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Event Description: This is a reach out to our many Jewish PCs during the celebration of Purim and some friends and family.
Purim is a Jewish celebration of a very clever woman, Esther, who saved her people from extermination, and the day everyone was not killed by a psychopath prime-minister. That's the very very very short gist of it.
In this festival the Jewish people come together to celebrate community. One of Purim's primary themes is Jewish unity. in the thought of Haman tried to kill us all, we were all in danger together, so we celebrate together too. Hence, on Purim day we place special emphasis on caring for the less fortunate.
The event will take place after services at the synagogue and during the feast where there are songs, and for many colourful costumes, and reflecting on coming together as a community especially in the present time for the government calling for Mutant Registration.
What will this mean for Jewish Mutants?
Is Alex Cohen closing his toy shop? Why is it temporarily closed?
We will find out together as we feast on challah and kibbitz.
Page/@mail if you have any questions about attending!
What you may wish to know about Purim found here:
https://www.chabad.org/holidays/purim/article_cdo/aid/1362/jewish/Purim-How-To-Guide.htm
In the banquet hall on the Lower East Side there is a large congregation post temple services that is gathered. At the synagogue prior there was a lovely reading with fanfare, heckling, and noisemakers. Who doesn't love a holiday where one gets to celebrate a woman using her cleverness and station to outwit some screeching bag of weasels Minister Haman? (BOOOOO!) It's a colourful affair where many of the kids dress in costume and several adults as well and some in a riot of colours. Seriously, it's got everything over Halloween in that aspect because it's not snowing while one is wearing their costume! This year there was even a puppet stage that got the kids to assist in telling parts of the story as they read through the whole Megillah. Now in the banquet hall music plays (and not just by the Rabbi's nephew Rory on the clarinet as was jokingly threatened). The lovely smell of baked goods and familiar foods welcomed people in.
Elmo has brought along Jay as his date, and had answered a hundred questions from him, cheered up no end by it. "It's kinda like Halloween," he'd said, among many other things he'd said, "the little kids get dressed up. And there's cookies." Everybody loves cookies, right? So they join the banquet after the reading of the story, where all the little kids made a mighty racket twirling their groggers when the name Haman was spoken. Elmo's wearing his vibrant suit, has his arm through Jay's, and really is surprisingly relaxed. "You doing okay?" he asks Jay.
Arlo is dateless, and he's been pretty quiet so far. It has been some time since he's been to synagogue, and he's not normally the life of the party. Finally, he spies one familiar face in the crowd and makes his way toward Elmo and his adjacent Jay. Something about his black slacks and white button shirt scream 'the nicest clothes he has.' Maybe it's the shaggy hair that makes him unkempt.
Kitty enters the hall and scans the room. She hasn't been to a temple in ages, and isn't sure if she will see anyone she knows here. She smiles at the recent memory of all the children clearly having fun during the service. She tucks some hair behind her ear and begins a circle of the room. It's nice to be out and see so many people enjoying life.
Via an invitation by his fiancee's brother, here arrives the Sorcerer Supreme — rather normally given his usual manner of travel, through the banquet hall's main doors. His hair is coiffed, his manner formal and composed, and he wears a fine silk shirt in what could be any color between deep aquamarine and cobalt; the light plays wildly amongst the threads, not too unlike a peacock feather's shimmer. Black slacks and dress shoes complete the ensemble.
On his arm: the Witch, of course. Strange's light eyes scan the gathering, searching in particular for familiar faces and that of Pietro more specifically still. He does recognize Elmo from a past encounter over tea and gives the young man a cordial wave and mild smile.
Said Witch wears black, pitch night, the better to incidentally heightenhe rich gold of her complexion that speaks to bastardized origins somewhere south by east. Her hair falls almost straight behind her, the lone concession to colour a burgundy headband spanning temple to temple in muted filigree. Look too close and those aren't drops of blood but garnets and rubies, sufficient to warm a tenement building for a couple of months if pawned in the right spot. All this focus on the physical description counts for the neutral set of her expression, heavy-lidded eyes making contact with no one in particular save Strange himself at times. Rigid posture makes her clearly less at ease than everyone else present, though in case they question who those folks are, the ring on her finger should announce 'Not a hussy' here loud and clear to conservative folks.
