though I've never been through hell like that

[bragnificent]

WHO: REGGIE MANTLE, ARCHIE ANDREWS, BETTY COOPER, and GUESTS*.
WHERE: Archie & Reggie's apartment in Heropa.
WHEN: Thanksgiving.
WHAT: Betty wants to host and cook Friendsgiving for the group and their friends; Reggie thinks Pranksgiving and football is more party appropriate. Poor Archie is caught somewhere in the middle. And guests have their pick of things to do!
WARNINGS: Some underage drinking probable; will ETA as necessary, and please mark threads for content as applicable! Children are invited to this one, so make sure to keep any lewd behavior behind closed doors.

*Unlike their standard parties, since this one includes a dinner they won't be hosting an open invite this time around, but rather keeping it to select close/regular CR (contacted ICly or OOCly). However, any invited character may take liberal advantage of inviting as many people as they'd like as "plus ones," no prior CR with Archie/Reggie/Betty necessary!




🏈 LIVING ROOM (WATCHING FOOTBALL/CHATTING):

↳ Like most Thanksgiving meals, dinner is loosely scheduled for around 5PM -- whether or not it actually proceeds on schedule is another story, of course -- but guests are welcome to show up earlier, either to help out or just to hang out.

The decor is "festive" though not excessive; Reggie and Archie have decked the place out in blue and gold pennants in honor of their team back home, the Bulldogs, and there are probably some flowers in vases decoratively placed around the apartment at Betty's request, as well as a glass bowl set up on a side table with pens and leaf-shaped pieces of paper where people can write down what they're thankful for. Football is, of course, playing on the living room TV and will be throughout the night (although you can try to flip the station to catch the parade if you're feeling lucky, punk), and the living room table is set up with some pre-dinner refreshments: a punch bowl and plastic cups (those over 15 can, as usual, hit up Reggie to spike their punch if they want something with more of a kick), chips and dip, party mix, and hot wings-- help yourself but don't fill up!

So no worries if you're early, relax! Take a load off, mingle, watch some TV or even play some video games if you catch the TV during an unattended moment, and if you ask Archie nicely, he might even play you some live music on his guitar. Hell, hang out here until dinner's ready if you want to, no one's stopping you.

🏈 OUTSIDE (PLAYING FOOTBALL/CHILLING):

↳ Alternatively, if you prefer not to spend the whole afternoon(/evening) hanging out inside, outside the apartment there's a pool and courtyard area, as well as a yard. It may be November but in Florida it's still pretty warm, although a thunderstorm has been forecast for the day; as of early afternoon the rain has started, so far unaccompanied by lightning, but it's still probably wise to avoid the pool altogether.

In the yard, if a little rain doesn't put you off, a casual game or two of touch football can be expected to be going on headed up by Reggie (who will be happy to teach anyone w, although feel free to also just play catch, toss a frisbee around, or hang out and have fun in the grass/huddling under a tree or balcony for shelter until you're ready to go back inside.

🏈 KITCHEN (COOKING):

↳ In the kitchen, Betty has tasked herself with cooking tonight's meal, although Archie will be in and out helping to the bet of his ability as well; on the menu tonight are several Thanksgiving staples such as turkey (natch), mashed potatoes, bread rolls, salad, cranberry sauce, pumpkin and pecan pie... and some veggie burgers courtesy of Archie as the vegetarian option.

Naturally, this is a lot of food and a lot of work, so guests are more than welcome to come in and help with the cooking, setting the table, or even bringing their own side-dishes (welcome, though not expected). Just remember what they say about too many cooks in the kitchen... but what could possibly go wrong?

🚨 P R A N K S👏🏽G I V I N G 🚨

↳ ! TIME-OUT ! What's Pranksgiving?! Well, it's Reggie's way to liven up the party, naturally... especially since it's storming outside!

HOW TO PLAY:

• Everyone participating starts off with 10 points.
  
• All guests are fair-game for pranking.
  
• Pranks are legal throughout the entire night from arrival to departure, including during dinner.
  
• Kids are welcome to either fare on their own, or partner up with someone if they feel they're at a disadvantage. Reggie, for one, will be happy to take any young, aspiring pranksters under his wing.
  
• Any successful prank is worth 5 points if committed on a non-participant, 10 points if on a fellow participant, and 20 points if on one of the hosts. The same people can be pranked multiple times and still count for points per successful attempt.
  
• Participants are docked 2 points for every unsuccessful prank, and 5 points if they themselves are pranked successfully.
  
• Keep things tasteful, of course... you know, more or less. There are (probably) kids present and blah blah it's a holiday, so don't be a dick and sabotage the food or something.

