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Who: EVERYONE
When: Monday, February 22nd
Where: Castle Ford, Lake Luzerne, NY
What: Cinna throws a birthday party for Bernadine and Abby. CHAOS ENSUES.
Rating: Let's just say probably NSFW
Cinna tried hard to keep secrets, she really did. But somehow, through someone, her super secret surprise birthday party for Abernathy had become known, and people from all corners were asking questions about it-- when was it, where was it, what should they bring, if they could bring a friend... before she knew it, word of a giant bender she was organizing over holiday had gotten out, and everyone in the school seemed to think they were invited. She was pretty sure some of them didn't even realize this was specifically for Abby's birthday.
She gave up on her awesome idea of a small, cozy bash and informed her best friend (actually Bernadine, as she had still not figured this out) with a rather sheepish face that she was maybe possibly accidentally hosting a giant party... at Abby's house. On her birthday. And that everyone was coming. Everyone.
Somehow, Bernadine convinced Abernathy that this wouldn't be such a disaster. They could get Bill out of the house with a quick call to Aunt Veruca and some convoluted excuse get him down to NOLA for the week. Mardi Gras not withstanding, Bill trusted his grown kids with their house. Big mistake.
Abby sat her sister down before Cinna arrived to hash out last minute plans. "So here's the thing. I can't be me at this fucking party." She groaned again as if to say how did I let you talk me into this again? "If Stas is coming... He's coming?"
Bernadine nodded. He'd texted her earlier that he wouldn't miss it for the world and damn her if her stomach didn't tumble just a bit. She wished, for a moment, that he wasn't being so sweet and wonderful and that faking dating him wasn't the most fun and interesting thing she'd done since changing places with her sister.
"I can't be dating him. And he's already in on the know. So he's just going to have to continue pretending and I'll do my best to be quiet and weird."
"Thanks," Bernadine replied ruefully, but she softened considerably at the smirk on Abby's face.
Neither of them could quite grasp how much they'd each changed in the few months since their ruse began. Abby finished tidying up their room and making space for anyone who might want to crash at Castle Ford. Bernadine hid anything that might be breakable and made sure to idiot proof their house.
Timmy lounged in his pajama bottoms, enjoying his sisters being so productive. "You know we're having people over," Abby pointed out.
Tim shrugged, because he'd put pants on so long as Adelaide was coming. Otherwise he was going to hole up in his room with some serious headphones and wait until the pot got passed around to come out.
As usual, Cinna was the first to arrive. Newly licensed to Apparate, she showed up on the doorstep with an armful of giant bags full of snacks and drinks and thrust it all upon the person to open the door-- she didn't stop long enough to see who it was before vanishing again, and reappearing moments later with ANOTHER armful of supplies. She felt slightly bad about accidentally volunteering Abby's family's home as a party venue, so she was going to make up for it by ensuring that aside from the location, nothing else would have to be provided.
"Ohmygod you guys, I think I left my house with more lemonade than this. Do you think there's like, lemonade floating about in nothingness right now just waiting to bean someone in the head on their way to work? Fuck, can I get in trouble for that?" She started ripping open bags in a mild panic. All the food was there, but she was definitely short some of the drinks. She turned to Bernadine. "Maybe I left it at my house?" Then she turned to Abernathy, and looked between the twins. "Man," she said with a foolish little grin. "You guys. If it weren't for your awful shirts Abby, I don't think I could tell you apart!"
She shook her head. "I'm going to just run by my kitchen again-- I'm like a billion percent sure I left stuff behind." She poked at the general array of snacks left on the bench. "I totally brought Cheez-its to keep Braden happy and out of the way, and I definitely had pink vodka too. I am such a ditz!" She checked over everything again, and disapparated with a little noise of disgust, muttering about how she was certain she'd picked everything up and this is why she should have just organized the party at her place so that everything was already there and she couldn't possibly forget it in her mad panic to get there early.
Shortly after Cinna left the second time, Shy arrived having driven from Burnham City all by himself, with not a crash or a speeding ticket to show for it. This was most definitely being pointed out to Abernathy with smugface intact. That is, after she explained to him again what it was that was happening with this party. She sounded a little stressed when she mentioned it the first time; something about her 'completely insane best friend' who was under the impression that she was her sister and that her sister was her... He couldn't quite make sense of it, even thinking about it the entire drive up.
Abernathy turned to Bernadine as soon as Cinna quite literally popped out. "We have to change. Right now."
Bernadine laughed, glad that Cinna had mistaken them for each other and then even more amused because she was wearing a skirt, which meant that Abernathy would be wearing her clothes for the rest of the night.
"It'll never work," Timmy called from the living room couch as the girls ran into their room to switch clothing.
"It really only needs to work on Cinna," Bernadine called back. That and Addy and Stas and Timmy had to keep up their part of the bargain. Oh god, and so did Abby's boyfriend. Bernadine made one last suggestion; Abby needed to spell her hair to grow out some and make the streak of violent purple disappear. Luckily Cinna had been too distracted to notice that they were wearing the same haircut and the only difference was the color of Abby's signature streak.
"It'll be fine," Abby reassured her, grabbing her wand and performing the proposed tweaks. She slipped out to the living room in time to see Shylock opening the door. She rushed up to him and tossed her arms around him happily, not even thinking how weird it might be to hug her when she looked like Bernadine.
He was taken aback at first, before realizing that it was in fact Abernathy jumping on him at that point. She'd changed her hair in the few days since he'd last seen her and... "Are you wearing a skirt?" He squeezed her waist tightly and pulled her close, bending down to press a very appreciative kiss to her lips. "I like."
Cinna showed up again, this time with the missing bag of drinks. She almost ran into the back of Shy barging through the door, squealing loudly when she saw who she thought to be Bernadine kissing the stranger. "Bernadiiiiine! You have a boyfriend!"
Abby feigned a blush, a very good blush and leaned sweetly into Shylock's embrace. "I do," she replied in that tone of voice Bernadine liked to use when she was pretending not to be so terribly aware of the situation.
Shy side-eyed her a bit, trying not to be too obvious about it. It finally dawned on him that this was what Abby was freaking out over on the phone-- she had to pretend to be Bernadine for this thing, which meant he had to pretend she was Bernadine too. That was slightly awkward. He released his hold on her so that she wasn't pulled so tightly up against him, and smiled awkwardly. "You must be Cinna."
"I am!" Cinna responded happily. "And you are... apart from taking this heavy-ass bag off me?" She gave him a cheeky grin and shoved the bag of drinks at him.
"Shy," he managed, before having to completely let go of Abby to take the bag before it crashed to the floor and spilled everywhere.
"Thank yoooou! So like, me and Abby can probably introduce you guys to everyone but c'mon, you're totally just going to sit on the couch and make out all night aren't you?" She teased. "You won't even know the rest of us are here! Abby? ABBY? When is your boyfriend getting here?" She barrelled on past them towards the kitchen again.
