Santa Claus is coming to town

[afallenstar]

Who: Secret Santa participants, but also EVERYONE!
Where: Town Hall
When: Evening of day 24
What: Present giving! The Secret Santa reveal, and anyone who wants to have a christmas party is welcome to join too!
Notess: Party style thread guys, so go nuts. No order, everything is chaos, tag to your hearts content, feel free to break off into separate threads, and no spiking the punch! Also I think she's sort of mentioned it to a bunch of people but want to do me some lovely favours and handwave the actual name drawing? I will backtag if people want but it seems a little pointless to thread that out.


There's another message on the network that morning from Anna, just audio again. It's about as garbled as her first one regarding the Secret Santa idea, but for anyone who is listening closely enough they'll make out a few details. Namely this evening, town hall, and bring your presents before she shuts it off.

She's spent the rest of the day trying to do what she can to make the place look nicer. She's hardly got Christmas decorations on tap, but she's done what she can with what she has all the same. There's paper snow flakes up around the place, some of the food from her house placed in bowls to make it more party-appropriate, and it's no fir but she has relocated a small tree from the edge of the woods and placed it in the hall. Barely decorated, not even the right kind of tree, it's the best she can do with the resources she's been given.

Now all there is to do is wait for people to come.

Comments

Just party, because guess who's not involved in Secret Santa

[hung_garian]

[So maybe on the scale of Christmas spirit from Scrooge to Santa, Gabriel's somewhere between the Grinch and Oscar the Grouch, but he is awful fond of parties. In the hopes that it won't get his ass kicked by his darling little sister, he's also brought along a bottle of something with enough alcohol to drop a whole AA meeting and enough sugar to give Willy Wonka toothache. He's currently sipping some out of a cocktail glass with a little umbrella. Never let him be accused of misusing the power invested in him by God.]

[happytobleed]

Castiel wrinkles his nose at the drink Gabriel has. He still remembers the hangover he'd gotten from drinking heavily and he can't understand why anyone does that to themselves. That Dean does is still one of the bigger Dean-related mysteries.

"It was nice of Anna to do this."

[hung_garian]

Drinking heavily, when one has an angelic alcohol tolerance, is easier said than done. So far his drink is having about as much effect as half a pint of beer, so it's not that irresponsible. What would be irresponsible would be offering it to people on whom it might have more of an effect. Castiel's alcohol tolerance probably isn't a great deal less than Gabriel's, but he offers it anyway.

"Yep. Nothing like a party to make the season tolerable. Although I'm beginning to suspect she completely forgot the strippers, which is a shame."

[happytobleed]

"I don't think forgot is the right word." Castiel doesn't care about the season one way or another. It has nothing to do with what it claims to celebrate and he doesn't care very much for gifts or material items. Their family is a loaded circumstance all on its own, as well. He'd much prefer to spend time with a handful of very specific people and aside from Anna, none of them seem to care very much for it.

He thinks the drink is a bad idea, but he still takes a little and he can taste just how potent it is as warmth spreads through his chest. He gives Gabriel a questioning look.

[hung_garian]

He rolls his eyes and takes the drink back.

"My own family, shunning alcohol and strippers. Oh, that I should live to see such a day. Woe is me."

[happytobleed]

"Dean loves both of those things. I'm surprised the two of you don't get along better." He looks around for Anna. "I don't want to be hungover again. It was very unpleasant last time." It's not as if being drunk had really been the problem. Sam's voice had been annoying.

[hung_garian]

"We also both love trying to kill each other, that puts a teensy little damper on the relationship."

He follows Castiel's glances, mostly out of mild paranoia. He'd like to put it past the Winchesters to try to kill him in public, let alone at a Christmas party, but while he's mostly over the initial twitchiness of dying, he's still just a little on edge. Having ascertained that no threats are currently being made to his continued existence, he waves a hand dismissively.

"Hangover schmangover. Hair of the dog'll get you through. That and raw egg. Or tomato juice. Possibly all three mixed with a packet of aspirin, ooor you could just not get wasted enough to need any hangover cures. Y'know. Whichever appeals most."

