2020-03-11 - Don't Invite Your Drunk Uncle (And Other Dinner Party Lessons)

Jonathan and Katy had discussed how much it had been just the two of them over the last couple of months, and how much they needed to put themselves out there. They had settled into a comfortable routine but between Katy’s workaholic tendancies and having to deal with a lot of ... strange and bizzare situarions, they had come to realize that they had lost touch with the outside world.

Throwing a dinner party allowed Jonathan to show off his kitchen skills while all owing them as a couple to start catching up with folks. Her Uncle Patrick. His friend Isabella. They decided to invite both of them along with their significant others.

On the evening of said dinner party, Katy is in the kitchen, helping Jonathan put the finishing touches the big meal, and she’s excited to have everyone over.

Patrick lives in the building. So he's on the sixth floor, getting his pre-party buzz on till at least ten minutes later than everyone was supposed to arrive. It gives him and Anne shit to fight about that isn't world-shattering.

So yeah. They'll be a few minutes late. And tipsy. But with flowers! A big vase full of pretty hydrangeas. Anne is carrying it. Patrick is busy pinning a single pink dahlia boutonniere to the front pocket of his shirt and answering for that flower's presence with a pleasant, "There's a method to the madness, dear. Don't worry about it. Just knock - or don't and we can go finish that bottle." He looks up, now that the flower is in place, and concludes over a keen smile, "I'm happy either way." He's using the term 'happy' loosely.

For the record, Anne is not drunk - she's spent the past ten minutes fussing with Patrick about how they are going to be late and the Google calendar reminder came up twenty minutes ago. They should be downstairs by now! But she puts on a happy smile all the same when they FINALLY show up at Katy's door, rolling her eyes behind the vase of hydrangeas as Patrick pins a dahlia to his shirt. There's no dahlia for her! "We did make a commitment," she reminds him, and that's all she has to say about that.

She knocks, dutifully, upon the door and presents the flowers as soon as it's opened. "I'm so sorry we're late."

Alexander doesn't do dinner parties. His response to Isabella's conveying the invitation was probably somewhere along the lines of, "Bwuh?" and then "But why?" And then, eventually an additional, "With Addingtons? Which Addingtons?" Luckily, he does love Isabella, and at this point, he's curious. So he's arrived in clothing that might actually be called presentable: a burgundy-colored button down dress shirt, charcoal slacks, and nice leather shoes, along with an Isabella who probably looks far more than just presentable. He's even free of bruises, for once, although he still has that twitchy look in his eyes like he's expecting something horrible to leap out of the shadows at them.

And all the clothing in the world doesn't help how he sort of slouches and slinks behind Isabella, using her as a human shield against the forces of...dinner parties, and in the process looks like he's here to case the joint and possibly steal the silverware. As they approach the door, he nudges Isabella to be the designated knocker. And talker.

Jonathan is where he's supposed to be before something like this. Which is in the kitchen, checking that the last details of the cooking is been going like they're supposed to do. After all, if it's a dinner party, dinner need to be in order, right? Hearing the knocks on the door, he smiles, but lets Katy answer the door while he checks that everything is in order one more time.

Once Anne and Patrick have been admitted, and the door is closed, it isn't long until the other pair arrives.

It's around the fifth or so day since she had returned from a few overseas adventures, and thankfully intact. Well on the verge of recovering from a bad bout of jetlag, Isabella seems happy to be here, if not just to interact with faces that she has missed. When she gets there with Alexander, she's dressed in black slacks, heels and a soft angora sweater dyed a deep blue. Since it's still cold (god when is the winter ending), her hair spills loose, down her shoulders and back. The moonstone pendant glitters on a chain, hanging close to her heart, and her dandelion charm bracelet on her left wrist. She's even wearing the compass earrings Anne gifted her for Christmas.

