[closed] maybe christmas doesn't come from a store

[doubleblind]

WHO: Cosima and Clone Club and assorted friends!
WHERE: Clara and Cosima's house in De Chima!
WHEN: December 21st-ish
WHAT: A day of gingerbread house decorating and holiday cheer!
WARNINGS: Nothing except for excessive holiday festivities!!



[If you're a friend or family of Cosima, or a friend of a friend of family of Cosima, you may have received an enthusiastic invitation to a gingerbread house decorating party at the Niehaus-Oswald home! The invitation is short but sweet, promising gingerbread and more festive desserts than anyone could eat and fun conversation! It also encourages people to bring a plus one! Or a plus ten, though maybe give her a heads up if that's your plan. She also requests everyone brings their favorite candy to decorate with! There's also an address, to a small and cosy home in one of the nicer neighborhoods of De Chima.

If your character decides to show up at said address during the scheduled party time they will be treated to an explosion of holiday cheer. The Niehaus-Oswald home is all ready for the holidays! Lights have been strung up outside, framing all the windows and there's a giant wreath on the front door. Inside, is even more elaborately decorated, with a fresh tree Cosima made sure was the biggest they could possible fit in their home, practically falling over under the weight of too many ornaments. (If you look closely you'll notice some of said ornaments are very untraditional, hope you like wooden molecular structures and plastic dinosaurs!). A bird in a festive sweater who can be found flying about and settled on a perch near the tree completes the festive scene!

But the kitchen is the main attraction! There are boxes from a local bakery filled with gingerbread pieces to build your own houses, along with gingerbread people and animals to decorate. She didn't bake the gingerbread herself because no one wants her baking anything, but several candles (gingerbread, sugar cookie, and vanilla) she has lit make make it smell like she's spent the day baking. There's also a full spread of all the candy you could possible want to decorate the houses with: gum drops, candy canes, sprinkles, M&Ms, marshmallows, shredded coconut, peppermint bark, chocolate chips... If you can think of wanting it, Cosima probably provided it along with frosting and an array of food coloring choices. It's the perfect setup to make some epic gingerbread houses!

There's also a hot chocolate and hot cider station setup (with alcoholic options for the adults (aka almost everyone) at the gathering. Several trays of festive desserts that highlight the specialties of popular bakeries in each of the imPort cities, just so that everyone can enjoy dessert without destroying their masterpieces!]

((Gingerbread house making holiday party is a go! If you think your character should've gotten an invite and I totally spaced it pp me or let me know via plurk! Or if you're just super interested in crashing the party!))

Comments

[suldreen]

[ Sophie is relatively early, because she never gets invited anywhere and she doesn't want to miss a thing. Still, once there she quickly remembers just how does being around a bunch of people she doesn't know very well makes her feel (hint: hella uncomfortable) so once she has a cup of hot chocolate she'll be leaning against a wall, trying to be as unremarkable as possible.

Still, she won't say no to conversation. She's just not going to say anything first. ]

[brushoff]

[ Dorian also doesn't know much of everybody. He's here only because Sarissa asked him. Still, he's generally one for conversation...and hoo boy does poor Sophie look like she needs conversation. Giving her a small little smile, Dorian walks over to loiter next to her, cup of hot chocolate in his hand as well (though his had added booze). ]

Let me guess: someone invited you here without realizing that the two of you have radically different social circles as well?

[subourbon]

[Alison is sitting on one corner working on a whole freakin' gingerbread neighbourhood. She is being extremely meticulous with the details and is not shy about slapping away any hands that get too close.]

[helladoomed]

[Chloe crouched down across Alison's gingerbread community from her, one eyebrow raised.]

I think my neighborhood back home was smaller than this.

[subourbon]

[Alison barely looks up from her intense gingerbread-ing.]

This is nothing compared to some of the things we got up to for the community centre gingerbread competitions.

[She finishes a tiny detail with a flourish and then lets out a breath, like she's been holding it through the decorating process, before actually making eye contact and smiling at Chloe.]

Are you decorating anything?

[magnitudes]

Ali.

( HI. She's here to help. Unhelpfully, probably. Sarissa just leans over, curiously inspecting The Masterpiece. )

This one's off-centre.

( The smile probably gives away the trolling, maybe, though her voice is still inclined to sounding quieter. )

[subourbon]

[Her voice is a mix of irritation and exasperation and she doesn't even bother to pause in her work or look up.]

It's exactly where it needs to be, thank you, Sarissa.

[But then she does stop and her expression and tone softens.]

How are you doing?

[magnitudes]

arrival.
( Ooohh dear god please help her, she has so many tupperware containers. too many, maybe. Some are marked with stickers, but all are full of mini cheesecakes and obscene amounts of cookies. She has enough that it's kind of hard to balance - near impossible, actually, and she's struggling to hold them all in her arms.