At the end of the evening, after dinner and everything else is beginning to wrap up, the prankster with the highest point score will win an entire freshly baked Betty Cooper™ apple pie all for themselves, while the prankster with the lowest score will get a pie (read: a whipped cream-filled pie tin) to the face. Play this out (or don't) however you'd like to! Remember, at the end of the night it's all in good fun.

🏈 THE🙏🏽DINNER:

↳ What time is it? Well, never mind that, it's finally time for the big meal! Everyone sit down at the table and bask in this togetherness, dammit, because most of you don't have your family around to spend the holiday with. If you did you wouldn't be here, right? Right.

But even without family around, what is Thanksgiving if not a great time for tension and drama? Nah, civil conversation is perfectly acceptable too, if you must... either way, now's as good a time as ever to strike up conversation with the people at the table you don't know that well, or maybe ask those you do whatever questions that have been rattling around in your head up til now. Or, of course, discuss what you're thankful for! Surely there must be something, right?

Comments

THANKFUL CARDS

[perfectible]

[ post what your character would write on the card. and yes, betty can be the one to force them to fill one out.]

archie andrews | ota!

[songwrite]

🎸 KITCHEN/LIVING ROOM 🍗

Having worked as a cook for the last five months here, Archie is actually surprisingly good at juggling a bunch of the different side dishes at once, even while dodging around Betty in their relatively small kitchen. He'd be better, if only he would stop drifting off to watch the football game every time it sounds like it's starting to get exciting... so anyone who wants to pop in and stop him from burning their favorite side is extremely welcome.

Either way, by virtue of being a big softy, he can absolutely be persuaded to hand out taste tests to anyone who looks interested—at least while Betty isn't looking! (He's also, unfortunately for him, very easy to prank.)

🏈 OUTSIDE 🌧

Between dishes, Archie finds a way to escape outside into the light rain. He's actually dressed fairly stylishly for once, in a nice, fitted button down plaid shirt instead of one of his many nondescript blue t-shirts, cardigans or henleys, so he probably shouldn't be ready to get it all muddy but here he is, anyway.

He'll be happy to captain the opposing team in touch football, or just toss the ball around with anyone feeling restless.

👅 DINNER 🍾

The best thing about all this, sweating it out in the kitchen and getting pranked from all sides, is that it's too busy and there are too many people for Archie to feel the crushing absence of his dad during the holiday most meant to be spent with family.

But still the food is good, and the company is good, and yeah he definitely stuffs his entire face, completely mindless of how hard he's going to have to work out in the following weeks. Worrying is for later! Betty's delicious pecan pie is for now.

🏠 WILDCARD 🍁

[God something else in mind, or a prank to play on Archie? Go ahead! Want me to write up a separate starter that has nothing to do with any of these? Hit me up at borf or PM to discuss.]

betty cooper - open to all

[perfectible]

kitchen;
[ Betty's going to spend most of the time in the kitchen making the food. She's wearing an apron over her outfit and she probably looks a combination of stressed and happy. She's homesick but she's glad to be doing this. Come help her mash potatoes or snap green beans or even just bring her something to drink or chat her up.]

livingroom;
[ Betty can be seen stacking the thankful cards, making sure they are being filled in so she can read them out later for the guessing game. If you walk by her, she'll reach out to catch your arm and--] Hey, I'm glad you can make it. [ She holds up one of the blank cards.] Did you fill one of these out?

[ After dinner, she'll be curled up on a couch with a blanket and a piece of pie, kind of watching whatever is on TV and definitely avoiding Reggie's prank war.]

dinner;
[ Let's be real, Betty will have to be forced into a chair eventually, after fussing over all the guests and making sure that they have everything they want or need, making sure everyone is fed. She serves herself and finally starts to relax, engaging her tablemates with conversation and eating her food with relish now that she realizes how hungry she is.]

kitchen!

[songwrite]

[Archie is, in a word, relieved. Everything seems to be working out pretty well, and it's nice to hang with Betty even though she looks a little bit ready to stress cry if something goes wrong. Their tossed-together friendsgiving thing turned out aggressively well organized and decorated, but that reminds him of home, too. It's nice.

Certainly nicer than sitting around on the couch eating take-out and being sad about his dad...

He looks up from the carrots he's peeling and chopping, glancing first to the tv in the living room to check on the football game and then over to Betty.]

Did we start the green bean casserole yet?

[perfectible]

[ She grins at him with a more confident, happy smile as she lays out the pie crust into the dish.]

It's already in the oven with the sweet potatoes. [ Honestly, Betty was really grateful that her best friend was here, helping her. It might be selfish but she misses him, she misses it when it was just the two of them (and sometimes Jug) spending time together.]

