ArchivedLogs:Holi

Holi
Dramatis Personae Maya, Chloe, Micah, Rasputin, Dusk, Lucien, Melinda, Jackson, Alyssa, Kay, Anette
In Absentia	17 March 2014 Holi and St. Patrick's Day all at once! So much colour for all!
Location <NYC> Tompkins Square Park - East Village
Small but popular, this tree-lined park is a perfect centerpiece to the eclectic neighborhood it resides in. Home to a number of playgrounds and courts from handball to basketball, it also houses a dog park and chess tables, providing excellent space for people watching -- especially during its frequent and often eccentric festivals, from Wigstock to its yearly Allen Ginsberg tribute Howl festival. As late afternoon slides into early evening, the Park is alive with bright noise. There's music playing near its center, cheerful-riotous with heavy intricate drumbeats coming from a corner where a group of men play tabla. Tables have been set up, heavily laden with food and snacks along one row and an assortment of sweets along another. There are a myriad of people -- largely dressed rather /ridiculous/bright, clothing heavily splattered with a rainbow of colours -- dancing, eating, chatting; though the gathered crowd is heavily of Indian descent there's a large smattering of other people sprinkled through. The bright colours on the clothing have a pretty clear and immediate origin -- out of range of the food another section of park has been cordoned off and inside /there/ there is whooping and shouting, tables set up with enormous bowls full of coloured powder, cheap plastic waterguns filled with coloured water. In the cordoned off area the rainbow swirl of colours is thickest, trees and ground and /people/ covered liberally with technicolour shades. There's a rather predominant amount of green available, perhaps in hat-tip to the /enormous/ amount of green spread through the /rest/ of the city today. People in the cordoned area are scooping up handfuls of powder, to paint them on each other's faces or /throw/ them at people. Among all this Maya is -- or /has/ been -- dressed in /white/ head to toe, white salwar kameez, white salwar pyjamas, white cap, all layered over /several/ thick layers of clothing beneath because, well, March in New York is not nearly so /warm/ as March in India. Her once-white clothes have taken on a brilliant array of shades, splattered liberally with powder that, too, covers half her face and much of her hands. She dusts her hands off as she wanders (dances, really) her way through the center square, traipsing over to nab herself a laddu; bright green and blue powder from her fingers stains the bright yellow of the dessert, but she does not seem overly bothered as she takes a pleased bite. Chloe has been attracted back to the park despite her earlier scare, lured by the draw of vibrant music and vibrant colors and vibrant /people/. Dancing. /Food/. She's clearly been /in/ the color-play, pinks and purples and blues and greens and bright yellows splattered against the tan fabric of her pants and drizzled into the exuberant spiralling curls of her hair. At the moment she's taking a fighting break for the sake of dancing, lithe-agile in her twirling boot-stomping /fun/ as she spins her way over towards dessert. "Oh my word," she greets Maya, brightly. "Does this happen /every/ year? /So/ much better than corned beef." Micah is out dressed in old athletic clothing for a jog, having encouraged Jax in that direction with (shh, it's a surprise!) no mention of the particular event planned in the park today. Their leaving was timed to arrive just /after/ the festivities have gotten into full swing. He has an old grey knit cap on over his mussed auburn hair, reflective-striped green athletic jacket and pants worn over a plain white T-shirt, a sneaker on his right foot and his left leg terminating in a carbon fibre running blade beneath a rolled-up pants cuff. He just so happens to angle over toward all the noise and colour and excitement. And then, flying in, is the 'earlier scare'. Rasputin's still hopped onto the same brown bird as earlier, wasting bodies not being hir thing. Flying around the festival, ze spots Micah and Jackson, flying towards their direction. A flying little bird right at you is probably confusing at first, and for most people, more confusing when it speaks! "Micah! Jaaackson! You guys here for the festival?" Over where the ACTION is happening, one of the participants makes a very /large/ and noticeable target. It's possibly for this reason that Dusk has found himself not just splattered but fairly well /caked/ with pigment -- there's barely any dark /left/ on his enormous fuzzy wings, only vivid-bright drizzles and splotches and swirls of colour. His fanged grin is bright, too, brilliant-happy, and his hands are crusted in powder of their own as he scoops up a handful of blue to hurl it towards a nearby girl staring at his wings. Lucien is, at the moment at least, plainly /un/coloured. Pale blue jeans, dark loafers, a grey peacoat over his pale green button-down and darker vest. It's the drumming that's lured him, really, eyes drifting halfway closed as he listens to the thumping beat. Meanders nearer the food tables to -- eye them, but not touch. "I have," he says lightly to Maya, "never actually gleaned the full /reason/ behind this festival." Melinda makes her way down by the snacks, moving slowly as one her size is wont to do. She has a small plate of rice and chickpea curry, the color predominately red against the whitish rice, seeds and spices darkening everything. She is eating with her fingers for now, a napkin trapped between her plate and the hand that holds it. She is still dressed, for the time being, in white. White leggings cover thermal underwear, with a white sweater over the top of some unknown layers underneath, a slouchy cap resting on her head, her hair long and straight behind, with the bits framing her face caught up under the hat. She is nibbling when she sees Dusk playing in the colors. She smiles a little and wanders closer, watching. Jackson is dressed for a run as well, light red-and-black track jacket over light blue shirt, pale grey track pants, silver-and-black running shoes, a red earmuff-headband over his ears, eyepatch orange with a trio of red apples embroidered into it. He jogs along beside his husband, a bright spring to his step here at the /beginning/ and not the end of a run. The spring increases at the sound of lively music coming from the park, a small smile flitting across his lips as he picks up stride -- and then stops short, his eye opening wiiiiide and his mouth opening into a sudden O. He -- sadly does not even /notice/ Rasputin. Or probably much of /anything/ else right now except for the