strangetrip | [GP] The De Rolo Wedding Reception

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[GP] The De Rolo Wedding Reception

The calendar of "Kahl-ee-Fornea" was very different to that of Tal'Dorei. But the spring dance had been a good reminder for the Exandrians (one of them, anyway) that the Renewal Festival would take place more or less this time of year, landing always on the thirteenth day of Dulahei. It seemed a fitting time to set the 'small family dinner' in celebration of the marriage of Vex and Percy.

...Yeah, but no. Because Vax'ildan didn't mind a bit of revenge for their having done the thing without so much as telling him for several weeks, and because his sister always deserved the best of everything anyway, the garden had a whopping lot more than that for the happy couple as they opened the doors onto what first looked like pitch blackness. Until the big, white-hot spotlight snapped abruptly on to glare down on top of the pair with blinding scrutiny.

A familiar voice sang out from beyond, his ever-charming booming and crooning amplified to fill the whole of the outdoors by something called a 'microphone,' Scanlan using all his singular panache to belt out a melodic tune:

"There she is, Mrs. De Rolo
There she is, your ideal
The dreams of a million boys and girls who want to find love in Emon City
For Vex may turn out to more than Baroness of the first house of Whitestone and Grand Mistress of the Hunt
There he is, Mr. De Rolo
There he is, your ideal
With so much brooding and tinkering he took the town by storm
With his all-Whitestone face and form
And there they are
Walking on air, he is
Fairest of the fair, she is
There they are - Mr. and Mrs. De Rolooooooooooo~"

A resounding wave of applause, murmuring, cheers, and laughter broke out all around the newlyweds - one such unbridled merry cackle absolutely coming from the bride's brother - and Scanlan's tone changed immediately to a much more vibrant, excited, sporting-event-enthusiasm style of announcement: "Ladies and Gentlemen - it's the DE ROLO FAMILY!"

The strands of bulb lighting popped into yellow-soft brightness all at once, revealing the guests gathered around dozens of tables artfully set with dinner places enough for everyone at the Inn. Each table included flowers, linens, and garlands all matched in smart Whitestone-Blue, darker Owlbear-Blue, black and white with touches of gold accents, all thanks to Caroline's management. The outdoor area so far as one could see had been dressed in one of Lillith's illusions to mimic a beautiful forest clearing at purple-dusk with fireflies dancing, the shapes of buildings and foothills in the distance distinctly cast to look like the city and castle of Whitestone. Ignis and Emma stood by putting a few final touches on what they'd all started calling 'fancy barbecue,' an enormous buffet of haute cuisine smoked and grilled meats with artful sides, a table beside them holding up the massive layer cake Pike had tirelessly fussed into perfection. So many others had come together to help or to wish the de Rolos well - but there would be plenty of time over the evening for them to be thanked and recognized with food, drink, song - there was even an area marked out as a dance floor.

A freshly bathed Trinket in his very own bowtie lumbered up to Vex'ahlia to rumble and lick her face as the pair finally had a moment to react to the spectacle. At ground-level, a small disc-like device with a large serving spoon taped to it had been labeled with marker as Ensign Stubby, rolling its way between tables and chairs while balancing a large, many-times-stabbed basket of flower petals (with a handful left nestled in its giant spoon) on top of its flat surface like a drunken flower girl to finally bump into Vex and Percy's shoes. ...And possibly the best thing about their stunning surprise? That Peter boy had got the whole thing on VHS.

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"People can be lame." Bo didn't have that problem, it was usually the opposite, which a lot of people didn't think was a problem, but it was exhausting and sometimes you just wanted space.

"I think you're doing fine. Dancing is at least eighty percent faking it until you make it." She grinned with encouragement.

"Yeah, well," Hurley pants. "You're kinda hard to keep up with."

It's true. Bo's way more energetic than he is. Sure, all those long hikes on the island had contributed a little to Hurley's overall stamina, but that wasn't busting fast dance moves. Those were slow treks, not fast-paced dance moves.

"You know--" huff "--the people who got married?"

Had Hurley not said anything, Bo would probably not have noticed too quickly. She was used to partners who could keep up, at least outside of the bedroom.

"Nope. Well, not really. As much as you'd know anyone stuck in an inn like this. But I'm friends with one of their friends. Her name is Pike."

Bo took the opportunity of the end of the song to attempt to twirl him again and then grinned. "I'm also a bartender. If you'd like to go get a drink." and rest, which went without saying.

"Yeah, sure." Hurley's still panting a little, but it's not as bad as when they went full speed ahead on the dance floor.

"Were you a bartender before you ended up here? Or is bartending one of those skills you picked up when you really didn't have anything to do?"

"Both. I did a little back home." When she was on the run. "Easy cash. But I'm actually more of a private detective back home."

She walked up to one of the bar areas and reached for two beer bottles. She held them up with a questioning look like 'these good?' because she had no idea what Hurley liked.

"What about you? Before you were on an island with smoke monsters and a count down button."

Hurley nods. The beer works for him.

"Oh, me?"

This wasn't particularly impressive.

"I worked at a Mr. Cluck's Chicken Shack. Eventually I owned it."

Actually the entire franchise, but. That's kinda a long story.

"Mr. Cluck's Chicken Shack." She had never of it, but she was going to assume it was like KFC. Bo opened the top of the beers and handed him one. "I'd probably mess up owning a restaurant." She could barely keep track of her and Kenzi sometimes. "So kudos to you for doing that."

She gave a little 'cheers' as she lifted up the bottle, then took a swig from it.

Hurley accepts the beer and takes a swig of it.

"Yeah, well," he begins, shifting his weight from one leg to the other. "The store I used to work at kinda got hit by a meteor the day before it was supposed to re-open."