Pietro didn't come alone. Nooooo! He brought Stephen… and maybe let his sister come too. Or maybe that wasn't at all even a little bit true but that would not stop Pietro from telling it that way later. Keeping track of the albino speedster is… well… good luck, but those that have been to temple in the last couple of months might find the snow haired man there like clockwork. one thing one can say is that he stood out really when he wasn't actively trying not to. He turned to Strange who was now holding a small plate with… rainbow challah on it with a tiny bite taken from it. When… did that get there? non-nonchalantly he commented locking glaze from his finger, "Really, it is very good." That accent… Polish? Maybe Hungarian? Maybe none of the above. And like that there was just… more food on his plate. Was it there the whole time.
Anxious, sure, but excited more than anything once he's reassured that it'll all be okay and a little more on the details surrounding a faith he has almost zero knowledge on, Jay sticks at Elmo's side. The winged young man hemmed and hawed a little bit over his wings out of deference to Elmo, but in the end he opted for the one properly tailored suit he owns that was made for the large appendages, letting them fwip and shiver appreciatively during the noisy festivities. For once he doesn't look like he's made out of hand-me-downs, and one can undoubtedly blame his best friend's influence as the cut is timeless and he still manages to imbue it with his own rock-and-roll sense thanks to his long hair and casual posture.
"Cookies? Like the ones Ah made you?" Jay mentions familiarly with a serene smile, keeping his hand planted on his own torso to give Elmo a proper elbow to hang on to. "Hum? Oh. Yeah. Sorry, El. Just tryin' to take it all in. Y'all really get into it." Eyes bright and flitting from place to place, he gets distracted momentarily here and there, only to come back with quiet questions for the smaller man next to him. Jay reassures Elmo with a squeeze of his arm against his side, squeezing on Elmo's arm in turn. That serene smile turned on a wide spread for anyone he openly catches eyes with. Like Arlo, when he approaches, giving the other man a polite nod that reeks of cornbread. "Howdy," not really sure if he's just passing by or not, it's a polite but not obligatory greeting.
Elmo has a lot of appreciation for Jay in a suit, which he's trying to keep subtle, but does he do anything subtle? "Yeah, hamantashen. Supposedly he had a hat or pockets or something that look like them. Who has a triangular pocket, that's what I want to know. Hey, Arlo!" he says, chipper, as Arlo comes up. "This is my, friend, Jay. Jay, this is Arlo, he's workin' at my garage." Strange smiles at him and he flashes a brilliant smile back. "That's Doctor Strange. And I guess his fiancee‘, but I don’t know her." He's caught up a moment, looking at her. "Wow, she's really pretty."
Arlo comes closer to Elmo and Jay, and he smiles, perking right up around Elmo. Familiarity breeds, what, social confidence? "Hey," he says. then to Jay, "Hey, what's up?" Then he glances over his shoulder to catch a gander at this 'Dr. Strange' fellow and his fiancee. His eyes widen, and he whistles lowly. "I wouldn't mind being engaged to a kitten like that. Wowza."
Kitty does not miss the entrance of Strange and Wanda. She doesn't recognize the Sorcerer Supreme, she is pretty sure she recognizes the woman on his arm. Kitty supresses the small voice in the back of her mind that hapily points out how plain she is in comparison to the stunning couple. She continues to glance around the room, squinting in recognition when she spots another familiar face in a small group a small distance from where she is standing.
His hand is…now…holding a plate. With rainbow food on it. Strange looks perplexed for all of a second before he glances over at Pietro with a wry little half-smirk.
"Is it?" Not really a question, when asked as dryly as that. He's not got quite the dissicating tone that Pietro's sister has, but he's honing the art. Jay, with his bright wings, greets the Sorcerer in passing and Strange does the same, eyeing the feathering with raised brows of interest. "Huh. As I live and breathe. I should speak to him," he murmurs, half to Wanda, half making a mental note to himself. Light flashing from the opal on her hand catches his eye and…oh yes, that is one prideful little grin on his face.
