it's my party and I'll cry if I want to

[palfriday]

Who: Gal Friday + YOU
What: Icebreaker party
When: 3/13, evening
Where: Rischie
Warnings: TBA

[the morning announcements alter daily now, by the second week of the month. one week until the party. four days until the party. the party is tomorrow.]

The new cruiser get-together will start at 9PM tonight at Rischie! Remember: The dress code is cruise elegant! Hm? [there is a sound like a crackle and pop of static.] The Captain says he won't be attending, but he'll be paying extra special attention to everybody who does!

[if that's a sufficient enough bribe.

"but we don't have cruise elegant clothing," you cry. but you do! have you not checked the top drawer in your room's dresser, where at most two perfectly suited formal outfits are located? you have? but they weren't there before today? don't ask questions. just get ready for the party.

the house lights in the club are at full brightness, giving everything the sort of uneasy liminal feeling a room gets when used for something opposite its intended purpose. booths line the walls, and small tables and chairs sit between them and the dance floor, which is empty except for one table, holding a series of "HELLO, MY NAME IS..." nametags and sheets of glittery stickers. Friday is there, of course, standing by the table. she's even dressed up! and if your character hasn't corrected her previously, their name tag will have their true name. there are also a few buffet tables with refreshments on them, and trays bearing canapes and flutes of champagne float by. (deftly avoiding minors! excluding Jinx, but only if Venti is within close proximity. welcome to parenthood, barbatos!)

once everyone is settled in, Friday will clear her throat (??) to get everyone's attention and explain the rules of the night. it's an altered version of twenty questions: every person in the room must answer ten questions about themselves, asked by their fellow passengers, collecting stars for every answer considered acceptable. when they have 10 stars, they're allowed to leave!

oh, yeah, the door to the club shut about five minutes ago. it doesn't seem very eager to open back up again.

time to break some ice! breaking ice and cruises always go well together, after all.]

Comments

[skaikru]

( oh hey sanji, heard you liked curves. feel free to first be distracted by the navy clad butt over this way, then the deep v-trimmed neckline of the dress, before eventually — finally — noticing the finest curve clarke griffin has to offer: the downturned angle of her mouth, set in a perpetually sour, exhausted sort of resignation. the ultimate scowl, unamused by anything about this entire party, and especially the idea of socializing. and somehow managing to deepen even further when that inevitable feeling of being stared at pricks the hackles on the back of her neck, and an uncomfortable sort of eye contact is established.

also of note, a kinda gross smattering of blistered, barely healed burns.

but still mostly just the death stare. it's been a shitty night, and something about being locked in a confined space by powers beyond the eye's ability to comprehend makes wild animals start to pace like behind bars at a zoo. )

What.

[deviledlegs]

[Distracted, he is! Immediately! He slides on over from a good three or four yards away as a little heart forms in his eye. Even when he gets close enough to see her burns, he doesn't so much as pause, let alone back off.]

I couldn't help but be drawn in by your magnetic attraction! [He crows, undaunted by the poor girl's overt distaste.] I want to know more! I have to learn of this icy allure overwhelming my very senses! So! [He holds out his hand to accept hers, and kiss it if she allows.] Dear Lady, would you honor me with an interview in exchange for my shiny star?

[skaikru]

( there's a better chance she'd willingly touch friday's creepy, feature-less face than take his hand.

...it's not entirely personal. clarke's just got that whole paranoid, trust no one, bite the hand that feeds and expect to be bitten back vibe hanging around her throat like an iron bow yoke, and is in no hurry to shake it off.

a few moments are required to process what he'd just asked; peel away the flowery overcoat, get over the aggressive heart-eyes that feel like they're burning into her soul, and parse the question back in her own metric. )

You want to... play this game and actually ask questions...( disinterest aside, end of the day a girl's gotta get the hell out of this room. and thus, needs stickers. ) Fine. But that counts as a personal question.

( just gonna hold out her hand for a sticker right now, hand it over. )

[deviledlegs]

[Luckily for her, he's used to being brushed off. In fact, he finds her paranoid distrust almost as endearing as he would have found her acceptance. When she holds out her hand, he eagerly pulls his sticker sheet out of his vest and hands her the largest star he's got.]

Of course! Who wouldn't want to ask a beautiful young woman any and every question she'd be willing to answer? I'd be honored to answer any questions you have about me too!

[His shining eyes and excited smile are practically screaming, "PLEASE!"]

[skaikru]

( it's been a long time since anyone's given her a gold star — literally, or just as an emotional bump up — and had clarke an ounce of space left in her head to ponder over immediate acceptance and freely offered validation (and having literally anyone do what she asked the first time she asked it, handing stickers over included), she would have been lost in a momentary tailspin of thought.

but nope. she's taking that sticker with a business-like demeanor, glancing between his glistening eyes, too-wide smile, nametag, and then her own as she affixes the star next to the "-n" of her last name. sure, she's got a question alright — )

Is this your usual response to being kidnapped and dropped in the middle of the ocean, Sanji?

( being overexcited and drooling in every way except physically??? she's stumped that literally anyone could be having an okay time here, and not continually shitting their pants since those entrance doors clicked closed. )

[deviledlegs]

Only when there's a lovely lady involved!

