The invitations that went out were very simple... a white card in an envelope, printed in a clean font.
Arian and Orah are celebrating their birthdays together and you're invited to join them for cake and icecream!
Feb. 16th, 3:00 PM - ?
The invitation included directions to the flower shop where Orah lived and worked, instructing guests to come in through the back door, as the loading dock had parking and that door was closest to the stairs leading up to the family apartment above the shop.
Not all of those invited were names Orah was familiar with, but she was sharing her party with Arian and it had been important to invite people he was friends with as well as her own friends... at least, those they didn't have in common, since the list for the pair was surprisingly similar. The party itself was even more than the young woman had originally planned, since she would not have gone as far just to celebrate her own birthday. For her friend, she put far more effort into things, making a much larger cake, decorating it with more flare, and putting up more paper decorations than she would have. On the peninsula of the kitchen, she had a bunch of bottles of soda and water for people to take, as well as a can for garbage. The cake had pride of place next to them, sporting a scattering of unlit candles.
It was rather exciting to have friends to celebrate this special day with... Orah couldn't stop her stomach doing flip flops as the first of the guests started to arrive and she held the door to the family living space open for them. She was dressed cutely in a wine red knit dress with a white collar and a black ribbon around her waist, floral leggings hugging her slender legs down to matching converse high tops, her dark hair falling in loose curls down her back.
"Hello! Thank you guys so much for coming! Can I take any coats?" The dark haired girl said cheerfully, a large smile on her face. "There are some drinks on the counter and I'll cut the cake once Arian is ready."
litian
Its Arian's party too!
ChibiGingi
Gwen is invited!
Lithia_Brandon
Nate is invited!
LokisRose
Gigi is invited!
ZaiaFantasy
Harmony is invited!
Ryuthulhu
Holi is invited!
Cooro Cooro
Nischal is invited!
Ivynian
Björn is invited!
Quicksilver the Archangel
Pasiphae is invited, if she wants to come powered down! Horatio is also invited, but warned that this is mixed company, so she'll have to hang out in Orah's room, but will get cake and ice cream and can come out once Orah's sure the only people there are senshi/knights. <3
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Anella is invited!
Kaori_luv
Lily and Xander are invited!
Iris_Virus
Florentina is invited, powered down!
Matisha
Bohlinia is invited, powered down!
Elite Sushi
Claudia is invited, powered down!
Orangeish Sherbert
Elvira is invited, powered down!
Sunshine Alouette
Paris is invited, and can bring her husband!
You folks have been invited to celebrate a joint birthday party because you know Orah Gowan, Arian Laith, and/or their powered identities, Sailor Ida and Sailor Athene. If you only know them through their powered selves, you were invited via Senshi phone and invited to come powered down. No powered peeps will be allowed, sorry! Its mixed company.
You do not have to participate if you don't want to, so don't feel you have to jump in just because you were quoted! The invites didn't have an RSVP with them, so Orah has really no idea who will show up or not.
This party is super informal. The main focus is the cake and ice cream rather than traditional party activities, but Orah has planned ahead and pulled out some board games in case anyone wants to stay longer and hang out. She's also got movies, in case that strikes peoples' interest. Presents are not required either, its enough to just have friends around to celebrate with.
Because ORPs go pretty slowly, there is no posting order and you don't have to 'stay' or do more than a single post if you want to claim your character has been there. No one is expected to stay longer than just to eat the dessert, but are welcome to stay as long as they wish.
Orah's house layout, for reference! The house is middle class, and very clean for this party. The furniture is nice, but lovingly used, and there are of course fresh flowers here and there.
Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 10:59 am
He didn't know Arian, at least he thought he didn't, maybe? Maybe not. He'd met a lot of people, or at least seen a lot of people (did seeing qualify as meeting?) at the various large events he had gotten out to in the city. The problem with that theory as a basis for whether he did or did not know this Arian friend of Orah's was that if he did know the person he hadn't written down their name to remember- and if he had met them it was at least 3 months ago. Which was waaaaay too far for his idiot noggin to keep a hold of.
Björn felt bad about it.
