Bonfire Mingle Post || OTA

[sanguinescry]

Around the time the sun is starting to set in the early to mid-evening on Saturday, 11/12 as promised, Lydia will (hopefully with the help of Allison and a couple of others) have set up a bonfire on the beach. She's brought several bags of marshmallows, boxes of graham crackers, bars of chocolate, and s'more skewers so that s'mores can totally be a thing. There's also plenty of blankets and towels spread around, because she wants to be sure everyone is comfortable. Jill has offered to bring the alcohol.

Lydia can be found making her way around, greeting and mingling with anyone who arrives and throughout the night. She'll be doing her best to appear approachable so that anyone who maybe hasn't ever been to a bonfire and has questions will feel comfortable approaching her to do that.

[ ooc: please feel free to respond directly to this with your own top comments to play out stuff in here or you can use this as a prompt to make your own logs elsewhere, totally up to you. If you'd like to play with Lydia, please consider this her top comment. Mods, let me know if I need to make any changes to this.]

Comments

[sanguinescry]

Lydia gives a non-commital shrug of her shoulders. In her experience, that's mostly true. Buuuut her last birthday party was kind of a nightmare. That's what happens when someone's being mind-controlled to spike the punch at their own party with wolfsbane in a room full of werewolves and supernaturals. Things get kinda ugly. "I'll take it," she says with a smile and a little wink. She's not really flirting on purpose so much as it's Lydia's default mode of operation. She's seen him with the not-Jackson. He has good taste, at least; she'll give him that. Jackson was a dick, but he was a hot dick, so she really can't complain if he's got a better person with the same face.

"Are you kidding? That's the best way to eat them!" she balks, looking playfully affronted that he would consider it weird. "So, you know what a s'more is, though, right? At least? Because—"

Lydia stops short at the arrival of who she presumes to be the boyfriend. Her smile falters. Her posture stiffens just slightly. Her lips press together and she clears her throat. "Hi," she finally says. "Thanks for coming. And you're...?" she prompts, trying to ignore the pang of upset that comes with looking at him.

Jackson didn't always treat her like garbage. There were good times. He was her first love. He was her first...a lot of things. Knowing that this person is more than likely not him doesn't take away the sting of being abandoned by the first person she ever loved like that and now having to make conversation with someone who reminds her of all of the good and bad times all at once. It's not easy, but she's trying.

[adamparrish]

Someone else who likes them burnt? Adam almost smiles at that, almost. The smile shines more in his eyes than anywhere else though. Adam's not a boy that's accustomed to smiling all that much. But he's amused with Lydia. And as small a thing a burnt marshmallows might seem to be, it helps the anti-social feel a little better about being here.

He's about to shake his head at the s'mores thing when Ronan arrives arms draped over over his shoulders. "This is Ronan. Ronan, Lydia. She's the one who put this thing together."

[fictor]

Ronan has absolutely no idea about the not-Jackson thing, but it's clear that Lydia is a little uncomfortable around him. He's actually using some impulse control and not jumping to any conclusions about why she might not be comfortable around him. That's Adam's influence for the most part. He helps with Ronan's impulse control.

He jerks his chin up a bit at Adam's introduction. "This is really cool."

About that time a fully grown raven flies up and lands on Ronan's shoulder between Adam and Ronan. Neither of them act like it's anything unusual.

[sanguinescry]

Ronan. She'll have to remember that when she curls up in Allison's lap when they get home tonight and she cries because by then she'll inevitably be drunk and thinking about her ex. Last thing that should be on her mind, of course, but Lydia has a tendency to be kind of a sad drunk if the conditions are just right. This pretty much counts.

"Thank you. Nice to meet you," she says and it isn't a lie so much as it's just...weird. Her eyebrows lift as the raven lands on Ronan's shoulder. Okay, well. That...happened.

Her eyes shift back to Adam and she gives him a small smile. "There's chocolate bars and graham crackers, too, just..." she gestures weakly a little ways behind her where she's left the supplies out on top of a cooler that isn't being used right now. "You should try the whole thing. Burn the hell out of it and then stick it between a couple of graham crackers with a piece of chocolate and you'll never go plain roasted marshmallow again."

[adamparrish]

There's a moment here where Adam thinks Lydia might be one of those people that he feared, people who would look at him funny for having a boyfriend and not a girlfriend, one of those people who made him worried about finally being with Ronan before he actually gave himself over to it, easy as breathing. If she's uncomfortable about being around two gay guys (what else could it be?), well, Adam swallows down an apology and is relieved when she starts talking about s'mores again.

