MHA #6, Thursday Evening - PARTY!

[firstofitskind]

Liam and Verity had decided to celebrate the whole 'officially moving in together' with a housewarming of sorts. Never mind that even before the rest of his stuff had made it over there, Liam had basically been living at the apartment in practice if not in name. Look, they wanted to throw a party, they were throwing a party. 'Housewarming' was just a convenient excuse.

The weapons that usually were strewn about the apartment had all been stashed in the bedroom, and there was a good selection of food and drinks (both alcoholic and non) laid out on the kitchen table. They might be in debt to the various restaurants in Fandom for providing the spread, but no one wanted to nosh on Verity's "leftover Chinese food fajita specials." The mice had even been bribed with a selection of the appetizers to stay away from the table of food. (They had not, however, been expressly forbidden from trying to convince anyone to give them food once it had left the table, so... fair warning.)

Coats go in the spare room and please don't touch the Barbie Dream House. Unless invited to by the mice, of course.

[ooc: up early for SP because things like timezones and work get in the way. open to all friends, neighbours, ex-housemates, coworkers, friends-of-friends, etc. basically, if you're an adult you got an invite.]

Comments

Re: Arrive & Mingle!

[arboreal_priestess]

This was more people Verity had had in her house...well, ever. Even having her whole family here for Parents' Weekend had involved fewer people. She was half-worried that she'd overlooked some of the weapons that were usually stashed around the house - had she gotten the brace of hand axes from under the coffee table or the vial of wood ash out of the medicine cabinet?

Those were not normal people concerns, she knew. But hey. Neither she nor Liam were normal people.

Re: Arrive & Mingle!

[firstofitskind]

"Relax," Liam said, wandering over and pressing a kiss to her cheek. "We got everything." It was going to make navigating their way to the bed tonight interesting, but they'd managed to get it all in there.

Re: Arrive & Mingle!

[arboreal_priestess]

"Okay, but what about the darts dipped in manticore venom?" Verity asked. "Because I'm pretty sure I left them in the flour container on the counter."

Because, yeah, like she had flour. In a real container.

Re: Arrive & Mingle!

[firstofitskind]

“Under the bed, next to the jar of rowan ash,” Liam recited dutifully, because of course he remembered exactly where they’d stashed everything.

Re: Arrive & Mingle!

[arboreal_priestess]

"The first guests started arriving before I finished with the battle-axes," Verity murmured. "So I, uh, shoved them in the closet. The mice's closet."

LOOK SHE HAD PANICKED.

Re: Arrive & Mingle!

[firstofitskind]

"Bet they loved that," Liam said dryly, shaking his head. They'd forgive her eventually, as they always did. Holding a grudge against a Priestess just wasn't done.

But that did help explain why they were so persistent in finding every single little loophole around the 'no mice on the table' rule for the duration of the party.

Re: Arrive & Mingle!

[arboreal_priestess]

IT SO DID.

"I just know the high priest told them to complain about crowding if I ask why they're all out here," Verity grumbled.

Re: Arrive & Mingle!

[firstofitskind]

An evening of passive-aggressive mice was probably better than, like, someone tripping over an axe and having to go to the clinic?

"We'll make sure the axes are the first thing to go back to their regular spot once the party's over," Liam assured her. "By tomorrow I'm sure they'll have moved on." Not forgotten, because 'forget' was a dirty word to the Aeslin, but forgiven.

Re: Arrive & Mingle!

[notallbluemonks]

Beau at least recognized most of the other people here, so she was willing to hazard a guess that this was Verity.

"'sup," she said, wandering over. "So you're the elusive girlfriend I've heard about."

The slightly condescending tone was totally unintentional, but hopefully tempered by her fairly relaxed expression.

Re: Arrive & Mingle!

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity raised an eyebrow at the tone, but her answer was chill as well. "It'll be awkward as hell if there's another one that I don't know about," she said, the corners of her mouth kicking up. "Otherwise, hoping to be less elusive in the future. Hi, I'm Verity." She offered Beau a hand.

Re: Arrive & Mingle!

[notallbluemonks]

"Beauregard," she replied, and after about a half second in which she seemed to be trying to remember what to do here reached out and shook Verity's hand. "Or just Beau, that's fine too."

Less condescension now, but the gruff drawl still didn't sound the most cordial, most likely.

Re: Arrive & Mingle!

[arboreal_priestess]

Pffft. Beau should hear how the Prices answered their phones.

"And I'm good with Verity," she said, since 'Very' was pretty much a friends and family nickname. "So, you're the one who introduced Liam's face to your fist when he was being an idiot."

She looked Beau over and nodded with approval. "Good. He needed someone to jumpstart his brain."

Re: Arrive & Mingle!

[notallbluemonks]

That had Beau shaking her head in bewildered amusement for a few seconds. "Seriously, did he like go around telling everybody about that? That's a little bit awesome, if you know what I mean."

