you're the first one when things turn out bad

[temptationaccomplished]

Who: EVERYONE, you're all invited. Or invited to happen upon this, if you missed the invite, and spot it happening in the Great Hall.
What: Aziraphale wants to show off his best friend, so he's invited you all to a tea party.
Where: The Great Hall
When: Tuesday after classes
Warnings: Tyzias is a menace, there's no reason to think anything at ALL about The Arrangement, and if the invite was any indication, the ineffables probably cannot be contained



Due to circumstances which will not be discussed (but, namely, that Pallidus cannot be in indirect sunlight), and using weather as an excuse, Aziraphale's planned tea party out on the lawn has been moved indoors.

He's gone all out. There is plenty of tea (with optional sugar and cream), biscuits (by which we mean crisp cookies), some small cakes that are rather adorably decorated, a fruit pie or two, and treats provided by Sunset Shimmer. (And possibly booze, if Tyzias did decide to bring some). Casual though the gathering is, he's set a proper table to hold their food, with a table cloth, a few candles, some nice napkins. This is not slipshod work. This is the work of someone aesthetically living in a past century who feels like he has waited a good millennia for this moment and is going to do this right.

And what This is, is introduce his demon best friend to polite company. As Crowley put it.
It's true, though. Except where Tyzias is concerned, anyway.

In the center of the table is a small, homey potted plant. Nothing particularly extravagant. Leafy and green and moderately well-cared for, recently purchased, and even more recently labeled with a tag that says "For: Crowley." The "for" was added secondary, after it occurred to Aziraphale that it looked a bit like he'd named the plant Crowley. Which he had not.



Aziraphale, aka Mr. Fell, is playing the anxious, bustling, gracious host as best he can, while being utterly preoccupied with his friend: a tall, gangly ginger who he introduces to everyone as "Crowley." Any assumptions one might make about the two apparently middle-aged, man-shaped beings is entirely one's own assumptions. But if Aziraphale is glowing with joy and affection, and eager to tell stories about the two of them, that's just how it is.

When things settle down and everyone has been served tea and introduced, he might try to show off some silly card-tricks: absolutely typical sleight-of-hand like humans perform, and not performed especially well. He's doing this mainly to annoy Crowley and seems to delight in that, even if he is a little genuinely embarrassed at how rusty his skills have gotten.



Come, join in, mingle. Hang out with your fellow classmates and enjoy some treats. We're coming up on the end of a year and, like a harvest festival, it's time to make new friends, rekindle old bonds, share in some good food, and party before the winter.

Comments

[blue_ice]

Kaiba is not a very social person. He's here to put in an appearance out of curiosity and that's all, sampling the treats warmed by the fire with a passive interest.

He watches the tricks with a disdainful eye, snorting when one blows up in the man's face. But the interaction between the two men...

"...huh. Wonder if this is some weird way of asking for honeymoon gifts."

He's definitely the most tactful.

[temptationaccomplished]

Aziraphale hasn't talked to Kaiba all that much outside of classes and their game together, but he smiles and greets him and attempts to introduce the sulky young man to his sulky demon friend, then allows him to wander the party as the angel socializes with more social people.

It's later into the event that he catches that comment, as he gives a flustered attempt at rounding up his wayward playing cards.

"We're not--ah." He looks at Crowley as if for help, then back at Kaiba, his expression changing to mildly intrigued. "Gifts?"

[blue_ice]

Kaiba smirks and shakes his head. Having been half of an awkward new couple in the very recent past, he knows these things.

"Two. I'm feeling mildly generous."

And also like a bit of a showoff with his prize money, to be honest. He hands over two packages---one is obviously wine bottle shaped, containing his favorite merlot brand.

The other is book-shaped. Two books, actually, largely identical with black covers, but the pages are blank.

"And those are spelled two-way journals. Anything written in one will appear in the other. Given your...display on the public board, I didn't think you had them yet."

[tiredcharmer]

Duel Monsters is all needless theatrics, in Tyzias's opinion. It's unbalanced, nonsensical, and seems more tailored to manufacturing dramatic topdecking moments than actually good gameplay.

That being said, she finds it infuriatingly fun. Maybe it's the shonen sensibilities of Vaikuntha getting to her, because she normally isn't extra enough to properly enjoy the game, but tonight? She's really feeling the magic. It's probably her kiddish delight at the stunt she's about to pull, but still...