Abby grinned at Shylock as soon as Cinna was gone and properly distracted. "You're doing great," she assured him and snuck in a particularly lascivious kiss.
Bernadine on the other hand was fighting the furious blush that was trying to sneak onto her cheeks. "Not here yet," she replied, half calling out and half speaking quieter as Cinna approached her. "You know Timmy," she said, gesturing to her layabout brother who was thoroughly enjoying his visit home. His campus had been closed for the day and he could drive up early in the morning to make his classes tomorrow. There was no way he was missing the hilarity of Abby pretending to be Bernadine who was pretending to be Abby.
"Course she knows me," he said, getting up and hugging Cinna. Though, admittedly, most of the times Cinna had been over he'd been tromping around in the woods behind their house and shooting things. He couldn't say that they'd ever spent a good deal of quality time together.
"Everyone knows me," Cinna said with a grin, hugging him back and not letting go. "I'm just amazing! And okay, I guess you are too," she teased. "I've got Bernadiney's boyfriend bringing in the drinks! I did leave them behind! I was so freaking out about not forgetting shit that THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED." She bounced up and down, laughing. "Go put some pants on, Timmy. Everyone will be here soon!"
As if on cue, Adelaide apparated onto the front lawn. She didn't know for certain what time everyone else was getting there, but she had told Bernadine she would try and show up early in case B needed her to distract Cinna if things started getting a bit difficult. She could ask the loudmouth for... hair advice or something. She was very wary of such a scheme-- obviously Bernadine could pull off being brash, abrasive Abernathy, but she didn't know as much that Abernathy could be Bernadine, even for short periods of time.
She pushed on through the front door, battling down a smirk as she saw Abernathy wearing one of Bernadine's skirts. "You actually look nice," she said, trying not to laugh.
Abby frowned at Addy. Their tenuous peace could break over the course of the night. "Thank you," she replied with so much forced sweetness that she almost gagged on it. At the very least, her sister wasn't quite as sweet as this anymore. She leaned her head on Shylock's arm and leaned casually against the wall. "You're looking lovely as ever."
Bernadine tried not to listen in on this exchange. Forcing it a little hard, Abby. "Hey, Cin, what do you say we get this fucking party started early!" Drinking, that was always a good distraction.
In the meantime, Timmy bolted to his room at the sound of Adelaide's voice to put on a pair of decent jeans and maybe try and arrange his man-beard into a more pleasing shape.
"Not into drinking, Timmy?" Cinna yelled after him as he ditched her to run into his room. Then she laughed and high-fived 'Abernathy'. "Yeah, let's get this show on the road! Also, maybe hide some food under the sink or something just in case Braden shows up early. Gotta make sure there's snackies for all!"
Adelaide froze in the hallway at the sound of Cinna talking about Tim. She didn't think he'd be here, though it was vacation and she probably should have expected he would be. This could get awkward. She didn't know for certain if Luka was going to show (after all, it was supposed to be a party for Abernathy) and not having mentioned either boy to the other... she winced to herself. Maybe it would be fine? Maybe Luka wouldn't come, and maybe she and Tim wouldn't get too silly drunk, and maybe Carly wouldn't start up a hundred billion rumours just to be a bitch... oh god, she was fucked.
Cinna poked her head out of the kitchen to beam down the hallway at Shy and 'Bernadine'. "Do you guys want shots?"
"Oh..." Shy looked a little puzzled, and smiled down at Abby. "I dunno. Do you drink, Bernadine?" This was potentially a very entertaining level of weird.
"Not often," Abernathy replied.
"But it's our birthday!" Bernadine goaded gleefully. How many times had Abernathy done this to her? This was possibly the best/worst idea they'd ever had and she was going to milk every minute of it.
A knock sounded at the door and Bernadine rushed off, leaving Abernathy to wrestle her way out of shots with Cinna. She opened the door to find Anastas with a nicely wrapped gift in his hand. He was wearing one of his smoking jackets, but this one was less ostentatious than the red velvet. She stepped out quickly and closed the door behind her. She wanted to kiss him on the cheek, but that seemed off so she settled instead for a pleasant hug. "So, Abby's pretending to me and I'm pretending to be her. Please don't stab her in the face while she's being me."
"Will she promise to do the same?" he asked lightly and eased into the hug far more than he thought was polite. He pulled away gently. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
Bernadine laughed. Abernathy hadn't so much promised that she wouldn't kill Stas, but she'd try her best. Then she touched his arm. It was a strange thing, but she could feel past that little brush of her fingers over the fabric of his jacket and find the tail end of a vision regarding the evening. What she saw wasn't pretty, but it also wasn't outright discovery. Their secret would be safe, even if they all returned after break still hungover and not talking to any of their friends. She smiled at the very end of the vision and blinked up at Stas. "It'll be fine," she promised. She ushered him inside and before she moved to join the others taped a sign to the door that said "Come on in."
Over the next twenty minutes or so, students and friends began arriving from all over, Apparating from their homes or Portkeying in groups to get to the isolated little house hosting the biggest event since New Years. Most read the sign on the door and barged their way through.
Some, like Riley, stood outside and smoked despite the cold, simply because no fucking sign was going to tell him what to do. Until he was unable to feel his feet, at any rate-- but then he would come on in because he wanted to, not because some fascist handwritten sign suggested it.
Braden didn't even notice the sign. He went in and made a beeline for the kitchen, simply because that's where the food was bound to be. He pushed past a group of people chatting animatedly by the kitchen door and ducked Cinna's instruction that he should maybe socialize some before hoarding the food, setting up camp by the counter with the fritos.
Cinna just rolled her eyes, mouthed 'what a fucking snackass' at 'Abby', and took a bag full of shot glasses and tucked a bottle of booze under each arm. She wiggled through the growing crowd to start loading bottles onto a table in the living room, and poured a line of shots once she had done to hand out to everyone in reach. "To the birthday girls!"
Luka arrived without a present for the birthday girls, because he was really only here for Addy anyway. It took him some time wading through the bodies to find her and loop his arm over her shoulder. Her eye looked quite a bit better, at the very least he could stop feeling guilty about that one.
When: Monday, February 22nd
Where: Castle Ford, Lake Luzerne, NY
What: Cinna throws a birthday party for Bernadine and Abby. CHAOS ENSUES.
Rating: Let's just say probably NSFW
Cinna tried hard to keep secrets, she really did. But somehow, through someone, her super secret surprise birthday party for Abernathy had become known, and people from all corners were asking questions about it-- when was it, where was it, what should they bring, if they could bring a friend... before she knew it, word of a giant bender she was organizing over holiday had gotten out, and everyone in the school seemed to think they were invited. She was pretty sure some of them didn't even realize this was specifically for Abby's birthday.
She gave up on her awesome idea of a small, cozy bash and informed her best friend (actually Bernadine, as she had still not figured this out) with a rather sheepish face that she was maybe possibly accidentally hosting a giant party... at Abby's house. On her birthday. And that everyone was coming. Everyone.