Nudged, she gives him a look and a half-exasperated smile, before she knocks on the door. Whenever it opens, she lifts up two bottles of nice burgundy. "I don't know what we're eating, but I figured wine won't go amiss," she says with a faint grin. "Thank you for inviting us."

The first couple’s arrival makes Katy jump out of her skin. She gives Jonathan a kiss on the cheek, and a smile of approval at the meal he is finishing up, before heading to the door. As soon as she opens the door, she sees her Uncle Patrick and his...date? She opts not to use the information about Anne that she’d learned previously. Instead, she simply says, “Please come in. Glad you could be here, Uncle Patrick. Haven’t seen much of you since I moved out and I thought it would be nice to catch up.” She then turns to Anne and says, “Hi, I’m Patrick’s favourite niece, Katy.” She extends her hand out for a handshake. Then the pair are ushered to the kitchen. “The magician in the kitchen is Jonathan, my boyfriend,” she introduces them, “Jonathan, my Uncle Patrick.”

She would let the introduction continue without her and when there is a knock at the door again minutes later, Katy says to Jonathan, “Hey sweetheart, that must be Isabella and Alexander. You should go get that. I can make sure nothing burns.”

"Oh joy. We're the first ones here." The particular deadpan of that low-voiced comment is paired to the dully accusing look that Patrick levels on Anne while Katy is doing the introductions. He also kicks her in the ankle, but only a tiny bit, so y'all feel free to ignore that. Any handshake he might have offered to Jonathan gets preempted by the directive that the guy's supposed to get the door, so he just loiters in the kitchen in the general vicinity of Anne and the big vase of hydrangeas he's still making her hold she's holding. "Nice place," is the uselessest comment ever, since he lives right upstairs, in damn near the exact same floor-plan. Gotta love dinner-party chatter.

Anne manages to beam a smile up to Patrick even as she steps on his foot, a bit of retaliation for the whole ankle-kicking thing. He's drunk, he probably can't feel it. "Patrick's said nice things about you, Katy. I'm Anne," she sets the flowers down so that she can do the whole handshaking thing, perfectly failing to label herself as anything. "It's nice to meet you, too, Jonathan. Isabella and Alexander are coming?" she hikes her brows upward and then looks accusingly at Patrick. Clearly, he failed to divulge some pertinent information. Still, she looks cheerful at the prospect. "They are both good friends of mine."

"I must admit there's no magic involved, just hard work," Jonathan offers as he's introduced as 'the magician in the kitchen', before he smiles. "It's a pleasure to meet you, both of you." He smiles, moving over to offer a handshake. And then there's the other knock on the door, and he nods at Katy's suggestion that he should answer the door. "Be right back," he offers, heading to the door.

As he opens the door, he smiles at Isabella and Alexander. "Hey, glad you were able to make it," he offers to them both, before he smiles at the bottles of wine. "Wine's never a bad thing," he offers in agreement, before he adds, "The others have already arrived. Please come inside." Looking between them both, he adds, "I hope you are both well today."

"Hey Jono," Isabella greets once she steps inside and practically pushes the bottles of red wine she brought over to his hands. "I heard from Katy you're doing much better with the therapy? You look good. You know Alexander, don't you?" The last time she had actually seen the ex-hockey player, he had been having a beer with Alexander at TIBS, so she presumes that to be the case.

"And as well as can be expected, I just got back from England." Heading inside with the investigator, green-and-gold eyes immediately hunt for the other guests, a beaming smile directed at both Patrick and Anne. "Hey, you two." She moves over so she could air-kiss Anne's cheeks in that usual way that girls do. To Katy, she winks. "Hostess. I didn't think I'd see you again so soon."

She smirks at Patrick's attempt at small talk, knowing that the apartment was laid out exactly the same as his, and said, "Well, I use the second bedroom as a home office and gaming lair, wall to wall electronics and whatnot. It's a little intense. I went a little nuts over a few paychecks." To Anne's comment she smiles. "I'm curious. Anything you can share?"

