This Can Only End Well (Sept. 1st)

[stauncherhearted]

What: Dinner party! Hope you like appetizers for dinner. And wine. And disaster.
Where: Nancy's flat in Enfield
Who: Eames, Arthur, Cooper, Kyle- time to meet the boyfriend, everyone!
When: September 1st.


Though the affair is set to be somewhat casual, Nancy has spent hours on that Thursday cleaning her flat, preparing food, and generally getting ready. Thursday night because Friday nights tended to be good nights for business, so she wasn't sacrificing nearly as much if she had everyone over on a Thursday.

The idea she'd had was to introduce everyone to Cooper officially. Get Eames to see that it was a great idea to date him, and maybe Kyle would be completely smitten with the idea of Cooper's existence in her life and allow Nancy to invite the vampire in to their future apartment. Cooper was important to her, she loved him. And she wanted others to see what she saw in him as well.

When the first guests arrive, Nancy's already had a glass of wine in her hand, ready to play dutiful hostess immediately. There's wine, magically chilled, as well as whisky and gin and some beer. For food, it's a lot of little appetizers, finger food, really. She has no idea what she's doing, truthfully, and just hopes that everyone has a good time.

Oh, and she made a cake.

If you're wondering where Juliet is, she's trying to eat the shrimp.

Comments

[akillersmile]

Normally, Kyle's the type to arrive early and offer to help. In this situation, though, it feels like a potential intrusion to show up early. He doesn't want to interfere with potential boyfriend duties and, given that the dinner is basically in the guy's honor, doesn't really want to jump the gun in meeting him either. So he shows up on time with a plate of brownies, because he was always taught never to attend a party at someone else's house empty handed.

"Hey," he greets Nancy, looking around to see others already present. "Hope I'm not late. I speed walked and everything." Teasing, trying to put himself at ease while trying not to think about the fact that someone here is probably a vampire.

[stauncherhearted]

The bell rings, and Nancy's quick to open it, ushering Kyle inside. Kyle with brownies.

And a shirt.

Mostly, though, brownies.

"No, no, you're right on time. A few people are already here." She gestures to the assorted cast of characters. "Good lord, and you brought brownies, thank you!" For that, he gets a hug in greeting, even if they're both trying to deal with the plate of brownies, so it's a bit awkward.

"Pour yourself a drink, help yourself to food, I was really just hoping everyone could mingle, introduce themselves."

[akillersmile]

Kyle accepts the hug and hands over the brownies, trying to work the stiffness out of his muscles. It's the anticipation of being here that has him on edge and his muscles all tense. Nancy is one of his better friends in the city, possibly his best, but he still worries about the company she keeps and can't help but wonder how many of the people in the room are clients. At least one is, her boyfriend.

"Sure. I'll mingle. I'm good at mingling." There was a time when Kyle the football star was the master of any party and the center of attention. But that was a long time ago and a lot has changed since then. Now, he doesn't bother trying to stand out or charm the room. Hopefully being his usual self is enough. "Where are the drinks?"

He flashes a grin, gives her a kiss on the cheek, and then moves past her towards the rest of the party. If she wants him to mingle, he'll mingle. And, contrary to the joke, he'll keep a clear head to do so. And not mention the stake in his pants. Which is not a euphemism.

[stauncherhearted]

"I don't doubt it," she tells him. She can work a room because she has to be able to. But she doesn't want to be the center of attention tonight. She just wants her friends to meet her friends.

Nancy points over at the small table of drinks. "Help yourself to food and drinks, too." The cheek kiss gets him a smile, blushing slightly. She cared about him, a lot, and it's important to her to see him thrive in this city. Maybe she should have seen about inviting at least one other girl to introduce him to, but... Well, Abby couldn't make it, and everyone else she knew was a vampire, it seemed.

"I hope you have a good time, tonight, too." And maybe even change his mind about vampires, too.

[falsify]

If he knows Nancy, and he does, there'll be no shortage of alcohol. Food on the other hand, it could go either way. He doesn't really want to cook for a bunch of assholes and Nancy though, so he's brought a salad. It's a fucking good salad and there's a lot of it, but it's... It's still a salad.

He lets himself in, because that's just the kind of guy Eames is, perfectly on time and brings the food through to the kitchen. Maybe he's being a little nosy too, who's to say.

(He is, he totally is.)

[stauncherhearted]

Eames has let himself into her apartment and made a salad. So far this doesn't bode well because Letting himself in will likely not fly if she moves in with Kyle. Still, he showed up and brought something and so long as he doesn't find her underwear drawers they should be okay.

