OPEN | You were pretty as can be, sitting in the front seat

[wordaday]

WHO: Sookie and YOU
WHERE: The Stackhouse residence, outside of De Chima
WHEN: July the 4th, 5 pm until late
WHAT: It’s a birthday party for Daisy AND Sookie, AND a 4th of July party!
WARNINGS: None, content warnings will be in thread titles

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HAPPY 4th OF JULY
Y'ALL!!!

[For the about, uh, week that Sookie’s had to plan this party, she’s pretty proud of herself. Before now, the only kinds of big events she’s ever planned have been teenage birthday parties and a funeral, neither of which lent themselves to anything nice. Now, she’s got money in hand and a reason to go all out for herself, so why not?

The party’s on the back of her property, a sprawling few acres she has no use for on a good day. With a little help she’s strung up some lights around the party proper, in the trees, anywhere she intends people to be (no making out in the barn, please). On the edge of the lights sits a too-old boom box, blaring out the best country hits of today. No, the music won’t be changing.

Closer to the house, there’s a massive spread. One one table there’s a truly upsetting amount of crawfish, and nearby is a table where guests can put whatever dish they brought (if they were brought up right), though it’s already got some suspicious looking store bought egg salad and chunky salsa ready to go. The keg is over here too, along with two coolers full of (aggressively domestic) beer and some liters of Y’all-Mart brand soda. Off to the side there’s also a cake for the birthday girls, but, uh, seems like there was some crossed wires about what was supposed to be on it.

The entertainment for the night is simple, just music and some good old fashioned cornhole if you’re feeling competitive. There’s also a football floating around, but no one’s quite sure how it got here or who owns it. The fireworks are store-bought and humble, but if anyone wants to take a crack at them (way, WAY out in the field), feel free. Just have someone hold your beer before you light one.]




[OOC: No top levels, so please feel free to throw up your OTAs! Pls let me know if you have any questions. Playing of the Shooter Jennings video is not required but suggested to get the general vibe.]

Comments

OTA

[wordaday]

[As the hostess of the party, Sookie is kind of all over the place the entire party. When she's not after teenagers for drinking, she's hovering nervously at the edges trying to figure out if everyone is having a good time. It takes for someone to push her into the heart of it for her to start having real fun.

Occasionally she can be found by the cornhole setup under the big oak tree, playing fairly well with the help of a little wine in a red plastic cup. She also gets caught up in a little bit of dancing, too, though the kind of dancing you do to a lot of this bro country music may be just slightly more than an excuse to show off how well you can move your hips.

Later on in the party she hangs around all the food, gently guiding those who have no clue how to eat crawfish. The cake is a little embarrassing, but she'll still serve it to people with a smile, after the requisite "Happy Birthday" song for her and Daisy. Ain't no one stopping her from blowing out her candles.]

[hondoyota]

[Here's Sookie's most uncomfortable guest, an eighteen year old boy in a T-shirt and jeans looking around like he's hunted.

Not long after the Raven Boys arrive at the party, Adam makes his way over to the hostess.]

Happy birthday, Miss Stackhouse.

[His West Virginia accent is present in full force. He's so nervous that he can't manage to hide it like he usually would, and the agonized embarrassment over that fact only makes his nerves worse, so he's practically choking on the words.]

It was right neighborly of you to invite us. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance.

[wordaday]

[Oh, and if there's anything that gets to her heart quick it's a teenager that looks way out of their depth. She knows how it feels, deeply, so Sookie wastes no time in trying to make Adam feel welcome. Hand shaking in this particular instance feels...a little weird, so she settles on just standing a little ways away. Poor thing looks like he's like to fall to pieces. ]

Oh, thank you, that's sweet of you to say. [She smiles, sunny and genuine, and offers him an unopened can of soda by way of greeting.] You're one of Ronan's friends, right?

[bragnificent]

[ Even though he didn't come to the party with any food in tow like a heathen, Reggie does have the sense enough to find Sookie eventually to say hello, introduce himself, since he doesn't actually know her yet-- it seems only right. So, tall and dressed in black jeans and a black t-shirt, he makes his way toward her before too long, certainly well before the cake is cut.

He's also, unfortunately, a little tipsy (although not super noticeably) though that isn't Sookie's fault; he has the power to spike drinks and naturally takes advantage of that when he can, so the soda he's holding has been appropriately corrupted. ]

So, are you one of the birthday girls? Hope it's been a good one-- you definitely don't look a day over nineteen.

