abraxaslogs | [ open ] HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA (not you abraxas)

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[ open ] HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA (not you abraxas)

Who: Julie + Dean + open
When: July 4
Where: Julie's club in the Horizon
What: June sucked, it's time to party patriotically 🇺🇸 Dean's invite here 🇺🇸 no, the Americans don't care that it's not America, they're doing it anyway (just like real life)

[ Approaching Julie's club on this particular day, you can tell from the outside that something is going on. The pink neon has been swapped for red, white and blue, the pink carpet and velvet ropes changed to the good ol' stars and stripes. The front doors are wreathed in an enormous and very patriotic balloon arch, and they're wide open. American flags hang across the walls of the entranceway, and the music is what most Americans would recognize as July 4th standards.

Inside, Julie has obviously been incredibly hard at work, and the club has undergone its most massive changes to date. The entire first floor has been modified -- where there was once a dance floor and seating, there is now an Olympic-sized in-ground pool, dotted with a variety of American themed floats and balls. The glittering quartz flooring is all gone, now replaced with lush lawn grass, and sensible concrete wrapped around the pool itself. At one end, a truly enormous inflatable water slide can send you flying down from fifty feet in the air, just to land with a splash in the water.

How has she managed that height? Well, where there's ordinarily a roof, there is now only open sky, blue and picturesque with puffy white clouds lazily floating by. The sun is bright but never too hot, and incapable of burning anyone's skin. The only thing between the sky and the building are dozens of red, white and blue decorations, strung from the balconies to overhang the pool.

Don't worry if you weren't exactly prepared for a pool party! Julie, queen of not only parties but also wardrobes, has helpfully converted the warehouse part of the building for this very problem. Racks and racks of bathing suits and beach towels are available for use, with every conceivable style up for grabs. Trunks, one-pieces, string bikinis, banana hammocks, she's got it all! While many match the red, white and blue theme, all types of colors and patterns are present. Grab a towel from a stack, hop in one of the striped changing cabanas, then get to swimming. Don't forget your red, white or blue flip-flops and sunglasses!

Hungry? Well, Dean has you covered. On the lawn, Julie has provided him with a wet dream-inducing grill and every imaginable kind of meat to cook on it. Also in this section are tables and tables full of snacks, desserts and drinks, along with the full bar that is always present. The bartender, Steven, is always ready to make anything you could want. (He is dressed in what is best described as "Sexy Uncle Sam" -- in that it's a star-spangled wrestling singlet, a glittery red white and blue bow tie, an Uncle Sam hat and a small, fake white beard.) Plenty of picnic tables are present to eat at.

As the afternoon passes, the sky will gradually darken until it's black and clear, with a wide expanse of stars, the way Julie remembers seeing night from the empty prairies of Kansas. Between Dean and Julie, there is no shortage of fireworks; as proud Americans raised in places where there's little else to do, they are experts at blowing shit up in creative ways. The tables disappear and are replaced with blankets on the grass, meant to be laid on and shared. An incredible fireworks show rounds the night out, and only once the sky is calm again are people expected to leave.

Or pass out. Getting completely wasted is also an Independence Day tradition. ]

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[Last month was, to put it very bluntly, a very shitty month. One Nadine hasn't quite recovered from. And while the Fourth of July has never really meant much to her, she has relatively fond memories of the neighborhood block parties from her childhood - at least before the children's home. New Hampshire, like all New England states - and many elsewhere - went overboard for the Fourth. Whole streets decorated, potluck barbecues, fireworks lit right in the closed-down road. She can vaguely recall her brother - who passed when she was so little she can't even recall his name anymore - handing her a sparkler.

Besides, it's Julie's party and Nadine attends all of her parties. And a day of pushing reality aside and drinking and barbecue sounds just fine. She even makes an effort with what she wears, keeping to her casual preferences but trying to avoid looking matronly. And in honor of the holiday, her pearlescent horns are wrapped with red and blue ribbons. If nothing else, this is a day to celebrate freedom. And god knows she needs to remember she is free. At least for now.