brilliant play of colours in front of him; that O slowly spreads wider into an utterly /delighted/ smile. "Oh. Oh my /gosh/ oh my gosh I think we walked into fairyland." "Oh! -- Hi." Maya's smile is bright and wide as Chloe approaches, and she steps aside to make room for others to nab sweets as well. "Well, it doesn't usually fall on St. Patrick's Day and we don't always do it in /this/ park, but yeah, we play Holi every year. There's probably a /lot/ of celebrations going on around here, New York has /so/ many Desi folk -- Hello." There's no /less/ warmth for Lucien, eyes ticking over his clothing and then lifting up to his face. "Well, I could tell you about Holika and Vishnu and Prahlada but in all honesty, the reason behind this festival is having fun." Her laddu-laden hand sweeps out to the world around them. "It's saying goodbye to winter and celebrating spring. A day to let go of the past and simply just -- enjoy. Instead of praying, today we play. Or," she decides with a light laugh, "maybe today we pray /by/ playing." "Yes. But he doesn't know that yet," Micah answers Rasputin, giggling in amusement at Jax's reaction as he steers his husband into the festival action. "S'a festival called Holi that Maya arranged t'play at here. S'all about colour an' springtime an' love an'...what's not t'like? Food, water-fights, dancin', an' throwin' colour powder at people. Sounded like your kinda place." He slows to a comfortable jog, taking Jax's hand and looking over at him as he does so. "Forgive me for bein' devious?" "I can /so/ get behind a playing festival." Chloe nudges at Lucien with an elbow, reaching afterwards past him to swipe a laddu for herself. "You look like you could do with more color in your life, huh? C'mon. They /say/ it washes out." Her teeth sink into the laddu, eyes closing in a bit of relish. "/Besides/ which you'll need the exercise if you want to work off the -- good /Lord/ all this food is delicious." Dusk's grin only widens when he sees Jax approaching, and he veers over towards the group to nab himself a handful of purple, this time. Which he reaches over the cordoning rope to sprinkle into Jax's hair. "It's a little like fairyland," he agrees warmly. "Maya told me about this and I figured you'd -- be a little bit in heaven." His colour-coated hand reaches out, palm blue, fingertips purple, in beckoning gesture. For Melinda's FACE. Apparently her face needs to come close enough to /smoosh/. Attempting (and failing due to how beaks work) to grin, Rasputin looks over the two. "Man the festival's great enjoy yourselves guys!" Rasputin's then flying off, landing next to Maya and Chloe and Lucien, on the ground, and looking up to them. Ze definitely recognizes Chloe, but hopefully this time he won't be smacked with a bag. Rasputin's talking towards Maya, anyhow! "Oh! Did you set up this festival? Sorry if I'm just assuming and/or wrong or whatever I'm bad at this but I'd wanted to say it's doing really good! So much fun, so many pretty colors! Good work!" This time, to stop confusion, the sound is directly coming from the bird, mouth moving (not in sync or really anything but up and down) as well. Melinda inhales deeply and gives a long suffering sigh, the expression in her eyes indicates she is not at all put out by this smooshing. She does hold her plate away from the cordoned off area to make sure no colors (while nontoxic) alter the delicious flavor of her channa. "MMmmm. Well. Of course he'd be in heaven. It's pretty much all the colors and a hell of a lot more green. Did you want anything to eat, Dusk, or is playing still more important?" "Oh my /gosh/," Jackson is saying again, bouncing up onto his toes with a delighted clap of hands together, before his hand is nabbed by Micah and he tugs his husband closer to the boundary of the COLOURS. "Oh my /gosh/ this is oh my gosh it's like the dreams only it's /for-real/ -- wait. Wait wait can we just. Just take the colour? And /throw/ it?" He sounds so startled-amazed by this concept, almost timidly reaching for a bowl of green powder to -- eye it uncertainly. And then eye the /exuberance/ in the field. And then just /chuck/ it at Dusk. Lucien's head tips slightly to one side; he listens to Maya's answer with odd solemnity in his expression. His arms cross over his chest, eyes skating from the food to the colour-play with a very small upward curl of lips. "Do you know," he confides in Chloe and Maya softly, "I do believe I /could/ do with more colour in my life. Would that /all/ prayers were this joyful." He is just offering his arm to Chloe when the bird lands and -- apparently /addresses/ them? He does not, at least, echo Chloe's earlier-in-the-day freakout, but there is a fainter /paling/ to his expression, a fainter widening to his eyes. He glances up and around at his companions -- like, are you seeing this? -- and /prods/ with a toe towards the bird to shoo it. Not quite a kick, but it's not gentle, either. There will be delighted giggling for /some time/ at Jax's reactions to this particular festival, it seems. "Hey, Dusk!" he calls out once they're in range. "Thanks /so much/ for tippin' me off about this." Micah is quite easily tugged along into the colour-fight, bouncing along behind Jax (only in /part/ because of the springy nature of his prosthetic foot). Grinning, he immediately grabs a handful of blue powder in one hand and purple in the other. "That would be the idea," he answers in time with tossing the blue dust at Jax's chest while /dumping/ the purple right over his head. "Much better." Dusk's hand smooshes up against the side of Melinda's face, leaving a purple-and-blue handprint across Mel's cheek and temple. "Playing's /hella/ important," he says this while scooping up a handful of red powder almost /casually/ to fling it all over Micah in a dusty-scattery spray, "but also I am going to get a plate of food and make sure Hive eats it. I think Flicker wore him the hell out with chasing around -- rainbows." His bright grin at this shows his current /delight/ that Hive is even here at all. He turns, scooping a pink and a green handful out of bowls and then spreading his /wings/ -- when /they/ beat down to carry him into the air, it showers a rainbow of colours over the already rainbowy grass below. Over Micah and Jackson too, no doubt. And then he flies off, sprinkling his pink-and-green in an /aerial/ attack down on the players below before swooping in to make a landing over where he can claim food. Maya's eyes open wide at the talking bird that's just landed beside them -- at first she doesn't exactly /notice/ where the voice is coming from, half-turning as though to greet a /human/-sized person. It's only when Lucien looks down that she