[ He grins, but it's somewhat sincere as opposed to say, flirtatious. He's sixteen, so of course he assumes that's the kind of thing women over twenty like to hear. ]

I'd ask you if you wanted to dance or something, but I'm not sure I even know how to dance to this.

[wordaday]

[when did they start making boys in high school so handsome? It's actually a thought that's been sitting st the back of her brain for a bit, but seeing Reggie wander up to her kind of brings it back. When she was 16, boys were all pimples and odd angles.

Well, bless. It takes all kinds, she guesses.]

Oh, well, I try to moisturize every night. I'm glad it's working.

[Sookie takes the compliment easily, and genuinely. It's nice to hear, especially since she found some crinkles at the corner of her eyes the other day. Yikes.

He's been drinking, she can tell from the way his brain feels, but it's not something she'll hold against him. She hates that kids are drinking—on her property!—but if they pretend they're behaving, she just takes it as a win.]

Oh, it's real easy to dance to it, but I think you may be barking up the wrong tree for a partner.

[You know, Reggie being an infant and all. She gives him a lopsided smile though, and winks.]

[admemoriam]

Hey, you're the one who brought us that casserole, right?

[Noah has dropped into the grass next to the cornhole set, uninterested in playing, but fully interested in the plastic cup of something insidiously alcoholic in his hand.]

It was super good, thanks!

[wordaday]

[Sook is lounging in the grass, nerves eased now that she's got a glass of wine in her. Hey, she did all this work, why not let her hair down a little? Yet another teenage boy plops down next to her, and for a moment she wonders where they're all coming from.]

Ah, oh. Yeah, I did. [She smiles politely, giving the boy a once-over.] I'm glad y'all liked it. What's in that cup?

[Alright, look, she's not sure when she became the teen drinking police, but she's committed by now and there's no getting out of it.

But she sets her red cup full of rosé aside, so she has at least one leg to stand on.]

open.

[trouvaille]

( Gwen is not completely sold on this as a great idea, because there's American and then there's American and she would say, probably, that this falls into the latter category. Summer, the fourth of July, her cab drove past a number of flags and everyone is setting off fucking fireworks -

but she's game, sure. Okay. Little known fact: the fact she doesn't often cook is not because she can't, but because she generally speaking can't be bothered, so the schiacciata alla Fiorentina is home-made, down to the painstaking Florentine lily decorating it in cocoa powder. The fact that the local dishes of her home were mostly taught to her by a Scottish chef is what it is. Fucking rich people, fucking Europe, etcetera. She puts it and a crate of (European) beers with everything else on the table for guest contributions, and (to the sound of canine whine) clips Putin's leash onto his collar.

He's good with loud noises, generally, but better slightly safer than significantly more sorry. Particularly when he's twice her weight and has a face like a wolf. No one needs him bolting and getting shot by animal control after someone reports a small bear running wild or something dreadful. )

[lightinside]

[ Laurel was a fan of dogs. She didn't have one back home but the thought of getting one had crossed her mind a few times. Maybe when things had settled down for her (and she had a bigger apartment)

After noticing Gwen and Putin at the party Laurel allowed her curiosity to get the better of her. She approached the two of them with a bit of caution, not wanting to startle the dog. It was pretty big, and Laurel didn't know how it would handle a stranger.]

Wow. He's quite the dog, isn't he?

[trouvaille]

( Caution is a solid call, in this case; he's not aggressive, but he doesn't give the air of being one of those big friendly dogs straight out of the gate, either, turning at the approach of a stranger and obliging Gwen to adjust the way she's holding onto his leash to accommodate the fact that he is, whether she likes it or not, going to make himself a physical barrier.

She tolerates it. He's not being aggressive, and he'll settle down. )

Ovcharka-vlcak, ( she supplies, and then, ) cross-breed, ( before Laurel can consider something like 'gesundheit' in response. ) He's a very big baby, aren't you, Putinka?

( It's less of a tail wag, more of a tail thump. Tectonic plates shift. )

He won't have a go, you just have to take it a bit easy. Guard dog, you know.

[jeaniegrey]

[ Jean's... not entirely sure why she's here? But, then again, it's a party, she's a teenager (with powers), it's sort of a no brainer that the two go hand-in-hand in some capacity. So, here she is, taking a look around the place with fingers tucking a few strands of hair behind an ear. It's good, honestly, she so needs to get out and socialize and not just stay around the house with her two dads there (no offense to them), be around people her own age and all that.

And... that's when she spots Gwen and she takes a moment before it dawns on her that she had seen her at the beach that one time in that swimsuit that she would totally not look as good in. So, ok! She sort of knows a familiar face here almost? Time to be brave and indulge in these teenage years. ]

I don't think I've ever really seen a dog like him before... her?

