Open Log: Staff Party!

[zen_en_vert]

Who: Bruce Banner, the school staff, and tentatively open
What: Staff party staff party staff party!
When: 462
Where: At the school.
Rating: PG

When Fiona had been doing her hiring and administerial drive, Bruce had made the casual mistake of pointing out that they should probably have a staff party or meet and greet at some point, since he didn't really know many of his co-faculty.

Fiona, with her usual grace and wit, had immediately announced the idea was perfect, and that Bruce should set something up! Could he make cocktail weenies?

The answer is no, he can't make cocktail weenies. He's perfectly capable of roasting vegetables, so he does that instead, as well as enlisting Natasha's help in liberating something that he thinks Asgardians maybe use to strip paint off building siding but that really melts quite seamlessly into the punch. (It doesn't count as spiking it if you politely label the bowl 'contains alcohol', right?) Anyways, these are his two contributions to the potluck he's organized, as well as wrestling up a reasonable amount of plates and cutlery.

He doesn't expect this to be lush; there's a war on, after all, but they can at least get together, get to be able to put names to faces, and maybe get a sense of who teaches what so as to help streamline this for students. He's honestly interested in hearing about how people feel like they're going to be able to keep going here with how bad things are getting in the city.

But just because this is all very interesting doesn't mean it isn't simultaneously totally excruciating. When the table and seats in the room are set up, Bruce will plant himself against a wall to wait.

Comments

open;

[writeswrongs]

Castle shows up with Kate on his arm and a bowl of pasta salad. He's not a half bad cook when he's not experimenting with things like s'morelettes (yes, it's as bad as you think). Both he and Kate had a taste of the pasta salad before they left the house and concurred that it was good.

He's been on cloud nine lately, despite the war. Kate is living with him finally so no more of one of them having to leave a god house bleary-eyed at 3 AM. They could spend the whole night together again, and they were doing much more than sleeping. Plus, Castle is excited about his job at the school. Teaching is something he's always wanted to try and he's especially looking forward to the journaling therapy class, even if he has no idea whether or not it's going to work out. Such uncertainty has never stopped him before.

After helping himself to a (surprisingly strong) drink, Castle mingles among the crowd.

open;

[zen_en_vert]

Bruce sees the look on his face at the first sip of the punch, and grimaces just slightly.

"Sorry, I don't really... partake. I may have been overgenerous there, and there isn't any juice left."

Plus the bowl is pretty near to brimming.

open;

[writeswrongs]

"It's.. strong," Castle replied. "But it's ok."

Honestly Castle didn't mind a bit of hard liquor with all that had been going on lately. At least his personal life was going well even if all of Asgard was going to hell in a handbasket.

open;

[zen_en_vert]

"Bracing, I guess you could call it."

Smiling.

"How was class this week?"

[extraordinarie]

When Castle had originally mentioned a 'staff party', Kate was hit with the sudden realization that she can't remember the last time she went to one of those. With the war efforts and the general chaos of Asgard, she'd almost forgotten about things like that. But then Castle had mentioned making pasta salad, and after a little, totally harmless, kitchen chaos (their kitchen, she likes to remind herself) she is pretty confident in the bowl Rick is carrying into the party.

They split for a few minutes near the beginning, Castle heading to the bar and Kate wanting to have a word with someone else at the party, but it doesn't take long before she's walking up behind where he's standing, her arms sliding around his middle and her chin settling on his shoulder. "What're you drinking?

[writeswrongs]

Consider it a fundamental difference between Castle and Kate that he was more focused on a party and his upcoming classes than the looming war. He has little interest in that beyond what an inconvenience it will be and how to keep Kate safe during it.

He rested his head briefly against Kate's, then took another sip. "It might be paint thinner. But it's not that bad."

[extraordinarie]

"Not bad for paint thinner?" She looks up at him with a raised eyebrow, a little concerned but mostly joking. The war has been her focus when it comes to her daily schedule, so getting the chance to just relax like this for a couple of hours has her in a good mood.

She squeezes him a little before moving to step in beside him, reaching for the glass. "How much paint thinner have you tried?"

[brainsqueeze]

I hadn't pictured you as a teacher.

[ Actually she hadn't pictured him as much of anything, and that wasn't meant in a negative way just that she hadn't really thought about it. Other than trying to get a bit of a view of him from their first conversation they hadn't talked about anything much outside of Asgard, or aliens. He certainly had his views about what she did which... may or may not change regardless of her working here. She wasn't a teacher, but she had a skill she knew how to teach. Maybe he was the same? ]

[writeswrongs]

I could say the same.

[He gave her a lift of his glass in greeting. He was actually a bit surprised to see here there and wondered what she taught. Espionage? How to work for a top secret government agency?]