Despite her frequent reservations about getting tipsy in public, Nadine starts things off with a drink and hangs about on the grass, or at a picnic table with a burger. It's nice to just relax and strive for something of a sense of normal.

She even takes advantage of the pool, in a modest two piece that she thinks is relatively on theme. Though she doesn't so much swim as grabs a classic tube-style float and lounges in it with a colorful looking cocktail. But she can probably be coaxed out of her float.

After a few drinks, she does start eyeing the slide...

And of course she stays for the fireworks, stretching out on a blanket pleasantly toasted to just watch the spectacular bursts of color above.]

[She could sit alone - there's plenty of benches and blankets to choose from - but what's the point in going to a party of you're just gonna keep to yourself the whole night? That old Ninth instinct is there in her, sure, but she pushes it aside when she spots Nadine with her burger, slides onto the bench opposite her. She places her own plate - piled high with barbecued offerings - down on the table, and offers the other woman what she hopes is a winning smile.]

Apparently, Fourth of July fucking rocks. Who knew?

[She says by way of an opening.]

[Nadine laughs a little at the comment, and manages a smile back.]

Yeah, it's pretty much just an excuse to have a big summer party. Take away the whole 'everything made by magic' part and this...is basically the real thing. Block party cookouts, pool parties, fireworks. They're all Fourth of July party staples.

[It's just bigger and more fantastical here in the Horizon, without the usual limits of time and money and space. And half the people here have no idea what the US. But that really doesn't matter. As far as she's concerned, there is no US anymore.

Though she supposes the citizens of Boulder would disagree.]

I haven't actually been to one since I was a kid.

[She listens and nods with feigned understanding as she starts to chow down on a burger of her own. Tries to imagine what it would have been like to grow up in that kind of world, where there were parties alive with people and music, where there was good food and fireworks. All for tenuous reasons she hasn't yet grasped. It sounds fucking wild, blissful even; was it like that on any of the other planets which homed the other Houses? Possibly. Maybe. But really, what's the point of dwelling on shit like that now? She's here and maybe this isn't quite 'real', but it feels real. That's all that matters.]

Yeah?

[She says around a mouthful of meat.]

Why's that? If I came from a place that had this kinda thing I wouldn't want to miss even one.

[Nadine shrugs. The truth is too heavy and complicated to get into, for a multitude of reasons. But she always has answers for the questions she won't be entirely honest about. And they're legitimate answers, always rooted in the truth.

It's easiest that way.]

When you're an elementary school teacher for a really small wealthy town, you usually end up stuck with a bunch of rich parents leaving their kids with you at big town parties. And I love kids but summer was my time. I'd usually go down to the beach for the fireworks at night, though.

[Or just watch from her own roof. Besides, she'd never cared much for the whole patriotism angle. It all just made her tired.]

But it's not like it's that important a holiday. It's like a birthday party for a country. The Fourth of July is when the country I come from was founded.

Huh.

[She says around another bite of burger, idly trying to picture what it might be like to be surrounded by little kids. Having only ever known Harrow and when she herself was also a kid - so it hardly counts all around - it's a difficult thing to image. Annoying as fuck, probably.

But those, too, are thoughts that lead off in a heavy direction, and they're here for fun, so it's the latter part of what the woman says that she latches on to.]

I mean, it does seem kinda weird to have a birthday for a place. I guess back home the day of the Resurrection was kinda important, and that's around when the Nine Houses were founded, but it was more like...reverent, you know? Which is to say, dull as fuck. At least on the Ninth. Honestly your America sounds like it was waaay more interesting.

[Live amidst decrepit old nuns and a bunch of bones for years and anywhere starts to seem interesting.]

But hey, tell me about the fireworks!! I am hype to see those tonight. It'll be my first time.

Yeah, America was...it started out as a bunch of colonies settled by another country, but a lot of things happened and the colonists wanted to be their own country. There was a big war about it, but America won. So it's celebrating all of that, too.

[There are far more intricacies Nadine could offer, but there's no point. This is a party. And those broad strokes are enough to have context for the currently celebrated holiday. Nobody needs a detailed history lesson over backyard barbecue.

Besides, there are other, much more fun topics for discussion.]

