Birthday Bash June 23rd | Evening

[z_jay]

Who: Eugene, Max, and the inhabitants of House 51 and their invitees
What: A birthday party summons for Eugene and Max
When: June 23rd, evening
Where: House 51
Summary: After the events of the draft finally settling, it's time to get life back to normal.
Rating: PG-13 for drinking and swearing.




It was finally time to admit to himself that he was no longer in the club of twenty-somethings, which was a shame, really... but he wasn't going to lie to himself any longer. At least he wasn't alone, and Max could share in the not-quite-misery with him.

Something needed to unify people, something positive, and maybe this could help to begin settling nerves and getting life back to normal. So Eugene sends out a few invitations, even to the residents of his own home with a soft grin.

There were things that they could do to entertain themselves without much prep. Plenty of booze, board games, and even some baking that could be done. It didn't have to be something all-out as it was last year (no one could ever top a rave party for their birthday) but he wanted to party. So upon arrival, the smell of baking and cooking would be the first thing to greet them, before Eugene, of course.

[ooc: Anyone is in fact welcome to join in, and can consider themselves invited by people who have been invited. That is to say, this party is not exclusive to current CR, make yourselves at home]

Comments

Loki

[complicatedliar]

[Like he'd miss this.

He likes parties anyway. And maybe it'll be more low-key than the rave, but there better be some dancing at some point. And to help make sure there's dancing, he'll be providing the necessary lubrication. As in some of the rather godly booze that was infamously at the rave and at the solstice celebration. Only the best for his friend Eugene, right?

Loki arrives with Rogue and at first sticks close to her, keeping hold of her hand. Once he's got the lay of the house and where the furniture is reasonably well in his mind, he'll start wandering a bit. Though as long as Rogue stays at the party, he'll keep coming back to her.

And getting progressively drunker and drunker. Because what's a party if you can remember how it ended?

Watch out. You know how Asgardians like to party. Keep a close eye on him if you don't want the couch to be forcibly ejected from the house and then set on fire at some point.]

[z_jay]

Well, well~

[Something a little exaggerated by his voice, he was obviously very pleased to see not only Loki, but Rogue in tow. He was going to be true to form and be one of Loki's friends-- and thus, he had invited them both to join in. There's a little flour on his face and in his hair, but that's because he and Sabriel had been throwing doughballs at each other.

Not to mention he had a few drinks prior to this, but spotting the goods Loki had brought-- oh, the party was just beginning]

We should have some food ready in a minute-- wait, shit, you don't like sweets. Right...

[A quick turn of his head toward the kitchen with a thoughtful frown followed, fingers wriggling.]

I'll think of something but in the mean time, d'you mind helping Jack? We've been using morse and I'm all tapped out.

Re: Loki

[abjurer]

[Max eyes up the Asgardian liquor and then smirks up at Loki.]

Is this stuff going to get me wasted, Loki?

Sabriel

[thebellthatbinds]

[One of her flat mates seemed to have told the others about a fondness she used to have for brandy sometime before the party. And, in the true spirit of birthdays, Sabriel had been obligated to honour her each of her friends who are celebrating theirs with a drink to their health. And then a drink to their happiness, and so on.

After the fifth toast or so she had tried to usher them all to the kitchen to do that birthday baking she and Eugene had planned and oh, that will be interesting! Sabriel will welcome any help that comes her way while she makes her way around the kitchen fudging ingredient measurements and improvising because her recipe somehow got covered in chocolate sauce.

After the biscuit attempts she can be found in the living room mingling with friends, acquaintances and new faces alike. Face red from drinking and with the odd smudge of chocolate across her cheeks she'll be happy to play any games, dance, you could probably even get her to sing if you asked her nicely.

She's just so happy to see some of her closest friends happy again and having a good time. And maybe just for tonight she can let go of her responsibilities for a little while and enjoy the party just as much as the others were.]

[z_jay]

[Here enters Eugene, stealthily slipping an ice cube down the back of Sabriel’s shirt. No fair she beaned him in the nose with that doughball. Payback was right here]

[complicatedliar]

[After he gets the lay of the land, Loki will be stopping in the kitchen to say hello. He does his best to stay out of the way, which can be difficult when he can't see. But it feels very lived-in, which he appreciates.]

Mead?

[antivanleather]

Sabriel! Bella Nota, my dear, my darling- you've something on your face.

[ He has to reach down to rub at it, frowning when the smear doesn't vanish immediately. ]

A stubborn bit of something.

[touchofrogue]

[Rogue arrives, though she doesn't intend to stay the whole night. The main reason why she's there is to see that Loki gets there all right and can manage to navigate the new apartment all right. She'd been willing to get to know Eugene and Jack before, but that was before she'd found out exactly why Loki had died. However, things had seemed to be pretty stable between her and Loki for a while now. So even though parties always made her feel isolated and uncomfortable - and awkward, and very much like she needed to be in exacting control of her movements, she felt like she'd be able to stay a little while.