[ Is the first thing she says when she comes up to Gwen and dear Putin there. ]

[trouvaille]

Him, ( by way of confirmation, scratching Putin behind the ear in a casual effort to keep him relaxed. See, everything's fine, she's relaxed, you stay relaxed, too, big dog. ) He's a cross-breed ovcharka-vlcak - Eastern European as all fuck.

( Neither breed the sort of thing most people see every day, in other words, although the vlcak is at least a bit less unfamiliar looking, in that a wolf-dog looks exactly like you'd imagine it would. Ovcharka, on the other hand, are small fucking bears. )

He's a guard dog - if you let him smell you and get used to you, he'll warm up a bit.

Re: open.

[wordaday]

[She sees the bear first.

Okay, no, not a bear, but it's easy to mistake the dog for one as big as it is. There's a moment where she thinks about asking who it is, but the collar, and leash attached to it strike out the possibility of it being someone she knows (oh god, she hopes). Sook reaches downto give the dog a scratch behind its oversize ears, and looks up to compliment the owner on their interesting taste.

Sookie is not expecting to find a fey woman, not here, but would you look at that.]

Oh! Um, hello.

[More startling than her slightly-off-from-human face is the sense that she knows her. Like from a half forgotten memory, or a....oh. A dream. ]

We....we met in the dream, didn't we?

[trouvaille]

( Most people don't clock the illusions so quickly, and the few that have seen through them directly haven't commented on it for her to realise - it isn't immediately obvious to her what's startling, eyebrows raised, although at first she could think maybe it's just Putin, since...look at him. He leans his head slightly under Sookie's hand, not hostile but assessing, gauging from Gwen whether or not he should accept this.

When the recognition becomes mutual, it doesn't immediately become clearer. Right. The dream. And fucking Frederick, prompting her intentionally or otherwise to be frank before she was entirely ready before the choice was taken out of her hands...

But in the dream, Sookie was the nearest thing to like her of anyone here, so she makes the effort not to let her brows knit together at the reminder of that time. Or at least, she smoothes the expression out. )

You were an all right student, ( is the droll, Russian answer, though she says a moment later in English-- ) Yeah, I remember.

open

[nightmarist]

[Ronan arrives among the unkindness of raven boys, as usual. Considering they're Sookie's neighbors, their presence seems mandatory. More than that, though, Ronan needs to be out and doing something other than thinking about the Fourth of July he left behind back home. This is the kind of party Joseph Kavinsky would hate, so it's the perfect place for Ronan today.

When he hasn't got one or several of his boyfriends hanging off his arms, Ronan's stalking around the place and sipping from a soda he's spiked with bourbon. Drinking is just about the only activity Ronan's interested in, though at one point he locates an acoustic guitar and spends a half hour or so messing around with it, alternating between strumming along to the song buzzing from the boombox and sprinkling in discordant bits of centuries-old folk music.

And for a while, he disappears altogether, either making out with someone in the barn or investigating Sookie's property like the curious and paranoid creature that he is.]

[admemoriam]

Where did you even find that?

[Noah is half-asleep in the grass, face pressed against Ronan's leg, listening to the folk music with a content, tipsy ear.]

[morethan084]

[Daisy had come inside to use the bathroom when she spotted someone looking at the things in her living room.]

Uh, you get lost trying to find the bathroom?

[She assumed Sookie wouldn't be too happy with people just hanging out, or snooping around, in her house.]

OTA.

[bragnificent]

[ Although he does know Daisy a little Reggie doesn't really know Sookie, but that's okay-- he's the kind of person for whom a party is a party whether or not he knows the host(ess), particularly ones with open invitations. He's happy to show up to almost any kind of party, the exceptions being very few and far between.

Not that it's exactly like any party he usually goes to; it gives him the vibe of those hokey events hosted in parks for holidays or special occasions more than it does "party" (of course, he's also a filthy yankee), but he doesn't mind that either. It's more than enough to keep him occupied for the day, a day he would much rather not think about too deeply. He arrives dressed in all black -- just a t-shirt, black jeans, and black shoes, his style otherwise the same as ever -- and very rudely didn't bring anything, because he can be somewhat thoughtless that way.

He's happy to participate in the festivities, though, keen to find people to toss the errant football with (or just otherwise make good use of the sprawling property), dancing (on his own or with company), and generally avoiding the food except for the sodas he periodically grabs himself and the cake after it's been cut.

