#wp.event

This was an impressive feat, even for Colby. She'd only been in Chicago a week and had already booked a singing gig. Granted, she was singing in an igloo, to a bunch of people paying more attention to their mittens and hot chocolates, and she'd had to incessantly bother more than one event planner to get added to the list of musicians... but it was worth it. She was allowed four songs, so she chose two covers and two originals. Both her covers were Fleetwood Mac, because she would never love anyone more than Stevie Nicks. And both her originals were about the same ex. But nobody in this igloo had to know that part. She sang the last few lines of Go Your Own Way; you can call it another lonely day - and thanked the igloo for its time. Flying on the high of public performance, she dreamily skipped down the steps of the little stage, and ran completely into someone. "Fuck, shit, sorry!" she said, stepping back to assess the damage. "You good?"

Lina hadn’t been old enough to remember Polish winters by the time the Marek family had packed up and moved to London; she wondered, on occasion, whether they would have prepared her in any capacity for the winters Chicago was home to but she doubted it. At the very least she was relieved that the pains in her leg that winter had brought with it when she was a little girl had long since faded into the past and it was one less thing to worry about when the weather turned. It was, she admitted as she wandered the festival going on in the neighborhood, quite beautiful when she gave herself time to appreciate it— much better than being confined to a studio with little to no proper fresh air for the day. 

She’d requested a rare day off simply to give herself time not to have to think about deadlines or cranky models or organizing plans for sets for her next photoshoot, something she did quite rarely considering her relative newness at the magazine but a much needed break all the same. She fiddled with the settings on the old Yashica camera she’d brought with her for the afternoon— raising the viewfinder to her eye and snapping a handful of photos to test later. 

Green eyes flickered towards the person she’d caught in several of the photos and though she imagined they’d make a perfectly lovely subject— she figured she ought to let them know they had, in fact, been caught on film. “Excuse me!” Lina called, raising a hand in an effort to catch their attention and smiling warmly when that seemed to do the trick. “Not to sound… completely insane when I’m chatting to a stranger but I think I might’ve got you in one of my shots,” she paused to raise the camera as if to demonstrate that she was not, in fact, insane. “Is it alright if I keep it once it’s developed? I’m perfectly happy to consign it to the bin in my dark room but I do tend to ask before I commit to sending a photo to an early grave.”

Having been to the Snow Frolic every year since it began, Shambles had a near-perfect mental map of all the fire pits and s'mores stations. They changed things around a little bit every year, but never so much that she couldn't expertly get to all of them multiple times without anyone calling her out on it. At the first Snow Frolic, she'd been ten years old, ridiculously wealthy, and had never been hungry a day in her life, so the challenge had just been for fun and the love of chocolate. Now, though, it was getting difficult to pay for both rent and groceries, even with two jobs, and sometimes a girl just had to eat free s'mores for dinner. Lots and lots of free s'mores. This was the first year, though, that she'd ever even considered pocketing some of the supplies. These were for everyone, for families; they were kindly provided by the neighborhood... but she thought of her fridge at home, empty except for ranch dressing and one of Alec's shoes, and surely nobody would miss one little pack of graham crackers, right? But, just as she feared, karma hit immediately when - as soon as the package slipped into her pocket - her eyes met those of another. She froze like a deer in headlights, and awkwardly smiled and waved.

"Dad, come on! Can we go to the s'mores station now? Please?" Fionn looked up at him with wide, imploring eyes― dragging out his plea in a way that made Ruairi bite back a laugh almost immediately. "We will, buddy, but we're waiting for Simon, hey? You'll get all the sugar you can stomach once he gets here." Fionn sighed deeply and seemed to slump down a full inch― earning another lazy smile and a low laugh from his father before Ruairi returned his attention to scanning the crowd in search of his friend.

Fionn seemed almost to be vibrating at his side and Ruairi wondered what the over-under was on the boy simply bolting for the s'mores area, consequences be damned, right as he caught sight of Simon and raised a hand to catch the older man's attention. He glanced back at his son and smiled, "Alright, Speed Racer. You're clear for takeoff ― you stay within yelling distance, alright? If I lose sight of you I'll be cross." Ruairi schooled his expression into something stern and Fionn nodded so hard and so rapidly his beanie nearly came tumbling off the back of his head before he hurried away. Ruairi turned to greet Simon as he approached, "Mornin'! I'm afraid the mini-me was itchin' to get as much sugar into his body as humanly possible so he's already sprinted off. If we hurry we might catch him. How's it goin'?"

