Two years in a row now, someone I loved died on my birthday

[controlledvariable]

Who: Steph and friends!
What: A birthday party
Where: A restaurant in... let's go with Howl Barrow? It's not really important.
When: Sukkadi night
Notes: HI. If we haven't pre-discussed this and you're unsure whether your character would be invited, hit me up and I will tell you. On the off-chance your character would like to bring a friend/SO, we can work something out. But yes, come here, tag around and feel free to talk to everyone. Have fun or Steph will make sad faces. P.S. She's wearing this because I wanted an excuse to use it.
Warnings: None for now

Birthdays are weird. They've never been a big deal for Steph. Her parents never cared, she rarely had friends close enough to make a big deal out of it, and she didn't even tell Tim for a long time (she's pretty sure he actually found out by snooping). Last year it was a quiet affair, just dinner with her mom and a few small gifts. Things had been too awkward with Tim to do anything together, and Cass was - busy with something that Steph can't remember now. Baedal makes it even weirder, for starters she'd forgotten it was her birthday for a good two weeks and then she hadn't been sure exactly how to go about recognizing it, considering the fact it wasn't the actual date of her birthday here. On the other hand, she feels like she has more friends here than she has back home, so she takes Angela's suggestion about a party to heart.

After much deliberation, Steph decides to rent out part of a restaurant for her partying needs. Babs had offered her house, but Steph feels like the population of Baedal, her included, has imposed on Babs enough already. So a restaurant it is - one that Angela helped her choose, pay for and organize, which Steph is extremely grateful for. As a result of Angela's help, said restaurant ends up being a little eclectic, hole-in-the-wall place with a restaurant/bar downstairs and the private room upstairs, serving platters of food that Steph isn't entirely sure she recognizes. There's odd pieces of art on the walls, the chairs, small sofas and tables don't actually seem to match each other, but the whole thing seems to fit a general theme and Steph likes it, so that's good enough for her. She'd entrusted music to the venue, not really having the resources at the moment to put music onto one of those fancy crystals; it's been good so far though, a little on the instrumental side, but Steph doesn't mind that. There's a small bar up here, too, with Steph choosing the package that gets them free beer and house wines - if anyone wants anything stronger or fancier than that, it's up to them to pay (Steph isn't made of money, alright).

She's kind of nervous about it, this is the first party she's ever thrown for herself and she just wants everyone to have a nice time. When she'd invited everyone - either by private CiD message or in person - she'd told them that presents weren't necessary, that it was just a small get together to help her celebrate the technical passing of a year. She really just wants everyone to have a good time.

Comments

[controlledvariable]

She is indeed all in one piece, and glad for her heels, because it means she doesn't have to go up on tip toe to hug Jae properly. When she pulls back, she's smiling, "Careful, if you give me a chance I'll try to change your mind about 'that sort of thing'." The sentence gets a little sing-song at the end; Steph is a dork.

She accepts the parcel with only a little bit of a pout, "Thank you, Jae. Is it a new car?" It might be, you never know. Her fingers are carefully picking at the edges of the wrapping, unsure whether she should open it right now. That unsurity gets quickly overwritten by curiosity and she starts peeling off the tape.

[boomvox]

"I'd never hand out birthday presents like that in public." Steph, you creeper. (Not that Jae isn't instigating, but that's besides the point.)

"Yes. You got me." It is not, in fact, a new car, but a large photobook - a 'coffee table book', as they're sometimes stickered in book stores, with oversized full color pages - a collection of modern art, published on Earth, hard cover and in good condition, though obviously secondhand.

[controlledvariable]

"Chicken," is clearly the only appropriate response to that. Steph would toally hand out presents like that in public. (No she wouldn't).

The paper gets folded and tucked under her arm, so she can focus on looking through the book, tracing over the pages. Her face breaks into a wide grin as she looks back up at Jae, "You're going to get me into art if it kills me, aren't you?" But it's clear she loves it, judging by the way she is still flipping through the book. She's also secretly glad it's secondhand, because she knows how expensive books like this can be.

[yeouiju]

Jae, Sunny is not a drinker! Protest at this came in the form of a scrunched up expression before he departed, but now returns with the requested drink for Jae and a white wine for himself after some indecision about the lesser of the two evils (it and beer).

"Did I hear something about kicking people out?" he asks by way of announcement, offering a smile of greeting to Steph.