Thank you, by the way, for helping me.

[songwrite]

[Archie looks to the oven and laughs at himself, running a hand through his hair. He's not sure how just cooking for a bunch of their friends turned out to feel more hectic somehow than working during lunch or dinner rushes at the Malt shop.

But it's fun, too. Especially with company.]

Yeah, of course. We should do it more often. [He glances towards the living room and the relative chaos.] Well, just the dinner part, anyway.

REGGIE MANTLE | ota

[bragnificent]

▸ LIVING ROOM

[ Unsurprisingly, when people start arriving Reggie is already watching football, on the couch with his feet propped up on the coffee table, wearing a black-and-red striped polo shirt under his leather jacket and blue and gold stripes of face paint dabbed under his eyes. He's clearly so deep in the spirit of things, sipping his spiked punch and snacking on hot wings, that he'll barely notice company unless it walks right up and sits next to him, or better yet, snaps its fingers in front of his face... something he can't simply ignore by turning the TV's volume up higher.

In the spirit of which things, one might wonder? Well, clearly not Thanksgiving-- a cursory glance might make him seem entirely checked out from the "holiday" portion of today's festivities, but that's not entirely true. He did help with some of the decorating, particularly in a few strategic areas to get Pranksgiving started off small but right; a couple of the pens by the glass bowl of paper slips will leak black -- or in one more alarming case, red -- ink onto people's hands when they try to write with them (don't worry, it's... probably washable), and several of the extra chairs set up in the living room and kitchen seating area have been set up in such a way as to be especially collapsible... so be careful. #GameOn? ]

▸ OUTSIDE

[ Ever since being suspended from the football team at school, though, even more than watching football, Reggie is almost always aggressively eager to play it... rain or no rain. Once a good handful of people have arrived he surrenders the TV to whoever else might want it, grabs his football and bounds toward the door, invitingly clapping a few people on the shoulders along the way. ]

Hey, there's still like, an hour or two before any food's ready, who's up for a game? We could do touch football or even just catch. C'mon-- still no lightning yet, we gotta make the most of it! Last one out's a--

[ --?! A cliffhanger! He's not even waiting for an answer before he's already out the door into the pouring rain, so. Dare to follow him? This could be a game of catch or it could go the way of mud wrestling, hard to say. ]

▸ DINNER

[ ... And so, naturally, by the time dinner's ready, Reggie is completely soaked. He looks happy, though; if he's thankful for anything right now, it's a table full of warm food. He loads up his plate, running a hand through his wet hair to brush his bangs back and quite likely splashing whoever might be near him. ]

Damn. This actually was a better idea than getting take-out, who would've guessed?

[ Oh, did he splash someone? He offers a small shrug, saying: ]

Whoops. [ Which still isn't "sorry." ] Lighten up, it's Thanksgiving.

[ Anyway, he's gonna eat. A lot. ]

▸ WILDCARD

[ Choose your own adventure! Prank or be pranked! Or even join forces. Feel free to PM / hit me up at reggiemantle to discuss. ]

dinner!

[songwrite]

[Archie grins. He's more than a little damp right now too, but he wasn't going to waste time changing or toweling off when food was being served, so.

He sets his own loaded plate down next to Reggie's and presses a grossly domestic sort of kiss to his wet temple before sitting in his own chair.]

Glad you came around. [Not that he thought Reggie wouldn't, but it's still nice to hear that his weird fixation on trying to recapture at least some part of the feeling of home wasn't a dud.] Plus this way there'll be leftovers.

[bragnificent]

[ For a few seconds Reggie doesn't react except to tense slightly at the shoulders, caught entirely off-guard by Archie's spontaneous and mushy PDA, but then he blinks and tips Archie one of his trademark half-smirks, shrugging one shoulder laxly. ]

You say that like I had much of a choice, Andrews. Maybe I was being sarcastic, did you even consider that? [ But then he grins, hooking his arm around Archie's neck almost as if to put him in a headlock, but all he does is ruffle Archie's wet hair. ] But unless they're turkey or pie, you two can keep your leftovers-- I've never been much of a casserole eater.

[ He takes a generous bite of mashed potatoes, watching Archie in amusement as he chews them and also tries to pretend like this strange, domestic night of playing house isn't making his teeth itch vaguely. ]

Are you gonna stay in those wet clothes all night?

[songwrite]

[Archie didn't notice Reggie bluescreening for a moment, because he's so intent on digging into his plate, so the arm around him catches him by surprise and makes him spill a fork-full of stuffing into his lap. He laughs, though, wedging against Reggie's side with his elbow and then shaking his head as though his hair actually has any hope of being tamed at this point in the night.]

