[open] // HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE GROUND

[velveteenmage]

Who: Waver, Palmon, and you!
What: Certainly not a birthday party. That's silly. You're silly.
When: October 3rd, afternoon
Where: Newbie apartments lobby.



"What - are - you - doing?!" sputtered a horrified Waver. He'd gone looking for his suspiciously absent partner, only to find the plant Digimon decorating the lobby with streamers and balloons mostly in shades of red and gold. She stopped mid-inflating a balloon, surprised enough to let it go and send it rocketing around the room in an erratic streak of scarlet and noise of 'pffthpthpthth'.

"What's it look like?" Recovering from the sudden interruption, Palmon's hands went to her hips (such as they were on both counts) as she responded indignantly. "Don't lie, red and gold are your favorite colors, aren't they?"

"It looks like something I specifically asked you not to do, now doesn't i--who did you invite?!" Flushing about as red as half the decorations, Waver's frustration snapped right back to abject horror in midsentence.

"Nobody...well, nobody specifically. It was kind of an open-ended thing."

And that was all the color draining from Waver's face. This kind of technicolor reaction couldn't be healthy.

"WHY." he demanded in a voice that suggested a nervous breakdown was mere seconds away.

"Why not? You need to get out more and have some fun for once, and this is a perfect chance for it." Waver's arguments were for a moment reduced to emphatic flailing of both arms and choked interjections that were not quite words. It seemed entirely possible that Palmon's insistence on his birthday being a thing that happened may have actually broken the student on some level.



"You...you...you traitor!" Once proper use of the English language returned to him, Waver stammered and threw his hand out to point accusingly at his offending partner. "This is the worst, unforgivable! 'Palmon' isn't terrible enough--your name should retroactively, presently, and eternally be Rafflesia, because you're clearly just as useful as one!"

A tense silence fell between them--tense mostly due to Waver, who looked so angry steam might well have been coming off of his head. In complete contrast, Palmon broke out into a lopsided smile and clapped her hands (vines? leaves???) together.

"You're doing that thing where you pretend you're angry when you really aren't. And you even gave me a nickname! You're the best partner ever, Waver." It was then that the indignant magus found himself dealing with an armful of plant giving him a birthday hug.

"What--no! You've got it all wrong! Entirely wrong! You couldn't be more wrong, I-I'm obviously really angry, s-so get off of me!"

Ladies and gentlemen, the defense mechanisms of a Waver Velvet in his natural habitat. You may note flailing, stumbling, and probably even falling over.

And a lot of shouting.

But don't let that stop you from enjoying the impromptu and hastily planned party. There's probably even going to be a cake courtesy of your friendly neighborhood Saori.

Comments

[fullofthorns]

"Trouble?" she asked, pink brows furrowing together as she shook her head. It didn't really seem like "trouble" to her. That implied a long-term issue with authority of some sort. Or criminal activity. At least in her circles. Trouble wasn't exactly what she would call psychological impairment.

"No, I don't think so. why, did someone say something?" she asked, perplexed by the question. "I mean I know I've been on and off of Princess, Shorty and Pretty Boy's shit lists all the last couple of weeks since the mission, but I'm pretty sure that's just general moodiness."

[velveteenmage]

"No, but--when you said you heard something, I thought-..." Waver trailed off, repressing a slight shiver the best that he could. While he'd mostly pushed aside his mess of an encounter in the Dark Field, it would be a lie to say it didn't bother him a little. Roze didn't strike him as the type to be all that hung up over whether or not someone insulted her, so that seemed like the next logical step.

"It's nothing. Sorry, maybe I was mistaken."

[fullofthorns]

Let it go, Roze. Let it go, walk away. Just blow it off--

"You thought what?" she asked, shifting her weight and stepping a bit closer so that her back was to anyone that might come in and his face was obscured in her shadow. It was no one else's business what they talked about.

[velveteenmage]

Waver shrank back slightly almost on instinct; the motion was unexpected, and genuinely startled him for a second. But since she seemed to be on to him, it would probably be easier to stop dancing around the issue.

"I...you didn't get caught in a Dark Field, did you?" He froze, almost immediately backpedaling. "It's probably none of my business, I mean you really don't have to answer that."

[fullofthorns]

She sighed, leaning back slightly and scratching the back of her head with one hand, the other propped lightly on her hip as she nodded. If she said no outright she'd be lying. She hated lies.

"Yeah. It was a stupid mistake on what shoulda been a simple there and back mission. A while ago, when we were supposed to take those thingies and close the dark areas all over? Most of my team got caught in one. It was my fault. And...well, no one will talk about it, really. But then no one will ask, either."

[velveteenmage]

"Not that you have to, but...I'll listen if you want to talk about it."

Doing as much did help Waver feel some measure of better about his own miserable adventure, so it was only fair he should extend the same offer to anyone else.

[fullofthorns]

"Not on your birthday," she chided softly, shaking her head and gesturing to the side. "Tomorrow maybe? I do...think I need to talk about it to someone that would even know what I was talking about. But getting Princess or Pretty Boy to talk about anything is like pulling teeth, and asking Sexy would be...insulting, I think. Plus I hate when he looks at me and I think he's just seein' a silly, helpless girl."