Really, she had to respect anyone who'd go around freely volunteering that a girl had beat him up.

"Hey, if it worked, cool. I didn't really ask questions, but sometimes you just need a good ass-kicking, right?"

She'd love the way the Prices answered their phones, by the way.

Re: Arrive & Mingle!

[arboreal_priestess]

"Well, it was kinda hard not to notice when he came back, hangdog and covered in bruises," Verity said with an amused snort. "And I appreciate the offer. Usually I tend to do my own ass-kicking but..."

It was a bad look when the ass-kickee was a romantic partner, you know?

"On the other hand, now he might believe me when I tell him he drops his guard on a goddamn feint."

FINALLY A CONVERSATION SHE COULD ENJOY.

Re: Arrive & Mingle!

[notallbluemonks]

Beau flung both hands up in a gesture that was both exasperated and relieved.

"Dude. Dude, I know, right? Like, at first I thought it was a lucky hit, and then the third time I was all, 'no, okay, there's definitely a pattern here.'"

Oh look, a conversation about hitting things! The kind where she was least likely to inadvertently insult people!

Re: Arrive & Mingle!

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden smiled when she noticed Verity. "I don't believe we've met," she said, inclining her head slightly. "Seivarden Vendaai. I've met Liam a few times."

Re: Arrive & Mingle!

[arboreal_priestess]

Shit. Verity was pretty sure this was the person that Liam had handwavily said not to mention disliking tea in front of. And...something about hands?

"Verity Price," she said, inclining her head right back. "Thanks for coming even if you don't know either of us that well. I'm trying to be less elusive."

She hadn't thought she was staying long when she'd first arrived, so she hadn't really gone out of her way to make friends. Prices were private and clannish, it was known.

Re: Arrive & Mingle!

[1000yearstoolate]

If she made an effort with that Seivarden might consider her a good friend soon, provided nothing else went wrong.

"Thank you for inviting me, and a pleasure to meet you," she said, using the pleasant politeness someone with her background was actually able to manage if they wanted.

Re: Arrive & Mingle!

[arboreal_priestess]

"I thought this was as good a chance as any to finally meet the neighbors," Verity said, eliding over the part where Liam had mostly been in charge of the guest list. "And an island this small, everyone's a neighbor."

She ran a hand through her hair, then added, "Liam mentioned you really liked tea? Would you like some? He has a private stash in a cupboard, where he keeps the good stuff."

How that meant 'tea' and not 'liquor' was beyond her, but she'd been informed that it was true.

Re: Arrive & Mingle!

[died8yearsago]

Alright. Rosa was already here, might as well get in as many of those work-socialization points as she could in one fell swoop and go at least say hello to her boss's girlfriend who had been her neighbor for a while now but it felt like more of a thing since Kincaid was living there now, too.

Boss upstairs. And at least four people had been in her apartment.

Maybe it was time to relocate.

To one of the maybe five options on the island.

"Verity," she approached with a nod. "How's...the mice?"

She didn't know you well, Verity, but it was hard to forget those mice.

Re: Arrive & Mingle!

[arboreal_priestess]

"Annoyed," Verity said with a small smile. "There's food they can't eat out here and a couple of axes in their closet."

Look, not all their weapons would fit under the bed, okay?

Re: Arrive & Mingle!

[died8yearsago]

See? And that was why you were alright, Verity, and why it was almost a shame you were dating her boss.

"What?" asked Rosa. "Just a couple?"

This was a woman who'd redone the largest closet just for weapons, so, yeah, get over it, mice, jeez.

Re: Arrive & Mingle!

[arboreal_priestess]

"They're used to having the whole thing to themselves," Verity said. "But people were coming and I didn't want anyone tripping over an axe in the hallway or the crossbow under the coffee table or whatever."

Beat.

...Please don't ask her if she'd be more concerned about the weapons or the people, Rosa. Or wait, no, do. You'd understand the answer.

Re: Arrive & Mingle!

[died8yearsago]

Well, obviously, anyone would be more concerned about the weapons than the people; the people should know better to watch their steps.

Even though maybe don't just leave your axes in hallways for people to trip over, too? That just seemed negligent.

"Maybe you should talk to Blackstone," Rosa suggested because I think I'm funny. "She did a good job with my closet; maybe she'd be able to figure something out so there's room for weapons and mice."

Re: Arrive & Mingle!

[arboreal_priestess]

It was fine when they were the only people in the house! They knew where to step!

"The mice's closet is their space, I'm not allowed to intrude," Verity said, thus showing where the real balance of power lay in that relationship. "But maybe some kind of rack I can hang on the wall?"

It would also distract anyone from all the weapons she usually kept hidden around the apartment for 'just in case' measures.

"Talking to Amaya about it is a good idea though. She's the blacksmith, right? Thanks."