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 Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 5:34 pm
A birthday party, a time for remembering the past, a time wishes were granted, a time for gifts, cake, laughter, and cheap goodies for guests. Howl's birthday party was much more. He was a wizard, and though he claimed his actual birthday was in January, that didn't seem to keep him from wanting to delight his guests. And he expected many of them, having enchanted invitations to go to everyone he knew--and everyone he didn't, too. He was far too vain to leave anyone out.
No cheap card trick magicians, no frightening over smiley creeper clowns. Instead of balloon animals that tended to be popped once played with, Howl had enchanted those around the room to behave like the animals they were supposed to be. Maybe it wasn't such a brilliant idea. He himself had been bitten more than once by a lion, and was presently being barked at by Devin's dog.
"He liketh you Howl!" Devin was delighted. Said red weiner dog of a balloon allowed the toddler to pet it. The balloon animals were really the least extraordinary party favors, even with the enchantments and the promise that they would not pop or in any way deflate.
It wasn't even that the cake had been enchanted so it would become a person's favorite flavor as soon as a piece was set in front of them. It wasn't that musical instruments sat in a corner, being played by an invisible band, and were taking requests. Nor was it the fact that Howl had somehow hired Welsh trooping fairies for the entertainment that evening.
It wasn't even that the wizard had bespelled the streamers overhead so that they were a fluidy gold material.
It was that--
"Howl, what'th thith?" Devin asked, picking up a tiny, crystal clear bottle. There were several of them, at least twenty. There didn't seem to be anything in them, though each of them had been carefully sealed with a stopper.
"You'll have to wait and see," Howl said mysteriously. "Don't open yours now, Devin. Goodness knows what it'd do with you so excited."
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Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 5:51 pm
"I still don't think you should be going." Kali informed Katia for what had to be the seven hundredth time today. "You don't even know this 'Howl' kid, and besides that..." She waved the invitation, which was clearly enchanted. "This kid is actually magic, Katia. There's no telling what he could do."
"Luka wants to go." Katia replied, walking along with the small shadow fluttering in the air behind her. "And if Luka wants to go, we'll go." She said it as if it were final, as if she were the boss.
Kali crunched the invitation in her hand, infuriated by her cousin's arrogance. But, she said nothing...not yet. Instead she turned her attentions to the other child with them, who was strangely silent.
Dmitri was staring up at the clouds as he walked, curly red head tipped so far back Kali was sure he would fall over. He didn't, though he did notice her looking at him. Standing up straight he smiled at her and jogged to keep step with her and the others.
"The cloud looks like a horse." He informed her, slipping his little hand in hers. Kali was one of the girls Dmitri tolerated, though that was probably because she was older. He was currently in the 'girls are gross' stage, and much preferred throwing mudpies at them to being around them. He also adored Katia, but then, they were related; and that was sure to fade away as they grew old enough to torment one another.
"Does it?" Kali asked, tipping her head back as they came to the door. Had she been looking, she would have noticed Luka darting forward, and seen his eyes brighten in what could only be excited anticipation. Katia lurched forward, trying to stop him, but by then the little shadow had chirruped, and disappeared.
He reappeared on the other side of the door, tumbling head over heels across the floor before finally skidding to a stop in front of Devi, head swirling dizzily around in a circle.
"Luka!" Without bothering to knock, Katia ran after her shadow. Kali snapped her head back to look forward and lunged for her cousin, but much like the shadow Katia was through before anyone could stop her.
"Luka, come back here!!!" She called as the shadow shook his head back and forth to clear it, wings fluttering. Cooing, he turned to look at his host, and chirruped happily, bouncing into the air.
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Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 5:58 pm
Damin and Louie glared at a certain ragdoll toddler who walked ahead of them in her red dress, carrying a covered basket of her newest creation. They weren't roses, but Eve helped that they would go well with the covered painting that the two vampires were carrying.
After reading up on Howl and recalling what she learned about him from a very brief visit to his world, she had gotten inspiration to do a piece showing his family though Morgan had been a little difficult to paint.
Damin sighed, "Eve, I swear next time you ask us to help you with a present, you're going to have to experiment with golems."
"I love you, Uncle Damin, Grandpa Louie," she glanced at them, smiling cutely to try to get them to be a little less annoyed by her.
Louie groaned and followed the child to the party with Damin looking more annoyed.
Once they arrived at the party, Eve glanced around for Howl. Once she spotted his blonde hair, she walked over. "Howl! Happy birthday."
Ivy was waiting at home, watching Lilium wander around. Anya was taking nearly forever to pick out an outfit for the party.