When Tyzias sees Seto Kaiba—the Seto Kaiba—she gets that itch. One Tyzias hasn't felt since she was on the City's Duel Circuit. So, confident as can be, she strolls up to his table and sits down, retrieving her deck from nowhere.

"Duel me."

[blue_ice]

...what?

Kaiba's seen this one around the school. She's loud and brash and direct, which is mostly infuriating but somehow admirable.

Naturally, he does a double take when he sees an unmistakable deck in her hand. She couldn't be from Domino...could she? She knew who he was, clearly, but he had many questions.

Unfortunately, he had to disappoint her first.

"While I'd love to add another victory to the night's entertainment, the Sundering that brought me here didn't see fit to capture my deck."

He didn't need to mention the Blue Eyes incident.

[daughterofclay]

"...that makes a surprising amount of sense."

It's also awkward, because Jude doesn't have a gift, mostly because she didn't plan on ending up here. Here being behind and slightly to the side of Kaiba; was she always there? Did she just sneak up on him? Who knows.

She's holding a small plate of treats and a cup of tea, both of which she sets down before joining Kaiba by the fire. Her eyes are on the two hosts.

"Do you know them?"

[I'm not sure if you want to handwave how their game ended -- either a win or a loss is fine with me :D]

[blue_ice]

Kaiba shakes his head. "Vaguely. I played a game with Mr. Fell in my...craze a while back. I'm not like that all the time."

Just most of the time. He glances away, which is his version of apologetic embarrassment.

"He's good. Too eccentric for my taste, but he's trying. And his friend seems to have a little more sense."

((ooc: call it a draw?))

[sauntereddown]

Said tall and gangly ginger is clearly allergic to attention, to say nothing of someone making a fuss or, Satan forbid, offering glowing praise on his behalf. People might assume this is because he's English. They'd assume incorrectly, but it tracks well enough that he'll let you keep thinking so if you ask.

Other things Crowley seems to be allergic to: sitting in chairs properly, and whatever Aziraphale is currently doing with the playing cards. He's alternately looking away and watching through his fingers at that part of the display, despite not once removing his sunglasses. At one point he glares (glarefully) at the plant he's been gifted and says "I'll deal with you later," like this is the plant's fault, or this is a normal thing for a person to say.

He's not exactly unfriendly, just looks like he'd rather be cool and mysterious than have a go at being social. But he did promise to be polite. Ish.

[tiredcharmer]

It is a truth universally acknowledged that when a walking disaster is forced to sit down in a chair, they will find it completely impossible to sit in a remotely reasonable way. Tyzias, for instance, has one leg hanging over the chair's arm while her shoulder is resting against the other.

She watches "Mr. Fell" in silence with Crowley for a few moments, a bemused smile lingering on her face. Fell reminds her of Stelsa, almost. Almost. Not enough to engender any positive affection, but... the resemblance is still there.

Finally, she speaks. "He's such a fucking idiot, Crowley.

"You're lucky to have him."

[princepallidus]

There were a lot of students trickling in and out of the party area, so Pallidus hung back from getting too close while Mr. Fell tried to corral the guest over to the new arrival. It was only once the man, Crowley, had a moment to himself that Pallidus moved closer to take a seat and introduce himself.

"Good day, Mister Crowley. I'm sure you're already tired of new faces by now, but I would be remiss if I were to carry on without a proper introduction." Holding out his hand as Mr. Fell had done in their first meeting, Pallidus put on a cool but polite smile. "I am Prince Pallidus of Cavernae. It's delightful to meet you."

He glances over to Aziraphale and can't help but smile a little wider at the strange man's antics. "He says you're quite the clever one."

[daughterofclay]

"He doesn't have much of a poker face, does he?" Her own face is somewhere between amused and wistful. It's interesting -- she barely knows Fell, and she doesn't know this Crowley of his at all, but the fact that they're polar opposites is as obvious as the affection between them.

It makes her feel a sharp pang of longing for home, or at least someone from home; a feeling she is choosing to counter with cake and a very intense observation of Aziraphale's magic show.

Warning, still on hiatus so replies may be super slow.

[nobodys_puppet]

Xion had been, well to be honest, avoiding one particular group of students. They hadn't gone after her in a while. Not since well before Roxas showed up but she didn't want to take chances. She knew her friends might get themselves into trouble if she got attacked again, and she really didn't want anyone to be hurt. And if they attacked her, they would be.