Somehow, Bernadine convinced Abernathy that this wouldn't be such a disaster. They could get Bill out of the house with a quick call to Aunt Veruca and some convoluted excuse get him down to NOLA for the week. Mardi Gras not withstanding, Bill trusted his grown kids with their house. Big mistake.
Abby sat her sister down before Cinna arrived to hash out last minute plans. "So here's the thing. I can't be me at this fucking party." She groaned again as if to say how did I let you talk me into this again? "If Stas is coming... He's coming?"
Bernadine nodded. He'd texted her earlier that he wouldn't miss it for the world and damn her if her stomach didn't tumble just a bit. She wished, for a moment, that he wasn't being so sweet and wonderful and that faking dating him wasn't the most fun and interesting thing she'd done since changing places with her sister.
"I can't be dating him. And he's already in on the know. So he's just going to have to continue pretending and I'll do my best to be quiet and weird."
"Thanks," Bernadine replied ruefully, but she softened considerably at the smirk on Abby's face.
Neither of them could quite grasp how much they'd each changed in the few months since their ruse began. Abby finished tidying up their room and making space for anyone who might want to crash at Castle Ford. Bernadine hid anything that might be breakable and made sure to idiot proof their house.
Timmy lounged in his pajama bottoms, enjoying his sisters being so productive. "You know we're having people over," Abby pointed out.
Tim shrugged, because he'd put pants on so long as Adelaide was coming. Otherwise he was going to hole up in his room with some serious headphones and wait until the pot got passed around to come out.
As usual, Cinna was the first to arrive. Newly licensed to Apparate, she showed up on the doorstep with an armful of giant bags full of snacks and drinks and thrust it all upon the person to open the door-- she didn't stop long enough to see who it was before vanishing again, and reappearing moments later with ANOTHER armful of supplies. She felt slightly bad about accidentally volunteering Abby's family's home as a party venue, so she was going to make up for it by ensuring that aside from the location, nothing else would have to be provided.
"Ohmygod you guys, I think I left my house with more lemonade than this. Do you think there's like, lemonade floating about in nothingness right now just waiting to bean someone in the head on their way to work? Fuck, can I get in trouble for that?" She started ripping open bags in a mild panic. All the food was there, but she was definitely short some of the drinks. She turned to Bernadine. "Maybe I left it at my house?" Then she turned to Abernathy, and looked between the twins. "Man," she said with a foolish little grin. "You guys. If it weren't for your awful shirts Abby, I don't think I could tell you apart!"
She shook her head. "I'm going to just run by my kitchen again-- I'm like a billion percent sure I left stuff behind." She poked at the general array of snacks left on the bench. "I totally brought Cheez-its to keep Braden happy and out of the way, and I definitely had pink vodka too. I am such a ditz!" She checked over everything again, and disapparated with a little noise of disgust, muttering about how she was certain she'd picked everything up and this is why she should have just organized the party at her place so that everything was already there and she couldn't possibly forget it in her mad panic to get there early.
Shortly after Cinna left the second time, Shy arrived having driven from Burnham City all by himself, with not a crash or a speeding ticket to show for it. This was most definitely being pointed out to Abernathy with smugface intact. That is, after she explained to him again what it was that was happening with this party. She sounded a little stressed when she mentioned it the first time; something about her 'completely insane best friend' who was under the impression that she was her sister and that her sister was her... He couldn't quite make sense of it, even thinking about it the entire drive up.
Abernathy turned to Bernadine as soon as Cinna quite literally popped out. "We have to change. Right now."
Bernadine laughed, glad that Cinna had mistaken them for each other and then even more amused because she was wearing a skirt, which meant that Abernathy would be wearing her clothes for the rest of the night.
"It'll never work," Timmy called from the living room couch as the girls ran into their room to switch clothing.
"It really only needs to work on Cinna," Bernadine called back. That and Addy and Stas and Timmy had to keep up their part of the bargain. Oh god, and so did Abby's boyfriend. Bernadine made one last suggestion; Abby needed to spell her hair to grow out some and make the streak of violent purple disappear. Luckily Cinna had been too distracted to notice that they were wearing the same haircut and the only difference was the color of Abby's signature streak.
"It'll be fine," Abby reassured her, grabbing her wand and performing the proposed tweaks. She slipped out to the living room in time to see Shylock opening the door. She rushed up to him and tossed her arms around him happily, not even thinking how weird it might be to hug her when she looked like Bernadine.
He was taken aback at first, before realizing that it was in fact Abernathy jumping on him at that point. She'd changed her hair in the few days since he'd last seen her and... "Are you wearing a skirt?" He squeezed her waist tightly and pulled her close, bending down to press a very appreciative kiss to her lips. "I like."
Cinna showed up again, this time with the missing bag of drinks. She almost ran into the back of Shy barging through the door, squealing loudly when she saw who she thought to be Bernadine kissing the stranger. "Bernadiiiiine! You have a boyfriend!"
Abby feigned a blush, a very good blush and leaned sweetly into Shylock's embrace. "I do," she replied in that tone of voice Bernadine liked to use when she was pretending not to be so terribly aware of the situation.
Shy side-eyed her a bit, trying not to be too obvious about it. It finally dawned on him that this was what Abby was freaking out over on the phone-- she had to pretend to be Bernadine for this thing, which meant he had to pretend she was Bernadine too. That was slightly awkward. He released his hold on her so that she wasn't pulled so tightly up against him, and smiled awkwardly. "You must be Cinna."
"I am!" Cinna responded happily. "And you are... apart from taking this heavy-ass bag off me?" She gave him a cheeky grin and shoved the bag of drinks at him.
"Shy," he managed, before having to completely let go of Abby to take the bag before it crashed to the floor and spilled everywhere.
"Thank yoooou! So like, me and Abby can probably introduce you guys to everyone but c'mon, you're totally just going to sit on the couch and make out all night aren't you?" She teased. "You won't even know the rest of us are here! Abby? ABBY? When is your boyfriend getting here?" She barrelled on past them towards the kitchen again.
Abby grinned at Shylock as soon as Cinna was gone and properly distracted. "You're doing great," she assured him and snuck in a particularly lascivious kiss.
Bernadine on the other hand was fighting the furious blush that was trying to sneak onto her cheeks. "Not here yet," she replied, half calling out and half speaking quieter as Cinna approached her. "You know Timmy," she said, gesturing to her layabout brother who was thoroughly enjoying his visit home. His campus had been closed for the day and he could drive up early in the morning to make his classes tomorrow. There was no way he was missing the hilarity of Abby pretending to be Bernadine who was pretending to be Abby.
"Course she knows me," he said, getting up and hugging Cinna. Though, admittedly, most of the times Cinna had been over he'd been tromping around in the woods behind their house and shooting things. He couldn't say that they'd ever spent a good deal of quality time together.
"Everyone knows me," Cinna said with a grin, hugging him back and not letting go. "I'm just amazing! And okay, I guess you are too," she teased. "I've got Bernadiney's boyfriend bringing in the drinks! I did leave them behind! I was so freaking out about not forgetting shit that THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED." She bounced up and down, laughing. "Go put some pants on, Timmy. Everyone will be here soon!"
