Hannibal (and totally not Jono)'s house, inside and out back, Saturday afternoon and evening

[sharp_as_knives]

//You know,// Jono said, thoughtfully looking over the food Hannibal had prepared (and still was preparing) for the party they were throwing today, //I think it's possible that there's something here for everyone on the island?//

Literally. Jono suspected that everybody on the island could show up, each make off with the entirety of one of the dishes, and there would still be leftovers after the party.

"I should hope so." Hannibal put the finishing touches on the last few plates he'd have to bring out to the grill. "I don't want anybody saying they left hungry from a party of mine." Or theirs. Whichever. "How is the music coming along?"

//There is definitely music,// Jono reported. //It's… leaning heavily into swing territory. First thing that came to mind when trying to come up with something that everybody could enjoy.//

"Not a bad thing," Hannibal said, smiling. "Although we might have to indulge in a bit of dancing later."

//Heaven forbid,// Jono teased, winking as he thumbed through his playlist one more time. //We'll see if we can get you away from that grill long enough to manage it, hm?//

Hannibal gave him a look of fond reproof. "I would never be so long cooking that I didn't enjoy my own party." He nodded at the food. "Once this is done, I'll only be turning things on here and there, and perhaps manning the bar."

//Well, then I suppose I ought to go put the shrimp out to coax the flamingos off the lawn,// Jono decided. //It's almost that time, anyway.//

"If you can keep them to the side," Hannibal suggested, "they'll be out of the way of anyone coming up from the front as well. Hopefully once everybody is back here, they won't be disturbing them."

How well would that work out? Only time would tell.



[OOC: Open post! Come to the party!]

Comments

Re: After dinner!

[furnaceface]

//Drac, mate!// Why yes, Jono was making his way over to clap Dracula on the shoulder. It had been far too long, and after that whole ... thing ... back when Gaunt, Jono had been a bit worried.

He had no idea how worried he ought to have been until he'd talked to Raven in the Zin's simulation, though.

//How've you been, mate? Missed seeing you around at these things, you know.//

[OOC: Headed straight to bed, but I haaaad to. Drac!]

Re: After dinner!

[bluhblahbluh.livejournal.com]

Look! One of the people Drac had let down!

He smiled at Jono. "It's been a while, but I am fine now. I've missed coming to them. How are you?"

Re: After dinner!

[furnaceface]

//I've been worse,// Jono replied, lightly. And if he had at all been let down, he certainly didn't seem aware of it. Or at least he didn't seem to care. //Things have been that odd cross between hectic and stagnant and I'm beginning to get twitchy again. You know that feeling?//

In fairness, Jono felt that feeling rather often.

Re: After dinner!

[bluhblahbluh.livejournal.com]

"That depends," Drac smiled. "The twitchy feeling like somewhere there's a bus load of guests about to descend upon you with no reservations? Or the one where you are sure that there's a venue just around the bend that will be THE ONE that answers your dreams?"

Re: After dinner!

[furnaceface]

Jono paused for a moment to consider those options.

//... Both? Is both an option? I feel like there's something right around the corner, and there are a million little obstacles between here and that something, and most of those obstacles are me.//

Which was really nothing new.

Re: After dinner!

[bluhblahbluh.livejournal.com]

"Ah yes. That feeling." Drac nodded. "A little bit excitement, a little bit guilt and worry, a lot of quiet frustration?"

RE: Re: After dinner!

[furnaceface]

//Exactly all of those things,// Jono agreed. //Waiting for the other foot to drop, and halfway wondering if maybe that foot is waiting on you for something important.//

Re: After dinner!

[bluhblahbluh.livejournal.com]

"Welcome to how I spent most of the past hundred and seventeen years," Drac's reply was droll. "Any idea what you're afraid of?"

Re: After dinner!

[furnaceface]

//Mostly? Stagnation, perhaps. Letting people down. Never making up for the mistakes I have made. Wasting what potential I have.//

A beat.

//It's a long list.//

Re: After dinner!

[bluhblahbluh.livejournal.com]

And once again, Jono, you had the pleasure of being one of the few humans to make Drac's jaw drop.

After a moment, he shook his head and collected himself. "You do realize you just defined 'life', don't you?"

RE: Re: After dinner!

[furnaceface]

If Jono had a jaw... Well, his probably wouldn't be dropping, but he'd at least be pursing his lips a little.

