Sixth Floor, Thursday Evening -- Merlin's Birthday Party

[bitchprince]

If Arthur had still been back at Camelot, the idea of holding celebrations for a servant's birthday would have seemed preposterous. But he wasn't, and it didn't, and if he were really honest with himself he'd admit he enjoyed it (or at least in as much as it involved picking out presents that made him fret some on the inside and yelling at people about getting decorations in).

The Sixth Floor was decorated rather decadently for a birthday party. There were some CDs of painfully carefully selected songs playing through the system - the ones Arthur had judged least likely to shatter eardrums (and maybe tending towards the classical and medieval).

And there was food. Courtesy of Francine.

Arthur didn't like half-measures much.

[[ open to all! ]]

Comments

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[life_inshadow]

The crowd was less bad than it could have been -- Tara knew many of the guests, and Arthur had been pleasant to her -- but she was still grateful for the hand and squeezed it eagerly.

"Well, you ran, like, forever today," she said. "You burned a ton of calories."

[OOC: ... wtf, LA. Laters.]

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[brat_inslayage]

Arthur had even been almost nice to Kennedy, which was weird in and of itself but she wasn't complaining. Glad to see Tara was doing okay so far, she moved to link their fingers together.

"I didn't want to get out of shape," Kennedy replied, looking slightly goofy for a second. "Oh, God. I'm going to be feeling that tomorrow. Work go okay?"

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[life_inshadow]

"Work was fine," Tara said, smiling down at their linked hands. Hi. "Quiet. I put away about a zillion books, so ... think that counts as a workout?"

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[brat_inslayage]

"Depending on the books? You could get some decent upper-body work in there," Kennedy said thoughtfully. "That's how Constance used to sell it to me when I bitched about helping her put some of her books away. Arthur isn't being an ass to you, is he?"

She looked like she'd cheerfully go over and yell at him if he had been.

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[life_inshadow]

Tara blinked. "No, he was fine. Which was kind of weird, 'cause just from reserves and the radio? I kind of figured he was -- really arrogant."

She did not do well with the arrogant, especially the XY-chromosoned arrogant.

"Why, was he an ass to you?"

Tara wouldn't yell if he was, but she'd likely think mean things loudly.

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[brat_inslayage]

"Not this time," Kennedy said, shrugging, which was her way of saying that yeah, she did think he was arrogant. But then, you might be able to say the same about her, so pot, kettle much? Just a little bit.

"Which is a surprise, but I won't complain. Oh, hey-- there's wine, isn't there?"

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[life_inshadow]

"Maybe the guy likes parties," Tara suggested, shrugging a bit. (And yes, Kennedy was arrogant, but she was cute so Tara would let her get away with it.) "I think there is. Should we have some?"

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[brat_inslayage]

"You're cute when you're kinda drunk," Kennedy said. Translation: yes. (And yes. She was. She wouldn't really argue it, honestly, since she wasn't really sure what the problem was.) "There's drinks and dancing and food. I think we have all the important party elements in place, and I vote we start with the drinks."

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[life_inshadow]

"Drinks will make the dancing part easier," Tara decided, "and I already had food. I think you talked me into wine."

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[brat_inslayage]

"Score one for my persuasive skills," Kennedy replied, starting for the drinks table. "What was it I said that sold you on it?"

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[life_inshadow]

"The part where you told me I was cute when I was a little drunk," Tara said, almost shameless, as she followed along. "I ... like it when you think I'm cute."

And wine was yummy!

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[brat_inslayage]

"I always think you're cute," Kennedy replied, grabbing a glass of wine and holding it out to her. "It's a different kind of cute when you're drunk, though."

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[life_inshadow]

"I talk more," Tara admitted. "I mean, I never get that drunk, just .... looser."

She was totally the girl who thought she was drink after one drink.

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[brat_inslayage]

And Kennedy totally thought that was adorable. "You get kinda babbly, and it's fun to listen to you."

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[life_inshadow]

"See, now you told me that," Tara said, as she accepted a glass of wine and took a healthy sip. "So I'll be all self-conscious? And I'll be back down to 'yeah,' 'no,' and stutters."

She was doing way better with the stuttering, though, as long as she spoke slowly and was around friends.

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[brat_inslayage]

"Even with me?" And yes, that was Kennedy giving her just a tiny bit of a pout over the top of her own glass of wine. Even though she thought the stuttering was cute too.

Kennedy was weird, okay?

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[life_inshadow]

Dammit, that pout was way too cute. Tara was powerless over it. "... maybe not with you."

It was even probably true.

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[brat_inslayage]

"Good to know," she said, winking at Tara. That pout might be Kennedy's most potent weapon. "I gotta say," albeit grudgingly because it was Arthur she was talking about, "he did a good job setting this up. Talk about setting the bar high."

She miiiiiiight be thinking of how to set the bar even higher, already. Stupid competitive instinct.

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[life_inshadow]

"You like the music?" Tara asked, not exactly surprised but definitely trending in that direction. Somehow, Kennedy did not scream 'I love Celtic ballads.' "But yeah, he and Francine did amazing. Think everybody will try to top this all year?"

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[brat_inslayage]

"Oh, well." Kennedy laughed. She wouldn't scream 'I love Celtic ballads' even under extreme duress. "I'm actually not a fan of the music, but that's my deal. I know I'm definitely gonna try and top this when it's your birthday again."

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[life_inshadow]

"See, if everybody does that all year, by October we'll have to have parties where -- we play elephant polo in India," Tara said, grabbing for something extravagant. "When's your birthday? Maybe I can try to top this then."

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[brat_inslayage]

"Maybe if we can get permission to use the Danger Shop. Can't we do something with ostriches instead? Elephants are slow," Kennedy suggested, only half joking because that actually sounded like fun. She took another sip of her wine, swirling the glass's contents around. "May 20. So we'll be done with finals, and probably into the summer session."

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[life_inshadow]

"Mmmm. We might be in cabins then," Tara said, nostalgic.

... she was one of the weirdos who liked the cabins.

"We could do a pool party with ostriches."

Because that totally made sense.

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[brat_inslayage]

"...cabins?" Kennedy looked almost nervous at that. Her last cabin experience had been in ninth grade out in Maine somewhere, when she'd been going to a school that thought freshman orientation should include a week-long mandatory camping trip for "bonding" purposes.

It had been one gigantic bunkroom for all the girls. Most of them had been the epitome of the private prep-school girl stereotype. Kennedy'd been ready to climb the walls after a day. (She took that impulse out on the campground's rock-climbing wall.)

"As long as I don't have to go home for my birthday," she said, blustering on past that topic before she might actually flail, "I will totally be fine if the ostriches are too hard to book."

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[life_inshadow]

"They're fun!" Tara enthused. "There are campfires, and everybody gets their own little alcove, and you can really see the stars. And s-sometimes the teal deer come out at night."

Somehow, she didn't think she was selling this to Kennedy.

"I'll try to get you an ostrich, anyhow. One ostrich."