He's also thankful for the levity of Chainsaw. The raven always seems to notice when Adam or Ronan are feeling... off about something.

"Doesn't it burn your fingers? The marshmallow." He's heard of s'mores. He's just never been in a situation where they were a thing before. He's genuinely curious. "I guess you hold the crackers... nevermind." This is going great.

[fictor]

It's taken Ronan and Adam a long time to get to this point where they're both comfortable in public and that's exactly the kind of assumption that Ronan is trying not to jump to. Most people here don't seem to give a fuck and the way Lydia continues talking about s'mores gives Ronan hope that she's one of them.

"S'mores are awesome, Man. It just gets your fingers sticky and we'll have to feed Chainsaw at least half the marshmallows you burn."

Because the raven is a brat who eats more people food than she does mice and whatever the hell else she's supposed to eat in the wild.

[sanguinescry]

If Lydia was a mind reader, she'd be a lot more forthcoming about her reservations than she's being right now. As it stands, there doesn't really seem to be a normal way to tell someone that they look like her ex-boyfriend and it sucks to think about how he left her in the cold the way he did. So she just...chooses not to bring it up at all. Maybe that's a mistake.

Wrinkling her nose a little as she shakes her head, Lydia gives a shrug. "Exactly, you hold the crackers. It does get sticky though," she agrees, giving a little nod in Ronan's direction. "Did you...want...?" she asks, her confidence faltering when she looks back at Ronan again. She clears her throat again. "I'm sorry, you just...look like somebody that I used to know. Kind of fighting some cognitive dissonance, here, I'm not trying to be rude or weird. Did you want a s'more? There's more skewers and stuff, I can grab you one," she offers.

There. Now at least she's put the general idea out on the table without having to go into details or continuing to look like she's suddenly inexplicably uncomfortable in her own skin for no damn reason at all.

[adamparrish]

It's the first time that Adam has felt uncomfortable about him and Ronan when it hasn't been his own insecurities as the catalyst for that uncomfortable. He's fought his insecurities for some time now, worrying about what people will think of him, worrying about what his parents would think. He's gotten comfortable with Ronan lately. And in this moment, the discomfort of feeling judged is proof of how comfortable. One big misunderstanding.

He glances at Ronan when Lydia explains that he looks like someone she used to know. Maybe that's what's going on here. Adam hopes it's what's going on here.

As it is, he decides to help Lydia out and let her off the hook with the both of them, or maybe just Ronan, if she wants to get away from them. It seems the nice thing to do. "We can share. We're used to sharing. It's not problem, thanks."

[fictor]

Ronan is actually incredibly relieved when Lydia says that he looks like someone she knows. It shows in his body language. It even shows in the damn raven's body language; she reaches over and nibbles at Adam's ear while they're talking. "S'okay," he tells her, glad that there's a concrete reason for the awkwardness and it's got nothing to do with he and Adam. It's better than he could have hoped for.

"Yeah, we're good with just one skewer. I'm gonna let Parrish have the first one anyway 'cause he's never had one."

[sanguinescry]

Lydia can see pretty clearly that these two are a packaged deal. Getting to know one without trying to get to know the other probably isn't an option and while she thinks that, on some level, it might actually be cathartic to put Jackson's face with another name and personality entirely, she's not really sure she's ready to face that yet.

Yet. Eventually, but not yet.

So she gives a small smile and a nod when she can tell she's being let off the hook. They're giving her an open door to walk back out of without being hostile about her behavior. It's probably the best case scenario she can ask for, given the situation and her feelings about looking at Ronan and still seeing the first and only man to really break her heart there instead.

"Well then I guess you don't need my help," she says genially to Adam before her eyes shift back to Ronan. "The rest of the s'more stuff is just over on the cooler," she instructs, gesturing in that direction. "For when you inevitably both want more," she adds with a little wink. "It was nice to meet you both. Have fun and thanks so much for coming!"

With that, she gives the men one more smile and then a little wiggle of her fingers in the form of a wave, before turning to finish greeting guests as more new faces seem to continue to arrive all the time. They seem nice, so it's worth trying again in the future, but not until she's had time to process the reality of someone who looks so much like her first love existing in the first place. She'll get there, but she thinks it's probably fair to shelf the attempt to make new friends in this particular arena for a little while while she adjusts.