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| Scene Title | Another First Birthday |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Elaine has her first birthday with new friends and loved ones. |
| Date | April 03, 2011 |
Village Renaissance Building: Elaine and Quinn's Flat
Preparing for today has been going on ever since last night, at least for Robyn Quinn. When it comes to a party – particularly a birthday party for her girlfriend, she doesn’t fuck around. At least, not with getting the place clean, something she’s normally much too lazy to do. But the apartment looks about as clean as it can get, the common room rearranged a bit to accommodate for a few people at a party – the dinner table pushed up against the wall to create space (and house presents, where at least the one from Quinn already sits) and the sofa pushed a bit closer to the sofa. Rock Band equipment is sitting all at the ready, keyboard on the sofa, mic on a stand beside the drums, guitar, and a bass replica, drums sitting against the wall and the TV is already playing the game’s attract video on mute.
Even though this is by no means a surprise party, Quinn still sent Elaine off with Delilah and Sable when they arrived on a mission to acquire numerous tasty treats from Oh So Sweet!, so that she, Adel, and Magnes could finish up with getting things ready for the “event”. Not that there was really much about it. Mostly Quinn pulling out some of the lights that even she uses for her DJing shows (She can’t make every fancy coloured light after all) to give the room a bit of party ambiance with the dimmed lighting, and even part of her DJ deck set up on the table so that she can control the room’s music. Streamers (it’s not a party without streamers~) hanf from spots on the walls, and while there’s nothing as fancy as a banner or balloons, the whole place just looks more party ready by the time the trio is done.
The food sitting on the kitchen counter probably doesn’t hurt that either, and now as Quinn waits for the others tor return with hopefully tasty treats, she nibbles on a brownie left over from the previous evening. It’s Elaine’s first birthday since all of them met, and she’s determined to make sure it’s an awesome one – to the point where she’s tear down the whole thing and start over if Elaine doesn’t like it.
Here’s hoping it doesn’t come to that. She doesn’t want people to hate her.
Elaine tests the door to make sure it's unlocked by pushing on it just in case. She'd hate to look foolish unlocking the door when it was already unlocked, and considering people are there and waiting for them, it is unlocked. Phew. Good thing she didn't put the key in. Opening the door, the redhead beams at the appearance of the place. As simple as it is, the streamers and lights and DJ stand for music and Rock Band… it all looks pretty awesome to her and she can't hide her grin as she steps out of the way to let the others in. Her arms full of a tray of cupcakes, she takes a moment to admire the decorations before she moves to find somewhere to set the cupcakes down. The kitchen seems like her best bet.
"This place looks fantastic," Elaine says, still beaming.
Standing on the ceiling when Elaine walks in, Magnes suddenly drops a heap of torn up newspapers over Elaine, Delilah and Sable. Confetti! His arms are crossed as he stares at them from his upside down position, wearing a dark blue blazer over a red Flash t-shirt, blue jeans, and red Chucks. His present is on the table, as well as a book-sized package in plain brown paper with no ribbon or card. "Happy Birthday Elaine!"
Delilah, of course, is plus baby- mainly because she knows that Elaine really loves spending time with him. And he always seems to like parties, somehow. Maybe it's that everyone gets excited and there are so many colors. When they follow Elaine in, Magnes is there with his homemade confetti. They seem to like taking perch on Walter, bundled on Dee's torso in his wrap. He kicks and reaches up at his face when the curls of paper get caught in his hair and over his eyes.
"I had a feeling something was going to fall, I felt the hair twitch at the back of my neck-" She grins up at Magnes, holding a paper bag of some sort of treats in one hand, and having paused in moving to follow Elaine to put them where they belong.
Doused in paper the moment she's through the door - goshdarned parties. Sable puffs a trailing piece of confetti that, caught on one of the foremost spines of her hair, hangs in front of her face. Since Elaine is the birthday girl, and Delilah has a passenger, the greater load of treats is held in Sable's arms. There is cake somewhere in the tall brown bag she bears before her, though until it is removed, its true identity remains a mystery. Tall enough is the bag, in fact, that she has to peek around either side of it, trying to locate just where she can unload her burden. That or… "Little help here?"
Which means Quinn has to leave her perch in the kitchen, but that's okay - the moment the door opens, she's already headed that way, and once the return trio are in view, Quinn throws her arms open and swallows down the last bite of her brownie. "Happy birthday!" comes out a bit muffled because, once again, she has passed on milk to help the treat go down, but the intent is clear anyway when Quinn moves to Elaine's side, hugging her tight. "I hope you like the set up. Magnes put up the streamers, an' Adel helped with the lights. I almsot had those stupid cone hats toom but I figured Walter might accidentally tug on teh string and snap himself in the face."
