(no subject)
04 September 2006
The Dock - Breakstone Lake
Xavier's Institute for Gifted Students. When lunch rolled around, the dining room found itself littered with announcments of a party at the beach. An hour has passed, and Walter can be found, kneeling on the beach amongst various party supplies, a cooler placed on a towel, a boombox with a party mix of sorts blasting on the same towel. There's also stuff you'd expect to see for a day on the beach, a hopeful kite, a frisbee, towels, sunscreen, and the like. Walter's attention is on none of these, he's trying to get a fire started in a pit. He's set the fire up well enough, he's just having a hard time getting it to actually /light/. He tosses another stillborn match into the hopefully soon to be fire, mentally trying to remember if the school has any pyrokinetics.
Having found one of the flyers, Nisa heads out to the lake, towel in hand. She stops behind Walter at the fire pit,watching his attempts at lighting it.
Even in this time of wonders, there are certain laws to which the universe must adhere. One such law is that a gathering of any group of Xavier's Institute students is a recipe for trouble, and so, to limit the fallout, Piotr has been sent to oversee. His mission is not entirely one of fun-spoiling, however, and his approach through the trees is heralded by the pleasant smell of the freshly-cooked apple pastries that sit on top of the smallish hamper he is carrying.
Walter starts wondering if he could find some aerosol and a lighter somewhere in the boathouse when he is joined by a swimsuit wearing Nisa. Being young, male, and straight, this is considerably more interesting than the stillborn fire. "Hi Nisa," he greets, glancing back to the fire before sheepishly grinning. "Trying to get a fire going," he explains.
"I noticed," Nisa says with a smile at the lack of fire. She holds her hand out for the matchbook. "Would you like me to try?" Is that baked apples she smells?
Emerging from the woods onto the lake shore, Piotr looks over the beach and smiles at those already present. "Good afternoon!" he says as he approaches the so far small group. "I am not too late, then?" Long strides take him over to the cooler and he places the hamper down next to it, lifting the tray of apple pastries from the top and setting it carefully on the towel. "Gifts from Madame Vargas," he announces to anyone who may be wondering.
Walter smiles, passing Nisa the matches. He turns, waving over to Piotr, "No, we haven't even really gotten started yet," he eyes the pastries, "Thanks for bringing them." He gets up, opening the cooler, grabbing a soda for himself. "Water, Nisa?" he inquires over his shoulder.
"Water is good, thank you," Nisa says crouching at the pit and picking out a good piece of tinder to light.
Piotr takes a pastry, nodding acknowledgement to Walter, then moves over to allow others access to them and the other edible goodies in the hamper. Sandwiches, sausage rolls and other savoury nibbles take up a large part of the hamper, but a cluster of chocolate and blueberry muffins in the corner do their part to represent the vital sugar food group. He reaches for a soda from the cooler then moves over towards Nisa with a smile, waiting for her to finish.
Walter gets Nisa her water, joining her by the firepit, watching as she attempts to get the fire going. Glancing around at what is not, by any stretch, a crowd, he muses, "I wonder if anyone else is coming."
Peace and tranquility, while often found down at the docks, are thoroughly shattered as Cassy comes sprinting down the path. "Come back you crafty little bu- oh erm hi guys," she says, scuffing her foot along the floor and attempting to look innocent. "What's up with you?"
Sucess! Small piece of wood finally lit, Nisa places it amoung the rest and watches the fire slowly build. She looks up to Cassy and waves a greeting. "Hello Cassy. Just going to have some fun."
Piotr's expression barely flickers as he notices Cassy's approach - a hint of tightness across his lips is the only suggestion that he thinks he may be in trouble. Nonetheless, he offers a smile and a wave of a pastry. "Hallo, Cassy. You have lost something?"
Walter smiles broadly at the flickering flame. He waves excitedly to Cassy, "Come on over Cassy, Pete brought snacks." He kneels in the sand next to Nisa, watching the flickering flame as he waits for Cassy's response to Piotr's question.
"You haven't seen a rabbit come past, about so big and eating some carrots have you?" Cassy asks, making bunny sized gestures with her hands. "Only I swear one of the fiendish fur-balls has been getting into the snacks I brought for my afternoon run." The teenage red head pouts sullenly as she wanders towards the little fire.
"There are several rabbits around," Nisa notes, popping the cap on her water bottle. "But I hve not seen any today."
