Increase Joy (A Purim Celebration)

[Joshua Bernstein]

((This thread is set on Saturday the 15th))

Josh loved Purim.

This was probably not a huge shock to anyone who was even passingly familiar with his hobbies. After all, the attorney loved to dress up and he loved to drink, two activities strongly associated with the holiday. This year he had decided to host his own Purim celebration, rather than simply relying on the one at his temple. After all, although he knew more fellow Jews than he'd expected when first moving to Pilot Ridge four years ago, they weren't all members of the same sect. And it was more fun to celebrate with friends.

Sean had gone along with this, even helping him to decide on a costume. Which is why when the guests began to arrive they were greeted by a slightly tipsy Josh wearing a cowboy hat and boots.

"Welcome, welcome! There's food in the living room, come on in!"

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Purim had never been Sean’s holiday. As an Irish Catholic who grew up in a Catholic neighborhood, he had had little experience with Purim growing up. Likewise, while Hammel was diverse, even when he had been a student, the focus on diversity of cultural customs had not extended to celebrating holidays.

Yet, thirty-five years of acquaintanceship with the Bernstein family had involved countless invitations to various holiday celebrations. He’d had the pleasure of celebrating Purim several times, and the telepath enjoyed the holiday for similar reasons to why he enjoyed Halloween. Purim was a holiday for children (and adults), there were sweets and costumes and, for adults, alcohol consumption was encouraged.

Sean had been happy to go along with Josh’s desire to host a Purim party of their own. He’d helped his partner with the planning, with food and dessert preparation, with securing plenty of wine and other spirits for the celebration. He’d also helped pick out Josh’s costume for the party; he thought that Josh looked good as a cowboy.

For his own costume, he had decided on Robin Hood. It was simple, it was recognizable, and the character was in the spirit of celebration. At the very least, it wasn’t offensive.

As guests entered, he smiled and offered them warm greetings, before directing them towards the food and the bar.

[Abe Milton]

It was the Sabbath.

Abe had had some problems with that when he’d gotten the invite. The Sabbath was the only day Honest Abe’s was closed. It was a day that Abe went to temple, and then went home with his copy of the book. And even if he didn’t do as much praying as he should’ve, he made sure not to do any work. It was the day of rest, and Abe took this fairly literally, so much so that he turned not doing work into a task in its own right.

But Purim was an exception, and going to a party wasn’t exactly work. It wasn’t rest either but he thought that they could make an exception. So he made hamentashen the day before, then debated on a costume before deciding…not. Instead, he was in a long jacket that covered his t-shirt, and jeans. It was about as dressed down as the man ever got.

Costumes weren’t exactly his strong suit anyways. But you could never go wrong with fatty jam-filled cookies.

“Hello Josh,” he greeted. “Sean. I couldn’t decide on a costume but I thought cookies are never out of place. Happy Purim.”

[Joshua Bernstein]

"Abe!"

Josh offered his friend a quick hug born partly out of inebriation. He was already a physical person, and alcohol only increased his desire to show his affection through touch.

He waved away the other man's comment about costumes; although that was an aspect of Purim he enjoyed, he was simply glad to have his friends around. "We're just glad you could make it! And did you say cookies? I'll forgive anything for cookies."

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean smiled at Abe when the younger man arrived and offered his explanation. The telepath waved off the semi-apology with one hand. Abe owed no apologies for failing to select a costume, since the telepath thought that was optional, albeit encouraged. Moreover, their friend owed no explanation or apology to Sean at all, given that this was not his custom or holiday, and so he had no vested interest in whatever minor rules or expectations were broken.

Even without asking his partner, he knew that Josh agreed with him insofar as apologies were unnecessary.

The psychiatrist’s smile widened at the announcement of hamentashen. As with everything else related to Purim celebrations, Sean had only been introduced to the cookies when he had begun spending time with the Bernstein family. As with most baked goods, the telepath had become instantly fond of the cookies, and he appreciated the varied jam choices available for fillings.

“I’ll take those off your hands,” the older man said, as he reached out to take the platter of hamentashen from Abe. “And come on in and have a drink. Or if you want something more substantial to eat?”

As it was a party, there was plenty of junk food. However, he and Josh had made sure to have more traditional meal food as well, so that their guests would have something substantial in their stomachs to mitigate the alcohol a bit.