And I can promise whatever Julie has planned for fireworks tonight, they're going to be a lot bigger than what I've seen. I don't know how long it'll go on for, but it's just a big show of all these colored lights bursting in the sky. Sometimes it's set to music. But there's little fireworks, too. Like handheld ones and ones you can just do yourself. They aren't very big or anything, some of them aren't even...you know what? Why don't I just show you.

[The explanation is short and succinct, just how Gideon likes it. A lengthy history lesson likely would have ended with her yawning into her burger before politely excusing herself, so she's happy to nod along to the other woman’s words before brightening at the talk of fireworks. This, after all, is what she's really here for. Desserts and sparkly explosions.

She pauses with her burger half-way to her mouth, lowers it back to her plate again. Clearly something here has snagged at her interest.]

Like, right now?

[The bright eagerness in her voice goes entirely unconcealed.]

Yeah, the little ones don't need anything special or any set up. They're safe for kids to play with.

[And it's the Horizon, so it's no effort at all for Nadine to reach into her purse and pull out a handful of corner store style 'fireworks'. The sort she remembered getting at those general stores that seemed to only exist in New England. It brings back memories, from before she knew much of anything about life or the world. Running along the sidewalk with her brother, clinking of ice in glasses, that heat that never felt oppressive as a child.

Even she'd been innocent, once.]

You've got your snakes, your snaps, and your sparklers. The sparklers are the most impressive. Snaps mostly just make noise and snakes...I really don't know how snakes happened. They're...here.

[She sets one of the little black discs down on the picnic table. She passes her hand over it to light it on fire, and a solid snake of ash begins uncoiling.]

That's all they do.

[Regardless of the verbal cues given to suggest these snakes are less than impressive, Gideon watches - rapt - regardless. There's the subtle widening of her aureate eyes, expecting...something. Sparks maybe? Little lights? Some kind of noise? But--

--no. It’s just a pile of uncoiling ash.]

Hmmm.

[She says, her tone very flat.]

I really hope the other stuff is more impressive than that.

It is. Snakes are...like I said, I don't know why they exist. I guess when you're five it's a little more impressive.

[Maybe. Nadine can't remember ever being wow-ed by them. But surely she'd at least enjoyed them as a child.]

Snaps don't make any light or anything, but they make noise. We used to throw them at each other's feet.

[Popping open the little cardboard box, she plucks a little paper twist out between two fingers. Flicking her wrist she pops it against the table where it bursts in a puff of almost-smoke and a sharp sound.]

...I'm Nadine, by the way, I don't think I ever introduced myself.

[Gideon, too, struggles with the idea that her five year old self would have been impressed by these, but she decides to keep that politely to herself. Just in case she'd be spoiling someone else's recollections of childhood. The little paper twists that burst apart in a soft puff of smoke and noise are at least a little more interesting, and she can imagine they would have been fun to have when she was a kid. She could have set them off during one of the many tedious services, or to piss Crux off when he least suspected it.]

A kid could cause a bit of mischief with those.

[She says it with a crooked smile, before extending a hand to Nadine.]

I'm Gideon.

A lot of mischief if there's cows around.

[Nadine shakes the offered hand.]

But sparklers are where it's at. Here. Hold it at the bottom there.

[She hands over what looks like a stick of long incense. The scent isn't exactly pleasant, though. Nadine takes one up herself and holds it upright, away from her body. She waits a moment for Gideon to hold hers the same way. Then she flicks a bit of flame from her fingers to the tips of the sparklers.

The wands of chemical material respond almost immediately. There's a little hissing sound and then they explode in a small shower of glimmering sparks and crackling.]

[She's right there on the verge of asking for elaboration in regard to the cows, but then Nadine is passing her the weird-smelling stick. Non-descript and grey, not exactly what one would call exciting, but she regards it with curiosity anyway--

--until flame dances from the other woman's fingers and sets the weird grey stick alight. The funky smell gets stronger, but it barely even manages to make her nose wrinkle thanks to the distracting shower of coloured sparks that pop forth from the wand. She almost (almost) drops it in surprise, but then her grip tightens, and her aureate eyes go wide.]

Cool as fuck.