"Nor I, I am afraid," says Piotr apologetically, looking around. There is no apparent evidence of rabbits. "Perhaps you would like an apple pastry instead?" he suggests, gesturing with his pastry towards the tray. "There are plenty."
Walter smiles, "Nope no rabbits." He stands, and pads, barefoot over to the hamper, grabbing a pastry for both himself and Nisa. "Wanna join in on the party?" he asks of the shorter girl, "we have frisbee" he tacks on.
"Nah, no pastry for me. I'm on a diet in preparation for the big party this weekend!" Cassy exclaims gleefully. "And like Frisbee is /way/ to easy for a TK'er, it's like asking Nisa to pick flowers." The chipper teen begins hunting for somewhere clean to sit, settling on a conveniently placed fallen tree branch. "OH Pete, I've got a favor I needed to ask you. Think you'd be interested in being in the promotional material for a charity event?"
Nisa is certainly not on a diet. So she moves to the basket and takes on of the pastries. She quirks an eyebrow at Cassy and look to Piotr for an answer.
Swallowing his mouthful of pastry quickly, Piotr looks towards the young redhead, his usual willingness coloured with careful curiosity: this is, after all, Cassy. "A charity event?" he enquires with what he hopes is polite interest.
Walter sits ontop of the cooler, taking a bite from his pastry. "What kind of charity event?" He eyes Pete, what sort of charity would the Russian make a good model for promotional material for?
Cassy shrugs. "One for street children in need of homes! It's a very good cause," she declares. "Doctor Grey has given me permission to organize it and I need people to be in the promotional posters."
"What will you do to raise money?" Nisa asks, growing interested as she sits ont he log next to Cassy.
The mention of Jean's approval goes a long way to allay Piotr's doubts, and he offers a smiling nod to indicate his general willingness to help, keeping quiet to allow Nisa's question to be answered. It would, after all, be rude to interrupt.
Walter smiles, "Well, that's appropriate." He eats at his pastry, taking large bites, but chewing industriously.
Some people still believe in being 'fasionably late'. Other people are just late because they have difficulty getting their things together in a timely manner. At the moment, Mira's own philosophy could go either way, but nevertheless, she is late. And agitatedly clutching a printed out email from the very same Dr. Jean Grey. "Anyone know why I've been forcibly volunteered for 'New Yorks Finest Charity Speed Dating Event'?" Her eyes drift suspiciously straight toward Cassy and there is no doubt, in even as thick a skull as Piotr's, who she's asking the question of.
Cassy begins whistling and giving her fingernails a lot of attention. "Oh hey Mira, funny you should mention that. Pete over her just offered to model for the promotional material, after all it's to help poor children. It's a very good cause," she says with an innocent grin.
"Speed dating?" Nisa asks, looking thoroughly confused, eyes travelling back and forth between the two girls.
Piotr's expression freezes. Then he blinks, quite rapidly. Then, somewhat belatedly, he forces a silent, acquiescing smile. It is, after all, for a very good cause.
Walter glances over at Cassy, then at Mira. "Is this because of what happened?" he asks, keeping it intentionally vague.
Mira purses her lips and fixes Cassy with a look. With deliberate slowness, she folds the email and slides it into her back pocket. "I would have done it anyway, y'know."
"Exactly! Which is why I'm a genius for suggesting it," Cassy replies smugly. "We end up doing something we'd have tried anyway, only we have official endorsement from the good doctor. Plus this way you know who doesn't get anything by ratting on us for you know what!"
Nisa frowns slightly and quiets, trying to listen to the two girls, still trying to figure out what 'speed dating' is.
Paying plenty of much-deserved attention to his pastry, Piotr carefully does not hear any of the rather unsubtly veiled coments. Everything is clearly sorted out, and so plainly he could not be expected to do anything about anything even if he had heard anything. Which he hasn't.
Walter frowns, crossing his arms over his bare chest. "I wasn't going to rat you out," he mumbles quietly, not really intending for it to travel very far. He looks over towards Nisa, who is looking somewhat confused.
Mira tugs the sleeves of her unseasonable hooded sweatshirt, naturally in purple, further down on her forearms. She makes a vague shoo-ing motion at Walter on the cooler, not looking or sounding miffed even though she overheard him. Blame visible soundwaves. "Scoot over." Then, to Cassy, "Do you have a DJ yet?"