Hopefully it is nothing being friendly, celebrating a birthday and a gift can't cure. Which reminded him to double check that he had remembered both gifts. They weren't required, he knew, but it just seemed sad to for someone to have a birthday and there be no presents at all. Everyone deserved a present. Even if he didn't really know them. He'd guessed with Orah's, only really having interacted with her a few times. Arian's was a complete shot in the dark.
Björn held his hand up to Orah's greeting when he arrived, beaming back a smile. He wasn't even in gym clothes this time. He' d planned especially for the party- jeans, button down and vest. No coat, but he did offer out a sparkly gold-wrapped box to her (he'd gotten a little better at crafty things like neatly wrapping gifts since learning to sew so it wasn't a total train wreck of tape and wrinkles). "This one is for you. Is there a table for Arian's? Or they are upstairs already?"
He wasn't going to hazard if 'arian' was a boy or girl's name.
Arian's birthday had been actually 5 days earlier back on the 11th, but he had readily agreed when Orah had suggested the idea of a joint celebration.
As the 16th crept closer however, Arian had found himself feeling inexplicably nervous. His birthday tended to be something of a quiet affair with him staying up to watch his birthday come in and then later a birthday meal followed by dvd-watching or perhaps a game with Saffy. It had been a while since he'd had an actual party to celebrate his birthday - several years worth of a while in fact.
He'd ended distracting himself by throwing himself into working on a present for Orah, a polymer clay pendant in the shape of a little book decorated with little orchid flowers and beads. He'd ended up nitpicking everything from whether the three small flowers looked sufficiently orchid-like to which beads to pair them with however he'd eventually finished the pendant up in the early hours of the 15th and slipped it onto a slender eighteen inch silver chain.
On the day of the party itself, Arian had put some thought on what to wear and ended up wearing a shirt with sleeves patterned from the elbow downwards which he paired with a pair of dark brown courduroys and a tiny bit of jewellery in the form of the wire-wrapped bottle earring that he almost always wore and he'd put his long hair up in a high ponytail instead of his more usual braid, although he'd kept his glasses.
Arian tended towards the quiet side, but his slight smile had been warm as he greeted Orah and offered up the small but neatly-wrapped box that contained her present with a quiet "Happy Birthday." He knew they'd agreed that presents weren't required, but he'd wanted to make something special for his friend given that it was her 18th birthday. He just hoped that Orah liked it, he was also hoping that their non mutual friends (powered or otherwise) would get on with each other.
Bluefire Dragonz
Ivynian
Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 4:35 pm
Orah blinked in surprised as a bright gold gift was offered to her, a bright, delighted smile breaking over her face like sunshine as she took it. She had honestly not expected to get anything, so it was a pleasant surprise.
"Thank you, Björn! Wow, it looks wonderful. Here, I'll take Arian's and put it on the counter by the drinks... You look great, by the way! I think this is the first time I've seen you out of your gym clothes." The young woman said with a giggle, holding the door open with her heel as she accepted both presents. She'd picked out something carefully for her friend as well, which was turning out to be a good thing because the birthday boy was coming in behind the tall blonde and he seemed to have another present for her.
"Arian! Come on in. Oh, my, thank you! Um, have you met Björn? This is Arian, the other birthday boy." Orah said as she offered another bright smile to the two men. "I would hug you both, but my hands are full, so lets go inside out of the cold."
Both guys should know the route to the family apartment, but she'd lead the way if need be, letting the door swing shut behind them. The back room of the flower shop had been neatly straightened up so there was a clear path to the stairs, just to make sure no one got lost or tripped over anything. It was something of a rare view into the inner workings of the flower shop, since from here you could see the backs of the coolers and the workbench where she did arrangements.
While Orah normally would have left her shoes at the bottom of the stairs, she didn't bother stopping to unlace her sneakers this time, trotting up the carpeted steps to the living space upstairs. The presents went on the counter behind the drinks and she waved a hand around the living room.
"Relax, hang out. I can start cutting the cake any time. Do you guys want something to drink?"
Anella absolutely loved birthdays, partially for the excuse to be social, and partially for the excuse to eat cake. Also partially for the excuse to see her friends, but she certainly didn't have an issue dropping in to say hello whenever the mood struck her. A joint-birthday party was something she hadn't experienced, and considering Orah had invited her it wasn't something she planned to miss.
