I'm No Party-Throwing Expert But I Do Think This Is Gonna Be A Good One!

[summerdude]

The first day of summer dawns bright and warm, a steady breeze stirring through the trees. The day itself is a flurry of activity: Magnus and Tress meet up in the kitchen early in the morning to start throwing together refreshments for Galahad's party. They make three kinds of cookies, and also a tray of flat brownies — Magnus has it in his head that half of the cookies and all of the brownies should be turned into ice cream sandwiches and, accordingly, tracks down Susan (who seems to know everything about this place) to get her to produce a deep freezer for Legoland. (She has that look on her face like he smells bad the whole time, but when he mentions it's for the bachelorette, at least she seems slightly less cold and standoffish.)

While the baked goods cool, Magnus ransacks the pantry for chips and candy and stuff for sandwiches. He lets Tress handle ice cream selection; when they find boxes of Bagel Bites in the freezer, he cheers. Legoland definitely has a microwave; they plugged the freezer into the same outlet. (Is a bachelorette the same thing as a slumber party? Maybe!)

It's early evening by the time everything is done and set up, even with Alex and Tress's help. He decides that the substantial food and record player should both be reserved for Legoland, partly because it does have electricity. They lug a big old table up to the top of the tower for the taste tests, and then an easel with giant post-it notes for the 'naming Mansion constellations' portion of the evening, and then a bunch of the smaller easels, sketchpads, and a selection of different art supplies (markers, crayons, watercolors, pencils, acrylic paints) he and Sunny have been tracking down and hoarding, for the bestiality portion of the evening.

After sending Tress and Alex off so they can get ready, he sets up for the taste tests: bowls full of different candies (white rabbit, hopjes, strawberry-flavored fizzing warheads, Reeses's cluster bites, Haribo gummy goldbears, hundred grand bars, red vines, salmiak licorice, candied verdant vines (Tress made them), and nerd ropes), bowls full of chips (Takis in the flavors angry burger, blue heat, and dragon sweet chili; Lays in the flavors Wasabi Octopus, All Dressed, Cappuccino, White Rabbit Rich Toffee (to compare with the actual white rabbit candy), and Pimento Cheese), and several cloth bags covering different red-flavored sodas, with wine tasting note cards so people can try to guess which is Code Red, which is Big Red, which is Cheerwine, and (in a fond nod to Alex), which is Tizer. He completes the array with a stack of paper for general ranking notes for the candy and chips. (There are also a couple child-sized easels and ranking sheets, for Mothwing and Sunny, but Magnus did also bring regular water for her and Sunny, a fish supplied by Drosera for Mothwing, and some carrots and apple slices for Sunny. There is also an easel and notepad for Shen Yuan, even though he's just a ghost and probably can't manipulate it, but he knocked once for yes when Magnus asked his growing body if he was going to make it.)

Finally, after convincing Drosera that she should absolutely wear a cute little bolo tie and party hat for this, he darts into the mansion for a quick shower, a change into one of the outfits Galahad picked for him when they tried on clothes, and to collect the groom himself. He presents Galahad with a white sash embroidered in gold; it reads GROOM TO BE. There's also a little tiara that he found in their bedroom. He assumes it's a cheap gimmicky one, but it's actually filigree red and white gold with real sapphires, diamonds, and pearls — he just picked it because it's delicate and will blend in with Galahad's hair in a way that will let the sapphires really pop.


Stages of the night will be posted in parent comments; everyone is welcome to thread with whoever in response to those! Awkward social interactions between people who aren't necessarily friendly are encouraged.

Comments

Re: Arrivals!

[recognizance]

So... this is happening.

Despite the mansion's aversion to anything resembling modern technology, Murderbot was somehow expecting the threatened "invite" to show up in its feed or something, and not on a bright pink sheet of paper attached to its door. After careful examination, it brought the thing inside and laid it carefully on the table it mostly doesn't use, but did not check any checkboxes. (It isn't totally sure what RSVP stands for, and it knows better than to sign any contract it doesn't fully understand.)

