(Untitled)

[goingtodorking]

It's a party.

Karen had thought that they'd forgotten, Rollie and Shadow, but they haven't because there's a party in front of the compound, on the play-ground, and there's cake. There's cake and jelly and some game with donkeys. Even ShorHor's got a bow around his neck, and Karen's glad that she wore her favourite fairy costume ad stripey socks

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[playingtheenemy]

Ainsley had obeyed the words of advice that Shadow had to offer and was standing there in a pair of coveralls because if they got damaged, she wouldn't really mind so much. Her gift...well, it wasn't the best in the world, but it was all she could manage on short-notice and the daisy-chain wreath and the bouquet of flowers were sitting to the side for later. As for now, she was just standing amidst the madness and wondering if there was some form of trick to unlocking the deep maternal well inside her. Or if it even existed down there.

[goingtodorking]

Karen wraps her arms around Ainsley's waist without warning and gave her a squeeze, her head resting against her hip.

"It's a party!" she announced, happily. "And the cake's really, really good."

[playingtheenemy]

Ainsley grinned warmly down at Karen because she might not be the best at this, but she could manage -- she knew that much. "Would this be my cake?" she asked, as if somehow stunned that it could be hers that was any decent. "Not some interloper's?"

[goingtodorking]

"There's only one cake," says Karen, solemnly, like this was something to be gotten over. She's accepted the fact that there's only one cake.

"But it's very nice cake!"

[luciusvorenus]

He'd been given a party hat.

Vorenus had yet to put it on, but occasionally he looked down at it. To glower. A third suspicious sweep of the gathering revealed a handful of others with hats, but they looked ridiculous, and Vorenus' frown deepened. Perhaps he'd wait a bit longer before deciding that the requirement of party hat before he was allowed any cake was false.

[goingtodorking]

"You haven't bought your cat."

Karen is standing just behind him and to the side, with ShorHor on her heels. There's cake in her hair and jam on her party dress. She's having a brilliant time at her party.

ShorHor trots over and starts to try and eat the angry man's party hat.

"Have you had some cake?" says Karen.

[luciusvorenus]

Vorenus held the hat carefully out of the odd little horse's reach - if it was his only hope of receiving cake, he did not mean to lose it.

"Not yet," he said, mouth twitching as he noted that she most certainly had. He paused, searching for the exact greeting that'd been given at Coraline's party. "Happy birthday."

[goingtodorking]

ShorHor whinnies. Unlikely as it seems, he sounds disappointed. Karen raises an eyebrow.

"You're supposed to wear it on your head, not hold it," she offers helpfully.

She thinks about it for a moment.

"Thankyou."

[get_her]

Ray didn't exactly have a whole lot of experience in picking out a gift for a six-year-old, and given there wasn't an island Toys "R" Us, his options were pretty limited. He'd managed to finagle two books out of the bookshelf, which he'd wrapped semi-neatly in construction paper, and hoped Karen would like them.

He put his present with the others as he arrived and cheerfully accepted a party hat, which now sat on his head at a jaunty angle. Idly, he wondered when they'd be playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey as he searched for the birthday girl.

[goingtodorking]

"Ray!"

Karen charges over and wraps her arms around his middle, squeezing tightly. She leans back, arms still around him and squints up at him.

"You're really you, right?"

[get_her]

"I'm really me, I promise," Ray said, laughing, as he was pounced on by a very small person. He returned the hug and grinned jovially down at her. "Enjoying your birthday so far, birthday girl?"

[goingtodorking]

"Yes!" says Karen, squeezing Ray extra tight for good measure. "There's cake! And jelly!"

She thinks about it for a moment.

"And salad."

She says it at a whisper, just in case somebody hears and makes her eat some.

[playingsmart]

Sam has never been that guy who was good at this sort of thing. Buying kids gifts, honestly, he'd just run into a store and ask someone what was popular, or he'd buy something he invariably thought was extremely cool. The former were normally greeted well, the latter not so.

He didn't understand that.

After grabbing a book off the shelves about a bill becoming a law (and resisting the urge to scribble corrections in the margins), and a couple others about a girl named Ramona, he headed down to the party.

He wanted to meet Ainsley's almost daughter, and the owner of the horse with shoes.

He wasn't smiling. Much.

[goingtodorking]

Karen bobs past, completely in a world of her own, blond curls bouncing, ShorHor trotting along at her heels. She's singing to herself and dancing a complicated little dance that involves waving her hands in the air over her head and kicking out her feet.

"Yay, it's my birthday," she sings, in a high-pitched little girl's voice. "Oh. My. God. I'm six!"

[playingsmart]

There was only one girl it could be really. She was cute, in a strange horse and too much energy sort of way. She was not the child that Sam ever pictured Ainsley sort-of mothering. "Karen?" He held the books out in front of him, "I'm Sam. A friend of Ainsley's."

[goingtodorking]

"Hello."

Karen studies the books for a moment and then looks up at him, her blond hair hanging in her eyes.

"Are those for me? It's my birthday. I'm six. Ainsley's here. She made cake."

[dumbassbastards]

The sugar, Rollie thinks, will be balanced out by the running herself around in circles all day, so the worst he has to look forward to is probably carrying Karen home at the end of it all. And it's entirely probable he can pass that one off on Shadow.

He'd ask the kid how it feels to be six, but he's having a bit of trouble keeping up with her.

[goingtodorking]

"Rollie!"

Karen hits him hard enough to knock him back a step, wrapping both arms around his waist and squeezing him as hard as she can. She misses her mom and dad a lot, but it's okay when Rollie or Shadow are there. It's better.

"It's a party! I didn't think I was having a party!"

[dumbassbastards]

"Well, of course you're having a party," he says, squatting down when he regains his balance, even though one of his knees complains loudly about it. "You're six today. Are you having a good time?"

[goingtodorking]

Out of habit, Karen reaches up and rubs the top of Rollie's head affectionately.

"You didn't tell me I was having a party."

She kisses him soundly on the tip of his nose.

"Yes!"