When she arrived, she came bearing two identically wrapped packages, as she couldn't justify it being fair if only one of the guests of honor received a gift—and even if the invitation had said gifts weren't required, Anella couldn't resist.
Mostly because after Valentine's Day there had been a huge sale on chocolate and she'd made herself sick on chocolate twice already since then. It seemed like the best idea to get those large boxes of chocolate out of the house before she put herself into a diabetic coma.
"Orah!" she greeted, calling to her friend when she arrived; she was not exactly discreet and probably could have used more manners and knocked instead of just letting herself in, but she hastily explained, "Sorry, I just saw your friend come in and I didn't want to make you come answer the door for me!"
She held both boxes, wrapped in very obviously-Valentine themed wrapping paper she'd been saving for some occasion that probably wasn't a birthday, in one arm and proceeded to wave with her free hand when she walked in. Of the people there, she only recognized Orah. "Hi, Anella," she introduced to them. She had caught the tail end of Orah's introduction so recognized that the birthday boy was the smaller of the two males and that the one she'd seen come into the house was another guest. She offered one box to Orah and one to Arian, smiling, "Please take these away from me before I try to run off with them. Oh, and Happy Birthday! And, nice to meet you, ah, Arian and Bjorn?"
Bluefire Dragonz
Ivynian
litian
Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2014 2:20 pm
For most of her life Paris had been quite determined that she failed in almost all manner of gift-giving. Birthdays, Christmas, gifts for people she was close to, gifts for people she was not as close to, house-warming gifts, everything pretty much left her stressed out and bemoaning her failure as a friend, hostess, human-being, or whatever she was expected to be at the time when the gift-giving was happening.
Recently, however, she'd decided that you could never really go wrong with food.
Actually, on second thought, you could. Like if someone was allergic to nuts and you included nuts in your homemade fudge. Or if someone didn't really like chocolate. Or if someone was a vegetarian and you hadn't thought far enough ahead when it came to what to serve for dinner and then you seemed like an inconsiderate buttface when really you were just overwhelmed by the prospect of having to feed other people.
Her life was full of such moments, but even so she charged forward.
Luckily neither of the tins of homemade fudge she'd brought with her had nuts in them, so she'd at least managed to avoid that one potential moment of awkward.
Paris wasn't sure what the appropriate manner of dress was for the party this afternoon, but it was Sunday, so if her blush pink dress and nude pumps made her look too overdressed, she could always blame her time spent at Mass that morning for her choice in attire. She made her ascent up the stairs with a growing case of nerves; Orah and Arian she'd at least met before, but the rest of their company she was unsure if she knew (powered or otherwise). Still, it would seem rude to her if she were to ignore the invitation when they'd been kind enough to invite her, so she at least wanted to drop by long enough to offer her gifts and socialize a bit.
And though she'd been told Chris was welcome to join her, she felt a bit as if she were imposing somewhat by doing so, however much it might comfort her to have him by her side when she was unaware if she would know any of the other guests.
Hearing voices inside already, Paris gave the door a brief but sturdy knock to announce their arrival before poking her head in to peer around.
“Hi,” she said. “Happy Birthday to you both. Thanks for the invite. I brought presents. It's not much, and I know you said it was fine not to, but it didn't seem right to come empty handed, so... I hope you like fudge. It's home-made, and there's chocolate, peppermint, and pumpkin butterscotch,” she said, and presented the decorative golden tins to Orah and Arian, each tied with a red bow, before placing a hand on Chris's arm as she introduced him. “This is my husband, Chris. I don't think you guys got the chance to meet him at the, uh... the last time we got together.”
She glanced cautiously around at the couple of guests that had already arrived, unsure if they were powered as well or if they were normal civilians or... well, it seemed better not to go into any of the details. “I'm Paris,” she introduced herself, remembering her manners just in time.
Bluefire Dragonz
Awwww, thank you for the quote/invite! Paris is happy to come celebrate! I gave Guine a nudge, too, and she said she'd be happy to have Chris tag along. 8D;;;
Lily hopped out car grabbing her gifts and heading up to the door while her brother grabbed his own gifts and locked the cars. She turned to looked at him walking leisurely a ways behind her and almost laughed. It was odd to see her brother going to any sort of party. He'd never been the most social person really, as far as social interaction when he was a little behind the curve.