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[ka_sera_sera]

Bruce and Roland may have similar views on this sort of thing. Navigating parties has never really come naturally. Well. It has, Roland can and has - though most often in that long ago first half of his life - moved through the crowd at some gathering or another, charming whoever needed to be charmed, convincing whoever needed to be convinced. But it takes effort that Roland wouldn't choose to spend that way, all things being equal. It may come naturally, but if Roland had any choice about it it'd also be very rare.

Thankfully, this is going to be about as far from that as it's possible to get. He'd know that even if the concept of a 'potluck' hadn't been explained to him. Roland doesn't need to convince the other school staff of anything at all, needs to use no more politeness or charm than he'd use with someone he'd just met on the street. Most people who may be here have probably come across him while he was working around the school anyway, so though his face may have a few new bruises to it, one or two scratches, it's probably a face anyone who spends any time at all there will recognize. It's a good opportunity, too, to get to know people here to try and see if any of them may have ill intentions. He doubts it, but still. Best to be sure.

He sets the bowl of salad - well, supposedly salad, mostly just vegetables - next to the other bowls and takes a look around. Doesn't take long before he sees a split in one of the tables, hunkers to get a look at it and judge if it's something he needs to come back and repair tomorrow. It's not as if he's trying not to speak to anyone, but he's not putting any extra effort out for it either. And besides, this sort of thing's habit when he's inside the school. Might as well take a look at it while he's here.

[zen_en_vert]

"Oh, that looks good."

Bruce chimes in, the best conversation starter he has, really... but honestly, it does, he likes how vegetarian friendly Asgard is for being such a weird and perpetually battered place. Must be all the plant-growers.

"Thank you for contributing. People have really been nothing but generous- I'm sure Fiona's going to be thrilled."

He is quietly but firmly blaming her for all of this.

[ka_sera_sera]

"Fiona's the one who made it." Roland, who'd never heard the word 'vegetarian' before coming to Asgard, did not have that in mind when he was talking over what food to bring. As far as he's concerned meat is a limited resource right now and vegetables are not, and so vegetables are what he is going to be eating. But, whatever. Let's keep that quiet and let people assume he's being generous and thoughtful.

With none of this in mind, Roland looks up at Bruce and stands, gesturing around the room. "Do you mean she organized all this too?" The thought's not a surprise. Somehow it sounds like her.

[brainiest]

Parties haven't been Hermione's thing for a rather long time. After the horrible mess up at the Yule Ball and the wedding crashers during Bill and Fleur's wedding... Well, she had always come to associate parties and the like with bad things happening. Given Asgard's history she isn't sure this one is going to be different, but... Well, she needs to make more friends, she's sure of it, and her colleges can't exactly be the worst of people to try and get to know.

She's not a particularly proficient chef either; she remembers Harry complaining a bit about her cooking, him and Ron both, and it really rubbed on her nerves. Still, she manages to make quite a few sandwiches and some cake that she had made with a bit of help from a few textbooks in the library... But that was it. Hopefully no one would mind that she didn't bring a feast - she was just one person and not exactly made for this sort of thing, no matter what expectations there were on her shoulders.

Finally, getting a drink of - well, that has alcohol, no thank you - she shifts and looks around the room, watching for people and feeling her cheeks go a little pink. She barely knows anyone here and, yet, here she stands, as awkward as ever. Merlin help me.

[zen_en_vert]

"Is it weird, encouraging, or depressing that pretty much everyone at this thing seems to have an equal amount of... you know, social grace?"

Bruce asks quietly, as he approaches. See someone in battle once or twice, there's a certain bond, he feels, even if you don't talk often.

"I hope we don't have too many young and impressionable students, otherwise they are going to pick up some weird social skills."

This is of course a totally gauche observation to make to someone who is still fundamentally a stranger, but the idea is honestly worrying him, and it's important to have a sense of humour about life, after all. His mouth twitches into a good natured, sardonic smile.

[brainiest]

"I'd like to think it's more that we're unfailingly polite and don't want to interrupt any conversations. That or we all find books far better company - and, really, sometimes they are." Hermione does perk up a little when she's spoken to, though, pleased to see Bruce again; it's been a while and seeing someone a few times, only during battle, makes it hard not to fret after them. Meeting him in a more pleasant social environment is far, far preferable.

She shakes her head, though, lips curling into a brighter smile as she nudges him with her arm, gently, trying her best to bite back her laughter. She has to admit that, really, he does have a point - they're all a little shy and shifty, still getting to know one another. What would their students think? A lot of them are far more confident and outgoing than their teachers, it seems.

"I don't think anyone we're teaching is that impressionable. Most of them seem pretty confident all by themselves - they don't need a silly old teacher passing on anything."

