"Wow, Moonie, you've really outdone yourself," Darlington looks around the room.

The room shimmers from the sparkly streamers. Moonie made a balloon archway as well, and she and Maverick even brought in both of their desk lamps so that the room has a better ambiance. The alcohol that Maverick purchased is on the coffee table, pressed up against the wall. Beside them are plastic shot glasses and yellow solo cups. Moonie wished that they were properly gold.

"Oh, it was nothing," Moonie says. She gestures to Maverick, who is struggling to connect his speaker to the campus Wi-Fi, "really, he did most of the work blowing up the balloons."

Other than Moonie, Maverick, and Darlington, only Jerry has arrived. He brought his own whiskey, which he is planning to drink from the bottle. He is examining the label rather than the room, because even in low lighting, there is too much sparkle and shine for his eyes to handle. Jerry uncorks the bottle and sniffs the liquid.

"Don't," Maverick says, stepping closer to Jerry. "We all drink the first drink together."

Jerry nods and recorks the bottle.

Galilee is next to arrive, opening and closing the door as quietly as possible. She shoves her keys into her pocket, hoping to prevent them from jingling. Unfortunately, Darlington is attentive enough to notice.

"It's a shooting Star," Maverick says, noticing Galilee in the room.

Though she is startled, Galilee instinctively points her fingers like guns, and mocks shooting him across the room."

Darlington furrows his brow, "what?"

"Well, we already have Moonie, and Galilee is like Galileo," Maverick shakes his head. "You brought your camera right?"

"Yeah," Galilee pulls it out of the bag she has on her. It's a polaroid camera, which was never her favourite type of camera. Maverick likes them though, and after a year of chatting in photography club, he finally convinced her to buy one.

"I've never heard you call her Star before," Darlington says. "Gally makes more sense, you know."

"Yeah, well Gally is unoriginal," Maverick shakes his head."

Moonie sighs, smiling, "he is addicted to nicknames. You only escaped because you're already Darlington."

Jerry is already fed up with the conversation. It only gets worse for him when the sound of the key jamming into the door. Maverick steps back and opens it.

"Thanks," Marcellus says. "Sticky keys fucking suck."

He looks around the room through his red eyes. The variety of sparkling and shining textures and colours is overwhelming in the small space. He reaches a hand up and runs his fingers through one of the streamers on the ceiling, and laughs. Moonie can feel herself blushing.

"I also made a photo wall, for the photography nerds," she sticks out her tongue playfully at Maverick, who sticks out his tongue back.

Galilee looks around the room. They've done a good job of cleaning it, so it takes a minute to find one of their stash of workbooks from summer training. She takes a page from Louie's book and stuffed the page where the door is supposed to latch. Students use that trick to sneak in guests on Homecoming weekend. Galilee has to admit it's clever. She closes the door, and it looks almost shut.

"How was your meeting with the super?" Darlington asks.

Marcellus purposefully makes his chest tighten, "fine. It's a facilities issue."

"Have they still not repaired the window on the lounge door?" Galilee asks.

Even though he would never admit it, Marcellus feels relief. He didn't want anyone to know what the meeting was about, and it seems Galilee is here to the rescue.

"They'll get to it during the break," Darlington says. "They are probably still sorting out community billing."

"No more talking shop," Maverick throws one arm over Galilee's shoulder and pulls her closer, throwing another around Darlington. "The whole point of this is to not think."

"You're good at not thinking, aren't you Mav?" Marcellus says.

Maverick laughs.

Soon after, while Darlington is tinkering with the speaker, convinced he can connect it to the Wi-Fi if he just has another second, and while Maverick is using Galilee's camera to take a picture of Moonie, Elodie and Tempest arrive. Thanks to Galilee's handiwork, they don't need to use their keys.

Tempest stands with her hands folded in front of her, trying her best to take in the room. She feels bad for noticing, but a few of the streamers have been hung so haphazardly that they look as though they will fall off.

"Yo, Ellie, how'd the exam go?" Maverick asks, his head snapping away from the camera and towards Elodie.

"Same old, same old," Elodie doesn't usually like nicknames, but she doesn't mind them from Maverick.

With Elodie's arrival, Darlington commits to getting the speaker working. He smashes the bottom of it, gently, once, and then the music starts to come out.

The door swings open, and Callie walks in. From even this far across the room, Galilee can see the paint stains on her fingertips. In the low lighting, her fingers almost look black, like frostbite. Galilee is used to picking out things to photograph. There is something about Callie that stands out, besides the paint. The other women are wearing cute tight tops, and Galilee knows that there is nothing wrong with that, but Callie is wearing a satin turquoise top and a long pleated white skirt.

