Viewing Party (D4, LE Mei's room)

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"Drinks, popcorn, candy...toys put away, sheets changed, video queued up...what else?"

Mei stood by the door taking in the room and thinking. This had been her idea but she was nervous for some reason.

"God I hope they don't find this boring."

[John Slaktare]

The door beeps as someone enters the code, which probably gave a good idea of who was entering. Stepping in, he closed it most of the way but not completely.

"Evening, queen," he says, crossing the small room to her, going in for a small kiss on her forehead.

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"Hey babe, how was your day?"

She takes the kiss on the forehead and looks up at him.

"She isn't hear yet, can't you give me a little sugar?"

She leaned in on tippy toes for a real kiss.

[John Slaktare]

John leans in and kisses her fully. He pulls back and tilts his head.

"You can have as much sugar as you like. Don't mean I ain't gonna enjoy those little tastes."

He kisses her on the forehead once more.

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"Did you forget to bring a pillow or are you planning to use me as a cushion?"

She took his hand and walked over to the bed and sat down. She looked at him and then at the door that was still partially open then back at him.

"Smart move, I hate it." Said jokingly. "So did you go to the gym this morning? Sorry I wasn't there, went on a patrol with Hoops, Gi and Light's Out. I had to get all commandery with Hoops after our fight yesterday, wasn't fun but I got to catch up with Gi so that was nice. I almost invited her to join us tonight but decided four people might be a bit to much for this little bed."

[John Slaktare]

"I forgot the pillows. But I can sleep on a steel floor. Don't like to, but it's not terrible," he says with a shrug.

"And I want her to feel welcome in one of our little spaces," John replies, holding her hand in his lap.

"I did a quick jog and a few rounds of heavy bag drills. It's martial arts day. But that was just before the meeting."

He looks at her intently. "Thanks for last night."

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"No, thank you. We continue to learn things and communicate and that is important if this is going to last like I hope it does. It's years away but I'm counting down the days until we get that farm."

She rested her head on his shoulder.

"There are a lot more ducks in my vision of it now."

[Hrafnhildur Ylfasdottir]

There came a knock at the door. Two quick knocks, then one on its own, then two more quick knocks. "Hello, it's me. Hrafna. Hrafnhildur. Hrafna Ylfasdottir from engineering. If this isn't the right room give me no sign and I'll skip on out.
I came to watch the mech donnybrook."

With how tall Hrafna was and how she asked a passerby might think she was selling girl scout cookies, but Hrafna hadn't been a Gosling in Troop 3 for many years now...even if the uniform still fit more or less.

[John Slaktare]

"Come on in," John said, audible through the still cracked open door. "And close the door behind you."

He waves her over to join the two of them on the bed where they can see the screen.

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

Mei smiled at John as he spoke, happy at how comfortable he was here. She bounced up off the bed as Hrafn entered keeping hold of his hand till the last moment and offered Ducky a hug.

"Thanks for coming, glad your hear. I've got some soda, water and wine if you're thirsty. How was your day?"

[Hrafnhildur Ylfasdottir]

The door swung open, pushed by the small engineer, to reveal Hrafna standing there holding a pillow and dressed very comfortably. The pillow case was old and faded but an orange cat was still very visible on one side. On the other was a man who one could assume was their owner and a dog. What she was wearing could be described as some sort of night gown that went down to her ankles, had long sleeves and a frilly collar. She stood there with a smile for a second before stepping in and shutting the door. The hug was very reminiscent of how she would be greeted back home.

"Hoo boy, I'm glad I was right the first time. I'm not known for my direction sense so it was very possible that I could have ended up in the opposite direction but here I am and I got it right. My day was fine, fine fine. Lookin' forward to watch this mech donnybrook all day, let me tell you. Thank you for inviting me here, I brought somethin' for you."

From behind her pillow she offered a small jar of what looked like jam. "From back home, I made it myself and had it a while, but it's still good. More than good. Strawberry jam. It's great on bread and muffins and stuff. I'd like you to have it for bein' host and all."

[John Slaktare]

John stands up and, uncharacteristically for meeting Hrafnhildur, offers a greeting hug as well. Since it seems to be the thing to do.

"Glad you had a good day. And handmade strawberry jam? Definitely spoiling her with something that great. I been looking forward to watching too."

He moves back to the bed and sits.

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

She takes the jar in both hands.

"Oh my gosh Ducky I can't take this. Something from your home? Oh man, you should keep this, you can't have a lot of this stuff I don't wanna take something this special. I am super happy just to have you here, it's been a long time since I had people to watch this with."

