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]

"Yeah, it seems like they do. I mean, we've managed to share living space for six months without killing each other, so I knew they thought I was alright, at least, but this is a surprise."

It's been a weird day all around. For Meredith, it was her first interrogation ever, and she's still not sure how to feel about the success.

[aelwyn_aberration]

"Damn, from my experience that's a miracle. Not even an attempted murder?"

It's a joke but also not. Her family's fucked up.

[henchgal]

"There was one stabbing, but it was in the thigh, so I'm not counting it as an attempted murder."

And there were extenuating circumstances involved, as well, but she's not going to share full details.

[aelwyn_aberration]

"All is right in the world, then. One thigh stabbing is quite tame, so yes, I think that's fair."

[henchgal]

"How about you--who are your roommates, at this point?" She hasn't kept up on all the comings and goings, especially over the last month and change.

[aelwyn_aberration]

"Mercy just moved in with me and Kurapika, so I think I won the custody battle against Ren," She gives a small satisfied smile. "Though, between you and me, I think Yuri might be stealing away Kurapika."

[henchgal]

"Power to them both. It definitely feels like Valentine's day is approaching, there's a few ADI courtships I'm aware of at the moment that are reaching turning points."

Not to mention her own recent dalliance.

"As for you, take care of Mercy. She's an absolute sweetheart."

[aelwyn_aberration]

Aelwyn manages to resist the urge to squint. Does she... know? "Really? Well, I'm always one for gossip. Do tell."

"But yes, I always take care of Mercy. She's a dear."

[henchgal]

"Mm, I just know a couple who's been pussyfooting around feelings finally took some steps toward a something. And I may or may not have fallen into bed with one of the new arrivals."

She's not just going to outright say Neal and Malcolm finally did kissing things, but she'll hint loudly at it.

[aelwyn_aberration]

"Boo, I asked for details, not a riddle. If I wanted to investigate I'd still be working," She takes a sip from her wine. "Still, good for you. He any good?"

[henchgal]

First things first.

"Okay, while you're right this time, what made you assume it was a guy who I ended up shtupping?"

cw for heteronormativity

[aelwyn_aberration]

"Statistics? It was more of a guess, really. Not to mention the limited pool of options," She shrugs, a mix between chastised and confused. Elves are more fluid with sexuality, but she knows humans are a lot more... fixated on there being some pre-determined default setting.

"Does it matter?"

[henchgal]

"I mean, in the scheme of things, no, but...in case it ever comes up in the future, I'm not only into guys."

Honestly, if Aelwyn were a bit older, the two of them could have made a devastating power couple.

[aelwyn_aberration]

"Well, that just means you have eyes," She smiles. She didn't expect her to come out and say that. They really could have, too.

She weighs her options on whether or not to return this. Is this an attempt at prying into Aelwyn's own love life? Hmm. Well, it's not like Aelwyn wasn't prying into Meredith's. "I'm not either, so."

[henchgal]

"Oh, neat. You got your eye on anyone at the moment?" It is either super casual because she's trying not to let on that she knows, or it's super casual because she knows nothing.

[aelwyn_aberration]

The honest answer is, of course, yes. She has enough self awareness to know that what she feels for Mercy is in fact romantic. But it's helpless and doomed for a lot of reasons. Her ears do twitch a little and go a bit pink, but otherwise she maintains a cool facade.

"There's plenty of people I'd sleep with, if that's what you're asking. I'm not exactly picky in that regard," That's true enough. Callisto, for one, is hot in a deranged kind of way. And she's already hooked up with Jeff. Beau, obviously, because she has eyes and Beau has biceps. Tim could be fun to put in his place. Meredith, Yelena, Wanda and Abby all probably consider her out of their age range, but she'd be into it because of course she would. "I don't do romance, though. Too messy. It's like signing yourself up to getting hurt."

Because her one experience in the area was just so regular and normal.

[henchgal]

Who among them hasn't hooked up with Jeff, though? He's kind of like the bicycle of ADI. We love him for it, or perhaps despite it.

(And who also hasn't had a crush on Beau. Those muscles...)

"I know what you mean, about not doing romance. Safer not to, really. But I'm thinking of risking it this time. I'm tired and want someone to lean on a bit."

[aelwyn_aberration]

Her and Jeff first meeting was pretty much just traumatized slut to traumatized slut communication, so it's something she appreciates about him.

"I'll spare you the cynical love is a chemical con job spiel then," She smiles. She's envious, really. "Who's the lucky boy, then? I assume this is the hookup you were referring to?"

[henchgal]

"Ches. The guy who reached out on the network about training and trading skills. I met with him to talk office management skills, and we got off-topic."

In their defense, training did happen before that!

[aelwyn_aberration]

She smirks.

"Office management is a famous aphrodisiac. Who wouldn't in your shoes?"

[henchgal]

"Hey, baby. Lemme teach you how to set inbox rules in outlook." She puts on a fake seductive voice, before bursting into giggles.

[aelwyn_aberration]

She was doing well until Meredith broke into giggles and then she similarly broke down. She wipes a tear away from her eye.

"I stand by it. Natural aphrodisiac. He never stood a chance."

[henchgal]

Once she's able to do words again, and after a large gulp of wine:

"Actually, from what I've seen? He's got a major boner for competence. Being good at what you do, and being able to break that down for him and show how it's useful."

[aelwyn_aberration]

She raises an eyebrow, sipping her own glass.

"See, all my data on men suggests they love explaining things to women who are smarter than them," Aelwyn is biased by the fact that her social circle consisted of elitist elven academic pricks for the first fifteen years of her life. "Must be a rarity."

[henchgal]

Meredith snorts softly, because...well, yes, most men. "Your data's not inaccurate, but trends don't define every member of a population. For whatever reason, he's an outlier."