[OPEN] insert generic birthday song because nobody bought the happy birthday rights

[tragicomedienne]

Date and Time: August 8th, evening
Location: The Nora Cafe
Characters: Nanami Kiryuu and YOU(???) also Snow Villiers, Oerba Yun Fang, Tsubomi Hanasaki, Rise Kujikawa...all may make an appearance.
Summary: It's a party! A birthday party, precisely. Nanami wants to enforce the no-entry-without-a-gift rule, but that fell through pretty quickly.

After arrangements were made, her network post would have been updated with details. If your character would have seen it, consider it an open invitation!

Feel free to start your own threads, tag other people, hop around! There's food and some kind of cafe entertainment and Nanami will be weaving in and out. Starters are prose but bracket it up too if you want!

Rating and Warnings: G/PG probably; none I can think of.

A:

The decorations covering the cafe aren't nearly as tacky as they could have been, but there are a lot of them. The usual average (if slightly mismatched) tropical theme has been overwhelmed by streamers, balloons, and other traditional decorative trappings (those that can be found within the city, anyway).

If you're here now, congratulations! You arrived early enough for Nanami herself to make her arrival, and you've had time to scope out the food and cake situation.

This is the first of two grand entrances Nanami has planned for the evening. The second, providing Tsubomi hasn't turned everything into a burlap sack, will be the debut of her new one-of-a-kind dress. Feeling a lot better about her life and prospects (and nothing thinking at all about how horrible her not-birthday in Louisiana had turned out), and unsuspecting Nanami comes down from the back rooms and opens the door out into the cafe proper, mouth open to issue her greeting.

A cloud of confetti descends unexpectedly from nowhere, snowing down and building up on the top of her head like a salt pile. Snow's final decorative flourish.

Nanami freezes, then splutters out in surprise, blowing away a stream of confetti that somehow wound up stuck to her lips.

"Who did this?!"

Everything is ruined, for a moment.

B:

After the bad confetti idea has been done away with and cleaned up, there are still hours of partying to be had. There's food laid out at the bar and a cake (outsourced) to be brought in once things have gotten into full swing. Tacky party hats and other favors, while harder to come by than decorations in town, are also available.

It is, without the doubt, the least sophisticated party Nanami has ever attended or hosted.

As for the birthday girl herself, she can be found any number of places around the cafe. By now, she's cleaned most of the confetti from her blonde hair, but pieces of it still cling to her as if carrying the memories of happier birthdays past: a piece stuck to the her earlobe, glittery hearts nestled into her braid where she couldn't spot them in the mirror. In one hand she carries a tiny plate of assorted finger foods, and will occasionally lift something with a toothpick to scrutinize it.

She's a decent hostess, when she can be, so she'll probably get around to most people while making her rounds - providing she's not approached first.

Comments

B

[redheadcarrier]

Asuka's crashed the party, if only because it means free food. She certainly doesn't give a wit about Nanami or her birthday or the fact that she totally doesn't deserve to have nice things. Not at all. She's been circling the party, trying to find a place where she can stand and not look completely awkward. She doesn't know half the people here and that's never a good sign, because the other half are probably judging her for something. She finally spots Nanami and beelines toward her with a shit-eating grin plastered on her face.

"Oh, hi, Kiryuu. Looks like I made it after all."

[tragicomedienne]

"Oh, thanks for coming."

Despite the confetti accident, the decorations that make her imagine some poor and underfortunate primary school girl's birthday, there's a certain extravagance that follows Nanami in party mode and it trails her into her conversation with Asuka, too, feeding off the inkling that Asuka may not be in her element.

"Why wouldn't you have come? How else would you be able to see all of this?" She gestures to her soiree kingdom.

[redheadcarrier]

Oh God, Nanami's thanking her; something's wrong. Asuka hides her discomfort by taking a quick swig of her drink. She's played the social butterfly before, she can do it again. She settles a hand on her hip and gives the room an appraising glance, trying to look as disinterested as she possibly can.

"Well, you did say I wasn't invited..."

a obviously

[stonewall]

[ Snow is, by and large, a pretty easygoing guy: he doesn't take offense easily, and that means he sometimes struggles to recognize it in other people. He's gotten better, though, which is probably why he registers Nanami's reaction for what it is — the apologetic look on his face says it all, really. ]

Uh... surprise? [ The sheepish laughter is accompanied by a scratch of his head, like a kid getting in trouble for taking the last cookie. Maaaaaaaaaybe the confetti wasn't his best idea. ]

[tragicomedienne]

[The wise thing to do would be to brush the confetti off of her head as quickly and discreetly as she can.

This is not what Nanami does; instead, she makes a beeline for Snow across the room, little flecks of paper vacating her head like sheets of rain.]

