Happy cocoonday, Genius and Rick <3

[bloody_pens]

Characters: The man-twins and YOU! Totally open!
Date/Time: November 14th, evening
Location: The bar
Rating: PG for now
Summary: The man-twins have a birthday party. Feel free to make your own threads for interaction; you don't have to play off the birthday boys. Layout of the bar: first floor and second floor.

Comments

Come bother Castle~

[bloody_pens]

Rick stretched his legs and glanced out over the bar, nibbling daintily (or so he hoped) at a ham sandwich. He was trying to pace himself, because he knew there'd be lots of cake later, and ice cream, and who knew what else.

/bother bother

[dont_leave_town]

Nikki was glad she'd made it back in time for the celebration. She would have felt genuinely bad for missing Rick's birthday. Friends from home were a pretty important commodity here, after all. In a way, she supposed the timing really couldn't have been better--Bastet and Stoneface were still reworking the schedules to fit her back in, so she was free all day. She was eager to get back to work, but taking a day to celebrate Rick's having survived this place for a whole year.

Scrambling to find a gift had been a little trying, but it was the thought that counted, right?

Spotting him seated at a table near the bar, she sidled over and pointed to the chair across from him.

"Is this seat taken?"

Re: /bother bother

[bloody_pens]

Rick smirked at Nikki, pushing it out with his foot.

"By you, obviously. Glad you could make it."

[dont_leave_town]

"Are you kidding? I was by myself for a whole month--you really think I'm going to miss a good party?" She gave him a contemplative look then. "Well, as good as a party that actually admits hooligans like you gets, anyway..." She nudged his shoe with hers, and then cast a glance around the room. "Quite a turnout, though," she added. "You're so popular."

A beat of silence, perhaps for effect, and then she put a hand on her chin and posited, "Or maybe it's Genius who's the popular one..."

ROCK BAND TIME

[handy_psychic]

Bridge spent a lot of time trying to decide whether or not to crash the birthday party going on tonight at Smoke's. On the one hand, he didn't really know either of the birthday boys. On the other hand, that didn't necessarily mean he wouldn't be welcome. On the other other hand, Dash had vanished, and Aniki, and Koi had been killed...

Finally, he gathered up his well-used Rock Band set and made the trek to the bar anyway. Dash, he figured, would have wanted it that way. Bridge had already spent enough time being miserable about Ghost over the past month. Time for some social interaction, even if the mood at the party turned out to be somber.

Setting up in front of the giant TV, Bridge fired up an easy song for practice.

[of_mindelan]

Mindelan had known Aniki a little, and liked him, and the fact that he was gone... Well. Even knowing that it meant going home and getting whatever reward it was that came from enduring the Ordeal, it was sad. You were always sad when someone left you, no matter where they went, especially when they couldn't say goodbye or write back.

So she was here for largely the same reason as Bridge. Her dogs had dispersed into the crowd, and she'd just gotten a mug of warm cider. There was someone vaguely familiar on the stage, in front of a lit glass screen.

Mindelan climbed up onto the stage. Yep, she remembered him, and remembered making a fool out of herself when she'd visited the Scavenger's Yard. There was no helping the past.

"Bridge, hello," she said, trying not to stare at the screen.

[handy_psychic]

Bridge was taking a break when Peach- when Mindelan approached, enjoying a root beer float at that particular moment. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had one.

"Hey, Mindelan," he smiled. "Here to party hard, or hardly partying?"

[of_mindelan]

She was taking a swig from her mug and snorted. Ow. Mindelan coughed a few times, then blew her nose on a handkerchief and cleared her throat.

"Cute," she said blandly, as if nothing had happened. "I'm making the rounds. They've got good cider - very warming."

She nodded at his... what was that? "Enjoying yours?"

[Open to all]

[spandexisyouth]

[[ooc: I've got godmod permission for bringing Bell, etc. Pretty much just handwave that he's around until/unless Pen gets to a computer to join.]]

Gai had made the decision to wait for Bell, which meant they weren't exactly early for once. It wasn't like he could blame his partner too much, though. He knew what Bell was like.

Armed with presents and focusing on being happy, Gai entered the bar and looked around. There were a few people here already, which was nice. After a quick discussion with Bell they grabbed a table too for food and presents. For now Gai would compartmentalize. What happened in the bar could be seperate from everything else. After all, some of his most important people were here.

Gai was ready to socialize and party.

[pinkhairedchild]

Blood was excited about the idea of a party, mainly because she knew there would be cake there. She was a simple kid, and cake made her happy.

Grabbing what she hoped would be good presents, various candies, she made her way to Smoke's bar and attempted to find the birthday guys. Leaving the candies and homemade cards on a table, she looked around for someone she knew. Bridge appeared to be busy with some game, so she made her way over to Gai instead. She knew he and Bell were close to Stoneface, and figured he wouldn't mind her hanging out with them.

Smiling widely, she pulled herself up onto a seat with a smile. "Hi! You here for the party?"

[spandexisyouth]

Gai smiled at Yachiru as she came over. Blood. Not Yachiru anymore. But at least she had her name. He nodded. "I am! We are, in fact, but I am too! I know the two celebrating birthdays well. And you know Castle and Genius, Blood?"

He reached over to make sure the chair was stable while she climbed up. She was capable, but she was still small, and he remembered how hard it had been to manuever in a little body. Wait, of course she knew Castle. "Oh, that is right. You greet now, with Castle, do you not? So do you work with him often?"

