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westfallcorndog) wrote2016-03-07 11:27 pm
Happy Birthday, Viatorus!
Invitations to this party have been written in neatly legible, semi-calligraphic font, hand-crafted with care and talent by Amelia Ronsam. Harrowheart has asked that she create a few more than necessary on the off-chance anyone lost theirs and was liberal in handing them out.
The room mentioned on the card is easy to find with a map of the aquarium: In the Earth wing, past a long series of exhibits, and through a glass hallway over which the water rests and the fish are free to swim. The corridor ends in a dome-shaped room spacious enough for a party of a few dozen.
The meeting space, like the hallway, is composed entirely of glass walls around which a vibrant array of Earth’s tropical fish drift through bright blue waters. Now and then they dart in odd directions, flashing their gem-like scales as their school is disturbed by the passing of a sea turtle or the flowing wings of a manta ray. Far, far in the distance are the silhouettes of whales that, on rare occasion, shadow the dome as they pass between the party and the far-off source of light above the water. Simpler creatures crawl through the coral just on the other side of the glass: crabs and minnows tease at algae, grinning eels poke shyly from their dark crevices, and anemones dance with the motion of the flowing seawater. The only thing to break the immersion of the scene are the mermaid attendants, glimpses of whom can be caught as they feed the fish while trying their best to stay professionally unnoticed.
Outside the glass is the beauty, but inside is the party! There are bubbly balloon letters hung from the ceiling reading HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Green streamers dangle from the ceiling like kelp, and someone's even set up a motorized shark balloon to swim through the air. Set up against one rounded wall are two buffet tables of food laid out. Stacks of cheese-stuffed fried peppers, fried chicken, grilled corn cobs, a kind of savory pork stew, something resembling black crab legs that’s been labeled ‘Duskwood Land Crab,’ a fruit and vegetable platter, a single pizza for the guests to fight over, and for the English Birthday Boy, cucumber sandwiches. Drinks are a bowl of punch and a keg of water. Looks like this aquarium party is a dry one. The sweets are cookies and hard candies laid atop a pile of pink candy floss. Then, of course, there is the cake: One large sheet cake of marbled chocolate and vanilla iced with buttercream frosting. On top there rests a little gingerbread man with black icing hair sleeping soundly atop a little frosted bed, a red smile on his face. Four tall candles make the posts of the bed. An unsteady hand has piped along the side ‘Happy Birthday Viatorus!’
Two people beat the crowd to enjoy this quiet afternoon retreat. Harrowheart, who sits at one of the tables in the middle and watches the passing of the fish, is dressed for the tropics. He’s bought himself a Hawaiian shirt to go over a pink tank with a pair of palm trees on the front, and of course he’s wearing his usual cargo shorts and tan work boots. Any rumors of pajama dress code were greatly exaggerated. With him is Amelia, whose garb for the evening is much more demure than her usual. The first sign is her lack of visible weapons. The second is the combination of dark navy jeans and black blouse. Her hair is tied back in a simple braid and the hair pin she's always been so fond of is nowhere to be seen.
((If you'd like to greet the host and/or hostess or remark on your character's entry, feel free to tag this post. Otherwise, try the Gift-Giving or Free Mingle subsections: Viatorus will accept gifts and well-wishings in the Gift-Giving section, and threadhopping will be with OOC permission. Free Mingle will be a threadhopping-encouraged area for party-goers to interact with each other. Meet new characters, talk about fish, fight about who gets to eat the pizza.))
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He won't even break eye contact when he takes a bite of one of the carrots on the crudite platter. Don't start things you can't finish with Jim, Harrow. He thinks this is a game. Or a challenge. Not sure which, but it doesn't matter.
It doesn't even occur to him that Felix may take this the wrong way, because he honestly expects the conjurer to join in.
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"Hey, better to have problems keepin' it down than gettin' it up, am I right?"
Hey, and then he sees that Felix is eating the spider leg! He's beaming, he's totally beaming. Each of these guys deserve a good pat on the shoulder from a disembodied, haunted hand. Jim is the good old pal, Felix is the good new pal. They're his friends whether they like it or not.
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Should have been more alert to matters besides 'hey, this probably would be good with some butter'.
But it's too late, and he takes in the conversation just in time for that last comment to coincide with an attempt to swallow. Attempt, because he promptly chokes. Speaking of trouble keeping things down. He's too busy covering his mouth and trying not to die to even give Harrow a funny look when he's touched.
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"Felix?! Harrow get me a glass of water or punch. Something."
He will perform the Heimlich if he has to don't make him Felix.
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In a worried, wavering voice Harrow mutters, "A-ah, shoot, I can't do nothin' but kill people!"
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He'll be fine, given a minute... okay two minutes, and a fair amount of back-slapping from Jim. Eventually everything's swallowed that ought to be, he's able to wave Jim off, and also he's really very red in the face. Not solely because of the near-choking either.
"Fine, 'm fine..." He clears his throat a bit more, looking extremely sheepish. Mostly at Jim. "My fault." He's not going to die, he just made himself look foolish.
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He looks a little embarrassed himself. Jim makes a show of shrugging and gathering up his plate to give Felix some space.
"It's fine, Harrow. We're all good." Time to calm down his undead friend and pretend he didn't just have a mini heart attack. "You sure the spider meat wasn't poison?" Maybe one joke, just to lighten the mood again.