As if on cue, Adelaide apparated onto the front lawn. She didn't know for certain what time everyone else was getting there, but she had told Bernadine she would try and show up early in case B needed her to distract Cinna if things started getting a bit difficult. She could ask the loudmouth for... hair advice or something. She was very wary of such a scheme-- obviously Bernadine could pull off being brash, abrasive Abernathy, but she didn't know as much that Abernathy could be Bernadine, even for short periods of time.
She pushed on through the front door, battling down a smirk as she saw Abernathy wearing one of Bernadine's skirts. "You actually look nice," she said, trying not to laugh.
Abby frowned at Addy. Their tenuous peace could break over the course of the night. "Thank you," she replied with so much forced sweetness that she almost gagged on it. At the very least, her sister wasn't quite as sweet as this anymore. She leaned her head on Shylock's arm and leaned casually against the wall. "You're looking lovely as ever."
Bernadine tried not to listen in on this exchange. Forcing it a little hard, Abby. "Hey, Cin, what do you say we get this fucking party started early!" Drinking, that was always a good distraction.
In the meantime, Timmy bolted to his room at the sound of Adelaide's voice to put on a pair of decent jeans and maybe try and arrange his man-beard into a more pleasing shape.
"Not into drinking, Timmy?" Cinna yelled after him as he ditched her to run into his room. Then she laughed and high-fived 'Abernathy'. "Yeah, let's get this show on the road! Also, maybe hide some food under the sink or something just in case Braden shows up early. Gotta make sure there's snackies for all!"
Adelaide froze in the hallway at the sound of Cinna talking about Tim. She didn't think he'd be here, though it was vacation and she probably should have expected he would be. This could get awkward. She didn't know for certain if Luka was going to show (after all, it was supposed to be a party for Abernathy) and not having mentioned either boy to the other... she winced to herself. Maybe it would be fine? Maybe Luka wouldn't come, and maybe she and Tim wouldn't get too silly drunk, and maybe Carly wouldn't start up a hundred billion rumours just to be a bitch... oh god, she was fucked.
Cinna poked her head out of the kitchen to beam down the hallway at Shy and 'Bernadine'. "Do you guys want shots?"
"Oh..." Shy looked a little puzzled, and smiled down at Abby. "I dunno. Do you drink, Bernadine?" This was potentially a very entertaining level of weird.
"Not often," Abernathy replied.
"But it's our birthday!" Bernadine goaded gleefully. How many times had Abernathy done this to her? This was possibly the best/worst idea they'd ever had and she was going to milk every minute of it.
A knock sounded at the door and Bernadine rushed off, leaving Abernathy to wrestle her way out of shots with Cinna. She opened the door to find Anastas with a nicely wrapped gift in his hand. He was wearing one of his smoking jackets, but this one was less ostentatious than the red velvet. She stepped out quickly and closed the door behind her. She wanted to kiss him on the cheek, but that seemed off so she settled instead for a pleasant hug. "So, Abby's pretending to me and I'm pretending to be her. Please don't stab her in the face while she's being me."
"Will she promise to do the same?" he asked lightly and eased into the hug far more than he thought was polite. He pulled away gently. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
Bernadine laughed. Abernathy hadn't so much promised that she wouldn't kill Stas, but she'd try her best. Then she touched his arm. It was a strange thing, but she could feel past that little brush of her fingers over the fabric of his jacket and find the tail end of a vision regarding the evening. What she saw wasn't pretty, but it also wasn't outright discovery. Their secret would be safe, even if they all returned after break still hungover and not talking to any of their friends. She smiled at the very end of the vision and blinked up at Stas. "It'll be fine," she promised. She ushered him inside and before she moved to join the others taped a sign to the door that said "Come on in."
Over the next twenty minutes or so, students and friends began arriving from all over, Apparating from their homes or Portkeying in groups to get to the isolated little house hosting the biggest event since New Years. Most read the sign on the door and barged their way through.
Some, like Riley, stood outside and smoked despite the cold, simply because no fucking sign was going to tell him what to do. Until he was unable to feel his feet, at any rate-- but then he would come on in because he wanted to, not because some fascist handwritten sign suggested it.
Braden didn't even notice the sign. He went in and made a beeline for the kitchen, simply because that's where the food was bound to be. He pushed past a group of people chatting animatedly by the kitchen door and ducked Cinna's instruction that he should maybe socialize some before hoarding the food, setting up camp by the counter with the fritos.
Cinna just rolled her eyes, mouthed 'what a fucking snackass' at 'Abby', and took a bag full of shot glasses and tucked a bottle of booze under each arm. She wiggled through the growing crowd to start loading bottles onto a table in the living room, and poured a line of shots once she had done to hand out to everyone in reach. "To the birthday girls!"
Luka arrived without a present for the birthday girls, because he was really only here for Addy anyway. It took him some time wading through the bodies to find her and loop his arm over her shoulder. Her eye looked quite a bit better, at the very least he could stop feeling guilty about that one.
"WHAT. YOU DO NOT HAVE A NICKNAME FOR HER." Cinna rounded on Thorn momentarily, kneeing him hard in the stomach whilst biting down on Carly's hand.
Carly screamed and then aimed a punch at Cinna's boob. "He can have as many nicknames for me as he likes," she replied, practically cooing in Thorn's ear. She hadn't heard that silly pet name of his in ages. Now she was trying to position herself in between them, a ridiculously stupid attempt at being a human shield for a boy who had no idea what to do with his hands anymore.
"Slut! Whore! Bitch! Desperate cunt! None of those count!" Cinna yelped at the attack on her boobs and kicked out blindly, clawing with her nails at whatever she found first-- hair, skin, dress. Anything. She stepped back onto Thorn's foot with the heel of her tall shoes and tumbled over to the floor.
"Should we maybe... Should we do something about this?" Veronica asked timidly.
So of course, Abby walked back in on this mess and was tempted to cast a whole series of hexes to get them to stop. Good old Cinna couldn't help throwing down if that monster Carly was involved. And Thorn just couldn't help throwing his hat into the rodeo either. She was just about to let loose an attempt at a wandless spell when she looked over to see Shylock and better judgement began flooding back in. Fuck me.
She walked as close to the edge of it as she could and put on her best crying face. It wasn't a guaranteed Bernadine reaction to this mess, but no one here would know that. Cinna at least would fall for the emotional ploy. "You're ruining my birthday!" she cried and waited, hoping it would work.
Thorn heard Abby's voice, but he didn't recognize the gentle inflection of words. All the same he took a hold of Carly as best he could and pulled her off of Cinna firmly before flipping her around and taking any last hits Cinna wanted to get out to his backside. "Sorry Berny," he said apologetically. He didn't actually know Bernadine and he already had a nickname for her. Always a player, thought Abby, and had to school the amusement off her face.