"Eames! hey!" she takes the salad so he can avoid a hug. Be happy, she's learning. "Welcome, come say hello and introduce yourself. Cooper and Kyle are both here." So be nice.

[falsify]

Oh thank goodness for the lack of hugs. He smiles, and it certainly looks genuine, even if the idea of being nice to Cooper makes him want to take a fork and jam it in his thigh.

"Where's the scotch?" He asks, because of course she has some and he's going to need it. Like the whole bottle. To himself.

[stauncherhearted]

Great to see you too, Eames.

Nancy gives him a look and sets the salad bowl down. Scotch it is. She moves deftly to one of her cabinets and opens it, revealing a lot of bottles. Standing on tip toes she plucks a glass bottle and hands it to Eames. With a wave of her hand, the cabinet shuts.

"It's all yours. Don't get too drunk." because she will murder you.

[emotioneater]

Cooper is not precisely thrilled with the idea of a dinner party. Let's face it, he's not the easiest person to get along with, and there's bound to be at least one person here he's pissed off on one or two occasions. But Nancy had wheedled and cajoled him to come and be on his best behavior. He's promised to play nice tonight, so he's going to be the dutiful boyfriend and meet all her friends without insulting anyone. (Maybe.)

He's already there when most of the other guests arrive. There's a glass full of whiskey in his hands, which he's already been taking liberal gulps from. He's noted one thing to himself: Nancy needs more female friends. There's far too many attractive men here.

[stauncherhearted]

When Cooper arrived, Nancy had greeted him properly, and then given him some whiskey to sip while she finished making final preparations. Now that that is done, and people are here, she's going to slide up to her boyfriend.

"How're you doing?" She asks quietly. "Thank you for humoring me with this." He was such a good boyfriend.

[emotioneater]

"Well, I'm--" He checks the level of whiskey left. "--half a glass away from being perfectly sociable." He curls a strand of Nancy's hair around his finger. Since that disastrous outing at the vampire soiree, he's actually felt a lot better about the strength of their bond. While he was never going to just accept the fact that Nancy made her living by letting other men feed off and sleep with her, he knows now that he doesn't have to fight anyone who so much as looks in her direction.

"Quite a gatherin' you've got going on here," he remarks. "Who's the handsome one over there?" He gestures towards Kyle.

[stauncherhearted]

Nancy sighs, and points towards the place where she's set up drinks. The whiskey bottle begins to float itself over to the pair of them. When it's near enough, she plucks it from the air and fills his glass again.

"At least it was the optimistic answer," she says by way of explanation for her actions. Then, to top it all off, she leans up and gives him a kiss on the cheek. He may not be tall, but Nancy's shorter still.

Floating the whiskey back over, she grins. "Thank you, love. Oh- that's Kyle. My hopeful future roommate." She smiles warmly over towards Kyle. She's just not going to mention that Kyle hates vampires. "I figured I'd see how tonight went, before making any final decisions." So don't mess it up, please.

Honestly, if it helps, Cooper, you're the only person in the room she's had sex with.

[falsify]

So apparently he's supposed to get to know Cooper or something. Talk to him and suddenly decide he's great even though all the evidence Eames has so far would suggest otherwise. There's literally nothing he can think of to say to Cooper, but he said he'd try so here he is with his own whiskey.

"So." He starts, expression neutral, "how awkward are you feeling right now?"

[emotioneater]

Oh great, it's Cooper's favorite person in the room. Seriously, he finds all of you equal parts annoying and hot, please go away. Alas, he is forced stay and play nice with everyone, per Nancy's request.

"On a scale of one to ten? 'Bout a thirteen," he says. "Cheers." He clinks his glass against Eames'. "And you?"

[falsify]

Oh. Eames glances down at his glass, but his expression remains unchanged; just a friendly shade of uninterested. Maybe that's even a smile!

"Maybe a two?" How does one quantify awkwardness anyway? It doesn't matter, Eames isn't feeling awkward at all really. Mostly he just wants to go home. "But I'm not the one on show here, am I?"

For Cooper

[akillersmile]

"You must be Cooper. I know Arthur and Nancy, obviously, and the other guy seems too old. Though maybe I'm being too judgey." Kyle offers as he approaches the guy. He has a water in one hand and some food in the other, which he shuffles over into one hand to offer his right hand in greeting. "Kyle Sutton."

He struggles to keep it light and positive. Nancy wants them to get along and he has no interest in undermining that wish. Even if Cooper is a former client and probably a creeper who may be preying on Kyle's very good friend. He's going to wait before he judges the guy too strongly, give him a chance. Or what's left of one.

