![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Athbhliain faoi mhaise duit / Happy New Year - (RP with <lj site="livejournal.com" user="half_whole_
Takes place after this prompt and this post.
Rory got to The Columns a little later than he'd planned, mostly due to his determined efforts to pack away anything of Pippa's left in his apartment. Maybe later tripping over traces of her would no longer feel so cutting, but right now he was still far too raw.
He also took a break in the middle of the day to pick up small gifts for the rest of Breaker Street. Nothing flashy, just small silver charms of various Chinese symbols, easy to dangle off chains, earrings or zipper pulls as the wearer chose. He chose symbols that in his mind represented each of his fellow band members, courage for Nil, happiness for Sascha, strength for Kreske, awesome for Junie, peace for Dave and intellect for Morrie. To each of these he added a symbol for success, a wish for the New Year. After a moment's thought, he bought another success charm for Peter along with the symbol for friendship. Then, remembering that Cait might show up if she could cut loose from her publisher's office party, he went back for a prayer box he thought she'd like.
But he was here now, with the one indisputable advantage of riding a motorcycle in the city: parking wasn't a problem even when late. Nor was gaining access to the already-crowded club, the guys on the door remembered him from the many times Breaker Street played here and waved him in with grins and the news that his band has already arrived. The Columns took up a large piece of a converted warehouse; he could feel the music throbbing through the cavernous airspace as he walked in. Sister Mystere had the stage tonight, and they'd pulled in a good crowd already.
"Ro-RY! Over here!" For such a slim little thing, Sascha had quite a set of lungs on her. Rory waved in answer and threaded his way over to the table where his friends were waiting. Jaye sitting next to Nil meant that the Camerons must have gotten lucky with a sitter, and Junie was on the arm of a man she introduced as Felipe, but Morrie, Dave, Sascha and Kreske were solo. Good, he wouldn't feel like the odd man out then.
"What are you having, Rory?" Dave asked as he waved over a waitress. "Fruit juice as usual?"
Fruit juice. Seven hells, did even something as mundane as a drink order have to call up memories of Pippa, smiling as she presented him with one of her juice concoctions at Last Call? Rory bit back a particularly vile Gaeilge curse and kept his smile on his face. He was determined to enjoy himself tonight no matter what. "I'll have a Guinness," he told the waitress. A púca like himself couldn't get drunk on New Years Eve, but what the hell. It would be symbolic, like the charms.
"Cait and Peter Webster might show up a bit later. You all remember Peter, right?" A chorus of affirmation from the band was followed by Sascha crowing, "Excellent! More people to dance with." His beer showed up, the waitress gave him a smile, and Rory started to relax. He could do this. No problem.
Rory got to The Columns a little later than he'd planned, mostly due to his determined efforts to pack away anything of Pippa's left in his apartment. Maybe later tripping over traces of her would no longer feel so cutting, but right now he was still far too raw.
He also took a break in the middle of the day to pick up small gifts for the rest of Breaker Street. Nothing flashy, just small silver charms of various Chinese symbols, easy to dangle off chains, earrings or zipper pulls as the wearer chose. He chose symbols that in his mind represented each of his fellow band members, courage for Nil, happiness for Sascha, strength for Kreske, awesome for Junie, peace for Dave and intellect for Morrie. To each of these he added a symbol for success, a wish for the New Year. After a moment's thought, he bought another success charm for Peter along with the symbol for friendship. Then, remembering that Cait might show up if she could cut loose from her publisher's office party, he went back for a prayer box he thought she'd like.
But he was here now, with the one indisputable advantage of riding a motorcycle in the city: parking wasn't a problem even when late. Nor was gaining access to the already-crowded club, the guys on the door remembered him from the many times Breaker Street played here and waved him in with grins and the news that his band has already arrived. The Columns took up a large piece of a converted warehouse; he could feel the music throbbing through the cavernous airspace as he walked in. Sister Mystere had the stage tonight, and they'd pulled in a good crowd already.
"Ro-RY! Over here!" For such a slim little thing, Sascha had quite a set of lungs on her. Rory waved in answer and threaded his way over to the table where his friends were waiting. Jaye sitting next to Nil meant that the Camerons must have gotten lucky with a sitter, and Junie was on the arm of a man she introduced as Felipe, but Morrie, Dave, Sascha and Kreske were solo. Good, he wouldn't feel like the odd man out then.
"What are you having, Rory?" Dave asked as he waved over a waitress. "Fruit juice as usual?"
Fruit juice. Seven hells, did even something as mundane as a drink order have to call up memories of Pippa, smiling as she presented him with one of her juice concoctions at Last Call? Rory bit back a particularly vile Gaeilge curse and kept his smile on his face. He was determined to enjoy himself tonight no matter what. "I'll have a Guinness," he told the waitress. A púca like himself couldn't get drunk on New Years Eve, but what the hell. It would be symbolic, like the charms.
"Cait and Peter Webster might show up a bit later. You all remember Peter, right?" A chorus of affirmation from the band was followed by Sascha crowing, "Excellent! More people to dance with." His beer showed up, the waitress gave him a smile, and Rory started to relax. He could do this. No problem.
no subject
More dimpled smiling as he nodded that yes, a second drink would be appreciated as the waitress made her rounds, then he cleared his throat to answer the singer's question. "Good. Well, depending on which project you're talking about and what we are going to qualify as 'good' while talking about one ugly, vicious disease."
Peter loved his work, his research and even the patients that were part of his case studies but he rarely considered the subject matter party conversation. Either he took a far too academic bent to avoid the emotional or he was honest and depressed a lot of people. "We're starting clinical trials to see how well some tumor reactive T cells we created react to certain targeted proteins in patients with lymphoid leukemias. Basically, I've been screening prospective patients for the study."