[boomvox]

"I promise, art won't kill you." It was a lucky find, and though he appreciates it - wholeheartedly - he knew the moment he saw it in Verbatim that it needed to go to Steph. Both for exposure and for laughs. "It might be a little off, since it's hard to tell here, but presumably the stuff in it is exists at home for you, too."

When Sunny rejoins them, Jae grins and takes his drink, a murmured 'thank you' in Korean accompanying his look. "I'm in trouble," he announces - without any hint of shame.

[controlledvariable]

"I'll be able to impress everyone with my knowledge of art," Both here and whenever (if ever) she goes home, "Thank you." Said sincerely; the book will be well loved and get the prime position on Kate's coffee table.

She grins when Sunny appears, "So much trouble," in agreement with Jae, shooting a pretend annoyed look before turning her attention back to Sunny, "Hi, Sunny." And he's getting a hug too, just a bit of a one-armed side hug, because she has her book and he has his wine.

[yeouiju]

The hug is accepted, returned with an affectionate squeeze. "You probably shouldn't, we'll be taking the best of the party with us," Sunny says, all light sarcasm as he takes out the pouch from his pocket once he's disentangled himself from the hug, and offers it for her to take. "I wasn't going to, for the record, but you'll get why I did anyway."

It isn't wrapped, either, unless you're counting drawstrung velvet.

[boomvox]

Jae makes a little fistbump motion towards Steph, smile on his face, before pursuing his drink. "It's okay to get stuff on your birthday. Besides, it's your first interdimensional birthday, right? That's a milestone."

[controlledvariable]

"You should know all my other friends could kick your ass for saying that," She informs Sunny as she lightly bumps her knuckles against Jae's. It hits her, suddenly, that Sunny knows about the Batgirl thing and Jae doesn't, which she feels a little guilty about, but it's not a worry for now.

Instead, she accepts the drawstring bag, answering Jae's question with a nod and, "I'm also officially no longer a teenager," Despite being occupied with holding the book and opening the drawstring bag, she still manages to waggle her eyebrows at them both.

Finally she gets the bag open, tipping the pendant into her hand and just - laughing so hard she can't actually say anything.

[yeouiju]

They could try~ to kick his ass, is what a raised brow is meant to communicate as he lifts his wine glass to pull from. Quickly lowers it again so he doesn't spit wine when Stephanie reacts, swallowing so he can smile in delight, rocking back on his heel, nonchalant.

"I'm pretending that means you dig it."

[boomvox]

As was communicated - so Jae thought - previously, he's aware that Steph runs around in body armor kicking the crap out of things and assumes she likes to keep that fact private; that it's got a cartoon spirit animal association, however, he is clueless about.

Woah, sudden outburst of lolz! He raises his eyebrows, peering over his glass, amused.

[controlledvariable]

"You loser," is what she eventually says to Sunny, but it's fond and she slips the necklace around her neck, making sure it sits right before adding, "I love it."

"You're both forgiven for breaking my rule about presents, but only because you're good at buying gifts," Obviously she would have kicked them both out if they were terrible gift-givers, that's how friendship works, right?

[yeouiju]

Eyebrows up. Loser seems a bit unfair, but the chances of Sunny taking any offence are about as slim as Stephanie meaning it genuinely. He smiles, anyway, when she puts it on and proclaims her approvals, and laughs at the next thing. "Yeah, see. That's always the clause loophole," he says, his arm nudging Jae's as if to emphasise the repeat of an earlier comment when the topic had come up.

hahaha these are the latest tags fml

[boomvox]

"We knew we'd pass," Jae continues, and raises his glass like a toast. "Do you have a cake we get to embarrass you over or is this a cool grown-up party?"

I have so many tags from this log sitting in my inbox DO NOT FRET

[controlledvariable]

"It helps that you're both cute," Stephanie. This is why no one lets you have friends.

The question gets something resembling a pout, but it's a good natured one and she does not seem aware of the irony that pouting like a child ruins any pretence of her being a cool grown up, "It was supposed to be a cool grown-up party, but then Kate ruined it by buying me cake. No one else is allowed any, though, it looks too delicious to share."

She might be joking, she might not be. No one will ever know. (Until they get to the cake part of the evening).

[yeouiju]

Sunny laughs, immediately and easily, preventing him from his next sip of wine. "I just got the best mental image of you with sitting alone with the cake and a fancy dessert fork," he says, free hand miming. "Just slowly working through it. You're on my shortlist of people who could use it as a weapon, too."