Isuzu's foghorn rumbles from the harbor to announce their arrival. Two short honks, slightly off-pitch from the horn of larger tankers and transports.

    It's Savo's declaration that finally pulls Kongou's attention away from the grill, straightening and turning with her cheeks puffed out in a pout, radars rotating a full circle on her headband, "Mou! <Too Loud!>" Eyes closing, she lets out a sigh and then turns fully to address the abyssal arrivals, one hand on her hip, the other's finger extended, "Please behave well, okay! But also <Welcome!>"

Kirika (481) has posed:
    "Feh. Showoff." The red oni dryly snorts as Samar's cohort announces intentions of invasion. "You're gonna have to learn sometime how to share, girlie." He allows a laugh, before grabbing a large helping of pork to gnaw on. After a bite or two, he pauses just as he notices the other foxy lady here besides his neice and student, "THat so?" He says, looking down at Xiamo with curious yellow eyes as he holds up the screen-end of his phone. "I might as well get a new screen at that rate, if you're offering." The screen's pretty much fucked at this point, blame sharp thumbnails.

    Hagane meanwhile stops only to gently set Kirika down to help with getting the sake set up at the bar. His busy black eyebrows perk as he eyes Kuma in confusion. "Wot, 'kuma' like a bear? I dun't see anythin' of the sort since I came to this city of stone." He remarks.

    Kirika just kinda scampers off, quick to let the oni socialize as she provides free sake to Fiora's bar. "Here. Don't serve anything more than a dish per person, this stuff will have everybody knocked out in minutes otherwise." She advises calmly. Arthur she recognizes, vaguely, and bows to the kid, before she smiles and spies a familiar face in the form of Mizuki.

    "It's been such a long time, hasn't it? So sad we haven't had a chance to get together in so long, Lady Mizuki." Kirika bows her head, ears twitching a little as she nabs a cheeseburger to nibble upon.

Riva Banari has posed:
"HELL YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH PARTY TIME!" Riva yells exuberantly as she explodes out of the front door of the office, throwing confetti evertywhere (but not glitter. Glitter ruins friendships.) She sets out a big dish of seven-layer dip (because you can't go wrong with a nice seven-layer dip, also it's easy as hell to make), and then sets to GETTING EQUIPPED with delicious heat-seared meat products. Her tastes seem to run along the fine lines of 'everything', as she takes an assortment of the small pieces so she can get a good overall lineup of what Psyber's done without stuffing herself.

A girl's gotta watch their figure, after all.

She grabs a soda, and then blinks as she notices one of these things is not like the others. "Hey Ayako!" Riva says, tucking the can under her arm so she can reach down and give the water spirit a good hair ruffle hello. "Are you ready for the /paaaaarty/?" She laughs. "We're going to have a ton of visitors. Get ready for a lot of fun!"

She pops away to zip by Psyber and give Psyber a wave. "THANKS BOSS!" She calls. It's only polite, the man is grilling for a veritable army. At the same time, she isn't going to sit there soaking up his time. She's sure a lot of people are going to be pestering him and she can annoy him anytime.

The call of the Abyssal Fleet causes Riva to look up, blinking. "Oh hell naw, party crashers?!" She says... But everything turns out okay. She giggles a bit to herself as she sees Savo bite into aluminum foil and soda cans. "I wonder what that even /does/ to her teeth..." She says to no one in particular.

Noticing fiora brought an Open Bar, Riva takes advantage of it to plop down on the stool, setting her dtuff down. If Fiora asks for ID, she shows that she is in fact legal, giving her a wink and a grin. "You know, getting carded just gets to be more of a compliment as you get older." She comments, and then looks over through the crowd as she munches. Is she looking for something or someone?

Mizuki gets noted, and her expression is moderately inscrutable for a change as she watches Palora and Mizuki's interaction and the Author's subsequent corner-sitting.

When Arthur joins in though, she gets a squinty look in her eyes and a little smirk, then waves to them both. "HEY MIZUKI! ARTHUR! OVER HERE!" She calls. "Come on over, the bar's fine!"

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Right. Eleanor looks at all of the girls. "Be respectful. Enjoy your dinner. Don't roughhouse. NO POWERS." There's a general slumping of shoulders at that one, but the girls do start to filter out into the crowd, being generally nosey.

    Elle's shoulders slump in relief as well, before she fishes around in the cooler to pull out a wine spritzer, pop the cap and start looking around for people she recognizes well.

    It's a short list. Bother. "I do need to get out more." Fiora and Arthur and Riva get smiles though, and she starts wandering over in their general direction.

Wo has posed:
    Death is pretty familiar to the Wo-class. Not that she had ever directly met it before, in the same way people that were born rather than forged are, and yet the sea has a way of eventually swallowing all. For the first moment, the color scheme, general air around it and gaunt appearance draws her eyes for a different reason. She thought that perhaps another abyss dweller had shown up to the gathering! Instead, her expression turns to a muted sort of bewilderment, then subtle understanding and acceptance. It truly does take all kinds in this place they call the multiverse.

    As unfeeling of hunger as she is of the fleshed concept of death, she doesn't seem too interested in eating at the moment. A cup of soda is lifted into her black gloved hand, as that seems to be a thing that others are doing, though it doesn't look as refreshing as a can of motor oil. Instead, while she's a bit more purposeful than Death about it, she continues studying others, before gravitating towards where Kongou is helping Psyber. Or perhaps, more appropriately, just offering encouragement in her own way. "..so-rry," she offers, in preemptive apology for Savo's dynamic entrance. "Savo..used to, conquering." A blank expression is given to the princess, as if to silently plead with her to not make Psyber regret hosting them, even if ultimately there's nothing she can do against her, or her personality. A brief lowering of her head and hat towards Psyber, as well.

    After a few pleasantries, or the concept she has of them, she fills a plate with some of the food that other people seem so interested in, even if it will likely go down about as easily as the soda she still hasn't touched. As she moves to settle in, a glance is also given to Kuma and her fleet coming in. So the little cruiser recovered fully, that's good. While she's distracted, not unlike the fabled two-mouthed ladies of Japanese folklore, her hat has apparently had enough, lifting the plate of food with its front two tentacle-like projections, and hefting the whole plate of meat and grilled corn into its mouth. Including the plate. As it lacks any obvious method of digestion, besides some strange glow coming from inside of it, it's a bit like the cookie monster devouring its natural prey.

Fiora O'Brien has posed:
    When Riva approaches the bar, Fiora lets her cigarette hang in her mouth, and stops puffing on it, though the rolled paper seems to smoulder but not burn or be consumed. And she's certainly not smoking tobacco, with the smoke cloud she was puffing out.

    She gives a two-finger wave at Arthur and Eleanor, before taking Riva's card. She looks at it. She looks at Riva. She looks at it. She looks at Riva. She takes it under the counter to shine a blacklight on it. She pulls it back. She squints at it.

    Satisfied, she takes out an old fashioned glass, drops a spherical ice-brick into the center of it, and pours some thick, smokey brown liquid over the barely-melting ice-sphere. "There you go. One 'whatever', on the rocks."

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    Arthur receives a smile and a small bow of the head from Mizuki. The norm, really; she seems ever the more austere in her demeanor somehow with the passage of days. One would almost wonder, given the close ties between her world and her own soul, whether all the stuff happening back there was having some tangible effect on her that she has not yet cared to share. Either way, she is ever adamant to keep that prospect obfuscated for the time being. "Hello, Arthur." To this day, he's still one of a very few people that she eschews the honorifics in the address of. Her grin widens faintly as he mentions Palora, though. "Ah... yes. I'll admit I don't entirely understand the mentality one must subscribe to to behave in the way she does at events like this, but I suppose that's a good thing. That I can't comprehend the thoughts of a being initially derived from my own personality... seems a great sort of success, somehow."

    Said 'great success' is smearing rib sauce all over her sleeves as she gets sick of having the stuff spread all over her lips. After that, she stops a moment to wave over to the Godkid, muffling a 'Yo' without even bothering to swallow first. Yuck! When she does, though, she has a bit more to say. "Been okay. Lemme tell you though -- shit is deeee~pressing back at home. I am glad to be out for some fresh air. Seriously, it feels like that dude," She gestures to Assassin, "has come to collect his dues. And it ain't pretty. I mean, it isn't really -ugly- either; an infinite white hole can't really be either, y'know?" She pauses a moment to hang an arm on the side of the table and take another enormous bite out of a corn beef sandwich. Probably leftovers from Saint Patrick's Day, which of course she 'observes'.

    Meanwhile, Kirika approaches Mizuki. She bows her head faintly to her as well, but even as she rises her position remains a bit... hunched. "Good evening, Miss Kirika. Yes, it's something of a shame. Apologies -- as I'm sure you've heard over the radio and otherwise, I keep quite busy. I've been particularly occupied of late researching Abstractum and reading old... memoirs, if you will." She resurrects her smile briefly to add, "It's almost nice, being so reclusive again. I had not realized until recently what a culture shock coming into such a large world from one so small truly was. Ahaha... but..." She would briefly lower her eyelids. "... that, too, is a lovely thing. Their contrast makes both of their distinct entities all the more wonderful to indulge..."

    Leave it to her to be reverent at a BBQ party. Can't maintain that for too too long, though -- Riva's a-callin'. Mizuki would meander in her direction without complaint, taking a seat at the bar. She doesn't take any food, but she at least makes herself comfortable.

    ... comfortable aside from the occasional glance at Palora, of course.

Priscilla has posed:
    Between Kirika, Savo, Corona, and the Fourth Fleet, Priscilla already has her hands over her ears by the time she simply apparates into existence a respectable distance from anyone else. She knows that Psyber is a popular guy, but she'd at least hoped that his friends and assorted rabble would keep to the spirit of a relaxing occasion. The half-angel doesn't appear to be particularly hurried, but altogether there is far too much exuberance going on for her liking. She seems to be more preoccupied with giving uncertain looks at anyone talking at or above half an Arthur than worrying about the Confederates present.

    Of course she's not an amazing guest herself. Not only has she not dressed up, due to owning precisely one outfit, she hasn't brought anything to eat or drink either, having no use to keep anything consumable around for herself and no idea what anyone else would want anyways. It makes her feel a little self conscious when she sees Kuma, Kirika, Fiora, Xiaomu, Eleanor and Riva wheeling out the goodies. She then takes solace in the fact that neither Mizuki or Kazusa have brought anything either.

    The former she makes a beeline for almost immediately, doing her best not to roll her eyes at Palora, before becoming distracted by sensing Ayako in the cooler, leaning over to take a look, dreading what she'll actually find. Maybe she won't put any ice in her drinks today. Funnily enough, she spares the Grim Reaper the least attention of all, despite his decidedly unusual behaviour. Three guesses why that is.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    The city of Boston, as paranormally coexistant as it is, doesn't panic a great deal or seem to have much reaction to two massive Oni trudging down the street. While not common, they're not totally unheard of and several of the resident ones run a construction company around the city sometimes. It specializes in demolition. So while they might get some odd looks due to seeming SUPER touristy, no one is hostile or anything, though.

    When Savo walks right into the street, people do get mad. Cars screech to a halt and at least one guy, who appears to be a demon judging by the red skin and horns, shouts, "Eh you fahkin just skip inna the damn street? City's bad enough with the fahkin traffic, havin construction since 17-goddamn-88, don't need you damn tahrists just walkin out in the middle of the..." It kinda fades out as he drives away once Savo moves out of the way. Psyber quirks an eyebrow at her and says, "That's me. I'm nowhere near as big as Darwin, but glad to impress." He twirls at the grill a bit.

    "Happy to show off," Psyber says to Kazusa, though his answer is in equal parts to Kongou, "The key to the american barbeque is the open flame and the sauces. This is the only kind of cooking I ever really took the time to master, so I'm really good at it." He playfully clips his tongs at Kazusa a bit, "Really, though, I'm not a manga character. And I'm only a half-angel. I'm doing this for fun and because Kongou wanted to see how it worked." He grins over at Kongou right after, "It'll all be delicious, though. I went full out. The steaks are dry-aged for a week, the ribs are all sauced up. Enjoy yourselves."

    Palora gets a wave from Psyber. So does Fiora, who is filling in for him at the bar because he can't be too placed at once. No one better than a Pub Daughter to man an open bar, after all, "Oi! Fiora! Can I get a Rusty Nail when you get the time?" He figures she'll know how to make one.

    Psyber doesn't have the time to greet EVERYONE. He does look around and scan the crowd to find that Death is here, which is nice, but also that there's some new fa- Wait what. Psyber turns his head back towards Assassin and shouts, "Try not to scare people TOO badly." As a joking warning, with almost no seriousness behind it, despite the fact that death gliding around the streets WOULD cause something of a concern.

    "Arthur! You're here! Awesome!" Psyber says, before looking to the bursting Riva coming out, "Riva too! What a surprise!" She and anyone else directly eating meat will discover one very important fact: Psyber's barbeque is inarguably amazing. Masterfully cooked, perfectly spiced, the whole nine yards.

    To Wo, Psyber looks at her and waves his hand, "It's fine, she's high energy, I get it. You should try some food, Wo. Even if you just eat a bite."

    Priscilla is a face Psyber is overly happy to see, "Pris! Glad you could come out! Any requests for grilling? I'll make you something special if nothing here is up to your tastes."

Samar (494) has posed:
    Savo's response to the demon in the road is to turn and /glower/ at him before shouting back. "I'll have you know I'm a /veteran/, SIR. World War Two! I DON'T NEED TO TAKE YOUR SHIT WHEN I'M SAVING YOUR COUNTRY!" Only part of this statement is vaguely true, but Savo just shakes her fist at the man before continuing on her way.

