Happy Birthday to Meeerrrrrreeeeeeeeee [Open Mingle]

[abrightboy]

Who: The residents of ADI Apt B1 and YOU.
When: January 18th, from early evening onward.
Where: Apartment B1 at the ADI complex.
Summary: Tim Drake discovered Meredith Idlewild's birthday is today (by snooping in her stuff) and her boys decided to throw her a little surprise celebration since she, you know, looks after them and shit. Ofc neither of them knows how to do that, really, so Malcolm has recruited Neal Caffrey as Party Planner.
Warnings: To be added as necessary but none to start.


Thanks to Neal's intervention, the party Malcolm and Tim are throwing for Meredith is very nice, with tasteful decorations and good wine, alongside fancy finger foods and even fancier cocktails. Neal mans the 'bar' personally, mixing drinks for anyone who'd like to try one.

Malcolm and Tim will try to be social. It's for Meredith.

They did use Tim's connections, too. He recruited Jeff to slip invites onto people's desks if they work at ADI and take some over to Bonnie's. Meredith deserves maximum appreciation. The invites instructed everyone not to say anything to Meredith. When she comes home, it's meant to surprise her.

Early evening: SURPRISE!
When Meredith gets home, get ready to shout!

Mid-evening
Mix, mingle, eat and drink.

Late-evening
Your hosts will arrange a cab if you can't make it home; they already have a police lieutenant sleeping on their couch and tonight has been a lot of peopling for them. If they need to carry you down there... they're more capable of it than their slight frames would suggest.

Comments

[henchgal]

There's a flash of a smile when he praises her interrogation technique, but it doesn't linger too long. It feels like a weird thing to accept a compliment for.

The rest is easier to respond to. "...yeah, a pack's probably not a bad metaphor for what we have going on. Maybe a dysfunctional one, and I couldn't tell you who the alpha of ours is. But we do our best work together. Tim and I actually arrived at the ADI office together, stuck in the same server closet."

And the experience of working with him in their attempt to escape ADI custody and get away was enough for her to pick him as a roommate.

[wolfssegen]

"That sounds nice. I've never run into a pack that didn't have an Alpha before, at least not a real one. Found family is a bit different than a pack, I guess, even if a pack can definitely be a found family. The best packs are, anyway."

A little shrug, and he smiles a little at her comment that she and Tim had arrived here together, "Really? That sounds like a good story. Care to share it?"

He's interested, really, but also interested in learning more about her, in understanding her and where she's coming from, what she's about. It's an instinct, for him, to try to get this kind of information from people.

[henchgal]

"Well, after he kicked down the door of the server closet to get us out, we tried to pretend to be interns to get information on where we were. But we got caught when we tried to sneak out the lobby. Security didn't recognize us, you know how it goes."

She laughs, playing it off as a dumb shenanigan instead of what was (at the time) the second-scariest day of her life.

[wolfssegen]

"Huh. Different reaction than I had. Then again, I showed up in the air ducts and had to crawl 20 feet through spiderwebs before I found a grate I could squeeze through. And it wasn't easy, my shoulders barely fit through the grate and someone had to yank on my feet. I wasn't in any position to play intern."

Taking another sip of his whiskey, he savours it a little, eyes sinking shut, smiling a little.

"Pretty clever of the two of you though."

[henchgal]

"Clever's what I've got. I'm never going to be a good fighter--Winter's mostly teaching me self-defense with my cane--but I've kept myself going with my wits. Even before here, really."

The hand not holding her glass moves to brush his thigh lightly. "What are your thoughts on ADI so far?"

[wolfssegen]

"Well, if clever's what you've got, then I have to say you use it well. I'm impressed you train with Winter though. I mean, I knew you did, but that was before I knew about what was going on with you and before he trained me. Let me tell you, impressive. I was walking funny for a day afterward and had some pretty nasty bruises."

Another sip of whisky, and his gold eyes flick down when she touches his thigh with her hand. Without thinking, he puts his own free hand over it, running a thumb along the side of it, idly.

"I don't know what to think. I'm always a little suspicious of the big conglomerate claiming to be trying to save the world, maybe because I grew up in the era where that was every movie villain. But they're also the only ones with the resources to maybe get me home. Catch 22."

[henchgal]

"Winter's probably a hair less intense with me than with you, let's be honest. He is, in his odd way, fond of me. Evidence?" She quietly gestures to where the Soldier is lurking. He came to the party, of his own volition. "After the Thanksgiving bash, he carried me all the way back to my apartment."