[Is it stranger that he's so happy or that he's just casually implied that he has been kidnapped and dropped into the middle of the ocean before? Do these things cancel each other out, or do they explain themselves? The world may never know.]

Any man would be lucky to be kidnapped alongside you, Miss Clarke. You'd light up even the darkest dungeon, and something tells me you'd be the first to find a way out of that dungeon too!

[Insert suggestive brow wag here.]

[skaikru]

( it's pretty damn strange, can't lie. but since waking up on this cursed cruiseliner, her meter from fucking weird has dramatically skyrocketed. habitual kidnap victims? yeah, clarke could buy that. looking at her scabbed-over, beef jerky leather, all too crispy face adorned with the barely concealed urge to commit an atrocity against their hosts? ...yeah, not so much that.

and thus, she's fumbling a bit. )

There are... plenty of people who have been kidnapped with me who would argue against you, there.

( desperately trying to inject her own version of sense into this conversation, flirting with a textbook migraine as she went along.

but. that last point, though... )

But, yeah. I'm working on that. ( first mission, get out of this room. a stopwatch tick fast dip of her gaze down to his sticker sheet, then back to his face. ) So can I have another star?

[deviledlegs]

Well, obviously they weren't kidnapped for their taste! [He huffs, offended for all the wrong reasons. How dare those strangers not enjoy their time with her?! Clearly not a real man in the bunch!] Not that they'd be able to compete with mine anyway.

[Time to twirl another sticker her way. He'd give her the whole damn sheet at once if he thought they could get away with it.]

Consider every one of them reserved just for you!

[skaikru]

( the urge to push their luck and pluck the entire sheet from his hand before walking away from this conversation is... high. but at her heart, clarke's a humanitarian and a diplomat; she doesn't want any other passenger stranded without the means to play the game that would secure their freedom, and kinda figures she's fully capable of frustrating anyone into walking away from her first.

so.

game, set, match. she's taking that sticker but simultaneously cocking her head to the side, squinting through lashes to better appraise the human being bouncing in place in front of her. )

Thanks, but... what do you want?

[deviledlegs]

TO SERVE YOU HAND AND FOOT!

[He exclaims immediately with great gusto. Something is wrong with this man, but he's clearly aware and long since made his peace with it.]

[skaikru]

( a'ite, what the actual fuck.

clarke has never been as gobsmacked and speechless in her entire life than she is in this exact moment. and it's been quite a life. that is certainly a declaration, if a completely inappropriate one, and the medical professional in her chest has to wonder if sanji'd been clubbed in the head recently, or took to forming unhealthy attachments due to some sort of childhood displacement. but none of those thoughts are fully formed, she's still suck in what the fuck land. )

I'm sorry, you want to do what?

[deviledlegs]

[Both of those things are true, but neither of them are why he's standing here declaring in earnest that he wants to be a complete stranger's slave. Have fun with this one, Clarke. He is utterly unfazed by her incredulous reaction, still grinning wide as he bows his head to her.]

Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't explain! I was too enchanted by our lovely conversation!

[More of a business-esque exchange of pertinent but shallow information for the sake of a mutual goal, but we'll call it a conversation for now.

Sanji slaps a hand on his chest.]

You see, Miss Clarke, I am a man who was born for a singular purpose: to spoil all women with my limitless love and boundless affection! Short or tall, slender or curvaceous, meek or bold. They are all dazzling to any man who can see their unique beauty!

AND I AM THAT MAN!

[The hand at his chest moves to tug at his sleeve, bringing his nametag front and center.]

"Black Leg" Sanji!

1/2

[skaikru]

( first and foremost, once again — what the fuck. )

[skaikru]

( but on second blush... no, nope, no second blush. this is still weird and uncomfortable, and she doesn't feel like she can look away from his face long enough to read his nametag again. she should leave. kinda wants to just back away slowly until there's an appropriate amount of distance between the two of them before hiding under a refreshment table or something.

but any retreat comes with tactical disadvantages. they're still suck in a room together, hiding only lasts for so long, and it never hurt to have a disposable foot solider —

no, nope. another round of what the actual fuck, but this time directed back at herself. )

I don't... want to be spoiled. But okay. ( serve hand and foot, huh? ) So if I asked you to find me a way out of this room other than the door, you'd do that?

[deviledlegs]

Of course! [He accents his assurance with outspread arms.] I would work tirelessly around the clock until we're freed of this tedious prison!

[He's watched others try their hand at escape, but because he actually wanted to mingle in the crowd, he hasn't tried anything personally just yet. One word from her, and that all changes.]

[skaikru]

Okay, well then...

( just one word? surly he deserves two. and will get them, along with a stilted sort of nod. )

Good luck.

( and she's working from the assumption that his borderline manic enthusiasim is going to have them parting ways this moment, but still takes the initiative of a step back. then another — and the hasty retreat back into the fray of the mingling crowd.

chances are she'll get the rest of her stars and get out of this room before he succeeds, and only think back on this interaction (next time she needed someone to just do what she said) with cringe. )

[deviledlegs]

Your well wishes will guide me to certain victory!

[Her assumption is one thousand per cent correct. As she slides away from him, he charges forward like a bull seeing red, completely convinced that her faith in his strength will motivate him all the way to success.]

For love!!