But, with that, she detatches herself from Elaine, moving to help Sable. "So, what'd you guys end up picking up?"
The newspaper confetti has Elaine giggling. To be honest—it's likely that Elaine hasn't had a real birthday party in years, so even simple things like newspaper confetti has her lighting up like it's Christmas. Or her birthday. Or both at the same time. "Thank you!" She says cheerfully, glancing back towards Dee. She takes the sweets from Delilah, making a silly face at Walter. "You, little boy, are gonna be the only one having more fun than me today," she insists, noting the presents. "You're old enough to appreciate wrapping paper on your head." She nods sagely. "It is one of the many joys in life. It never gets old."
Quinn is given a gentle hug by Elaine, as well as a warmer smile. "You're fantastic. Cone hats probably would have been bad for Walter, good plan." Her gaze moves to Sable as Quinn goes to help her, grinning at the question of what they got. "We have some of everything, I swear. Plus this way everyone can have some leftovers and we'll still have some too. Man, this is going to be the best birthday in all existence."
"Let's kick it off by giving you an anonymous birthday gift. Don't worry, the source is trusted, but I have no idea what the gift is." Magnes jumps down from the ceiling and grabs the plain book shaped wrapping, immediately bringing it over to her and moving to help Sable with her things. When Elaine opens the gift, she'll find a well-orn book of sheet music published in 1942. It's a first printing and very old. The cover is blue and has the title '52 Masterpieces for Piano and Violin' on it, and is in poor condition. But the pages within are well-cared for and in good condition.
In the book itself are two tickets to an outdoor performance at Central Park's Delacorte Theater, featureing New York City's up-and-coming musical talent, and although the seats aren't fantastic, they're decent. There is a note at the bottom of the tickets that say all proceeds go toward reestablishing Manhattan's Performing Arts High School, which was completely decimated in the 2006 explosion.
"He needs to learn somehow." Not to snap strings, Dee means. She pries the paper out of her own bangs, laughing as she lets the baby try and get them off of his face on his own. With the giggling, it turns out to be more entertaining than anything else. His mother detaches him, holding him up so she can puff the paper off of his head. The baby laughs, and as Delilah pulls his cheek closer to kiss him, he turns his head and opens his mouth into a vague 'o', which seems to be his kissing her back. Good Enough.
"Anonymous gifts? Exciting stuff…" Dee sidles entirely out of the way now, baby at her chest so they can watch the others and especially in Walter's case, the colorful decorations.
Something hidden is something worth hiding, right? Sable, discharged of her burden, immediately sidles over to try and get a look at the anonymous present. She breaks her gaze from the package only to snatch looks at Magnes, narrow eyed and suspicious. Curious for curiosity's own sake, and all the more curious for it. "Y'all got people carryin' gifts to y'? Jeez, gal," she's talking to Elaine, but she keeps an eye on the box, "y'all got yerself a followin' already."
"Gifts already? You guys have no sense of building up suspense!" Quinn jokes as she moves to set what she had aquired from Sable into the kitchen, then over to the tabl where her present waits for Elaine. rather than a wrapped box (although now she wishes she had, since the paper could have been given to Walter to play with) is a solid wood box, picked up and brought over to the redhead. "Here's mine, but you have to promise to open it last," is the one commandment offered as she holds it out to the other woman.
"Well, presents first are good in case someone gets an emergency phone call and has to dash!" Elaine offers as an explanation, grinning as Magnes brings the present to her. "Anonymous? Didn't know I had any secret admirers." The present isn't something Magnes would pretend wasn't from him if it was from him, so while the redhead is puzzled as to the origins of the gift, it causes a broad smile to cross her features. "Oh, this is fantastic… Quinn, you have to play the piano for me and I'll learn all the violin. More excuses for music."
The tickets bring a smile to her lips as she looks at them. "And this is great… Quinn and I get to go watch some other people play music." Because naturally, the musician girlfriend has to get the other ticket. That's a given. Her gaze shifts back towards Magnes. "Thanks for being the messenger. And if you see this person anytime soon, tell them thank you from me as well." She takes the box from Quinn, holding it carefully. "Alright, I'll open it last. Did we want to do all these presents now, then? Just get that all over with so we can feast and party and get our Rock Band on?"
"I don't mind doing all of the presents now." Magnes first places the sweets somewhere out of the way, but easily accessed, then walks to the table and grabs his festively wrapped box to present Elaine. "It's not nearly as great as that gift, but this seemed like something thoughtful."
"I don't see anything wrong with presents first! Ours is the big bag there." Delilah pipes up and finds a spot to sit with the baby on her lap, fishing a binkie out of his bag for him to mouthily assault. Omnomnom. "It's heavier than it looks though, be careful it doesn't split or anything."