Awkward.

"This reporter and her cameraman were inside."

Extra awkward. He probably shouldn't have mentioned that.

"You're kidding, right?" Bo mostly sounded fascinated than actually not believing him. "I don't know a lot about space, but I'm going to guess that's pretty rare."

"Yeah, I'm kinda unlucky," Hurley says, taking another swig of the beer. "My grandpa died all of a sudden when this supposed-to-be-good thing happened, and then the priest at his funeral got hit by lightning. Then after that, when my mom got a new house, she broke her ankle, the house burned down and then some cops arrested me."

And that's not even the start of it.

Her brow furrowed as she listened. That seemed way more than just bad luck. "Are you sure you're not... cursed? Or some Fae is like, making this happen to you?"

Hurley can't help but be relieved that she thinks so, too. No one else seemed to buy into his superstition, but when bad things happened like this -- yeah, it was a curse.

"It's these numbers," he says. "Ever since I used them, bad stuff's kept happening to me."

Hurley shrugs. "I went to find the other guy who used the numbers. I hoped maybe he could tell me something about them. But he was dead before I got there. Killed himself years ago when the same unlucky stuff started happening to him. The only thing I know is that the numbers came from some radio transmission."

Bo knew curses were real and numbers were often important, too.

"That is super creepy." But Bo believed him entirely. "And it's not like that ring movie where if you give it to someone else, your luck gets better?"

"I don't know. It's just stuck with me," Hurley says. "Just like it was stuck with him. Until he killed himself, anyway."

Hurley speaks with this with absolute nonchalance. He doesn't have any problems talking about this stuff. He definitely didn't have a problem talking about it with Ma or Dad or Tricia Tanaka before she got hit by a meteor. But it's nice to actually talk about this stuff with someone who isn't convinced he's crazy. Really nice. The same sort of nice he felt with Rousseau when she told him the numbers had brought her to the island, too.

"You ever hear about a curse like that?" Definitely not the same, judging from her reaction, anyway. But maybe something in that ballpark?

"I haven't... but I bet if my friend Trick were here, he'd know. He's sort of a walking encyclopedia for all things weird and Fae," She missed him a lot, actually, and Bo even sighed a bit as she took another sip from her beer. "My friend Dyson's here, though." She glanced around the crowd and found the grumpy-looking man looking like he was being polite, but really wanted to leave. It made her smile again. "He might know."

Hurley looks over at the man she's designated as Dyson. He doesn't look like he's having a fun time.

"He looks grumpy," Hurley observes. "He always like that?"

Bo nodded. "Most of the time, yeah. He's good at hiding what he really feels." Still, she said it with fondness, then looked back at Hurley.

"Made any friends yet. Besides me of course." And that was a flirtatious wink right at you Hurley.

Being flirted with is totally new for Hurley. He thinks she's flirting with him. He's not really sure. Starla and Libby were basically the only people that ever showed interest in him.

"Yeah, I mean, kinda. I met Jackson and Buffy pretty much immediately after I got here. And Pike and this little dude, Scanlan." They're both kind of little dudes. "Everyone seems really nice so far and everyone seems to get along."

Well, so he's noted so far.

"Things were weird sometimes on the island between people. All sorts of conflict and drama. It's kinda nice to have a break from that, but I miss the friends I made out there. Didn't really have any back home." Not after his best friend ran off with Starla shortly after winning the lotto. Right when things started to go wrong.

"Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be drama at some point. But a lot of it I think happens behind closed doors." Like Bo, Regina, and Dyson, but she pushed that idea out of her mind. "Pike's one of my best friends here. Makes some great pastries. Actually, all those people are pretty great" Bo didn't actually know Scanlan, but it felt a bit petty to single the guy out, even though he still needed to repent for what he did to Pike.

And Jackson... well, she had almost went to far with him. But Buffy and her were kindred spirits.

"Some of your friends might show up, you never know."

"That's what I'm worried about," he says. Not about the friend thing because he'd love Charlie or Desmond or even Sawyer to be here. It's the drama thing. "There were all these power dynamics. Sawyer and Jack, Jack and Locke. People say you don't actually have a real leader here and I'm not sure if that's going to be a problem or--"

Hurley searches for the words.

"--something good," he finishes lamely.

"Well, there's a few who like to think they're in charge." Bo paused, then lowered her voice a little. "Don't tell her I said that though." She didn't need more heat from Regina. Maybe she was being a little snarky though.

"Yeah? Is she Regina? I think someone else mentioned her, too. What's she like?"

Hurley finishes off his beer and starts looking around for a recycling bin or something. He's not looking to gun off to one right now, but it's probably worth knowing where these things are.

"She's..." Well, it was complicated for Bo and she knew it. She sighed. "She's actually not that bad, but she can be intense and she's dating my ex, so, maybe take my words with a grain of salt." She shrugged, then smiled wryly. "And you said there isn't drama here."

"Yeah, there was that kind of drama on the island too. Then there's like. People shooting each other drama, which probably doesn't really happen here."

Or so Hurley hopes.

"Are you dating someone now? Or you just taking a break from the whole dating thing?"

Hurley's kinda hanging out in the latter court.

"Not too many shootings. That little dude you know , Scanlan, apparently got shot in the knee, but that was from him being an ass back home, so" she shrugged nonchalantly

As for the question. "I do, actually." Her eyes roamed for Sam. Much like Dyson, he was easy to find. It's like she could home in on them, feel their presence.

She gestured to where the tall, dark male was. "The slightly more stoic one." Again, said fondly. "I'm letting him off the hook tonight with dancing so he better be thankful."

Succubi didn't do too tell with not having at least one steady partner, but she didn't say that out loud

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