Cinna kicked out from the floor a few more times, enraged that Thorn saw fit to hold Carly away to safety, but stopped immediately when she saw the look on Abby's face. She was appropriately shamed. "I'm sorry, Bernadine," she said, picking herself up off the floor in complete horror that she'd ruined her birthday. Her. She had ruined it. She felt terrible. "Is Abby okay?"
Cinna shot Carly a death glare, turning it on Thorn moments later, before wiping her nose on the back of her hand and nodding at Abby. "Yes, there's cake in the fridge. Unless Braden found it already."
"Hey!" Braden was offended. He wouldn't attack an innocent birthday cake until at least after the birthday-haver had a piece.
"Girl scout's honor," Veronica pledged. "I've been with him all night. Unless someone else got into it your cake is intact." She didn't understand why that statement might be embarrassing and grinned at Braden as if she had his back.
Carly kept her hands tangled around Thorn's body, even as he tried to squirm away under Cinna's hateful gaze. "Carly, pumpkin, you've got to disengage. People are already talking."
Carly huffed, let him go and headed to the bathroom to straighten herself out.
Riley gave Thorn his best bitchface. "Calling them 'your bitches' isn't going to earn you any points, genius." He patted down his pockets to see if he had anything better than a squished pack of Marlboro Reds. "Gonna need to get Arnaud out here if we want anything decent, 'fraid. Did I miss something good?" He thought he'd heard Cinna screaming, but really, what was so unusual about that?
"Oh Riles, you missed the whole show. Luka got punched around by Abs' brother, Tim. Rumors are flying around that they were sparring over Adelaide." Thorn shook his head and laughed about that one. "Can you imagine Addy Legs wanting anything to do with the Fords? At all. Ever. Then you know. My ladies got into it. Can never tell with Carls and Cin. They'll fight over everything."
He laughed again, but the aches and bruises were starting to set in. He had some impressive scratches running down his body and was pretty sure one of his bitches drew blood. Thankfully, oh so thankfully, Arnaud was heading out into the backyard.
"You sure do know how to stick your oar in," he said to Thorn while pulling out his magic pipe and delightful herbs.
"He's still doin' it, too," Riley said, digging his lighter out of his pocket to hand it over. "'My bitches', 'my ladies', like, do you really not see how your expressing posession is just digging you in deeper?" He wasn't going to try and get into feminist theory with Hawthorne fucking Nikitin, but it didn't take a genius to know that none of 'Thorn's ladies' were going to like not being his only lady.
Thorn lit up, shrugged. "I'm starting to think, man. Fuck 'em all."
Riley shrugged, obvious smirk blooming. "Fucking 'em all is what's got you here, dude. And then fucking 'em over. You got your hands full with drama." He took a hit and passed the pipe back to Arnaud. "'s it worth it?"
"No. You don't even know," Thorn began, rushing in. "When you can get two of them into your bed at the same time, all the drama llama duck bullshit is totally fucking worth it. They can quack all they fucking want, but jesus christ, it's too good having two at once."
Arnaud made a noise that fell somewhere between disapproval and jealousy. He hoped it sounded more like disgust. "I'm a one man man, myself. If I could ever get one for myself."
Thorn shrugged cheerfully, though he looked offended when the pipe passed to Riley instead of him. "You say that like it's a bad thing." Though he did rub his bruised ribs a bit. Pancaked in between two girls who were doing everything in their power to destroy one another had that effect.
"Social infidelity leads to social disease, like herpes. Or parenthood." Riley wasn't one hundred percent he believed in monogamy (and it wasn't as though it was something he ever really found himself needing to express a position on) but as usual he was feeling like devil's advocate, though his inclination to argue disappeared the more high he got.
"You must have it bad for that theatre chick man. Contemplating having her babies already."
Arnaud coughed into his hand, struggling with the laugh that was working it's way out of his lungs. He took the pipe from Riley before he could throw it at Hawthorne.
Weapon removed, he thumped Thorn over the back of his head with his open hand instead. "I am not having Maddy's babies. And my hanging out with one girl is a lot different to your open-zipper policy." He nodded to Arnaud as if to say 'tell him, bro'.
"Hey. Ow!" Then he laughed. "Cinna hits harder than you." But he was backing away just the same, probably the smartest move he'd made all night. "You're in lurve with her. You want to marry her and do socially acceptable things with her. Your babies are going to be so fucked up though man."
Arnaud might have swatted at Thorn, but Riley had it covered. "Jesus Thorn, you're an idiot." He was laughing though, the idea of Maddy carrying a bunch of little babies with Riley's face and terrible attitude.
"Nope nope nope." Riley shook his head very fervently, becoming a little dizzy with the combination of the movement and the weed. "I have turned down every one of her advances for a raincheck for times when they are socially unacceptable. Specifically to be socially unacceptable." Whoops. That was probably not supposed to be shared.
"No worse than you've done," Arnaud pointed out and blew his spare smoke in Thorn's general direction.
"You are so not the one to talk about making girls cry." Hawthorne Nikitin was probably the cause of more broken hearts than anything else that Dresden Academy had ever seen. "I'm just being a pain in her ass, and she knows it. She loves it."
"Glutton, that one," Arnaud commented idly. "Speaking of which," he segued as Maddy picked across the lawn.
She stepped up to the boys, rubbing her arms from the cold. "How shit show is this gathering, because I think I'm traumatized enough for one night."
"You'd be hearing the tortured screams of the masses and then Cinna would just kick everyone out of the party if that were the case." No, she'd been avoiding the Cinnamyn/Carly fight and ended up running into Sandra making out rather sloppily with Aaron. So much for that good girl image. Then she saw Shell eating a piece of birthday cake and the way she was licking that spoon was just nightmare fuel. Then that insufferable twat Andre Martin (thank god he missed the Addy/Timmy Ford/Luka Nikitin debacle) showed up with AJ, showing off matching promise rings and she just wanted to wash her brain with bleach. "Just... I'll get you back later. Can I have a hit?"
Arnaud handed the pipe over with no qualms. "Hit away," he said agreeably.
"We were just telling Hawthorne that he's a giant slut. Care to partake?" No need to inform her that she had been the more recent topic of conversation, right?
Braden joined them then, sporting a very horrified look. "I am never eating cake again," he announced.
"Disgusting, right?" Maddy said, before taking a very impressive hit. She'd been told once that she was a natural pot smoker; it seemed to come effortlessly. She sucked a bit of air in after and held onto her breath a moment longer. "Oh seriously. Thorndog," she said, giggling at the nickname she'd heard tossed around. "You're a tremendous slut. You deserve an award for sluttiest slut at the slut-off."
Thorn seemed to take that as a compliment and preened as such.
Braden was puzzled. He wasn't entirely sure being a slut was a good thing, and being called one definitely wasn't. He'd never been called one to get offended by it, but he didn't think he'd be taking it as a compliment at all. Then again, he really didn't understand a lot of the people he went to school with. Perhaps it was something to be proud of, by the way Thorn was acting. He shook his head and put his hands up in a 'no thank you' gesture as Maddy offered him the pipe.