So she had ducked into the first room she could when they were coming and stick to the shadows in the lee of the doorframe, watching them pass, not yet aware that she was in the Great Hall, or that her entrance might have attracted attention anyway, just from someone different....

[temptationaccomplished]

He knows Xion vaguely from their shared Ka classes, though he didn't know her well. Had he known she had tangles with unfavorables, he would have helped her sooner, but as it is, he just sees now a young lady who looks like she's hiding out from someone, and sadly, after 6000 years, he's all too familiar with the signs. So, with a cup of freshly brewed tea in hand, he calmly approaches her to coax her from hiding.

"Would you like a cup, my dear?"

Again, hiatus warning. Also apologies for a lack of paid.

[gender_neutral]

V really had too much studying to be doing to be bothered with trivialities, but even an Elven metabolism did require at least some small amount of food every so often. Right now Willard the Understudy looked like a rather large man with several arms carrying a huge load of books. But, well, he was blue but painted to look like he had human skin tone and his clothes looked like badly draped pillow cases and table cloths hastily pinned into place. V was trading a rather large book as the pair passed through. A three fingered hand reached out to grab food from a table as V passed, unaware of the party, and unaware that someone else had JUST grabbed that fruit pie, so that V was, in fact, about to grab someone's hand instead.

[princepallidus]

Mr. Fell had been so kind, taking Pallidus' "skin condition" into account for this party. As nice as it would be to have tea on the lawn, today was not the day Pallidus was willing to test the fates with his possible sun allergy.

Dressed in a somewhat old fashioned style and with his horns sporting delicately spun silver chains, Pallidus does his best to mingle amongst all the rest of the party-goers. He speaks politely, if a little coolly, with anyone new, but smiles more warmly towards familiar faces.

Taking up a cup of tea and several lavender biscuits, Pallidus smiles fondly at the gift for Crowley before moving to find a seat.

[tiredcharmer]

Tyzias lurks at the fringes of the party, fiddling with some (probably) magic thing as she casts a curious gaze over the attendees. She has to get this right on the first try, or else Fell will probably shut her right down. So- oh hey Pallidus.

Shuffling to his table from her shadowed corner, Tyzias pulls out a seat. "May I?" she asks, grin indicating that the politeness is ironic. She's undoubtedly up to something here.

[daughterofclay]

Every time she sees Pallidus, it strikes her how incredibly Faerie he looks; the resemblance is particularly poignant at a party such as this. She knows that last time they spoke, he mentioned elves, but still -- she can't help but wonder if their worlds may be more similar than it seems.

(Part of her is incredulous at the fact that she misses being among the Folk, with their unending theatre of petty slights and fickle cruelties.)

She'll rise from her seat when he comes near, affecting a bow.

"Your Highness. Have you been well?"

PARTY POISON (you put "Tyzias is a menace" in the warnings what did you expect)

[tiredcharmer]

Normally, the level of petty antagonism that Tyzias is about to enact upon poor "Mr. Fell" would be reserved for her kismesis. It's ridiculous in its execution and almost worrying in its scope. There's no conceivable reason why she would do this except to torment Aziraphale. But... it's coming up on a very special anniversary for Tyzias, and she's feeling very grumpy and spiteful as a result.

Plus, she's been looking for an opportunity to cut loose for a good while.

So after a period of nice, normal-ish socializing, Tyzias casually strolls to the middle of the Hall and arranges some tables in a neat triangle around herself. Then she snaps her fingers, and the hall is plunged into darkness.

"Aight. Now that everybody's had a nice round of tea and biscuits or... whatever." Tyzias's voice echoes and booms through the hall, with a sort of tinny quality as if she's speaking into a bad microphone and her voice is being looped through some speakers. Wait. Oh no. A rock drumbeat beings reverberating through the darkened hall. "Let's get this party started for real, eh?"

Then the lights come back on. Sorta. They're colorful, strobing, and coming from a magical disco ball hanging in the air above the festivities. Said disco ball also spews glowsticks from its panels that stop midair, hanging for partygoers to grab and go to town with. The song kicks in, the guitar echoing through the room. Tyzias herself is suddenly dressed in a very snazzy-looking black suit with teal highlights, glasses replaced with red wraparound shades and with iron Cancer piercings on her ears. She even has teal lipstick on for some ungodly reason.