    She's is quick to gulp down her mass of carbonated fluid and metal when Xiaomu faces her down. The Princess, however, seems unperturbed: she flashes a thumbs-up and a grin of her own, wide and sparkling and just a /little/ unnerving with how huge and unblinking her eyes are. "Of course! That'd be a lame party if /everyone/ didn't have something. Besides, I'm not gonna be tarnishing my immaculate body with /all/ the human food here, so you got plenty too. Who does your hair, anyway?"

    The remainder of the can is shoved into Savo's mouth, where it crinkles and crunches in her jaws as she chews it up and gulps down the soda inside. When Palora leers at her, though, Savo has to raise a finger to request a minute to finish chewing aluminum. Crunch, crunch...then a gulp, then a satisfied sigh as she pats her stomach with her non-armored hand. "Man, that's pretty tasty. Anyway, lady, I'm not planning on grabbing the food out of your guts, so calm down! Those ribs are going to be /conquered/, though, I'll tell you that," she adds, pointing to the spiciest pile of ribs on the table.

    Before she can venture that way, though, Savo notices Kongou! The Airfield Princess flashes a gleaming grin at the battleship and sends fingerguns her way. "Hey, grandma! Good to see you haven't rusted up yet! Old age still treatin' you well?" Her grin still lingers as she walks up to Wo and gives the carrier a firm pat on the back. Good thing it's her hat eating and not Wo herself. "Nice to see you getting into things, Wo! We gotta make the most of this weird neutral ground thing. We can't blow them up, buuuuut...whatever, this whole 'human food party' thing is still pretty good."

    With that done, Savo twirls over to the ribs, where she takes three of the hottest variety simultaneously and shoves them all into her mouth at once. She hasn't exactly thought this through, though, so she just starts awkwardly sucking and gnawing on them all simultaneously.

Assassin (614) has posed:
     Assassin stares, uncomprehending, at Arthur's use of finger guns. Without a face it's not like its thoughts on the subject are easy to read. Eventually, however, it decides that the proper thing to do would be to repeat the motion.

     The overlarge hood tilts forward and to the side, the tip swinging to the side like it's moving into a wink. The bone-white hands rise, scythe clutched tight in one, the fingers extending. The thumbs rise. Then they fall, one by one, with glacial motion, as though the Servant isn't fully certain that it's doing the motion right. It does this once more before it decides that it's perfectly comfortable with the motion, and damn the consequences.

     So Arthur gets two awkward double finger-guns and then one not-at-all awkward double finger-guns from the Grim Reaper.

     "I am here to collect," Assassin tells Mizuki, "What I understand I am due for is 'entertainment'. And a 'barbeque'. I have come to collect them. But I do not know what they are."

     Assassin probably fully understands the phrase. It has a bizarre sense of humor.

     Wo's attentions provokes a faceless stare from the shadowed hood. Assassin knows little about the worlds, but attention is something it should respond to. It wanders away from Arthur for a moment, examining Wo carefully. It does not recognize her. Instead, it lowers its hood in a polite nod.

     If it was about to say anything, Psyber's shout interrupts it. Assassin pauses in mid-motion to nod, then offers, in its androgynous voice, "I am not supposed to scare you."

     "I will endeavor not to do this. Hello," it adds, like an afterthought, then drifts off to explore further.

Shigure has posed:
    Kuma looks at Hagane, looking UP at the big Blue Oni. "No no. Kuma is not a bear, kuma! Kuma is the nameship of the Kuma-class Light Cruisers, kuma!" she replies, getting a bit animated, arms waving up and down, while her ahoge bounces merrily with the motion.

    Chitose blinks, then shrugs, Fiora seems to have everything in control, so the supply ship girl wanders off to the food table, passing by Kongou and the Fourth Mobile, offering them a smile and wave of greeting, before she joins Assassin and Wo. "Heeeey! How's it goin'?"

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    "Not the BAR I'm OFF ABOUT, yo." Arthur calls out to Riva, glibely, grinning wide and grabbing up one last mouthful of chips. He's some ambiguous late-teenage age, and so it's completely unacceptable for him to be drinking, clearly! Who ever heard of a teenager DRINKING? Completely outrageous. "But hahaha, SURE, I'll KEEP YA COMPANY!" And then he's waving Mizuki over, and heading for a seat near Riva and Mizuki himself. As he does, he gives a few nods to Palora. "YEAH." He says, his face getting a bit distraught for a moment. "Shit is NOT GOOD there. I... Yeah, I think we're gonna FIX IT SOON. But you gotta GET OUT a bit while it's all... YEAH." He scratches the back of his neck awkwardly, then forces himself to grin anew. "Let's focus on PARTY, not SAD STUFF, right? Hahaha!" Then he's over to Mizuki. "She OK to drink? Like, I get her thing is LOW INHIBITIONS, so that sounds like COMPOUNDING the issue. And I mean, I know she's not got ORGANS or anything, but FIORA serves up that CONCEPTUAL PROOF, yo."

    "It is ALWAYS AWESOME for me to BE HERE, yep!" He calls out in a cheery tone back to Psyber as he takes a seat at Fiora's bar. He gets the feeling Psyber just ordered some kind of faux pas of some sort, so he decides to go a little easier. Grin wide, expression smooth without missing a beat, he leans onto the bar and says, "Yeah, I think I oughta get a SODA or somethin', how's the LAWS work on AGELESSNESS? You probably know this WAY BETTER than I do. What's UP, BARKEEP? God it's been AGES, what've YOU been UP TO?"

    He gets down onto the seat and immediately launches into a massive, complex coolkid handshake involving no less than seven different cool gestures such as hand-slaps, fist-pounds, and various pointing gestures that require no participation from Riva and are, in fact, nearly impossible to react to at their speed. At one point he actually transitions to doing the same thing to Priscilla, who just arrived near Mizuki, before finishing it with a flourishing gesture that spins around the barstool. "SO RIVA! What's the HAPS?"

    What the fuck.

Corona Arclite has posed:
Luckily for Priss it was mainly Corona's tri-bike that was loud, and that's not running any more. The cowpunk vixen's boots do clunk a lot when she walks, but it's not nearly as noisy.

After heaping out a helping of her own chili into a bowl, she saunters over to what appears to be the bar and hops onto a stool, clunking down the chili bowl in front of her. Opens her mouth to ask for something but pauses when Riva goes through the whole carding deal with someone else. "Oh."

The foxgirl turns on her stool to rummage through her belt pockets, then the pockets of her vest, and the pockets of her overalls. "Now where did I put tha -- oh. Oh yeah." She stops and lifts her bronze plated stetson off her head with one hand, then pulls an ID card out of the inside band with the other. "Almost forgot I keep it under my hat."

She grins cockney as she holds it out to Fiona between two fingers. "What's the local specialty, missy?"

Samar (494) has posed:
    Savo pretty quickly realizes that scorching her mouth with three ribs at once isn't very conducive to /talking/, so after a minute she tugs them out and holds two in her gauntleted hand and one in her 'normal' hand. A moment is taken to lick her lips clean of sauce before she calls over to Psyber. "Wow! My mouth is basically on fire right now! It's /pretty agonizing/! This stuff is great!" Another chomp that tears off a chunk of meat before she speaks to him with her mouth full again. "I heard Darwin totally helped you out. Girl's got some sick skills, apparently. Did she somehow manage to not horribly mutilate you with those giant hands of hers, or did you get better?"

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako glances up and pokes a hand above the pile of ice she's in to wave hello cheerfully to Riva. "Hello Riva!" And then giggles brightly when her hair is ruffled. "Un! I'm ready for the party! Well... almost." She giggles softly.

    When Priscilla leans over to take a look inside an ice tub, Ayako inclines her head to the side slightly and smiles cheerfully. "Hello Priscilla!" Her amber eyes glance downwards. "I think that's enough ice." She floats up and out of the huge ice tub and onto her feet. "Eh heh."

    And then she hears Psyber talking about barbeque to Kongou! Ayako walks over to Kongou quickly and agrees excitingly with Psyber. "That's right! The art of <barbeque> is all about the <heart>! There are many sauces, tomato, molasses, vinegar;" And she then gestures at all of the sauces that Psyber has prepared, "but a true master loves them all and makes it all delicious!" A bit odd coming from someone who can't taste and doesn't eat, though.

    After that though, she makes her way to Palora and... is just watching the food get utterly devoured. Because... wow.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Mischief is afoot. A young girl with blonde hair shuffles over to Wo, one hand carrying a Sunny Delight of some sort, and the other a plate full of veggies and cookies. And she just looks up at the Abyssal with wide eyes. The hat gets plenty of attention too, before the girl opens her mouth. "Aaaaaaa, hello Miss Ship Lady. I think that's what you are, I've seen a few of you on the news and stuff but I haven't gotten to meet one in person. Hi, I'm Alice, why are you in a Sister Suit? Or something like that. Is that your normal clothes? Do you want a cookie?"

Kirika (481) has posed:
%T"Grand...ma?" Kirika stares in utter confusion towards Kongou and Savo's direction, then shakes her head as she offers mIzuki a tired smile again. "Don't I know it? I just get the feeling things are going to get hectic very soon, especially regarding our latest client." She motions to Psyber for a moment, knowing what the Councilman had said wanting his services and such.

    She amiably approaches Riva after a few moments spent dining, and the kitsune gives her a hug this time, as opposed to the other way around. "Riva.~" She chimes warmly with a grin, before she helps herself to sake just before a sudden handshake with Arthur, she supposes. She helped bring the stuff after all!

    "I certainly hope you've been well as well?" She asks the Templar, taking a gentle sip.

    MEANWHILE. Hagane and Kuma exchange an awkward pause, before the oni smith chuckles sheepishly. "But you're a wee...nevermind. I think I know what ye are, one of those ship spirit girls or somethin' Kirika mentioned before, aye?" 'course, it doesn't stop there. "Hagane-Aoi, Mastersmith of the North atcher service." That pretty much goes for anybody in earshot, really. His eyes, deep gold, pass across the crowd for a moment, hands resting on the pommel of his massive club. "Mmnh. This Psyber bloke, he's a fair popular sort alright."

    Akai meanwhile seems a little preoccupied with the sight of DEATH ITSELF amid the crowd, in the form of Assassin. "I don't believe it." He says, approaching with a stein in hand towards Assassin, and also Psyber incidentally. "Even when my student told me about how this Psyber fellow recruited a shinigami I didn't belive it, and yet here you are. Ain't this an interesting little treat." He scratches his jaw a little, peering down at Assassin, before he gives Psyber a bow of his head. "Akai-Toh. I'm Kirika's sensei, and...I think the term is 'uncle'? Silly human things being what they are. I heard quite a bit about you from her, y'know. It's an honor, one warrior to another and all that." The oni offers a clawed hand to shake. That's how the humans do it, right?

Kongou (637) has posed:
    'Grandma' causes Kongou's posture to snap bolt upright. There's a brief, intense frown on her face before it quickly masks over with a more forced smile, "Hey, hey~, no need for that. While we're here, call me big sister, <Yes?>" Though her smile is wide and bright, there's a shadow obscuring her eyes. That clearly hit a nerve, even for a shipgirl who's proud of her age. Something about the word itself just bugs the heck out of her.

    The concealed animosity directed at Savo is briefly distracted by Wo. Or more accurately, Wo's hat. The way the carrier's headgear shovels food into itself is nothing short of curious. After a moment of much less hostile staring, Kongou closes her eyes with a little sigh and returns her attention to Psyber's cooking, "I'll sit and eat with you when you're done, Admiral~."

    A few minutes after arriving in the harbor, Isuzu leads the other two members of the Fourth Mobile up to the lot secured for the HoH cookout, helping Akizuki with a large parcel. At the potluck table, the cruiser and destroyer unpack their find and set out a large lid-covered bowl of potato salad. Beside it, Zuihou places an equally large covered platter of deviled eggs.

    Promptly ignoring her own contribution, Zuihou shuffles aside, "Hey, someone brought bauxite~!" It's not long before she procures a bowl, loads in several nuggets of the red-orange ore, and drifts off to seat herself... on the side of Wo not occupied by a little girl, "Itedakimasu~!"

    Meanwhile Isuzu snaps a salute to Psyber, "Potato salad and deviled eggs have arrived, expedition complete! We'll mingle now, Admiral, please enjoy them when you can."

Fiora O'Brien has posed:
    Fiora gets Psyber's drink after cursing him out darkly for even breathing the name of a drink that REQUIRES Drambuie. She gets a scotch bottle out, an old fashioned glass, drops an ice-sphere into the glass, and pours Psyber's scotch down over it. She then slides him the simple concoction with a little grin, despite his DRAMBUIE HERESY.

    Arthur gets a little grin as he shoots THE BREEZE with her, leaning in on the bartop. "Well, for an under-ager like you, I can whip up a quick soda. Hold on, I've even got a Cool Kid cup for you." She offers, before reaching under the bar as Arclite approaches. "Local specialty, since this is an H-oh-H event, is Scotch. On the rocks. Whiskey and Bourbon are also available for less Psyber-tastic men. And for Cool Kids..."

    She produces a super patronizing sippy cup that declares the drinker is a GALAXY EXPLORER, thumbs off the top out onto the ground next to her, and pulls out a glass bottle.

    On the glass bottle reads COCA-COLA, DANIELS SPECIAL EDITION.

    She pours that into the sippy cup, drops a handful of ice cubes in, and sticks a swizzle straw with a loop-de-loop in the top. She places that firmly in front of Arthur.

    "I've been around. Hanging out with Vru. Chillin' on my island. Doin' god things. You?"

    Corona, before he orders, is made up a scotch like Psyber's. She seems to have given up the carding.