"Come on you, " she said with a laugh, "Orah and Arian and the other's are probably waiting!"
She turned and disappeared into the shop before heading up sure her brother was right behind her. She walked in before him with a huge grin on her face and two gifts in hand, "Happy Birthday Orah and Arian." She looked around and couldn't help but to smiled brighter when she saw Paris and Chris, giving an excited wave.
"Hi everyone."
Xander walked in two gifts under his arm placing an hand on Lily's shoulder and basically guiding her from standing right at the door where she stopped. "Hello everyone," he said softly and politely before looking to Orah.
"Happy Birthday to you and Arian, I hope it's been a good one so far," he said addressing both even though he looked at Orah. "Where should we put the gifts?"
Lily was looking at Paris and Chris and softly mouthed, "my brother," pointing a finger to him.
Sunshine Allouette
Guine
Bluefire Dragonz
litian
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 10:09 am
It seemed like Orah had hardly had time to put down the gifts she had brought up when more people arrived, more friendly faces that warmed her to her toes. It was so good to have her friends here, celebrating with her and Arian.
"Anella!" She laughed as she went to hug the red head. As far as she was concerned, this woman could barge in any time she liked. At least she wasn't bleeding out all over the floor... Ida had done that all over Anella's apartment already. She took the presents from her friend as a slender blonde arrived with husband in tow and Orah's brown eyes lit up in delight.
The young woman hadn't been sure Paris would show up. They had seemed to hit it off really well as Ganymede and Ida, then later Paris and Orah at the holiday party, but that didn't necessarily mean she had earned the dancer's friendship enough for attendance at a party like this. It was nice to be validated like that.
"Paris!" The birthday girl said as she went to hug her, her smile ready to split her face right open. "And... Chris? I think we met once, at Pi day at the cafe? Unless that was someone else..." Orah laughed as she waved a hand to clear the embarrassment of forgetting. More present loaded down her arms as she unburdened her guests, finding it almost difficult now to balance all the things her friends had brought.
Hearing a familiar, welcome voice, the dark haired girl turned to see a brother/sister pair she had been hoping would show up. Hugs would have to wait though as she awkwardly balanced her burden, laughing.
"Hi Lily! Thanks for coming! Xander, hello! Come on in, guys. I think maybe we should start the cake, huh? Almost everyone is here now..." It took only moment to deposit the presents on the growing stack before she turned and brushed her hands off on her dress.
"Well! Introductions! I don't know who has met whom, but this is Arian, the birthday boy. Björn, Anella, Paris, Chris, Lily and Xander." The young woman said as she pointed out the owner of each name. "Thank you all so much for coming out to celebrate with us. I'm really... just grateful for all the friends Arian and I have."
Chris remained close behind Paris as they made their way around to the back of the flower shop, intrigued by the thought of owning a business like that. He doubted he had any green thumb in him, so it wasn’t like he’d even attempt something they were doing… which made it all the more charming.
He was still in his Sunday best, sans a blazer, wearing dark grey slacks and a shirt and tie that matched Paris’s ensemble — not that he had any choice in the matter. Paris was the one who dressed him on more occasions than not, after all.
Hands in his pockets, he smiled as Paris did her greeting, nodding to those waiting to greet them. “Thanks for having us. Happy birthday,” he said with a smile to Orah and Arian, letting out a small laugh in recollection of Pi day. “Yeah, I believe we did. Planning on going to the next one?” he joked, before turning to greet Lily with a quick hug — although he made sure to get out of the way before Paris pushed him out of the way. “Good to see you,” he beamed, glancing to the young man she’d pointed out as her brother, and holding out his hand in greeting. “Xander? Nice to meet you, finally. Lily and I volunteer at the same animal shelter,” he explained.
What he really wanted to do was ask who of them there were senshi or knights, but after a long lecture in the car on the way there, Chris reminded himself that he should probably avoid telling everyone his identity, at least while Paris was hovering.