SHIELD agent Maximoff? Yes, she has a reputation around the headquarters for some of her uncanny characteristics, notably being dour, next to impossible to decipher unless someone is Carol Danvers, and very serious about her work. Whatever work that is. At least the dour business lives up to the billing, as she has her mouth closed and a watchful look typically reserved for detectives at a crime scene. Is that Afghan hound hair on your dress jacket, sir? It may simply be the babble and the chattering in a polyglot miasma that hinders her, but she does nod in Kitty's direction. The others lavishing their well-intentioned comments have the Maginot Line up, and hard, clamped tightly around her. The plate of magical rainbow food is even more terrifying that not, her gaze flicker-flashing at Pietro with scrutiny that makes their apparent twindom all the clearer. Cheekbones don't lie in the conquest of distrust. "That is art, not food."
Pietro pointed to his twin with, oooh little triangular foods stuffed with veggies? Hamantashen how we love thee. "Noooo you are work of art. This? Eeh This work of food." There was a faint hint of a grin on the severe profile that was Pietro Maximoff. That… was trouble in any language. "Iiiiif you do not want…" But he had another one and was not shy about indulging himself casually. He looked from his sister to Kitty and back asking, "Who that is?" Cuuuuurious. The Witch was social? Interesting.
Well that was enough focus on any one thing. A breeze past Jay like a light speed satellite he remarked, "Pasare there has it right." Apparently plucking the Rom for 'bird' for those counting. He answered and doled out uninvited knowledge, "Actually for triangle pocket? Many a merchant traveler would have long had with point at the end. You keep things in the end and let it fold over. Like magician with bunny maybe? Many pockets have only three side."
People Elmo knows, a lot of whom are some flavor of related, keep coming up and saying hi in long running streams of Yiddish. He chats with them in English and introduces Jay and Arlo. Most of the people his age or his parents' age get the hint and switch to English, too. …The older people mostly don't, even though it's clear they understand English fine, they keep their side in Yiddish, and anybody who doesn't speak it just has to cope. Well, what can you do.
"Behave," Elmo says in an undertone to Arlo, although he's amused. He raises his eyebrows at Pietro. "Ya don't say. Didn't catch your name?"
"Clearly the guy was a tool," Jay murmurs back to Elmo, smiling light. "The triangle pockets give it away. But damn if the cookies aren't good." Jay has been busy trying and failing to remember names of people Elmo's probably known most of his life all day, and keeps that unwavering smile through it. Still, Arlo gets a warm smile in return from the angel-imposter. "Good to meet another guy from th' garage."
The red-headed musician pivots his attention toward Strange, Wanda and Pietro. "Oh yeah? Ah live with their son, but never met 'em." He pauses, then continues with a cant of his head. "An' Ah…know their other son an' daughter. An' Ah guess Ah ran into some guy he works with? Ah dunno." Jay smiles lightly to Elmo and shakes his head. "Th' name gets tossed around. Ah can see where their daughter gets her looks, too." Mentioning agreeably to Arlo. "Didn't realize they were Jewish. Wonder if the rest of 'em are 'round. Who's the guy with 'em?" He squeezes on Elmo's arm again to note Pietro. "How do ya know 'em?"
Jay's wings expand slowly, as if with a slow breath, then shiver out and lay flat again as his attention flickers around the room. Landing on Kitty a moment, he gives her a long look that seems like nagging familiarity, but he isn't sure. the thought blown away when a sudden breeze tugs his feathers and his wings automatically react, eking slightly from his shoulders to compensate for the pattern. Slowly laying flat a moment later. Blinking slightly over the pocket knowledge. Wha?
