The government official with whom Eddie had been corresponding had been amenable to Eddie's conditional volunteering for the meet and greet, so bolstered by the fact that no one would be touching him, Eddie had gone costume shopping. Richie asked whether Eddie wanted him to come along to keep an eye out and, given Richie's experience with this sort of place and this sort of event in this sort of place, Eddie didn't see how he should answer anything other than yes, absolutely.

He does feel kind of stupid, though, when he walks in wearing his costume, half chosen because it covered most of the skin most people probably wanted to touch when meeting a celebrity anyway — their word, not his — and the other half because it seemed like a good idea at the time. He's the only one wearing so many clothes, from the looks of things. In his defense, being originally from Maine and then from New York, Eddie's still very much adjusting to the normal weather down in the South. He wouldn't have felt uncomfortable in a getup like this on an April evening in either of his previous home states but, in Florida, he's practically sweating only a few minutes in. It's going to be a long night, isn't it?

Well, maybe not. Richie's advice is to do his hour with the meet and greets and get the hell out of here. Since Eddie trusts Richie, that's Eddie's plan. Hopefully, with a bit of luck, that plan won't go awry.

Not that Eddie's feeling particularly in the mood to ride around on a float waving at a bunch of strangers and pretending like he gives a shit about this whole thing, to his credit, Eddie does plaster on a smile while he does it. Laura's right about one thing, he'll say that for sure: giving the people what they want when all they want is to see someone they — inexplicably — adore is not actually taking an awful lot of effort on his part.

That and, well. He really should get out into the world more and meet people. Do something with his life this time. He's free to make his own decisions. He's free to take up knitting and make a living of selling his shit on an Etsy store if he fucking wants to this time around. Not that he wants to, but if he did, he could. There's nothing holding him back; no mom and no Myra worrying needlessly over every last thing he says or does. No stress-induced asthma symptoms constricting his chest and throat any time things get too hard. He's got Richie, Ben, and a sixty thousand dollar salary he earns by doing exactly nothing beyond living and breathing in this place.

So sure. He can stand on a float for a few hours waving at strangers and throwing handfuls of candy at the children lining the streets. It's not hurting anything. Why not?

Afterward, though, he might be more approachable and accessible. Neither of those things tend to be his preference, but there it is all the same. Once he's off the float, he's on the same level as everyone who'd been watching the parade go by. He's in good spirits, though, so there is that, at least.

(( wildcard; not into either of those starters but still want to play with Eddie? I'm totally fine with whatever you want to throw my way! ))

(( ooc: and please feel free to throw something during either of those events at him. Even if there's no starter, I'll roll with it. Just note that he probably won't be around for the 'everyone turning into their costumes' part of the costume party since he doesn't plan on staying that long. ))