When it went to change into fresh clothes, though, all of its go-to hooded jackets and multi-pocked pants were nowhere to be found. It spent several irritated minutes looking for them before it gave in to the inevitable.

So SecUnit turns up wearing a long-sleeved tee (the one reading "please don't make me do things" was a strong temptation, but Murderbot can be nice sometimes, okay?) and dark blue jeans with only a few pockets. It regards the taste-test table with misgiving -- Magnus mentioned astronomy and fauna but nothing about mandatory eating -- but manages to keep a straight face, and even to nod politely to the large pink creature that must be Magnus's romantic partner.

It can do this. Probably.

Re: Arrivals!

[onthewillowsthere]

"Thank you for coming," Galahad tells it. "We won't light anything on fire."

[recognizance]

"Good plan," it says, and after a second, "Uh, congratulations?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"Thank you. I'm glad you are keeping watch over him."

[recognizance]

This takes it another second to parse. "It's fine. I mean."

[onthewillowsthere]

He nods. Those are the things it felt important to say, so he's willing to fall quiet and spare SecUnit further conversation.

[recognizance]

After a little silence it ventures, "This is a lot of people." More than it would have thought Galahad wanted to be around at the same time, honestly.

[onthewillowsthere]

"Yes," quietly. "I didn't realize it would be so many." The number seemed smaller when he was giving Magnus names than it does now, when he's surrounded by people.

[recognizance]

A beat. "You okay?"

Re: Arrivals!

[mothwingofriverclan]

Mothwing's interested to see a twoleg who doesn't even try any of the foods, so she pads up to introduce herself.

"Hello," she meows. "I'm Mothwing. I don't think we've met."

[recognizance]

"No," it agrees. "I'm-- SecUnit."

It's weird to hear something that small and furry talking, but again, as it told Tally, there's so much weird shit in the mansion that it's barely fazed.

[mothwingofriverclan]

"Not a fan of the food, either?" she asks. "You twolegs are always surprising me with your differences."

[recognizance]

This takes it a moment. "You mean humans?"

[mothwingofriverclan]

"I certainly don't mean birds."

[recognizance]

It looks pointedly at the Alex-bird, currently lounging on one of their two spindly legs and crunching something in their weird giant beak.

[mothwingofriverclan]

"Alright, fair point, but she's a special twoleg. Most of you can't do that, I don't think."

[recognizance]

SecUnit briefly considers standing on one foot just to be a smartass, but decides the dignity cost isn't worth it. "I meant, if things besides humans have two legs, why do you only say it about humans?"

Re: Arrivals!

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon's seen this person around, but she doesn't know their name, or like, anything about their deal. Parties are, according to Tally, about meeting new people, and there's a distinct lack of hot babes around, so. She sidles up to them. "Hey. Gideon Nav."

Re: Arrivals!

[recognizance]

"I know," it says. Tally's romantic partner, that CombatTally apparently roughed up just to be an asshole. "SecUnit."

Re: Arrivals!

[ninth_cavalier]

"Nice to meet you," says Gideon, and then, after a short hesitation, "got pronouns?"

[recognizance]

It looks down at her, startled. This is not a question that SecUnits get asked very often, since most people don't care whether they misgender an appliance.

Murderbot doesn't care either, to be honest, but since she asked politely and everything: "Usually 'it', but whatever. I don't have a gender."

[ninth_cavalier]

"Noted." Gideon tucks her hands in her pockets. "So what's your home dimension like?"

[recognizance]

"Bigger than this," it says dryly.

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon snorts. "No kidding, mine too." She pops a gummy bear in her mouth. "Though if we're talking planet rather than whole dimension, honestly not that much bigger."

[recognizance]

"This planet has got to be bigger than what we can access¹." Its flat tone nevertheless has a trace of exasperation. "You can't fully terraform a few lousy square kilos just floating in space. Even magic can't make that make sense."


¹ This is what is called "foreshadowing".