"So far I have an executive director, which is erm me and a hunky male model," Cassy replies with a wink. "I figure if the owner of the bar agrees you could do the music, if not perhaps you'd consider being the creative consultant?" Digging around in her pockets the teenage red head pulls out a notepad and begins scribbling down notes regarding her rapidly increasing staff.
Finishing his pastry, Piotr is forced to look for further distraction somewhere else. The as-yet unopened bottle of soda in his other hand serves nicely, and it ceases to be unopened. The problem now is taking a drink without looking up and revealing the pinkness of his cheeks. He essays a small sip at the neck of the bottle. So far so good.
Walter scoots over for Mira, looking her over. "Aren't you hot in that?" he asks of her hoodie, offering her a pastry from the hamper.
"Very." Seeing no further point in hiding or defending 'you know what' from 'you know who', despite the fact that she's not even here, Mira shrugs helplessly.. She clamps the sweet treat in her mouth and hauls the hoodie over her head. Her forearms have white bandages on them.
Cassy eyes the hamper curiously. "Is there anything /healthy/ in that thing?" she asks. "Like maybe some fruit, I could totally go for pineapple cooked over the fire. With a little brown sugar and erm well the recipe says you need rum. But I don't think we'll be getting any." There is a sullen sigh at the lack of proper ingredients.
Nisa frowns at the bandages. "Mire, what did you do to hurt yourself?" she asks gently. Her own pastry finished by now, she goes abck to the hamper and searched for any fruit for Cassy.
"I believe some of the sandwiches have cucumber in them," offers Piotr, aware as he says it that this probably isn't what Cassy meant. Nisa's question to Mira draws his attention quickly away from food to the audiokinetic and he watches her with pursed lips, waiting for her answer.
Walter opens his soda, taking a drink, waiting to see if Mira's going to lie or not, preparing to back it up however he can if she does.
"Pest has sharp claws," Mira replies with a little shrug and plops down next to Walter. "And they make me look cooler than flesh-colored Bandaids." She takes a bit of the free pastry and quickly deflects the attention. "So, Pete, ever done any modeling?"
"And he /really/ doesn't like the nail clippers," Cassy adds with a serious nod. "Sandwiches with meat in no doubt, which is like totally animal murder. No way I'd eat /those/."
Nisa nods to Mira and searches throught he sandiwches. "How does unchicken with veggies sound, Cassy?" She asks, pulling one out and reading the little label on it.
Trusting as usual, Piotr's concern is effectively deflected. "Ah, no," he replies carefully, looking around and finally taking a seat on the ground. "I will not regret agreeing to help, will I?" he asks with a smile to indicate that this statement was a joke.
Walter nods with Mira's story, smiling as he goes along with the lie. He glances towards the fire, which has finally started looking like an actual fire, rather than just a single tiny flame. He quietly listens to the ongoing conversation.
"Nah, nah," Mira assures the poor out-of-his-league Russian with a flippant wave of her hand. "It's easy... I think. Just wear a nice shirt, look gentlemanly."
Cassy raises her eyebrow at Nisa, looking rather perplexed. "What's an unchicken? Is it like anti-matter, so if we combine it with chicken they cancel out and explode the entire school?" Then, turning to piotr she adds "And don't worry, you won't have to undress or anything. It's not that kind of modelling."
Walter snorts
"I think means is not really chicken but tastes like chick- what? Undressing?!" Nisa looks perplexed and turns a curious head to Piotr.
The thought that it /was/ that kind of modelling had not previously occurred to Piotr, but a definite element of relief appears on his face momentarily. "Ah, this is for the best," he replies quickly. "So," he continues, changing the subject with customary unsubtlety, "would anyone be liking to play one of the games Walter has brought? Frisbee? Tennis, perhaps?"
Walter indicates the things he brought, frisbee, kite, various other active things suitable for beach play. "Or we could talk about Cassy's party," he suggests, grinning first to Nisa, then over towards the soon to be birthday girl.
Mira pulls one foot up next to her and wiggles her toes through the straps of her sandals. "Wait, so it wasn't going to be a surprise party?" she jokes, deadpan.
"Hey! It still could be, I mean sometimes I'm so brilliant I surprise myself," Cassy retorts with an impish grin. "You are all going in costumes right? Anyone who doesn't is going to look /so/ silly." Her eyes drift towards Piotr and she giggles.
"Am goign to fabric store tomorrow to pick up supplies," Nisa says, handing over the questionable sandwich to Cassy as she sits back down enxt to the girl. "Can make anyone a costume if they want."
