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

Bestiality time!

[summerdude]

Eventually, Magnus will shepherd everyone over to the easels. He'll press a kiss to Alex's feathery little flamingo head, and then announce that she's selected a few animal forms that they can draw -- he won't announce them up front, but as drawing and painting go on, it will become clear that the forms include, but aren't limited to, flamingo, hippo, unicorn, and giraffe -- and that if guests ask very nicely, she might try one or two additional forms after that.

He has some idea that bachelorette parties are supposed to involve specifically bringing up the groom as much as possible? But he knows Galahad would hate that. He's just trying to facilitate a bunch of activities Galahad loves with people he also loves. He does, as a nod to this being Galahad's night anyway, manage to refrain from mentioning just how great and cool Alex is every other word in his announcement of this first formal activity.

Re: Bestiality time!

[biteybaby]

Sunny has recently been told by many reputable sources that she can create Very Fine Drawings. She's also very fast compared to everyone else. She thinks that probably counts for something.

In the spirit of sharing art with the world, here are her masterpieces, a word which here means, "crayon scribbles".

Flamingo: Hippo:
Unicorn: Giraffe:

And, because this is Magnu's Galahad party, after all, she also takes the time to do a portrait of Galahad:

Re: Bestiality time!

[mothwingofriverclan]

Mothwing decides to try her best at drawing something, since she's been jealous of this twoleg ability for a while. She tries a crayon first, since it seems small and easy to hold in her teeth. Any ambitions of drawing Alex go down the river immediately, though, and she focuses on just trying to make straight lines.

[summerdude]

Magnus comes up behind her. "Wanna try a paw-and-inkpad setup?"

[mothwingofriverclan]

Mothwing startles a little, her fur briefly fluffing up before she forces it to lie flat. She'd been concentrating so hard that she lost track of her surroundings. She lets the crayon go and surveys her lines. They're not bad.

"If you have an idea that you think would be easier, by all means," she meows.

[summerdude]

Magnus retrieves an ink pad and opens it for Mothwing. It's nontoxic, so it should be fine. "You can dip your paw pads on this, and then use them to draw."

[mothwingofriverclan]

Mothwing gives it a try, dabbing lightly at the pad with one paw. It has an odd, wet texture, a little bit like mud. She's able to make a clear pawprint on the paper, but she has to dab her paw several times to get the ink to stay long enough to make lines.

[summerdude]

"Sorry, I know it dries fast. At least it's probably better for you than paint, though?"

[mothwingofriverclan]

Mothwing eyes the paint, which looks as sticky and viscous as blood. "Yes, this seems better."

[summerdude]

Magnus laughs. "I thought so."

[lightbearinglord]

Although Lan Wangji has had few occasions to practice his painting recently, he can easily imagine his uncle's disappointed face if he allowed the skill to waste away entirely. Back in the jingshi, he has an entire stack of his own childhood paintings, survivors of the burning of the Cloud Recesses, as proof of the effort he put into learning.

This painting is not quite the sort of painting he knows, but he anticipated that. He observes Alex at length each time, studying the overarching shapes and shades of each beast, and proceeds to do his best with the watercolors. He is used to using calligraphy ink¹, so instead he selects one color for each animal along with a store of black paint: a bright pink for the flamingo, a dark grey for the hippopotamus, smooth yellow for the giraffe, and so on. For the unicorn, he allows both pink and green. With intentional dilution of each color, it becomes possible to create a reasonable approximation of every creature, a collection of thoughtful, deliberately loose brushstrokes rather than an effort at strict realism. (Something like this or this as far as the general vibes.)

¹The kind of painting he knows how to do is shui mo/水墨/ink wash, which mostly uses different washes of black ink.

[onthewillowsthere]

The drawing portion helps settle Galahad a little -- he's beginning to be overwhelmed by all the people and all the talking, in the same way he was at Sagramore and Laertes' dance, where all the words stopped being words and just became incomprehensible sounds instead. Focusing on each of Alex's forms gives him a grounding point, and he works studiously at his drawings.

[summerdude]

Magnus isn't that bad at drawing, in that he definitely had a phase in seventh grade where he got really into drawing halfway-decent manga versions of superheroes, and his skills have neither progressed nor atrophied considerably since then, but since it's Alex he's mostly drawing hearts on his paper, because he keeps pausing to make sure everyone has what they need. To Sunny he's given an entire pad of construction paper so she can continue making masterpieces if she wants (but he also has a beak stone in his pocket earmarked for whoever of Sunny and Drosera gets restless first). Gu Xiang gets a special collection of purple paints he'd found somewhere. The empty easel intended for Shen Yuan gets a precariously-placed water cup so he can knock it down to make his presence known.

When Magnus reaches Galahad, he watches him for a moment, then leans against him, resting his head on his shoulder. It's hard to sign like this but he makes do. Great aardvark.

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad tips his head back and smiles at Magnus; he puts his pencils down and signs Thank you.

[summerdude]

Having fun?

[onthewillowsthere]

Yes. A little overwhelmed, but it's okay.

[summerdude]

Need anything?

[onthewillowsthere]

Not yet. He pauses, and then turns to pull Magnus into a hug.

[summerdude]

Magnus gives him a big bear hug in return, Galahad's sash crinkling between them. "I think everyone's having a good time."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Good." Galahad glances around, at Mothwing and her inky paws, Lan Wangji's elegant brushstrokes, Sunny's exuberant crayon scribbles. Enjolras and Susan are by the takis, Gu Xiang and Tress are engaged in an animated conversation, and Gideon is stuffing candy into her pockets while Laertes fills out a scorecard with a slight frown of concentration. SecUnit is standing in a corner, looking -- well, honestly, Galahad has no idea, but he hopes it's all right. "Thank you."

[summerdude]

"Love you, buddy."

[onthewillowsthere]

"I love you too."

[biteybaby]

At some point during the drawing portion of Magnu's Galahad party Sunny runs over to Galahad to hand him the beautiful portrait she drew, signs Galahad, then runs off to go to some other sort of activity that does not require additional threads for the typists.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan knows that drawing isn't Laertes's strongest suit; she herself avoids painting, lest she make a fool of herself. When Magnus's interesting girlfriend(?) starts shifting into different animals, rather than attempt to recreate them visually, Susan shall go to strike up a conversation - with Laertes and, perhaps, Galahad - about what she remembers about each offering from her ethology classes and broader readings.

Re: Bestiality time!

[sporesprouter]

Tress's artistic skills are pretty much limited to rough technical schematics, but she does give the different animal forms at least a go.

Animals, even ones that are Alex in animal form, do tend to move a bit more than inanimate objects, however, so it's somewhat tricky. At least she gets the vague shapes and colors right.