"I figured, it would nice to have you over since you were so gracious in having me last time." Katy grins at Isabella from the kitchen counter as she starts prepping a salad for everyone. She extends her hand out for Alexander to shake. "Katy, it's pleasure to meet you."

Alexander skulks in behind Isabella, although he nods in recognition to Jonathan. "Hey. Doing all right," he allows, and even tries a smile. "How are you?" It looks a little odd and ill-sitting on his wary features. Although when he enters and sees Patrick - or rather, the flower in his lapel, - he can't help but smile just a little. An eyebrow is raised to Patrick before he greets Anne with a wider sort of smile. Katy - the unknown quantity - gets a solemn stare, and a, "That doesn't sound like a real name. Katherine? Nice to meet you. Alexander Clayton." He ignores her hand as if it isn't even there, except to stick his own hands deep in his pockets.

He's a charmer, this one.

Patrick has wandered off far enough that he can fuck with the vase of flowers. Like, it's fine where Anne put it, but he entertains himself by turning it the tiniest bit, stepping back to enjoy the effect, then nodding like there, that's all better. Distractedly, ngl he hasn't been listening to the conversation at all, he addresses the elephant in the room: "Where are the cocktails?"

Oh, but yay! Alexander and Isabella are here, and he just throws wrenches all over this party. "Clayton! I missed you," and is going to ruin everyone's night by looping an arm around Alexander's neck and giving him just a big old mooshy hug. "Look what I wore, just for you!" Assuming he hasn't been punched or electrocuted or Alexander hasn't just run off screaming into the night by the time he gets to add that bit, turning enough to show off his awesome flower. He also bats the back of his hand at Isabella; he sees her but is doing a thing right now.

(Seriously, don't give Patrick any more cocktails tonight.)

Anne's brows hike upwards in a confused sort of fashion at Katy's question. "Anything I can share about..?" she beings, but really, there's Alexander and Isabella and she gets easily distracted. Her whole face lights up at her friends, and there's a kiss for Isabella and smile for Alexander. "I'm so glad to see you both! How was England? How did the defense go? I have so many questions!" she would probably launch into more if it were not for Patrick's theatrics, and her hand goes up to her mouth to hide the giggle when Patrick declares how much he missed Alexander.

Then his arm goes around Alexander's neck, and she takes one giant step backwards.

Once upon a time, Alexander and Isabella had a conversation about why Alexander felt himself unsuitable for a professional partner or a spouse. And it involved the fact that it was entirely likely that one day, some time, some place, someone important would startle him at the wrong time, and he would wreck Isabella's career by decking that poor bastard on instinct.

In this case, the poor bastard is Patrick, who is only SORT OF important, relatively speaking, but who is very definitely getting decked. Alexander's eyes widen when Patrick comes in, but there's a part of him that just doesn't believe the guy is going to go for the hug. But he does, and Alexander is already nervous, on edge, and in unfamiliar territory. He makes a noise like a cat who's just been dumped in a sink of scalding water, pivots, and drives his fist directly at Patrick's smiling face. It doesn't even seem malicious as such - his expression is raw and panicked rather than angry.

It doesn't stop him from putting his weight behind it, though. And this is why people don't invite Alexander places.

Taking the wine bottles as they're handed to him, Jonathan smiles. "England. Sounds quite interesting." Moving to the kitchen to place the bottles there, he smiles.. "Doing much better now, yes." He offers a smile to Alexander as well, nodding. "Good to hear you're doing all right," he offers. He pauses as he hears Patrick's words, listening to all of them. There's a pause as he sees Patrick giving Alexander that hug, but before he can react in any way, he sees Alexander's reaction. Looking entirely unsure about how to react right now.