[redhourglass]

As the deliverer of the alcohol, she's here as well - though Natasha is mostly hanging back and watching than doing any mingling of her own. She hasn't quite decided what persona she'd like to take on for her her workmates - Natalie Rushman seemed too dated, Natasha Romanova was far too truthful for her taste. She settled for something in between, a calm smile on her face (rehearsed, but you could never tell), her arms crossed.

Banner organizing a potluck. That was something new; she couldn't imagine him being the party sort back home - but maybe it's easier for him when he doesn't have the other guy hanging over his shoulder. He fits in well enough, another surprise. Maybe this sort of academic atmosphere was exactly his sort of thing.

It wasn't exactly hers.

Still, though. She's doing her best. No one can fault her for that.

[brainsqueeze]

[ Hanging back and watching before mingling? Someone might not be letting you do that, or she's giving you company whilst doing the same (dealer's choice). Maria's there to see who she's working with, and what may happen. It's a regular school rather than something more specialised than she's used to. But it all seemed to be the same idea, or at least she knew that what she would be doing was - preparing people for anything.

But at least there's a familiar face. Someone to 'mingle' with whilst deciding how to mingle, or who to mingle with. A nice ease into the party ]

You teach?

[ That part might definitely have been missed the last time you were plying her with alcohol. Or the first time (here). And maybe she actually sounds a little surprised about it. Unless you're not teaching and are just crashing the party or do something else here. Secretary again? ]

[redhourglass]

You're surprised?

( it's not like she'd been overly averse to showing the new guys at SHIELD a thing or two. except for the part where she mostly kept to herself, other than sparring with cap and (occasionally) fury. sometimes clint, too, if he was in town. she didn't like the others knowing how much she could and (perhaps) couldn't do.

that and there were only so many guys who took being embarrassed well. )

Someone had to do it; there wasn't exactly an abundance of volunteers when the school was first set up.

( she's actually very against teaching children to fight. but, given the circumstances, her hand was forced. it was that or let them die. a rock and a hard place, indeed. )

Don't drink the punch, by the way.

[zen_en_vert]

"You're a lifesaver."

He tells her quietly, towards the later part of the evening.

"Really, Nat. Really."

[redhourglass]

Natasha glances over at Bruce and favors him with an amused smile, crossing her arms and leaning back against the wall, mostly satisfied.

"I do what I can. If all it takes is some alcohol to make you happy, I'll have to keep that in mind," she throws back at him lazily, taking a sip from her drink (water, just in case). "Was this the sort of party you had in mind?"

open

[proudofwhatiam]

In lieu of cooking something for the party, Evy decides to do what she does best: make tea. It's cool enough on the day of the event that she thinks hot tea is justifiable, so she finds an empty coffee urn and ensures that it's filled with decidedly-not-coffee for the rest of the night. It, too, gets a polite label and ends up set up near the punch.

(The tea is black rather than hibiscus. The availability of the latter seems to be shrinking faster, and as much as she likes her colleagues, she's not going to risk it going to waste.)

Evy's interest in any given work-related party waxes and wanes fairly quickly, but as a member of the school's new board, she feels obliged to remain present for the duration of the get-together. She also considers it a personal obligation to say hello to everyone who attends and introduce herself to anyone she hasn't previously met. "How are you? Have classes been going well?"

[brainsqueeze]

"Remind me to tell you after the first one."

It made being here slightly strange - a teacher with (as yet) any students, but she'd only just signed up via Fiona's recent inquiry and the party had been organised not long after she'd made staff. Classes were due to start in two days and hopefully there would actually be at least one person to teach.

"Maria Hill. I've only just started."

But that was the most important part of why she'd actually turned up. She was new - it would be nice to see who else was there, and what else was going on.

[proudofwhatiam]

"Evelyn Carnahan. It's a pleasure to meet you." She offers her hand to Miss Hill, glad to know there's a good reason she doesn't recognize the woman. Evy would prefer to think she hasn't disappeared so thoroughly into her own classroom that she doesn't recognize her colleagues' faces.

Anyway, small-talk. "I'm sure you'll find a willing class, Miss Hill. Our students are good children--quite attentive. What is it you're teaching?"

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[zen_en_vert]

"Definitely."

He says, with an enthusiastic nod.

"I mean, it's physics, it isn't the easiest thing to make work here, but lately I've been having a lot, a lot of fun with demonstrations and experiments."

[proudofwhatiam]

"Oh, wonderful." She'd never cared particularly for the subject, but she suspects there are plenty of object lessons to be found here in Asgard, so close to the battlefield. Combined with everything one can do within a classroom, Evy has no doubt it's an interesting course. "What sorts of experiments have you been doing?"