The sun has long since gone down and yet the lights and music of the First Fairhaven Labor Celebration haven't lost any of their luminosity. Bright electric lamps illuminate what was supposed to be a dance floor but has now become more of a general mingling of mutants in varied states of dress. There have been a few moments when the K-9s or some other party has had to step in and break up an argument or admonish a pair for public indecency, but so far this party has been generally pleasant. The smell of grilled meat and strong drink waft through the air from the tables far from the stage. Seems that the refreshments have been restocked.

Giovanni Sabella, the man who bankrolled this event, now sits in a wooden chair beside the DJ booth with his lady friend, who has been introduced as the new Labor Secretary, Nora Kirk. The two seem to be having a pleasant chat with each other, regardless of the two guards that flank the politicians. It's at this slow point that the officers surrounding the party have opened the barricades to allow more people to file in.

A Human in rumpled clothes slips in, already working his way to the refreshments table, getting a plate of food and a drink to wash it down with. Mal steps off to the side, digging in happily as he looks around, content to eat his food and watch the festivities and people for the time being.

That human didn't come alone, though. An otter, clad only in his fur and a lovely blue bowtie around his neck is close behind. He loads a plate with a bit more food than his companion, owing to his rounded tummy; he's eating for two, after all. "Oh man, Mal... Isn't this fun! The lights, the music, the food! And the people! I'm glad you talked me into coming, Babe."

Colette happily wandered down the street, a slight skip in her step as she strolled into the event. A large woven basket hung from the woman's arm, the white cloth covering it hardly doing anything to mask the aroma of freshly-baked goods filling the space around her. Each guard Colette passed by was offered a muffin, a glazed croissant, a slice of cinnamon bread, all freshly-made and mouther-wateringly sweet.

"Please, take one, thank you for your work!" she'd say as she passed through the event, stopping everyone she passed by for a moment, "Freshly made just a bit ago, thank you for your work!"

Lilac slithers into the fifth street station, quite literally. The voluminous hybrid bovine-lamia powers herself forward with a sashaying of her hips, her long tail following in her wake. She's dressed for the occasion, in a long flowing blue dress that hugs her upper body and terminates about three feet past where her lower half begins. She stops to regard the attendants, panning left to right before settling on moving towards the refreshments. She smiles politely at the handful of guards and other attendants she meets, but it's the sight of Colette that stops her in her tracks. She reels her tail into a pile beneath her while watching the dutiful baker handing out her treats, smiling at her and waiting for her to walk near enough to chat. "That's a lovely thought, Miss. Now I feel a fool for not having brought a gift myself.."

The end of a particularly poor cover of Funky Town casts a sudden silence over the gathering as the lizard DJ fumbles for the next record. During the lack of music, the doberwoman Secretary Kirk slips rather conspicuously off the stage with one of the guards following her. It seems she's taking the time to mingle a bit herself. The feline baker with her basket of baked goods seems as good a candidate as any for her buttering up, so the secretary introduces herself with a strong handshake that doesn't allow room for a "no" answer. "How are you doing? Glad you could make it. So nice to meet a young entrepeneur." She rattles off in a confident voice.

Meanwhile, the two men that had slipped in to the refreshments table find it fully stocked. Grilled chicken, lemonade, beer, even barbecued pork are all on offer, free of charge courtesy of a rather harried-looking snow leopard taur.

"What, clearly I just came for the food," Mal teases, smirking as he looks over to Bleu. "I guess the rest of it is pretty good too, though; excellent music choices," he adds as he looks around at the other arrivals, eyeing the Serval with her baked goods, and blinking at the large bovine hybrid. "Oof..." he mumbles, glancing from Lilac's dress down to his wrinkled 'suit'. "Now I wish I'd at least ironed my clothes..."

The Human finishes off his food and disposes of the plate, taking a moment to thank the Feline Taur before turning to his Otter companion. "I suppose we ought to mingle..." Mal comments, holding his beverage in his hand as he, reluctantly, steps away from the refreshments and into the small crowd.

Bleu takes longer to eat, savoring the refreshments. He smiles at the leopard taur. "Mmm, it *is* pretty good, Love." He pauses to nuzzle the human playfully. "You look *fine*, Mal, trust me." The otter grins, finishing his food. "Mingle? I suppose we *could*. Maybe. I don't know anybody else here, though... Wait, is that lady giving out baked goods??"

Colette's ears turned towards the Lami-ox a second before the rest of her followed, her grin turning somewhat bashful as her free arm came up to rub at the back of her head. "Nothin' to feel foolish over, no fret, it's a day to relax," she reassured, flipping the white cloth over to reveal the steadily-dwindling pile of sectioned treats. Her attention was quickly stolen away by Kirk, though, Colette quickly switching gears and responding to the greeting with a swift, firm handshake that belied her casual clothing. "Colette, owner of the Sliced Loaf. Couldn't do it alone, thanks for holding this event."

The basket was held up in offering towards both of the taller women for her to take their pick if desired, with the secretary's guard not being forgotten, either. "I wouldn't have the chance to give if everyone hadn't started working as hard as they have been. Just my way of showing gratitude."

Lilac edges closer, that tail of hers making for a short lived tripping hazard before she coils it back up again. She admires the tray of baked goods before turning her attention to regard the secretary. "The Sliced Loaf. I'm surprised I'd not heard of you before. These are quite high quality products you've got here miss. You should be proud! Not easy to make food with a real texture these days." She lifts herself up a bit higher, her tail impelling her up as she draws to her full height to regard the secretary again. "Lilac, a pleasure. I'm afraid Lady Lila is indisposed today, so she sent me in her stead to represent the folks over at the Mother's Milk. This is a delightful party you've got here!"

