happiness is all right (open)

[sideromelane]

Who: sideromelane, limu-o-pele, and Guests
What: Twins are having a birthday party.
Where: The lovely Musetta's apartment.
When: September 8th
Warnings: If any arise they will be noted.

Comments

[arethebettermen]

When Charles said he was going to the party, he certainly meant it. Obviously it took him some time to arrive given the wheelchair, but he did arrive in a timely manner. He was even dressed in a suit. His age was showing, wasn't it?

[sideromelane]

It is, but nobody's judging, wheelchair dude. Or Bowen isn't anyway, he just holds the door open like a well mannered boy, glancing down the hallway Xavier had come out of. He's not exactly being subtle about how eagerly he's awaiting his girlfriend, oozing anxiety about it, really. He manages to redirect his attention after a moment, giving a terse smile and greeting,

"Hey." Before he's calling into the apartment for his sister, "Oi, Asha, jou amico est aquí."

[limu_o_pele]

Asha wouldn't know either way. Normally dressed in ragged jeans and over-sized sweaters, work boots, she'd had to take cues from Bowen's memories of the other Asha to pick out an outfit for the party. Wouldn't have known to do it at all, if Bowen hadn't dressed up - though that was arguably less for the party and more for Naoto.

She is feeling a little strange, wearing a dress, but it's really just more strangeness on top of the general uncertainty she felt in large social gatherings. There is a small amount of relief, coming out of the kitchen when Bowen calls and seeing Charles has arrived.

She smiles slightly. "Hello, Charles. You came." She glances at Bowen. He'd been responsibly for the inviting, as she'd been ignorant of the whole tradition, but she didn't really know who of her friends he'd managed to contact.

[arethebettermen]

"Hello, Bowen." Charles smiled up at the young man, then turning his attention towards the other twin. "Ah, there you are, Asha. I was wondering where you'd be hiding." The small raise of his eyebrows inclined that he hadn't reached out to her telepathically. Surprises were good once in awhile!

"Happy Birthday to the both of you."

[aseparateworld]

N has never been to a birthday party before, not even his own. He'd hesitated upon reading the invitation, but it had said everyone was invited, so surely that meant everyone, didn't it? Even N. He thinks so! If he's mistaken, they can ask him to leave. He can go in for a little while and see what it's like. He's excited by the prospect.

He touches a hand to his Menger Sponge for good luck and enters the beautiful building the directions had guided him to. He's wearing his usual layered cloth shirts, khakis, and canvas shoes. With him, as usual, are Joltik, Pidove, Purrloin, and Zoroark. The insect is in his hair; the bird is on his shoulder; the cat is by his heels; and the foxlike creature is walking upright. It's not as tall as N, who is a rather tall teenager, but it is more than five feet in height.

[sideromelane]

Bowen had intended to invite everyone. He knew his sister had never had the kind of parties he had, and for her birthday, at least, he was determined to provide her with a full crowd of friendly well-wishers. For himself, he was a bit less interested, had outgrown that sort of thing and was well into the age of the surly teen who preferred to go out and make trouble with a few friends rather than hang out at home and eat cake. But a large swathe of his friends had disappeared recently, and no, he wasn't quite over it, if that meant he deflected his emotions by looking out for Asha... well, that wouldn't surprise anyone.

When N appears, Bowen gives him and his pets a curios look, but he's been here long enough to recognize a pokemon.

"Uh, hey, I'm Bowen." He offers out his handle lazily. "Don't think I've met you."

[aseparateworld]

"Hello, Bowen, my name is N. I'm new here." His words are rushed, his speech stilted. He grasps the offered hand, then doesn't know exactly what to do with it, so he squeezes it and lets it go. Afterward, Zoroark reaches out to do the same, expecting equal treatment.

"It's is a pleasure to meet you. This is your birthday." The tone of that question doesn't quite rise up at the end, but it's meant to. "I hope you are enjoying it."