"See," Riley turned to Thorn. "Everyone thinks you're a slut."
Arnaud clicked his tongue. "That boy will never learn."
"I hope he doesn't call them bitches to their faces," Braden thought aloud. That was just disrespectful.
Riley agreed, but didn't say so. "No smoke? You straight-edge all of a sudden?"
Braden shrugged. "No. Just makes me hungry."
"Everything makes you hungry, fat ass."
"Exactly! Imagine me hungry and high." Braden almost pouted, but decided that would look entirely silly on him and just shrugged.
Maddy poked at Braden's side and giggled, the weed already going to her still fuzzy with drink head. "More cushion for the pushin'," and then she was dying of laughter because that was just vulgar.
"I could girl pile with you right now," she said giddily and rubbed her face up his arm like a kitten ready to purr. "SNUGGLE BUDDIES! Right now. All of you." She pulled at Arnaud and Braden, dragging them to the picnic table because there was no way Riley was coming to them. "I'm freezing my tits off. I need body warmth."
Riley pulled the slightest annoyed face at her going for Braden first, but pulled her in between his knees and draped his arms around her neck and shoulders as disinterestedly as he could manage, resting his chin on the top of her head. "I like your tits on you, so I guess I better keep you warm."
She squished herself tightly against Riley, even though he was being somewhat casual about it. She still had no idea if he was going to cash in her little offer from earlier, or if he was just politely turning down her unexpected, perhaps unwanted advances.
Arnaud leaned over one of his knees and managed to squeeze an arm between Riley's stomach and Maddy's back. "You theatre girls know how to wrap yourself in a man fur."
"It's just a regular little orgy out here on the picnic table. Gonna join in, Braden?" Riley teased squeezing Maddy a little closer and crushing Arnaud's arm between them.
"Uhh... maybe I should go back inside and check on Veronica." He backed away a bit awkwardly and headed for the house.
Riley watched him go with mild interest. "Think fat fuck is into miss priss?"
Maddy didn't care, she was squished in between Riley's legs and he was cozy and warm. Her head was pleasantly floating along and she felt like the whole evening was full of possibilities. "You have matchmaking magic," she giggled.
"Is that like playing Barbies with voodoo dolls?" Riley laughed. "Smack their little plastic bodies together and before you know it, real life fucking. Magic. Can we blame you for that little spectacle earlier?"
Arnaud lifted his arms from Riley's leg and raised them above his head, palms out. It was a gesture of surrender. "Promise, it wasn't me. Wait... Which spectacle?""
"Oh god, either of them? Both of them? Are you confessing?" Riley grinned wickedly. "The spectacle we haven't created yet?"
"And what spectacle would that be?" Maddy asked, tilting her head back so that she can better see his face, though she only gets a view of the underside of his chin and up his nose, so she's set to giggling again at her weird perspective.
Maddy giggled because he was speaking in innuendo again, but this time he didn't realize it. "We haven't done it yet." My oh my she was cracking herself up. "Oh no, you can't catfight over me. I have too many boobs for Arnaud."
"And how would you know how many boobs I'm into?" Arnaud asked and lightly slapped the underside of her corset. He sat back in awe. "That thing is solid. I could chip a nail on that."
"A tooth if you're lucky," Maddy teased.
"Or not, depending on how you feel about your teeth," Riley pointed out. "I'd like to undo it with my teeth..." Oh shit, he did say that out loud, didn't he? "You and me could catfight over Arnaud?"
"You and your fascination for my underpinnings," she marveled at him upside down.
Arnaud's face was priceless, twisted up with confusion, delight, horror, and god help him, curiosity. But he could tell when the third wheel was rolling past its welcome. "On that note kids, I'm getting out of the cold and seeing if I can find some poor sap drunk enough to make out with. Enjoy!"
Riley waved him off back to the house. He'd see him again later, no doubt. "Don't sound so surprised," he chided Maddy. "They're a source of intrigue."
"I look forward to that," he smirked. "Want to find a warm place inside? You don't have to use the outside as an excuse to be all over me, you know, I can totally take a little adoration."
She rolled her head to the left and slipped away from him. "Yes please." She offered him her hand, thinking his only reason for taking it might be that she offered and that was so against gender roles. "You sure you want to leave that offer on the table?" Then she laughed, because they were leaving the table behind them.
"You want to do it out here in the freezing ass cold?" He challenged back, daintily slipping his hand into hers and hopping off the table.
"No, not out here," she agreed and eased her way through the backyard to the door. The inside of the house was a different atmosphere entirely. There were couples making out, couples feeling each other up, small knots of people still drinking and laughing, talking loudly. She was grateful for the warmth, but she couldn't see a good spot to stake out to get back to this business of being all over him.
She giggled and started picking a path toward the front hall. If she remembered properly there was a decent sized closet. She only hoped no one else had this genius idea before her. "Come on," she urged, stumbling over bodies strewn around and bumping into Carly who was nursing what looked like a black eye with cold bottle of vodka. "Alcohol abuse!" she bellowed and pushed by until she was standing in front of the closet.
He followed her carefully, making a surprised and amused face at Carly as they passed. "That'll thin your blood and make your eye worse," he hollered at her as Maddy dragged him to the closet in the front hall. It was empty of other people, and he climbed in giggling. "So Narnia is your idea of a good place to hang, nice to know."
"Fuck yes," she said stumbling in behind him and closing the door. It was dark but for the tiny line of light coming from under the door. "I love Narnia. Favorite books when I was a kid." It was perfectly cozy in here, the pile of various coats cushy but for the occasional button that had to be manipulated out of the way. Her body was pressed fairly tight to his and she used this opportunity to settle her arms around him. "It's like a cocoon."
"We'll have to come out of the closet as fabulous butterflies," he said, dissolving into giggles against the top of her head at his oh-so-witty comment. His arms found their way around her in turn. "I feel like a rabbit, all burrowed down in my little hole in the wall."
He snorted dismissively. "Take it off if it's bothering you. It's dark in here, you don't have to look good."
She pinched him rather sharply. "I'd look good anyway," she announced. "Fucking fabulous and completely topless." Oh Jesus. This is going to be one of those parties. She started working on the stays of her corset, the ribbon that bound her into it was stuck. "How are you with knots?" Then she laughed, remembering what he said outside. "Want to try to break me free with your teeth?"
"Ow! Don't think I'm coordinated enough just now," he said, a hint of regret in his voice. "But I'll unknot those fuckers in the dark if you want me to." His hands felt over her back a little sloppily, before finding hers and tangling momentarily as he tried to find the cords in the complete blackness of the closet. The tiny strip of light underneath the door was absolutely useless for such a delicate operation, so he resorted to finding his way around with his fingertips.
"How did you get all these in here in the first place..." He muttered, pulling at knot after knot in the back of her corset until finally he felt the whole thing shift and relax and finally slip away. Holy shit. I have a topless Maddy on me. His hand slipped down her back and moved to the sides to fit around her tiny waist, uncorseted for once. "Holy shit," he repeated, this time aloud.