If she was calm before, seeing Patrick's drunken shenanigans, Katy was no longer calm when the punch was thrown by Alexander. It's at this point where Katy decidedly makes her stand and she lets her anger take over momentarily, sending a wine glass flying towards the wall near Alexander and Patrick's heads. "Enough!" she calls out to the two grown men, her tone sharp, and slightly frustrated, "I have salad ready so go sit down at the table and I will be joining you shortly."

"Forgive him, Alexander doesn't believe in nicknames." Said with the solemn tone of a young woman who has accepted the terms of her new life. Anne gets a beaming smile and a squeeze. "You look wonderful, and England was...interesting. I'll tell you all about it later. And my defense was--"

She would say more, but then Patrick reaches for Alexander and...her green-gold eyes go wide, before they flatten visibly at the hand-bat she gets while the man drapes himself all over her touch-averse companion. She already knows what's going to happen, but it doesn't stop her from gesturing up and down at the scene with her hand. "See this? This is why strange things break into your house and try to kill you, Patrick! You just don't--"

And then Alexander's fist goes flying. She expected outrage, some flailing, but a punch? Her jaw drops, and she moves on instinct, reaching out in an effort to press a gentle hand on her lover's chest in an effort to prevent him from going for another punch and and wedge her body in the middle before it escalates. "Easy," she murmurs.

And then the wine glass goes flying. "Whoa, hey, easy on the fragile and shatterable objects!" Her voice is sharper than she actually intends, but she can't help it - Alexander's just recovered from a concussion.

Patrick had to know what he was getting himself into, right? Like, nobody just hugs Alexander Clayton and doesn't expect to get exactly what Patrick gets: Punched right in the nose. It may have only been among Alexander's most marginal punches, but it connects squarely right on the bridge of his Addington nose - because apparently this is the only way to make Anne's player happy - with a wonderfully crunchy, squishy noise. "Jesus Christ, Clayton!" comes fumbling out of Patrick when he stumbles back from that connecting blow, bringing his hand up to his nose and doubling over it.

Blood gushes out behind his hand. It's not pretty. He pulls his hand away, checks the blood on it, and tells everyone, "Ooooowww," like this is news to him. "I think you broke my nose." Only his nose is broken, so it kinda sounds more like 'i ding you broke by doze.' He's at least as mystified by this turn of events as he is horrified and in pain. He's too deep in his own troubles (that he really seriously deserves) to notice vases getting shattered and shit. "It was just a hug." They're crocodile tears, honestly, but they come easily because his eyes are watering like a bitch right now.

Anne's eyes flair open wide when she sees Alexander's fist fly into Patrick's face, and then her hand is covering her mouth because she's sucking in a gasp. There's a start when the wine glass goes flying out of nowhere, but Isabella puts herself in the middle of the men and Anne leaps into action herself - she's at Patrick's side in a moment, but her question is directed at Alexander: "Are you okay?"

But look, she's not heartless. Her player might want Patrick's nose broken, but Anne willingly gets her hands all covered in Patrick's gross booger blood as she starts pulling at his hands. "Why did you do that? Oh my gosh, let me see, you know he doesn't like to be touched!" Yes, she's going to fuss at him AND take care of him, it's a thing.

Alexander is wild eyed and half-flinching, half-cringing away right after his fist connects, and he yelps, "Sorry! I'm so sorry!" as the wine glass is thrown and Isabella steps in to break the two up. His hands, the knuckles of one smeared lightly with Patrick's blood, fly up like a cop has just told him to stop, and he skitters back from everyone at Isabella's light touch on his chest. "Oh, god, I didn't mean to. I just. I'm sorry, Patrick. I can set it, if you want." A nervous look in Katy and Jonathan's direction. "I'm sorry!"

The flare up of the [famous] Katherine Addington temper...it was mild, all things considered, though Februrary seems to have taken its toll on Katy's composure. Her inability to control her temper as a teen was the reason that led to her coming to Gray Harbor in the first place to learn about controlling her temper so that her abilities would not go haywire. It wasn't all that often that she lost control like that anymore but she seems to have forgotten the recent shift and her needing to readjust to her abilities. In a sense it was like starting over. After having had her moment though, Katy is calm enough to speak again, her tone straddling the line between calm and cold. "Please, just don't get blood all over the place. Get his nose all sorted out and we'll have dinner ready soon."