does, too, and takes a /hasty/ scurrying step backwards, dropping her laddu to the ground in a shattering spread of yellow (and slightly dusty-green) crumbs. "Oh -- oh /gosh/ I -- are you -- um." For a moment she looks /very/ confused, turning aside to narrow eyes out towards a different table. "Oh gods above tell me there's not /bhang/ around here the cops will freak." Where there is a riot of color and, even better, an excuse to be //riotous// with color, well. There is surely an Aly //somewhere//. From the state of her she's actually been in the midst of the color-flinging for a while now, 'cause she is multi-colored from the top of her head all the way down to her toes, and she sort of //sheds// colored dust as she starts working her way toward the outskirts of the flinging-areas. The bright green-gold of her eyes is muted, today, but her grin is a little bit //ridiculous//. Rasputin does not get smacked with a bag. But the kick /Chloe/ aims towards him is /definitely/ a kick and not a prod; her eyes have shot open wide again as well. She takes Lucien's elbow and practically /drags/ him off away towards the colorful section of park, a faint note of panic in her expression. "Wait, you /too/? I thought I was losing my goddamn mind --" Not that she seems entirely /reassured/ by /mass/ hallucination, curls swaying around her head as she gives it a firm shake and pulls Lucien over faster. "Agh stop kicking and pushing me I AM A PERSON." At the prod Rasputin is moving back, and then flying upwards from the /kick/. "Woah woah don't do that! Look I'm a bird in a person bod- err person in a bird body long story being a mutant is weird I can't help it. Well I could be any bird but I like this bird really." This all comes rather /fast/, kind of a nervous sort of thing. "I've been..hit with a bag today, kicked now...man this was totally a bad day to go outside wasn't it." Rasputin's eying around for familiar faces, before spotting the /familiar/ wings. "Oh man Dusk I should see Dusk or maybe he doesn't want to be bothered iunno." "Mel Mel /Mel/ there's a -- you get to just /throw/ colours," Jackson is explaining this to Melinda with Great Excitement, his bright laughter only /brighter/ when he finds himself dosed on colour. "Eat fast -- oh /gosh/ is that channa?" Now he's abruptly distracted -- but not /so/ distracted that he can't swipe a fistful of yellow powder to throw it right /back/ at his husband. It's not really possible for his smile to get any wider but for a moment a small glow shimmers around him; "/ALY/," is loud and ecstatic. "Someone accidentally dipped you in a rainbow, did you know?" "Mel, hi!" Micah chirps cheerfully at the woman when Dusk's colouring her face draws his attention to her. He leans in to give her a hug...kind of from the side, which is easier with the belly. "And Aly! Everyone's here, goodness!" The second woman gets a vigorous wave and a tossed handful of orange powder, since he isn't quite close enough to pounce-hug her. There is yet more giggling as Dusk turns him red, Jax turns him yellow, and then the aerial assault sprinkles the whole thing in pink and green. "Ohgosh, Hive's out playin'. If Dusk can get 'im t'eat, too, I'll give 'im a medal. Or kisses. Prob'ly he'd prefer kisses." He bonks his colour-dust-covered head against Jax's shoulder. "Y'wanna play more or get some food first?" Lucien is only too happy to be /pulled/, glad for an excuse to put the talking bird(!?!) out of sight and mind. "Perhaps it was a holiday prank?" he suggests to Chloe, a little /bemused/. Bemusement fades into an easier contentment when he approaches the cordoned-off area. He doesn't quite wear the crazy-wide smile of the others, but there's a greater relaxation to his expression that does not /fade/ when he approaches the others. "Micah. Jackson." There's only the /faintest/ note of hesitation before: "Mel," though on this his tone is no less warm than it was for the first two. "Goodness, this is something, mmm? My /dear/ friend --" He tips a glance and a hand towards Chloe. "-- actually, I do not know her name. Insists that I, ah. Play." "See you," Melinda replies to Dusk before he takes off, her nose wrinkling through the smearing of purple and blue. She gives Micah a hug as well, the colors on him starting to transfer to her sweater. "Hi, Micah. Yes, channa -- and pretty much everything else you could want. The gobhi is amazing." She finishes her plate and moves to place it in the trash before heading over to join her rapidly colorizing friends. She moves in and scoops up green powder in both hands, holding it for a moment as she decides who to pour it on. Lucien catches her attention and she pauses a little longer. "Lucien," her reply is quiet, almost lost in the joy around them, but emphasized with a nod. Then there's a little smile and she turns away. Instead of throwing her dust on someone else, she lifts her hands and parts them, the leafy color falling all around her face and hair, shoulders and neck, and her rather round belly. "Then you should play," Mel smiles, now more green than white. "/JAX/," is loud and exuberant in response as Aly's spotted through the crowd, and she stretches one hand up up up to //wave// - then drops her hand, and starts wiggle-worming her way through the crowd to get closer. "I think I'm accidentally the embodiment of rainbow," the ordinarily-brunette announces, making grabby-hands for hugs from the people she knows (Jax; Micah) and offering sunshine-smiles for those she doesn't (Lucien; Melinda). "//Hi//. Seriously, how could I miss this?" Rather than scoop up more powder, she grabs the ends of her braids - one in each hand - and //shakes// them. "Really," Chloe says with a bright note of laughter, "I just insist /everyone/ should play. S'not all that many days dedicated to nothing /but/ enjoying yourself." She shakes her own mass of curls, a rain of colored powder drifting down her back, and then steps over the cordoning, offering her hand to Lucien once she's across. "It's Chloe. I guess I usually /do/ introduce myself before asking handsome men to play with me. -- Oh --" For a moment her words stutter to a halt, brows lifting as she sees Jax and Micah. "I know you." There's soft amusement in her voice here, and she leans over to scoop up a water pistol filled with blue water, aiming it at Jackson to pull the trigger. Bang. Except instead of bang, just a stream of cheerfully-coloured water to splatter against his chest. "You should play also," she tells Melinda, gaze skipping down to her belly and then back up to her face; "you don't need to run. Just to throw." "Talking bird, talking bird," Maya repeats this quietly to herself -- not, admittedly, with any /hostility/, just an