What was that supposed to be? It's everywhere! [It's ruined!]

[stonewall]

[ The wise thing to do on Snow's end would be to make a hasty retreat.

This is not what happens. ]

Confetti? [ He holds up a gloved hand of the stuff, as if the problem here is Nanami not understanding what confetti is. ] Take it easy, kiddo. You can just brush it off.

B? Open to others aside from Nanami too?

[salvagedsoul]

Kaworu was seated in the corner, out of direct view but not out of earshot. A keyboard was set up in front of him, hooked up to one small amp. Over the course of the party, he played a selection of classical music requested by Nanami, but he peppered it with some favorites of his own, too.

He kept mostly to himself during the party, refusing offers of food or drink, and curtly thanking those who complimented his playing, but towards the end he seemed to be glancing around the room a little more curiously as he played.

[tragicomedienne]

By the end of the evening, Nanami had (hopefully) calmed down from the assumption that her fourteenth birthday was the worst day of her life. She was a kind of attention-drunk, not the kind from alcohol but in a hotblooded, lightheaded way from expelling a lot of emotion around a lot of people. She'd finally gotten most of the confetti out of her hair and her makeup was redone and Tsubomi's dress finally looked passable on her - still a disaster of a birthday, but survivable.

With things having settled down into a lull (largely because she was no longer being overbearing herself), Nanami made her way over to the keyboard.

"You didn't have to stay here the whole time, you know."

[salvagedsoul]

"I didn't know when it would've been appropriate to leave," he admitted truthfully as he looked up at her. Despite his emphatic performances during the party and his typically cool and calm expression now, his eyes suggest a sense of exhaustion. "Besides, I don't mind staying to play, anyway. It has been a good way to pass the evening. And it's your birthday, after all."

a;

[buttpunch]

Tsubomi is nervous--extremely nervous--about the dress hanging in a garment bag in the back room. So nervous, in fact, that she's having a hard time focusing on anything until Nanami throws the doors open to say good evening, and gets confetti all over herself.

At that point, she giggles, hysterically enough that it's nearly loud enough to be heard over the sheer irritation coming off of Nanami in waves, and she slaps her hand to her mouth with a squeak.

"It's very festive, Nanami," she says, finally.

[tragicomedienne]

"It's not funny!" Nanami is struck with the sinking and infuriating feeling that Tsubomi is laughing at her, a revelation that would have once sloughed off her effortlessly but that now feels personally insulting. "It's - it's obviously an embarrassment!"

An attempt to humiliate her in front of all these people. Nanami should know: She orchestrated enough of them. Standing there in front of Tsubomi, she looks like she might cry, the flush in her cheeks one of anger and shame.

[buttpunch]

"No, no, he was trying to be nice," Tsubomi says, trying to salvage the situation, "I'm sorry, Nanami, I shouldn't have laughed, it was just surprising!" She moves forward to reach, hesitantly, for some of the confetti in her hair. "Here, let me help you."

A

[hornedomen]

Ico was not here for the party or the food; he did not think he was invited. He was here because it was his job to help keep the place clean. Although the cake looked delicious, it did not distract him for more than a moment. Everything seemed to be going well until the confetti happened.

"I'll clean that right away!"

[tragicomedienne]

"It's fine, it's -" It wasn't really fine, so Nanami cut herself short, stepping out from under the door where the confetti had dropped and leaving a puddle of the stuff in her wake. "Fine, go ahead. I can't believe somebody thought - that he'd do something like that!"

It took some time, but after that, she added, "Thank you."

[hornedomen]

"I don't think he meant to upset you," he said. He grabbed a broom and he began cleaning the floor. "It must be a mistake."

He watched her and the trail of confetti she left. Although he wanted to cheer her up, he was uncertain how to do it. "Do you have a brush? I could help get the paper out of your hair."

a

[andagain]

Keith has come to celebrate Nanami's birthday in style, which meant he was decked out in a party hat and a classic noise maker. Gotta go all the way. When Nanami makes her confetti filled appearance, he laughs and blows into the noise maker to greet her. Too oblivious to notice her discomfort, he just puts on the biggest grin whenever she approaches him.

He also brought a present wrapped up in a simple pink box, and inside is a simple silver bracelet, if she cares to open it up.

"Happy Birthday!"

[tragicomedienne]

Nanami is nearly in tears by the time Keith approaches her, though his decked-out attire surprises her enough that they dry in her eyes.

"Th-thank you..." A waterfall of confetti comes off of her head and shoulders when she brushes them off before accepting his box. Nanami runs her freshly-trimmed nail beneath the wrapping to open it.