[emotioneater]

The vampire takes in the man in one single up and down gaze. First thought: dammit, he's attractive. Second thought: This is who Nancy is planning on moving in with? Third thought: promises were made to play nice at this shindig and I intends to keep those promises.

So he puts on one of the smiles he saves for when he's trying to charm someone and moves his whiskey to his left hand so he can shake Kyle's. "Cooper. Just Cooper." Nancy is the only who even knows he has a first name and he plans to keep it that way. Too many ways that magic can screw a person over if their full name is out there for everyone to know. "How'd you two meet?" Please don't say client. He can't deal with another scenario like the one with Cesare at the vampire party.

[akillersmile]

Kyle doesn't mind being sized up. He endured enough of it for a lifetime in his military career and now it seems almost natural to be immediately judged. It helps that he knows he's fit and looks good, with solid posture and a strong stance, generally speaking.

He offers a charming smile in exchange for Cooper's and resists the urge to immediately judge the man for his single name. "Oh, sheesh. First she helped me with some magic stuff, then I kept getting injured and she patched me up. Between you and me, I think she just likes seeing me with my shirt off, but I won't complain about free medical care."

Kyle has never been a client and has no interest in sounding like one, but he can't help but poke at the boyfriend a little. It's as much an unconscious desire to assert his friendship with Nancy and compete as it is a conscious decision to have fun. But he does try to make it clear it's all in good fun. "That's all she's seen off, if that's what you're wondering. Well, okay, one time she technically saw me with my pants off, but I wasn't fully naked, so I don't think it really counts."

[emotioneater]

"Sounds like you two have quite the friendship." He will not be allowing himself to get jealous. So she's seen Kyle a few times without his shirt on. Shit happens. She'd also put up Cooper for a couple of weeks when he'd been coming down from fae blood. Hell, he's a good-looking man, and Cooper can't deny that. He's tempted to ask Kyle to take his shirt off right here purely for curiosity's sake, but he doesn't know him well enough to joke around with him yet.

"That's better than how she and I met." He lowers his voice so that Nancy won't overhear them. "She wouldn't like me tellin' anyone this, but I sorta almost ran her over with my cycle. So glad I didn't."

[specifiercity]

Arthur arrives fashionably late, bottle of wine in hand, dressed sharply but not too much for the dinner party. He doesn't approve of any of this, of course, but Nancy is his friend and he'd like to keep a close eye on Cooper any time he has the chance. He was considering buying Nancy a set of silverware, but that would be far too extravagant and transparent for him. A subtle gift of a well-crafted stake maybe, but he'll save that for later.

In any case, he has the practice to be a good house guest, so he's perfectly amiable to everyone, even including Eames and Cooper. If they piss him off it might be a different story, but he walked in with his nice face on and he plans to keep it that way as long as possible.

[stauncherhearted]

Yes, wine, good. Nancy approves, and it's made immediately clear that she does when she greets him with a warm smile, soft kiss on the cheek, and accepts the wine eagerly. Yep, that's it, everyone is at her flat, and they are eating and drinking and no one has tried to kill anyone yet! Success!

"I'm so glad you could make it," she tells him. "I know it's been a while, but it's always good to see you." She hadn't seen him at Vampire Prom, but then again, she hadn't paid much attention to anyone other than Cooper.

And Cesare, technically.

[specifiercity]

"It's no problem," he says warmly, with a genuine smile. "I'm sorry I haven't been easy to get hold of. It's been a busy few months."

Between becoming leader of the Hillingdon hunters and trying to deal with this Harris situation as best he can, it really has been busy for Arthur. He's always known better than to overload himself but he's been burning the candle at both ends for a little while and he's looking forward to having a somewhat relaxing night. That's in spite of the vampire present.

[stauncherhearted]

Nancy waves his concern off. "It's alright. I think it's been busy for all of us." She'd been having to work harder, more often, and with the arrival of Cooper in her life, he'd been taking up a lot of her time. Not that she minded.

"But everything's been going well for you, yeah?" Other than Harris. Which was great, because everyone in this room hated him.

[falsify]

Eames is acutely aware he's the oldest person here by quite a margin, and normally that's not a problem, but everyone else here is basically a child and it leaves him feeling like an uncle babysitting while the parents are away. Even Cooper is a perpetual teenager. So seeing Arthur is kind of a relief. Strictly speaking he's about a twentieth of Eames' age, but at least he's an adult.

"I see she roped you in too," Eames says, sidling up to stand next to Arthur with a sigh.

[specifiercity]

Arthur is watching the other three closely all the time, while also successfully making it look like he is not watching them, and he does not stop doing so when Eames approaches him.

"Guess so," he says. "To be honest I don't really get what the purpose of this whole thing is."