increasing sense of losing touch with the /world/. She doesn't quite /flee/ like Chloe and Lucien do, but she /does/ hurry off towards the drinks table to have a rather /stern/ chat about drugs and public festivals with the people manning it. Rasputin looks around for Dusk, but is unable to find where he flew in /all/ the color. So, ze is looking around for other familiar faces, flying up before spotting where Micah and Jackson are, landing near them..far away from the kicky people, as ze chirps. "Man have you guys seen Dusk I knew I saw him but. I can't find him again he's like A GHOST." Jackson returns Aly's hug in a fierce-tight squeeze that transfers a good deal more colour onto him. And then his bright, "Luci!" followed by an arm opening to offer hug to /him/ -- is likely to pass that colour straight /onward/ if accepted. "How could anyone ever miss this? This has gotta be the greatest of all --" His nose crinkles up, words stifled into another laugh at the sprinkling of colour from above. He scoops another handful of red and one of orange, ducking around to toss the former at Melinda and the latter at Lucien. "I don't even know what we're doing," he admits cheerfully. "-- Huh? Dusk?" He looks around, /also/ habitually looking at person-height for the speaker. "He went off for food --" He's looking a /little/ bit puzzled about who is talking to him right now. "Hi, Luci! You're playin'?" Micah asks about...three seconds before wrapping Lucien in a very, very colourful hug once the other man is in the cordoned-off colour ring. "Hello, dear friend! I'm Micah, by the way... Oh, have we met before?" Chloe gets an energetic wave rather than a hug, being as she's new and Micah's arms are busy trading hugs with Lucien and Aly. "Aly, honey, y'look like Pippi Longstocking and Rainbow Brite were siblings, an' you're their sister." He's grinning a massive, lopsided grin by this point. "Hello, again, Ras." He's a little less confused by the now-familiar voice of the little bird. "Dusk ran off lookin' for Hive an' food. S'prob'ly not over in this mess at all anymore." "Yeah, I'm saving up all my running for now." Melinda replies as she smiles at Chloe, hands leaving big green spots on her sweater as she gently holds her belly. She is then blasted with red and laughs, shaking her head and seeking out some yellow. This is thrown at Chloe. "I'm Mel, as he said." She nods to Lucien before turning to look at Alyssa, nodding to her. "I haven't met you yet." Lucien takes the hugs, /accepts/ the hugs, heedless of the bright colours that splotch and smear over his Very Nice Clothes. "I heard that it's a time to welcome spring. I can think of few /better/ reasons for playing." He returns Aly's smile with a small tip of head in a nod, and promptly busies himself filling his pockets with stolen handfuls of coloured powder. Though one bright-bright blue-green he saves to toss towards Alyssa -- like a /greeting/ -- before dusting his multicoloured hands off over Chloe's curly hair. "-- {Jesus /Christ/.}" His startled step back when Rasputin reappears thunks his leg up against the table, toppling a half-emptied container of green powder. "Micah, that bird is talking to you." He says this /reproachfully/, and then, heavy-laden with coloured powder, steps past the others and off into the crowd. Loud noise, music and laughter fit oddly well against the snarly purr of a bike engine - woeful, that Kay must play low-key on his inner city jaunts, roaring up to the curb on a sporty Japanese dirt bike, its seat hiked up in back in some strange insectile design, painted bright green and fuchsia from whatever unknown origin. Riding atop it, Kay is wearing a denim jacket, skinny black jeans, a wallet chain. A pair of sunglasses that he is slowly pushing back from his eyes while staring down this colorful festival like the /promised/ land. Mouth: OPEN. Eyes: SPARKLING. He /vaults/ the rest of the way off his bike and long-legged giraffe-runs towards the crowd. And Lucien. Jax. Micah. "/Jax what did you DO/ how did you DO it is that woman pregnant who is that." Who is that, is Aly, likely. Jax is doomed if he nabs him - he'll get swept up off the ground and SPUN by a very warm, very rangy pair of cackling arms. "Dear friend," Chloe echoes lightly. "No, not in person. Just familiar faces. Your husband is very distinctive -- even under all the rainbow." One hand armed with water pistol, the other gathers up a large fistful of purple to /retaliate/, tossing it at Melinda with a laugh of her own. "Chloe," she offers again, despite already having made this introduction. She's just claimed another handful -- green this time -- when her eyes go wide. Maybe at Rasputin's reappearance, maybe at /Kay's/ -- she's certainly giving him a long look. And then a /tossed/ handful of green powder as Kay reaches for Jax. "Oh -- /god/ five minutes in and my date is fleeing already, I must be losing my touch." With a warm-bright smile to the others, she snatches up her watergun and fills a pocket with red powder and takes off at a light jog after Lucien. Alyssa now has an extra layer of aquamarine to add to her already-rainbow collection, and her laugh is //bright//: there are so many hugs and so much bright and so many //people// -- her eyes clear for a second, rapid-blink style in the wake of more thrown powder-paint, but they re-dim after a moment as she tries, tries! to keep up with //everyone//. "I'm Aly," she manages to Mel, with an outstretched hand and a wiggle-wiggle of her fingers over a chirruped, "Congratulations!" because of the baby-bump; then there are //more arrivals// and her smile shines brighter and she chirrups a, "//Hello//," in Kay's incoming direction, too, just for good measure. As Kay runs forward, Rasputin is flying upwards, all familiar voice ringing out. "KAAY. FIREBUDDY. Oh man is this a party or what.". Even with Kay vaulting like crazy, ze is somehow attempting to sneakily land on Kay's shoulder. Sneakily. Most likely prone to failure. "Man Jax it's me Rasputin. Talking bird body possessor thing. Also, I'm totally a person. Inside..a bird it's weird okay." "Mel, that's Aly! She went t'school with Jax an' is stayin' with Dusk'n Hive'n Flicker 'til the Commons get built up. She /just/ got here all surprise-like on Friday night," Micah summarises rapid-fire as he grabs fistfuls of green and red to dust over Aly and Mel. Introducing people should always come with a wash of colour, honestly. "Oh, that's just Ras," he explains to Lucien once he's accused of talking to a bird. Y'know. Talking birds. No big deal. "Kay, man, how d'you manage t'be louder an' more attention-grabbin' than a /festival/?" This sounds entirely more amused and impressed than accusatory. "Jax