Sunshine Alouette
Bluefire Dragonz
litian
Kaori_luv
Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 7:33 am
There was a curious look in Arian's eyes as Orah indicated the taller blond that had been with her when he arrived. "Nice to meet you Björn" he said, his quiet voice friendly as he waited for the taller blond to precede him. The blond actually looked vaguely familiar, although he couldn't immediately place from where. The blond was huge though and certainly aware of his meagre 5 foot 3 inches in comparisson.
They'd reached the living room when Arian thought he'd finally placed the other and looking up he asked Björn "Do you know a Harmony by any chance? Harmony Rosen?"
He'd been about to answer Orah's question about a drink, but around about that point guests started to arrive. Just behind him was a green-eyed brunette who introduced herself as Anella, but she was followed pretty quickly by Paris who he recognised from the party that Holi had organised back in December and an auburn-haired man who Paris introduced as her husband Chris. Then Paris and Chris were followed by Lily and Xander.
Setting the gifts that had been handed to him next to the ones that Orah had set down, he waited for Orah to finish making general introductions before adding "I'm glad you were all able to make it too" smiling slightly as he added "It's nice to meet you all." He looked towards Orah, nodding at her mention of starting the cake as he added simply "I think so." He'd glimpsed the cake and what he'd seen had looked amazing. In fact Orah organising all of this was amazing - his friend had put so much effort into everything.
Björn blinked owlishly a moment as more people started arriving and arriving. It was going to be a nice party! That is good. Birthday parties should be with many friends.
He lifted a big paw to all the other arrivals- the pretty woman with her husband, Lily (who felt vaguely familiar though he couldn't place it) and her brother, and the the other pretty girl, Anella.
Arian was, like Lily, very familiar. But the big guy couldn't place it himself. Either way, the especially petite little lady was pretty and as deserving as Orah of a happy birthday. He quirked, hearing Harmony's name come out. " I do know Harmony. She works with photos and coffee....did we..."
He paused thinking of times he would have likely met new people that were too long ago to recall the meetings specifically, "Meet at Moon celebration? She had a booth there. It was months and brief....I'm sorry I didn't remember right away. "
He offered out his hand to shake, "But it is good to meet you again. Less stressful. "
Maybe there would be specific numbers of candles on cake- it was rude to ask ladies their age.
litian
Bluefire Dragonz
Ivynian
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Sunshine Alouette
Guine
Kaori_luv
Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2014 2:34 pm
“Lily!”
Chris might have gotten the first hug from her, but Paris followed right behind. She didn't push him out of the way so much as insert herself into his and Lily's personal space, and when Chris made room by extracting himself to greet Lily's brother, Paris took over from where he'd left off and enveloped Lily in a tight hug.
“I didn't know you were going to be here! How are you doing? Ugh, school and other things are so time consuming, we don't see one another enough!” she lamented, making no other comment as to what those “other things” could be, and not releasing her hold on Lily until she was satisfied by the length and intensity of the hug.
“It's nice to meet you,” she greeted Lily's brother, but she let Chris do the hand-shaking while she looked around to further extend the greeting to the rest of the guests.
As both Orah and Arian seemed to be in agreement on the topic of cake, Paris quickly thrust a hand high into the air in order to offer her services. “You guys are the ones celebrating your birthdays. You shouldn't have to cut you own cake for other people. I can do it! Ooo, it looks lovely. Do you have a knife? Oh, we should sing happy birthday first!”
Kaori_luv
Guine
Bluefire Dragonz
litian
Sunshine Alouette
Eternal Senshi
Offline
ChibiGingi
Dapper Grabber
Offline
Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 10:56 pm
Gwendolyn Caspian had a feeling she'd be running late, but at least she was prepared with a mighty fine excuse if they asked. It wasn't often that she was allowed overtime at Padma's Bouquet, but it was necessary given the recent holiday as well as her cross-employment at Sugar Shanty. Not that she was doing much there, but what little she did, she was being paid extra for it, but what would have been the point of having all this extra money if there was no time to spend it, or friends to spend it on? Thankfully, Gwen was presented with the perfect solution to her dilemma. She might not have had the time to get them both the best presents they may have wanted, but she had managed to get them both a bouquet of roses and a box of candy for each. If flowers and chocolate didn't say 'Happy Birthday', then she was screwed.
But she was certain that they'd love their gifts, and if they didn't? Then too bad, because then Gwen would have to give them an IOU card. They had no idea of knowing just how busy she'd be, so it was hard to be angry at them. What was the point of having friends if they were angry with each other all the time?