While Isabella and Anne moves to deal with Alexander and Anne, Jonathan pauses as he hears Katy, and he starts moving in her direction, before he comes to a stop , offering her a smile as he hears her words. "Could be worse, right?" he offers a bit absently to all involved, offering them all a nod and a smile now.

"I don't know!" Patrick answers for Anne's very reasonable question. Why DID he do that? He's barely intelligible with his nose all gobbed up, but at least he has the good sense to find a dish towel or something, batting Anne's hands away irritably and wadding it up against his nose, but he tries to come up with some logic. The only bits clearly audible are "three gins-and-tonics" and something about whatever Enzo had in his medicine cabinet, something something "should stop taking the labels off all the bottles."

But. Honestly. It's because Patrick is the kind of prick that would hug Alexander to be a jerk and then be shocked when he actually gets his comeuppance, right in the nose. At least he knows this about himself and waves away Alexander's apology. "Quit it. We'll," something. Probably 'sort this out later,' but who knows, he might as well be speaking Greek.

With a bloody-handed wave, Patrick exits the party, asking Anne to please take him to the hospital.

Stepping to the dining table, determined to pretend nothing happened, and that she wasn't upset, Katy sets the salad bowl in the middle of the table with a serious look on her face. Her plans are going to proceed, whether anyone else has any objections or not.

There's a concerned look towards Anne, Isabella mouthing a few words to her as she takes Patrick to the hospital to get his nose set. Fumbling around for a handkerchief, she reaches out for Alexander's bloodied knuckles. "Let me see?" It's a request, not a demand. To Katy, she adds with the investigator's own words: "Your uncle knew what he was getting into." She is definitely not apologizing for the man, if not just because the other Addington assumed the risk of an adverse reaction. In her mind, it completely absolves her date of fault! "Um. So what are we having?"

Alexander watches Patrick flail and staunch the bleeding with sad, worried eyes, like a dog that's bitten someone and is now all like 'I don't know how that happened but that's terrible, oh my god'. Anne's question gets a quick, "I'm fine. Take care of him? I didn't. I didn't mean--" and then he's being waved off and there's leaving and salad. He goes to sit - thump - at the table, offering his hand over to Isabella without hesitation. He's fine. Patrick's nose was soft and squishy. He transfers that 'sad dog' look to Katy and Jonathan. "I'm sorry. I'm not good with. Dinners."

"This reminds me a bit of one guy I played on a team with. After he scored a goal, he reached out to hug the nearest player, which was one of the opponents. That caused a bit of a brawl," Jonathan offers, before making his way to the kitchen to get hold of the meal. "Ossobuco. Braised veal shanks with vegetables, served with risotto and gremolata, which is made from lemon zest, parsley and garlic. It's been cooking for a long time, so the meat should be quite tender," he offers, with a smile as he places the dish on the table.

While she had no way of knowing this was going to be such a royal disaster, Katy still couldn't help but be disappointed. And as many apologies and explanations were offered, she is reminded that she really needs more friends. She loves Erin and she's pretty sure she's going to marry Jonathan, but apparently the only other family (besides Erin) she remotely has a connection to is a disaster at things like grown up dinner parties. As Jonathan serves the meal, she exhales, as though holding her breath for a while. She passes the salad around after having served herself a small portion and sits down. "So you were away on a trip, Isabella?" she asks, making small talk. It was time to at least make one friend. She had already started on Isabella previously so this wasn't going to be an impossible challenge.