actually didn't do the colour this time. S'a traditional spring festival. They just do this for fun!" He nods at Chloe's explanation. "Yeah, bein' on the news a lot'll do that for you. Have fun!" Another wave follows Lucien and then Chloe as they dart into the crowd. Jackson's eyes match Kay's for sparkle as the exuberant pyrokinetic arrives; he doesn't resist the /swooping/ but he answers it with a dumped handful of peacock-green down into Kay's hair. "Aly this Kay -- an' Mel they're /oh/gosh," that comes as he is /spun/, "friends -- /colourful/ friends today. Kay I didn't do this! It's a -- a -- s'a proper /festival/ where you just. Make every thing pretty." He's explaining this very eagerly as he nabs a bowl of purple to hold the bowl in offering to Kay. "I got /spritzed/ with a blue watergun how is /every day/ not like this? -- Oh my gosh. Hive's playin' /an'/ Lucien's playin'? This is like either the best day ever or some kinda herald of the apocalypse." He tips his gaze back down when Micah points out Rasputin, eye a little bit wider; for a /brief/ moment there's a startled shake of his head before he regains composure with a smile. "Oh. Oh /right/ hi!" Maya has, finally, straightened out that there is in fact /no/ drugs in the drinks here, even /if/ cannibis-drink is a traditional Holi offering. Somewhat more relieved for this news but somewhat more /apprehensive/ for her potentially-cracking mind, she returns over to the festival of colours to work out her stress by diving back into fun. It's Melinda she sneaks up on with twin handfuls of blue and yellow, tossing them over the woman's shoulders to probably liberally dust both her /and/ Aly. "Nice to meet you. I'm kind of heading toward limbo with the Commons as well," Melinda takes Aly's hand and shakes it, adding yellow to whatever is left in the other woman's hand. She laughs a little and takes a wobbly step back when Kay bounds in, shaking her head as he runs on his greeting. "Kay, have you forgotten me already? I know the belly is distracting, but it's still me," she looks as if she's going to continue speaking, but then she's showered in blue and yellow, a squeak coming out instead -- a happy squeak at least. She turns to see who has showered her and bows her head to Maya. "Thank you. I did feel like my clothes were still too colorless." "Yo, Raspy, you're on /birdbones/ mode today, huh? Man, don't get crushed in the masses," Kay does not know Aly. Kay does not NEED to know Aly, her bright grin and bright colors are met /ferociously/ with gleaming amber eyes and mouth full of - well kind of stained teeth - which is about all the standard-Kay color left visible beneath his rapid accumulation of brilliant solid-matte colors. And he'll just HUG HER AS WELL. Have some wiriness; it's like a bunch of old ropes tied in knots. He thrusts his hands into Jax's purple so that when he very seriously answers Micah, it can be /while/ sweetly patting a purple hand-print to either of Micah's cheeks, "I am just," pat. pat. purple. - then leans in to bonk foreheads on Micah, "this awesome. - Holy shit, /Mel/? You're not -- MEL-shaped, how the fuck," importantly, without all that... polite... permission shit, he places a purple pawprint on Melinda's stomach. Rafiki-style. Paw. "I'm gonna vote for Best Day Ever, if I have a say," Micah replies to Jax through giggles that are hardly stopping for the redhead to speak. "Maya!" Yay, more people! More people to greet with /colour/, as Micah does rather exuberantly with paired purple and pink coming at Maya from either side. "You're positively /radiant/. An' this is amazin'. I can't imagine how much work y'put into all this. An' all that food over there, too. We gotta remember t'stop for food at some point, Jax-honey, it looks beyond delicious." His eyes scrunch against the purple-face-patting he receives from Kay, giggles going up in pitch a notch in ever-growing amusement. "Yeah," Aly //confirms// everything said by Jax and Micah, her, "I just got home Friday," interrupted by a giggling whoop-squeak, kind of on the screech side, as she is liberally dusted with //even more// color while shaking Melinda's hand. //Properly//. Like a //grown-up// -- which doesn't last long, because there are //other huggers// here, and she does not have the sense god gave little green apples so she returns Kay's with a HUG of her own, all momentary starfish-cling and cheerful, "/Hi/," before his attention deflects, and so hers moves on. This time, with an extended hand out-thrust toward Maya, another, "Hi, I'm Aly!" on her lips. "Man these things are /so fragile/ I have no idea how I do it I've only had a body die...uh twice." Rasputin shrugs, before turning to Aly, voice still...sounding as happy as possible with how difficult bird smiles are. "Oh man I didn't even notice her hi I'm Rasputin. And do not freak out at the talking bird I have /had/ enough of that today like seriously this chick hit me with a bag. And kicked me, or tried to. HARD." Rasputin doesn't even seem upset! "It's so colorful I just want to take these colors home and color /everywhere/." Maya answers Aly's extended hand by shaking it with her own very green-blue-yellow one; her other hand has grabbed a fistful of pale sky-blue to chuck over in the general direction of Kay-Micah-Jax. "Oh, the work is so worth it. This is my favourite time of year. Only celebrating. /Everyone/ celebrating." She answers Micah's colourful greeting with a handful of green and a wide-armed offer of hug. Her eyes open wider when Rasputin talks again and she seems -- very determined to pretend this is not happening. Nope. Not losing her mind HOLDING ON FIRM. Her grin is a little manic-bright as she scoops some of Jax's purple to toss it back at Aly. "Welcome home! We threw this festival in your honour." "It just happens sometimes, Kay. S'all I can say," Melinda looks down at her new belly print and moves off to find some fuchsia, some amazingly vivid fuchsia. She grabs a hand full of that and a hand full of some light green and goes back into the fray, throwing the first at Micah and the second at Kay, turning her attention back to the colors once again. Hmmm. Where is that sky blue? "That's rude," Micah says of Rasputin's ordeal, nodding to the bird. "Though it might help if y'lead with the whole person-mutant-bird explanation /before/ y'talk t'people, Ras. A lotta folks are likely t'think they're fallin' right off their rockers when y'come at 'em all sudden-like." Smiling as Maya coats him in new colours, he gestures to Ras. "Talkin' bird. The X-gene is an odd beastie in how it chooses t'manifest." Then he wraps Maya in a hug at her offer, their rather copious colour-dust collections mixing into an even brighter smear of rainbowy mess. He holds his grip on Maya as he sees Mel aiming green at him, ensuring that they're /both/ covered in the also-St.