Wo has posed:
    Savo isn't exploding anything, and while she's provoked some attention, at least not all of it is negative. This, in Wo's mind, is certainly well enough. Psyber had reminded her to try some of her own, but when she turns back to where she'd left her plate, she finds it missing, with only a few scraps of plate and kernels of corn to mark its passing. Somehow, through her dull expression, she manages to look puzzled. But then a shadow looms in her proximity, and she turns to behold Death has come to her. Remembering the proper way to respond to this, she raises a gloved hand, her mouth creasing in an odd way that suggests she might even be trying to smile, but it can't quite find its way to the surface. (Her hat, meanwhile, keeps chomping away, even as the food and plate inside dissolve to..somewhere.)

    "I am..Wo-class, aircraft carrier," she offers in her own greeting to Assassin. She follows it with a simple statement, "Not afraid." Her glowing, turquoise eyes travel over to the scythe being carted around. They are hard to read in their own way, much like the hooded void, but the gesture is easy to read as curiosity. "..are you - a far-mer, then?" For all she knows, all those engaged in surface agriculture adopt this look. Before she can embarass herself with lack of surface knowledge further, though, Chitose pops up. Simultaneously familiar and not, she gots a similarly curious look at first, before another raised hand from the abyssal carrier. "It's - a little loud," she admits, somehow not darting her eyes to Princess Savo, or that loud guy she sometimes hears on her radio. "But...okay."

    A bit belatedly, to said sub-leader Savo, she replies, "Surface.. Kind of, fun." Pointedly, a child wanders up, about that time. How did the surface dwellers know of her weakness! The girl introduces herself as Alice, and perhaps even more patiently than usual, she regards her and waits for her to finish with the salvo of questions. That same strained attempt at a smile is given, but still doesn't quite make it there. "I..was a ship. Once." That much she knows for certain. The Sister Suit thing causes her to 'wo' in confusion, but she does confirm, "..dress, like this. U-sually. Cookie.." While she might hesitate on the question, her hat pauses in its own chewing, as one can practically see it startle at the mention. It reaches down toward the kid with a curled tentacle, a wordless gesture of 'gimme'.

    Suddenly, it seems like she's popular, as one of the fleet daughters from the other day finds her way over. "Bauxite..yes. My treat."

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa spots Riva in the crowd, it's not too hard to do really. Given Riva's is a ball of energy that loves being alive? It's rather hard to miss her. She also notices Mizuki a happy and unexpected surprise on her end of things. She notices a lot of people are meeting up with Psyber, she tries to not ahem get on Assassins radar, after ahem their last notable encounter. She now focuses on Pysber for a moment with a grin.

"So Psyber we get to meet when there's not bullets or magic flying about hi! I'm Kotone Yamakawa."

She offers him the twin packages of meat, in one is salmon ready to grill in the other a nice wrack of ribs. Seems she wants to be a good guest at the very least. She also assumes with how busy he is and how minor she is on the scale of the multiver he likely missed her name last time.

"I was hoping at some point to arrange an appointment with you to speak on things, as right now tonight's it's a party and it wouldn't mix well I think."

She now also turns to Riva and Mizuki with a very big grin on her face.

"Riva! Mizuki! Hey good to see you here. I didn't think I'd see you here Mizuki but this is a nice surprise!"

Kotone is happy she is chipper, this is aside of her hat's very much the person she was before she was maimed. She also waves to Arthur and she waves to Ayako as well.

Assassin (614) has posed:
     The question of 'how's it going' provokes some pause from Assassin. It had been about to drift away from Wo; instead, it stops, lowering its hood as if in thought. Its skeletally thin fingers reach upwards into the hood. It ponders the question in relative silence.

     Finally, it seems to decide.

     "I do not know how it goes," Assassin says finally, "It is a mystery to all. Many have asked me how it goes, but I have never truly had an answer. I am of the opinion that it simply does, because it can, and that that is enough."

     "It is possible that it was created to go, but I do not know if that is so. It is equally possible that it is an accident, but if it is, I would like it to be a happy one. I would like everything to be happy, but I am aware that this is unrealistic, and I have been informed that it is likely impossible so long as I exist. Then again, without me, I believe it would be empty for it to go. This is perhaps selfish. I understand that selfishness is also a human trait. I am not certain if I am being selfish or if I am being profound."

     "The concept of 'I' is also quite new to me."

     Assassin is immediately distracted from its ramblings on the nature of 'it', which can be presumed to be life from the context, by Wo's question. It goes quiet, as if pondering its introduction. "I have many names. All are wrong. Each is as good as the next. I am called Assassin, and Azzy, and Handsome At Six Feet. I have been called Sir Azzy Assassin, Lord High Almighty Of Nerds, but I am not a lord, I am not a knight, I am not almghty, and I am only tenuously convinced that I am a nerd, for I do not fully understand its implications. I have been called the Dark Mist, and that is perhaps my favorite, because it is something someone I am friends with named me. I am not a farmer."

     Assassin is distracted /again/ from this rambling introduction by Akai-toh coming up to it and talking about it. "Yes," Assassin confirms, answering both Wo and Akai-toh, "I have been called shinigami, as well, and Enma-Daioh, and Thanatos. I have been called all of these things, and each of them are true, and each is as good as the next, but none of them are correct, for I have no name to call my own but those given to me."

     It pauses.

     "I am not to scare you," it informs Akai-toh and Kuma politely, "Hello."

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    @WO: Alice holds up the tray with the cookies to the Hat, and smiles. "Hello and welcome to Heaven or Hell even though it's my first time here too. Have a cookie, I made em." The "cookie" is in fact a bar of some sort, and appears to be some sort of hideously sweet amalgamation of rice krispies, froot loops, various generic marshmellow cereals, golden raisins, chocolate chips and all held together by actual marshmallow.

    @FIORA and ARTHUR and RIVA:

    Eleanor herself slips over to the bar,smiles at Fiora and murmurs. "It's been a while, Miss O'Brien. How have you and Vruasa been? Also I'll have something stronger than a wine spritzer. I'll leave that one up to you." While this may be dangerous at other times, Elle is packing Booze Hound tonight so she shouldn't get too drunk.
    Arthur gets a smile as he deliveres BRO-FIST-COOL-KID-APOCOLYPSE greetings. "Mr. Lowell. Nice to see you as well. I, ah... I would deliver one of those myself if I had either the mental dexerity or the time to come up with one." She makes a vague cool-kid gesture with her free hand.

    Riva gets a smile. "Hi."

Corona Arclite has posed:
"Works for me!" It's booze, Corona is not going to complain. She stuffs the ID back in the hat lining and plops it back on her head.

Though she does hold up the glass for a moment to squint at the ice-sphere. "Didn't know ya could get those ball shaped instead of cubed." She shrugs, takes a sip. "Tastes just dandy though." After which the sip turns into some chugging. And then digging into her chili while waiting for more grilled meets.

Somewhere in the midst of there she gets a wave to Kotone, but declines on saying an actual hello at the moment because mouth full of a chili and all.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    "Entertainment," Mizuki says, raising an expository finger to Assassin, "is a thing best learned through experience. 'Barbeque', on the other hand, is far simpler to explain. It's all this food you see strewn about. The meat itself is not barbeque, however; rather, the term barbeque typically refers to the marriage of grotesque quantities of rich sauces with said meat. It's somewhat undignified if you ask me, but then I don't believe we're here under a pretense of 'demurity', so all's well." With a parting smile, she would softly remark, "I trust you will collect these things implicitly as you spend time here, though. Best of luck, Sir 'Handsome at Six Feet'."

    Yes, she remembered.

    Palora, meanwhile, would raise a glass of some artbitrary variety of pop in Savo's direction. "Then let's conquer 'em together. We'll beat back the bovine masses; we'll sail the read seas of BBQ sauce; and we'll fire our cannons of complete and utter disregard for etiquette!" Who knew she shared some of Mizuki's skill with words? If you didn't, you do now. Ah, but -- "YEAH~! -GOD-, y'know," She would cup her hands around her mouth to help her voice carry, "PSYBER! Thanks for doin' this! I haven't felt so good since the last time you had Heaven or Hell people over to eat at that Red Lobster. Seriously, this is where it's at!"

    Then it's right back to chowing down. Another few bones go flying, threatening just about everyone who happens to walk behind her.

    Palora would presently be too preoccupied with her myriad foodstuffs to respond to Arthur, but all Mizuki has is a glass of water. In fact, it looks like it might be a glass she brought from home! But details, details~. "She may drink without any overtly damaging consequences, I think. Though she typically prefers soda over anything else. She has... a legendary sweet tooth. It's really quite something." At the 'not possessing organs' thing, her smile would widen quite a lot. "It is so lovely to be in the company of another person who understands these things. No, she's... selectively impacted by the effects of food and drink. Suffice it to say," She glances at her rowdy 'daughter', "right now, all that sugar and is likely going directly to her proverbial bloodstream."

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur gives Fiora a raised eyebrow as he examines his sippy cup. "Here, mind if I MAN IT UP a little bit?" There is no way she can't alchemize another. As such he doesn't wait long to make the cup more manly, primarily by... Grabbing it and tearing a portion of the top and some of the side off with his teeth. It is now BATTLE-DAMAGED and can be drunk from in a way that is dangerous to the user, and as such now does look intense and manly.

    He leaves the swizzle straw because he /does not giver a fuck/.

    After spitting out a wad of warped plastic and winking at Fiora, he leans forward on one arm. "ADVENTURES! I'm helpin' save MIZUKI'S WORLD, got in a FIGHT with an ALIEN RACE, huntin' down LAST REMAINS of old DEATH GAMES, that sorta deal. You gotta get back in ACTION! Don't wanna LOSE YOUR EDGE, yo." And then he's back to Mizuki, with a reply to her...

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Xiaomu cringes at the sight of Akai-Toh's smartphone. "Yyyyyeah, you'll want a new screen before you put a protector on that or anything. Or a claw-cover that can double as a stylus." She ponders briefly; her own Tokyo isn't going to be nearly as casual as Boston-666 about a couple of oni wandering around, and the technosmith she's thinking of doesn't really leave Akihabara, let alone that iteration of Tokyo (or Earth). "... Lemme make a couple of calls," she says, then bows apologetically to the rest of the gathering before she takes a few steps further away, pulling out *her* smartphone and pulling up the directory.

By the time Xiaomu's finished on the phone, she's mostly lost track of who all is here what with the ongoing slew of new arrivals. At least Kirika's oni buddies aren't difficult to track down, but for the time being, Xiaomu gets back to mingling. As long as she delivers the message to Akai-Toh before everyone starts going their separate ways, it's all good. The sight of Arthur MANLYING his beverage prompts a pair of very raised eyebrows from the sage fox, and her ears perk up at what she can overhear of what he's talking about.

So for the moment, Xiaomu heads in Arthur's and Fiora's direction. "Hey, you two! Not sure if we've met, although your voice sounds familiar ..."

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    Palora briefly turns to watch Arthur -tear into his cup with his Goddamn teeth-. She impossibly whistles loud enough to be heard over the crowds. "Holy -shit-, are you like. Baby Chuck Norris or something?" She fetches a pair of sunglasses from a chameleon pocket in her dress, sticks them on the bridge of her nose, fold her arms, and leans way the hell back in her chair.

    In a deepened voice, she says, "Glad you're on our side, brudda."

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Yeah, that's my special habanero sauce, glad you like it." He watches Savo as she seems to talk about how spicy it is without any physical reaction to it at all. If nothing else, she's taught him that Abyssals CAN eat and enjoy surface food, so this has been a productive day for nothing but that. He twirls the tongs in his hand again, "Grandma seems a bit patronizing. You should call her the HMS Cougar instead." Psyber suggests.

    Looking back to Kongou, he reassures her, "You really don't need wait for me. I want you to enjoy my cooking while it's hot and fresh," He smiles at the ship and then looks over towards Isuzu, snapping her salute back, "Good work, Number Two. This is why you're my second favorite." He says, giving her a thumbs up and then turning some ribs over on the grill.

    Ayako doesn't get an overt response so much as a solemn nod of his head and an 'mmph' of agreement. The half-angel is happy someone can understand him about sauces. And then he rotates another look towards Palora, "Yeah, no sweat! Happy to be doing what I can!"

    Kotone is talking to him too, "Oh. I'm kinda hard to pin down for meetings, since the Union keeps me deployed basically 6 days a week. But I can try." He says before loading some more meat onto a tray so it can go over to the big tables.

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona Arclite waves at Xiaomu too when the fox girl wanders towards the bar. Then stares for a moment when Arthur BITES a chunk out of the his glass to make it more manly. "Hot holy hell, the miners would get a kick outta someone doin' that."

An ear flicks towards the bar at the mention of habanero sauce, and she turns in the direction of the grill for a moment. "Yo, pass me something with that hot and spicy stuff on it!"

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur punctuates the beginning with an intense gulp and slams the cup back onto the table with much enthusiasm. He gives a thumbs up to Palora, and a toothgleaming grin. "You KNOW IT." He says, reveling a bit in positive attention, flashing the same grin aside to Corona. "I'm nothin' but KICK ALL THE TIME, lady!" Secretly, of course, getting put on the spot by Fiora made him incredibly nervous and he wasn't sure at all if he had the savvy and smoothness to pull off a positive twist on things, and is therefore super relieved that it's working so far.

    Then focused more exclusively at Mizuki. "YEAH!" He speaks up eagerly. "I know a TON about the whole CONCEPTUAL EXISTENCE thing. I had to deal with a MILLION giant stupid unspace-god concepts for a while, you LEARN a thing or two 'bout what they're always WHINING ABOUT. So when I meet some COOL CONCEPTS I can DIG THEIR TROUBLES. I guess 'SWEET STUFF' and 'DRINK STUFF' got enough CONCEPTUAL PAYLOAD on 'em, right?" He jerks a thumb over to Savo, the pair of Oni, some of the small Sisters, and the others, saying, "DON'T WORRY. She gets a little ENERGIZED, she's gonna be in GOOD COMPANY from the look of it, lemme tell yah."

