The Park, afternoon to evening

[sharp_man]

Hannibal really did enjoy his adopted country (it had immense opportunities for someone like him), and he would also accept any excuse for a party.

So, here they were. He'd set up a decent, industrial-sized grill on the lawn, arranged for an insane number of picnic blankets (mostly red, white, blue, or some combination thereof), and even bribed one of the local magical types to ensure that the weather would be perfect. And he had, of course, been cooking for days; all that was left was grilling the last-minute things.

Jono had agreed to handle the fireworks later, but for now there was mostly mingling and food.

There were several dips: tomatillo salsa verde, french onion, and a bagna cauda, with both traditional and less common vegetables for dipping, along with homemade potato and tortilla chips.

There were any number of salads: crispy potato with chiles, celery, and peanuts, tomato, onion, and roasted lemon, cabbage and jicama, potato with grilled kale, and raw beet and cucumber.

Then there were the non-salad side dishes: flatbread with fava beans, cucumbers, and burrata, salted and spiced melon, "tater tots" with spicy mayonnaise, and of course grilled corn (with miso butter).

On the grill were burgers with a high-quality meat blend, veggie burgers, the best hot dogs available (with a number of interesting toppings available, and ribs.

To go with all of this were mint tea, watermelon basil iced tea, iced hibiscus sweet tea, watermelon sangria, and a keg of Baltimore Pale Ale.

And if the main dishes weren't enough, there were of course desserts. Sorbet in grapefruit cups, strawberry rhubarb pie, roasted pears with espresso mascarpone cream, and s'mores cupcakes.

This was Hannibal. There was no such thing as going overboard with food.

[OOC: Open post! Come and party!]

Comments

Mingle!

[sharp_man]

Drop by, say hi, hang out.

Re: Mingle!

[sharp_man]

When Hannibal wasn't manning the grill or checking the heat/cold on the dishes, he was sitting on a nearby blanket enjoying the day.

Re: Mingle!

[uncertain_dume]

You know what? It wasn't even his holiday, but that wasn't stopping Kanan from swinging by anyway, stance trotting along at his side.

There was free food. Kanan was a fan of free food.

Re: Mingle!

[sharp_man]

Hannibal grinned and nodded at Kanan as he checked the food. "Welcome. I thought you might enjoy this, even without knowing the reason. Which is an Independence Day celebration, by the way."

Re: Mingle!

[somethingwithturquoise]

Um, yeah, if there was a party, Summer was going to be there, especially a party that gave her an excuse to bust out a cute themed outfit and win a bet. She was trying not to pay too much attention to who might go for her gross jello since she had a squirrel on the job, but she figured once things got started, she'd be thoroughly distracted, because, you know, party and whoo America that isn't overrun by weird alien bug guys, whoooo!

And, oh, yeah, there would be lots of snaps to rub it into her friends' faces back home, especially the fireworks, because she really doubted the Gromflomites would allow them to shoot off explosives into the air, all things considered.

Re: Mingle!

[merchant_of_miracles]

The Merchant of Miracles might not have even noticed the flyers about the party in the park if it weren't for him intercepting Mr. Fancycakes eating one of them yesterday. And, even then, by that point, he'd only gotten about half the information. He didn't know what was so special about the 4th of July, but shindigs were always a good business opportunity. He left the unicorns (not Apu, mind you) in charge of the store to check things out, maybe have a little nibble and a nosh, but mostly to keep an eye out for anyone who might be in the need of some antacids or some burn cream, which he just so happened to have right here, at a veh-hery reasonable price...

Re: Mingle!

[sharp_man]

Hannibal nodded at the (very) strange new face. "Welcome. How are you today?"

Re: Mingle!

[futurespacemom]

Hera had no idea what the celebration was for, but food and people were always good, so here she was. Mostly sitting under a tree or playing with Stance. And hey, the food and beer were pretty good!

Re: Mingle!

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Stance!" Summer simply could not see that little scamp playing around and not want to join in, especially when she brought with her hot dogs to feed him to continually guarantee his completely conditional love for her. And seeing Hera there, too, was also nice.