The generous gift made her blush.

"I love that nightgown by the way, so classic and comfortable looking."

[Hrafnhildur Ylfasdottir]

While Hrafna was surprised that John was offering a hug, she didn't let him wait very long before swooping in. To her he seemed rather closed off, especially when compared to her, and to see something like this definitely brought a smile to her face. Besides, she couldn't help but be happy that just a piece of home was here with her.

"No no, Mei Mei. You invited and are hostin' and I'm offerin'. Wouldn't be right I come in here and not have somethin' with me to give to you. Nope, wouldn't be at all. I don't have much but I do have some and I want you to have it. Good? Good. Good." She looked down at what she was wearing and pointed out a spot at the wrist. There were letters there, some would be familiar but others would not be. "This is my name, my mother sewed it there when she made this for me...oh must be goin' on ten years ago now. The one I had before was gettin' a little short on accounta me havin' it since I was nine. Funny thing though, it wasn't that small. Turns out I'm still waitin' on that last growth spurt. Any day now, any day now."

With that she took a couple of more steps into the room. "Thank you for invitin' me to the mech donnybrook watchin' party."

[John Slaktare]

"I'm glad we're all gettin to spend some time hanging out. Without needing to give you sore muscles. And that's a real nice nightgown. I used to wear a long nightshirt like that to bed too."

Sitting on the bed, he slap the mattress lightly to invite them to see the screen.

"I bet we got some good matches picked out. I'm looking forward to seeing what ones we're watching."

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

Mei hugged the jar. "Thank you so much, I'll be sure not to hoard it all to myself. lots of people should get to taste your jam. I'm gonna put it on some toast tomorrow morning." She beamed and moved to set it down on a counter and grabbed a big bowl of popcorn. "Before we get started does anyone want a drink? I have cold water, soda and some wine. There is also a bag of gummy worms around here somewhere.

I have a bunch of videos, way to many for one night but I have a couple I really want to show you. I'm saving John for last but this first one is really special to me."

[Hrafnhildur Ylfasdottir]

"Good to see you both without some weights in those hands of yours, that's for sure. Though I feel like I'll be liftin' one of those small mechs any day now." With a smile she set down her pillow and took a seat.

"Got a couple more jars with me here if you like it. And don't you worry, sharin' that stuff is the best part of makin' it. Wine? Is that the juice that makes my nose tingle? Soda! Didn't have that back home so I'm enjoyin' it now." Her speech mirrored her mind jumping from topic to topic.

"Mech donnybrook! Hey now, handpicked matches from Mei Mei. This will be nice. We got days and days to watch, no worryin' about gettin' everything in. All stuff to look forward to."

[John Slaktare]

"Just water for me," he says to Mei-Ling. "Gotta keep my figure."

He turns to Hrafnhildur, "I believe you will be lifting mechs. Holding up parts wit one hand while you fix it with the other."

"Lots of that jam eh? Sorry I can't make anything good like that."

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

Mei set the bowl on the table and went back for the drinks and handed them out. She paced over to the door and turned the lighting down low but not off.

"Is everyone comfortable and ready? No one needs to use the restroom?"

Grabbing the remote she plopped down on the best and crammed a pillow between her back and the wall. Once everyone seemed settled she pressed play.

The video unpaused and the image resolved on an arena, a massive circle of hard packed red earth was surrounded by a high rockcrete wall. Pillars, walls and obstacles dotted the area and at either end massive metal gates stood mark the gladiators entrances. As the Capellan announcers spoke in excited tones the gates slowly swung open and jets of smoke blasted forth from unseen nozzles to hide the fighters for another taunting moment. At one end a pair of 60 ton Ostsol-4D’s painted Copper and Jade Green jogged into the arena side by side to cheers and chanting, waving to the crowd and an image of two Capellan male twins in their early 20’s swept across the screen while the announcers presumably introduced them.

[Hrafnhildur Ylfasdottir]

"Hey now, imagine how quick I can be holding up a mech and workin' on it at the same time. I'd be in and out faster than you'd know. I'll stick to pumping iron to get there."

Now Hrafna got comfortable with her pillow and settled in. "Let me see..." She took a second or two to think." ...no, I'm good on usin' the bathroom. I went before I got here. Always make sure to after my dad kept hollerin' about me always needing to go after we left. 'Hildur, you need to make sure to go before you leave' he would say. He liked callin' me Hildur on accounta of what it means. Kinda stuck with me after that."

Hrafna's eyes were glued to the screen as the action got underway. "Hoo boy...here we go..." She whispered to no one in particular.