exsiliumlogs | (open) celebrating everything it took to free us from the land of the broken and betrayed

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(open) celebrating everything it took to free us from the land of the broken and betrayed

Date & Time: February 12th - February 14th
Location: Throughout Exsilium
Characters: ANY & ALL
Summary: Separation Awareness Day is a festival and time of celebration for the hard won and retained freedoms of those who live on the island of Exsilium. Separate from the United Earth, they continue to exist, and thrive in their own way. As those identified as teenagers and children are showered with gifts of sweets, foods, and toys from the adult population, merchants are selling on the streets and color had invaded the often grey atmosphere. Feasting is practically a law, singing can be heard in the streets, and instruments that may stay safely indoors most the year are brought out to encourage dancing and such other frivolities as are rarely seen.

The night of the 14th there are fireworks shows throughout the city, with the most impressive display being launched from the remains of Buckingham Palace.

Warnings: Festivities!

Date your threads as you will, and feel free to use this as a Valentine's exploration as well for those more inclined to appreciate a holiday from home amidst the celebrations of a whole different sort of world!

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That's the second time Ellie has mentioned stupid, drunk decisions, and Steph can't help the way her expression softens slightly, and she decides to let it be, "It was a pretty dress, my friend bought it for me," She sounds almost annoyed, at the ninjas who ruined her dress.

And there's another laugh, this one lighter, a little more fond, and she smiles at the way Ellie almost tugs at her shirt, "I nap a lot, you don't need to worry yourself," It's strange to have someone fuss over her, she's used to it being the other way around, "If you find me a piano I can play those soundtracks for us."

It's said lightly, but she can actually play, and with her mom's fondness for old movies, she remembers a few songs from that era.

"Oh." That's automatically different. Ellie scowls a bit, as if a scowl might defend Steph's honour and protect any future dresses. "Dickheads." It does quite cover it, not with Ellie's temper, but this is nice and comfortable, and she doesn't really want to get all worked up again. Grumpy indignation is quite sufficient. "Next times throw a party, I'll ban ninjas."

"Apparently Leonardo DiVinci or... One of those renaissance blokes only ever got four ours sleep at a time. Maybe you're just a genius." A genius or suffering chronic sleep problems, either or.

Stop being cool, Steph. "Can you play stuff like West Side Story?"

"I'd appreciate that," Not getting attacked by ninjas, and she doesn't even doubt Ellie's ability to keep ninjas away, "Maybe we can find an excuse to get dressed up nice."

There are missions, maybe one of them might involve a party somehow, though Steph isn't sure whether that would be better or worse than a battle. Undercover is always a bit of a struggle.

"I don't think I'm much of a genuis," But she apperciates the compliment anyway. Bruce, Tim, Babs, they're the genuises, Steph is just good at punching stuff.

She grins a litte, less genuine than the others, but mostly because she's pretending to be smug, "I think I could manage. Just for you."

"That'd be good. Something to celebrate!" The dramatic pause is perhaps condemning enough. "Maybe I can have a party to celebrate not having to drink any of your crappy tea." Mockery is practically affection, with this one.

"No? All right then, dumbass." But Ellie is not entirely successful at hiding her grin, pulling back a bit on reflex, just in case Steph should sat at her. "I won't ask you for any help with the maths homework, then."

Happy enough with that, Ellie gives a nod of approval. "I bet you say that to all the girls. I'm onto you."

"Sounds like you'll find any excuse to party," She waggles her eyebrows at Ellie. She doesn't really seem like the partying type at all, but she won't let that get in the way of making fun of her. Especially after the tea comment.

She just rolls her eyes at the math comment, "I'm alright with the practical stuff, but I'm useless with the rest," Anything requiring her to calculate angles or work out perimeters is easy, but she's never had the head for more theoretical stuff.

"I've only played for a couple of people, actually," Ever since she gave up lessons, she barely touched a piano, especially not in front of other people. Tim, Cass, Alfred. It's a small list.

"Yeah, that's me. All night raver, and stuff. Nothing can hold me back for a wild Saturday night reading a good book." And she had sounded so convincing up to that point. Especially with all that eye rolling.

"See, right? Th practical stuff makes sense. Easy to remember 'cause you need to use it. All the rest is a bit wanky. Knowing the first hundred numbers of pi isn't going to help with anything." Silly mathematicians. "And the sample questions in textbooks were so stupid. 'A farmer has three cows, calculate blah blah blah.' All I could think was he was a pretty crap farmer, only having three cows."

Huh. Somehow Steph kept getting a bit tangled with Fi in her head, even with all the differences. In fact, they were more different than similar, but some associations can't be helped. "I promise not to make fun, not unless you're really awful."

"Nothing wrong with a good book," Not that Steph reads much herself, but it reminds her of Tim a little, which always makes it easier to get along with someone. And at least she was right about Ellie not being much of a partier.

Another laugh, and she bumps her shoulder against Ellie's, "Glad to know someone share's my opinion. Though it was the ones with some guy buying like 48 oranges that got me," No one needs that many oranges.

"The promise isn't necessary, I'm brilliant, if a little rusty," Steph's confidence is a complicated thing; she can't help doubting herself the way everyone else has, but it's countered by her stubborn pride. Playing piano is one of the few things she knows she's good at, and for all that her relationship with the piano is just as complicated, she's only ever gotten positive reinforcement for it.

"That was one of the things about Hell, we didn't have many books. Everything else was always more urgent when we were searching for supplies." Sometimes she felt vaguely guilty about it, as if it were a deliberate neglect of her mind. "I did a lot more writing than reading."