-Patrick's-Day appropriate colour. Maya's, pale blue pwuffs up the side of Kay's face, Mel's livid fuchsia slow-motion erupts down his arm, the back of his shoulder, and he yowls a creaky vulpine war-cry, ducking down to scoop up handfulls of a sinfully crimson red and a cheerful orange to lay down a cover-fire of pelting warm colors at Aly, Jax, Maya - mini mushroom clouds bwompf up where they strike. Off to one side of the curb, a police car has pulled up; this alone isn't a hugely unusual sight. Cheerful yes, but rarely do cops dig a rowdy crowd, and the two officers getting out, pulling low their hats and exchanging glances, are only scanning quietly from outside the cordoning. Smothered in colors and laughing, Kay just sliiiightly bends his knees to join the average head-height in the sea of bright colors. "Aly you got a whole /colour-party/ jus' for you? Oh my gosh can you go away an' come back /every day/?" Jackson is stifling a laugh with his palm pressed to his face; this only serves to /liberally/ coat his own mouth and cheek with a mix of purples and blues and greens and yellows. "Micah says we're celebratin' spring and /love/ is that true?" Once Maya has approached he directs this question to her. While stocking up on fistfuls of coloured powder to stick in his /own/ pockets, taking a trick from the others who darted off. He tosses one lavender-purple towards Rasputin because, well, birds should be colourful too. "I think leadin' with that would help, yeah," he says with a small laugh, "I mean I /know/ you an' when I ain't expectin' you it's /still/ kinda disarmin'." Jax turns a slight glance over towards the arriving police officers too, glancing back to his group after only a brief look. His colourful hands reach out to /pat/ at Kay's face, pat-pat-pat; with refills of colours in between it's not long before his long calloused fingers have smeared a veritable mask of rainbow across the other man's face. "Pretty well true, yes. We're celebrating the return of spring. Letting go of anything bad in the past and --" Maya sweeps a hand out to gesture to the brightly colourful park, the people running around throwing colours at each other, the food distant, the music and the dancing. Her sweep of hand comes with a scattering of sunshiny-bright yellow STREWN haphazardly around the gathered company. "-- Just enjoying. That's all today is about. Sharing joy with /everyone/." Her eyes shift back to Micah, a greater relaxation to her expression -- though still some /confusion/ -- at his explanation. "Oh -- oh." Her brows pull together; she looks down to Rasputin and then back up to Micah as though gauging whether the man is jesting. "A bird with the X-gene? I didn't know that happened." "Nope," Aly trills, "but only because that would mean having to //leave// again -- best totally coincidentally-timed totally for me celebration //ever//, though." She gets FWOMPED in the face with warm-colors, double-blinks rapidly to clear her eyes; it's easy to miss, because the rest of her face is scrunched up in a //grin//, broad and beaming-bright. It wobbles just a little as she's addressed by a talking-bird, gleams a little manic over, "Oh, uh, //hi//, I won't offer hugs but -- have fun?" Be careful? Don't get stepped on? There is something home-familiar about a cop car pulling up; it twists her stomach with something that isn't quite nostalgia and isn't quite fear. But there are //colors//, and the continued disposition of them, and rather than tossing anything at anyone she grabs her braids by the ends and SHAKES them again, which -- has much the same effect. Kay makes a nose-wrinkly doggish smile with all his teeth out when Jax mooshes color into his face, growly-laughing, "Ho, /bring it on/." Rather than fight back, though, he drops to his knees and tips back his head to present /more/ face. Not just to Jax but to /all/ that stand around him, arms falling open to BASK in the powdering bombardment - save a sudden HAND thrusting down the back of his pants, "Oh god, it's in my asscrack. - Nah, Rasp' wasn't always a bird. He just lives in a bird sometimes. His X-genes are pretty much fucking roadkill." He's idly tossing up dropped colorpowder from the ground to rain down upon their heads, "...makes a kinda clusterfuck of identity and genetics, huh?" AUGH something in his eye, he'll nuzzle on whoever's leg is next to him. "No, a human with the X-Gene whose..sole ability is to jump animal bodies and can't take humans. Very long story. I'm usually a cat. Basically..what Kay said yeah my X-Gene sucks." Rasputin shrugs again, looking around and definitely spotting the police car. "Man why are the cops /here/ this is a /peaceful/ party." Micah coats his hands in yellow and orange to play them through Jax's hair to make messy stripes...which really has the end effect of /trading/ colours between hair and hands. "I think we can totally have Aly-themed parties without makin' her spend half her life on airplanes," he offers as an /alternative/ to Jax's plan. He collects some pink and smears it into a /heart/ on his husband's cheek. When Kay /invites/ more colour upon himself, Micah scoops up a double-handful of a lovely cobalt blue to spill right over top of him. There. Like a Smurf, only prettier. "Police? Are they makin' a fuss or just makin' sure this many people in one place aren't startin' trouble? Y'got a better view up there than the rest of us, Ras..." His brow furrows slightly, colour filling in the lines in a rather odd effect. "Oh, there'll be cops around /whenever/ there's a crowd, in terms'a emergency response the city actually treats /any/ large gatherin' as a kinda disaster. Sure there must be EMS on hand s'well." Jax is totally /not/ looking at Kay with this offhand answer, though he does smear his thumbs in one last sweep beneath the pyrokinetic's eyes like streaks of war paint on his cheeks. His mottled-colour hand reaches up to tug lightly at one of Aly's braids even as his own hair is being played through. "Well, she could jus' go over the border t'Jersey an' then come back -- oh, no, wait, then you'd hafta be in Jersey. I /guess/ we'll jus' hafta throw mad parties /without/ no reason. I think we can handle that." Alyssa has a head rubbing against her leg and a hand pulling on one of her braids, and they belong to //separate people//. "I think my pants are just as bad as the rest of me," is tipped down to Kay, but it's paired with a hand that drops to scuff more color (or just her fingers, but at this point it's the same thing) through his hair. "But feel free to do that as much as you