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

[wolfssegen]

His immediate instinct is to tell Malcolm that if it was a lie, he'd be the last person Ches would tell. But it hadn't been a lie, so he tamps down on that instinct.

"It was the truth."

[abrightboy]

"That's good," Malcolm tells him. "Meredith is really important to us. We'd hate to see her get hurt."

[wolfssegen]

"So would I. She's a good girl, from what I know of her so far. Smart and pretty, good sense of humour. I like her."

Chester's golden eyes linger on Malcolm's face for a moment or two, as if he's trying to read him.

"Do you have a thing for her?"

[abrightboy]

"Like... sexually?" he clarifies. "No. I'm kind of... dating the bartender. But she's like... she's like my sister," he explains.

[wolfssegen]

Ches turns to glance back toward the bar again, eyes searching over Neal's face and body, then he glances back at Malcolm.

"Nice. Good looking guy. Anyway, I'm glad she has people looking out for her. But I'm not in the habit of casually breaking hearts. Sex comes easily enough when I want it, there's no need for me to lead people on to get it. And well, I don't like hurting people. Call it a tic from having to comfort heartbreak a whole lot of times."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm frowns faintly when Ches' visual assessment of Neal seems to take a little longer than he feels it needs to, but as Ches continues talking, his expression shifts into interest.

"Whose heartbreaks?"

[wolfssegen]

"I'm the Alpha of a werewolf pack. I have a lot of cubs come through, newly turned young people looking for help with controlling the wolf. With young people there's always a bit of drama, dating and hook up that go wrong, within the pack or outside of it. When they're grieving or in trouble, a lot of times it'll fall to the Alpha to soothe that, get them back on track, learn to deal with the emotions you know?"

A shrug, and he polishes off the last of the whiskey.

"I love my pack, but more than that, I know how bad it hurts when that kind of stuff happens. So I'm not gonna inflict it on anyone. Not on purpose."

[abrightboy]

"The Alpha," Malcolm echoes. "Well, that makes sense, because Meredith is the Alpha too."

[wolfssegen]

"You know, she told me there wasn't an Alpha in your pack, but it doesn't surprise me that she actually is."

[abrightboy]

“Good. It shouldn’t. She’s formidable.” He pats Ches gamely on the knee. “Okay. We’re okay. For now. As long as you don’t hurt her in any way.”

[wolfssegen]

"She is that."

Ches is quiet for a moment at that not-so-veiled threat. The irritation spikes up again because there's almost zero way to ensure he's not going to ever hurt her unless he just stops talking to her altogether, and very soon before they become better friends.

Leaning back in the the couch, he crosses his arms and makes a soft 'hm.'

"I can't promise that. Human friendships sometimes come with hurt."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm levels a look at him.

“Don’t be so literal; you know what I mean. I’m not going to throw in a bunch of caveats and legalese. Don’t overpromise or underdeliver. She deserves to be treated well.”

[wolfssegen]

"I thought we'd established I had no plans to do that." he says, raising a brow and then picking up his glass, "Anyhow, I should probably go grab a refill. I'm sure Meredith will be back any moment."

[abrightboy]

“And I was summing up our salient conclusions,” Malcolm tells him. “And you’re right, so I should vacate her spot.” She needs to be able to sit. He gets up and makes his way back towards the bar.

Hi I'm hijacking your thread now

[ployboy]

Because it'll be a while later, and still at one of those times when Ches wanders away from the birthday girl that Tim will bite the bullet and step up. For whatever it might be worth, his step is a little more sure; the injuries are behaving and Tim had never loved admitting to them in the first place.

So.

Awarewolf. Clever. (Or was he not allowed to eavesdrop when he'd been busy with Jeff?)

"Hey," he starts. Cool. Casual. Maybe careful, as he continues with, "I'd like to extend a formal apology on behalf of the other residents of this apartment. Malcolm can be weird."

If Meredith said it, it must be true.

[wolfssegen]

Ches had been intending to head out for the night, a little bit of a bad taste in his mouth after that interaction with Malcolm - less from being threatened and more because he's not a fan of his privacy being invaded. Beyond that, he's wondering how seriously Meredith had taken what he thought was a one night stand, if he's getting the shovel talk. Not that he minds a shovel talk, it's always a good sign when someone has people to look out for them, he can respect them wanting to take care of their own.

He's just finished up his last drink of the night and just turned in his glass to the bar, ready to head out when another young man approaches him. The apology is a little unexpected, but he can feel that rush of something uncomfortable. Is this going to be yet another shovel talk?

"Hey. Thanks for that, but it's no problem. I get it. Pack protects their own."

[ployboy]

He would lift his hands in a show of no ill will but as it stands, healing fingers are still too sore for needless shows. Tim's brows furrow a bit, though-- just a bit- at the mention of pack.

And here he had thought they were a democracy.

Which is, unintentionally, a good enough segue into him hurriedly but quietly asking, "You're pretty open about being a werewolf, huh?"

Guess he's going to lean pretty heavy on the Stupid, Curious Kid angle. Tim suppresses a preemptive wince. Is this tactless? He actually has no clue. He shakes his head. "If it helps any, I've wanted to strangle him once or twice, too."

--ha.

A beat.

"Uh. Sorry. You're heading out?"

[wolfssegen]

It's really only because Meredith had compared it to a pack that he thinks of it that way. It makes sense, too, from what he's seen of how they interact with each other.

"Oh, yeah. It's something I'm proud of, and I don't get to be open about it back home. That'd be a great way to get hunted and slaughtered. But I can be myself here, so why not?"

When the young man says that he's wanted to strangle Malcolm a few times too, he laughs and shakes his head.

"I didn't want to strangle him, it was just a bit awkward. Awkward happens."

A shrug, and then he continues, "I was planning to. Feeling a little unwelcome, I guess. But I can hold on and chat for a bit, I don't have any plans. You must be Tim. I'm Ches."

He holds his hand out for a shake.

[ployboy]

Hunted. Slaughtered. Tim frowns, but what kind of comment can he oh-so-insightfully interject, anyway? A 'sorry'? He huffs, the moment over, and thanks whatever higher power there is that he can use his good hand for the shake. It's a cold grip, because he always runs a little cold, but it's everything an heir to a behemoth of a business could hope for. "The one and only," Tim drawls, and to his credit it's only moderately self-depreciating. "It's good to meet you."

Heard a lot about you? Nope. Heard you were hanging out with Meredith the other day? Extra nope. How about them Excel protips n hacks? Really drives a guy wild.

"I've never met a werewolf before, I think."

Hiding, hunting... Is the transformation what he's thinking it is- voluntary, up to a point? Pride is a hell of a drug, but it's no use if someone ends up dead. Is this some mindless killing machine when shifted, is it only the beast's body that changes?

Is the wolf something that can be controlled?

Tim glances around at the different party-goers. It's awkward. Having a birthday party in their freaking apartment, with him just there, is awkward. He turns his attention back to Ches. "Is, uh, is that the reason you decided to stay at Bonnie's? I've got some friends there-"

hah.

"-but I think it would get pretty lonely in the longrun."