Frowning slightly at Cassy - she is surely joking, after all - Piotr turns to Nisa at her offer. "You are able to make clothes?" he asks with an interested smile. "I am thinking it may be a little difficult for me to find a costume. Perhaps, if you are having time, you could make a shirt for me like, ah, Fezzik?" Be amazed, be astounded, at the startling display of geekery from the oblivious Russian!
Walter chuckles, "Dude, we /so/ need to get you an inferno cloak!" He laughs, "I was thinking one of the swashbucklers, maybe Wesley?" he muses.
Eyebrows rise. Mira is surely impressed by this display of Piotr's knowledge of important American social icons and institutions. Like cult movies. "If you did, Nisa would have to be Buttercup. And I could say I'm the closest thing you'll get to a Spaniard around here," she leads the collective train of thought in the direction she wants it to go.
"I can't decide between Buttercup and Wesley in his Dread Pirate Roberts costume," Cassy admits. "But I totally vote Walter dresses like Vizzini, he's got that little and villainous thing going on."
Nisa smile warmly at Piotr. "Of course I can sew. Will make you a shirt. You need to come by so I can measure you though. Nothing from that movie is terribly hard. Just tell me who you want, and can make it," she finishes to the whole group.
With a smile and a, "Thank you," for Nisa, Piotr takes another drink of his soda and looks out across the lake briefly, lapsing into quietness once more.
Walter considers Cassy, and smirks widely. "Oh, go as Dread Pirate Roberts! If I go as him without the mask, it'd work great, we're about the same height!" He's not going as the little bald man, no matter /how/ fun yelling "inconceivable" is. Something coming to mind, he turns to Nisa, "You sure you'll have time? Classes start tomorrow, remember?"
Genuine thought silences Mira, unconsciously following Piotr's gaze out over the water. A hefty bite of snacks makes sure she stays silent. What do you get for the girl who has everything and nothing all at once?
Cassy opens the sandwich up and investigates, the contents evidently don't appeal for she politely places it into the nearest rubbish bag. "I guess that would work, although part of me thinks I'd look nice in a full on ball gown type thing!"
The dragon arrives before his human companion, swooping down and clutching a plastic bucket full of chocolate bars and other snacks, which is dropped at Cassy's feet. Lockheed gives the girl a pleading look, in hopes that the girl will make use of those handy fingers that humans have to open a Kit Kat bar for him. "He insisted on carrying it" Kitty says upon arrival. She has two six-packs- one Mountain Dew, one Coke in each hand.
Nisa waves a hand at Walter. "Can sew in my sleep. Just need the machine and fabric, which have plenty of money for from my job." She smiles widely at Kitty and Lockheed, looking down at the wrapped treat.
The dragon's arrival apparently causes Piotr some discomfort. Giving a slight cough, he turns in place on the floor and watches the end of the path as, sure enough, Lockheed's human approaches. His eyes flicker towards Cassy briefly, then back to Kitty, offering her a hesitant smile. "Hallo," he calls out to her, managing not to stumble over the word but failing in his attempts to stem the rising tide of colour up his neck.
It's a dragon! Run for your--oh, it brought candy! Welcome, scaley friend! Walter smiles at the newcomer, this little get together starting to look more and like a party. He looks back to Cassy, "Well, It's your party, go however you want."
"Hey Kitty. Hey Lockheed," Mira offers with a polite wave. With a shrug in Cassy's general direction she says, "Yeah, go as whatever you want to. There's not enough characters in the movie for everybody."
Cassy smiles impishly at Piotr, then begin opening the candy bag for Lockheed. Clearing her throat she looks down at the little dragon and makes a "Ffrrrll?" noise while waving her hand at the selection on offer. Then, suddenly she turns and adds "Hey Kitty will you help me with this charity thing I'm doing? I need help with the promotional material."
"Hey" she greets Piotr warmly, not noticing his awkwardness. She turns to look at Cassy "Charity thing? Sure, do you need a web page or something?" Kitty offers, picking up a bag of M&Ms from Lockheed's treat bucket.
Nisa eyes Kitty and looks over to Piotr. Beginning to see where this is going, she smiles and sits back, staying silent.
Piotr's eyes roll skywards as Kitty stumbles with cheerful abandon into the same trap Cassy set for him. Part of him, however, is guiltily grateful for the delay, and he remains quiet, watching the pair with apparent nonchalance.
