Open! Backdated! Party!

[trainwrecked]

Characters: Everyone who wants!
Date: July 4
Location: SHUI-XIAN and outside it. (Bucky and Steve's suite.)
Situation: It's July 4. It's Steve Rogers's birthday. And Natasha dared Bucky to set up a party in their apartment.
Warnings/Rating: Shouldn't be any? Will edit if necessary.
A/N: As you can see, this is a bit late, but. Open to all - if Bucky or Natasha doesn't have CR with your character, they can have just heard about it, or the noise itself. If your character needs to have been nudged, consider it done. There are a few starters, but feel free to set something else up. Mingle. Etc. Prose and action tags both open. If you have questions, etc., I'm reachable at kikibug13

Comments

Food!

[trainwrecked]

It hadn't been easy, because Bucky'd been busy, but he had managed to get kedan he knew to create a (fowl) version of burgers. Because, while he wasn't going to set up a barbeque (tempting, but no), he could at least help with people's homesickness a tiny bit. At least once in a rare while.

Other than that, the selection was pretty local, and, while there was enough of it, he wasn't pushing the limits of the still-recent (relatively) bombing. And there was alcohol, though, just in case, Bucky was keeping an eye on it if there were any too-young party people. Habit.

[neverdanced]

Steve hadn't planned on doing much more than getting drinks at a bar, but he wasn't going to complain about an actual party. Especially after all of the effort put into it. The food was the biggest, most immediate draw. It didn't take much to build up an appetite.

At the moment, he was leaning against the wall with a plate of food. He ate slowly, drinking occasionally as well. At the moment he was concerned with enjoying the food and atmosphere. Should anyone come within a reasonable distance, he'd strike up a conversation.

[iguanasolution]

"You were actually born on the 4th of July?" How's that for a conversational starter, Steve?

"I mean, I'm not even American but that is kind of impressive."

[neverdanced]

That made Steve crack a grin. "Yeah. It's funny how that works out. I'm certain that if anyone else was chosen to be Captain America, they would've had to change their birthday."

[agentx13]

She can't duck from him forever. Besides. They get along now, ostensibly. This whole thing is just her having trouble not seeing Steve - her Steve - when she looks at this one.

But this is his party, and she'd be an ass if she didn't at least say hello.

"So which came first?" she asks, a teasing smile on her lips as she stands beside him. "You or the national holiday?"

[neverdanced]

Steve doesn't hold it against her, so it's quite easy for him to smile at her. It's still nice to see her regardless.

"The holiday, but just by a few minutes."

And yes, he's a little pleased with his own joke.

[vdova]

She comes out of the shadows, a plate in her hand, and leans against the wall next to him, watching the festivities.

Eventually she rolls her head to the side to look at him. "Having fun? Do you need your cane?"

[neverdanced]

"My hip hasn't acted up yet, but if it does, be a dear and get the walker from the closet."

He gives her the most serious look for a moment, although his eyes were lit with humour. Finally he looks back to the party and steals a bite of food before he speaks again.

"This whole setup is great. He really went all out."

[agentx13]

Sharon looks comfortable. Or at least, as comfortable as a person can be when she's attending a birthday party for a man who, in her own universe, was her boyfriend and almost-maybe-fiance. Despite all her months here, she still isn't entirely comfortable with Steve and prefers to hang out with Natasha and Bucky.

But she still couldn't bring herself to miss this. This may not be the Steve she knows, but that doesn't mean he's any less deserving of a birthday party. A well-attended birthday party.

She gives Bucky an impressed nod, a small, tissue-wrapped gift tucked under an arm. "I'm impressed. You'll have to throw more parties, Bucky." She grins wickedly. "Natasha has a birthday coming up..."

[trainwrecked]

Bucky's glad that she's here. It fits, even if it's not necessarily easy. Her words, though? They make his eyebrows go all the way up, and his eyes shoot towards the redhead.

"Oh, is that so."

Of course, everybody's birthday is coming up, eventually. "When would that be?"

[agentx13]

She sips from her drink, taking her time and letting him hang.

"It's in a month of the year."

Another sip of her drink. This could be fun.

Until Natasha finds out. But Natasha isn't here yet, and she and Bucky are trained in this sort of thing. They can keep this secret, surely.

Music and dancing!

[trainwrecked]

There was music! Most of the time, it was Keeliai music, but, now and again, the musicians he'd found (some of them, he'd known all the way back since Favrielle's party) had been persuaded to play, or improvise, tunes that Bucky had played from them, from people's phones and such. That was probably interesting.

