Happy Happy birthday!

[folklorist]

Who: Close friends of Rei Hino's and one other guest
What: Birthday party surprise times!
When: April 17th
Where: Tsukino Shrine around 7pmish
Summary: Rei is getting a surprise birthday party!
Rating: PG


Helios had done all he could to make sure Rei was out long enough from the shrine to setup for what was indeed her birthday. With some help from her friends and close acquaintances Helios had decorated the shrine in some lights and lanterns for the occasion. It was nothing too outrageous because he knew Rei was a more subtle person, so the decorations are few but meaningful.

Birthdays are good for starting fresh, and spring is a time for letting go of the past and starting anew. The lanterns symbolize that but also help with the festivities. Even if its a small affair Helios puts a lot of hard work into it because of how helpful Rei has been these past few weeks. So to help ease out of the terrible feelings since the draft and to celebrate the birthday of a good friend Helios will invite whoever is close to the young woman.


((ooc; For the sake of not hurting my hands trying to juggle both a post and a log I'm just going to handwave Helios putting up the announcement over the journals to help set things up for Rei's party. If you're character is a close acquaintance/friend of Rei's they're more than welcome to stop by!))

Comments

[geniustheveil]

[Quinn, it's not very nice to call their houses ugly.]

You could work on it here. You could help people with their wardrobes, if they wanted. You could even learn to design and sew your own styles.

[cuteisawayoflife]

[She's still learning okay]

That's what I was thinking. Back home the Fashion Club used to do that kind of stuff all the time. They'd be happy if they knew I was keeping up the tradition here.

[geniustheveil]

[It's Ok. It's a process.]

They would. And if they came here, too, they could help you with it. It might feel less like being away from home, then.

[cuteisawayoflife]

[Oh, dear...Stacy would be welcome. Tiffany might be okay if she was having one of her less spacey days. But Sandi? No...just no.

And Quinn is actually scared of how resentful her thoughts of Sandi have become lately.]

Yeah, maybe!

[geniustheveil]

[If Ami knew, she'd recommend not letting that resentment grow. In the end, it makes you into the horrible person you didn't want to become. She knows it all too well.

She knows about feeling scared of her own petty, angry thoughts, too.]

You must miss them, being here this long already.

[cuteisawayoflife]

Yeah, I do. They're...a fun group of girls!

[geniustheveil]

My friends were like that, too. They were very energetic!

[She remembers the fun times, the arguments, the laughter, the fun, the hard times and tears. But mostly, she remembers they were fun. She finally felt happy with them.]

[cuteisawayoflife]

A good group of friends is hard to come by, they say.

[geniustheveil]

We met in junior high. It was the first time I really made friends.

[This is pretty much polar opposite to Quinn. But it had been true. Shyness had been coupled with misunderstandings, and kids her age had always found her hard to get to know. It was Usagi and the other senshi who gave her a chance.]

[cuteisawayoflife]

You didn't have any friends until you were in junior high? That's so sad.

[geniustheveil]

[Well, yes it was; but hearing it said in that tone makes her feel a bit... exposed. Like it was pathetic of her to have been so slow about finding people.

She decides to, at least verbally, look for the bright side.]

Still, I met them in the end.

[cuteisawayoflife]

That's good. No one should ever not have friends.

[geniustheveil]

[It was Usagi who always talked like that, Usagi who went from 'it's painful not to have friends' to befriending all of them and taking away their loneliness. Ami smiles.]

I think so, too. Some of my friends would say the same thing.

[cuteisawayoflife]

[Quinn just smiles as she hangs up another scarf]

No one ever really wants to be alone. [Especially her. Sometimes she wonders if that's the whole basis for the Fashion Club...]

[geniustheveil]

[Ami doesn't have to wonder; she knows it was her whole basis for joining the senshi. It hadn't been some sudden, fated change of heart, it had been the hope they'd become the friends she wanted, if they spent that time together and shared that part of their lives and that secret.]

I think that's why we all met each other. We were looking for the people we could become close to.

[cuteisawayoflife]

That's wonderful. But do you have a lot in common? [Because that's the main reason Quinn joined the FC girls, and it may have come back to bite her on the butt.]

[geniustheveil]

[Ami has to admit... they really, really don't. Maybe that's why it was rocky at a lot of points. But what joins them together is stronger than those differences, she thinks, so she simply speaks of her friends fondly. She shakes her head.]

We're not very alike. Our personalities and interests are very different sometimes. But we all care for each other very much.

[cuteisawayoflife]

[Hmm...]

It must be nice to be able to get along with people you're so different from.

[geniustheveil]

I think it took us awhile to learn how to do that.

[She, at least, had felt pressure to change to be more acceptable - to be more open, natural, and less formal. She hadn't liked that pressure; it had pushed her into not being her and she'd cracked a little under the strain.

But eventually, they'd gotten on their feet, and made a real, deep, lasting friendship. She wishes they hadn't drifted apart a little when they became adults, but she's very proud of what they're all doing and accomplishing, and very happy when opportunities to see the others do arise.]

[cuteisawayoflife]

Hmm...

[geniustheveil]

I think it must be easier if you have a lot of common interests, or activities you do together a lot.

[cuteisawayoflife]

Yeah...I guess.

[geniustheveil]

What sort of things did you do together with your friends back home?

[She imagines the answer fairly correctly. Quinn's cheerful friendliness has always reminded her a bit of Usagi, so she imagines sleepovers and trying makeup and clothes and maybe singing or karaoke..]

[cuteisawayoflife]

Went shopping, read magazines, talked about the latest styles and the cutest boys, tried on makeup, talked about other girls and what they wore...

[geniustheveil]

[Yep, pretty much as she expected. Of course, Ami takes it for Usagi's good-natured girlishness, and not the shallowness of some of the Fashion Club.]

It sounds like you had a lot of fun together.