riverviewlogs | It's a party, ya'll

Entry tags:

It's a party, ya'll

who: Everyone's invited!
what: That potluck he mentioned
when: Saturday afternoon
where: The park
warnings: None so far!

[True to form, Remy pulled out all the stops for this particular potluck. He has it on good authority that Rogue's bringing cornbread, but he's got what seems to be a wireless two-burner setup that he's brought along to the park, one of which is dominated by a very large pot of fragrant and spicy gumbo, and the other by a very large pot of cooked white rice, on warm. There's a small table with plastic-seeming (but totally biodegradable) bowls and utensils, two large coolers (because people might be bringing drinks), two big folding tables (for all the things that might be brought) and a big expanse of the park to cop a squat in and have some good grub, place some outdoors-y things, and have some fun! The park as a grill too, if someone wants to fire it up!]

(OOC: Feel free to post your own starters and have a ball! This is meant to be fun, after all. If you want Remy specifically, let me know! He'll be wandering around.)

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Okay, okay, one hour at the most.

[He was trying, and so Alex would be agreeable too and not push him past that limit. Compromise, they could do it, even if they were two incredibly stubborn people with incredibly strong personalities. It was one of the reasons that they liked each other so much, even with everything that had happened to them. Honestly, if they weren't their partnership wouldn't have lasted past that first episode.]

Thank you, Richard. I mean it.

[And then she smiled up at him and gave his hand another squeeze, because she was glad that she'd gotten him even out of the apartment if nothing else.]

Do you want wine or do you want me to see if I can find something stronger?

[He was doing his best, honestly, but Richard was far more out of his depth here then he would be in a UFO abductees meeting. Still, he'd try, if he had to.]

I think a middle-aged man drinking wine by himself might be, awkward.

[There might have been some self-deprecation there. A humbleness that hadn't often shown around Alex, but he also didn't feel well, and he didn't want to be here. Besides, the mental picture did seem a bit shady.]

Pfft. You're not drinking by yourself. You're drinking at a gathering. Way less awkward. But I can still try and find something stronger.

[A grin, because she is from Seattle and people from Seattle are beer snobs and it's just a thing along with being a coffee snob and Alex is probably never going to get those particular things out of her habits.]

I suppose I could try and find you a can of budweiser if it would help...

[Don't be fooled by that innocent look, Richard. Alex clearly knows what she's doing.]

[She's goading him, that's what she's doing, and he knows that better than most.

Still, he'll rise to the bait, slightly.

A brow rose just a bit at her suggestion and the corner of his mouth threatened to smirk.]

And I thought you didn't want to poison me.

[Richard could be called a lot of things, but a beer drinker was not one of them, and especially not a cheap beer like that. He was hard liquor and fine wines, a product of before his times and branching into it. A product of his father, his upbringing, and of being used to drinking alone.]

It just the sort of thing to make you look less awkward, Richard.

[Yeah, she's grinning openly at him now, and then she's off for a minute, before returning with two red solo party cups. They aren't the weighted crystal decanters and glasses that Strand had at his house, and they're certainly not his good scotch, but they're better than nothing, and she hands him one with a smirk.]

Here, this should help make you look like you fit in.

[He gingerly takes the cup from her and just, looks at it. This is ridiculous. He wants to go back to the apartment and have a proper drink. You drink out of glasses, not cheap plastic cups filled with - what was this thing even filled with?]

I look ridiculous, and what is this?

[He seriously can't tell, or maybe he's distracted by the stupid red cup.]

Bourbon. Close enough to scotch for a picnic, yeah?

[Alex takes a sip of hers, and she's surprised when it's nowhere near as bad as she was expecting it to be. But then again, Alex isn't bothered by drinking out of red solo cups even though her college days were well behind her. She still has a small army of interns and the studio still hosts a fair amount of parties and well, interns are college students.]

Better than nothing, yeah?

I don't, attend, a lot of picnics, Alex.

[It was a dry comment, and, contrary to what his entire being we telling him he lifted the cup to his lips and drank. He was sure he looked ridiculous doing it, but at least it was tolerable.]

I have met you, love.

[Alex grinned at him once more, and she raised her glass to him in a sort of toast, before she checked her phone, hitting a few buttons on it.]

Okay. Fifty-three minutes. You can handle fifty-three minutes. I promise.

I'll let you know in fifty-three minutes.

[He continues to frown deeply as he takes another drink from his cup.]

Go, enjoy your picnic.

[For a minute, Alex considers kissing his cheek, and she even moves in to do it, but stops at the last minute with a quick smile. She's already decided that she's going to let him be the one to kiss her next time, because well, he's the one who is new here, thinks this is a delusion and hasn't been involved in a relationship since Coralee.

And this is very new and different.

Instead, Alex just settles for a quick grin, and a squeeze of his fingers, before she adds:]

I'll be back soon.

I'll, be here.

[Drinking from his ridiculous cup of bourbon in a suit and wishing he were at home with a good book. He'd even add Appo to the thought. The dog was surprisingly pleasant to have around.]

[Ten minutes later, Alex returns, and while it's not to leave (she knows he's going to be disappointed about that!) she is carrying a fresh red solo cup and offers it to him with a grin.]

