[text / action for Goldenrod / go ahead and make mingley top levels if you want]

[meteorman]

A. Text

To whom it may concern,

This is an invitation to a casual Hanukkah celebration to be held tonight at the Skellington House in north Goldenrod. Food will be provided, though if you wish to bring some to share I'm certain that no one will object.

No RSVP necessary. Anyone who would like to is welcome to stop by*. In strange times and places it pays to be able to find common ground in what little may be familiar.

- Dr. Stanford Pines

*Except for Rick Sanchez, unless he promises to behave himself. There will be children in attendance.

B. Action

[The mansion is hard to miss, partially because it's awfully large and partially because beneath the Christmas decorations the Halloween ones still appear to be up. Add the menorah in the window and the combined light the place gives off is probably visible from space.

As promised there is food: it's not a proper sit-down dinner, considering he figures people will keep trickling in as they have the time, but there are latkes and sufganiyot (he may have asked for Mabel's help with those) along with more Johto-appropriate foods and some things that fall squarely in-between. There are also driedels available, with markings that appear to be painted on in glitter, for people who would like to play or at the very least learn how.

It ought to be a nice night.]

Comments

[notvaljean]

[Jean got dragged to this thing by Armin, so he's been slinking around the edges of the festivities like a semi-feral cat, watching everything and not quite interacting with a whole lot of it. He recognizes Ford, though, from their conversations on the network, and creeps up next to him.]

Uh, hello, sir.

[Please recognize him, or this is going to be so, so awkward.]

Thanks for throwing this thing.

[meteorman]

[He does, in fact, recognize Jean. A man with a brain like his has a certain knack for recalling things, thank goodness.]

Don't mention it! I haven't had a proper Hanukkah celebration in over thirty years now. It was high time that changed.

[notvaljean]

Is this what celebrating Hanukkah is usually like?

[If it is, Jean digs it, since it mostly seems like people hanging out and eating and talking to each other. This is a religion he can get behind.]

[meteorman]

Oh, that varies highly by family and region and what interpretation of the faith you follow. So the short answer is yes, with the long answer being yes, for my little corner of Judaism in particular.

[notvaljean]

Okay.

[Jean has no idea what Judaism is, but he's pretty sure he can count on Armin to pester Stanford about it and then give him all the details later. There's no point in making the poor guy explain it twice.]

We don't have anything like this back home. Any kind of gathering we have is usually in the summer or the fall.

[The winter is when food gets scarce and everyone keeps to themselves.]

[meteorman]

Ah, yes. Seasonal celebrations are common across most if not all cultures. Are they related to a harvest cycle, by chance? That tends to be it.

[notvaljean]

Yeah, exactly! One in the fall and then one at the beginning of the summer. Do you have festivals like that in your world too?

[meteorman]

Several, depending on where in my world one happens to be. Across different cultures the specifics of the celebration can vary, but it's very uncommon for there not to be one at all.

[Don't get him started on naming and describing literally all of them, because he will, and then it'll be next month before you know it.]