He stopped there before anyone got that glazed and confused look.
no subject
He actually followed Peter's description of his work reasonably well. Medical jargon wasn't his forte of course, but you couldn't heal from the inside like he and his family did without understanding how the body's immune system and self-repair mechanisms worked.
Rory had just opened his mouth for further comment when another surge of irritated and familiar emotion hit him. He looked up to see Junie stalking toward them, outwardly composed and inwardly seething, looking rather like a panther in her black beaded dress. She stopped between him and Nil and said calmly, "Well, we now have a seat for Cait when she shows up."
"Oh, man," Kreske winced. "I take it Felipe didn't just head to the men's room?"
Junie exhaled through flared nostrils. "Felipe decided to pick a fight about my earlier appreciative comment on how Rory looks shirtless. To make a short story even shorter, he was a dick, I let fly with the temper I inherited from both halves of my heritage, and I will now be drafting the rest of you gentlemen as dance partners for the evening." She bent to give him a hug. "Sorry, hon."
"Don't be, Junie." He slid an arm around her waist to return the embrace. "I was just thinking about getting some dancing in, so you save one for me, hm?"
no subject
no subject
Junie ruffled Rory's hair before retreating to her seat at the other end of the table. "Honestly, the comment wasn't really the problem. He was already annoyed that we weren't spending enough time together." She spread her hands. "What can I do? It's not like our free time is going to magically improve, especially with the release coming up. So I can understand some frustration, but the insinuations he just made ... dating me for a month doesn't give a guy the right to get all territorial."
She sighed and offered Rory a wry, sympathetic smile. "And here I thought getting into show biz was supposed to improve your social life."
Rory's return smile was equally wry. "You up for that dance then?"
Junie drained her bellini before saluting him with the glass. "You know, I think I am."
no subject
Yeah, he knew he was a total dog in the situation with the Congreves. He wasn't proud of it.
The other conversation going on had Peter giving Rory a sidelong glance. Was time the reason his girlfriend left him?
no subject
As Junie rounded the table to take Rory's arm, Sasch bounced up and took a grip on Peter's. "C'mon then, sugar-toots, let's get out there with the old folks and show 'em how it's done!"
Rory glanced back with a laugh and a grin for the both of them. Junie had a welcoming smile on her face too, so clearly neither of them minded. Sascha bounced a little on her toes, waiting for Peter to stand up.
no subject
Letting the girl drag him back out into the crowd, he laughed, "They won't be able to keep up with us."
no subject
"You'll be begging for mercy," Junie tossed cheerfully over her shoulder as she led the way back onto the floor. The four of them wound up packed together a little snugly by the crowd, Junie across from him, Peter beside him and even Sascha on the opposite corner, but Rory didn't mind. The contact heightened his awareness, his thrumming connection with the emotions of people who wanted to tune in to good music and have a good time.
And it was good music. Dacia and her crew were changing up their usual playlist by throwing in a few rock standards. Spotting Rory's tall self on the floor, she tossed him a cheerful salute before launching into a duet version of Bad Case of Loving You with her bass player.
Listening to her husky voice belt out the Robert Palmer lyrics, Rory let himself go into the rhythm. Movement, sound, the heat and scent of the bodies around him, they all touched him at a primal level, deep at the core of who he was.
What he was.
Angling a bit toward Peter, Rory found himself moving with all three of his friends, not Junie alone. It felt good. It felt right.
no subject
He also wasn't paying much attention to just which body he was rocking against and swaying with until he placed his hand against the small of Rory's back to keep his balance. Peter and his friends might know how to dance in a crowd, but there were plenty of folks around them with two left feet and no idea that you were supposed to move with the beat.
Realizing that he should put some space between himself and his taller dance partner, Peter turned around and reached for one of Sascha's hands, giving her a playful look as he pulled her in close and sang along with the song. Anyone casually watching the group might think he did indeed have it bad for the girl.
no subject
Right about then Peter's excellent singing voice must have finally gotten through to the girls, because they both suddenly wore smiles of surprised delight. Rory had heard his friend sing, even if only through an online recording, but apparently they had not.
One shared glance between the three bandmates was all it took before they all started singing along. Every member of Breaker Street could sing and sing well, so three voices soon harmonized sweetly with Peter's tenor. No pill's gonna cure my ill, I got a bad case of looooooving yoooouuu ...
no subject
People dancing near them soon picked up on the fact that there were four showboaters in their midst and cleared a space around them accordingly, just enjoying the floor show. Peter almost immediately took advantage of having more room to move, swinging Sascha out in a controlled spin before pulling her back again.
"Hey, Rory...switch?" Peter didn't bother to check with the women, he only wanted to make sure he and the other man were on the same page before trading Sascha for Junie in a bit of a rhythmic shuffle.
no subject
Not to be outdone, Junie struck a sultry pose as she faced Peter, dark eyes sparkling with mischievous challenge. Okay, sweetie. Show me what you've got. Tossing her dark curls, she matched his steps with a swivel-hipped, stiletto-heeled strut as she kept singing. I know you like it, you like it on top. Tell me sugar, are you gonna stop?
On that last word she reached up to run her fingers through Peter's dark hair, leaning forward as he leaned back, smile blazing. What do you plan to do about it, sugar-toots? her laughing eyes asked.
no subject
Peter's hands ran up Junie's back, finger's fanned possessively until they reached her shoulders. He gripped her firmly, turned her one way and then the other,laughing as she ducked under his arm--they were doing a modified salsa as they moved together, their steps measured and tight, their bodies held smartly. Precision even as they played, more for the effect it had on the audience than anything else.