Found some whiskey. I think it's the same brand that the Sheriff had.

[He knows she's not going to want to leave yet. It hasn't been their agreed on time, and he can't imagine Alex wanting or relenting to leaving early on her own. In fact, if she had it her way they'd stay until the picnic was over and then she'd force him to offer to help clean up.

The whiskey and comment, however, bring up a good memory. Richard had liked Sherrif Osenga quite a bit. He was practical, blunt and had good taste in liquor.

Richard pours the rest of his bourbon into her solo cup before taking the whiskey.]

Sherrif Osenga had glasses.

[Still, he'll drink it. It's good whiskey.]

[That actually pretty much was Alex would have done to a t if they'd not already agreed to go in an hour. It's what she tended to do back at parties at the studio, or at Casa Bae, even if Paul's wife would shoo her away from doing it. Wiggling her nose up at the extra bourbon in her glass, Alex just rolled her eyes and took another drink of it. Bourbon wasn't her drink of choice either, but she was nowhere near as picky as he was.

In anything at all, really.

But she does gesture around them.]

Pretty sure Sheriff Osenga wouldn't be using glasses out at a picnic, Richard. It's definitely asking for them to get broken and making the party end with a trip to the hospital to get glass out of someone's foot.

More reason not to go to picnics.

[There's a smirk on his face as he drinks the whiskey out of the stupid red cup.]

[He's not the only one who can smirk, because Alex does one in return, which is definitely laced with more than a little innuendo. (She should have eaten before the bourbon.)]

You just haven't been to the right picnics.

[Well, this was a curious development. Richard knew what he would consider the 'right kind of picnic, but what was Alex thinking? Especially with that interestingly coy smirk.]

And what are the 'right kind of picnics'?

[The smirk stayed on her face as she dumped her whiskey into his glass, making them even for it, and then she took a sip of her bourbon before she answered.]

I suppose I could spell it out for you if you want evidence, Dr. Strand.

[Yep, it was the flirty one that she used all too often.]

[His brows rose as he grew more curious as to what she was going to say. They'd always skirted the line of friendship and, something more, but there had always been a line.

Until that night that she couldn't remember, and even then things had been too serious to flirt or insinuate things.]

I pride myself on evidence-based conclusions.

[He reaches out to inconspicuously run the back of his fingers over her arm.]

Edited 2018-05-10 23:44 (UTC)

[Alex just chuckles softly for a second, because well, she does know him well enough. And back home there'd always been the hard tight Nic-sounding part of herself that had reminded herself of her journalism ethics and everything that went along with them and the show being the most important part of their relationship. Or at least so she told herself.

But now, there wasn't a show, despite all of the research she was digging up on anything that seemed like it could be helpful. So, there was nothing to hide. And Alex flirted all the time with people without actually meaning it. Here, she definitely did.

Which was why she stepped closer to him and moved onto her toes in her flats, putting the hand not holding her drink on her shoulder before she whispered:]

I guess I'm going to need to plan to surprise you then, Richard.

[His hand moved to her hip to stabilize her, but ended up being more to stabilize him. He wasn't used to Alex doing things like this. She'd always been bouncy and feely. This, was completely different. He knew she'd notice the held breath as his mind tried to process the sensation of it all. This was not something he had ever been privy to.

Taking a moment to hold her there, recovering from his momentary lack of ability to think, he finally leaned down and whispered back over her ear.]

Is that so Ms. Reagan?

[Alex didn't need stabilization, at least not before he'd put his hand on her hip anyway. Maybe she needed it a little more after and leaned into him with an easy grin. Despite having many charms at her disposal when she wanted to use them (and often times when she didn't, because they were just part and parcel of the Alex Reagan experience) she was quickly coming to realize something that she'd already suspected before they were doing this.

Whatever else she could do, all Strand needed to do was to break out that voice and she was like audible putty in his hands. It really wasn't at all fair, especially when he had a much faster recovery time than Alex did after she just grinned and sort of formed against him for a moment, not quite clinging but definitely flush with him.]

Of course, Dr. Strand. I know you'd expect nothing less than tangible data on the subject.[She did keep her voice low when she said it.]

[This was, new. Amazingly new. It wasn't something he had ever expected have to expect, but Richard was sure he could work with this. Alex's body flush against him felt new and different, but not wrong in any way. He had to wonder if this was how the night would have ended if he hadn't been pulled into this discussion, if they would have found themselves together, like this.

The part of him that wanted to fun away with her would like to think so.

His hand slid around her back, holding her close as he whispered against her ear.]

We should go home, Alex.

[Talking about running away when the lives of two people someone you loved cared for were on the line and the whole fate of the world might be in your hands didn't exactly lend itself to a situation that involved flirting. But then again, when had the two of them ever done things in anything approaching a normal way? They'd practically been living together for months without even being in a relationship, and now they were officially in one and they hadn't even kissed yet.

Alex would have wrapped her arms around his neck were she not holding that red solo cup that was still half-full of bourbon, but she considered doing it anyway for a second. But the words were effective anyway, and she just nodded for a second without even realizing what she was doing.

But she paused for a minute before she smirked at him with an 'I am entirely on to you' look.]

Half an hour. [somewhat of a compromise then, even with the pink in her cheeks.]

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