"Have I mentioned yet how adorable you look in my jumper?" Ruairi asked, glancing at his boyfriend as they walked and swinging their hands between them idly. The last few months since they'd started dating had been overwhelmingly lovely― he was happy with his life as a whole but being with Jasper had only made that feeling more present and any time he spent with the younger man was time he cherished. "I was wondering when it went missing but it suits you better, I reckon." He continued, pausing to press a kiss to the side of Jasper's head as they made their way towards the hot chocolate stand. He could almost picture the excitement that would be written all over Jasper's face when they finally arrived and the thought alone was enough to make him smile― enough to make the 'I love you' that had been lingering on his tongue for a solid month seem to come that much closer to slipping out.

He wasn't quite certain what was stopping him― nerves, he imagined; being a generally anxious person, he imagined; but he was becoming more and more used to the idea of admitting it by the hour and more and more confident that everything would alright if he did. "Are you excited?" He asked curiously, "I know it's your favorite, obviously, and I figured this was a good date, huh? If it isn't up to snuff we can go wherever you'd like. I'm at your service, baby."

Aside from the day trips Fionn had accompanied him on where the festival concerned, it was his son's week with Maggie. It was a recent decision― letting him swap between the two of them every other week so the boy could spend extended time with both of them― something he seemed to be adjusting to remarkably well. It left Ruairi with plenty of free time that he largely spent with Jasper but knowing his boyfriend wasn't exactly a party sort of person he'd made the choice to check out the Igloo music event and some of the rowdier features of the festival by himself.

He texted Jasper as he stepped into the igloo― letting them know he'd call when he was on his way home later before he turned his attention to the crowd in front of him, the music seeming to vibrate through his feet as he walked. He found Edwin almost by accident― colliding with the other man when another partygoer crashed into him and pushed him directly in the other man's path. Ruairi's hands shot out to steady the bookish man and he grinned brightly once they'd settled. "Fancy seein' you here, stranger," he teased by way of greeting. "Need another drink? I'm tryin' to find my way in that direction."

No amount of time spent living in Ireland had prepared Ruairi for Chicago winters― he felt the slightest bit as though he was freezing into a solid block of ice with every second they were outside, the amount of clothes he was bundled up in be damned. But Fionn had been fascinated by the idea of ice skating and though Ruairi hadn't wanted to skate he'd never deny his son wanting to try anything if it was safe and reasonable and he found himself lingering around the rink watching the boy― his auburn hair windswept and cheeks red― as he waited for Elliot to arrive. He grinned brightly at his best friend as the other man approached, raising his gloved hands to sign even as he continued to speak aloud― hoping his clumsy fingers wouldn't make his signing unintelligible and speaking would shore up any mistakes. "Hey, man," Ruairi greeted. "Fionn really wanted to skate so I'm supervising but I'm at least fifty percent sure I'm gonna freeze to death before he's finished," he joked, sniffling hard as if to prove his point. "Maybe we can get hot chocolate after he tires himself out?"

If there was one thing the handful of years he'd had his dog had taught him it was that neither rain, nor snow, nor dark of night could keep Jaina from pestering him for a walk and Ruairi, to his perpetual chagrin, could never quite say no to the particular brand of puppy dog eyes the dog could fix on him when she had half a mind to do so.

That morning he sighed quietly, wrangled Fionn into getting ready to brave the outdoors, shot a text to his boyfriend and trekked down towards the winter festival. It would give Fionn a chance to spend time there and Jaina a healthy dose of exercise that she seemed to sorely need if the way her tail hadn't stopped wagging since they'd left the house was any indication. It was peaceful right up until the moment Jaina must've caught a scent she recognized and tugged sharply on her leash until she could run around the ankles of a man he realized, after a brief second of panic, was his vet. "Dr. Baker!" Ruairi exclaimed, a sheepish smile already on his face. "I'm so sorry about her― I'm just glad she didn't get away from me but your biggest fan needed to say hello, I suppose."