Just chatting about silly things is a relief. "I dunno, poor guy could've had scurvy and needed a bit of vitamin c. You laughing at a guy with a medical condition?"

She has to admit, she's somewhere between awestruck and a bit embarrassed. It makes her feel like a bit of a redneck. "So you play anything else, too?"

It's isn't the first time Ellie's mentioned Hell, and Steph has figured she doesn't mean it, well, literally, "You should come to the library with me one day, I mostly use it for research, but they've got plenty of other stuff you could read," And she wouldn't mind the company, it might even remind her of study groups back home, which aren't something she thought she'd miss.

"If he's got scurvy he should be eating chillis, not oranges, wouldn't need half as many," Yes she's going to respond to that as if Ellie was being completely serious.

If she knew she was embarrassing Ellie, she'd probably tone it down, "Nah, I could only afford the piano lessons for a few years, and after I quit it never really seemed worth trying something else."

"My God. I can't remember the last time I went to a library. I better make sure I eat plenty beforehand so it doesn't go to my head." Things Ellie gets excited about: books. "Careful, you might need to star and intervention."

It also has to be said she likes some realism. "I dunno, being around someone whose eaten that much chilli-- might be shocking for everyone around him." Apparently she can also accept toilet humour.

"Mm. Well, I'd like to hear you play. Some really good friends of mine play. It's really... Soothing, and calming. It's like seeing a while different side of someone to see them play."

That gets a laugh, quiet and amused, "There's a good pizza place across the road from it, actually, we can stop there before heading in," Grinning, because even if books aren't necessarily her thing, she can understand people enjoying them. See: Babs.

An eyeroll for that comment, "You had to take it too far, didn't you?" But she seems more amused than anything, "And really, they'd only need to eat like, one chilli pepper a day, to keep their vitamin C up."

She knows too much about things.

"I'll see what I can do," About finding a piano, and there's something almost shy in the way she ducks her head, tucking a strand of her behind her ear. It's just a little-- She's not sure, but hearing Ellie talk about it being soothing, seeing a different side of someone. She makes it sound so intimate.

She grins. "We didn't have a pizza place in Wirrawee, by the way. I only ever had the frozen stuff you get from the shops." Just as an aside. Pizza always looked so much more appetising in the movies.

"Yeah." She knows the truth. "It's 'cause I'm a rural. It's why we got Fifi back home, so she can class things up. I'm just gonna worse around here without her to nudge me in the right direction."

God, she misses Fi. She misses all of them, but she couldn't think of how to say it when she was with them, how much she valued them. Fathoming how important they were to her was hard enough, but telling them? Impossible.

Watching Steph for a moment, she lets her hand follow Steph's, brushes her hair back, following her fingers, gently squeezes Steph's hand. "Hey. I'd show you something, but all I can do is build fences and blow people up." Not exactly an experience to reveal the truth of someone. Or, maybe it is, and she just can't stand to realise that part of herself.

"What, you never made it yourself?" Prozen pizzas are definitely not the same as one from a pizza shop, but neither of those really stand up to homemade ones.

She huffs a laugh, but her expression is gentle, picking up some of that in Ellie's tone, "I'd offer to pick up the slack, but I'm not much for class, myself." The idea of herself and class is kind of laughable, considering how she grew up.

It's still a little surprising to be around someone who's so easy with affection, after having gotten used to Cass's absence, but she doesn't mind, and squeezes Ellie's hand in return, "I'm pretty sure there's plenty you can do." Ellie seems smarter than her, for one.

"No. I mean, not that I remember." She just chews at her thumb as she thinks it over. "Maybe when I was little."
It's bugging her, now, that she can't remember, but somehow it just doesn't seem like something her mum ever did. "We got those frozen pizza bases, once, I think." Straining to bring back something so random makes her feel a bit like an old person.

Nah, it's better this way, she's pretty sure. Steph wins a grin, a little sharp around the edges, but genuine for all that. "You are American, my hopes weren't raised too high."

Oh, the things she can do. Dr. Seuss would be proud, all right. "I'm a walking literature referencing system?"

"It's fun, getting to pick your own toppings, even if you do use a pre-made base," She smiles, gently nudging Ellie's shoulder with her own, "We can do it sometime, I think I remember how to make dough."

It might be a nice thing to do, something normal while still - sharing a new experience, if Ellie hasn't done it properly before.

That doesn't mean she isn't rolling her eyes at the American comment, but she decides to leave it be, grinning instead, after a moment, "You've definitely got one on me, there, I think the last novel I read was Alice in Wonderland, and that was for a case."

The Mad Hatter is the worst.

"That sounds heaps good." It sounds... fun. Hanging out with someone her age and cooking. She can't even remember the last time she did something like that when it wasn't prefaced by hours of scavenging, and certainly nothing as fancy as pizza. "We can always check for that in the library, too."

As much as she's intrigued... Ellie seems to think about that, about the whole mangled mental mess of Lewis Carroll, and gives Steph a sidelong glance. "That sounds like a hell of a case." A nightmare of a case, actually. "I'm probably better with poetry than books. I can reel off more from The Man from Snowy River than I should ever admit."

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(open) celebrating everything it took to free us from the land of the broken and betrayed

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today in tags that are like a month or three late feel free to ignore this bb

dude don't even stress and also I WILL ALWAYS TAG YOU you will never escape me

i don't want to escape you

i worry for you tbqh

it's okay so do i

also I want pizza