open | happy (earth) new year, everyone!

[genice]

WHO: Any and all!
WHERE: 2nd residential floor lounge
WHEN: OOCly 12/31; today.
WHAT: Victor's ICly claimed the day as being the 31st, and subsequently celebrating the "New Year" with anyone who comes by! After sending out a post on the network inviting any of the new arrivals via anomalies to attend, people are welcome to come enjoy a probably very random seeming New Years celebration.
WARNINGS: There is food and alcohol here, beware!

The lounges are interesting spaces, and Victor didn't hesitate to roll up his sleeves and rearrange furniture in this section of the middle floor lounge. A cheery wave to anyone wandering through earlier on the 31st (by his calendar, he's quite cheerful in acknowledging how arbitrary that really is) while he goes about arranging things to his satisfaction, before he jets off again to finish preparing his olivie salad.

It's nowhere near fancy, but he's shown up again with a big, borrowed bowl from his work, containing the closest approximation of olivie salad he'd been able to manage working with the supplies he found on board. There's a tablecloth tossed over the table he's appropriated for holding the foodstuffs, along with simple plates, utensils, cups and bubbling wines (three, okay, that's toeing the line of careful financial management). He's even figured out how to get music playing, though it's hard to say if there's any unifying theme to what plays.

Perhaps the most ridiculous part of any of this is how he's constructed a small cone cap for the brown, fuzzy creature that had been delivered to his bunk last week. That it's a shaved ice cone inverted with the words "Happy New Year" written on it amuses him. The unidentified creature simply coos and purrs and wears the cone hat, not moving off the smaller table it's been set on.

"Happy New Year!" he says to just about anyone walking by, tipping his (oh so classy) cup their way with a smile. Welcome to the party. Bring something to contribute to the table? Very welcome to the party!

[ ooc: please tag in with your own top levels and enjoy a relaxed, informal celebration of the new year (per Victor)! ]

Comments

[canadese]

[ 1. by the snack table ]

[Ax did not bring food with him, because he has no money and also has no idea what is an appropriate thing to bring to a seemingly arbitrary commemoration of a planet's revolution around its star, in the middle of deep space in a universe where that planet may not necessarily exist.

It's probably better this way. He would have eaten it on the way over.

As the moment he is near one of the donated salads. He's not getting a plate for himself. In fact, he's... ignoring utensils entirely and is picking out and eating leaves of lettuce by hand, apparently completely oblivious to anyone or anything nearby. Gross.]

[ 2. after midnight ]

[By some miracle, he lasted the night without ingesting any alcohol. It's probably the only reason he's lasted this long. Also, Marco has been shoving glasses of water into his hand all night.

Well, the ball has dropped, the champagne has been opened, there was confetti and the works. Ax is just as baffled as he was when he first arrived. And he finally managed to get his hands on something alcoholic. As the party continues around him, he ends up standing in the middle of the floor, staring at his glass of champagne nonplussed, confetti still in hair as he mutters.]

I don't understand the purpose of any of this.

[ 3. this is my united states of ]

[whatever]

2

[ouzel]

I think it's supposed to be a rebirth celebration.

[ Says Cassian, from where he'd managed to walk up on Ax. ]

Do the Andalites do that sort of thing? Also, did you eat anything other than salad?

[canadese]

I have sampled some of everything brought to this gathering.

[It's amazing that his face is free of detritus, actually. (Read: Marco was here.)]

While my people place great importance on ritual, it is usually for the purpose of meditation and self-discipline. This... celebration of a mundane spacetime phenomenon is pointless.

[ouzel]

Well, that's good.

[ Cassian didn't say anything about needing a plate for that salad but he totally handed Marco a plate for that salad at some point. ]

You have to remember that the passage of time is very important to a lot of cultures, especially pre-spaceflight ones.

[canadese]

Yes, I understand. It is important to mine as well. But is it not more meaningful to witness it demonstrated through the growth of something specific? Something that you can see?

[When everyone in your species has a built-in mental stopwatch and compass, marking time doesn't really seem like that big of a deal.]

[ouzel]

That's the thing; no one really gets to tell anyone what is more or less meaningful. Meaning is subjective to begin with.

Clocks are very specific.

[canadese]

[Ax just tilts his head in question.]

Clocks are basic timekeeping devices, yes? Do they have some spiritual significance in your culture?

[ouzel]

Not in mine. [ He waves his hand. ] I meant for whomever celebrates this particular sort of thing.

I guess I just find it interesting, even if I don't completely understand it.

[canadese]

[Warning, Cassian, snobbery incoming.]

If humans were able to keep time themselves like sensible creatures they wouldn't have to waste time on these kinds of traditions.

[It is totally humanity's fault that they can't keep time without assistance.]

2

[yokunaru]

[Once the party had picked up, Yuuri had naturally begun to gravitate toward the slightly more open pockets of the room, avoiding the larger groups of people. Somehow, he ends up in the middle, just to Ax's side. There's a flute of champagne in his hand--he's not sure who even handed that to him, to be honest--that he's staring at with mistrust when he hears Ax's offhand comment.]