And she even manages to bring some chocolate pie.

Mostly in the beginning, she'll be staying close with Loki, holding his hand, making sure that he's oriented. Once he grows more comfortable, once he sits down, she'll attempt to become friends with the woodwork, staying out of everyone's way. She's glad, relieved, that Loki seems to be having a good time.

If there are any books about the place, she'll probably resort to borrowing one and reading quietly. If things get loud and crowded, after checking in on Loki she'll probably step out for air. She is very, very careful, even with her gloves on, not to touch anybody.

Whether or not she stays the whole time or slips away before an hour is through is anyone's guess.]

[z_jay]

[There were no signs of strain in Eugene’s expression when he spotted the couple arriving. He felt a little excited, to be honest, knowing how difficult it must have been to convince Rogue to join. But she was here and she had brought chocolate pie.]

You are seriously, my favorite guest right now.

[He loved it when other people cooked for him in gifts. Even something so simple as this was a gesture he totally appreciated. He held out his hand to accept it, unsure of if he should take it from her. His semi-inebriated state did have him stopping himself from doing so, of course]

[thebellthatbinds]

[Now there's a face Sabriel hasn't seen in a long time. It's been more than a year since Sabriel had that quiet conversation with Rogue at Loki's midwinter bonfire during her first extended stay in Luceti but it had been so very nice to just have a normal conversation with a girl her own age.

Bearing a small plate of biscuits of varying shapes, Sabriel steps over to where Rogue seems to be looking over the book shelves. Her face is still a little pink from the earlier celebrations but she hasn't forgotten her manners.]

Would you like a biscui- uh, a cookie? [No matter how many times she says it, 'cookie' just sounds weird.]

[eversohungry]

[Vastra is also dropping by, though she doesn't intend to stay the whole time. No doubt the drinking is going to get rowdy, and that will be her cue to step out and return the next morning with tea.]

[Perhaps... Perhaps sparing them the discomfort wasn't teaching them anything, though.]

[Her arm is still bandaged rather thickly, and she stands out of the way watching the goings on with a vague smile. Despite that, Vastra looks tired, or conflicted, or both. But there she is, because her social graces say she ought to be here.]

[z_jay]

[Flour dusting his hair, Eugene approached Vastra, careful to avoid her arm from bumping into it clumsily, because the booze was making the world sway more than his feet could compensate for at times]

… I am the worst son, ever. I need to make food for you but…

[She wouldn’t eat in front of anyone, would she? He remembered how much she hesitated to admit to him her required foodstuffs]

[touchofrogue]

['sup, this side of the wall taken?

By this point, Rogue's seen that Loki's able to get along quite well without her help - he's sitting somewhere comfortably, no doubt drinking and laughing. Rogue has managed to find some coffee, and she's drinking it slowly while trying to decide if she should stay or go.

But when she sees Vastra, she decides to say hello. It has been a while since they talked, and she can't help but notice the wound on Vastra's arm. With Luceti's excellent healers, it's rare to see someone walking around wounded, and although Vastra's not someone Rogue knows well, she finds herself concerned.

Approaching, she gives the older lady a small smile.]

Hi.

[thebellthatbinds]

[Sabriel had been ushering her softly whining dog out of the kitchen for the fifth time when she first spotted Vastra. She doesn't recognize her on sight, but after a couple of drinks of brandy most of her inhibitions are already floating out the window. Sabriel's cheeks might be a little flushed and smudged with chocolate but she doesn't seem to mind as she gives Vastra a warm smile.]

Hello! May I get you a cup of tea or would you like anything to drink?

[antivanleather]

Lady Vastra, most revered mother in law- would you rather not have a seat?

[ It's poor form to force one's mother in law to stand, after all. It does not. Stand.

Zev's had just enough brandy that the mental pun makes him giggle. ]

Please. If you need anything for your arm, do tell me.

[abjurer]

[Sometime, before he gets too terribly drunk, he flops down on the floor at Vastra's feet and grins up at her.]

Hi Mum. It's good to see you.

[250mhzwabl]

[Even before Loki arrives, Jack is being as gregarious as a newly-deaf man can probably be expected to be, walking around the party with a notepad stuffed in his back pocket for anyone who wants to communicate with him, greeting newcomers with a grin and a wave. Afterward he's actually reasonably able to talk, thanks to the spell that essentially gives him subtitles for everyone who's close enough, though as the evening drags on and Loki becomes more and more inebriated, the readout becomes more and more riddled with inconsistencies and errors. By that point, though, he's too tipsy to care.

Earlier on in the evening, though, he'll be gathering up any and everyone who wants to play a drinking game, pulling the available seats together into a makeshift circle.]

All right, everyone, simple rules. You tell one true thing about yourself and one lie. Everyone else guesses which is which. Whoever guesses wrong, drinks. If everyone guesses right, storyteller drinks.