It took her a little longer to make it to Orah's family shop than she had wanted thanks to the roses and candy she carried, but eventually she made it there, and only lost a single pedal in the process! That was something worthy of a medal, but there was no time to boast her feet. She had a party to attend! It didn't take long for her to make her way into the party and as expected, she was running a little late, but with the way she announced herself one would think that the party one started once she arrived. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Where are the birthday kids at!?"
Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 10:03 pm
Chris's question about Pi day brought a smile to Orah's face and she laughed, giving a loose shrug.
"I might! It was a lot of fun last time."
The whole gathering was getting off to a great start and already Orah was thankful for all the wishes for a happy birthday people had offered her. Never the type to need anything big and flashy, or really feeling she deserved such, the young woman was happy with simple things.
Slipping through the growing throng of people, Orah worked her way into the kitchen behind the stretch of counter and dug into a drawer for the big cake knife she rarely used. It only came out for occasions like this, of course, but it was one of those things that was just really useful the few times you got to use it.
The young woman blinked as she straightened and found a Paris waving a hand and offering to cut the cake. Orah smiled shyly, clutching at the knife handle before she offered it handle first to the blonde. "Ah... alright! I don't mind doing it, of course, you guys are my guests, but you're welcome to, if you really want to." She said as she turned to reach for the platter with the fluffy white confection on it. "And you guys don't have to sing if you don't want to. I don't know about Arian, but just having my friends around is enough for me." Not to mention being the center of attention while they sang probably would have ended with her in shades of red that conflicted with her wine colored dress.
Even though Orah had given up the job of cutting the cake, she couldn't help but hover a little bit as she let Paris do it, silently counting number of guests so she'd be ready if her friend needed to know. Frothy and light, the whipped cream icing wrapped the cake in peaks and puffs around the bright red of fresh strawberries. The sweet summer fruit was something of a weakness for Orah, so she'd been glad that they were okay with Arian for their shared cake. Unfortunately for Björn, there were only two candles on the cake, one blue and one pink, for the boy and girl sharing their birthdays together.
The sound of someone loud and familiar dropping in late to the party set Orah's face aglow and she threw an arm into the air to wave across the crowd at Gwen.
"Gwen, You made it! Come on in!" She called as she bounced on her toes. She knew exactly how busy Gwen had been with the just-passed holiday to deal with, since she'd been doing more or less the exact same things in her family shop. She was just grateful the young woman had made it at all and would need to deliver a hug later when there was a room full of people separating them.
Reaching, Orah collected the paper plates she'd gotten for this and started setting them up for the cake Paris was cutting. The first piece, of course, she pushed at Arian before she addressed the small crowd. "Who's ready for cake?" She called.
Lily smiled happily and quickly hugged Chris back, nodding when he said it was good to see her. "Yeah it's been to long," something that couldn't always be helped with their lives. Just as Chris moved away she was given a tight hug from Paris which she returned happily, before grinning and nodding when Paris giving a small laugh. "Yeah we met at Pi day. It was a lot of fun, er mostly,"she said remember that it hadn't actually ended to well. "Chris and Peter were there to and Zia, and Trevor. It seems like forever ago now. But I digress, I'm doing well. I hope you are as well. You're at DCU now right, we'll have to meet up for lunch some day."
Xander took Chris hand and it gave it a shake, "Nice to meet you. You guys must have been friends for a while. She started volunteering quite some time ago." He looked to Paris and gave a smile, "nice to meet you too."
Lily watched as Paris offered to cut the cake before looking to Bjorn for a long moment before heading over to him. "Oh oh, I know you," she said softly but excitedly moving over to him. "Uh darn why can't I remember. I never forget a face." She laughed not quite remembering at the moment, "it will come to me at some point."
Xander shook his head at his sister before looking back at Chris, at a lost as what to say, seeing as he wasn't the most social person out there. The only result from him lack of anything to say was awkward silence.
Lily turned at the mention of singing and gave a pout, "awww but I want to sing. I always want to sing," she said to Orah, "and beside we have to sing Happy Birthday to you. Isn't that like totally tradition. Let's not break tradition."