like." As for Jax, attached to her braid: she lifts the other one to bat-bat-bamf the end against his hand as she wrinkles her nose. "I'd really rather not have to end up in Jersey just for the sake of a //welcome home// party, so -- I'll take that. UM," it is a bright um, a cheerful um, an um paired with an exuberant puppy-wriggle that travels from her shoulders down through her hips, "we could totally throw a party for when my //sportster// gets here, that's a //party worthy// occasion right there." "Oh -- oh. Okay --" Maya's smile returns, tentative at first but then warmer. A little /determinedly/ warmer at these explanations, nodding like she is trying to convince herself, okay, talking bird, that's fine. "Most large crowds will have some police presence, yes, but -- nobody's /doing/ anything I don't think they're here to make trouble. Why do you need a reason to have a party?" Now her smile is easier; she rains down half a handful of sky-blue onto Kay and dusts the rest at Aly and Jax. "The party /is/ the reason." "You've got a sportster," Melinda asks, amused. She doesn't have pockets, alas, so she's just moving her way through the different colors, bringing some blue to start twisting it gently into Micah's curls. It's a more meticulous job, but she's not interested in running around so much. "Mmm. That seems like a trip to the beach kind of thing, though. What's the best beach near here? I mean, well, we're kind of in a port area. Coney Island?" She glances at the police and over to Jax briefly, but then finishes up with Micah, wiping her hands on his shoulders before tottering to some yellow. "Seriously, I'm not sure how many parties are /worth/ Jersey," Micah answers with a chuckle and a crinkled (green! and yellow!) nose. "I think we keep ourselves goin' pretty well just keepin' up with birthdays an' holidays. An' Maya's right. Parties because /parties/ is always a perfectly valid option, too." Gathering some red and blue powder, he replenishes (re/loads/, really, considering the rate at which Aly has been using them as a delivery system) Aly's braids. He reaches over afterwards to repay Mel's hair-decorating with another series of hand-prints along her arms and belly in the red and blue combination. "Beach sounds nice. Once winter decides to /shoo/, already." "Y'think we could /shoo/ it? Kay," Jackson wants to know this very earnestly, "can you make winter leave?" He crinkles up his nose, skirting around to place very multicoloured handprints against Maya's back. "Party /is/ a good enough reason. Maya, you'll hafta tell me what y'all use for these colours 'cuz I feel like there's plenty more times they could be in use 'sides jus' today." He's also gravitating now back closer to Kay -- possibly because in his running clothes out here in the winter night when he's no longer running he's now starting to shiver. Melinda's suggestion gets a grin. "I bet Coney Island would look better in rainbow." While the police duo make a slow orbit along the outside of the crowd, Kay is kind of casually knee-walking a loose orbit down there on the ground to put man legs and hips and other bodies between himself and their direct line of sight. "/Hah/ you gotta sportster?" Kay says at nearly the same time as Mel, but with considerable more enthusiasm, hooking his fingers into either of Aly's pants pockets from his low angle to give her a yank, "I got a fucking 1200 custom I /live/ by. When's yours gettin in?" Jax's proximity will feel it; kept low to not alert a crowd, Kay's infernal outer temperature is radiant with warmth, like standing near a heated oven, and smelling of brimstone. Anette has decided to venture out of her apartment today and join the festivities, though she keeps off to the side and only ventures far enough in for the food. Keeping covered as usual in her jacket, she watches the larger group have fun with the colored dust, unable to resist smiling at the rainbow explosion. She does momentarily glance towards the police presence, though she decides there's nothing to be concerned about and reaches for some unknown bit of food passing by. One bite though and she finds herself discreetly spitting it back into her hand and into a nearby garbage can. Well...at least she tried it... "They seem to be just patrolling. All looks good." Rasputin says cheerfully, before a slight bit of noise is put just in Kay's ear range. "Want me to distract them? I could get them like, chasing a squirrel maybe. Maybe." Rasputin is just listening to their topic, as ze cheerfully replies again. "Man snow is the worst it's /so cold/ why can't snow be /warm/." Micah snickers a little at Jax's request for Kay to scare winter off. "Careful. Think 'is method of makin' it less wintry might be a little...fiery." Not that he's complaining about the sudden warmth radiating from Kay. It /is/ cold out here, after all. He nods at the mention of using colour powder at other parties. "Honestly, there's not reason /not/ t'have colour-crazy birthday parties or whatever. I approve of this plan. Though, to be fair, is there anyplace y'/don't/ think would look better in rainbow?" He nods at Rasputin's report, the slight increased tension that had picked up in his shoulders relaxing at the good news. "/Everything/ would look better in rainbow," Maya agrees, wriggling in a happy little dance at the colours applied to her back. There's not much of white left to be /seen/ in her once-plain salwar, only a blurring-together wash of rainbow colours. "Snow is delightful. One year Holi fell just at the beginning of March and there was a /big/-big snowstorm. We left out the water guns but all the snow all around was bright rainbow. I would be alright with more snow-Holi-days. -- Oh!" This comes as someone from outside the group tosses a large handful of red powder at her. Perhaps she knows the young man, perhaps she doesn't, but she's fishing up fistfuls of colour to /race/ off after him into the crowd. "I //built// my sportster," Aly answers Mel and Kay at the same time, pride obvious in her voice, but a note of reluctance too -- like she's conditioned herself not to go on, and on, and on about it at any given opportunity. With her braids re-loaded, she grabs both ends again and //snaps// them, so they rain cheerful color down (and out) on (and at) everyone. Her grab-snap comes right about the same time Kay hooks his fingers into her pants-pockets and yanks, and there is surprise and then //delight// on her face in the moment before she lets herself tumble down. It's a half-graceless semi-slide to //almost// on her knees, except not quite, and kind of awkward-braced against him before she drops her hands to his shoulders and //grins//. "Mine's an '05 model, custom-built 883 