[complicatedliar]

[Loki is happy to stick fairly close to Jack for much of the evening (basically when he's not attending to Rogue). After all, Eugene did ask him to translate! It's nice to feel like he has some skill that people want, since he's been feeling incredibly pathetic about the whole blindness thing.

So he's front and center for the drinking games. And grinning. Such grinning.]

Two things about myself. Two things. So much to choose from.

Once, on a wager, I ate a live mouse. Whole. And it won me the wager and got me into bed with the man's daughter.

[He giggles. Poses for dramatic effect, miming the action. Sorry, this is a bit too like being in the nice, fun parts of Asgard.]

I know a spell that can make me piss fire. Literally. And that's won me a wager, too.

[Oh yeah, and by the way, Jack? This is what your subtitles say:

I tricked a sword swallower into taking me on as his apprentice so I could learn the trade.

A lady once passed out at the sight of my cock, because the sheer size of it terrified her so.

Whoops.]

[thebellthatbinds]

Lets see...

[Now what sort of things could Sabriel toss out there for this drinking game. Holding a small glass of some of that mead Loki had brought in earlier she taps a finger against her chin thoughtfully.]

I almost set the school's gardener on fire when I was seven; and... Apart from the beach here, I've never seen the ocean.

[z_jay]

I love this game.

[There were plenty of things he could hark back to, making up stories and giving them some life to them. Also, he had a damn fine poker face. He'd need to be careful to pick stories that Jack wouldn't be able to answer-- just for some fun]

I have eaten moose meat.

I have been involved in indecent fantasies involving the Stanley Cup.

[abjurer]

[At some point during the game, after several drinks when he's feeling loose and happy, Max finds Jack and drapes against him comfortably, chin against his shoulder.]

I once tied someone up during sex using magic. I once got arrested in a club in West Germany.

Zevran & Savio

[antivanleather]

[ For even with so many new faces around the house, you cannot have one without the other. Savio's curiosity has been curtailed for the security of Zevran's shoulder- though the ball of black fluff does hop about now and then to tug on locks of hair or cuffs of shirts for attention, treats, and adoration. That is when he's not clacking along with the music or repeating things he has heard.

Names, greetings, JACKNO, etc. Eventually Zevran passes him off to Jack so he has a way of knowing when people are speaking to him, but for the bulk of the night he shares Zevran's solitary watch in the kitchen.

Or at least it would be solitary if Eugene would stop trying to cook his own birthday dinner while thoroughly drunk. He also stands aside when the birthday baking rolls on through- who is he to stand in the way of tradition, and takes a moment to drink just a bit. Zev minds the dishes and sets them out, simple fare with a bit of a twist laid out in neat little platters on a side table right next to a rather impressive collection of wines and liquors.

It feels grounding to have such welcome company- something he hasn't thought for a fair while. Spirits are high and he has no reason not to knock back a toast or five, or play a few strains of songs the boys have taught him on his guitar. ]

[z_jay]

This is so much better.

[Eugene doesn't care that he'd got his head in Zevran's lap, or that Savio is curiously tipping his head this way and that. He was allowed to be there, so what if it was weird? Sometimes he liked being in warm, inviting places, and Zevran had a drink and was warm and there and everything was right in the world in this moment. In fact, his eyes were visibly trying to focus on the drink Zevran had.]

Lemme try some of your ... drink.

Sam

[voiceinthedark]

[Sam is never one to turn down a party, especially not with how scarce they are after apocalypse. Funnily enough, no-one seems all that keen to open at nightclub in Abel, even if Janine would veto the idea and get that look on her face. The one that asked why she'd been hampered with a township full of children.

Besides, the house is kind of lonely now he's on his own.

He turns up with Lucky at his side, and a bag with booze and a few snacks and the sinking feeling that he has no idea what Eugene or his housemate would like as birthday presents.]

[thebellthatbinds]

[I hope you like dogs Sam, because Ranni dashes over to hop happily around him from where she had been waiting for scraps and food bits to fall in the kitchen. Tail wagging, the shiba noses Sam's hand and tries to give him a few doggy kisses before Sabriel catches up with her perpetual puppy.]

Ranni- oh, hello! I'm sorry if she's bothering you.

[abjurer]

[Thirty. He was thirty.

He'd never thought he'd reach thirty. Oh sure, he knew it would happen in a disconnected abstract sort of way but... this was real and he didn't know what to do with himself.

Thankfully Eugene had taken care of that and if he can drink the night away, why wouldn't he? It's not quite as flashy as last year, out on the beach with a rave and moonlight walk (and that still aches in his chest but it's bearable), but it's friends, family really, and he's happy to show up, make-up and clothes as inhuman as he can manage.]

[thebellthatbinds]

[Sab might be in the middle of a dough ball fight with Eugene in the kitchen but when she spots Max come out she dashes over to catch him up in a hug. Why yes, she has been drinking but that doesn't change the sincerity of the affection she has towards the mage.]

Max! Happy birthday!