Who: RED and BLU Engineers, BLU Pyro, and pretty much whoever else wants to show
Where: The yard between the bases
When: July 4th
What: Americans celebrating, foreigners scratching their heads and uttering heavy sighs

In all the hubbub over the mail delivery a few days ago, the memory of the Fourth of July had nearly slipped the RED Engineer's mind. He'd woken up early nonetheless, though, and set about preparing for the afternoon's festivities. Inter-base socializing ban or not, he for one was determined to enjoy the holiday in the company of all his friends, regardless of team color. Shoot, he thought, RED or BLU, they were both right there together on the flag anyhow. Seemed like excuse enough to him.

Thus, by the time four o'clock rolled around, the hour saw him with sleeves rolled up, already hard at work while the grill sizzled up a storm. The RED team's dinner table had already been reappropriated for the occasion and dragged to the central lawn between the bases; a cooler full of beer and coke was sitting nearby. Potato salad, deviled eggs, and other cold-cut delicacies were sealed neatly in Tupperware containers and stashed in the RED team's fridge until conditions were ideal for their appearance. He'd even managed to lug out an old record player for the occasion -- the thing had been sitting around in his shop for ages, left behind by some previous owner, and now it was being put to better use blaring tinny show tunes into the open air.

All that was lacking were the people.

Who: Riley and Dan
When: July 4th, somewhere during the day
Where: Riley's room
What: Moping

He hadn't noticed back then, even when he was cleaning up his room. It took a while to find the piece of wing from the little wooden bird that broke off during the fight. It took a while longer to actually get around and go see Riley.

He had a lot on his mind back then and he still did.

He knocked on the Sniper's door.

"Ry, you're there?"