Walter looks from Kitty, then to Cassy, then over to Peter. He smirks, climbing off the cooler, gesturing for Mira to get up as well. Now that the fire's going well enough to cook with, it's time to do so!
Mira completely misses the subtext of the situation with Cassy, Piotr, and Kitty. Maybe because she's not looking. She gives up her seat and chooses a place in the sand instead.
Cassy nods in agreement. "Well, that too, but I also need someone to appear in a promotional poster," she says cheerfully as she begins feeding Lockheed candy. "And I would very much like you to model for it!" The teenage red head smiles her most winning smile.
"Modelling? Er... Uh, I... guess?" Kitty seems a little surprised to be asked to do that particular job. Lockheed happily munches on the offered candy, making cooing noises and being his all-around cute self. "You'd have to get someone to do my makeup for me, I've never been all that great with anything beyond lip gloss." She still has never been able to figure out eyelash curlers. They're scary-looking.
"Jackson!" Nisa offers with a smile. She reaches down and pets Lockheed on the top of his head.
A faint, amused smile at the mention of Jackson - a perfect choice - is the only indication from Piotr that he is still following the conversation. His gaze rests peacefully on Kitty as he reaches a hand down behind him to shift backwards slightly in the sand, propping himself up.
Walter shrugs, about as clueless on the makeup thing as Kitty, not really seeing the point in the exercise. He digs out some hotdogs, and some skewers. He even brought tofu dogs for Cassy, how considerate. He gestures towards the cooler, "You want anything Mira?"
"Huh?" Mira perks up, the question apparently catching her by surprise. "Oh, sure. Gimme a hot dog. One last taste of summer before classes start and slowly crush the life from us, right?"
Cassy pets Lockheed. "Who? I'll need to interview him and make sure he's suitable, especially for doing Pete's make-up too," she notes thoughtfully. "I think I'm going to head back inside and work out a schedule, I need to see if we have any camera equipment and all that sort of thing." Then with a smile and a wave she begins skipping back towards the mansion. "Cya later everyone!" she calls back.
Kitty blinks. "Oh, she asked you too?" Kitty asks Piotr, looking amused. She's starting to guess at the plan here. "Bye Cassy!" she waves to the younger girl, and Lockheed gives her an affectionate nuzzle before she leaves.
Nisa waves goodbye to Cassy as well. "Hot dog sounds good," she agrees, watching Walter unpack the food and skewers. She nods to Kitty and then looks to Piotr, smiling.
"Ah, yes, she did," admits Piotr, trying hard to stem his furious blush, though the embarrassment it causes is probably only making it worse. "I hope this is not a bad thing," he adds with a little smile and a raised eyebrow that is doing its best to appear teasing but, along with the blush, looks more along the lines of helpless.
Walter passes the lovely ladies skewers before turning to lay a towel onto the sand a safe distance from the fire. He sits on the towel, offering Nisa seat by his side as he begins to roast his own frankenfurter, the flames dancing merrily in the lake breeze.
Ooh, skewers, yum! Kitty bites in and tosses a piece of meat to Lockheed "it sounds fun, and I love having other people do my makeup" she says chipperly. "And if Jackson's as good with makeup as he is with other artistic pursuits, I'm sure he can make me look presentable" she adds, grinning.
"Jackson is /very/ good with makeup," Nisa confirms with a smile. "And nail polish." She takes a skewered hotdog and holds it out over the fire.
There's footsteps coming down the path and Honor appears--tentatively, clearly following something, whether it's the smell of food or the sight of the noise people are making. She lingers, just at the distance of plausible deniability if this is a private party and people want to pretend not to have seen her, and chews on her lip.
"Jackson is very talented," agrees Piotr, though this does not stop him rather hoping Cassy was joking about him having to wear makeup as well. "Though," he adds, slowly and with a slightly trepid edge to his voice that is not often present, poorly disguised with another 'teasing' smile, "you would hardly need it, Katya."
Walter nods to the /much/ larger male. "You're pretty, Kitty," he soothes, before glancing back to Nisa in a way that speaks of his prefered female companionship. It is over Nisa's shoulder that he spots Honor, and gives her an inviting wave, "Hi, Honor, come on over, we have snacks and everything!"
Cue Kitty blushing, and Lockheed happily waddling over towards the newcomer. "Ah, thanks" the former says, looking down at the sand. Taking compliments regarding her looks is something Kitty has never done well- she'll gladly boast about her computer, dance or martial arts skills, but tell her her hair looks nice, and she has no idea what to do or say.