[sideromelane]

He gives the Zoroark an uncertain look, mostly out of surprise, but he doesn't actually have a problem shaking hands with the thing. He's never seen any of Dawn's pokemon act quite the same though.

"Oh, uh, thanks. Are you settling in all right? Promenade can be kind of a weird place."

If he notices N's awkward social skill--and of course he does, he's got a pokemon on his head--Bowen doesn't really make any comment.

[strayblade]

She dreamed up a new dress, and despite Naoto's best efforts, it still looked a little too much like the ones that that priest was such a fan of. (Wasn't he supposed to be blind? What's up with that.) What looked angelic on Nill feels awkward on her.

But it was a special occasion. And she was going to make every effort for it.

She keeps her steps measured as she walks into the party, wrapped boxes balanced on top of what looks to be a pizza box. She wants to start running...away or to him, she isn't sure. But once she spots him, she will be.

[limu_o_pele]

Bowen has been checking for Naoto since they first opened the door, keeping half his attention on whatever conversation he's involved in, the other half constantly looking up at the door for her. But it's Asha who notices first when she does arrive, and though she's still so uncertain of what to do in these parties, she won't let her stand at the door with no greeting.

She walks over with a small smile. Naoto makes Bowen happy, is better at it in Promenade and their strange circumstances than Asha herself, and for that Asha can only be grateful.

"Hello, Naoto. He's been looking forward to you coming."

[strayblade]

Naoto nods her head and smiles at Asha, grateful beyond words for the greeting. "I've been looking forward to it too." And she finds that it's the truth, even if she was ridiculously nervous. "Happy Birthday." Inside, a comb that Naoto thought looked interesting. And a simple black-bladed dagger.

The comb took her much longer to figure out.

[limu_o_pele]

Asha takes the gift, looking over the box in her hands and wondering if she should open it now or place it on the table with the others. Bowen hadn't said. She decides maybe it's best to leave it for now, but the distraction of it has made her a little tardy in saying anything. It's part of what Bowen finds so difficult with her, sometimes, how easily she gets lost in her own world.

But she does remember, and looks back at up at Naoto. "Thank you." She tilts her head slightly. "And you did bring pizza."

[truailligh]

Shirley has far too many choices here and everyone had best damn believe that she has spent the better part of the day getting ready so far because she is a vain, vain creature and it's a party. A proper party unlike some of the things people try to pass off as parties that are just unsophisticated, mostly uncivilised things she wants absolutely nothing to do with. But this is different and it's Bowen so she puts on an extra bit of effort.

And because it's just rude to show up empty-handed, she has three giftbags with her; one is clearly holding a good bottle of champagne from the backroom of the pub, the other is a blue bag with Bowne's name on the tag and the last one is for Asha. Hopefully the gifts will be enjoyed (if not, she's just going to blame Bowen for being a boy and therefore being utterly useless.)

[sideromelane]

Bowen is there to greet her. His smile is a little lazy at one end, he's anxious about something, although good luck getting him to spit it out. He's still trying to preform his duties as pseudo-host, irregardless.

"Hey, Shirley." He eyes her and her bags critically. "You just want me to make an ass of myself again, don't you."

[truailligh]

Bowen she is hurt by that wild accusation - just look at the sincerity present when she presses one hand to her chest, eyes going wide and looking very blue indeed. She holds it for less than thirty seconds though before she's smirking and holding the bags out to Bowen - after all he's the birthday boy here even if the announcement he made was all about Asha.

"Oh Bowen, you know me far too well," she replies finally, laughing as she does so. "At least you're among friends, the one place you can make an arse of things without it being too mortifying."

[sideromelane]

He snorts. What a ham you are, Miss Shirley. But, hey, he's kind of a drama queen himself, who is he to talk. He accepts the gifts that are offered to, contemplates for a second about seriously opening that bottle to try and stop being so antsy and morbid about everything. Maybe he would if he had his wingman around, but she's gone and he should probably get over it.

"No, that's okay, I'm pretty sure Asha's friends think I'm a dick, I don't need to enforce that too much beyond the natural course of things."