Wo has posed:
    Sugar shock in bar form? That's good enough for Wo's hat. While it might come to regret it, it coils the end of both front tentacles around two separate 'cookies', hopefully not getting scolded for taking more than one. It holds them up to the two empty, metallic irised sockets that crown the top of it, as though it were giving them a closer inspection, and then opens its maw again to throw them in before chewing. For the entirety of this process, Wo herself doesn't seem to be too bothered by this, though it seems she does share some connection with the beast serving as her cover. "It's sweet - and gooey. A-lice. It likes it." Unspoken is that it would probably eat just about anything, given the chance, so it's not entirely high praise.

    The carrier then tilts her head slightly to the side, a movement even more exaggerated thanks to the size of the still-chewing hat, "You - saw us, on news? News reel?" Somehow, this thought hadn't crossed her, that their exploits might be newsworthy on a broader scale. A quick glance is given to Zuihou, whom had settled nearby, before some realization comes to her, and she wonders, "Like her?" It would make more sense for fleet daughters to make newsies, since they have all the good public relations people with the surface. Regardless of the answer, though, Wo can't help herself, reaching out cautiously with the aim to give Alice a pat on the head, "Thank you, for the - cookie." If they can bring peace to the sea, then maybe they'll have positive press like the surface fleet enjoys, someday..

Samar (494) has posed:
    Kongou's reaction just makes Savo's grin widen even more. Another chunk of meat is torn off and chewed before she responds. "I dunno, we'll have to see if I feel in the mood. Not many people get to be called 'big sister' by me!" A pause as her wide eyes roll up a little, as if she's trying to narrow down the exact numbers there. "...actually, probably just Samar. I don't get to be anyone else's second fiddle."

    When Palora toasts to her, Savo's armored and rib-clenching fist comes over to offer a fistbump of rib-devouring solidarity to Palora. Until Palora applies those sunglasses and that bizarre slang, at which point Savo gains a brief look of uncertainty and retracts that gesture of solidarity. "...yeah, what you said earlier. Etiquette's for people without massive guns anyway." As if on queue, she tears the rest of her current rib off and gulps it down before simply tossing the bone aside.

    As soon as she hears Kongou's remark, though, Savo's suddenly darting over to Kongou and Psyber and hurling her arms over their shoulders. Psyber gets the arm covered in a heavy gauntlet, even though she has to jump a little to reach him. She's still a little wet from dragging herself out of the sea not too long ago, too. "Oh, I'll sit with you guys! My two /total/ favorite people. For some kinda definition of 'favorite,' at least. Good enough for me, though!" She kinda has to awkwardly reach around Kongou to get at her next rib, but as long as the battleship doesn't mind her wide-eyed visage coming a little close, Savo chomps off another chunk of absurdly spicy meat to chew down.

Riva Banari has posed:
"IT'S NOT A SURPRISE AT ALL BOSS, YOU KNOW I LOVE PARTIES." Riva yells back to Psyber with an amused tone. "BESIDES, HOW LAZY WOULD I HAVE TO /EVEN BE/ TO NOT GO TO A PART ON OUR /FRONT YARD/?"

There's got to be all kinds of interesting things to burn and inhale in the Multiverse. Riva doesn't judge. While fiora's carding her, Riva crosses her eyes with a mischevious grin. she picks up the 'whatever', arching an eyebrow. "Interesting." She says, before taking a drink. Hey, why not. She'll try anything at least once, especially considering fiora's tendency towards objective factualization of her environment, apparently.

She follows it up with a bite of one of the pieces of chicken.

She stops. Her eyes widen as her chewing slows... And then she closes her eyes, making a satisfied 'mmmmmm' noise. While one might expect her to begin devouring the meat right after that, she actually starts eating it more /slowly/, taking time to savor the variety of flavoring and the grill mastery brought forth by a being who's had what, ten thousand years to perfect it? Psyber probably grilled during the Crusades and on Noah's Ark, too. They probably didn't tell you Noah brough /12/ cows for that reason.

Arthur an Mizuki's arrivals are greeted with a wide smile. She does her best to try to follow along with the complex coolkid handshake, but it's clear she has to put more points into that skill to make a DC that high. Halfway through she starts rolling her hands in a fake samba, laughing. "The HAPS is that we're having a party. Good to see you all again!" She clearly means everyone there, since, well, she's theoreticallg on good terms with all of them, right?

She picks up her drink and gestures with it. "Definately don't get enough opportunities to do something like this. Makes it all worthwhile, right?" She takes another drink of the whatever, and then Kirika comes in for a hug! Riva gives her a hug back and then a quick ruffle on her hair before she leans back against the bar. "I'm doing fine, Kirika. Thanks for helping the other day. Me and Daemon are still doing the whole learning thing. Doesn't matter how much you read ahead of time, there's no subsitute for experience." She smiles, and then waves to Kotone. "Hi there, Kotone! Good to see you!" The cyborg gets that same exuberance everyone else gets, she shares the Riva Experience equally, and there's plenty for everyone. Like Eleanor! Eleanor also gets a quick hop off of the stool and given a hug of greeting. "Hi Eleanor! It's definately been too long!" She pops back onto her stool and grins. "This is a hell of a party. There's going to be a lot omixing going on and everyone should /totally/ try Psyber's barbecue. It's AMAZING." She picks up a rib and waggles it (and her eyebrows), then tilts her head to listen to Arthur intently as he does his thing. Hmmmm.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    @WO:
    Alice's eyes go wide, but... it's not qute a scolding. "I guess, there's one for you and your jellyfish." She huffs though and sips at her SunnyD fitfully for a moment. Must be cherry flavored from the straw color.
    She does smile. "Yeah like that and like her. I mean, you're on there too or ones like you. But the news we get says you're bad and stuff. But you don't seem bad right now so that's okay." She perks out though, looking at the other carrier, and then back at Wo.
    "Your hat is better though."

Kongou (637) has posed:
    "Admiral~!" Kongou mock-whines, "I'm not an airplane, don't call me a Wildcat~!"

    "Wildcat?" Zuihou glances up, a piece of bauxite held between chopsticks just shy of her mouth. When she realizes nobody's talking to her, though, the carrier girl simply tosses the nugget into her mouth like a piece of popcorn chicken. There's a pause, and then a bright "Mmm~!" Picking up another piece between her sticks, Zuihou leans closer to Wo, holding it out, "Hey, try some! You brought it, but it's really good! Are your resources always this good?" -- It seems like the energetic light carrier is the sort who's okay with anyone, so long as they aren't shooting at her at the time. Leaning forward around Wo, Zuihou smiles to little Alice, "Yeah, her hat is pretty neat, huh!"

    When Savo starts hanging off of Kongou and Psyber at the same time, the battleship strongly resists the urge to recoil. Unlike her little friend over there, Kongou's a woman of strong beliefs! "Neh, Airfield, why don't we leave the Admiral alone for a while?" An eye closes tensely amidst the messy eating, "We'll eat together."

    this might turn into an eating contest before the night is through

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Eleanor's smile grows a bit as she's hugged by Riva. "I'm waiting patiently for my turn myself. I'm thinking of the brisket, I think It's a rather nice cut when done like this. It's a nice change from cooking for myself or ordering take-out, that's for sure." A glance is offered over at Grillmaster Psyber and she sighs a bit, casting a meaningful look at Riva and tapping at her cellphone in its pocket. Some sort of message.

    But the melancholy is quickly gone, as she settles back in for more chat.

Priscilla has posed:
    Seeing Ayako neck deep in an ice cooler is simultaneously surreal, underwhelming, and pretty much exactly what Priscilla had expected to see at the time. Objectively, she is aware that Ayako is water given form and that making ice is both a trivial and logical task for her at a barbeque, but the best she can do in response is to remember to move out of her way, then raise her hand and open her mouth just as the water spirit turns around and moves out of earshot. She quickly drops her arm, looking both ways to make sure nobody saw that.

    Psyber gets her attention next, getting her to wheel around with visible surprise at the half-angel not only picking her out in this crowd, but calling out to her specifically when there are so many other familiar faces. She flushes /ever/ so slightly, but her voice remains totally as usual. "Trouble thineself not. This is all new to me. Please, simply indicate which of these art the most heavily spiced, so that I may avoid them." Boooo. No fun at all.

    As if trying to make up for her lameness, Priscilla is abruptly subjected to a barrage of bro-pound-up-high-down-low-too-slow gesticular nonsense that leaves her pretty much as stunned and confused as anyone would probably expect. At a loss of anything to say, she waits around awkwardly as Arthur leaves with a slew of people towards the bar, before swiftly retrieving the closest thing that Psyber hasn't warned her of and following along simply due to the number of familiar faces converging on it, and the fact that she doesn't want to be around the shipgirls if they start going at it over some choice piece of sass. She makes the totally transparent move of sitting down next to Mizuki, within a couple of stools of Arthur and Riva, though not terribly far from anyone else, hiding the lower half of her face in her sleeve in order to conceal just how funny she secretly thinks Fiora's Disrespect is. "How Lord Psyber's menagerie hast grown since last I was here. Despite so many new faces in place of old, there manages to be more than ever before."

Fiora O'Brien has posed:
    Fiora grins as Arthur MANS THE HELL UP and is ALPHA AS FUCK.

    "Wow. Full life. You were always the active, busy, coolguy though. I'm just dumpy little me. I don't even get sweet stained glass. I poke at those weird abstractijerks, and I was helping some gritty noire detective stop the mob or something." She shrugs. "I do stuff. You're just cooler and higher profile. Same 'ol, same 'ol, coolguy." She shoots, before leaning back. "Yeah, I actually need to jet. It's really great seeing you all. The bar's open, there's a buncha stuff, I gotta go... See a guy about a thing." She weakly excuses herself, before winking out of existance. She has places to go! THINGS TO DO!

    Stomachaches to handle.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    "Spiritual translucence certainly comes with its benefits and its drawbacks, yes." Mizuki's response to Arthur is a bit distracted in light of how focused she's become on the antics of others, but she eventually cycles her gaze back around to him. "I never experienced the transition you're mentioning myself, but I can imagine it was quite shocking. Or fairly underpronounced. Actually, assuming the dullness of sensation one tends to experience without conscious effort I might assume the latter." She takes another sip of her glass of water, laying her free hand in her lap. "Ahhh, though I've heard so many things about biological existence that I'm glad to be free of. Like 'temperature', for existence. I should hate to be kept from venturing out into the world by something so silly as that."

    She would briefly look over to Savo and company, too, assuring that Palora can become 'quite rowdy', but that they 'likely would not find it difficult to restrain her if necessary'. Not between the whole group of them, anyway.

    Again, she swivels around in her seat to soak in the swirling airs of the oncoming night. She looks oddly serene right now.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    In response to Corona, Psyber slides a few beef spare ribs onto a plate, smears them down with one last dose of sauce, and then tosses the plate like a frisbee. His aim is expert enough that it twirls through the air, hits the top of the bar, and comes to a halt right in front of her with her ordered food on it.

    An invasion by Savo! Luckily, it comes just as Psyber is finishing up the last of the meat in front of him. His joke didn't QUITE land on Kongou, but he accepts that, "Alright, alright. I'll break off the grill and eat some for now." Psyber says to the two girls, picking up the tray and starting to carry it over to the Meats Table for the last batch of cooking for a while.

    To Priscilla's inquiry, Psyber loads a ribeye steak onto a plate and then holds it out to her after setting down the tray of food and spreading it out, "Here. Basic salt and pepper for flavor, nothing fancy. This is the kind of thing you want, I think." Psyber says to her with a bright smile and offering the plates.

    "Ah... yeah. The menagerie is pretty crowded." He says to her with an awkward laugh, "But, you know, it keeps me from going insane from all the work I do." Like that whole Nathan situation. Even on a day off, he's probably still planning his next move there.

    "Thanks for coming out, though, Pris."

    And then Psyber is loading up some food for himself off the tables.

Theo Morrison has posed:
Theo has no idea who like half of these people are, maybe more. It is making him wonder if he should have come over earlier so he could've said 'hi' to the people he's actually acquainted with.

Oh well. No sense worrying about it now. Theo, in a WMAT hoodie and cargo pants, proceeds over to the Promised Table of Snackage and goes to load up a paper plate with a slew of things. He'll try pretty much anything edible once. He peers through the bunches of people at the grill, momentarily feeling the longing for basically its entire contents. (Soon, stomach. Soon.)

Kickotron goes over to the bowls of chips. He pushes two bowls a few inches to either side to make room for his own, currently balanced on his head, and then places it between them. It is shiny chrome, and seems to be filled with pieces of metal and chunks of stone. They're neatly sorted, despite apparently being in a jumble.

Kickotron stares at it for a moment longer, and then promptly eats what looks like raw iron. The bird robot turns around and people-watches while gnawing on it.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    "HELL YEAH." Arthur says, ramming his battle-damaged sippy cup into Riva's own drink in an aggressive toast to reinforce what she said. "Way I go, I'm more about the FIGHTS myself, 'cause of... Uh, REASONS, but MOST PEOPLE, this is the SHIT. It makes all the FIGHTING WORTH IT." And then it's off to Eleanor! "Hahaha, this shit is INIMITABLE, yo! You gotta have the MAD CRED to LEVEL UP some shit like this. And actually cheat using space-magic kinematic cognition. I'm SURE you can PULL THAT SHIT OFF though! Gimmie a POUND, at least, huh?" He offers a bro-pound aggressively. "And make it COOL. Like ICE HANDS or something. Let's DO THIS."

Wo has posed:
    After pleasant exchanges with Alice, Wo turns her attention back to Assassin for a moment. His words can be thought provoking one moment, and then fly right past her the next. She nonetheless had the patience to listen while she was also conversing with the child, as time is one thing she seems to have in quantity, lately. "Dark Mist - is a nice, name," she agrees. "Ve-ry poetic." A lot of the terms are beyond her, being essentially the unrested soul of a seafaring vessel, but she can certainly get the idea. She also definitely understands one thing, "..I..also, have no name." Or at least, that she can remember.