"Piotr is right, Kitty," Nisa says with a smile at the blushing as she waves to Honor as well. "Say, do you know who you want to be for Cassy's party?"
Honor relaxes and comes up, going first to check out the offered snacks. She selects a muffin, and rips small chunks off, scattering herself with crumbs as she does. "So this is where everyone ended up," she says, expression still a little shy. "Hi, all."
Piotr offers Kitty a smile, this one encouraging and sincere, before turning to greet the newcomer, his smile remaining. "Good afternoon. Forgive me, I do not think we have been properly introduced." He sits up straight and swaps his soda to his left hand so he can offer his right to Honor. "I am Peter."
Walter turns the frank, kosher of course, roasting it evenly. He grins to the geeky girls, waiting to hear their take on Cassy's little costume party.
"I'm not sure, I have a few costumes I could wear. Maybe some of my Ren Faire garb, and say I'm Lockheed's damsel in distress" she says, scratching the back of the dragon's neck. "What's everyone else going as?"
"I do not know yet," Nisa says, shrugging and watching her hot dog in the fire. She turns her head and smiles at the newcomer. "Hello Honor."
Honor wipes crumbs on the side of her jeans and accepts the offered hand. "Oh! Hi. Yeah, I keep seeing some people around and not really meeting them." She nods also to Nisa. "Hi, uh--Nisa?" she guesses. She tears another piece of muffin and eats it before relaxing enough to let the inner geek out. "I figured I'd be original for the party. Boo!" she quotes, hunching. "Queen of filth!" and then looks around expectantly to see if people recognize the reference.
And Piotr was doing so well with the geek references up until now! He blinks blankly at Honor, hoping that isn't what is sounds like. "I thought to go as Fezzik," he says in answer to Kitty's question. See how much attention he was paying at the movie marathon? "Nisa has very kindly offered to help me with the costume."
Walter grins, "Hey, if Kitty is the damsel in distress, Pete should /totally/ be the knight in shining armor." He wouldn't even need the armor really, he /is/ the armor. "I bet we could even make him a big paper machete lance for him to carry around." Okay, not Princess Bride in the least, but still a cute image. He looks blankly at Honor for a moment, then starts to snap his fingers, "oh, oh um--" It's on the tip of his tongue, really.
Kitty giggles at both Honor's reference and Pete's costume idea. "I like it, Fezzik was always one of my favourites" she tells him. "And easy enough to throw together in short time."
Honor shrugs and looks a little disappointed. "The character doesn't actually have a name. But she's the one at the end of the nightmare. I figure crazy old woman should be totally easy as a costume, and it's a change from being another Buttercup." She nods Kitty, and then smiles at Peter. "Are you going to rhyme, too?"
Meeting Honor's question with a chuckle and a shake of his head, Piotr replies apologetically, "I am afraid I am not so good with words. I do not suppose I could think quickly enough to do this." His eyes fall on Kitty once more, trying to remain unobtrusive and yet watching her searchingly.
Walter looks a little disappointed at Piotr's response, "Maybe you could script something with Mira? If she goes as the spaniard?" He takes the frank from the flames, squeezing it testingly, before rising to find a bun and the ketchup.
"You're going as Inigo, Mira? I wish I thought of that" Kitty says. "I'm sure you'll look awesome, is the whole party Princess Bride themed, or are the costume choices coincidental?"
Kitty says, "Inigo, huh?" Kitty says. "I'm sure you'll look awesome" she says before turning to Piotr "is the whole party Princess Bride themed, or are the costume choices coincidental?" she asks.""
"That's what the invitation said, wasn't it?" Honor asks. "Good rhymes are hard to find on the spur of the moment anyway. A script's a good idea." She brushes muffiny hands off into the lake and looks around. "Does any one know what Cassy's being, then? To coordinate."
"Cassy had not decided when she left," answers Piotr, "though I think there will be more than one of each character." He looks thoughtful for a moment, then smiles. "A script perhaps is a good idea. I will have to be speaking to Mira about this."
"She said she is unsure," nisa informs politely. Hot dog finally done, she pulls it from the fire and wraps a bun around it, pulling it off the skewer.
Walter smiles up towards Kitty, "She's either going to be Buttercup or Dread Pirate Roberts. I was thinking of being Wesley. Basically, same costume as Roberts, minus the mask." He pokes at Nisa's stomach curiously, "How about you Nisa?"