"Okay, but it is criminal not to dance to this," Maverick says, shoving the polaroid camera into Galilee's hands. He grabs Moonie and drags her over toward Elodie and Tempest. With one hand holding Moonie's and the other holding Elodie's he forces them to dance with him.

Tempest tries to sneak away over to Darlington on the sidelines, but Elodie taps her with the water bottle in her hand.

"If I'm dancing, so are you," Elodie winks.

Tempest forces herself to sway with the music. She raises her eyebrows at Darlington and then turns her head to force him to join. He steps closer, but not too close, and tries to sway. It makes Tempest smile, if even for a second.

Since Darlington has joined, Marcellus also goes in. He would feel strange dancing with all the girls and Maverick since Maverick is often invited to attend girls' night as an honourary member. It is strange because, under normal circumstances, Marcellus wouldn't give a single fuck about standing out. Today though, he is trying his best to fit in.

Galilee snaps a picture of the group and then sneaks around them to get to Callie, who is bobbing her head to the music.

"Can I get a picture?" Galilee asks.

Callie blinks but then smiles, "sure. Get in."

Galilee, with pink cheeks, moves next to Callie. She holds out the polaroid camera, Callie's arms wrapped around Galilee's neck. Galilee can feel her heart racing.

"Someone had better call Benedict and Ro!" Maverick says from within the group. "I do not want to be sober any longer."

Jerry pulls out his phone to call Benedict while Callie decides to call Ro. The phone rings.

Benedict mutes the call and sighs. He is in the staff office next door and can hear the others through the walls. It seems there is no way to avoid this now.

In the elevator, Ro answers the phone "hello?"

"Maverick's getting impatient," Callie says.

"No, I'm not," Maverick calls back.

"He's going to throw a temper tantrum soon," Callie says. "Full-on meltdown."

"I'm coming," Ro says, and she hangs up the phone.

Benedict walks into the room, hoping to blend in with the chaos. He makes his way over to Jerry and stands next to him silently. While Benedict pours himself a glass, Jerry tips his bottle in Benedict's direction. Neither of them has quite the guts to speak to the other.

As soon as the door opens and Ro enters, Darlington begins to tally who is in the room. He counts out the RAs of 1East and 1West, and so on and so forth, only pausing for himself since he is the RA for both 3East and 3West.

"We're all here," Darlington says.

"Finally," Maverick says.

He heads over to the table and grabs his drink. All of the others come to join him, getting their drinks, or unscrewing the tops of their water bottles so that their liquor is ready to go.

Tempest doesn't feel the need to hide her nerves. She always appears nervous.

"Don't drink," Marcellus says when Jerry raises his bottle to his lips. "Holy fuck, don't drink."

"I didn't think you were superstitious like that," Elodie laughs, bumping into Marcellus gently.

He feels himself relaxing.

"Okay, for first-timers, here's the deal," Darlington looks around the circle, "everyone has to say a toast-"

"Only one line," Maverick says.

"Yes," Darlington nods his head. "Just say, to something, and then hold your glass up, and once everyone's gone, we'll cheers and drink. We'll start at 6East, then we will work our way across and down. Got it?"

No one seems to have any complaints. So, the returning staff look at Galilee.

Galilee tightens her hands around the solo cup. Calling it a glass is quite an exaggeration. Still, she swallows.

"To not being on call until January!" Galilee says and holds up her glass.

"Excellent, Jerry," Darlington says.

Jerry shrugs, "to beating the boss in my video game."

"Works too," Maverick laughs.

Elodie nearly laughs, "to never remembering a fucking thing from community psychology!"

"To the campus Wi-Fi working today," Benedict offers, clearing his throat towards the end of the sentence.

"To the fact that no one pulled the fire alarm to try and get out of an exam," Maverick nearly chortles, remembering the time last year he was stuck outside in the cold for half an hour, waiting for the fire department to ensure the building is clear.

Tempest nearly bites her tongue, "to being done my paperwork."

"To you lot for being great coworkers," Darlington says, and he means it more now than he expected he would.

"To the peace and quiet of the empty building," Marcellus wants to appreciate it because once he goes home, it will be hectic once more.

Callie smiles, "to submitting all of my assignments on time."

Moonie nearly laughs, "to singing my lungs out without worrying about students bothering me."

"To going fucking home," Ro finally says.

"Here here!" Darlington says.

"Here here!" all of the rest of the staff chime in, those who are returning more quickly than the resident assistants who are new this semester. Then, everyone throws back their drink, and the party begins.

~~~~~

If I could've gotten this out sooner, I would have. As it stands, this is well and good enough. It is snowing right now where I am for the first time this season. I suppose I'm luckier than these people will be next chapter. Also, let me know how I did writing your character and their relationships. I need to keep track of a lot, so let me know what I can improve. Overall, let me know what you think, and I'll see you soon.