Everyone raise your glasses!

[thenormalsquint]

When; Evening of Tuesday, August 13th
Rating; PG-13, at best. Angela's on her best behavior tonight.
Characters; It's Ginny's birthday party and everybody Ginny knows was invited. Let's handwave that and just show up. BTW, IT'S BLACK TIE. PUT ON YOUR SUITS, BOYS.
Summary; There's no legal drinking age in the City, but who says we can't party like there was one anyway?
Log;

This party was four years coming. The restaurant has set aside a large room just for this event and on short notice too. The food is plentiful and of various cuisines, with even a large selection of vegetarian options for those who prefer that. But of course, there is more alcohol than one has ever seen because Angela knows the people she invited and knows quite a few of them have liquor in their veins instead of blood. Rule of thumb: more liquid than solids every time.

Everything's set and ready for the birthday girl to make her appearance, so for the time being, Angela's flitting around the place dressed in more subdued colors than usual, choosing black because no one gets to stand out more than Ginny tonight, and socializing with the few guests that have shown up already.

Sadly, there are no strippers. Ginny nixed that one hard.

Comments

[hexuality]

[And hugging the wall is where she finds him, taking a moment to breathe and to take a break from the dance floor. It's nice to see everyone and especially her newer friends, some of whom she's meeting in person for the first time. Ginny links her hands behind her back and ducks into his sightline, smiling.]

Hullo. Doing alright?

[excelsiors]

Doing great.

<sub>( and that is entirely sincere as he flashes her a grin. he may not be totally on board with dancing, but the company and atmosphere are nice.

he dips his head, before handing over the lopsided package and saying, )</sub> Happy belated, by the way.

[hexuality]

[She laughs, accepting the gift with a broader smile.]

Oh, wow, thank you. [She holds it up for inspection, amused and curious by the shape of it.] D'you want me to open it now?

[excelsiors]

It's your birthday. Totally up to you.

_{( but inside is a carved box about as big as a fist. and inside that, strange seeds. don't eat them, ginny. )}

[hexuality]

Well, then.

[She grins and unwraps it, eyes widening at the box, fingertips tracing across the carved design of it.]

It's lovely. [But then something rattles inside as she lifts it in her hand and she pauses, glancing up at him with a curious look, then opens it up. And her brows raise.] What's all this, then?

[excelsiors]

Perennials. _{( like that's the most obvious conclusion anyone could ever come to, seriously, keep up here. )}

You plant them once and they keep growing, time and again.

[hexuality]

Oh! [She actually quite enjoyed Herbology as a class.] What sort of flowers are they? I'll be sure not to put them in the herb garden if they're meant to be pretty rather than practical.

[Neville started an herb garden in the woods when there were more of them from their world and needed to brew potions. She's kept it up since he left years ago.]

[excelsiors]

They're called Alstroemeria. Look kind of like lilies, except the petals get these brilliant colors. It looks like they're on fire, almost.

[hexuality]

[She doesn't know very much about flowers, but she likes the sound of these, very fitting.]

Sounds like my kind of flower. [She shuts the box and is sure to keep it somewhere safe, like that little pile of gifts on a nearby table.] D'you like gardening?

[excelsiors]

Everyone's got one. I took a guess.

_{( the question has him kind of shrugging. )} I like plants. Haven't been in the same place for long enough to have a garden in awhile, though.

[hexuality]

My hair might've helped.

[Yes, she winks at him for that.]

You must love Xanadu, then. I'm sure you've seen all the different paths it's got. If it's gardening you want, my friends and I just started one just inside the forest. Herb garden, like I said, for potions mostly so it's got all sorts of different plants. They've been growing alright in the City climate.

[Magical and Muggle plants. Neville's green thumb.]

[excelsiors]

_{( he covers his responding grin by worrying his lower lip with his teeth. )}

I've been exploring it a bit, but there's still a lot of ground to cover. Things have been a little hectic.

And if they're for potions, does that mean they're magical plants?

[hexuality]

You can see more of it from the air.

[Then she nods, grinning.]

Some of them, yeah. Dittany and monkshood exist as non-magical plants but we still use them. And then there's stuff like devil's snare or gillyweed that are definitely magical. I mean, gillyweed lets you breathe underwater! Can't grow that, though. But you get what I mean.

[excelsiors]

That's the plan.

...do I want to know what a devil's snare does?

[hexuality]

So I take it you'd rather have lessons there than on the beach or pitch.

[She raises her brows at the question, then she bites down on her bottom lip, shrugging.]

No, but you'll wonder. It constricts or strangles anything that gets caught in its tendrils but it hates light or fire. Possesses a sort of sense of touch so if you sit still, it'll ease up. Or so I've heard.

[She... does not mention that her brother, ex-boyfriend, and best friend survived an encounter with it when they were eleven years old.]

[excelsiors]

I'd say we should go for all three, actually.

_{( he's not going to say no to more flying, tbh. )}

I've heard of aggressive plants before, but that's a bit extreme.

It does sound fascinating, though. _{( and he kind of smiles to himself at is borrowing of spock's favorite word. )}

[hexuality]

I'll take you on the best tour of the City.

[SHE'S EXCITED, OKAY. She can't wait to go flying with people again.]

They all are. I loved Herbology as a class, any of my more practical classes were so much better. Maybe that's why History of Magic was so painful. But things like Charms or Potions or Herbology? Absolutely.

[excelsiors]

I'll hold you to that.

_{( he's excited to. this is him internally jumping for joy. )}

No one really wants to here about what people have done before when they could be out there doing it themselves, right?

[hexuality]

We didn't set out to make history. But I think we might've done it.

[It slips out before she really realises what she's saying and her cheeks colour faintly when she does.]

You're right, though. There's only so much we could stand to hear about the goblin wars. I'd much rather make things fly or do it myself.

[excelsiors]

That might be how those kinds of things always happen.

<sub>( he gives her a keen look, though he doesn't push the point. he might even understand, a bit, not that the enterprise has made that much history, yet. )

You know, before they let you fly a starship, you have to log hundreds of hours in simulations. I think it might actually be a form of torture.</sub>

[hexuality]

Yeah. Reckon so.

[Who would have thought that the second war against the Dark Lord would have been fought with children? There were hundreds of others on their side, adults and veterans of the first war, but there was Harry. There was Hogwarts.

She grins.]

Really? I'd hate it. No simulations for us when it came to brooms. There were lessons in our first year and they just put you straight on, have you hover a bit, get back off. But I started teaching myself when I was six. Though I suppose simulations just get you really excited and ready for the real thing.

What's it like?

[excelsiors]

It's hard to man a ship by yourself. Also hard to replace them, so I doubt they'd want to risk rookie mistakes.

_{( plus, you know, those things are huge and manned by hundreds of people. )}

The simulations, or the real thing?

[hexuality]

The real thing, of course.

[excelsiors]

It's amazing.

_{( he nods, but there's a clear reverence in his tone. )}

You can't really feel the ship moving around you--or you shouldn't--unless you're at warp. But despite how big the things are, there are a million small details to consider, and where you're actually sitting there, controlling everything, and looking at the stars... the universe is literally laid out before you.

[hexuality]

[And she listens intently, smile widening as he describes the view.]

Never been higher than what we've got here. [She breathes out, shaking her head.] Flying at night and under the stars is pretty incredible enough, but I can only imagine what it's like to really be up there. What've you seen? Planets? Not just stars, I'm sure. I've only seen it all through a telescope.