It wasn't even her birthday party and Anya thought how she looked was more important than attending. Sometimes the dark elf was stunned at how vain the vampire really could be.
She had promised Eve that she would get to the party when Anya was ready.
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Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 6:02 pm
"Pah-tee, pah-tee!" Adam was bouncing up and down in his mothers' arms. His ball-encased tail swung wildly, and occasionally Jillian had to duck to avoid being clocked in the face. She was of course, attending the party of one Howell Jenkins, a wizard she had met previously at a very strange party. A very young wizard, she remembered. Now, however, she woudn't feel so out of place; she had a child with her. Her son, Adam.
He had now ceased his bouncing and was instead looking around excitedly, though his tail still whipped arounnd with deadly fervor. She ducked as she walked up to the door of the house, slipping inside and looking around. Extravagant, of course, though that could only be expected from the vain wizard.
"Dow'." Adam demanded, eyes widening excitedly as he saw a very animated giraffe balloon stalk by. "Mummy dow'!" he begged, and with a laugh, Jillian set him free. He bounded over to the giraffe, giggling, and as she followed him Jillian looked up and offered a wave of greeting to Howl.
"Happy birthday." She said, walking nearer him as Adam's attention jerked away from the giraffe to the boy his mother was talking to. He promptly decided that he needed to meet this stranger, and stalked over, standing in front of him.
"M' Adam." He introduced himself with a smile.
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Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 6:21 pm
Later, when he was asked to recall, Ellery wasn't quite able to remember how he managed to get away from his stupid Quentin babysitter that day. But that didn't matter to the adventurous young toddler. All that mattered was that Quentin wouldn't be bossing him around all day, and his daddy probably wouldn't care or even know about it. The day was his.
The satyr had wandered at random once he'd been freed of his oppressive babysitter, and had at once been drawn to the sounds and smells of the party. Forsaking the entrance, he scrambled his way in through an open window to land noisily on the floor. Ellery quickly got to his feet and pretended that he totally belonged there, although the expression of gaping wonder gave him away perhaps a bit. It was just so... Pretty! And that was a girl word! But the ceiling was golden and the balloons were actually moving and the music was nice and sounded like rich people and the food-
The food.
Ellery completely disregarded the rest of the party, walking like a possessed man towards the food. He inhaled with deep satisfaction, moaning longingly before attacked the food with loud gusto. Any sense of stealth was abandoned; if someone mean threw him out, he'd just stuff as much food into his mouth as he could before he left.
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Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 7:27 pm
"Must I, Mother? I do not even know him and that... THING shouldn't have to be here. Why do you still listen to that lady? Hmpf, I would not do such things. It is so distasteful," Regina complained, completely ignoring the boy on the other side of the white-haired woman who appeared to be gritting her teeth.
"I'm right here you know, Miss Know-It-All," Azrael snapped, orange eyes glaring darkly at Regina. The two glared at each other for several long minutes till a pale white hands latched onto their ears.
"OW! Ary what the he-OW!" Azrael cried, flinching as she dragged him along by a single purple ear.
"I want silence. No complaining, no whining, no fighting and NO bees. I want this to have a happy ending, not be kicked out of this kids house for life. Azrael, your mother asked this of me because of your brother so deal with it. Regina, I will not leave you home alone no matter what you say," Ary snapped, ignoring the protests that came from the two. Once they fell silent, pace matched with hers, she released their ears.
"Now, go in and have some fun. Any trouble and I'll make sure you're both grounded for a month," the woman warned, allowing them to walk into the house alone and take in the grandeur of the party.
"Perhaps I have misjudged this... Howl. I am almost impressed," Regina muttered, glancing over at the orange headed boy. With a scoff of disgust and a roll of the eyes she shoved past the stunned demon to place the present down and get a better look at the festivities. Ugh, more peasants. Great.