I mean, I'm not going to take them off right now. [But, you know, that's not saying he's not down for Reggie helping him out of them later when everyone has gone home...] You're wet, too.

veronica sawyer

[couldbebeautiful]

[living room]

[Yeah, you know what? No one can possibly survive watching football for a whole day, so the moment she sees the chance, Veronica swoops in, steals the remote, and flips the channel to a rerun of Dynasty.

It's not that she really wants to watch it, per se, it's gone way downhill since 1989 (and it was already pretty bad then), but they've got a storyline now about an imPort shapeshifter impersonating Krystle on top of the Russian spy infiltrating the Colby family and last week's episode had ended on a cliffhanger, as these things always do, and.

Well.

All right, so Veronica might be a little bit invested.]

Come on! If you love her so much, you should be able to figure out you're not talking to her!

[She might be a lot invested.]

Why am I even watching this show?

[kitchen]

[The great thing about being able to generate slushies out of her hands is that Veronica can, essentially, provide an unlimited supply of refreshments. It's something she's been taking advantage of since she found out she could do it, and tonight is no exception.]

Hey, where do you keep the mugs again?

[Are slushies even appropriate for the season? Definitely not, but everyone's getting them anyway. Just as soon as Veronica can remember where the mugs are.]

[pranksgiving]

[Another fun aspect of her slushie superpower: she can conceivably fill up a whole kiddie pool with flavored slush. Or, in this case, she can fill up a bucket with flavored slush, because there's a tiny little part of Veronica that thinks it would be hilarious to play a few pranks on people.

That, and she'd much rather not get a pie tin of whipped cream to the face, so she rigs up one of the exits for her prank, balancing a bucket full of blueberry-flavored slush on the door with some effort. Then she hides outside, and coughs, changing her voice to sound like a disaffected and bored British teenager.]

Psst. Pssst.

[Oh, hey, there's a voice coming from just outside that door that's a little ajar. Weird.]

The party's a little boring, isn't it? Come on, then, come out. I promise I won't bite. [A pause.] Much.

[wildcard]

[Got any other scenarios in mind not covered by the above? This option's for you, hmu at robbstark if you want to hash something out!]

▸ LIVING ROOM

[bragnificent]

[ Excuse you, but Reggie absolutely could survive watching football all day, don't be rude!

Except obviously that's not entirely the case, since he's only just now coming back inside from his excursion out into the rain-- he squints in preemptive annoyance when he hears something else playing on the TV, and no sooner has he shed his dripping wet leather jacket does he stalk straight into the living room to set things right again.

Oh, it's Veronica. Well, that figures... Reggie comes up behind the couch and, after giving his head a couple of vigorous shakes to help dry his hair off, folds his arms across the headrest and just stares dubiously for about a minute at the show Veronica's watching. ]

Why are you watching this show? ... What even is this show?

[couldbebeautiful]

[She—would actually love to answer that, except she's still staring at the show with a look on her face that says she doesn't know anymore either. After a moment, during which the fake Krystle and the Russian spy have a dramatic catfight in the rain, snarling and spitting at each other, she turns her head towards Reggie.]

Something that should've ended about thirty years ago, and yet, it's still better than football.

[bragnificent]

Hey, don't insult me, all right? Whose house do you think you're in right now?

[ Reggie doesn't reach to fight her for the remote, though, turning his skeptical gaze from Veronica back to the TV. He's never really been someone to follow soaps (or "stories," as some would put it) but, right now as he leans his weight more on his arms folded over the top of the couch, he can weirdly start to see how shows like this can be weirdly addicting.

If only to try and figure out what the fuck is even happening.

Also, since it's Veronica, Reggie can't help but be tempted by the idea of pranking her somehow, which means sticking around long enough to think of something for her to fall for. ]

So who's that? [ Nodding his head to indicate the TV: ] She seems pretty shady.

Adam Parrish | OTA

[hondoyota]

Living Room
Adam arrives, as usual, in a pack with the rest of the Raven Boys. He's especially subdued, and probably wouldn't have attended at all if he weren't dating the hostess. Now that he is, he has responsibilities.
Whenever he's not at Betty's side in the kitchen, he can be found at Ronan's side in the living room, glued up against his boyfriend's hip like an especially nervous wallflower. Thanksgiving is one of Adam's least favorite holidays, second only to Independence Day.