    Settling back in, she gives that subtly puzzled look towards Zuihou, whom is apparently now holding some bauxite out for her. Somehow she hadn't actually expected anyone else to try it, but in the interest of being sociable for the evening, she also leans forward and takes it into her mouth. Her more humanoid mouth, this time, holding it in her cheek for a time, thoughtfully. "Seasoned," she remarks, about why it must be better than average, freshly mined bauxite. "..secret, spices." Could this be the legendary mineral from Bauxite Bottom Sound? Swallowing, she turns back to Alice, then, and it seems Zuihou didn't mind the comparison. "Hat? ..ah." She reaches up to it, hefting it off to illustrate its removability, and lowers it to her lap so that Alice can perhaps get a better look. "This is - my flight, deck. Planes, stored inside." It would probably be a bad idea to let them fly out here, though.

    It also gives her a chance to visibly think over what the news programs must say about her kind. She won't hide the truth, though, "..bad, relative. We survive. But - fight for, our own peace." She again glances at Zuihou, a bit more meaningfully, despite her deadened expression. "Still.. There is hope. ..may-be, someday."

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Somewhere in the midst of the prior pose, Psyber looks towards Akai and then says, "Oh right, hi! Akai-Toh, nice to meet you. Were you the one who forged that sword Kirika gave me? Or was that a different uncle?" He tilts his head a bit as he was walking with the tray of food, "Either way, she seems like an alright girl and you guys should be pretty proud of her."

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Oh dear. Eleanor smiles at Arthur as she gets her drink before Fiora vanishes. She's just about to sip too when she's accosted and Daps Are Demanded. She bites her lips and indeed that hand frosts over a bit as she applies a semi-boisterous fistbump to Arthur. "Haaaah? Like that?"

    Somewhere in the crowd, a pair of little voice cry out. "NO POWERS ELLIE!" A cross look on Eleanor's face.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    As she turns to Priscilla, Mizuki's demeanor immediately becomes more serious somehow. Not in a negative way, she would find; just to better suit that characteristic way in which they tend to converse with one another. She lowers her voice somewhat when speaking of Psyber's 'menagerie', offering, "Yes. Psyber's condition is a fascinating one. The way he tends to accrue crowds and stir friendships is almost a microcosm of society. I might be reading into things a bit too deeply, but," She glances around, allowing a smile to creep back on to her face, "It's as though we have a bird's eye view into the Multiverse itself. Always and ever, some of his connections remain the same whilst others swirl and change. Time rolls on; in its flow, some things are transient, others enduring. It is infinitely intriguing to see how both affairs are demonstrated here, even and especially with... those exceptions that prove the rules."

    A bit vague and bold of her, but that's always been her way of conducting herself: extreme frankness thinly veiled within verbosity and an idle observance of coy obscurity. Tonight is no different.

    Idly, she would offer Priscilla another teacup that does not look native to this location or even this world. It's filled with water, graced on its surface with a few lavender flower petals. She probably brought this just for her out of an expectation that, like herself, she wouldn't want much to do with the concessions they're offering here.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva nods to Eleanor. "Yeah, I went and grabbed some of the early stuff. I couldn't wait. The Brisket will TOTALLY be worth it though, I bet." She catches the look, following it over to Psyber, and then she looks back to Eleanor, giving her a quiet nod. Messages indeed. "It'll all work out. All you have to do is just be patient and take your opportunity when you see it, right?" She says to Eleanor.

Priscilla gets a wave from Riva, and she grins. "Good to see you, Lady Priscilla! You should come visit more often!" She calls. "Maybe we could play some board games or a reading circle or something." Gotta take it slow before she tries to find a way to take Priscilla to a waterpark.
Arthur and Mizuki's conversation begins to make Riva's brow furrow as she drinks more of the whatever, her cheeks flushing slightly from the alcohol. Already? She clinks Arthur's cup and nods, taking a moment to remove rib sauce from her fingers by sucking on her fingers for a few moments. "If someone is spiritually translucent, then what's shining through them?" Riva asks offhandedly.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    "I make shit fuckin' MOTLEY, yo, you want a GALLERY, you want a straight up fuckin' EXHIBITION, I'm the FRIEND YOU WANT, yo, I bring the MAD DIVERGENCE." Arthur says to Priscilla. "But YEAH, ANGEL DAD got HELLA CHARISMA, brings around a TON of pals. He's a COOL DUDE! Havin' FRIENDS like that, it's GREAT. Saved my fuckin' LIFE back in the day, you know. Good thing he don't need it to save HIS."

    And then Xiamou's here! "NO WE HAVEN'T! And lady, we're ABOUT TO! Name's ARTHUR LOWELL! ROCKET-POWERED JERK, INTERGALACTIC HOODLUM." He will aggressively pound, palm, and generally coolkid-handshake in her direction too! "What's YOUR DEAL, huh? Heard you AROUND the OFFICE NET, not had the chance to MEET ya!"

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona Arclite holds out one arm on the bar to stop the frisbee delievery, but it's unneeded as the plate comes to a rest right in front of her before even touching said arm. Now that takes skills. "Nice delivery."

She grabs one of the ribs and pulls that chunk free from the rest, takes a nice long inhale to appreciate the aroma, then bites down on the meat and pulls the bone through her teeth to extract it from the barbequed meat. Bone gets dropped on the plate as she chews vigorously, savoring the moments before swallowing it down. "Ah yeah, that hits the spot." A chug of the rest of her drink, and then she digs right in on the rest of the ribs. The extreme heat is just extra flavor to her.

Considering she comes from a seething hot volcanoic western world, and by the look of that chili she brought, intense heat probably isn't a big problem for her in the first place.

Though she does pause for a moment to look at Arthur, then back to some of the others. "Is he always like this?" Not that it bothers her, she's just curious.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    @WO, ZUIHOU:
    Alice ooooooooooooooooooooooooooohs at the removal of the hat, and little fingers poke at the surface testingly.
     The blonde girl is quickly joined by a brunette of a similar age to Alice, maybe a bit younger. She too starts looking up at the ship girls, and then salutes the Cruiser. "Hi! I'm Lana! Ahoy hoy!" The salute is not the crispest, but it's decent for a youngster. Miss Lana is already messy with BBQ sauce, and there's been an attempt to hide a little hand wipe mark along her belly by careful shifting of her ribbon belt. It's not the best work.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako is more than content to simply watch people eat. Even watching Wo (well, her hat, anyway) eat is interesting too! People watching is just something she does! Although she sometimes gets a bit lost in it too. Becoming watching water is something a bit too easy for her to do.

    She walks over towards Riva cheerfully and agrees happily with her. "Oh oohh... yes! Priscilla should come visit more often!" Ayako smiles brightly and claps her hands together softly. She takes another look at Riva and-whoa. Already? She glances into Riva's glass and has to wonder what she drank.

Samar (494) has posed:
    Savo gives Kongou a wide-eyed look as if 'leave this person alone' were a sequence of words that simply didn't exist in her vocabulary. She even blinks, finally, before giving a noncommittal shrug. "Eeeeeh, sure. I can go with the battleship if the Admiral isn't up for some interfactional socializing. Gotta stick up for him, eh?" The Princess grins, then, unlooping her arm from around Kongou so she can give the Fleet Daughter a little knowing prod in the side with her elbow. The non-armored one, that is.

    She also releases Psyber from her briney hold, chomping down on the remainder of her second rib before she slides trails after the two of them. Priscilla's given a curious look - "Hey, glad to see someone with some real fashion sense out here! Nice hair." - and that offhand remark before she turns to Kongou again.

    "So, Kongy-wongy," the Princess singsongs, jerking her head aside to the various meats laid out on the table, "have you tried any of the hot stuff? Or is that just too much Baahning Raabu for you to handle?" She grins at that, fully aware of the challenge she's laying out before she starts on her /third/ spicy rib.

Kirika (481) has posed:
    The Red Oni, while giving only the briefest of looks towards Xiaomu regarding phone advice, merely nods, he does definitely heed the sage fox's words.^T^T^Y"Aye, she's a good kid. Trained her myself since she was ten." Akai nods, grinning a fanged smile. "Hagane's the one who forged it, so thank him for the sword when you get a chance. Kirika slaved convincing him to do another commission piece after all these years, barring her own blade anyways. He's retired, y'see, at least from swordsmithing that is. Usually these days he helps with smithing for Lady Shukutou's settlement." He says, before taking a swig. "One of these days, we oughta see about going a few rounds in the ring, if you'd have me." He doesn't seem too afraid of Assassin either, as the Deathy Servant gets a laugh out of the lanky bastard. "HAH! If I ever feared death over the years, I stopped around my second century. Respect, definitely, but you tend to learn to stop letting fear bug you too much when you take up a ronin's life, friend."

    Kirika seems content to continue drinking, idly chattering with Riva before she gives Ayako a nod of greeting as well. "Ah, I can't believe I missed you in all the excitement. Well met, Ayako!" She greets the water spirit genially, bowing her head.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Eleanor's lip bite says it all in response to the Return of the Messages from Riva, before she sips on her cuba libre. "Maybe, yeah. But we'll get it handled." She glances around and sees her Sisters behaving themselves for the most part, even if they are calling her out of Mild Hypocricsy. Though...
    Well, it's not like the Sisters weren't of and part of and one with the sea, so it's actually kind of fitting they're interacting with the Maidens et al.
    "I'd like to get you out to the Manor again sometime though. I think a nice family dinner-ish will do us all good, maybe. We'll get a chance to discuss things and maybe get you and your new partner handled out with stuff from the Homeworld." Elle's hand tightens around Utopia.

Kongou (637) has posed:
    "Heh," Isuzu respectfully keeps her distance from the Airfield Princess, but remains near Psyber, "Second favorite? I guess Kongou's at the top of the list, but that's fine with me." Jerking her thumb over her shoulder, she adds, "I'll make sure some is left for you when you're ready to eat."

    Wo an Savo aren't the only abyssals who came, though. Wo did arrive with a flotilla of destroyers, after all. And Akizuki can be found amidst them, finger to her lips, "Mou... It's actually hard to tell which one of you is Icchan... I know she was an I-class, though..!"

    Beside Wo, Zuihou smiles, "Peace would be great! One way or another. I'd prefer a world where everyone can be happy together on a merry sea." Leaning back, partly to give Wo's hat room to sit, the light carrier pops another bauxite bit into her mouth, "Special seasonings, huh.. Well, it's pretty good, thanks for bringing it, miss Wo-class." On the subject of flight decks, though, Zuihou turns enough to angle her own shield-like deck into Alice's view, "See how we're different! It's interesting to see how different carriers work, isn't it?" The new girl arriving gets a wiggly-finger wave, "Hello~! My name is Zuihou, a Shouhou-class light carrier, pleased to meet you, Lana."

    MEANWHILE, IN THE LAND OF SHIPGIRLS WHO DON'T GET ALONG THIS WELL WITH ABYSSALS DURING PEACETIME (alternatively, the land where the abyssal in question is kind of a jerk)

    Kongou places a hand to her collarbone, eyes closed, "The Admiral is busy so I will entertain you, of course. It's my job as secretary ship, after all~." The challenge, as subtle as it is, is issued. Those eyes open to subtle cracks that almost seem to glow with her own inner light, "Oh~?" Leaning forward, Kongou places both hands on the tabletop, "Are you interested in my tolerance for spices? <Problem Nothing!>" Raising up, she flexes one arm while bracing the bicep with the other, "Kongou's curry is the spice of <Legend!> <Barbecue> spice is a challenge I will only rise to!"

    Kongou then seats herself, taking all the time in the world to produce her handkerchief and, daintily, tuck it into the collar of her outfit. A second kerchief is produced, flipped out, and then laid gently across her lap.

    This elegant, dainty display is suddenly thrown off kilter entirely when Kongou slams her fist down on the table hard enough to bounce a trio of spicy ribs off their serving plate. Two land upon an outstretched plate, the other in her waiting hand. Bringing it to her mouth, she hisses a determined sentence before chomping right into it, eyes locked on Savo's unblinking crimson orbs.

    "Bring it on."

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    "LADY." Arthur says, whirling around on his barstool. "I am at ONE HUNDRED AND TEN PERCENT, OVERCLOCKED, LIMIT-BREAKIN' COOL at ALL TIMES for FOREVER, yo. This is NORMAL!" He assures Corona with much energy! It actually has nothing to do with the alcohol. This is just how he is at parties.

    Riva gets a laugh. "MAN." He says. "YEAH, she seems like the GAMES type. Get her some fuckin' RISK, I'm bettin' you're gonna see MURDER in those eyes." He gestures emphatically. And Mizuki gets a few nods. "YEAH, I'd say SHOCKING is a good word. It was, uh..." He scratches the back of his neck. "Yeah, not PARTY TALK. Stuff you DON'T wanna go through, I'll say it like THAT. The BIOLOGICAL stuff, yeah, BETTER to NOT deal with it. Besides, who wants BODY HEAT, am I right? Girl like YOU with the SWEET WINTER FASHIONS, that shit would be HELLA LIMITING. Or at least HELLA STUFFY." He laughs a bit!

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Maybe. I don't do much sparring now that I'm settling down into work and stuff. I get enough fighting as a matter of career, so I rarely do it for fun. Sometimes I train a person a little bit, like Mordred with boxing, or whatever. We'll have to see." Psyber says in regards to Akai and a spar, "I'll be sure to thank him. I already told Kirika to do so for me, but I should eventually as well."

    His attention drifts away a bit, though, towards what appears to be Trouble Brewing. This makes him, not unlike Nathan, unaware of People Giving Him Looks From Across Parties, so Eleanor and Riva go unnoticed in their conspiracy. He looks to Isuzu, "Yeah, we can get some food. Let's go see what that is..."