"Y' gotta go f'r the, like, maximum opulence," Sable suggests, coasting a hand through the air, "have all yer loot gathered 'round, and then dig int' yer cake. Wealth, and a feast." So evidently she's in favor of presents first. That this happens to serve her curiosity is just a… very happy coincidence!
Quinn can't help bit, at first, laugh, but when Elaine actually opens the anonymous gift, she's tipping up and looking past teh taller woman's shoulder with curiosity and excitement. "Oh holy shit," she remarks, her head tilting a bit to the side. "Those look really nice. I wish I knew who sent them, they're fantastic…" She's particularly eying the tickets. Yay outdoor concert! It better be goddamn WARM by then!
"I know. They're gorgeous. Very vintage. I love stuff like this," Elaine murmurs, gingerly setting the gift aside as she shifts to open the next one. This one is Magnes'. Inside, there's a candymaker's mold shaped like the alphabet for chocolate to be poured into, a book entitled 'The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature', and a DVD copy of a documentary called 'Helvetica' about typography, graphic design and global visual culture.
The present gets a wide smile from Elaine, aimed towards Magnes. "This is fantastic. I'm so bad at picking gifts for other people, so… I'm always amazed when people get me things that are as awesome as this. Thanks, Magnes. Plus I can spell out really odd things in chocolate." The paper is tossed playfully in Walter's direction.
Elaine goes for Adel's present next, a copy of of Beowulf in a bilingual version. That gets another grin, the redhead leafing through it. "I'm going to go around spouting Old English at you all now. You're all doomed." She's laughing, her smile unbelievably bright. She actually moves over to Dee's present that way it doesn't risk splitting the bag as she moves to open it next.
"I'm glad you like it! I thought I'd get more than one present since this is our first birthday with you." Magnes starts heading into the kitchen, holding up a hand. "I'm gonna check on a few things, I'll be right back."
Humming something keenly like a song about wrapping winter, Delilah stops only when Elaine offers Walter the sheaf of paper. She puts it into his fists and lets him shake it, the edge ripping as he decides to tug his fists in opposite directions. "That's from both me and Sable- and Walter of course." Dee sits up, half covered by the baby rustling paper.
Under the bouncy multicolored bow in the bag, is a trove of stuff- a three book set of 1,001 Nights- of course, in Arabic; a thick book of collected folktales in Swahili, a couple CDs of Arabic and East African music, and lastly a copy of The Lion King, proudly displaying on the back that this particular copy has dub tracks in several languages, including the ones to match all the books and some Elaine already knows.
"Man, you are raking it in," Quinn remarks as she slips arms around Elaine's waist, watching her open the rest of the presents. Honestly, she's kind of jealous, remembering how her (nonexistant) birthday went. But, whatever. This is too fun. Plus… "Okay, Elaine. It's time for miiiiine~"
"Oh, wow. Wow! You got me a lot of stuff, Dee…" Elaine's beaming as she sorts through the treasure trove of presents. "Although you're giving from Sable and Walter too, so I can understand the wealth of them." She scoots over so she can kiss Walter's cheek before she looks back to Quinn. "Alright, alright, you're last. But not least, of course."
Opening the last present, the wooden box actually appears to be a jewelry box. Reaching inside, Elaine pulls out a smaller box, opening that to reveal a silver bracelet with a Gaelic word written on the inside of it. That is promptly slipped on while she looks at the rest of the box. A CD that has some demos of Quinn's stuff (never before heard!), and two tickets to Ireland.
"Aw, Quinn… you're fantastic." Elaine says, leaning in to steal a kiss from her girlfriend.
"Yep! The movie is from Walter, and the only stipulation is that you watch it when you babysit." Delilah grins as Elaine leans in to give the baby a kiss- and yes, he realizes, and offers his mouthy kissy face at her, letting the rubber sucker tumble over Dee's lap. Good enough, kiddo. His mother's hand smoothes back his puff of orange hair, the other one fetching the sucker back.
For now, Delilah keeps her eyes on Elaine as she open's Quinn's gift, smiling now to herself.
Quinn grins, hugging the other woman that much tighter. "We're going over your spring brake. I haven't talked t' Kristen yet, but whatever. I'm taking my girlfriend away for her birthday, and there's really not much she can do t' stop it!" A giggle, as none of Quinn's hands snakes down Elaine's arm, moving to fiddle at the bracelet. "I got the word right, right? It says what I wanted it t'?" There is actually a tinge of worry in her voice, but she lets it go, slipping her arms back from around her, looking towards the TV.
"Alright! So, presents are done. Now. Who wants to kick some ass at Rock Band?"