Bucky, sunburned, but okay (if a little less boisterous than he'd thought he'd be, because Molly was gone), was usually around the dancing area, himself. In case anyone needed help with dancing or something of the sort.

[mictlanrises]

There is a gate-crasher creeping into the dance area. Aracely heard Lady Gaga (or maybe it was Faith Hill, the kedan weren't so good at real music. She has already located the cake and snagged a piece without anyone asking her what she was doing here. What she hadn't found yet was anyone she knew, but Aracely didn't expect Kaine to be at a party like this.

There were too many people around having fun.

Like that guy over there! He looks fun. "Hi! Do you know who's party this is?"

[trainwrecked]

Crashers are absolutely welcome. Really. That's why the invitations were open.

"Yep. It's Steve Rogres's birthday party. And you've gotta stay for the fireworks, right?"

He offers a hand to shake. "Sergeant Bucky Barnes."

[mictlanrises]

Aracely's eyes widen a little at the names. She might live in Houston, but she's been interested in superheroes for months now (because she lives with one and now is one, omigosh). She knows that one name.

But! She will totally play it cool in front of Sergeant Barnes here, because maybe Captain America is trying to hide his awesomeness in Keeliai. After wiping icing off on her pants (so discreet), Aracely shakes his hand, a little weakly because she's 16 and doesn't do formal. "Hi! I'm Aracely. Are there really going to be fireworks? That is so cool!"

Cake!

[trainwrecked]

There was, of course, cake, when the time for it came. No, there weren't ninety-odd candles on it (that would be too much) - but there were nine sparkles, and normal candles to make up the years above ninety that had passed on earth between Steve's birthday and his 'current' time. For Steve, at least.

[iguanasolution]

And someone over here is... kind of very obviously trying to count the candles, no matter how discrete he's actually trying to be. So sue him, he's curious about his turtle-parent-buddy's age. He looks young still but he's long since learned not to trust that.

Plus he doesn't think he'll touch the cake, wouldn't want to risk his lactose intolerance kicking in.

[agentx13]

"One hundred thirteen," Sharon says in a conspiratorial whisper. "He has a fantastic moisturizer."

She steps forward and places her small gift on the table. It's actually two gifts wrapped in one. The first is a haphazard collection of artists' pens she'd been able to dig up, joined by a small sketchpad. The second was a bone from one of the birds eaten on the turtle, with a note - One day this bone will be considered a fossil. You're already a fossil, sure, but at least you've still got hair! Love, Sharon.

She was already rethinking the gift.

She turns to the young man and holds out her hand. "Sharon Carter."

[iguanasolution]

He's still looking at her with both eyebrows raised high up, trying to guess if she was joking or actually being serious when she turns to hold out a hand and he takes it without thinking about it. He even bows his head a bit- as always, his father's heritage makes him pay his respects to someone he feels has some kind of soldier training.

"Frank Zhang. Friend of Steve? ...And were you serious? Because if so I really need to get my hands on that moisturizer."

[trainwrecked]

Bucky heard Sharon's reply, but was too busy with his attention on Steve, for the moment.

But, once Frank's on his own again, Bucky's around, grinning a bit. "Don't believe Sharon. Unless she's from farther in the future, she's off by about twenty years."

Because 93 is so much better than 113, right?

[neverdanced]

He couldn't remember the last time he had a birthday cake. Well, he could, but it felt like it was lifetimes ago. It's a good thing that there weren't ninety-some candles on the cake. All of the frosting would've undoubtedly melted away before he could finish putting out all the candles.

Steve cheated some and let the sparklers go out on their own before he made his wish and blew. But who said he had to follow rules when it came to cake?

[trainwrecked]

Bucky laughed, as he watched him work the candles.

"You always were the smart one, Steve." And then, quieter, "happy birthday, pal."

Fireworks!

[trainwrecked]

And there were fireworks. Those, if anyone bothered to count, were exactly the number of years between the revolutionary war and the year the Chitauri attacked. Outside, and Bucky had made sure they were safe, good, and would pop very high over the city. No mishaps. Just a little bit of taste of home.

(Yes, he'd cleared them with the law keepers. Because, after what happened, what, three months ago? He wasn't going to risk panic - or something bad happening under the cover of this party.)

[vdova]

You bet your ass Natasha counted out 238 fireworks and got them all set up for the big finale. If she couldn't have a cake covered in candle wax, this was the next best thing. She standing outside watching them, a big grin on her face, arms crossed.

They were all red, white, and blue, naturally.

[trainwrecked]

He comes up behind her as silently as he can, and smirking, too.

"Things that go bang, huh?"