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?"

[writeswrongs]

"It'll get you drunk," Castle agreed with a nod. And that was what was really important, right? "It went well. I'm very excited about the students I have and I think they're excited for the class, which makes teaching a lot easier. How was yours?"

[zen_en_vert]

"Dry." A rueful smile. "But I definitely learned some lessons for next time."

[writeswrongs]

"Dry? Oh yeah, Physics." Castle took a sip of his drink. "Actually, Physics can be kind of interesting if you make it fun. Do one of those egg drop activities. You know, where the students try to make something that can cushion an egg so it doesn't break when they drop it."

[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?"

[writeswrongs]

"Well, I did have the coffee at the precinct before I installed the espresso machine, though that was more of a diesel fuel flavor."

Castle loved relaxing with her like this, and he needed her to do it more often. His opinion was that this place wasn't worth her life, but he knew he would never convince her of that.

"We need to find some good wine here. I bet there's some in Utgard."

[extraordinarie]

Her eyes roll as soon as he mentions the coffee, taking the cup and trying a sip for herself. As soon as she takes that sip, though, she's making a face and handing it back to him. "The coffee was never that bad."

But Kate's laughing anyway, hands in her pockets. "We'll have to figure a way to get to Utgard. With that ice bridge blocking everything off, the war will get here before we can make it through."

[writeswrongs]

Castle gives her a serious look. "Yes it was, Kate. You just don't remember because you've been drinking good coffee for too long." At the mention of the war he goes quiet. It's been weighing on him lately, especially the role that she will play in it. He's worried about her, but knows that he won't be able to convince her to stay out of the war.

[extraordinarie]

Her eyebrows shoot up at his serious look, unable to keep from smiling despite it. It's not until she notices how quiet he goes a moment later that she sobers up, if only a little.

"Hey-" Her hand settles on his arm. "It's gonna be alright. I haven't grown extra arms yet, so I'm assuming the paint thinner wasn't too toxic." Kate's avoiding the war subject, mostly because she knows there's nothing she can really say.

[writeswrongs]

Castle's hand goes instinctively to her waist, as though drawing her closer to him would protect her. "I'm more worried about you losing them," he responds. "Just promise me that you won't be reckless, Kate. I intend to see you walk down the aisle to me, you know."

Maybe keeping it light would help mask how worried he really was.

[extraordinarie]

The hand around her waist is a comfort, more than anything. She moves a little closer to him, her hands moving to his chest. "I know."

She knows just how stressed Castle is for her. Knows how he looks at her when she gets ready in the morning to go out with the Guard, to help with the preparations. "We have a wedding to be in. Don't think I'm going to let a magical war get in the way of that."

[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?]

[brainsqueeze]

Well you didn't believe what I do.

[ Because she seriously does work in a security capacity. Privatising global security sure, but it's the private sector. And security

Though that still doesn't say much about what she may or may not be teaching ]

Any interesting classes?

[ To him? Definitely. You had to be interested in what you were teaching to want to do it, right? ]

[writeswrongs]

I definitely don't believe what you actually do is teaching though.

[The bit about the aliens had been a step closer to the truth, he felt. But there was still a ways to go.]

I'm teaching creative writing as well as a type of journaling therapy course. What about you?

[brainsqueeze]

I have before. [ There's an almost shrug to her tone. It's familiar, and even if she weren't here she'd be instructing over at the Citadel. It's one thing that she can do here and actually feel useful about, because simply just working somewhere... isn't quite as appealing ] Self defense. Journaling therapy could be pretty useful. [ There had to be a lot of issues about being here ]

[writeswrongs]

[Castle actually gets serious when she gives her answer.]

You know... I might be interested in that class.

[The war's coming whether he likes it or not, and being able to protect himself would become necessary.]

[brainsqueeze]

You sure about that?

[ He had to be. If he wanted to be in her class he had to be sure about it. Everyone should know how to defend themselves if they wanted to but they needed to be serious about it. She wasn't wasting time ]

Class starts next week.

[writeswrongs]

[Castle's eyes widened, now actually a bit unsure. What if the class kicked his ass?]

I really should learn, considering this... war thing.

[brainsqueeze]

( No that might be just Maria.... She has beginner classes! Tough teacher but easier work )

That's why we're doing it. It'd be nice if people keep defend themselves even if they didn't want to fight.

( Defend, avoid, and get somewhere safe relatively unscathed. They could try )