//You mean to tell me that the definition of life is 'failing everybody you ever cared for?' Mate, even I think that might be a little on the pessimistic side, and I don't even have a bloody face.//

Re: After dinner!

[bluhblahbluh.livejournal.com]

"You have not failed everyone you've ever cared for, Jono," Drac assured him. "But believing you have... or will... that's a part of life. That's what keeps us trying our best: the fear that we will be letting someone down."

RE: Re: After dinner!

[furnaceface]

Jono spent a moment pondering that. He was pretty sure he knew a few people that didn't apply to. Hell, he was fairly certain he was dating a person that didn't apply to. But he couldn't deny that it applied to him, at least.

//I... don't know how I feel about my life being defined by worries of inadequacy,// he admitted. //But I've been trying to shake them for far too long. Not sure it can be done. Not really.//

Re: After dinner!

[bluhblahbluh.livejournal.com]

"If you manage to find a way, you will have to let me know it," Drac smiled at him. "Especially the part about making up for mistakes you've made. I have quite a list myself."

Re: After dinner!

[furnaceface]

//If I manage to find a way, I'll be certain to let you know,// Jono decided. //In the meantime... I'll probably be keeping myself busy however I can. Doing... community service or something. Hell if I know. But even if I do a little good in my day-to-day, that's better than sitting back and fretting over how I'm not doing nearly enough, isn't it?//

He hoped so, at least.

Re: After dinner!

[bluhblahbluh.livejournal.com]

Drac let his shoulders sag a little, confused. "Why do you feel you're not doing enough?" Jono had always seemed very busy!

Oh.

"Is this about my having not opened a production recently?"

Re: After dinner!

[furnaceface]

//What?// Jono blinked, genuinely confused. //Oh, no, no, nothing like that. It'd be nice to open up a new show in the Boards, don't get me wrong. Hell, I was thinking about perhaps hosting a monthly open mic or something of the sort, just to get involved again. But no, it's more... I'm constantly under fire, back where I'm from. Here on the island, by comparison, things are positively idle. I get twitchy when I'm not on the go. Can't help it.//

Re: After dinner!

[bluhblahbluh.livejournal.com]

"So you're no longer traveling to help in that world where your guardian is from?"

Re: After dinner!

[furnaceface]

//Eeeehm...// Jono shook his head. //Nah. I was... let go of. I'm less 'General Starsmore' these days, and more...//

He waved a hand around a little.

//Glacia isn't a place I've been in quite some time. Long story.//

Re: After dinner!

[bluhblahbluh.livejournal.com]

Well, that was odd. "But you seemed to enjoy it? And it sounds like that would be something you could use right now."

Re: After dinner!

[furnaceface]

//Doesn't it, though? Unfortunately, what I do and don't enjoy doesn't factor very much into whether or not I've been fired. So...//

He shrugged his shoulders. The messiness surrounding Karla's firing him was not a conversation he wanted to have right then. Not just because he'd finally found himself in a happy place of denial where he could pretend it hadn't felt like a massive slap in the face under the circumstances.

//Maybe I'll consider getting back into the superheroing circuit. There are plenty of places where I can keep active without wandering back somewhere I don't feel comfortable, I'm sure.//

Re: After dinner!

[bluhblahbluh.livejournal.com]

"Superhero. Fighting villains and criminals and space aliens... you can really do that in some places, hmm?"

Re: After dinner!

[furnaceface]

//You can, though it's somewhat less black-and-white as all that in most realities,// Jono explained wryly. //Where I'm from, it's just as much a matter of survival. And maybe trying to cultivate a decent image for my kind in a world that...//

He was not going to say, 'hates and fears,' he was not going to say, 'hates and fears...'

//... that we've had some difficulty getting by in. Anyway, most space aliens aren't so bad as some of our very own home-grown nasties. I've got nothing against them, as a general rule.//

Re: After dinner!

[bluhblahbluh.livejournal.com]

Drac made a face at that. He knew all to well what it was like to be hated and feared... Actually the feared part was kind of okay. At least until they brought out the torches.

"Or you can do what we did and hide forever. It works pretty well, too."

Re: After dinner!

[furnaceface]

//... Some of us tried that. It... er... didn't work out so well.//

The Morlocks tended to have pretty nasty luck, that way.

And then there was Genosha.