fandomhighdorms | 4th Floor Common Room: 3/11 - Evening

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4th Floor Common Room: 3/11 - Evening - Nadia's Birthday Party

Somebody has decorated the common room to the hilt for Nadia's birthday.

There are party hats and party favors enough for everybody. And a picata spread from Cafe Fina.

~~Please wait for~~ OCD threads! UP!
Leave gifts and cards
Pre-Surprise Fun!
SURPRISE!
Pinata!
OOC

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Nadia might have looked around, too. Of course, that was all she'd been doing since she came in, so it was even odds as to whether or not it had actually occurred to her to check.

"Well, when's your birthday, then?"

"September. I'll be seventy-six." At least that's what his birth certificate said.

It didn't occur to her at first that that was because he was technically from the forties, so Nadia was briefly visibly confused. Then she smiled. "So you're a . . ." Her voice trailed off ~~because she didn't know the term cradle-robber, and everything else she could think of was horrible and gross~~. "Old . . . man," she finished lamely.

"An extremely well-preserved old man," he said ~~without the slightest trace of understanding of the vastly vampiric meta irony (http://www5b.biglobe.ne.jp/%7Ejinriki/2003-2004/pages/04-11-1.htm) of that~~.

"Are you doing alright, or would you like me to help you make a fast getaway at some point?"

"I'm okay. I mean, everyone is just here to show me they like me, right? That's not a bad thing,"

She was clearly in part trying to convince herself of this fact.

"Also, I've already noted all the escape routes. But if I need a distraction, I'll let you know."

"Yes, we're all here to show you we like you." Walter smiled and looked at the gathered students. "Although you should know that already, right?"

"Yes. But it's not really something you get tired of learning." Nadia leaned against the wall. "It's taking some getting used to."

"If you can get used to snow monsters, sucking robots, and creatures that pop up like unwelcome party favors at other people's birthday parties, you can get used to having friends, right?" Walter took a spot next to her against the wall and offered her a candy cigarette (http://www.mcphee.com/items/11588.html).

Nadia took the cigarette and stuck it behind her ear for later. She wanted cake before chewing any gum or anything. "You'd think. But I think it's easier to get used to the bad stuff than the good, sometimes."

"Yeah, I understand that." Walter nodded and shrugged. "But if you're going to have to learn to do something difficult, this is a more fun something."

"I guess so." Nadia shrugged. "Still. Weird."

"You didn't mention to anyone I know that your birthday was coming." Walter gave her a sidelong glance. "Is this party a bad thing?"

With her various quirks about her past, Walter was wondering how much this had to do with any of that.

Nadia sighed. "Not bad memories, if that's what you mean. I just don't like celebrating. It just reminds me that I don't have a family, and that I never have."

Walter looked out at the group of people gathered to celebrate with Nadia and sighed as well. Which was worse? Never having had a family? Or having had one and knowing what it was to lose them in some arbitrary act of war?

He sort of decided that they were really about equally crappy.

"Make a family now? Here? This way you get to avoid the creepy old uncle, which puts you well ahead of many people."

"That's not how family works, though, is it? Friends are the ones you pick, family are the ones who have to like you no matter what but you didn't choose."

"Do you think your friends are always going to like everything you do? And from what I've seen of families, they don't always like each other at all."

"Of course they don't." Nadia was starting to get confused. "But they're just friends. I thought families were supposed to care about each other and take care of each other no matter what, because . . . because they're . . . ." She was running out of English. "Because they HAVE to."

"And isn't it even better to have people who care about you and take care of you no matter what because they want to?"

Nadia was starting to get frustrated. "But why should they want to?" she blurted, then frowned, realizing how dumb that sounded. "I mean . . . I don't know what I mean."

"Maybe I'm just telling you what I want to hear," Walter said, putting a conciliatory hand on her arm. "But I don't throw away friends. They're the people who'll get my back when snowmen attack and teach me how to dance and sit with me on the ~~emo~~ roof in the cold rain."

Nadia blushed slightly and smiled sadly. "Even when they sing bad things at you and accidentally turn you into a girl?"

"Spell and accident." Walter shrugged. "I'll probably do something just as brilliant and I hope you'll still be my friend afterwards."

"Well, I've already accidentally been a boy, so you can cross that off your list of 'brilliant' things to do," Nadia said. "But I can't think of anything you could do that would make me not want to be your ~~girl~~friend."

Walter was silent for a minute while he watched the other party people. "The birthday girl isn't supposed to be the one giving gifts," he finally said, smiling at her. "The feeling's mutual. Thank you."

Nadia blushed again. "Well, I'm not a traditional birthday girl."

Re: SURPRISE!!!

walter-n-wires.livejournal.com - 2006-03-12 07:53 (UTC) - Expand

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