Arlo huffs a laugh and tells Elmo, "What. I'll be good." He is in fact being very good. Jay gets a smile. The stream of people all around aren't glowered at or shirked. He just stands awkwardly near to Elmo but not sitting down for the banquet. One of the Yiddish speaking people about a generation ahead of him peers at him once introduced and says, "Arlo? Arlo Avery? Look at you! You're all grown up! Where have you been?"
Arlo starts casing the exits. "You know how it is, busy with school. Yeah, I'm, uh, studying business. Don't get out much." He's praised for being such a good boy, and the woman moves on. Arlo exhales sharply and murmurs, "Oy vey."
Kitty procures herself a small plate of treats and decides to consider the nod from Wanda as an invitiation. She heads over to greet her co-worker. She wracks her brain to think of a conversation opener. Would Wanda be at all amused by the prescence of a Guthrie? Probably not. Maybe that project at work? No, classified. Okay, the weather? Lame. She falters on her path. Maybe just hi? Then run?
Pietro's rapid switches of attention are entertainment in and of themselves. Strange blinks and there he goes again, off to find food. However, he does see that someone across the way has garnered Wanda's attention and his bright eyes pick out Kitty nearly unerringly.
"Someone you know?" Of course he's intrigued, equally as much as her brother. He speaks up once he gauges Kitty is close enough. "Hello. Apparently you two know one another?" He glances to his fiancee once again before back to Kitty, giving her a charming smile not too high on the wattage.
Too many names, so many faces. The reason to maintain that nervous facade only tightens when the Witch holds her ground with Strange. The pair of them are noteworthy but her silence deepens as time stretches out. Wanda mutters, "I am not art," but no more a protest than that. No bite lies in any of the words, a salt rim for the drink of whatever Pietro goes flying off for. She rubs her hand up her arm, the black sleeve wrinkling, fully rumpled. "We work sometimes with one another." Her accent tumbles through the Soviet Bloc meeting the Romantic West, scoured through the plainchant of her native influences.
More bread on Strange's plate appears as the music shifts, though still lively. Pietro was not one to disappoint there. See magic man? You are in eeeexcellent company! (be concerned. be concerned now!) Still there was enough New to keep Pietro's ever waning attention for … a whole while. He finished his bread somewhere between the span of when people were paying attention and when they weren't as if making people question their sanity were a hobby. "Pietro." Came the answer to Elmo's question. He squint his pale almost white eyes to Elmo letting two fingers hover in the air. "I have seen you. You," He looked to Jaywith that icy stare that leaves much speculation as to his feelings on the matter, "You go out still ,like this when the papers are saying terrible thing? Good." As much praise as anyone was going to get from him. His weight shifted and somewhere on that plate tormenting his sister the foods were arranged in a smiley face with a challah bread unibrow.
Elmo laughs under his breath at Arlo. Ah, relatives. When Pietro approaches, his eyebrows go up. "I haven't seen you. No surprise, huh?" Not with the way Pietro seems to vanish, like a hummingbird going into warp. "Nice to meet ya. I'm Elmo. You're from the old country?" By which he means anywhere in eastern Europe. He gets a little bristly, as Pietro stares at Jay and then renders judgement, and looks up at Jay to see if he maybe needs any rescuing.
Jay smiles slowly when Arlo is accosted by his elders, suppressing the expression at the corners of his mouth. Dipping his head sort of toward Elmo's shoulder as he nods toward Arlo's situation. "That looks familiar," he whispers softly in sympathy.
Faced suddenly with Pietro's attention, Jay's brows pop up slightly when he's asked about his wings straightforwardly. The young man straightens slightly, broad shoulders squaring and in turn his wings slowly flex outwardly, then flatten. Instead of combative or defensive, anxiety melts into practiced confidence with a serene smile turned to the speedster. "Ah don't hide, that's raght. Pietro, was it? Fancy name. Ah like it." The answer is simple, but there's the ramrod certainty of a personal conviction in his tone, laced with plenty of reasons not set for polite social settings. "Jay," offering his name after Elmo's.
Arlo smiles a little at Jay and says, "Yeah, my sympathies, man." He then takes a seat across from Elmo and Jay, because it's open and he's otherwise just standing around like a jerk. Pietro gets a sidelong glance. "Hey," he says with a lift of his chin. "Pietro. Cool name."