[happytobleed]

"And I suppose I learn the right amount through trial and error." Which will get him at least a few more hangovers, won't it? Maybe Anna knows. She lived as a human. She must have experience with this. How do humans learn the right amount to drink? Dean certainly seemed to have found a comfortable place to stop. That or he is immune to alcohol. Castiel suspects the latter.

"Have you seen Anna?"

shall we assume this is while anna's putting bugs in gabriel's bed?

[hung_garian]

"Or you could Google it, one or the other. As for Anna, I haven't seen her but she's gotta be around."

A cursory glance around the room. There aren't really enough people there for it to take long.

"Cigarette break? Or maybe she's found the mistletoe."

Anna is unimpressed by your lack of Christmas spirit

[afallenstar]

Gabriel's arrival is the perfect opportunity to duck off and leave him his own present. No one should notice that she's missing for a couple of minutes as she steps out of the hall into the empty corridor, and it's not long before she walks back out again.

With that over and done with, she's happy to approach him with an easy smile, taking said glass out of his hand quickly to steal a sip before she falls into place at his side. "Thought you weren't one for Christmas spirit, huh?"

Gabriel is unimpressed by your Christmas present :|

[hung_garian]

If he even notices her brief absence, he doesn't consider it worth remarking on. He will later, though. Attempts to prank The Trickster do not go unavenged, just as attempts to steal his drink do not go unpouted at.

"Oh, honey, I'm really not. But what I am one for is spirits, and trust me, there's no time of year I need 'em more than this."

He offers her the bottle instead. He may well need it more than she does, but if he's going to end the evening unable to stand and sobbing at a designated 'bartender', he's dragging as many people down with him as he can. Admittedly he doesn't think Anna's silly enough to get to that state, but hey, it's Christmas.

hurr durr journals

[afallenstar]

Anna can pout too, quite well in fact, so he just gets one in return when she hands the drink back. The bottle earns a small smile though, because if nothing else she knows that this at least is the good stuff. She doubts Gabriel would be caught dead with anything less.

"Well at least someone's going to have a good night then, hm?" She chuckles quietly, opening up the bottle and sniffing it briefly before looking around for a glass. She's had her classless drink from the bottle night, there's no need for a repeat of that. Not to mention enough of this stuff will actually have an effect, it seems.

He'll be torn between pride and fury (ps hi sam)

[hung_garian]

He does notice the sniff, and despite his attempts to take offence has to stifle a little grin. Blind faith is all very well, but that's a sensible move.

"O ye of little faith. It's not poisoned, cross my heart."

Which is about as helpful as he'll be. Of course he could provide a glass for her, but he'd rather let her find her own, suitably festive one.

Anna will firmly maintain that Gabe started it. (Sam just wanted to pop in and say hi)

[afallenstar]

"Oh well in that case..."

She ducks over to the table to fetch a glass - and yes it is suitably festive, thanks for noticing. Filling it up quickly, she doesn't relinquish the bottle but keeps hold of it as she takes a quick swig of the drink, and is clearly impressed as she swallows.

With a soft laugh she shrugs, and it's one of the rare occasions that someone gets a genuine smile when she looks over at him. She's having a good time, don't judge. "Could be worse, you know, I could be trying to make you wear a Santa hat. "

He's willing to take the credit.

[hung_garian]

"Woah, a Santa hat? Sweetheart, not for all the sexy Mrs Clauses in the world. Do you realise what that'd do to my hair?"

Gabriel's smiles aren't exactly rare. He'll crack a grin every time someone trips over or just happens to have boobs in his presence. Still, this is a little less schadenfreude-induced than most of them - likewise, don't judge, but it has been quite a while since his siblings haven't made him want to throw things or hide in a hole.

"And gimme my booze back. You're not turning into an alcoholic on my watch. Plus I want to drink it."

[afallenstar]

"Oh, I'm sure you'd manage. At least a beard, I mean come on. It's self-declared Christmas." She turns to look at him and closes one eye, raising a thumb to cover his mouth and nose, "Yeah, beard. You should do it."