Her smile dims a hair when she returns to the matter of ADI.

"You're not the only one who feels that way. We've held a few offsite meetings just to talk behind their back about the vibe we get from them."

[wolfssegen]

"Oh, I imagined as much, but for the skill level he's teaching he's a tough teacher, at least from what I can tell after only one session. And that's good, he seems like a good one to have on your side. I'm glad he took care of you."

When she mentions offsite meetings to talk about ADI and how they feel about them, his brow raises a little bit. There are a few little hairs at the back of his neck that stand up at the thought of it - like he's possibly being inducted into some sort of rebellion.

"Is that so? Well, if you ever feel like sharing your thoughts with me, I'd be glad to hear them."

[henchgal]

"I'm not secure enough in the belief that they wouldn't bug our living quarters to try to have that discussion here. And that, in itself, says a lot."

She shrugs. "There's a few others good to talk to about things like that. Aelwyn, Jaeger."

[wolfssegen]

"Well, we could always grab coffee sometime. And I don't know Aelwyn, but I think I've run into Jaeger. We're planning on some sparring."

[henchgal]

"Jaeger's not quite as ruthless as Winter, but he's very skilled. Highly trained. He's someone who I would willingly die fighting beside--I already have, in dreams. Halloween, we were all trapped in murder-nightmares. It was awful and overwhelming, with decorations coming to life to attack us."

And yet, on some level she sounds...less fucked up about it than might be expected. At some point you stop being able to weigh each new horror.

[wolfssegen]

"Murder nightmares. That sounds awful. I had something like that happen pretty recently myself...less murder, more weird and twisted. Someone was trying to work out what my motives were, what makes me tick, by putting me through...I guess you could say trials. Not the most fun."

A shrug, and he takes another sip of his whiskey - he seems less fucked up about it than he could be too. The truth is, his life had been strange before he ever came here.

[henchgal]

"Yeah? Did you pass, by their standards?"

Him being calm about it gives her the courage to prod at it a little.

[wolfssegen]

"I guess so, because I woke up. Can I ask what happened with yours?"

cw: death, monstrous transformation

[henchgal]

"Everyone in ADI had the dream, in groups or pairs, fighting the decorations. Or each other. Some people transformed into their costumes, becoming zombies or vampires--the rest had to fight against those to survive. Everyone died, just about, and it was awful...and then we woke up."

A pause. "And then they tried to hold an actual Halloween party after."

cw: death, monstrous transformation

[wolfssegen]

"Well, that was in poor taste." he says, a brow raising, "Especially after all that trouble. People really turned into their costumes? Sounds like a nightmare."

After a moment, he laughs, shakes his head, "Would've been a really shitty birthday if I'd been here."

[henchgal]

"Your birthday is Halloween?" There's a moment of mental math. "I wouldn't have guessed you as a Scorpio."

[wolfssegen]

"Yep. I was cursed at birth with a few things. Birthday on a holiday. The name 'Chester Fields.' Bad parents."

A little laugh, and he shakes his head again, "Why not?"

[henchgal]

"Scorpios are sexy, that's a thing, but they don't tend to value family, and you wouldn't describe them as even-keeled. You're...steady. I can't see you flying off the handle for the sake of flying off the handle."

A smirk. "And I don't think Chester Fields is all that bad, as far as names go."

[wolfssegen]

"I guess you've got me there. Then again, besides my little brother I didn't value my family or origin all that much. Like I said, bad parents. And I've got to be steady for my pack. I can tell you that sometimes I'm just dying to fly off the handle."

She smirks at him, and he laughs, abruptly, "I mean, I'm named after a couch. And you shouldn't smirk at me like that. It's sexy."

[henchgal]

"And in a party like this, me being sexy would be awfully unkind."

Remember how she has that hand on his thigh? A fingernail gently strokes against the fabric of his pants. Slowly, subtly, quietly.

[wolfssegen]

"It really, really would be. Then again, you are the birthday girl, you can do whatever you want."

A little laugh, and his gold eyes flick down to where her fingernail is scraping against the grain of his jeans, sending pleasant little vibrations up and down his thigh.

[henchgal]

"Well. Certain things are a little rude to do in the middle of the party."

Not that that's stopping her.

[wolfssegen]

It's obviously not stopping her. Ches is acutely aware of the slow scrape of her nail against the denim of his jeans and the way the vibration feels against his thigh.

"This party is in your honour. Are you even able to be rude here?"

[henchgal]

"Is that how it works? Back home, no one throws parties in my honor."

She stops teasing, letting her hand come to rest again.