Any of what?

[It's a little unusual for him to jump in like this, but Yuuri supposes his curiosity wins out for the moment.]

[canadese]

[Ax startles visibly at Yuuri's approach. He'll never get used to how limited human range of vision is. He has to quickly drink some from his glass to keep it from spilling, so it takes a few moments for him to regain his composure and process that he has never actually seen Yuuri before.

This wouldn't normally be significant, but on a ship with this limited a population, every new face means a new arrival. (Perhaps he ought to start camping outside the orientation hall just to keep track of them all.]

In my culture we do not have this tradition. Its purpose seems arbitrary.

[yokunaru]

Oh, you mean the New Year's celebrations?

[Yuuri brushes a piece of confetti from his shirt almost absently.] I can't much about the party, except that it's for friends and family to spend time together.

The countdown, though... [He pauses, contemplative.] It's to greet the coming year, I think. A new year means a clean slate for many people back home.

[canadese]

A clean slate?

[Right. That's some human idiom for attempting some new mode of behavior while trying to pretend the previous behavior does not exist. Another bizarre aspect of human socialization.]

To focus on self-discipline is sensible, but what does it have to do with a planet's revolution?

[yokunaru]

[Yuuri shakes his head slightly.]

That's just the way a year is calculated in our world. [The words "our world" still taste strange in his mouth, but he supposes he'll just have to get used to it.] The traditions... they've been around for a long time, so I can't say who decided who exactly invented them. It varies between cultures, too.

[canadese]

It does? This is not universal?

[Humans are so baffling.]

How many ways can you possibly commemorate a recurring period of time?

[yokunaru]

Not at all. Some cultures might have similar traditions, but I'm sure there are some unique to each culture.

[He smiles at Ax's confusion.] You'd be surprised.

3. then this chick comes up to me and she's all like, "hey aren't you that dude?"

[brightline]

[Of course, the minute Marco stopped looking at Ax, he managed to get into the champagne. Maybe he got distracted for half an hour or so when the clock struck 12 and he had a couple glasses of champagne himself, but it really should not have been long enough for Ax to go through enough glasses himself to end up stumbling around in search of more 'fizzy fermented grape juice.'

Then again, this is Ax they're talking about.

Marco's a little unsteady on his feet himself, but he heads over to his friend, sighing deeply, and slides in beside him, one arm under Ax's arms, looking up at him with a brow raised.]

I'm starting to think you might need an intervention, Ax-man.

[canadese]

[Ax frowns at Marco, then back at his champagne glass, then back at Marco. He is swaying very slightly, but Marco's support definitely helps stabilize him.]

An intervention into what?

[brightline]

[Ax is unstable on his feet in human morph at the best of times, but Marco knows from sad, sad experience that it's even worse after a couple of drinks. Thankfully, while Marco is smaller and feels it just as much after fewer drinks, he's had almost 20 years of experience at walking on two feet, which makes it easy to support Ax.]

Uh, because this is the second time in like a week that I've had to walk you home drunk, man. You have got to lay off the booze.

[He's smiling, though, the teasing is gentle (for Marco) and relatively good-natured. After all, Marco's a little ways past tipsy himself.]

[canadese]

[Ax stares at him. Then, slowly, comprehension dawns.]

Ah. You are implying that I am becoming addicted to this substance. This "intervention" ritual is often portrayed on your television serials.

[Then he looks a little alarmed.]

Can it really take effect this quickly?

[brightline]

[When Ax looks at him like that, alarmed, and then asks if it takes effect this quickly, Marco can't help but laugh.]

I'm joking, Ax-man. You have to indulge a lot and it has to seriously screw up your life before you're considered an addict.

[Reaching out, Marco squeezes Ax's shoulder, and then he nudges his hip against Ax.]

Anyway, you look like you could use a walk home.

2

[straycloud]

Maybe you're not supposed to yet. [ Koumyou suggests like the extraordinarily helpful person that he is. He's also wearing a disproportionate number of the little streamers from a pull string firework in his hair, though there's no telling if it was a deliberate choice or by chance. ]

[canadese]

Yet? Is this meant to be some sort of meditation exercise? [If Ax notices the streamers, he doesn't say. Perhaps it is meant to be some particularly bizarre kind of clothing. No matter how much time Ax spends around humans, he will never understand clothing.]

At what point will I know?

[straycloud]

It is when you need it to be. [ Clothing is always nonsense, but the streamers are especially enjoyable. ]

You'll know when you don't. When you're young- [ As if Koumyou isn't, for all that he's a high priest that isn't even thirty yet. ] -it can be harder to see.

[canadese]

[Ax squints at Koumyou for a good moment. He opens his mouth like he's going to say something, and then shuts it again with an audible click of teeth. (He is then distracted by trying to recreate the sensation for the next few seconds before he remembers that Koumyou is there and refocuses back on him.)]

I am confused.