She sniffed, reaching up to scratch her forehead as she glanced sidelong at Waver.

"Soon, but not today. Not on your day."

[velveteenmage]

Waver sighed, fully aware that was probably the best option for everyone involved. So instead he shifted the conversation to something a little less bleak.

"Why all the nicknames? Do you do that with everybody you know, or are we just that special?"

[fullofthorns]

"Hm? Everyone gets one. I think? I don't know. I just say what comes to mind. I don't have a very good brain/mouth filter and honestly I don't fuckin' care. But I'm tryin' to be a little more uh...tolerable for people. Yeah? So if you really don't like it I will call you Waver. But there's like, Velvet Cake, Hot Stuff, Shorty, Shortcake, Princess, Motormouth. Lots of people," she explained, smirking and looking more than a little proud of herself.

[velveteenmage]

"I don't really hate it." he admitted, trying not to laugh at the list she'd given. Waver honestly couldn't begin to guess who went with which name.

"At least, I don't think I do. It's sort of...endearing, once you get used to it."

[fullofthorns]

"Well, its only terms of endearment from me, anyways, so it shouldn't be too much trouble. It isn't like I don't know everyone's names - Waver, Jinx, Neku, Miwako, Seifer, Bro - its just that everyone calls them those names. The nicknames are mine. Their my direct relationship to those people, given personal labels. And when I use those names, they always know its me talkin' and no one else."

She smiled faintly, arching a brow and nodding her head in a small bow to her own cleverness.

"And honestly...its a pretty good indicator that I care about'cha."

[velveteenmage]

Waver laughed halfheartedly, like he was either trying to hold it back or just wasn't used to something about the gesture.

"Sorry. I mean I'm kind of a jerk sometimes, aren't I? You and everyone else keep being so nice and I guess-" Faltering, he glanced away awkwardly. "-it's a lot to deal with."

[fullofthorns]

"Cake, don't apologize to me for bein' a jerk. Okay? Fuck. Lord knows I deserve it at least half the time from most people. I've been nice here. I mean...really...really nice. Because people let me be. Its largely well received and I don't feel like everyone is laughing behind my back. But back home I was a downright monster a lot of the time. I definitely deserve a little flack here and there, and you've never been a total jerk. You're just..." she trailed off, looking for the right word as she absently toyed with his hair. Tactile was a word that barely described her constantly need to touch things.

"Prickly. You're prickly like a hedgehog." Yep, that suited her. "You're not particularly mean or aggressive, and the outside is pretty well-armored but you're still a soft person underneath with the ability to be sweet if you feel so inclined. You're naturally spiky, but you're not at all cruel. Every time I've swung into your life and interrupted your day you've been frustrated, but decent. That's all that can really be asked when dealing with someone like me. And I'm not the sharpest tack, so I'm willing to be I'm not the only person that's made this observation."

She huffed a sigh, leaning back to prop both fists on her hips and look at him with a crooked smile.

"I mean, my only complaint is that you're not more affectionate. One can never have too many platonic spoons. And I'm sure you could do with a cuddle once in a while. Fortunately for you, I'm pretty fuckin' tenacious. I'll be around when you need it, either way!"

[velveteenmage]

"I don't usually get people being nice to me." Waver admitted, giving Roze a weird look as she played with his hair instead of actively protesting it. "And I used to be a lot worse too. I was pretty full of myself before I met Rider--maybe most of it was an act, I really don't think even I know anymore. If I have some kind of armor it's because I have to--not everyone at home is as nice as they are here."

Folding his arms around the plush she'd made, Waver frowned slightly as he spoke. "He was the first one to treat me...normally, I guess you'd call it. But he was kind of like you in that he seemed to make a sport out of driving me crazy." An exasperated sigh left him at the thought. "It shouldn't register as 'strange' to me that people don't try to walk all over me. I think I forgot that normal people don't care what kind of bloodline you have or what magical ability you're capable of. Maybe I needed some time out of the Clock Tower more than I realized."

[fullofthorns]

"Hey hey," she raised both hands, staving off the flow of words. "Believe you me, I am totally with you on the people bein' nice, thing. Man, before I got here the only people that were nice to me were the folks everyone else considered trouble - either demons, or human criminal types. I know more than a few guys in the Yakuza that'd have my back in a heartbeat. But if I asked my own schoolmates for any help in anything, I'd get a big fuck-you-very-much."

She huffed a sigh, shaking her head and folding her arms under her chest.

"Rider-dude seemed like a badass. You really lucked out there. Its kinda like when kids get imaginary friends - not that I'm callin' you a kid or sayin' he was imaginary. Only that, he came into your life when you really needed someone. He fixed things before they got too broke to fix, y'know? It was a good thing, but its just glue on a crack. You gotta make sure you don't stress it too much before the glue sets, y'know? Otherwise everything good you learned from him won't mean shit, n' that's no way to honor his memory, right? So let yourself have friends, Cake. It ain't gotta be me, I know I'm a hard pill to swallow. But there's people around here that'll suit you fine. Let 'em in. It might hurt, but it'll never be enough to kill ya."