Which is why she's pressing the door bell with her nose. It's a good day to be Sarissa. )


complex construction.
( Behold Sarissa, being arguably absurd. She has a stash of gingerbread pieces, and a piece of paper she's doodling a plan, and a knife, and she's... making pieces. The plan looks like a boat, and it looks like she's making progress.

Or maybe she's doing really well.

Or maybe her gingerbread boat just fell apart, and she smacked her forehead down on the table, and is knocking the icing away. This is a tragedy. A tragedy. )


or wildcard me.

[notsheepish]

I hear you get bonus points for building it inside a bottle.

[Ruby leans against the table Sarissa has decided to attach her face to, flashing a slightly tentative smile. She's aware that they are not exactly in the best of places, but she'd like to at least attempt to extend the olive branch.]

Need a hand?

[magnitudes]

( The first comment doesn't get a look, let alone a verbal response. It's the offer of help that galls her, because when Sarissa gets in a mood about something (someone, some-anything) then its takes more than logic to pull her out of it.

It helped and didn't help that she and Sarah hadn't spoken for a couple of days after the network argument.

Gruffly, )

You know more about boats than you do about art?

[coppelganger]

[ Sarah's been hanging around, not working on her own gingerbread whatever, but helping other people with theirs. Well, "helping." Mostly she's been eating candy. She sees Ruby talking to Sarissa—of course she does, everyone's hanging out in the same room, aren't they?—and hopes, for a few minutes, that this is the start of something good. Or at least the start of something less shite. But she can tell that the conversation's not going well, and she can see the look on Sarissa's face, and she can see the way Ruby is getting pissed off and offended.

She waits until the conversation is clearly over. No use making a scene during Cosima's happy family party time. But once a couple minutes have passed, she gets up from her seat and walks over to Sarissa. ]

Outside? [ She doesn't sound very happy. ]

[magnitudes]

( Sarissa doesn't flinch. That's one of the lessons, drilled over and over again. Don't flinch, don't pull back. Have a spoon of cement and toughen up. She can keep her palm held over an open flame if she has to, and take punches where the only reaction comes from the law of physics seeing her move, rather than pain having a single thing to do with it. Normally all that is true, but now her hands are shaking very slightly as she tries to hold two pieces of her boat together and the sound of Sarah's voice does make her flinch, just enough to jar the pieces.

Guilt or dread? Or both, maybe. She nods without looking at Sarah, moving out of the chair and making for the door like liquid, one fluid motion as she hugs her arms around herself.

It's cold outside, and she's stubbornly wearing just a tank top and jeans (I ain't even cold, another ongoing refrain) and scuffing the ground with her feet as she tries to get her head around words. )

[notsheepish]

[Yeah, yeah, yeah. Arts & crafts is fun and all, but Ruby has decided to set herself up as the resident tender of yuletide bar, prepared to serve all comers their cocoa with just a few more marshmallows (and for the legal a little more alcohol) than they initially requested.

Between beverages in need of preparing though, she is at least working on building a thematically appropriate gingerbread tavern nearby. She just keeps having to ask other people to lend her some of their M&Ms and such, because hers keep "mysteriously disappearing" when no one is looking.

Anybody who asks or even eyeballs her funny at that gets a different answer for who she thinks is responsible for this heinous candy theft.]

[coppelganger]

[ It's especially easy for candy to disappear when your girlfriend, who is too cool to make her own gingerbread house, is sitting next to you and helping herself to approximately half of your supplies. Of course, Sarah is fully prepared to defend herself if anyone hints at the fact that she might be the one eating everything. ]

Oi, we need some more of those little gumdrop things.

[notsheepish]

Again? I could've sworn I only used a couple of them.

[What a mystery this is, Sarah! Someone ought to call Nancy Drew!]

eventually

[magnitudes]

( Goooood but she hates how much she loves her sister, sometimes. Arguably, of course, if she didn't care so damn much then there'd have been no reason to apologise in the first place. It's positive that this is a family event, and that Ruby has the control of the beverage table - a dual prong approach for Sarissa being in forced sobriety rather than relying on something to make this sting less viciously and personally.

When Ruby's candy stash is looking low, Sarissa arrives with Amazing Timing to set two refilled bowls in front of Ruby, next to her gingerden of depravity, or whatever.

This, typically, is where most people would speak, and Sarissa is planning to, but it's not entirely dissimilar to removing a molar with a hammer and chisel on the scale of "things she wants to be doing right now." But she told Sarah she'd try, or something. So: )

Sorry about before. ( Ugh she hates apologising so much. Especially when she isn't actually regretful for what she did, so much as some of the consequences of what she did. Please see figure one: Sarah is upset, figure two: Sarah is angry, and figure three: Sarah might leave. Maybe there's still the option of throwing herself into a cement mixer instead of continuing this apology—?