"Why thank you!" The labor secretary intones, proudly puffing out her chest. "Mister Sabella may claim the credit for this, but it was really my idea." The doberwoman grabs one of the offered baked goods, a hot cross bun, and takes an exploratory bite. Once she's politely swallowed it down, her stubbly little tail begins to wag excitedly. "Delicious! If this is the sort of thing our hard work has made possible, I think I can speak for everyone here in saying that we'd be delighted!"

As the other couple make their way through the crowd, they notice that many of the people are unfamiliar faces, perhaps from places like Cat Town or the Hare Village. One more obvious local is the pale-skinned fox-tailed man in the well-stitched Zephyr-logoed blazer, busy guzzling down a pint of ale.

Mal turns back to Bleu and grins. "I think I saw a muffin," he says to the Otter, almost walking backwards into the slithering Bovine. "Oh shit; sorry. If I said I didn't see you there, would you believe me?" the Human asks jokingly, looking up at Lilac with a grin.

The clumsy young man offers a hand to the Cow-Snake, smiling. "Name's Mal," he says, gently tugging the Otter off course from the baked goods. "And this is Bleu," he adds, before releasing his companion again, directing them to Colette. "Grab me a muffin, yeah?"

Bleu had been on a mission to get a sweet, yes. But then the otter finds himself diverted. He looks up at Lilac, nodding his head. "Oh, uh, hello Madam. I don't think we've met," he says, somewhat absently, as he returns to his previous objective. He slips away from Mal, weaving through a group of hares over toward Colette. "H-hello... My... That smells good... May I?"

Colette visibly perked as Lilac dropped the name of the local saloon, a sudden investment in her expression as she looked over the woman. She laughed lightly at Nora's words, her tail idly swishing behind her at the rain of complements.

"I grew up working with a wood oven, and the farmers at New Dawn have been more help than I could ever repay. Who knew old-fashioned parents would end up being just what I needed?" Colette spoke with a momentary smirk, pausing for just a moment as Bleu addressed her. "Of course!" she responded with a nod, holding the basket out a bit towards the otter. "Thanks for your hard work~"

Lilac blinks as Mal comes close, nearly bumping into her, and turns about herself to face him a bit better. she smiles warmly, a practiced and welcoming smile, honed by her years of work at the Mother's Milk. She takes the proffered hand and nods. "Lilac. A pleasure to meet you Mal. And you too, little one." That last comment directed with a smile at the little otter. The amazonian lamia returns her attention to Colette and the secretary. "Well, I for one welcome more food that isn't just nanite mush given interesting shapes." She finally reaches down to take a small cream cake, taking a very chaste bite of it to try it out. "Mmm.. delicious!"

The keening sound of audio feedback splits the air as a microphoned podium is set up on the stage, and with that, the secretary makes her goodbyes to the group and makes her way back up to her seat. The well-dressed husky stands and walks over to it, taking his place behind the podium and clearing his throat as the music abruptly ends. "My friends, colleagues, travelers. Thank you for being here tonight. And for those of you who've just arrived, welcome to the First Fairhaven Labor Celebration. I'm Giovanni Sabella, representative of the new unified government..." Sparse applause breaks out from the crowd. "With me today is a close friend, who I hope to work very closely with in the future, Miss Nora Kirk!" The doberwoman confidently strides up and takes her place at the suited husky's side.

"There is so much to be grateful for today. In the past, before the nanite age, the first day of May was celebrated in many nations as a day for those who work the hardest to make our society run. You. You the workers, who toil so restlessly to build our houses, fix our roads, heal our sick and bake our food. Without labor none of this..." The husky holds his arms outstretched. "...Would be possible. So today we designate as a day of rest and celebration of all the work that will secure a future for us, and for the city yet to come!"

Mal chit-chats with Lilac for a moment longer, leaning over to snag himself a muffin from Colette with a wide smile and wink, before stepping away to stand beside Bleu, quietly munching on his little bakery treat as Sabella steps onto the stage and begins his speech.

The Human leans over to the Otter beside him, muttering to Bleu with a smirk as he watches the stage. Mal holds the muffin with his teeth as the speech seems to end, clapping professional-like for the Husky and Doberwoman.

Bleu seeks out a cinnamon roll in the basket, and is delighted when he finds one. "Thank you, Ma'am. This smells divine!" The otter sniffs the roll, and then bites into it with an "Mmmm..." He leans against his human, eating his roll happily, as Giovanni speaks. When Mal leans over, Bleu nearly chokes, and has to bite his lower lip not to laugh out loud. Quickly swallowing his bite, he quickly mutters back just as quietly.

Colette continued to split her attention between the growing group, beaming at yet more complements. "I'm glad to be able to provide for someone from the saloon," the serval said to Lilac with a wide grin, "I was helped out by you all more than I could ever repay back when I first arrived at Fairhaven. Still, I'd like a chance to give back at least a bit to everyone there now that I'm able."

Attention was brought to the stage as Nora moved away, Colette politely waiting for the speech to die down before raising her arms as best she could to clap for the two.

Lilac blinks at Colette's words. She was about to inquire further when all the focus shifts to the podium. She simply smiles and politely claps for Giovanni's words, before turning back to the small group near her. "A day of rest.. what a peculiar thought, isn't it? Dedicating one whole day to not doing much, in order to celebrate doing so much otherwise. I suppose it makes sense.."