Pietro sloooowly arched one eyebrow back to Elmo watching him curiously for a loooong moment (a whole second) and tentatively asked, "You know Earth was formed at same time? Parts of it are not actually old. Well… except that one part." Yeah there was that. At the compliment a faint shrug followed, "But, yes I am only recently move here. Your friend here? Is good day to come out from hiding." The band struck up a more lively, paced round of music in the traditional and it was a gathering already for a hora with the older men instigating the frivolity reclaiming their youth. He looked over his shoulder in a wry, amused grin his sister did not have asking in their birth tongue «"Could you imagine for a moment our father dancing like this? I'd pay good money to see that."»
Kitty opts to give Wanda a friendly wave, but her path of approach is cut off by the start of the dancing. Instead she slides around the side of the crowd and finds herslef near the group of people Jay has been hanging with all night. "Hi, I didn't expect to see you here," She smiles in greeting. "Kitty, by the way, we met back around the new year." she adds to be safe.
Strange goes home.
Elmo rolls his eyes at Pietro. "Wiseass," he says, not without humor. But he has to agree. It /is/ a good day to come out from hiding. People start dancing and that gets his interest. He…actually wants to dance? In public? Jay's presence surely has something to do with this. But he looks alertly at Kitty as she comes over.
Jay's attention flits between Pietro and Elmo when Pietro mentions 'that one part' and slowly the young man's brows lift? But he's too apprehensive to prompt 'what part?' and instead allows an amused curve touch his mouth and lead the opening way for warm discovery over this odd, new fellow. "Is it a good day fer it? Ah'd say any day's a good one, but Ah suppose from what Ah'm learnin' about the day, yer raght."
The music pricks Jay's interest as well, curious, he whispers a chuckle when folks get up to dance. He jostles Elmo's arm a little. "Y'all get mighty spirited like this all the time?" Still smiling bright when Kitty comes by, his smile remains bright and welcoming for her. "Kitty! Oh, gosh…Ah'm so sorry Miss Kitty. Ah knew ya struck a chord, but Ah couldn't place it." Dipping his head, bashfully, over not expecting to see him there. "Yeah…Ah'm kinda crashin' y'all's party tonight. Elmo here was kind enough to invite me along, but if Ah knew how lively y'all got, Ah would'a asked to come along sooner."
Arlo is not spirited, alas. He sits there, picking at food, and he watches everything going on around him. He glances down at his plate as he disassembles one of the hammantaschen stacked there. When the dancing starts, he looks up and around, wiping crumbs off on his leg, though he makes no move to get up.
Kitty smiles wider, "I'm glad you came, and very happy to hear you're enjoying yourself." She chuckles, "I just wonder what Sam will have to say abou all this." She is clearly teasing and equally clearly very serious.
Jay's smile slowly expands into a flashing grin back at Kitty when his brother is mentioned. "Oohhh Ah can only imagine. Ah mean. Does he gotta know?" Green eyes squint and dance merrily back at her. "An' which one of y'all is gonna show me how t'dance here?"
Pietro was not one to leave any stone unturned- or more in his case potentially untormented. He looked to Arlo and Kitty and slooooooowly back to Jay with an almost too amused faint grin. Man he was daring Jay to ask but, he dropped that amusement instead of pressing it as that was so two moments ago. Ancient history it was already. Still he announced to them since Elmo started the discussion and the dance was a community affair rather than anything personal or intimate. That was for other kinds of music. This was something to give the Greeks a run for their saganaki. "I do not know how you are doing this one here. Come. You seem… interesting. Show me. Arlo, yes? You is joining us too." He looked to Kitty and made a gesture that she should join them adding, "And after you will tell me how it is you are knowing my sister." Very strange family Strange had apparently. "Of course this Sam must know. You cannot wear wings out in public but then not say where to. Is evading point." Dammit Pietro. He did announce in one last bout of encouagement, "But first we are dancing and after? We see."