No. Her gaze flickers towards Sarah, and she sighs. Her voice as she continues is flat, but not bored or robotic, just the flatness of incapacitating depression. ) I have alarming emotional problems and took them out on you. I was dick. It... ( won't happen again ) may happen again, realistically, but I'm gonna try heaps to make sure it doesn't.

( And look, she's extending a hand to shake. Because that is how one does a proper apology, okay? Okay. )

[notsheepish]

[Ruby is stony-faced from the moment she notices Sarissa approaching, just staring at her dubiously, though she does follow that glance in Sarah's direction for a moment as well. Briefly, she considers asking if Sarissa actually means any of this or if she's just doing it because she was told to... but she's pretty sure she already knows the answer. A suspicion that may or may not be written on her face.

Still, she eventually takes Sarissa's hand.]

Thanks. For the candy and everything.

[There's a pause as she seems to consider something, and then Ruby nods to a chair nearby.]

Do you want to sit down? You say you don't trust me. Ask me whatever you want. I don't have a lie-detector handy, but... maybe next time.

[aojona]

[ Pablo feels a little nervous being there, even at Sarissa's invitation, not only because he doesn't know most of the people who'll be there very well (if at all) but because parties are just-- he's still struggling to learn how to properly navigate them. Etiquette, appropriateness, and what-have-you.

Being around people is nice, though; he prefers it to being alone, so Pablo will be there bearing gifts -- two journals with hand-decorated covers of paint and dried flowers, both with large eyes painted on the inner covers, although thanks to Sarissa's insight one will be decorated over the notebook's original dinosaur cover -- which he'll leave unobtrusively on a table somewhere before venturing to join the party while also staying out of everyone's way... a difficult balance.

He sits down somewhere relatively uncrowded, opting to mix some food coloring together. Someone's bound to want to use some, so-- why not make sure it's ready for when they need it? That's useful, right? Well, it's happening either way. ]

[magnitudes]

Hey.

( Quiet, the way she seems to be increasingly more quiet, save for bursts of energy and exuberance that always seem to backfire or burn out into nothing. She slips into the seat next to Pablo's, and leans over the food colouring. )

For the icing?

[aojona]

[ Pablo nods his head once without looking at her quite yet, staring quite intently at the mixture he's stirring as if still unsatisfied with the hue. Then he sets the cup down on the table, looking over at Sarissa. ]

I didn't think I should try anything I might ruin -- I've never done gingerbread houses before. [ Just stated plainly, before he glances back over to the cups of dye. ] What colors do you like?

[doubleblind]

[Cosima is playing the role of host and social butterfly well today. Sporting an oversized ugly Christmas sweater and a candy cane tucked behind one ear, she's a vision of holiday cheer. She can be found mingling around the guests, offering a "helpful" hand or a warm beverage or a tasty treat. She wants to make sure she greets everyone, even those guests she doesn't know well or at all!

Later, once everyone seems settled at the party, Cosima can be found constructing her own gingerbread house. Though, house may be a generous word for the strange structure she's making. It looks more like a tower. A very unsteady tower. And it's not hard to notice that more of the candy goes into her mouth than onto the monstrosity she's building. But hey, at least she's enthusiastic!]

[coppelganger]

[ Sarah is obviously far too cool to work on her own gingerbread creation, but she does move around and help other people with theirs. She also eats some of the candy. Very, very helpful. That doesn't stop her from lecturing Cosima about the amount of candy she's eating, though. ]

Christ, you're eating more than you stick on that thing.

[doubleblind]

[There's no fooling your sister, Sarah. Cosima has been watching all her guests, and had been especially amused when she'd noticed Sarah eating just as much candy as she is. Are sweet tooths genetic? It's a new question to consider.]

Like you can talk.

[notsheepish]

[Everyone is so ambitious today. Taverns, boats, towers. It's all very entertaining, and Ruby is definitely eyeing Cosima's construction with amusement.]

So is there going to be a gingerbread princess trapped at the top of this, dropping her licorice hair down for someone to climb?

[magnitudes]

( Sarissa doesn't look well. You could go far as to say she's looking unwell, even. That said, despite being thinner and seeming less vibrant and energetic than she'd normally be, she made the effort to acquire a christmas tank top with dinosaurs, even if it's not exactly an ugly sweater. She doesn't feel the cold, she doesn't need a sweater! (This is inaccurate.)

Eventually, after a period of arguably Being Weird and focusing on making her gingerbread boat and invading Cosima's kitchen with what might be best described as an obscene number of mini-cheesecakes, she finds her way over to her sister with a glass of whatever she's been drinking and refills for her bowl of candies. )

Hey. I, um— there's a bunch of cheesecake in your freezer. And fridge, but I mean, freezer mostly. The ones with special stickers on them probably should be considered for adult consumption only. ( Please don't let Brianna accidentally get into the pot cheesecakes, oh my god. )