Oh, and he'll definitely be grabbing some of those fireworks to light up in the field once it's dark enough. ]

[morethan084]

[Daisy was getting another drink when she spotted a somewhat familiar face. It actually took her a second to connect the dots, and while she wasn't still actually mad about what happened she sure as shit was going to tease him about it.]

Well I'm glad Sookie doesn't own a pool.

[She assumed that's why he was here anyway, because he knew Sookie. He wasn't the first teen she noticed at this party, which was honestly a little odd considering neither of them were that young. Then again she had managed to fuck up big time by showing up to his party that was all teens except for her.]

Adam Parrish | OTA

[hondoyota]

[Adam is deeply uncomfortable. This party is just the thing he's spent half his life trying to escape. He was dragged here by his boyfriends and he understands why it's important to be here--neighborly hospitality and friendly politeness--but that doesn't make him any less panicky about it.

He brings an arugula and pear salad, something he got out of a cookbook, something to belie his country origins, and the Raven Boys bring a case of alcohol--they have a pantry that creates it, so there are always bottles to spare. Adam starts drinking as soon as they've settled, anything to soothe his social anxiety.

Adam can be found near the edges of the party, as far from the music as possible without being rude.

At one point, the boom box shorts out as he walks by it, leaving the party temporarily awash in blissful silence.

He'll mostly stay on the house steps, with a red plastic cup constantly in hand, and he looks distinctly skittish whenever he's approached. His West Virginia accent is present in full force, to a degree that he winces whenever he opens his mouth, because he's too nervous to hide his accent like he usually does.]

[bragnificent]

[ Reggie, conversely, is at this party as a form of escape-- in a way, at least, because of course he loves attending parties as it is, but the 4th of July brings up bad memories for him. Or it might if he allowed it to rather than occupying himself fun, booze, and socializing, but that's how he always prefers to deal with negative emotions and problems; repress, ignore, drink, party. The only nod he's given to the significance of the day (to him now, not in general) is in how he's dressed, black shirt and black jeans.

Being from upstate New York, from relatively well-off parents, from a small town life with rich friends and a trust fund, even someone as gregarious as Reggie is still a little out of place at a party like this... or at least he feels like it. Not that he minds, but it's not what he's used to, so naturally he gravitates toward the familiar face when he sees it. ]

Hey! Adam, right? [ Reggie puts one foot up on the steps, leg bending so he can lean his weight on it. He has the football in his hands. ] Good seeing you again-- you wanna play catch or something?

OPEN!

[lightinside]

[ It may not be her home but there was no way that Laurel was going to miss a 4th of July party. She's brought some mini USA flags and some floral arrangements in red, white and blue. Laurel hoped that it would make up for her lack of cooking skills if she brought something pretty and patriotic to decorate the party with.

Laurel is strictly sticking to soda (for a good reason) and she lifts one from the cooler after arriving at the party. If she comes across the birthday girls she'll be sure to wish them a happy one.

She's also here to mingle, eat some good food and watch the fireworks at the end of the night. ]

Daisy Johnson | OTA

[morethan084]

[Daisy has known Sookie for the better part of a year now but she's never been to her place before. It was a lot bigger than she expected, but it was nice. The fact that she even included her in birthday celebrations was really nice.

Dressed for the warm weather, Daisy came a little after five with Jesse. She brought with her pizza pinwheels she had made, hopefully they'd be enough for everyone to at least get one. Of course when she saw the cake she busted out laughing, even though it was clearly an accident it was probably the best cake she's ever seen.

If someone wants to help her with the crawfish that would be great because her city slicking ass has no idea how this works. When she isn't struggling with that she can be seen talking to others, more than likely with Jesse at her side, or possibly dancing if the song is good enough. The non-imported beer is good enough for her too.

She's never played cornhole before but it seems simple enough, if someone is game to play against a naturally competitive person. That person being Daisy.]

[wordaday]

[The whole cake debacle is embarrassing, but at least it tastes real good. After she passes everything out for the moment, Sookie hunts down Daisy again with a wrapped package in her hands.]

Happy Birthday!

[hostage]

[Jesse's playing the role of arm candy, of course, largely because he has no idea what else to do. Waffle House is the closest he's ever gotten to redneck culture, and he was only there for the food. Everything else about this shindig is about as foreign to him as it'd be to someone from New York City.

At some point, when he's tired of even pretending he finds this fun, he sidles up behind Daisy and rests his chin on her shoulder, hugging her about the waist. Into her ear he whispers:]

I shoulda took you to Paris or something.