"Magic," she replied and then felt hideously stupid because she probably could have made quick work of it with her wand. But then he'd have no excuse to rub his hands all over you. She sighed into his hands, her breath hitching when his fingers clasped around her waist. She didn't know what to make of his declarative and felt a sudden rush of shyness in the nearly pitch black closet.
He squeezed her waist slightly. "Where are your organs!" He blurted.
She giggled. "They're in there. Shifted around a bit." She paused. The family doctor was mildly horrified with Maddy's figure and her insistence on wearing corsets all the time. "Does it bother you?" she asked quietly, pressing her bare skin against his shirt as if it could close the distance between her confidence in her shape and her desire to be pleasing to him.
"Fuck no," he said breathlessly, hands ghosting over her skin out from her waist now; down her hips and up over her ribcage, around her back and down her spine, over her shoulders. "It's kind of amazing."
Were he not so intensely buzzed and in such pleasant company, he might have made fun of them for being holed up in a closet like so many clichés. Instead he found himself more concerned with trying to wriggle an arm between the two of them to try and get in a grab at Maddy's chest, naked as it was.
She grinned in the dark, getting felt up by Riley at a party. What is my life? She giggled as his fingers moved to her chest. It was a bit ticklish, still enjoyable. She wanted to kiss him, but she had no idea if that would cross some sort of weird line. As if being topless on top of him and having her hands inside his shirt in a closet hadn't already crossed something.
After a few minutes of awkward groping and half-smothered giggles, he removed his hands from her to clumsily fight his way out of his own shirt and discard it amongst the pile of coats and jackets they had appropriated. His fingers found their way back to Maddy's face, and he stroked her skin carefully, looking for her lips.
Then his fingers were on her face and sliding across her lips. She split them slightly, opened her mouth enough to run her tongue along the side of his finger. Her own hands were roaming giddily along his bare skin, pinching a nipple rather daringly. She moved her legs to straddle him both giving him better access to her chest and giving her a reason to grind down on him lightly.
"Ow!" The pinch didn't hurt as much as surprise him, but the expression of pain was out of his mouth before he could distinguish the two feelings. He pinched her back and was about to ask if she had picked that up from some reenactment research into medieval torture when she was grinding her hips down onto him and he completely lost the ability to make smart assed remarks. He groaned quietly, then leaned forward to kiss where he thought her mouth might be.
She almost apologized, but then squirmed as he pinched her and then made an entirely unidentifiable noise when he groaned. His attempt to kiss her swung a little wide and hit the side of her mouth, but she corrected quickly, matching their lips with urgency.
And there they were, squished up in the bottom of a closet, making out half-naked while the rest of the party continued outside. Some party, Riley thought in mild amazement, hands snaking down into the back of Maddy's jeans.
Arnaud/Steven
He looked around with disdain at the goings-on and had he known what had only recently transpired he would have given them an even worse stinkeye. He stepped over a couple making out on the floor, pulled a face at the drinks table, and turned around to see if Abernathy was about so that he could say his piece and leave. Instead, he crashed into Arnaud Powell.
"Steven?" It was both surprise and delight that colored Arnaud's tone. As prickly as Steven could be, he never failed to provide intelligent conversation. "Didn't mistake you for the party type."
"I'd have been disappointed in you if you had." Steven replied completely seriously. Even if he were the partying type, his draconian parents would never allow him to attend any. Which is why he was here under nefarious pretense. "I see this has devolved right on schedule." He kicked away Sandra's hand, groping all over the place in search of Aaron's crotch, by the looks of things. Her aim was terribly off, much like in her Quodpot games.
"Dare I ask why the visit to the middle of east bumblefuck and venturing far enough into enemy territory that you should have a gun or white flag?"
He shrugged. "Why not. Thought I would wish Abernathy a happy birthday, maybe spend some quality time with my delightful schoolmates..." He raised an eyebrow as Thorn wandered by the drinks table sporting some impressive scratches down his face. "But not too much time."
Steven just rolled his eyes. Of course there had been multiple fights. What a shock. "Well then, she's probably just waiting for the fuss of the last one to die down before starting another." If she didn't show up soon enough, he'd go looking for her. "Have you enjoyed yourself this 'full' evening, Arnaud?"
Arnaud shrugged. He enjoyed parts of it, but constantly ending up as the third wheel was getting old. He wasn't about to insinuate himself in another coupling situation if he could avoid it. "Have a few war stories to tell the grandbabies," he joked.
"No doubt." He eyed the drinks table. "I don't suppose you know where the noncontaminated beverages are?" he tilted his head towards the kitchen, both in question and as an invitation for Arnaud to come with him.
"Oh yeah," Arnaud supplied. There was a whole cabinet full of mixers that hadn't been found yet. It was one of the higher up cabinets and since most everyone was slumping against walls the collection there seemed relatively safe. "Might need to wash your own glass though," he added ruefully.
Arnaud riffled through the cabinet and found a bottle of sprite untouched. Behind it there was some juice, one apple, the other some cranberry combination. "Juice or soda?" he asked, turning from his tipped toes and hanging on to the lip of the cabinet.
"Soda if you please." He was rather particular when it came to the juices he liked. Certain brands had an altogether unpleasant preservative taste to them, and others were just dreadful out of season regardless of the additives. He found a dishcloth that looked relatively untouched by the other partygoers and dried off the glasses, turning to Arnaud and holding them both out.
He poured the sprite into the glasses and took his. He was still pleasantly drunk and high enough that he wasn't going to add more booze to the mix. "To somebody else's ridiculous birthday party!" he cheered.
Steven raised his glass in turn, not able to actually comment on how ridiculous this party actually was. Though, knowing these people... "To ridiculous." He seriously debated cleaning up the kitchen while it was just him and Arnaud there. It was quite the bombsite with no one else in it; he couldn't imagine what the living room would look like after everyone left. After a moment's thought on the matter, he sighed, and got down on his hands and knees to look for a dustpan and broom under the sink.
Arnaud watched Steven with amusement. "What on earth are you doing?"
"This place is a nightmare. There's food everywhere, and Merlin knows what that sticky stuff is." He located a pump bottle of degreaser and set it up on the sink, head still deep in the cupboard underneath. After some more searching, he retreated with the dustpan and broom he'd been looking for in the first place. He didn't want to be in such a mess, but couldn't just leave it the way it was either. "We'll call it my birthday gift to her."
Arnaud couldn't just stand there while Steven cleaned. He rolled his eyes playfully and found a garbage bag to start picking up the flotsam and jetsam that could be thrown out. "Hell of a party," he said again, thinking they were tidying the kitchen in the middle of it.
"I dread the state of the living room in the morning," Steven said deadpan. "And cannot believe people are voluntarily rolling around in it out there." Just disgusting. He scooted around on his hands and knees, sweeping into the corners and bringing all the stubborn crumbs and stray chips out into the pan. "Her parents are going to kill her," he muttered.
