[Mingle] The First Official Meeting of the Young Adult Club

[skyward_eyes]

WHO: Nida
WHERE: House 16
WHEN: Evening/Night Monday the 14th
OPEN TO: Mingle: Open too all young adults (22 and younger); Older may show up but expect a testy Nida.
WARNINGS: Young Adults Partying, Possible: Underaged drinking if people bring stuff. If your thread changes ratings, in subject line and DM me so I can update.

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The message goes out over the Network Sunday evening.

'Young Adult Club, First Meet-Up/Party Monday night. First house after the Jail/Barn. Bring Snacks If You've Got Them To Spare.'

Invitation sent in general, The rest, now, came down to Nida. Good thing he had someone who knew how parties worked was right there too. Rinoa turned out to be a pretty good resource. He learned there were a few important things to do for a party. Three major things were needed: music, treats and games. Unfortunately they couldn't do much about the former, so instead Nida employed his housemates in trying to make sure the latter two were covered.



The Nibbles

The easiest person to go to about food turned out to be Seifer. Of the three of them the blonde had somehow ended up as the defacto chef of their house when it came to important things like this. What this meant was a variety of easily made food, things like a plate of half-dollar sized pancakes for easy munching or dipping into other things, fried potato edges, even a quiche that Seifer had managed to whip up, not that Nida even recognized what the whole thing was. While it wasn't as impressive a spread as the New Year Eve party had (or perhaps even the forge gathering) it was clear that the three had done the best they could with the skills two mercenaries and a formerly sheltered young woman had between them. Hopefully treats from other people would help with the spread. Personally, Nida was hoping to steal some of the fritatta Seifer had made in their cast iron skillet, but guests came first of course.



The Games

Games. What even were party games? For that one the center spotlight had gone to Rinoa's planning efforts. Nida had scrounged in the inn's shared supplies, borrowing a set of playing cards and a Jenga set. Not that he really knew what the latter was. The cards went to the dining room table with some extra chairs borrowed from an unoccupied house, the Jenga onto the coffee table, and Rinoa's peakitten Julia got shuffled into her room to prevent her from knocking over the wooden blocks yet again. Nida was tired of rebuilding.




Introductions

They're all new here, they don't all know each other, so Nida and Rinoa encourage people upon arrival to start out simple. And all you have to do is say your name and three facts about yourself. Or, if you're feeling mischievous, two truths and a lie. Can people guess the truth of the matter about you? Or do they already know you well?



Quite Spaces

Frankly Nida wasn't sure how he felt about opening their house to so many people, and with the living room, dining room and kitchen all prepped for use, he realized there was one other thing people could need. A place to talk quietly or just have group games. As he was the only one of the three of them that didn't have much in the way of property and could give up the whole concept of privacy for a bit, the back bedroom ended up having a note pinned on it with a kitchen knife.

'Quiet Space for Your Use - Do not have sex in my bed please'

With his staff stored in the basement and his tiny journal and pencils stored out of sight on top of the standing wardrobe, the room was perfect for anyone who just needed to cool down. Or have a private conversation. Good thing the house has electricity because that could be used long into the night.

Comments

[aguidingkey]

Some of them might be more capable than the adults think they are. Aqua would agree with that. She felt the same way back home, when she had told Master Eraqus that Terra wasn't as weak as he thought. In some respects, though, the Master put too much on their shoulders, not that she would ever think that. They were the youngest prospective keyblade masters in a long time, which made Aqua the youngest actual keyblade master in a long time. To have so much heaped on her shoulders, resting on her alone, had not been easy. Her sense of duty meant that she would kerp going no matter the personal cost and it had been a big one

The little joke at the end catches her by surprise and the small laugh she manages echoes that surprise. It's a good laugh, though. She hadn't been able to laugh much until she came here.

"I think maybe you're right," she agrees. "But I think we're all the kind of people who will keep trying anyway. Especially in a world like this one. At least now we know there are more of us than we all thought and maybe that will mean more friends and ways to help each other."

[cisskabob]

"That would be really nice," Cissie says, a little wistfully. She hopes it's true. More friends is always a good thing, and she's missed having her own, since before winding up in Wonderland. "I think we all need to work together in this kind of situation. I mean, we've really just got each other here. I know I'd rather get to know the others here."

[aguidingkey]

"There's no reason we can't try," Aqua points out helpfully. "And even if we didn't mean to be sharing a quiet moment in the same room, I think it's a good start. I'm... the only one from my world here." So her list of friends is tiny compared to most everyone else. She's had to make her own friends and she's still working on that.

[cisskabob]

"That's got to be hard," Cissie says sympathetically. "I'm lucky. There are some people I know here, and even in the place I was before winding up here, I had some friends from home." She shrugs, admitting, "Honestly, I almost have had more friends in Wonderland and here than I did at home. It's harder to drift apart and lose touch in these situations."

[aguidingkey]

To be fair, though, if any of her friends turned up here, she would have a lot of questions about how. Not that the question of how she got here is any easier to answer. She's strong, after all. She'll make it through somehow.

"Was Wonderland another world? What was it like?" It's not one of the ones she knows, but there are plenty of others out there. Maybe it's one of those.

[cisskabob]

Cissie nods, wrapping her arms around her knees. "Yeah. It was... really different from here, and from my home. There was a lot of magic, for one thing. We could get pretty much anything we wanted from our closets, and food appeared by magic on the tables in the dining hall. I mean, we could cook in the kitchens too, but we didn't have to. And there was a library with basically any books we could imagine, from any world. But... it wasn't always great, either," she admits with a shrug. "Sometimes the whole place would change around us, or it would even change our memories."

[aguidingkey]

A frown crosses Aqua's face as she listens. "That sounds... almost perfect." She can see why some people would find it easier just to stick with the groups they know well. "Maybe the changes are the price to be paid for a perfect life." Or a so-called perfect life. It sounds like something Aqua would sense darkness in, something more sinister farther down.

"I'm not sure if being here is much better," she admits slowly. "There's a lot that can go wrong here, too. But at least everyone is willing to step up and help each other. That has to be a good thing."

[cisskabob]

"Maybe," Cissie says slowly, considering that. "Or the conveniences were to make up for what we were put through. Either way, Wonderland was powered by this thing they called the Core, and the Core is what pulled us there from our homes, and I guess it was powered off of our memories and our life forces or something? I was never totally clear on how it worked. Most people were more concerned with making it through the day than figuring out how the place worked."

She shrugs, and smiles a bit. "It's definitely different here. Not necessarily in a bad way. Like you said, the sense of community is pretty great. I think... there wasn't much of that, where I was, probably because we didn't really need each other to survive, like we do here. I don't think that's bad, either."