It still seemed strange that she'd be working when she was that young, but that was the way of things here, and she didn't seem unhappy with it.

[pinkhairedchild]

Settling into the seat, Blood nodded as well before answering Gai. "Yeah, I know him through Greeting, and 'cause he wrote that great book! It's one of my favorites, but not as good as the book Stony reads me."

She loved when Stoneface would read the book about cows to her, he obviously liked the book a lot too which made it even more special. "I work with him sometimes, but I think I've worked with each of the other greeters at least once so far!"

She enjoyed working, it gave her something to do and when Ghost was here it gave them a place to live. She liked being busy, it gave her candy money.

Open to anyone, XD

[burntorangesky]

Fred had been helping Chivalry in her spare time for a few days now; today was no exception. She spent the time before the party helping him to prepare some food and generally get the bar ready for a great many people to descend upon it.

She heard the first few people start to arrive, though she remained in the kitchen for nearly half an hour, reluctant to abandon Chivalry after she told him she would help. Finally, she couldn't stand it; she told him she was going to go enjoy the party for a bit, and would be around if he required her help.

She slipped out the door of the kitchen into the main room and immediately headed over to the bar; she had discovered from experience that alcoholic beverages didn't seem to affect her much, so it probably wouldn't matter if she had one now. She ordered a drink she'd heard one of the other people mention as very good--something called a FrazzleberryIt was a rather oddly-named drink, but after the bartender handed her the drink and she took a sip, she pronounced it quite a tasty one nonetheless

[man_genius]

The second birthday boy was also wandering around the bar, taking in the entire scene with wide eyes. He could honestly say that he never expected this day to come. A whole year in Edensphere and he was neither dead or stuck in a jail cell. A year later and Qi was still alive, and Youth and Bell and Fred and Gene. Sure there were some folks gone--he was still reeling internally from the sudden loss of Koi and ironically Boss. Those two deaths/disappearances had caught him completely off guard. But overall the core group was still intact. They'd made it through the year

Hahah, I finally get to use this icon ICly

[burntorangesky]

Fred had finished a little more than half her drink before Genius came up to her. She smiled warmly at him; his good mood was rather infectious, it seemed. "Hello, Genius. I have been here most of the day, as a matter of fact; but of course, I would not miss your party for anything."

She took another healthy gulp of her drink, then frowned. "It seems to be getting rather warm in here, is it not?" While it might seem like a strange statement, Fred usually didn't notice temperature changes unless they were extreme; if the room felt warm to her, everyone else should have been positively boiling.

...why so cute Romana?

[man_genius]

Wow Fred looked ...well. Great! Relaxed, her cheeks looked a bit rosey. It was different from the usually tense look she normally had when they met up. But then they were often meeting under crises, so maybe that was it. It was times like this that Genius was struck by how attractive his friend was, although if he were honest, most of the people in the sphere were freak'n attractive. It was a familiar feeling, being surrounded by pretty people.

"I know but--I'm glad." He beamed at her. "I'm really glad you're here." The random switch to the weather made him frown slightly. "Is it? Not to me but it is snowing outside so maybe they cranked up the heat--does this place have heat?" So many buildings had no temperature control which was a freak'n shame, it didn't take much to build proper insulation did it?

[longnosedliar]

When Sniper walked into the bar, he simply dumped the two presents wrapped in plain brown paper on one table. He didn't know Derrick or Genius too well, but it was bad form to come to a birthday party without bringing presents. There was always the option of not coming, of course - which was tempting considering how miserable he felt - but he had told Daitou he'd be here... and besides, maybe it'd be better to be around people.

Inside of Derrick's package were a couple of shuriken (a bit shoddy by Sniper's standards; he had been trying to make a chain of them, and these were the ones that were a bit too thin) neatly engraved with The Shadow Hornet. Dulled, of course. Sniper didn't know Genius too well, but from the way everybody else treated him, having weapons in that house didn't seem like a smart idea. In Genius' package were a few fireworks he had finally mastered. They weren't big, and did little besides stand neatly on the ground and spew out a series of red and blue sparks, but he figured that they would be of some

[man_genius]

Genius happened to be bouncing by--literally bouncing, someone was excited-- the side tables when he caught sight of someone out of the corner of his eye. What the--

"Sniper?"

He broke out into a cautious smile. "Are you here for--" he waved his hand vaguely. "Or just regular bar-ing." Yes bar was now a verb.

Sure they hadn't gotten along all that well at first but hey maybe the guy was here for Derrick. The man had his own life after all.

[longnosedliar]

Sniper smiled back at him, pleasantly surprised by how happy Genius seemed to be. And why not? It was his birthday, after all. "Don't be stupid," he chastised with a casual tilt of his glass. "If I just wanted to go to a bar, I wouldn't have come on a big night like this! I came to wish you guys a happy birthday."

He flicked his head towards the table full of presents. "I got you guys a couple things over there, too. Enjoying yourself?"

[man_genius]

It took a second, but the cautious smile slowly turned into a genuine grin. "Ever heard of a party crasher," Genius shot back. "How do I know you're not one of those types." He paused. "Thanks, man-friend."

It was the first time he'd ever even considered using that phrase with Sniper but it was said with meaning.

"For realsies? You did? ...You're very strange." Genius admitted with a laugh. "And you know what? I am. I really am."