"Hmm" Kitty ponders, trying to think of a decent Princess Bride-related costume that she can throw together in time. "I'll have to re-watch the move a few more times for ideas, then." She looks down at her dragon. "You want to go as a rodent of unusual size, Lockheed?" He looks mildly offended. "Alright, alright, no costume for you."
Honor wags a finger at Walter. "See, that's the easy way out. Just wear all black, right? Pfft." At Kitty's suggestion, she grins, and wanders a little closer to look closely at Lockheed. "But that would be awesome! I think we'd have a hard sell getting anyone else to crawl around on hands and knees all party to be an ROUS."
Nisa looks down to Lockheed and smiles, offering him part of her hot dog. "Please Lockheed?" she asks.
The offer wins over the purple reptile, who snatches the food and nuzzles Nisa's leg. Always a sucker for food offered by a pretty girl.
Sending a pitying glance to the beleagured dragon on his way past - quickly usurped by amusement as Lockheed gives in to temptation - Piotr stands and makes his way over to the hamper of snacks, fishing out a sandwich that Cassy would probably call animal murder. He turns to the others with a smile. "Would anyone like anything, while I am here?"
Walter calls out, "Another of those pastries," before looking up to Honor, "No way, I'm gonna find some pictures online, and get Nisa to make me a full costume. Maybe see if I can borrow a practice sword or something from Mr. Wagner."
Kitty shakes her head, holding up her bottle of Coke "I'm good" she responds to Piotr's offer. She smiles down at Lockheed "flirt" she says to him in a faux-accusing tone.
Honor nods approvingly at Walter. "Soda?" she asks Peter, gesturing to them. "Thanks." Not that she's not perfectly mobile herself, so now that she's thinking about it she wanders over to the food herself. "What are people doing about...presents?" she asks, more tentatively.
Nisa pats Lockheed's head as he nuzzles her leg. "Good. Will make you costume tomorrow as well," she says happily. "I am getting Cassy a magazine that I think she will like," Nisa offers, smiling at her very own, original idea.
Piotr has already retrieved a soda for Honor by the time she gets over to him, so he hands it to her with a smile, picking up a pastry as well. "I have not thought about this so much," he admits, tipping his head to the side at Honor before returning to the seated group to hand over apple-flavoured goodness to Walter. "I do not know Cassy all that well." He takes a seat once more, perhaps a little further in Kitty's direction than his original position.
Walter takes the pastry. He takes a large bite, considering. Once he has swallowed, he says, "I don't really know. Maybe I'll just get her a gift certificate or something for her guitar... Maybe one of those little hamsterballs so Pest can go around the mansion and cause havoc in his ball of doom." He smirks for a moment, before shrugging, "I guess I'll just go to town, and look around Salem Center on wednesday, I have a few weeks worth of allowance saved up."
"I was going to go shopping tomorow to have a look for something. Cassy should be easy enough to shop for, I think" Kitty says with a shrug. "If all else fails, gift certificates always work."
Honor nods pensively, and then cracks the top on her soda, smiling slightly at the crisp ksshh of it. "Yeah, I hadn't decided yet. I should get my ass in gear. But at least none of you took the things I was vaguely thinking of." She wanders back over near Walter. "That hamsterball thing is actually a really good idea."
Content to let the others continue talking without interjecting, Piotr looks once more to Kitty, his gaze studying, careful. He draws breath to speak, holds it, then releases it soundlessly, shaking his head minutely at his own inability to broach that fateful topic. Not now, not here. "I think I will be heading back to the mansion," he says at length, standing, relatively certain that nothing is going to be blown up here.
Looking at her watch, Kitty grumbles slightly to herself "I have to go get some things done. Do you guys mind watching Lockheed?" she asks of the remaining party-guests.
Walter shakes his head, "No, we can watch him." Now that Pete's gone, Walter can launch the devious plan of beach frisbee. Walter fails at teenager.
"See you guys later" Kitty says upon departing, waving to the group. Lockheed immediately goes into shmoozing mode. Feed him! Love him! Tell him he is cute!
Honor looks a little more wary about the idea of watching Lockheed, but relaxes when Walter takes responsibility. "I guess I don't have to worry that the parties I've been missing have been totally wild," she teases, smiling.
A 'last day of freedom' party is held at the docks. There is much discussion of Cassy's charity event, and Piotr agrees to pose naked for the promo poster. Costumes for this week's real party event are also discussed. Petey chickens out of talking to Kitty.