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Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 7:59 pm
Tish wasn't sure about this, not in the least. She was afraid to run into Niko, afraid to run into an angry and hormonal Thali, and just in general afraid of ruining the happy atmosphere that was expected at a party. But Luvvie had insisted on getting to go see Howl (though she still persisted in calling the boy Lindsey; probably just because it annoyed him), and Miri hoped that there might be more kitties there, so she was up for going, too. Axel didn't care about his mother's fear of Niko, he wanted to see Demy if he could, and if he couldn't then maybe at least Calcifer. And at the very least, there were sure to be other boys there so he wouldn't be drowning in girls any more. Lissy and Faiya opted to stay home, Faiya intent on working on a picture for her "MyTori", and Lisette content to help her. The newest little Jenkins, an infant Princess named Elise, had clapped her hands and enthused about going to a 'pah-tee' with her family. Thus it was that the brunette and four of her children came to the party, with the two infants in a dual-stroller and two toddlers in tow. "Now, everyone, please behave," she said quietly, trying not to let her nervousness show. "We don't want to wind up making a scene or anything." --- Meanwhile, a few minutes behind her, another single-parent family was making their way to the party, though some of the members were decidedly dragging their feet about it. The infant Kupo was excited to get to see others of his age, and his new sister Belle wanted to see if the family had any books that she might know - and, of course, the prospect that the birthday child was, in fact, one of the main characters of a book she had recently read was enchanting to her. Phoebe, however, and the teenage senka, Kendra, would both have rather been going anywhere else. Phoebe didn't want to go to this place, she'd rather be off playing with Ily and Seth, or visiting her older half-sister, Ebby. She liked parties well enough, but was quite sure that this one was going to be completely miserable. Kendra just didn't want to go because it was a kid's party and she wasn't likely to be allowed to smoke while she was there, which annoyed the Vulpix-like teen to no end. She needed her cigarettes! Jadyn herself wasn't too enthused with this idea, but felt that they should try and do some things "as a family" just because it was supposedly psychologically healthy and "promoted bonds between parent and children", or at least the parenting books she had been reading said so. She fully planned on waiting out the silly thing in a corner and leaving as soon as her youngest started getting to tired - or went missing one too many times.
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Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 9:32 pm
“Are we there Sky?” Nate asked for the dozenth time since they’d gotten off the bus. In between his bony finger the small reaper held a small gift for a boy he’d never met. It was exciting though to get a mysterious invitation, Nate was too young still to fear strangers and there had been something that felt right about the piece of paper. That and the small skeletal boy would much rather go to a party then another boring thing with his father where all he did was sit still on old furniture and hope he got to see a ghost.
Skylar sighed softly “Yes we’re almost there Nate, now stop wriggling.” His little brother was heavy but he could only walk under his own power for a certain amount of time before he got tired. Since there would probably party games that required dancing and moving it meant Skylar , who had volunteered to take Nate to the party, had to carry him there.
The Nu Mou was strong , well stronger than he used to be , but he still had his limits and Nate’s wriggling made this all the harder.
Thankfully they were only a few houses away from the one specified on the invitation, Skylar’s bluish grey eyes widened a little when he noted the amount of people headed for the front door. It looked like a lot of invitations had gone out.
~
It had been a while since Iggy had gone to one of these things, a while since he’d willingly gone anywhere in the daytime. The will o the wisp boy had gotten older and stronger but it only served to increase he dislike of being awake never mind active during the day. Still he remembered Howl from other outings and while he’d never gotten close to the other boy he was willing to go to a birthday party. Especially since he was allowed to go alone, after promising to be on his absolute best behavior.
With just a few soul lights swirling around him Iggy grinned and headed for the door of a nice looking house. He would try his best to not lead anyone astray today but well.. sometimes these things happened. Besides, it was a party and parties needed games, of this the young blond was sure.
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Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 12:02 am
Devin was delighted with this turn of events. His attention was torn away from hids older brother and his new balloon-dog to Luka. "Oooh..." was all the toddler had to say. He had seen shadows before, his older brother had one. One of his favorite aunties had one. Had this shadow decided to be his? Oh, he hoped so! "Hi! I'm Devin," the little dark elf introduced himself with a clumsy half-bow, glancing at Katia. His golden eyes sparkled with mischeif for a moment, and a genuine look of curiousity quickly followed. "Mine," he decided, nodding at the shadow. He seemed to ignore the fact that Luka had acknowledged Katia. The shadow was his, naturally. It had appeared right in front of him.
Howl looked up to see what his younger brother was claiming. He sighed inwardly when he noticed Luka and Katia, though he smiled all the same. "Katia and Luka, I assume?" he asked. "Pleasure to meet you. I'm Howl." He was pleased. Katia was about his age, and though she seemed to have trouble with her shadow (quite like Howl did himself) she seemed like a potential friend. "Where are the other two?" he added, glancing towards the door. Hadn't there been four names on the invitation?
His attention was quickly stolen, almost literally, by Eve. Blue eyes focused onto the ragdoll child, before he gave her a sunny smile. "Thanks," he said. "How are your roses coming?" He had gone straight to business--he had adopted the younger girl as his apprentice. "Where's your mom? And Lilium? Puff wanted to play with her," He glanced around the room for his own shadow, to no avail. His shadow was no where in sight. He caught sight of Jill and his smile brightened, if that was possible.