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"It wasn't poison!" he says, just a hair (pun intended) defensive. "I'm just glad you're all right, Felix. After all, there's more fun things to be chokin' on, heheh."
Oh, REALLY? We're back to the same thing that caused a near miss just seconds ago?
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Quick, Harrow, say someth- there we go. Luckily Harrowheart is unaware of how deadly his jokes may be.
"Ahah... yes." He's too red in the face to flush anyway. Just going to try and compose himself halfway. "The spider's fine, but I can't claim it's that good."
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"If you're choking on it you're doing it wrong." He adds after a moment to take a bite of food. "Wouldn't think you'd have to worry about a gag reflex anymore Harrow." He's at least learned not to point out its because he's dead already anymore.
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Of course he winks, not really at either of them but generally for them both. That invitation is open to either or, who knows, possibly both of them. He can't stay serious about it though, and he quickly returns to laughing and shaking his head.
"Only downside is the cold. And the insatiable undead cravin's for human flesh. You gamble with the universe when you stick it in the jaws of death, boys. But what's life without a little risk, huh?"
Perfect! Perfect light birthday chatter around a buffet table! Aw, but he's good-natured about it. He can laugh about it, you can too! If you're the kind of people to find zombie dick-chomping humor up their alley.
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At least he takes the... invitation with nothing more than a slight lift of his eyebrows and a thin smile. He's getting better. Slowly.
"A little longer and a lot duller." But he's looking Jim's way when he says it. "It's just about who you're willing to gamble on." Nothing meant by that. Of course not. He's just looking round at the table for where he left the rest of his food. Carry on.
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"Man if I didn't have to breathe, let me tell you. I would get into so much trouble." And before this joke gets too far into the gutter..."I'd walk into the nearest ocean and just start exploring everything. It would be so awesome."
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One of his hands is reaching for a piece of fried chicken when Jim takes him by surprise with the laugh and the arm. He smiles at the contact and laughs right back at the surprise. That is, until it's ocean chatter time.
"Hey, bein' in an aquarium is one thing. If anything goes wrong those fish ladies'll save us and take us to the surface. Out in the ocean you get swept up by the currents, you're out there for good, man. That shit scares me. I don't go in, over, or under any big ol' bodies of runnin' water. Never know when you're gonna get trapped on the bottom, alone forever with your own shitty jokes."
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Even if Harrow is starting to sound more like one of his uncle's old Legion buddies than a walking nightmare. Felix shrugs automatically. Good luck selling Jim on the slow and sensible life, Harrow. "Or have the adventure and bring the people. More fun and better odds."
The spider really must be good, anyway. He's working on finishing it off. And avoiding staring at Harrow's literally wandering hands.
"Depends on how good you are with water-walking spells, I suppose," he remarks. "I mean, if you're swept out far enough it'd still be a very long walk to shore..."
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"I don't get it. Why an aquarium if you're not a fan of the water?"
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Wait. Wait a minute.
Harrow stares at Felix for a moment. Just a second here. Jim just winked at that dude! And he's talking about people being important to him? That's not something he thought he'd hear out of Jim's mouth. Without realizing he's doing it his eyebrows start to rise and his lips part slightly. Is there an Implication going on here? Is that what he's seeing? What does he say? What does he do?!
"Nice!"
He clears his throat and smiles.
"The fish. They're nice. You two got a favorite?..."
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"...Hmm? Oh, the fish. Well, they're all new to me." Felix glances around at the nearest window. He's even forgotten to be stiff. Whoops.
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"Holy shit man, warn a guy before you belt one out like that!" Way to make him look lame. He'd just got done giving Felix a little bit of Kirk charm, and now he already looks like a doof again.
"I don't think I have a favorite. Uh, ones that won't eat me."
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"I like the eels. I told Viatorus, they look like they told a bad joke and they're smilin' while they wait for everyone to groan. Though... I am kinda partial to the fish that're half lady. But that's just me."
Time to finally nab a chicken wing and distract himself from his own awkwardness by... Eating the thing whole. Just straight up crunches down on it, bones and all. And he's not even looking around like he expects the others might have some reaction to this. This is apparently normal for him.
After he's swallowed it all he turns back to the guys. While his hands rub the grease off on a napkin he asks, "So how'd you two meet? Did Jim's ship land on your world, Felix? I know y'all said you're explorers, but I wanna hear how this whole thing started. And what do you do when you aren't explorin'? Got some kinda job back on Tamriel?"
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"...I thought they were some kind of elf," he comments with absent surprise. ...Is Harrow munching a whole chicken wing? Yes. Fine. He's not even going to change expression
much. At least until Harrow starts asking about the two of them and he hesitates just a little. Definitely not stifling a smirk at the return of the exploration line."Actually, we met in the Nexus. Back at the... um, Samhain ball in the autumn. I'm usually on desk duty here anyway. Guarding a door for the Imperial Legion."
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Jim shrugs and rests his forearm casually on Felix's shoulder as if to lean on him. He can't, not when they're more or less the same height. But he likes touching Felix. Not just in the bedroom either. Normal things. Affection. He's capable of it even if he'd never say so.
"If it weren't for that purple monstrosity and me taking a tumble off of that chandelier, who knows how the evening would have turned out. I did teach Felix the ways of Earth dancing though."