[She says, voice dropped low. Finally impressed.]

It's not gonna burn me, is it?

Hey bitch.

[ Julie drifts close on a float shaped like a waving American flag. In her hands are two fresh drinks, both also layered to be red, white and blue, and she's wearing a pair of red, sparkly sunglasses shaped like stars. As she floats by, she passes one of the drinks to Nadine. ]

I see you sizin' up the slide. No excuses.

Mmm, I could probably argue that multiple cocktails and water slides has a good chance of not going well for me.

[But she takes the offered drink. She said she could make an argument, but she's not terribly inclined to. It's a party.]

Honestly? I've just never been on a water slide before. I always wanted to go to Water Country when I was a kid, it was this big water park a couple hours away. Never did. And then I just...didn't bother when I wasn't a kid anymore. Seemed...stupid.

[Being a single adult going to a water park alone just seemed silly to her. A sort of 'what's the point?' situation.]

Loving the pool, though. Really great idea.

I could argue that this is the safest place in the world to get real drunk and then go down a water slide. [ A place where you can't die or really get hurt? Everyone should be doing dumb shit here all the time.

Julie raises her eyebrows a little behind her sunglasses, because everyone she knows had gone on at least one trip to a water park, but then again, that's one of the few luxuries anyone in her life could ever hope for. It became important to them, because all they had to do was round up a car full of kids, drive two hours and it was the big summer splurge. She can see where it wouldn't happen for people who didn't make it their big annual thing. ]

Well yeah, the pool that I could find in the city was fuckin' janky. It was indoors and only had bleachers and there were like a billion people there. Not my idea of a good time. [ She wrinkles her nose, then smirks. ] I can tell you wanna go down the slide, though.

No, you're right.

[Even if Nadine thinks way too much about the implications of that. Things feel real. The experiences are remembered as real. There are some things she doesn't need to experience.]

Oh god, yeah, one little town I lived in once had a community pool. It was always packed and disgusting. You were better off with a pond or a swimming hole.

[And it wasn't much better. Leeches were always a danger, for one. This is the way to enjoy the water. Well, this and nice beaches.]

Mmm. I kind of do. I'm trying really hard to embrace the whole 'it's never too late' philosophy. I...think it's working? I'm definitely not the person I was when I got here.

[Neither of them are.]

[ Julie snorts loudly. Where she was from was so flat and dry that even the lake was manmade, and it was for fishing and boating only. But they'd had a tolerable public pool, and she'd known a handful of people with above-ground pools in their backyard. And, of course, her family's white trash specialties: sprinklers and slip-and-slides (which inevitably caused at least one concussion amongst the children every year). ]

Sophomore year of high school, I dated a guy all summer just 'cause his family had the best pool in town. In-ground and everythin'. He sucked though. Smelled a little like Fritos all the time. This is way better.

[ Stirring her drink with her straw, Julie tilts her head at Nadine for a moment before she moves her sunglasses to rest atop her head. ]

You wanna go down together?

Mmm. There's worse things a guy could smell like.

[Nadine muses as she contemplates the slide. Why not, is the only answer she can come up with. Why the hell not? It's stupid to be worried about what other people might think of her here. They're all together in this place to have fun and let a little loose.

Everyone is making use of the slide.

So what if it's something she would have classified as childish. Who the hell decided that in the first place? All things considered, she feels like she's earned the right to enjoy herself however the hell she wants.]

Yeah. Yeah, okay. Let's do it.

Yeah, but not many. Constant Frito smell in a Kansas summer ain't a joke.

[ She says it with a laugh as she waits for Nadine to contemplate. Julie is not someone who bases many decisions on whether things can be considered "childish" -- if anything, "childish" is just an accusation she finds she can throw at men to cow them into doing what she wants. But the actual age appropriateness of any given activity has little bearing on whether or not she'll do things.

Giggling, she waits for Nadine to make up her mind, then slides off her float and makes her way toward the stairs. Out of the pool, she sets her drink on a nearby table, then beckons Nadine after her as she climbs the inflated staircase up to the top. ]

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[ open ] HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA (not you abraxas)

Nadine | OTA

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