She's not sure if she's enjoying herself more because of the general atmosphere or if it's just the fondness of reminding herself of her human life like this, but she's not thinking about it too much. She just takes another mouthful of her drink, tops it up and then hands the bottle back to him.

"Oh, there's no danger of that. I'll leave the sex drugs and rock and roll to people a little more qualified."

[hung_garian]

"Please. If I grew a beard I'd just look like one of the founding fathers, not ol' Saint Nick."

Ah, the bottle. He tops up his own drink - not that he's drinking all that quickly, he's irritated enough people not to risk it - and sets it down on a table. If anyone's stupid enough to try drinking it, on their own head be it. The hangover it'd give most humans would not be pleasant.

"Like me? I'm flattered. Course, they might be worth a try. Only the good die young and all that."

lotsa touching happening here so feel free to veto anything, like 4 srs

[gloryisbullshit]

So he has all this confidence, because he's lightly soaked in tequila and in a public place. Only Party Poison himself has the audacity to be a total prick in a public place! So he's definitely got the jump on this trickster jackass this time around. It's what gives him the confidence to saunter up next to Gabriel, stick a hand in the liar's back pocket, and make a nonchalant grab at that little umbrella.

/touches

[hung_garian]

Normally that might not work. After all, Gabriel is kind of known for his ability to be a total prick no matter where or when. On the other hand, people putting their hands (or someone else's - those wacky Vikings! - but that's a story for another time) in his pockets tends to put him on the back foot. What if it's someone attractive, right? Usually it's not, or at least (as in this case) their motive isn't what he'd like it to be.

"Little handsy tonight are we, Gavroche?"

He lets the umbrella go without a fuss. Consider it a Christmas present.

[gloryisbullshit]

"Always handsy." He mumbles and twirls the colorful little toy between his fingers. "My fuckin nature, I can't help it." As evidence, he presses his palm in towards Gabriel's...back, settles a little closer and sighs.

He looks out to the gathering then back to Gabriel, eyes narrow in concentration and careful thought. "...What are you doing here?"

[hung_garian]

"Well, originally I was socialising, if you can contain your gasps of shock. Right now I'm not sure, but I think I'm being groped by a drunk semi-stranger who - last I heard - reaaally didn't like me."

It's the absurdity of it, more than anything, that confuses him into non-violence. He settles for just taking a step away, hopefully placing Party Poison a little further towards not being in Gabriel's personal space.

"Did Kenzi put you up to this? Cause I don't think this is what she meant by 'getting along better'."

[gloryisbullshit]

"M'not drunk, and m'not groping you, christ." Gabriel is not the only one with a gift for lying, look how smooth this guy is. (So smooth.) He clicks his tongue. "She think we should get along better? And here I thought I was trying..."

[hung_garian]

"Well, I say get along better, I think she was mostly just opposed to me murdering you."

He pulls a face - such an overreaction, jeez. He'd only have murdered him a little bit and he'd have put him right back after...

"So because I don't want to break her itty-bitty little heart, you get to live even if you don't get your hand out of my pocket within five seconds. Course there'd be a few adjustments, I don't know how easy it is to go about your daily business with only half your fingers, but I'm sure a smart guy like you could make 'em, no problem at all."

[gloryisbullshit]

Alright, fine: his hand jumps back fairly quickly, but Party doesn't much move back. Just plants his hands and leans. Loosely: "You this way with everyone? Not joking, man, I'm serious. I done nothin to you."

[hung_garian]

"I'll let you in on a secret, kiddo. I think it's fun being mean. I'm practically Robbie Rotten, but with better taste in clothes and a slightly higher success rate."

He's a lot more casual now that Party's not touching him. It's not as if he's usually picky about that sort of thing - in another situation he might have been happy to let it stay, at the very least. If he's stuck here for any kind of extended vacation, though, consequences are finally something he might have to pay attention to.

"'Sides, there's nothing in that pocket for you to take, so you'd be wasting your time anyway."