For Nanami, who frequently received jewelry that shared a price tag with some cars from her family, the bracelet is nothing special. But she hasn't seen a lot of things like it since arriving here. Costume jewelry had seemed to survive longer and in larger quantities.

"This is for me?"

[andagain]

It wasn't easy, perhaps he had picked it up from a mission somewhere that had more genuine jewelry available. But Keith went simple for the sake of his wallet, time, and he wasn't exactly sure what kind Nanami wanted.

"Of course. Wasn't it what you wanted?" He watches her expression, hoping it was the right choice to make.

A and omg sorry for the late... >_>

[therealrisette]

Nanami-chan!

[Rise hurriedly rushes over to her roommate's side after the confetti hits. Normally, she'd think it was kind of a cute gesture, something fun they could laugh over later. But she sees the look on Nanami's face. It's not a cute gesture to her, it's an embarrassment. And that can't be tolerated on someone's birthday!]

I'm so sorry! I swear, I didn't know anything about this!!!

[And she'll just... immediately set to fussing over Nanami. Brushing confetti off of her clothes and out of her hair. If she can fix this soon, maybe Nanami can enjoy the rest of the party...? Hopefully, Snow hasn't set up any other surprises for later...]

it's ok!!

[tragicomedienne]

I thought you were planning this party together!

[It's the first thing she can find the words to say, still flustered and mortified from the "surprise." She folds her arms across her abdomen as Rise brushes her off, not doing

What if Rise was just trying to sabotage her from the beginning? What if that was why she stepped up to the opportunity so easily? She'd sure come out of this looking a lot better, if she'd done something like that.]

You would have told me if you had known, wouldn't you?

[therealrisette]

So did I! I... don't know how he did this...

[Rise's just as mortified as Nanami is. Partially because she can tell how upset this made her. But also because dear GOD, Snow, what made you think this was a good idea?!]

Of course I would have! We could've... brought you in through a side entrance... or something.

[She just keeps fussing over Nanami as she talks, trying to get every last bit of confetti she can see. For once, her complete disregard for personal space might be working in Nanami's favor.]

Just... let me know if there's anything I can do, okay?

[She's absolutely determined to make this better. Nobody's going to completely ruin Nanami's party if she has anything to say about it!]

B

[transgressed]

[The last fourteen year old's birthday party she'd been to had been Vanille's, over five hundred years ago, in the warmth and safety of Oerba, the way it'd been before. She'd been on high alert back then, looming over Vanille, scrutinizing her friends. Her best behavior, that day. No fights. No arguments. She'd let Vanille put flowers in her hair, even.

This party, she realizes she's grown out of those things. The most exciting thing had been when the kid had confetti fall on her from the sky (she'd warned Snow not to do that, but he was about as hardheaded as he was tall). She wishes, very much, that she had a drink, but a dry tap was deemed appropriate for a child's birthday party (for some reason), and so a dry tap it was.

She's sitting by the closed bar though, as if in the hopes it might open eventually, and catches a flash of blonde hair out of the corner of her eye.]

Hey there, birthday girl. Enjoying yourself?

[She doesn't really expect an answer in the positive.]

[tragicomedienne]

Oh...It's nice to see you. [She recognizes her from the video (Fang is a hard woman to forget). How much of this did she have anything to do with? Nanami manages a small smile.]

It's sure. been eventful. I think...it's all right.

I'm surprised more people didn't come. Don't thy know how rude it is to turn down hospitality? [But she's surprised, really, that so many people did show up, people who might have come just because of her invitation. Nanami glances at the bracelet from Keith around her wrist.]

HERE'S THE CAKE

[stonewall]

[ He honestly feels bad about the confetti incident. Regardless of the intent behind it, he knows he's screwed up at least one thing today... but rather than wallow in his failure, it makes him all the more determined to make everything else great, starting with the birthday cake.

Said cake has been ordered in from elsewhere, with a planned delivery midway through the party. It wasn't cheap to get something so fancy on such short notice, but as far as he's concerned, this is his gift to her, and the price wasn't an issue. He answers the knock on the back door when it comes, and carefully sets the plate down on the closest table — he'll carry it out into the party eventually, but he figures Nanami ought to see it first. ]

Alright! [ Even if it was his own cake, he couldn't possibly be any more excited. He waves Nanami over from the crowd with a grin. ] Hey, kiddo! Come over here!

AND WHAT A CUTE CAKE IT IS

[tragicomedienne]

I'm not 'kiddo...'

[She separates herself from her adoring public (it's not very adoring at all, she's coming to realize - just what kind of place does she have here?) with some hesitation. She walks slowly and cautiously, one hand braced on her elbow. He said he hadn't planned anything else, but fool her twice...]

What is it?