"I thought you weren't going to make it," he said, in an almost formal fashion. "I've missed you since the last party. I've got something for you later." Of course, the vain wizard hadn't quite given up on flirting with the girls. Not entirely. It couldn't be helped, seeing as he was heartless. "Oh, hello," he said, looking down at Adam. "I'm Howl." He studied the toddler, before grinning. "Hey. I know who you are. Did Darcy drag you out of a book too? Did Belle dump you? I always admired your castle, you know." If Belle had really left the boy, Howl would be sure to take him under his wing. Maybe teach him how to woo girls in a flawless fashion, maybe to make a moving castle--
In short, Howl was planning on corrupting a toddler. Maybe-- "Hey, Adam? You're my apprentice now." He left no room for arguement, though he did flash Jillian a pleading look, before attaching himself to her, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Please, Jill? Please can I teach him?"
He didn't seem to notice that a certain satyr was after the food. Pity. He might have gotten upset, but it wasn't exactly a secret that Howl never ate much of anything. Ellery could eat his share, too, and no one would ever know the difference.
He released Jillian to wave at the next guests to arrive, a snotty looking girl (and Howl thinking anyone looked snotty was saying a lot, seeing as he was as vain as they came) and a vaguely familar looking pumpkin demon. "Hey," he sent a smile in their direction, before bowing to Regina, a teasing smirk tugging at his lips; though he attempted to keep it hidden. "Ah, my queen," he really had no idea. He was teasing; Regina meant "queen" and the girl certainly acted like it. "So good for you to have come. I am your Royal Wizard." If only the wizard knew what kind of trouble this could put him in... He would have perhaps ran in the opposite direction.
He gave a polite nod to Azrael. "Hey, Azzy. Loki said to invite you. Should be here soon," he mused, glancing at the door. His eyes widened in surprise before he flashed his customary smile. "Tish!" he called delightedly, waving at her. "Luvvie! Miri!" He paused, when he noticed an infant he didn't recognize. Axel he knew, of course. But who was the other girl? "Hey Xelly," he waved to the red-headed infant.
For a moment, there was silence. An awkward silence. Howl didn't quite know what to say.
Someone else did. "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" Came a voice. An infant in blue and green overalls wobbled over to Tish as quickly as he could. Demyx, his hair tossled, obviously having just come from a nap, was all eyes as he looked onto his mother. "I luv you!" Then he seemed to notice Axel. A smile crossed his features, threatening to tear his face in two. "Xelly! I miss'd you! Why no come see me? Come see me!" He looked to Elise and frowned slightly, instant jealousy taking hold. Mommy had a new baby. A new baby. He'd have to put a stop to that; or at least learn to share his mother's attention.
"Mommy play? We get p'izes. Howl sayed so. Xelly play too!"
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Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 12:28 am
Eve smiled at her teacher's greeting, "They're coming along nicely. I've got two new kinds, one that I think you'll really like."
She laughed softly, "My mother is at home with Lilium, waiting for my grandmother to decide on an outfit for the party. Mommy promised to come and I know Lilium will be coming with her.
The ragdoll watched Howl go to Jillan and laughed as she could faintly make out what he was saying to the woman and the curious child she had with her. Deciding to see if any of her other friends had arrived, she glanced for anyone else she knew.
Her eyes lit up at the sight of Azrael, the purple demon already seemed like a good friend to her even if she had met him only once. She started to run over, but slowed to a walk at the sight of the girl with him. Her shyness kicked in a little as the girl seemed to her as struck up, but she told herself that was unreasonable to think such since she hadn't met the girl before.
"Hello, Azrael. It is lovely to see you again." She greeted him and smiled, hiding her nervousness.
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Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 11:23 am
Katia's usually bright face turned stormy as Devin decided that Luka was his. He most certainly was not! Luka was her shadow friend! And he was going to stay that way. she was about to open her mouth and tell this little boy so, but was interrupted by what appeared to be their host.
"Oh, yes. I'm Katia. This is Luka." She nodded, and smiled, offering a curtsy. "Pleased to meet you also. Kali and Dimitri are...somewhere..." She looked around the room. She spotted Dimitri, over by the snack table and stuffing his pockets with cheesy poofs, no doubt to lure Luka away to have someone to play with. And Kali...
She was storming this way. Offering a smile to her cousin, Katia waved, and was grateful that Howl had to hurry off to speak to a strange ragdoll girl.
"Katia, honestly. Be careful around him." Kali hissed as she came near her young cousin, who nodded dismissively and looked around again. There certainly were a lot of people arriving.
Dimitri's plan worked, as Luka soon noticed the cheesy poofs and chirruped, zipping away from Devi to tackle Dimitri's head, snatching away the snacks. Dimitri giggled and passed them up, the little shadow maintaining his perch atop his head.