"That is one thing that's good about hockey - the fights are entertaining," Alexander says, with a nod towards Jonathan. When the other man returns with the meal, his eyebrows rise. "That sounds...delicious, actually. Neither of us know much about cooking," he adds, with a playful glance towards Isabella, "so it's always nice to be exposed to something that tastes good." Now that no one's touching him, and the very thing he was most afraid of happening...happened, he seems to have calmed down considerably. He even takes the salad with something like grace, before passing it on to Isabella. "She's Dr. Reede, now," he says, with clear joy.

"Ossobuco sounds delicious - Italian classic? I don't think I've ever had it though I've definitely heard its praises sung the last time I was in Italy. Katy mentioned you were trying to switch up and maybe go to culinary school?" Isabella wonders of Jonathan, flashing a quick smile his way as she reaches out with gentle fingers to take Alexander's hand, and after inspecting it for broken skin, she gently wipes Patrick's blood away from his knuckles before she folds her handkerchief and tucks it in the pockets of her jeans. Her lover's teasing earns him a quick grin. "He's not lying, we're both kind of hopeless at it, though Alexander can at least make a decent sandwich and assemble a lasagna."

She takes the salad bowl passed to her, puts a small helping on her plate and passes it on. The man's praise practically sets her on fire, or something like it, glowing like a lantern where she's seated next to him. "I went back to England for my dissertation defense at Oxford, I guess I did a good enough job that they can award me a doctorate without shame."

"I don't know how to cook either, I lucked out with Jonathan, who apparently finds cooking relaxing," Katy responds to Alexander's comment after giving Jonathan a sideways glance at the comment made about fights in hockey being entertaining, a subtle look exchanged between the pair. "Congratulations, Dr. Reede. That's certainly a great accomplishment. Sounds like you have plenty to celebrate," Katy manages to comment as she takes a fork full of salad to her mouth.

"Milanese, to be precise," Jonathan replies, before he pauses momentarily at Isabella's question. "It's been one of the options, I think. I'm a bit afraid that actual school or working with it will take away the enjoyment. I've also been considering actually putting that business management degree I got in Alaska to use." He goes quiet for a few moments, before he grins at Alexander. "Sometimes the fights help getting the rest of us on the ice fired up too," he offers, before he looks from Alexander to Isabella, grinning a bit more widely. "Oh? That's good news," he offers to the words about the dissertation defense. "Congratulations, Dr. Reede. It's a huge accomplishment." A grin is offered to Katy as well. "I haven't given up on teaching you how to cook, though."

"Your sandwich was unique and creative," Alexander tells Isabella, solemnly. He leaves off the part about 'hilariously inedible', but let's face it, it's not hard to gather from context. "And cooking is relaxing. It's something to focus on so that your mind doesn't run around and around and around. I like that." He leans for a moment against Isabella as she's congratulated, dipping his head to press a brief kiss on her hair. Then he straightens and peers at Jonathan. "I always wondered. Actually. Why the fighting was sort of permitted. I guess it's inspiring for the players. If you're not the one getting smacked on the head."

"And completely scared the cat," Isabella adds to the sandwich comment, amusement in her expression and laughter in her eyes. Though when congratulations are passed around, there's no blush - the young woman has absolutely no concept of humility and she sits up straighter on her chair. "It was tremendously difficult but I'm ecstatic that all that hard work and years in the field paid off. Thank you, everyone." Alexander's brief touch only widens her smile, turning her face to plant a giddy kiss on his cheek, eyes locked on his handsome profile - and for a few several, embarrassing minutes, it's as if nothing else in the room exists.

But then she remembers where she is, and clears her throat. "Anyway, I'm very excited to try this ossobuco," she says. "The entire apartment smells absolutely enticing."

It had gone off to a rough start but at least Isabella and Alexander seem to enjoy the meal, and it's nice for Katy to see Jonathan catch up with an old friend. Some difficult lessons were learned about throwing dinner parties (don’t invite your drunk uncle), but more importantly, Katy gets a painful reminder that she really needs to make more friends in town.