and it is my fucking //baby//, and won't be here 'til later this week 'cause //shipping cross-country//--" "I'm going to opt out of being a human marshmallow and wait until actual spring comes in a not so fiery fashion," Melinda smiles and pauses, nostrils flaring a little as she eyes the food table. "I'm nibbly again. Anyone want some food? There's some pretty tasty stuff." She speaks, inviting others, but she doesn't exactly wait for others, the call of food much to much for someone eating for two. "Truth. I'm /kinda/ partial t'rainbowiness, m'self." Micah laughs outright at the description of colour-snow. "We've had a colourful mega-snowfight before, but that was with Special Ability assistance 'stead of colour-powders. Totally could recreate it with powders if it snows again, though. Make up for the fact that it's /snowin' again/." He startles briefly at Aly going down, but just smiles and turns back to the group when it's apparent that her sinking was intentional. "Oh, food." Micah's stomach growls in reply to Mel's offer this time. "/Must/ try delicious food. Jax-honey, I'm gonna go eat with Mel! Y'wanna come, or I can grab y'somethin'?" He stands by long enough for a reply before following Mel's thankfully-slow progress back toward the munchie tables. "My method'd leave an /ash/ cloud. Fucking VESUVIUS this shit. 'Tween you and me, Jax," Kay grins up at Jax and then, somewhat ominously, towards the police, "we could clean up /shop/." He slings a long arm around Jax's hip to give him a jostle, murmuring lower - hopefully Rasputin is listening close, "Stay cool, Paddy Paws. We're," WHUff, Aly's hands land on his shoulders and Kay laughs - NO restraint here, he'll talk about whatever he damn well feels like, "Hhah, I had the sweetest little Dyna street bob you'd ever tear across the open road back in Nevada, til it got blown to fucking scrap metal. I just swiped," swiped?? "back my current baby... uh." He glances towards the cops again, as they begin to more dutifully scan faces, "I'm gonna split. Jax! Micah!" Either of THESE young men get a firm SPANK to the ass, "Be good, kids! Mel, happy spawnin' you sexy thang. Your tits never looked better. You two," he places a fingertip from either hand against his mouth and kisses them. Reaching out to boop either Maya /and/ Aly on the nose simultaneously, "You're my new favorites. Catch up with y'all later. Have Jax call me when your bike gets in; I'll show you some good open roads up north the city, to stretch your wings on. Cya." And with that he turns and, on hands and feet, crawls shamelessly away into the chaos. Overhead there is a /heavy rain/ of colour SWOOPING down, raining from Dusk's thickly-/coated/ /very/ rainbow wings. It showers in brilliant colour-storm over the party like raining down pixiedust from above, and then swoops away. "Oh but you'd be the /prettiest/ marshmallow -- Melshmallow? Marsh-mel-low? -- an' you'd be all warm an' toasty /too/ --" Jax is perhaps-subconsciously leaning in closer to Kay as he mentions being warm and toasty, leeching off the other man's ambient heat until his shivering starts to calm. "There is no place ever that wouldn't look better in rainbow, no. I kinda miss the rainbow-world we had last month that was /excellent/. -- /eep/ woah!" He twitch-jumps at the ass-spank, eye abruptly wide. "Oh /woah/ hey be safe be /happy/ -- ohmygosh/food/." His current fistfuls of powder are lobbed at Kay in parting and he /dashes/ off after Mel and his husband, back over nearer the foods. His hands clap against Micah's shoulders to /wipe/ powder off his hands onto his husband's clothes; he's starting to dart ahead of them towards food tables when a familiar face stops him and he waves a (still /pretty/ colourful but slightly less /sheddy/) hand towards Anette. "Oh! Gosh, Anette? Hi!" As POWDER RAINS FROM ABOVE, Rasputin is colored beautifully with 'pixie dust', a laugh coming from the bird. "Oh man this is great. I'mma go..fly around and stuff. See ya crazy diamonds later." Rasputin's then flying off, towards the rest of the festival. UP UP, AND AWAAAYYYY! Alyssa meets nose-bop with a mwah that is more sound than action, and pushes back up onto her feet so that she doesn't actually-actually fall as Kay disappears into the crowd, her, "You're on!" a cheerful carol in his wake as COLORDUST rains down from above. Her laugh //peals// as she ducks her head and blink-blinks dust out of her eyes again, then follows the migration of the crowd (of people she actually know-knows) toward the food. "Later, Kay, Ras!" Micah calls as he moves toward the tables, laughing aloud at the sudden rainbow-bombing by Dusk-from-above. There isn't much of Micah's clothing /not/ covered in colour-powder to offer Jax a place to clean his hands by the time he makes it out of the cordoned-off zone. Micah uses the /inside/ of his shirt to clear off his own before bee-lining it to the plates so he can start loading up on food. "So. Many. Goodies." He doesn't wait to finish loading the plate before picking an item or two off of it to sample. "About time someone noticed my tits." Melinda grins and waves to Kay from the food tables, grabbing a plate for tamarind chutney and samosas. She lifts a hand to wave to Dusk, before eyeing some of the other offerings. "Yes, well, I may resemble a marshmallow more now, but I certainly don't taste like one. Well. Not to most folks, and I've tabled being eaten until after the kid comes. So there's that too. Maybe some other time, okay?" She leans a shoulder against Micah when he runs over and glances back at Jax before taking her loaded plate and finding someplace to sit. Anette can't help but laugh as she watches Dusk rain color down on the party-goers. She quickly turns her head as she hears to name, smiling when she recognizes Jax beneath the rainbow of colors. "Hey, having fun? I heard there was going to be some color throwing but I never expected this. Honestly, I came for the food." She does look over at the group again, half considering joining in on the messy fun. "I'm havin' /so much fun/. /Every/ day should be crazy-ridiculous-colours-day," Jackson tells Anette with a laugh. "How you /been/ -- oh my gosh channa. I'm eatin' it all." Maybe not /all/, there's a /lot/ of food. But he does scoop a /large/ amount of rice and channa onto a plate, adding some aloo gobi afterwards and then some bindi masala. "Oh my gosh. I think I'm just about in heaven. -- Anette you wanna eat with us? Or -- or /oh/ you ain't even /been/ coloured yet, you should -- there's so much rainbows for the flingin'." Bright-happy, he slings an arm around Alyssa as she comes up towards them, lifting food temptingly towards her face. "Today," he says warmly. "Today can stay."