Kitchen
Adam's here to help. It's his duty, he's pretty sure, as an attentive boyfriend. He still doesn't understand the appeal of hosting an event like this--he and Blue had a passionate discussion about how Thanksgiving a patriarchal construct wherein women are expected to cook and prepare for days and men are expected to lounge on the couch watching football, to say nothing of the racism and genocide contained in the tradition--but it's important to Betty. He'll arrive early and spend most of his time in the kitchen cooking, which is a skill he's greatly improved over the past months.
He's brought a chocolate silk pie which Noah had suggested and Noah had helped him prepare. It's very dark chocolate, sprinkled over the top with French gray sea salt, and there's an accompanying bowl of whipped cream and a bowl of berries.

[perfectible]

Eventually, Betty had shooed Archie out of the kitchen so he could go have a little fun before the next thing needed to be put into the oven. After all, this was something she'd pushed for, the whole big dinner with all the fixings. Archie had agreed for her sake, she assumed, backed her plan to Reggie.

She lets out a breath, leaning against the counter and wiping her hands on her apron before she smiles tiredly at Adam. "I'm glad I did this." Even if it's been a bit exhausting, it's worth it, it's a welcome distraction. "Thank you for coming." She'd already thanked him three times but she could sense that he wasn't really keen to be here, it wasn't hard to sense that.

[hondoyota]

"Of course. It's important to you. I want to support that." Adam hugs an arm loosely around her waist and leans in to kiss the side of her throat. "I still think you're putting in a disproportionate amount of effort, but I'm not going to let you do it alone."

[perfectible]

She grins softly to herself at the sign of affection, her eyes drifting to the oven to see how much time is left before the next thing needs to go in. Her hand lifts to turn his face gently towards her own so she can press a kiss to the corner of his mouth. "I wanted to do it. And Archie's been helping too."

eleven | ota

[umopepisdn]

kitchen

[ Eleven has never been to a Thanksgiving party before! Or… any party! So her eyes are slightly wide as she enters, with a boy her age in tow. She comes bearing a bottle of maple syrup, because she saw on TV that it's polite to bring a gift when you get invited to somebody's house, and this is a gift everyone can enjoy.

She gives the TV a sideways glance as she passes through the living room (what the hell is football?) but doesn't linger for too long. She's more comfortable in the kitchen, where she can drop off the syrup, be close to the cooking food, and be away from any kind of chaos (except, little does she know, a kitchen on Thanksgiving is probably going to be somewhat chaotic anyway). ]

living room

[ … Eventually, though, she finds herself back in the living room, standing near the punch bowl. She pours herself a cup, gives it an experimental sniff, and then takes a sip. Oh. It's good. A similar experiment with the chips and dip makes her decide to pile up a plate. When she tries the same thing with a hot wing, though, she wrinkles her nose and leans back. Way too spicy. How are other people eating those? ]

kitchen

[perfectible]

[ Betty grins when she sees Eleven, happy to see that she showed up.] Hey! [ She moves to give the little girl a brief hug before she glances down at what she has in her hands.] What do you have there?

[umopepisdn]

[ Eleven returns the hug, though a little shyly, and then offers the bottle of syrup up to Betty. ]

It's maple syrup. For you.

living room

[songwrite]

[An Ally! Archie smiles when he happens to catch sight of her rejecting the hot wings during a commercial break, leaning over the side of the couch to ask in a conspiratory tone:] They're way too hot, right? [They're not like that hot, but he has a bit of a low tolerance for that kind of thing.]

[umopepisdn]

Yes. Too spicy.

[ She gives him a sort of questioning look—are they supposed to be like this? If not, why are they sitting out where everyone can take them? Mysteries. ]

[songwrite]

[Archie laughs at the look she gives, shrugging.]

Reggie likes hot stuff. You're Eleven, right? [Being called "Eleven" makes it sound like maybe she's an android from some cool sci-fi thing, but Archie has finally gotten out of the habit of just blurting that stuff out, finally. Took more months than he should probably admit to out loud.] Betty said she'd be inviting you.

richard campbell gansey iii | OTA

[disentombs]

OUTSIDE
Gansey being one of the more athletic of the Raven Boys instantly gravitated towards throwing around a football outside--it's just one of those things that rich WASP-types do at Thanksgiving. He's not the best. Rowing is his main sport at home after all but he can keep up with most of the people there!

He'll play a bit while it drizzles but once the thunder hits, he jogs back over to the porch, using the neckline of his tee to wipe his nose and eyes from a mix of sweat and rain. Feel free to plop down and start a conversation! Just don't mind that he's a bit gross.

LIVING ROOM
Again being the proper rich WASP that Gansey is, he is also used to having football on the TV during Thanksgiving preparations. He's drinking some of the punch and chatting up whoever happens to be around.