    He'd probably walk with Isuzu over towards the forming competition between Savo and Kongou. This oughta be fun to watch.

Priscilla has posed:
    Priscilla accepts the steak with inordinate, nonverbally communicated gratefulness. "I will be certain to try something more adventurous after I hath eaten enough not to maketh a fool of mineself." The attempted smile forming her her lips slides off as Psyber makes that unintentionally dark reference. It sounds lighthearted, but the crossbreed does actually worry about his mental health from time to time; or rather, most times that she thinks of him. The recent business wherein he had suddenly decided to conduct himself like Nathan Hall was already bad for her nerves. "If it will keep thee in good spirits, I will attend as many times as is necessary." She states, giving him a meaningful look before slipping off.

    She has to look around a little bit for a proper knife, but by the time Riva finds her, Priscilla is slicing her steak to pieces like a surgeon, carving it up into myriad bite sized pieces before even beginning to pick one up. "I believeth I will at some point in the future. Various . . . personal matters hath kept me occupied, but I see closure to them within the near future. Perhaps it will be relieving to return to a time whence I couldst visit so freely, though this is a difference place than the one I once haunted, with far more people than before." She decides against the joke about becoming familiar with everyone's rooms. Someone might take it seriously.

    "I am gladdened to see someone else who perceives it for what it is." Priscilla replies to Mizuki. "I am not so certain as to which bold statements I wouldst use to describe it, but it is an almost supernatural ability. I can think of no other man with such . . . unique personal gravity." She momentarily looks appreciative at the Author providing something so refined for her, but she gets the cup halfway to her lips before the pressure to step out of her comfort zone reaches a tipping point. This is a barbeque, not a tea party. She shouldn't be holing Mizuki away to herself to be dignified in a corner. The both of them should be doing as the Romans, or at least trying their best. Despite the fact that it is an objectively /terrible/ idea, Priscilla reaches over the bar counter to grab whatever drink is closest that has been irresponsibly left behind by Fiora, spiking some into her teacup, putting it down on the counter, then bracing herself for a brisk swig, thereafter looking to Mizuki with the clearly visible expression of someone making a silent dare.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa notices Eleanor coming this way who gets a bit of a wave from Kotone. She seems nice enough and hey if Riva and Arthur considered them a friend, right? She sees that Mizuki seems to be be swamped as does Arthur. She nods to Psyber.

"I can call you up if that how it goes. Just with free lancing? I'm all over the place. I can only guess how it goes for you with your station in the Union. Thank you for hosting this party and doing a lot of the cooking."

She'll leave Pysber be for now she was able to make contact like she's hoped she'd been able to. Now she's going to go on a fooding binge now.

She gets some of the various cooked meats on a plate. Once she has got the foods she now stalks Riva.

"Hey Riva we're not up to our necks in goop today, we should meet like this more often! We still haven't really had a chance to hang out as of late."

Wo has posed:
    Wo's hat seems somehow used to this, or at least tolerant of it. The poked surface feels a bit like the flesh of a marine mammal of some stripe might, at least, until the increased resistance just below hints of some kind of reinforcement just below. If it weren't for that, or perhaps despite, it might make a serviceably squishy pillow. A new arrival appears, perhaps a friend of Alice, and salutes - a familiar enough gesture, even though the carrier isn't prone to it, herself. Still, for the kids, she does her best. "Hello, Lana. I'm..Wo-class, aircraft carrier." She's distracted, though, with Zuihou showing off her own deck, leaning over slightly to take a closer look. It seems nostalgic, somehow, even if she has no use for such a thing, anymore... Nonetheless, their interest does give her an idea. "..maybe.. Zui-hou, and I.. Can, show you. Sometime. ..little, crowded for exercises..right now."

    The presence of the destroyers, after all, hasn't gone unnoticed. But they aren't causing trouble, and don't seem too overwhelmed by the social nature of the cook out, so she will allow them to play with their surface fleet counterpart, for the time being. As her eyes wander over to Akizuki trying to figure out which one is Icchan, her mouth manages a slight frown, even if she would like to be happy with the sight. Despite Zuihou echoing their universal hopes, the ongoing rivalry between Kongou and Savo is a perfect illustration that it won't be that easy. Hopefully neither side will become too attached to the other.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Eleanor indulges Arthur's desire for a sweet cool bropound. "SHIT YEAH, there you go." He flicks a mist of cold away from his knuckles in a quick cool motion that translates directly into picking up his cup again for a fresh drink. "You kinda got the OLDSCHOOL feel to you, y'know? The ORIGINAL stuff. You gotta get HARDER with that, show it off. Take that shit up to 11, OWN IT, and be COOL with it, y'know? Work what ya got." A little bit of encouragement to Eleanor to be more energetic and direct about stuff! Despite being much better suited for the more quiet roles, apparently. "You're a BIG SISTER, right? Aren't BIG SISTERS supposed to be HARD-DRINKIN' POPULAR kinda ladies? That's what the TELEVISION always makes 'em." Stop watching anime, Arthur.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako smiles cheerfully at Kirika and then bows her head in return. "Hello Kirika!" She takes a seat at the bar and spins on the barstool for a bit. And then makes finger guns at Arthur. "Arthur's right! I don't care much for biological stuff myself. Well... other than acting like I have it." She giggles brightly and then groans softly. "Besides. Even without biological stuff, I still get all miserable during Summer."

    Ayako keeps spinning on her barstool. Of course she's not dizzy. She still likes doing it, though. Once in a while, though... she eyes one of the sodas.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Eleanor snots a bit at Arthur's question about Big Sisters and sighs. "I... I could have been that, maybe, if things had turned out differently. But really I save... all of that in the defense of My Sisters and those who need the help." It's a nice way of putting 'I get a thrill out of combat'. "And as for Television, maybe. But I'm not /that/ sort of Sister. I mean, again, unless I have to be. It's... it's a hard thing to explain in polite company."
    One of the Little Sisters, actualyl sort of the Biggest Little Sister wanders over and plonks a plate of Brisket and beans and Bread in front of Elle. "Your food's getting cold." The blonde girl waves shyly to Arthur, before wandering back offf into the crowd.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Thanks, that means a lot with how tired I've been lately," Psyber says to Priscilla in a sincere tone as she says she'll attend whenever in order to help him, "If you ever want to visit, you can. You're welcome around here." Psyber smiles at her a bit and then takes an awkward sigh.

    And then Psyber spots Theo, "THEO! Get over here. We're about to watch the personification of a battleship get into a spicy eating contest with the personification of a battleship Satan or something. I dunno, but I got 20 bucks on Kongou, you wanna take the opposing?" He calls to the card player who is trying to people watch.

    Kotone gets a nod shortly afterwards, "Calling me is probably best, yeah, during my down time."

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    @WO, ZUI-HOU:

    The two girls sorta marvel at the flight decks before Lana points a slightly BBQ laden finger at the Maiden. "You guys are really cool. I mean, Elle doesn't like the water much any more but I'm going to be a Pirate when I grow up, yarr harr harr." She poses Triumphantly, putting another stain on her dress.

    Alice continues poking Wo's hat. The mammalian sensation is comforting some how, like a big manatee instead of slimy. "Aaahhh, maybe, but how do you fit planes in there? Or are the really little planes?"

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Xiaomu grins, waving back to Corona, but doesn't get a chance to do much more than that just at the moment .... mostly because she wants to give Arthur a chance to reply to her greeting, and a little patience pays off. The Chinese foxgirl grins even wider as she tries to keep up with Arthur's SUPER SECRET HANDSHAKE (more of the secret handshake being super, than the handshake being super-secret, as far as she can tell).

"Reiji and I - and Kenji, our sorta-kinda-intern - all work for Shinra. It's kinda like Heaven or Hell, except with a bit more emphasis on keeping the peace between humans and youkai - supernatural beings, spirits, the whole gamut - by keeping them from butting heads too much."

Kongou (637) has posed:
    "A military airfield," Isuzu offers to Psyber, standing beside him as things Get Real with Kongou and Savo, "At least, I think so. She IS the Airfield Princess, after all." She's opted for a steak rather than ribs, which she's cutting into near-perfectly identical cubes while the scene unfolds.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    Mizuki's response to Riva is way more succinct than it usually is: "The intense brilliance of their will shall always shine through." Another sip from her water glass. "Or whatever other inane babble your mind fancies will suffice otherwise." Arthur gets a smile. "Oh, yes. And I imagine that the frills of these dresses would be quite chafing to flesh, but for me it feels exactly as I choose. These clothes are more an extension of my being than anything; much the same as it is for Ayako, interestingly enough, but I somewhat doubt the necessity of further explanation." She rests her cheek in the palm of her hand. "Ah, but yes. I would forsake my 'winter fashions' for nothing else in the world. They're far too alluring for me. Far too imbued with the otherworldly aura I hope to inspire in peoples' fervent daydreams of my character."

    And maybe she just likes pretty dresses, but.

    But Priscilla! She doesn't really have any further comment on the Psyber thing -- she's fairly satisfied in knowing that she thinks the same, really. She has a few other alternative examples she could give of people with like magnetic presences, but she'll withhold those for the moment. Because right now, the halfbreed is doing something utterly astonishing. It's horrifying. It's -unspeakable-.

    -She drew sustenance from the gardens of flesh and bone.

    She would faint, but even if her body can't actually accrue grime she's still a bit worried she would fall into something - or someone - and cause a fuss. So instead she just stares, and stares, and stares, perhaps whipping out her sword at one point to chuck the pair of tea glasses she had brought with her in a portal back to her world. For safe keeping.

    Arthur's words would echo through her mind:

    'I guess 'SWEET STUFF' and 'DRINK STUFF' got enough CONCEPTUAL PAYLOAD on 'em, right?'

    For the sake of her sanity, she hopes that the concept of drunkeness is not communicable to her; she recalls what Faruja was like during the WMAT and really would not wish that condition upon her worst -- okay, well, she would wish every variety of torture on her worst enemy, but she would at least not like to burden a normal person with humiliation achieved through inebriation. Still, she would throw herself upon her sword and fetch a glass for herself, filling a wine glass and gingerly swishing it around before taking a sip.

    She would adjust her age appropriately before taking a drink. For etiquette's sake.

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona Arclite looks up from stuffing her face with spicy ribs, first at the two shipgirls about to face off in an eating contest. Then turns her attention over to the other conversation between Arthur and Xiaomu. "So yer kinda like paranatural Rangers."

Samar (494) has posed:
    Savo's grin just seems to grow even wider when Kongou steps up to the challenge. She almost looks manic enough to rival a certain other battleship, but it's all bouncy fun in her step as she hops into a seat across from Kongou with her last rib held in her mouth. There's no daintiness in her preparation: she pounds her fists into her hands, one and then the other, knuckles cracking like small cannon arrays firing off one after another. Her hands immediately snap out to snatch two ribs at once, layering one on top of the other like some sort of sandwich and holding them up in front of her-

    Psyber suddenly gets a reproachful /look/ from the Princess. "THAT'S /AIRFIELD/ SATAN, THANK YOU VERY MUCH." The Abyssal gives a brief huff of offense and shakes her head, but with the way she immediately returns to dramatically leering at Kongou, it's hard to tell how seriously she's actually offended.

    "You're gonna go down like a tugboat, sparky," she quips at Kongou only a moment before digging into her double-decker rib tower. Two with the effort of one; can Kongou best her ingenuity?!

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva grins as Eleanor extends her invitation. "That would be great! I would love to see you and the girls again back at the Manor. We'll schedule that up and it'll be awesome."

Arthur provides Riva with a vivid image of Priscilla playing Risk, probably in the aftermath of an Australia Turtle. She giggles at the though, and drains more of her drink. "That would be pretty great, but maybe we'll want to start with something less cutthroat."

She tilts her head at Priscilla's response. "Good! I hope everything turns out well on that side. Having all that ongoing business hanging over someone's head can really burn them out. You don't be a stranger, okay? Don't make me go hopping into your painting to take you shopping, I'll do it." She threatens teasingly.

Kotone gets a nod frim Riva. "I knwo, right? Things just keep getting in the way, but we'll have time eventually. I'm sure of it."
5rShe looks back to Arthur, considering something. "Hey Arthur. Since you're a giant space badass, you're probably seen all kinds of cool stuff, right? What's your favorite thing about space? Did you ever see anything super cool out there?"

Riva quirks an eyebrow at Mizuki's response. "Minds think of all kinds of crazy things. I'm sure one of them will figure out how to handle it." She replies, suddenly turning to drain the rest of her glass.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Ayako makes fingerguns at Arthur. He seems really encouraged by that for some reason, and gives her a wider grin than noprmal! "Ayyyyy! Look who left the COOLER! Great t'seeya!" He gestures at the bar. "Get a DRINK! Or NOT, I guess, that might be KINDA WEIRD. Thinkin' CARBONATION would give ya a HELL OF A FEELING, pro'lly." He laughs at that personal joke.

Theo Morrison has posed:
Psyber gets his attention. Theo goes over there with his plate and a fork. He fishes around in his pocket, checking for his wallet. "There's a battleship Satan?" he asks, quizzically. Theo eyes the pair of them. With a beat and a shrug, he goes, "Yeah, sure, why not. This oughtta be pretty excellent." He doesn't even bother asking why the battleships are all female. It's obvious, if you discount the 'and also humanoid' part.

Kickotron continues to camp the food table, silent and ominous. If you're a shinki or something.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Eleanor gets a few laughs on the side too. "HAH! Well, y'know, you BE what you ARE, can't fault THAT. Don't gotta explain yourself t'ME, y'know. I'm SOME PUNK KID who DOESN'T KNOW ANYTHING, far as most people gotta be concerned. You be POLITE AS YOU WANNA." He grabs up the food quick from the Big Little Sister with a sweeping gesture, spinning it on one finger. "I'm a COOL GUY." He says, responding to her commentary about its coldness, then gives her a little appreciative gesture and a wave in response to her own wave. "THANKS!" And then he DIGS IN with much enthusiasm.

