singillatim | Hot Potato (party log)

Who: Chloe Frazer & any and all party people!!
What: Harvest Celebrations/Halloween Party/Ruby’s Birthday/Rat Marriage/Big Communal Cooking Party so Chloe doesn't burn down her house
When: October 12
Where: At Chloe’s house on Greene Street

Content Warnings: Food descriptions, probably.
Other Notes: Feel free to make this a mingle and reply to other characters!

Chloe had wondered whether to go through with the harvest party once Lalo had disappeared, but as they say, the show must go on. There's still a lot worth celebrating, and people need something hopeful after the mess last month. Luckily her house had made it through everything all right.

The poster had said to wear a costume, so she's hoping to see a lot of those, and she’d recruited some people to help her put together the menu exactly to Lalo’s specifications, so unfortunately no one is safe from British Potatoes. There are even candles for the birthday cake.

Chloe herself is dressed as a sexy lumberjack, with one of Lalo’s old flannels tied in a knot under her breasts and denim cutoffs made from the jeans Kostya had gotten blood on (shh). She's got a fire roaring, because otherwise she’d freeze.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Unsurprising, really. The future's...

[ Peter gestures with his hands but the gesture isn't really anything at all. It's just meant to illustrate chaos. ]

And I hope no one's been a pain in the ass when it comes to explaining things to you?

[ He shakes his head. ]

Though I can't say I have asked many people about things.

[ Really, basically just the basic things he needed to know to get by in a more modern place - and even with a lot of those he just figured them out himself. ]

I have found that asking too much only complicates matters. Whenever I hear you speak of the place you come from, I.. [ His voice momentarily trails off, and the man shakes his head a little bit. ] I often find it difficult to even imagine what it must have been like. Every single answer only gives me more questions in that regard.

I get it, yeah.

[ He knows that he's not making a lot of sense but he also knows that he doesn't want to tell the entire story either. He doesn't think he can take it. ]

Sorry to confuse you with my...stuff.

[ He gives the bottle of milk a shake and laughs quietly. ]

It is only natural that it would confuse me.

[ So don't feel bad being a pretty big implication here, even if Billy is not saying it as explicitly. Many people's worlds confuse him. It just happens that Peter's is a little stranger than most..

.. or so Billy thinks, anyway. It's kind of hard to rank that sort of thing when it's all confusing to him to some degree. ]

In fact, if I talked much about the place I come from, I imagine it would be confusing to you as well. It would not be like anything you are used to. After all, I don't imagine you have ever been part of the navy. [ Peter doesn't really seem like the type, for one. ]

No, I haven't. I considered it for like a hot second once.

( But he'd promptly tossed it out because he would no good in the military. His calling lay elsewhere. )

I don't know if I'd have gotten through boot camp, honestly. Someone would have made me carry a bunch of gear, I would have passed out and they would have stuck me behind a desk.

( He laughs a little. )

That something you always wanted to do? Be in the navy?

[ The idea of Peter having briefly considered it isn't as strange to Billy, at least. He feels like most people probably briefly consider it at some point in their life, if not just to get away from it all..

.. though, of course, that idea is heavily influenced by his own experience. The experience that makes him shake his head and look over at Peter before answering: ]

No. I.. don't think there was ever anything in particular I always wanted to do. [ This may be a surprise, Peter. Or maybe not. Likely not, given that Billy never seems particularly passionate about anything with the way he seems so withdrawn.. ] Joining up was just.. convenient. I thought it would be easier to live my life that way.

[ This is him opening up a little bit though. This isn't information he'd just tell anyone, but he and Peter have shared some things now. Enough for Billy to say this without thinking too hard about it. ]

What did you, uh, want to do?

( He can understand how someone might find the military easier. It's advertised like that back home, a quick way to get a job and earn money and get something more for your education later. But, they leave out a lot, he knows.

He tips his head to one side, curious. )

And was it easier to live your life like you thought?

[ He shrugs a little. ]

In ways.

[ Easier in many ways. Harder in many ways too. ]

The expedition was far more dangerous than they had initially described. I was right that it was easier to live that way, rather than spending time back in society in England, but it did end my life. [ .. so.. you know.

Billy shrugs a little. Perhaps more casually than one ought to, given that he is talking about losing his life and all that, but.. shit happens, Peter!! He's alive now, so he finds it hard to care all that much about his previous death. ]

Oh.

[ What does one say to that? Peter doesn't know. The urge to apologize is right there but he knows that's not going to help. What's done is done and Billy died.

Peter swallows around a lump in his throat. ]

So this place is kind of like a second chance? Is that how you think of it?

Of course. [ That answer seems to come relatively easily. After all-- ] I am alive once more.

[ That's the literal definition of a second chance, right? If this place had not pulled him here, he would still have been back home. Dead.

There's a slight pause, almost hesitant. But since he trusts Peter relatively well enough, Billy adds a bit of a more personal worry he wouldn't always share so easily. ]

I can't say it's necessarily a certain existence though. Who knows what might happen to me if we ever leave this place again. Perhaps I would return to the dead once more.

Maybe.

( but that's one of those things that no one knows and can really report on, isn't it? people leave but no one can tell what happens after. )

So, I guess you want to stay here for as long as you can? Not someone that wants to get back home.

[ He nods.

.. though Billy also knows it's not fully that simple. ]

I mean, if there was a better alternative, I would take it. I can't say I enjoy the cold all that much. [ Especially given the fact that it was a harsh cold environment that eventually killed him back home.. ] But it does not seem like it would be possible to travel to any place that isn't this cold from here.

So far no one who leaves our nearby surroundings is ever seen or heard of again. [ In the entire time he's been here, anyway.

Which is quite a while at this point. ]

( peter nods, chewing on that. it's not the first time that he heard about people never being seen again. he just hopes that they go back home or somewhere safe and don't disappear into the snow. )

So, what you're saying is don't disappear?

( he says it lightly before blowing out a breath. )

I wonder how big this place is. How big the boundaries are. How far someone can go.

Don't tell me you were intending on going to try and see that for yourself.

[ Billy isn't sure if he would put it past Peter. There are people here he's more inclined to believe that of, but Peter is kind of on the edge. He seems weirdly reckless at times, and then weirdly cautious at others. ]

That part about no one who does that ever being seen or heard of again was not a joke. [ Nor a challenge!! ]

Hot Potato (party log)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject