(Untitled)

[noprevaricating]

Who: bookworldly, her descendants, and their spouses. Meaning hippocraticly, slaying, tehoniongirl, noprevaricating, survivethesiren, ratatosk_knight, originaljackass, crytearsofjoy, talvimyrskyn, and sorryhesabear. Also fight4theusers.  Am I forgetting anyone?
What: AU Family dinner. There will probably be cards involved.
When: April 19th, around 7:00pm.
Where: The twins' place.
Summary: Cramming twelve relatives into a relatively small apartment is always a good idea!
Rating: Your average episode of

Comments

[slaying]

[ dressed nice and tastefully, the eldest daughter of the next clan is socializing before the meal with a glass of (barely touched) wine in one hand. she looks contented enough -- a mask of domestic bliss. do bother her. please.

if you want prose, prose it up bb! you know i love the prose. action-tagging for the sake of those who might prefer it. ]

[noprevaricating]

"Buffy." Archie speaks from behind her, and if she turns, she'll see him holding up a wad of napkins.

[slaying]

She turned her wide, affectionate smile on the younger brother. "I hope I wasn't too fashionably late. But I see the table's just barely set and -- oh, do you want a hand with that? I can be very handy."

She and Jack had brought along some spirits but otherwise Buffy was the non-food-making type. She wanted to contribute somehow.

[noprevaricating]

"And here I thought I'd have to bribe you somehow." Archie hands her the napkins and offers to take her wine glass to free up her hands. "Thank you for bringing the spirits, by the by."

[slaying]

She almost looked glad to have the booze taken away from her. Buffy had enjoyed her period of youthful abandon and drinking at a younger age but after her marriage, she had developed a distaste for the stuff. Still -- there was a facade to keep up and she sipped dutifully.

Buffy took the napkins with another smile. "Hey. I figure I'm getting off easy -- laying a few places? Definitely better than slaving away in the kitchen."

[noprevaricating]

Upon taking the glass, Archie takes a longish drink of it before setting it down. He has no such problems with drinking. Grabbing the spoons he's piled up on the counter, he begins placing them alongside her. "It's only slavery if you don't choose it."

Kirsi was more than grown now, though, and Archie would do anything to fill the time with noisy family.

[slaying]

"And outside of the very safe confines of my home, I think I'll continue never choosing to cook."

She neatly set the napkins in place.

[noprevaricating]

He places the silverware as she goes along. At some point, he leans in and softly says, "How are you?"

It's a pointed question. He knows she's not happy with Jack.

[slaying]

She hesitated and opted to unfold and refold this one, pesky napkin.

"I'm..." Buffy shrugged. She never liked this subject. Especially not with her younger siblings. It wasn't like talking to Len -- with Archie and Jilly, she felt terrible to burden them. "Things are going well."

[noprevaricating]

Only he was pretty sure they weren't. But he wasn't going to pry, he just moved to hook an arm around her shoulders and pull her close in a quick hug.

[slaying]

She prolonged that quick hug into a firm, slightly rib-crushing embrace.

"Thanks," she whispered.

[noprevaricating]

If you could say nothing else about Buffy, you could say she gave great hugs. Archie tightened his arms around her and rested his cheek against her hair. "You're a wonderful sister."

[slaying]

"You'd almost think it was my birthday with how much extra-special compliment-ridden treatment I'm getting from you guys."

She teased and gently extricated herself from the hug, holding Archie at arm's length so she could catch his eyes. "But I am kind of wonderful, aren't I?" Only her quip descended quickly into sincerity: "You know that if you ever need anything, you can call -- right? Well, minus the acting thing, I guess."

[noprevaricating]

"Yes, I know." He studied her for a moment. "I'm all right, Buffy. I am." Though things had always been a rough financially and his case of Empty Nest Syndrome was pretty obvious, at least his marriage had been happy.

[slaying]

"The offer still stands. What's the use of having a war hero in the family if she can't throw her weight around for those she cares about, hmm?"

[noprevaricating]

"If I can think of any political positions I've a hankering for, I'll let you know."