Priscilla has posed:
    Priscilla has abysmal poison resistance for a boss. This translates poorly into consumption of alcohol. Luckily, after the last time she was smart enough to water it down, but by the time she's halfway through her steak and all the way through her cup, she does look kinda flushed. "I did not realize I was missed so severely!" she says to Ayako. Unfortunately, she seems so withdrawn all the time for reasons other than excessive inhibitions, and so a little liquor isn't about to affect any kind of transformation into genki territory, but it's still an unusual sound to hear her voice at anything outside of the bottom end of the 'indoor' range. "Then I will maketh it certain. Whence I am done with this sad business, I wilst cometh here for the celebrations! Thou shalt be graciously invited."

    She turns to Savo with an unhidden roving, up-and-down stare at the mention of her manner of dress. The Abyssal is wearing something way outside of what she would even begin to dare, but hey, their colour schemes match! "I cannot quite imagine being so bold as thee, but thou hast mine thanks regardless. Truly rare is the woman who can wear such white without looking to be either a bride or a corpse!" Now that Priscilla has given into peer pressure and decided to drink and eat like everyone else, it is absolutely crucial that Mizuki do the same or else forever make her look stupid. Thankfully, she is successful. Even that tiny bit of wine counts for something! "Come now Lady Mizuki. There shalt be places and times suited for us, but this is one in which we hath made the effort to join others in. It wouldst only be gracious to attempt it honestly and without reservation."

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Before Savo can speak up again, or Isuzu, Psyber looks to Theo, "Apparently she prefers to be called Airfield Satan. So yeah. Airfield Satan vs. Kongou Battleship in a habanero-sauce-slatered-rib-off." Psyber rubs his hands together and gets ready to watch. He looks to Isuzu instead of Savo to say: "Thanks for the correction, by the way."

    "So how've things been for you, anyway, Theo?" He inquires idly.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Xiaomu will have to decipher Arthur Lowell through a mouthful of food, but it's mostly coherent. "MAN! Youkai, huh? Had some HISTORY with 'em. ONE of 'em helped me SOLVE METEOR HELL and BREAK OUT of a YEAR AND A HALF DEATHGAME. Other one tried t'make me be some kinda BUTLER FRIEND or some shit 'cause some ALTERNATE UNIVERSE VERSION of her FRIEND disappeared? Then she tried to MURDER one of my COOL FRIENDS. Basically I can ONE HUNDRED PERCENT understand there's a TON of need for yer AGENCY or whatever, holy SHIT yo." There's a confident, knowing grin and point to her.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako looks over cheerfully at Mizuki and nods her head twice. "Un, Un." One for each nod, agreeing wholeheartedly with Mizuki about her clothes. "And the same goes for me and the clothing I choose! I just can't give these up. It's too much a part of me to just stop." She turns towards Priscilla and nods her head quickly. "I did miss you, Priscilla!" Followed by a happy smile.

    Oddly enough, when Mizuki does happen to take a glass, Ayako also happens to take some seltzer water from the bar. It's just a shot glass full. She smiles happily at Arthur. "It's nice to see you too, Arthur. And... I think I will." Once she says so, she drinks the small glass in one gulp.

    And then falls face-first onto the bar with a soft thump. At the very least, she placed the glass gently onto the table before. Ayako appears to be out like a light! Although... people who know her would wonder... is she really out? She's not melty at all. That and her body trembles once in a while.

Wo has posed:
    How best to articulate it, by one that still seems to fight for words at times. The Wo-class carrier ponders the question herself, for a moment, before holding her hands up over the hat with a gap between, perhaps illustratingly. "Planes, start out - small. Like this." Then she broadens her hands to just over a meter wide, which is still within the tolerances of the broadest diameter of her flight deck, "..then, get big." She thinks on the concept further, then seems to remember something, "..carrier planes, fold wings. Sim-ilar.." From the few encounters she's had with Zuihou's side, it is somewhat similar for them, as she recalls, if a bit more stylish and dignified than a hat burping them out. But she'll let her do her own explanations.

    Her attention turns yet again, to Savo and Kongou apparently about to take their rivalry to the next level. A light sigh escapes her, but even though the behavior is somewhat embarassing to endorse as an envoy on this neutral soil - again, at least she isn't blowing anything up. She pauses afterward, holding a gloved hand up to the side of her head as she lowers it, almost as though she were hearing something. The radiosensitive might catch a coded, wide band signal that seems to be telegraph keyed, at about that time, but it's brief and seemingly of little consequence to anyone else, even the other abyssals attending. If they don't yank themselves away, the carrier will reach out to give the two young sisters a pat of the head each, before she stands up and adjusts her cape, while lifting her hat back into place. "..must go, for now." She looks toward Psyber, but it'd probably be distracting to try to thank him personally now, so she'll send him a telegram or something. Instead, she gives a wave.

    With everything settled back into place, she'll leave the bucket of seasoned bauxite in Zuihou's care, and the destroyers in Akizuki's - they'll probably return with Savo, anyway. "We'll meet again..soon," she remarks to those in her near vicinity, before beginning to step unhurriedly off, and unlike Savo even obeying all of the local traffic rules. Last seen headed towards the nearest pier, because where else.

Kongou (637) has posed:
    Turning her nose up, Kongou huffs at Savo's overindulgence, "It's a contest of heat, not a contest of amount! Though if you think you can outsupply a battleship..!" Closing her eyes, Kongou shrugs, her determined tone giving way to one of playful teasing, "Then maybe you're fatter than I thought~."

    Twirling the rib in one hand, between her fingers, Kongou points out, "Mild spice~! I think this one is close to Admiral's limit, if I remember." Eyes closing, she lifts the rib to her mouth. There's a noise like a saw chewing wood as she slides it from one side to the other, turns it, and slides it the other way. As the rib rotates, whatever has gone near her mouth is completely bereft of meat or sauce--and the bone is pretty chewed up too.

    Lowering the bone, bare after just a few moments, Kongou dabs her lips daintily with the corner of her bib-napkin, "Tasty! Admiral--" A glance towards Psyber, "You're <Super Great> at this!" A sauce-stained thumbs-up, "<Real Good!>"

    Returning her attention to Savo, Kongou lifts her second rib, in a different sauce, "That one was like Destroyer Division Six's curry. Tasty, satisfying, and having no bite~! Shall we turn up the heat~? The lady with the highest tonnage should lead~!"

    Graciously, she extends her other hand to indicate Savo.

RE: LITTLE SISTERS

    Zuihou brightens up as Wo explains how her planes work. Patiently waiting until the woman-ship is finished, the smaller of the pair reaches back to pull out one of her arrows, tipped with an arrowhead shaped like a plane, "My planes are different from miss Wo-class, they start like this." Using the arrow, she taps at the side of the bow across her back, "I shoot the arrow with this, and as the arrow flies--" She holds out her hands, "Whoosh! It turns into a wing of cute little airplanes!"

    When Wo gets up to leave, Zuihou tucks her arrow away and waves, "Please come again, miss Wo-class!" She's completely tuned out the spicy food contest scant meters away.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur nods several times to Mizuki, gesturing at his own outfit. "Got a STYLE, you STICK TO IT, right? Gotta be WHO YOU ARE with that sorta shit." He chuckles a bit. "Hahaha, man, it's always kinda FUNNY hearing what you think, 'bout bein' OTHERWORLDLY. Me, I'm always trying to be PEOPLE, you know? SOME GUY. You just go COMPLETE OPPOSITE DIRECTION. WEIRD AS HELL bein' such GOOD FRIENDS when we're goin' TOTALLY OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS." Another bite into his food. Man, he takes big mouthfuls, just going at it like a starving man.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    You'll also have to excuse Eleanor for a bit. She smiles at Arthur, and carefully forks some brisket into a bun for a sandwich. "I am I. And that is all I ever hoped to be, really. You speak of Agency, well. I very nearly had that entirely taken away from me. So I can appreciate Agency in all of its forms."
    She nibbles on her meat.

Theo Morrison has posed:
"Airfield Satan. Gotcha." Theo nods in understanding. He raises his free hand at Samar. "Sorry! Won't happen again." His free hand becomes occupied by bits of things and stuff. He's got a slew of chips and things on here.

"Pretty alright," Theo replies. "It's been quiet, most places I've been. Went to the Izzet Presentation Day not too long ago, though, that was cool."

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Which kind of Rangers do you mean?" Xiaomu grins at Corona. "The Texas kind who're special cops, the fantasy sort who're mostly wilderness-roaming archers, or the transforming kind on TV?"

It's a fair question, isn't it? Although Xiaomu's pretty sure she can guess which category Corona meant. The sudden shout from Samar draws a wary look from the sage fox before she can say more, though; fortunately, nobody else seems to be worrying that much, so Xiaomu just keeps an ear perked.

Literally and physically, at that.

And she seems to be pretty good at parsing Arthur's culinarily-obfuscated conversation, judging by how she nods attentively, frowning at the mention of a youkai trying to murder one of Arthur's friends. "I hope you gave whoever the wannabe-killer was no shortage of hell for that little stunt ..."

She glances away at the eating contest that's shaping up, and makes a face. "Be right back, I'd be an idiot to come to this barbecue party and not *eat* anything." And she heads towards the food tables again, her staff's rings jingling as she makes her way around/through the crowd. She's going to try and get some steak or a couple of burgers straight off the grill as Psyber finishes cooking them, and then circulate around the table. Hopefully she'll be able to get back to some more conversation once she's done so.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Priscilla gets an approving laugh. "OH HEY, miss HOLY has a little bit of PEOPLE to 'er too! Lady, lemme TELL YA, as a dude jumpin' the BORDER on this a LOT, you're gonna feel TONS better with indulgin' the HUMAN STUFF sometimes. You'll figure out there's some REASONS they're all doin' stuff like that, y'know! 'Sides. Psyber's barbecue is BOSS AS HELL." He gestures at the grille dramatically. "Don't care what CRYSTAL GODLY PERFECT HEAVEN-WORLD you come from, you get a PERFECT GRITTY BARBECUE like this, you GOTTA experience it. Fuckin' DELICIOUS like NO GODS could make, yo."

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako stirs a bit. And then instantly sits up straight. Actually, 'instantly' doesn't quite adequately express how quickly it happened. But-"Kyahahaha!" An extremely wide grin. Trembling, unfocused amber eyes. "HELL YES does that feel GOOD!" Wait, what?

    Is Ayako imitating Arthur or... no. While somewhat similar, this is something very different. Her movements are so... erratic.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Ayako is out all at once. Arthur sort of prods her with one finger. His grin is a bit uncertain, faltery. And then she's back up! It actually startles Arthur a bit. "GAH! Oh HEY! RAD, sounds like GOOD TIMES there. You ALL GOOD there? Lookin' a little RIPPLY there, yo." His grin's a bit more confident, but still not entirely so.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Luckily for Xiaomu, most of the food on the table is fresh. The half-angel gives her a bright smile, looking up from where he was watching this eating contest, "Hey Xiaomu. How's it goin today?" He asks her in passing, not wanting to keep her if she wants to wander.

    To Kongou, Psyber gives a wave, "It's not my limit ALL the time. Sometimes I like spice. Gosh, don't think I'm food-weak or something," He huffs, still looking pleased she likes the rib he cooked. He's pretty fixated on that match, but still has time to say to Theo:

    "Oh, presentation day? What'd you show off? Did you get some sick science frants and funding now? Should I call you Professor Morrison?"

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona Arclite blinks at Xiaomu a couple of times, then answers via way of "I ain't got a clue what those last two even are, soooo..."

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva blinks as she notices Ayako is acting... differently. She's never actually seen what happens when Ayako drinks fizzy water. She watches this intently, shifting her gaze between Arthur and Ayako with a contemplative smile.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    @Zuihou:
    Alice waves a bit at Wo as she leaves, and then both girls look up at the other carrier with a bit of a enthralled look. Alice speaks up first. "Ah! That's REALLY NEAT. Is that like, how you work all the time? Cause I know that when I'm supposed to be doing stuff to help I have to do the dishes all the time, so is that like, your job too? Just shotin' planes around?"
    Lana squeaks too. "Can I be a pirate with you?"

    We are working on the pirate thing.

Samar (494) has posed:
    Savo's attention briefly moves back to Priscilla after her comment. "Wow, really? That's amazing, since I'm basically a corpse anyway! I knew I was basically amazing with fashion already, but good to know I'm not the only one who knows it!" She grins and flashes another thumbs-up at Priscilla. "And careful with the human booze, lady. Hey, maybe I can send you one of our outfits sometime and you can try it on, see how it fits!" And back she goes to her ribs, just in time to return her attention to her adversary.

    Savo abruptly freezes when Kongou tosses out that fat joke out of nowhere. Her gaze soon shifts to a narrow-eyed leer aimed straight for Kongou, peering over the edge of her ribs as if she intended to burn a hole right through the battleship.

    The ribs are lowered, then, as Savo keeps that flat-eyed stare right on Kongou. "So that's how it's gonna be, huh? You're gonna resort to /that/? And people said you were /classy/." Just as suddenly, though, Savo's eyes widen again and she gains that bright grin once more. "Well! Hey, it's not so bad. You know, I'm not actually supposed to float, so it's not like it /matters/. /You/, on the other hand...hooo boy, granny, 40,000 tons? It's a miracle of nature that you don't just sink right away."

    With her earlier ribs lowered, Savo decides to immediately go for the big guns. She reaches far across the table, skimming over every plate of ribs right to the ones marked as the hottest on the set. She plucks one up between two fingers, gives it a brief twirl, and abruptly /points/ it at Kongou, likely flicking a bit of sauce in the process.