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Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 11:30 am
Adam was quite bewildered when the strange boy started babbling at him about bellies, castles, and books. Wide eyed, he stared, awkwardly trying to come up with something fitting to say. He didn't really understand most of what Howl was saying.
"Cake!" He finally decided, eyes brightening as he beamed at Howl. Cake was always good, he thought, and would be an appropriate answer no matter what.
"Prentis?" He cocked his head to the side as the idea was proposed, rather unaware of it's meaning. So, he smiled, and nodded. "'Kay! Cake!" He smied, bouncing up and down on his bum.
The good mood didn't last very long, though. As Howl approached and hugged his mother, Adam's little eyes narrowed, and his tail lashed suggestively. He knew he wasn't supposed to, but...
Jillian laughed, patting the back of Howl's head as he latched onto her. "Goodness, Howl...I don't know." She wasn't sure that she wanted Adam to be 'corrupted' by Howl. Would he be as vain as the young wizard? She certainly hoped not.
"Well...as long as you don't teach him anything bad, I don't see a problem in it..." She finally decided, chuckling.
Frowning, Adam rolled to his feet, toddling over to grab his mother's leg and squeeze himself in between her and Howl. He was quite the jealous little boy. It seemed he was not a moment too soon, since Howl quickly scurried off. Smiling to himself, Adam snuggled his face into his mother's leg before toddling off to follow the giraffe again.
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Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 2:02 pm
This place... It was filled with little ones, not many of her own age. Even so, Alome didn't mind. They were full of sweet, innocent happiness, and who was she to try to spoil it for them?
She hadn't expected to come to this party at all, but... There was something that pulled her to it. Ever since she got her mask, it seemed to change the way she viewed many things, the way the world works. Because the eyes are the portals to one's soul, to the way one really thinks, perhaps it was the fact that she hid them that allowed her to move around more freely than she had in previous weeks.
Her normal clothing was adjusted a sundress, to match her mask, both being an elegant white. Without her wings... She felt no right to dress as if she were the same person. If it wasn't for her uniquely tanned skin and frost kissed hair, one wouldn't have been able to tell it was her.
In her hands was a box wrapped in white paper, with a lavender bow on top. It was her present for Howl. It was something that she took a long time making before.. And now was the perfect time to give it to him.
For now, she vaguely wondered if she'd be noticed. Certainly someone would notice a masked girl coming into a children's party.
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Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 6:38 pm
Regina simply blinked and stared at Howl, a curious look overcoming her pale face. "Royal Wizard... I am Regina, Queen of the Snow. I do not suppose you can make that... vile creature over there disappear," she replied coolly, a slight hint of respect in her voice that could be mistaken for anything. Of course, as she mentioned said "vile creature", the girl nodded towards Azrael who had crossed his arms and happened to wander a little closer.
"Oh ha ha Reggie. Hey Howl, and he should? Excellent," Azrael replied, smirking as Regina's face quickly turned to that of rage at his use of her nickname. As Howl left to go greet another group, Azrael burst into laughter. "Ah that never gets old Reg. And hey Eve. How have you been lately?" Azrael asked, leaning closer to the girl. "Ignore the blue-haired menace over there or she'll turn you into one of her little slaves," he whispered, managing to cause the girl to storm off in absolute disgust.
"Azrael, I hope you die a most terrible and painful death," Regina commented coldly as she headed off to another section of the room and hopefully as far as possible from the pumpkin demon.
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Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 10:27 pm
Eve watched Regina for a moment, "I've been all right, just working on my artwork and garden. How have you been?"
She chuckled at his other comment, "She seems....charming. Is she always that aloof?"
She was glad to see Azrael again, but Regina was strange to her, then again, she really didn't care about royal blood or not. It was new to her to meet someone that acted like something out of one of her storybooks.
"Very charming girl, reminds me of my grandmother Anya a little."
Anya, having finally decided on an outfit was currently following a very irate dark elf that got tired of waiting for her to finish her hair and makeup. "You might be my adopted mother, Anya, but I refuse to disappoint my daughter by waiting ages for you to be completely ready for the party."
Lilium walked beside Ivy, holding her hand with a nervous smile on her face. She had never seen Ivy mad before and it scared the shadow more than she was willing to admit.
Her host walked behind them, muttering curses under her breath in some language that the shadow couldn't understand and according to Ivy, it was best that she not understand it.
Ivy herself was really against breaking her promise to her daughter, who had been working that painting all month. She was also on edge from a date that she called a disaster, but it wasn't completely one.
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