Steven shrugged with the dustpan and brush. "Assuming I find someone meeting my exacting standards well enough to marry." Odds are he'd die alone, surrounded by neverending studies. He wasn't convinced that was a terrible way to go. "He or she would have to be something special."
Arnaud wanted to toast to that. He couldn't imagine Steven ever finding someone good enough for his exacting standards. Arnaud wasn't sure he had standards himself. Never really tested the theory. "Good luck with that," he said with a knowing nod.
That earned him an amused snort, and Steven emptied the remains of the party in the dustpan into Arnaud's trashbag. He pointed his wand at the floor. "Scourgify." A wave of fizzing bubbles suddenly appeared over the tiles, leaving a sparkling clean finish in their wake. They moved up the sides of the counter and over the countertops, cleaning away all the sticky, spotty messes before congregating in the sink and vanishing down the drain.
"You know how it is, Arnaud." He said, finally satisfied with the state of the kitchen. "I mean, really. Would you want to cohabitate with any of these people?"
"Luka's not so bad," he said after a bit of thought. He tossed out his bag of garbage and admired the now stunningly clean kitchen. It was probably cleaner now than it was before the party. "Could deal without the frequent drunk visits from Thorn, but then, who couldn't? Not a fan of your roommate?"
"Well, one more year with him, right?" Then Steven would have to decide if he wanted to stay and study at Dresden or go elsewhere. Arnaud hadn't thought about that too much. He didn't know if he could convince his parents to let him stay in the states for extended schooling. They had plans for him, plans that didn't include his educational goals or his life at Dresden. He pushed it all away, too drunk, too easy to get sentimental about all that garbage.
A smirk hitched on Steven's face. "Well, accidents happen." It was a joke. Arnaud would know that. Well, provided his partaking that evening hadn't dulled his wits too much. "I should find our mutual friend and relay my best wishes," he said, glaring at the couple who stumbled through to make out on the counter, but passed on by after seeing Arnaud and Steven and the distinctly unwelcome look they were offered.
Arnaud snorted as the couple left the kitchen. "I don't know if I'd suggest it," he said ruefully. "She's probably making out with that Russian boy toy of hers." Then he shrugged. "You could probably find her sister and wish her a happy birthday. Last saw her somewhere near the garage."
Steven blinked slowly, processing that information. "It's her birthday too? Twins?"
"Yeah," Arnaud replied slowly. It wasn't exactly common knowledge, but it didn't take long for the people at the party to realize that Abby had a twin and that her twin was nothing like her. "Hair's a bit longer. Wavier. No streak of weird color." Because that was something Arnaud always paid attention to; cut and color.
"But otherwise identical." The gears were turning in Steven's head. Conclusions he was jumping to, of course, ones that would need evidentiary backup before he claimed them as fact, but this new information was slotting into places in his mind that begged answers. "What is she like?"
Thorn/Tina/Marina
Tina looked up at the intruder interrupting the lovely deep and meaningful conversation she had been having with Marina. Granted, she had been spending the majority of the conversation staring at her friend's lips and nodding in agreement with what snippets she managed to comprehend, but still. It had been nice.
"Thank you, Hawthorne," she said politely, though (she hoped) not terribly invitingly. "Shouldn't you be putting out fires somewhere else?"
Thorn shrugged uselessly. "Ain't none of 'em want to talk to me." He fought the ridiculously stupid giggle that was threatening to bubble forth. It shouldn't be funny given all the bruises and the scratches that were starting to burn; he hadn't even had anyone look to tending them with some healing charms. Carly might have done it, but she was still fuming and hadn't she given him those nice scratch marks?
Marina grinned at him. "And you wonder why." She'd had a crush on this Nikitin last year, but even she realized what a horribly bad idea that was. He was a party boy, a fun time boy. An unintentional heart-breaker. She turned back to Tina as if this little interruption had never occurred.
Tina grinned back at Marina, glad to see that their conversation wasn't over despite the uninvited addition. "I thought merging the teams was kind of a bad idea," she continued, talking about how the Quodpot changes from before the mid-winter break had changed the set up of the cheerleading teams in turn. "We all work so well in our little units."
"And wouldn't it be nice if Carly stopped lording over us like she was still running the whole show," Marina added, rolling her eyes. She didn't mind Carly so much, but she could be terribly rude to some of the younger girls on the squad. "The quodpot teams aren't terribly happy about it either, but the playing's better than it's ever been."
"Yeah, I thought that too," Thorn said, though he didn't think much of anything at the moment, just that he didn't want to be dismissed and he'd pretend to know what they were going on about if they'd let him stay near.
"Really? You don't think Carly's forcing complex jumps on Brenda and Lyanna?" She turned back to Marina after eyeing off Thorn, who couldn't really be that into cheer besides seeing girls in short skirts dancing for a crowd. "They're clearly not confident enough for it yet; one of them is going to slide a landing and break a leg. Did you see poor Bren shaking on top of the pyramid last week? She's terrified of heights, poor thing."
Thorn/Tina/Marina
"I can totally see that," Thorn said and leaned his arm over her to point at Tina's boobs. "I mean... BrenBren's just got too much ass to be on top. And Ly's not ready for that diving flip jump."
Tina just kind of stared at Thorn. Was he completely drunk, or just a giant ass? She pushed his hand away from it's wavering proximity to her chest. "I think it's dangerous. They need to be confident in their ability to stick the landings before putting them up in the air, and Bren just shouldn't be up there." It wasn't that Tina didn't have faith in Brenda's skills, but she knew that her fear of heights outweighed her ability to keep her head mid-jump.
"I'll say something when we get back from break," Marina promised. She knew Tina wouldn't speak up in the crowd; Marina didn't have any problems being the mouthpiece of all the squad's complaints. Everyone knew she'd speak up if they mentioned an issue to her. She tried to shrug Thorn off, but he was like a squid on her back, all arms and legs pressed up against hers. "Aren't you in enough trouble with the ladies?"
Thorn slumped his head on her shoulder. "Marina. Ina. Mina. My squishy pink haired lady. Come on. Let's you, me and Teens find a spot and make with the love."
Thorn groaned. Why were all the women reacting to him like this lately? Like he was a disease they were likely to catch just from talking to him. "Aw, come on. I was just kidding."
Marina turned to face him for a moment, twisting so that his arms were knocked away from her. "Sure you were. Thing is, Tina and I are having a conversation and it has nothing to do with you and wouldn't interest you in the least. Now run along," she said, a bit more forcefully than was really necessary, but Thorn wouldn't get the point otherwise.
"Oh fine," he said, visibly disappointed. He slumped away to trip over an extended leg and land on one of the quodpot player's laps on the couch. "Fuck, sorry bro."
Marina turned back to Tina with a giggle, not bothering to hide it. "That boy is a walking trainwreck."
Tina smiled, and went back to their conversational position from before they'd been interrupted; slumping down against the wall, body curled towards Marina with her head close. "I kinda want to feel sorry for him, but he just keeps digging himself in deeper."