    "Alright, if that's how you wanna do it, Kongo-Bongo, let's move right to the top! No holds barred, final destination! Your Admiral can't take this, and I bet you can't either! I dare you to prove me wrong!"

    In one swift gesture, she shoves the rib into her mouth all the way to her fingers, and when she yanks it out again, every bit of meat is torn off. Her gauntlet-covered arm is balled into a fist on the table, but she looks like she's toughing it out!

    For now.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    "GOOD TIMES! About damned time!" Ayako continues talking in that odd tone of voice. It's unrestrained, almost wild-totally different from her usual dulcet tone. "Oohh, ohhh, always trying to be useful. I feel like RAMPAGING too once in a @#$% while." Whoa, that was... quite the word she used there!

    And then... wait. Did Ayako ever wear glasses before? "However, I can't deny that I am optimally using the time I have to achieve maximum utils." Her voice is extremely calm and stoic all of a sudden. And her eyes are quite steady-now.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa says "I know, I just don't want to be up to my neck in flith right Riva?"

she knows Riva is pretty busy she grins to her friend and gives her a wave, and leaves her to her other social engagements. She now finds her way heading to go bother some other people such as Corona and Xiamou she seems curious as she comes up to them.

"Hey good to meet you both! I'm Kotone!"

Samar is noticed and Kotone just gets the chills from her and tries to not get her attention.

She'll wait for hte fox girl to come back and she looks over to Corona.

"Hi I'm Kotone Yamakwa."

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona Arclite reachs over to poke Kotone with a snicker. "We've only crossed pathes how many times now? Why are you re-re-reintroducing yourself to me?"

Riva Banari has posed:
"Well, don't go jumping in any of it and you won't have to worry about that now, will you?" Riva replies to Kotone idly. However, it's clear her attention is absorbed by Ayako's behavior. It's when she brings out the glasses that she blinks. "You're doing impressions!" She says, clapping. "That's so cool!"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa smirks "I'm seeing if your paying attention Corona, that's why. You have passed with flying colours!"

Kongou (637) has posed:
    "I don't think you're weak, Admiral~!" Kongou assures Psyber from her seat, "People put their strengths in certain areas~!" Raising her free hand, she thumps on her chest, "You can rely on Kongou!"

    An eye closes when super hot habanero sauce splats on Kongou's cheek, drawing her attention back to Savo. Using her thumb, the battleship swipes off the sauce, then licks it off the end of her thumb, "Hmm~hmm~. I may displace thirty-six thousand tons, using the power fo science and the sturdiness of steel to show the water who's really in charge. But~," Drawing up her own habenaro barbecue rub, she points, "You're a whole island! No amount of displacement could ever float you!"

    Placing her free hand on the table, Kongou leans forward as Savo downs the rub, a grin on her face, "<What?> You want a drink~? It looks like that was <Too Hot> for you." That same hand slams down and she rises to her feet, still holding the super-spicy habenero rib.

    "A woman's curry carries in it the spice of her love! As Admiral may know, the spice of my love is as hot as the sun! To eat my own curry freely, my tolerance is <Supreme!>" The rib is raised, "As Admiral has conquered my <Burning Love,> so too shall I conquer the <Burning Love> made by Admiral!"

    Wow there's a lot of ways that could be taken wrong.

    That steaming spicy meat rib is raised and Kongou chomps right into the specially prepared flesh. Eyes close, she makes short work of it, then holds out the bone, completely cleaned just like Savo's. There's a confident air to her stance, her eyes closed and her free hand resting on her hip, as she drops it on her plate in the same way a rapper drops the mic.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Riva offers an odd question to Arthur. "FAVORITE THING ABOUT SPACE?" He considers. "Probably the GIANT BALLS OF NUCLEAR FUSION. You ever walked on a STAR? Lemme tell ya. NOTHING like it. Best part of space, HANDS DOWN. Aside from that? EASTER EGGS." He gives a quick wink. Is he being serious? It's not entirely clear if creator deities are actually leaving easter egg content around their universes, and that's mildly troubling.

Kongou (637) has posed:
    @LITTLE SISTERS

    Zuihou closes her eyes with a smile, "Well~ I am a warship, it's my job to sortie and defeat the enemy. But here," she raises her hand to gesture, the other sliding the arrow back into her quiver, "It's neutral ground, so the enemy isn't the enemy, right? That's why we can play together here, thanks to the Admiral."

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona Arclite ohs. "Well, don't just sit there, help yourself to some ribs and su--" Pause. "--Oh, right." She leans forward on her stool, squinting a bit at Kotone. "Do y'all even, y'know, eat?"

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur examines Ayako's behavior and squints a bit. "Is she... Oh JEEZE." He says, with an almost palpable faux-concern. "Everyone GET DOWN, she's goin' into some kinda COSPLAY SINGULARITY!" He laughs and playfully makes vague cover-diving motions without ever leaving his stool. "Ahhh man, see, THIS is actually kinda comforting. Always good t'see AYAKO's a FAN of HUMANITY, y'know?" Back to the big swigs out of his cup.

Theo Morrison has posed:
"You remember when I was talking about the cold, and crazy ways to do a barbecue in it? I talked to Kickotron about it... well, I guess 'at' Kickotron about it... and he and I came up with this, like, pole thing full of some weird rock we found that gives off heat when it gets wet." He grins. "They liked it enough to fund it, but I don't think I get an honorific or anything."

Kickotron humbly avoids singing its own praises.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako shakes her head slowly. "Impressions? I'm not impresonating anyone at all, I-" And then she shifts abruptly again. This time, by yawning suddenly and then rubbing her eyes. "Uuu..." She whimpers softly. "So noisy all of a sudden." Her voice is very drawn out and tired sounding.

    She leans forwards and rests her head on the bar. "So tiring... people... always wanting things." Ayako closes her eyes... and then starts snoring softly.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Xiaomu answers Psyber as she loads up her plate, "Pretty good! Had to get up early on a short night's sleep, but it's not like I've never done that - and the party was a good reason for the extra effort." She grins, tilting her head at her contributions. "If you get a chance to eat, the fried tofu is from my favorite source back in our Tokyo. Did the rice for the inarizushi myself, though."

And then somebody mentions COSPLAY and Xiaomu's attention immediately swings away from Psyber, focusing on Arthur briefly, then turning fully towards Ayako. "Cosplay, huh?"

Cue a huge grin of anticipation.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    "Or NOT." Arthur says, prodding at her again. "She gonna WAKE UP again SUDDENLY after this? That last one scared the SHIT outta me, no lie." Then he gestures over at the cooler. "HEY, someone BRING THAT OVER or somethin', 'fore she SNOOZES outta SOLIDNESS."

Priscilla has posed:
    "Human experience hast its place." Priscilla casually admits to Arthur. "Perhaps when a time cometh that said crystal godly perfect heaven-world returns, I shalt introduce this tradition to it." It's probably a good thing Priscilla is just a /little/ tipsy here, because otherwise she might actually be kind of offended. She does seem a little put-off by Savo though. Eating contest aside, the idea of exposing that much leg would make her blanch if her face wasn't basically always permanently white. "M-mine thanks to thee but ah, that will . . . I am certain I will be unable to do them justice." She then visibly startles at Ayako freaking out, having written her off as passed out from chugging the water spirit equivalent of ethanol. "A-ah, Lady Hasekawa, art thou . . ." no, she doesn't have the words. What do you even /ask/ in this situation? But then she passes out, and so it becomes irrelevant. She turns back to Arthur with a still-vaguely-shocked expression, reaching for the booze again.

Samar (494) has posed:
    Savo's armored fist gives its own solid /slam/ down on the table a moment before she rises to her feet. Her expression is twisted into a narrow-eyed glower as she leers across the table at Kongou. "/NOTHING/ is too hot for me! You think this is the first time I've had to burn?! You think the cold depths of the ocean can't chill this heat?! You think Samar would make me her second-in-command if I. COULDN'T. HANDLE. /THIS/?!"

    The Airfield Princess sits up straight and proud, looking Kongou dead in the face as they both finish their last ribs. Savo even makes the bold gesture of licking off each finger one by one, including the claws of her armored gauntlet, all while staring straight at Kongou as if /daring/ her to make the same effort.

    "Your move, /Kongou/," she hisses without a single sign of her usual chipper energy.

    For quite some time, Savo just stands there, staring at the Fleet Daughter and standing upright in proud defiance. Now and then, one wide eye twitches. Her lip quivers a little. Her fists tighten just a bit.

    And the next thing anyone sees of Savo is her kneeling down in front of a cooler with her head shoved into the ice and soda cans and her hands grasping the cooler's edge, gurgling up bubbles as she gives a submerged cry of relief.

    She's probably going to be out of commission for a little bit after that one.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva's already hopped off of her stool, and headed over to grab one of the more empty coolers and haul it over. "Here we go, Arthur. Don't need to get you all wet, now." She winks at that, with a grin, and will help move Ayako into the cooler if Arthur needs a hand. She's pretty sure he's got it though. "I'll have to keep this in mind for... later." She comments.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako suddenly sneezes in her sleep! She gets up quickly and then blinks her eyes quickly. "I... Uhh... What just happened?" Her amber eyes quickly go to the empty glass. "Oh. Oohh... yeah. That's probably what happened." She stretches and smiles cheerfully. "Ungnya! But... I feel pretty good now!"

Kongou (637) has posed:
    The battleship maiden stands her ground, hand on her hip, that placid smile on her face as she hears out Savo's indignant objection. Eyes lock, blue and crimson glows. One can almost see the lightning crossing the table between Princess and Flagship. Kongou is completely silent, though, even after Savo's speech has concluded.

    And when the Princess suddenly dashes back to the cooler to soak her head and scream, Kongou ... continues to silently stand there. A closer look would reveal that her eyes have just gone white, in a classic 'shocked' expression, complete with a shadow over her face.

    After a moment, smoke escapes the shipgirl's mouth, though she's still standing there.

    There's a sudden alarm sound from Zuihou, who glances down at her muneate when a trio of tiny fairy girls wearing Japanese hard hats squirm out from under the armor plate. Gathering their tools and some tiny lumber, the Fairy Damage Control Team hops off the carrier girl's lap, dashes across the park, and scales Kongou's leg to disappear somewhere inside her sleeve.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa says "I already did, you know and yes."

She makes a face and then chomp there goes part of a rib. She takes a moment to finish her bite of food and then she contiunes. "I can eat normal food for personal enjoyment nad I need to eat certain types of food loaded with certain things my systems need."

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona Arclite swigs down the end of her scotch. Waggles a half-eaten rib in Kotone's direction. "As long as ya can actually taste and enjoy it, that's the important part!" Then finishes off the rib. Then starts chewing on the bone. She is part canid, after all.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva arches an eyebrow at the situation as Ayako wakes up, and grins, leaning in to give Ayako a nice snug.

And maybe conveniently catch Arthur in it too. Since he's right there and all. "I'm glad you're feeling good, Ayako!" She says, letting them go. "That was really interesting to see."

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako blinks her eyes quickly when Riva snugs all of a sudden. "A-ahh?" She returns the snug cheerfully. "A-umm... d-did I do anything strange? I... Well... wait. Interesting?! What did I do?" Her cheeks puff out in a pout.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva laughs and ruffles Ayako's hair. "I'll tell you in a little bit. Don't worry about it for now, nothing bad happened." THERE CAN BE ONLY MORE BARBECUE. And chilling with friends.

Life is good.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa looks to her for a moment and she nods

"Right if I couldn't enjoy it there wouldn't be any point to it my friend. It's somehing that hjust helps keep me sane and i looks like Ayoko and Riva have been having a good dela of fun."

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"It's not what you did, it's what you were *about* to do," Xiaomu says to Ayako. "I wanna see cosplay!"

She pauses. "Somebody cosplaying besides me, that is." As if to demonstrate, her jacket and qipao abruptly vanish, replaced by a karate gi. Her plate of food is still in her hands, though, which might offset the effectiveness of sudden cosplay.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa paues a tthe mention of cosplay and she looks at Xiamou for a moment.

"Wow in a few seconds you put my cosplay antics when I was younger to shame there Xiaomu. I'm actually jelous!"

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako makes a worried sound. "Hmm... well... okay." And so she takes Riva's suggestion to not worry about it for now.

    She blinks her eyes quickly when Xiaomu speaks up. "Wh-what I was about to do?" Ayako inclines her head to the side gently. "Oh?" She giggles brightly. "I happen to like cosplay myself!"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa says "I enjoy it too but I not had anyone do it in a group with. It's a lot more fun than just going in solo. Heck if you two are into it maybe we could do it together sometime."

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Xiaomu's clothes revert to her usual outfit as she *grins* at Ayako and Kotone. "Sounds like a plan! Or at least the vaguely-outlined beginnings of one ..."

She resumes chowing down appreciatively. Psyber's barbecue skills were certainly worth coming out for. "So Psyber, how come it took extreme measures to get you out here and cooking even once?"

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber, who is mostly faded out of the scene, looks up from a burger, "It wasn't that hard. It took a day with cook-worthy weather, some advance warning, and a request from Kongou," He points out with an idle wag of his hand.

    "More seriously, I work a lot. And I'm in the middle of a series of operations that aren't exactly condusive to downtime and relaxations in particular, because I have to basically be ready to handle problems the second they come up." He gives an idle shrug at the sage fox, "I love my job, but the downside is I don't get much downtime."

Kongou (637) has posed:
    Kongou, meanwhile, has stopped smoking. A fairy pops out of her blouse, looking up. Another one emerges from behind her hair and flashes a thumbs-up. The third one falls out of her sleeve, bounces on the ground, and sits there for a moment to recover. Shaking its head, the fairy hops up and scrambles back up her leg and back to work.

    The battleship's still kinda standing-unconscious though.