"Hello, Miss Hera," she added. "Happy Fourth of July, although I'm sure that doesn't mean as much to most of the people here. Is it okay if I feed Stance some food, do you think?"

Re: Mingle!

[whoisalicewhite]

Parker was there. Looking particularly patriotic.

"What time are the fireworks?"

Guess which part of the celebrations was her favorite. Go on. We'll wait.

Re: Mingle!

[uncertain_dume]

"After dark," Kanan volunteered, with all the knowhow of a guy who had literally nothing to do with when the fireworks were going to be. "All the best fireworks are after dark."

Because visibility. Because that.

Re: Mingle!

[sharp_man]

"Just after full dark," Hannibal agreed with Kanan. "Good afternoon; you're very festive today."

Re: Mingle!

[vdistinctive]

Eliot was most assuredly not wearing red, white, and blue. Well. He was wearing a red shirt and blue jeans, but he did that all the time.

He was wearing one of his straw cowboy hats though. And quite cheerfully enjoying an American beer.

"Very festive," he said of Parker's dress. "Where'd you pick that one up?"

Depending on the size of the business she'd stolen it from, he might quietly send them the money to pay for it.

Re: Mingle!

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"That's one way of gettin' me to stand up an' salute the flag," Hardison teased, sitting down next to Parker and pressing a kiss to her cheek. "Hey, mama."

Re: Mingle!

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison had filled his plate with tasty food and sat himself down next to Parker. The Fourth wasn't their favorite holiday--that was Halloween for him and Christmas to her--but it was pretty high up there. Food, fun, and fireworks. What wasn't to like?

Re: Mingle!

[vdistinctive]

Eliot brought him a well dressed burger, some chips, and -- yes, even an orange soda. "Doc let me share the grill for a bit. Tell me what you think."

What? It wasn't like he was telling Hardison it WASN'T a veggie burger.

Eat the food!

[sharp_man]

There is plenty of it.

Re: Eat the food!

[sharp_man]

Hannibal is manning the grill and will cook your meat (or meatless) how you like it.

There is a tiny British flag on top of it; Jono had announced he was holding it hostage for the UK.

Re: Eat the food!

[vdistinctive]

"Interesting decorating choice," Eliot said, coming up to investigate the grilling operation. "You've outdone yourself as usual, Doc."

Re: Eat the food!

[somethingwithturquoise]

Someone--someone named Summer--had sneaked a particularly....interesting and different dish among all the wonderful offerings from Hannibal, her surely-soon-to-be-infamous hard-boiled egg and shrimp jello mold with peas and carrots. She'd upped the ante this time by improving its presentation with the use of a handy fish mold.

And a very nice squirrel with the same love of vodka and Red Bull that Summer had agreed to keep a tab for her on just how many people were willing to try it, because it was very, very important.

Re: Eat the food!

[okteiviakom]

Octavia hadn't come here to socialize. In fact, she'd stumbled upon this gathering by accident, on her way back from the preserve.

But there was food, seemingly free for the taking. So, she was taking some – while trying not to think about how this would've fed the people at home.

Fireworks!

[sharp_man]

After dark, they will be here.

Re: Fireworks!

[furnaceface]

Jono hadn't exactly gone all-out quite the same way Hannibal had, but Hannibal had asked him to supply fireworks, and so fireworks there would be.

... Most of them were actual fireworks, too. While Jono was perfectly capable of putting on an impressive light show without bringing explosives along, he wasn't in the mood to nap for half a week afterward. These were the real deal.

Boom.

//Upstart colonies.// Still, because this was Jono, and Jono was sometimes very pointedly British, he did feel obligated to mutter to himself the entire while. //I'm not even American, anyway.//

Re: Fireworks!

[livingartifact]

Jenkins wasn't much concerned with the patriotic holidays of his adopted land (really, you saw enough nations come and go as he did and it all just seemed rather silly), but he did love a good fireworks display.

He stood towards the back of the crowd, an extremely large soda from the Quick Stop in hand, and "Ooo"ed and "Ahhh"ed with tremendous gusto.

OOC!

[sharp_man]

Dang it, I'm hungry.