"I'M YOUR DJ SLASH BARTENDER TONIGHT, CALAMITY STAR. OR, YOU KNOW. YOU COULD JUST CALL ME TYZIAS. WHATEVER WORKS." Tyzias gestures towards the tables where she hasn't set up her DJing equipment, which are filled with liquor bottles. Many of which guests will recognize from their homeworlds. "WHATEVER YOU WANT FOR BOOZE, I'VE GOT IT. THAT BEING SAID, KIDS, BEHAVE YOURSELVES. NOW. LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD!"

Almost as if on cue, curious students begin wandering in, a few starting to dance to the music as Tyzias begins to turn the volume up. She seems almost... relaxed? For perhaps the first time anybody in the magicademy has known her, Tyzias looks genuinely chill, a gentle smile on her face. Damn, it's been a while since she's really had an opportunity to rock out. She could get used to this.

I expected chaos, I got chaos. I'm loving it

[temptationaccomplished]

[But I never know what particular brand of chaos I'll get from her and I like that random chaotic generator.]

Ridiculous in execution and worrying in scope is how Aziraphale would describe probably 95% of Crowley's evil plans. The biggest difference here is that, as sulky and petty as Crowley might be at times, he was a troll of a different nature, and the torment he put Aziraphale through was entirely different. Endearing, oftentimes. And Aziraphale was very used to thwarting his wiles.

With Tyzias, Aziraphale still has no idea what to expect. She doesn't have wiles. Not for him, anyway. She only has chaos and calamity and references to things that went way over Aziraphale's head.

So he has no idea what to prepare for when he fails to un-invite her, when she finally shows up. No idea how to stop it before it's begun, and no idea what to do with it now that it's started. And, goodness, has something started.

When the room goes dark, an absolutely terrified stillness comes over the angel, except for a cautious hand that reaches for Crowley, wherever he is.

A good half of him suddenly isn't entirely sure she's sane enough for any company, let alone the polite kind, and fears she might do something dangerous and mad. Another part of him is quite sure he's going to be the one murdering her in this, raining down Heavenly vengeance. And another, very small, very angry and reluctant-to-come-forward part of him thinks maybe...maybe he expected this, brought it upon himself, and it's a very human, very normal mistake to be made, like inviting that one cousin to your wedding, or some such--naturally the wedding tent is going to go down in flames, dishes will be smashed, a bridezilla will rage, and tears will be had before that night is over.

Everything is suddenly way too loud, way too colorful (for Heaven's sake, it's become bloody discotheque in here and he is NOT having this!! This is HIS party--HIS--and how DARE, HOW DARE she turn this into a funhouse!) It's become a- a- A Mad Tea Party!

He gestures angrily, helplessly at the DJ booth she's set up for herself. Face blotchy and red, mostly flustered, he turns to Crowley to demand, plead, request, "Crowley! Do something!"

And somehow, that being said, this whole nightmare doesn't feel quite so unmanageable anymore.

if you can't beat them, get drunk (I will resume tagging y'all after work)

[temptationaccomplished]

Tyzias is a menace to society, but Aziraphale almost thinks she is decidedly less of a menace once one has had a few drinks in them. The music is almost toller- taller- tol- ...well, it is almost listenable.

No, it's really not, but he's too pleasantly warm to care. And Crowley seems to like it, so...begrudgingly he'll let it go. Even if he wanted his party to be the one Crowley enjoyed. (Crowley. Ohhh, but the demon hath forsaken him.)

Tyzias has really outdone herself with the selection, Aziraphale has decided, having filled his teacup multiple times with some absolutely delectable reds, a few types of liqour he has never seen before, and once, with a glass of very nice Scotch that he feels is an utter waste on him at this state of drunkeness. The cup is all wrong, but beggers/choosers and all that. There's almost something naughty about taking alcohol from a teacup and with the thumping base and shining lights and silly glowing decor, he is feeling like a rather naughty angel. (...In the most PG sense imaginable.)

He's sitting here, nursing his latest refill, getting more and more comfortable, making conversation about all manner of things, and feeling lighter than he thinks he has in 6000 years.

"...You know, I really..." He takes a sip of wine from his teacup and gestures a bit with his hand. "Whoops. Silly." He dabs at the wine stain rolling down the inside of his cuff. "I still don't know what happened to little Warlock's kite. Honestly, you know, maybe I think that tree might just have eaten it, tail and all."

And also...

"...And so she made me this bow-tie! Isn't it just lovely?" In a rare show of indecency, he's undone his black and red bow-tie, the one that Yotsuyu made for him. It hangs loose around his neck, except when he picks up the tail ends to show it off. "All these little stars. How twee."

And also...

"...We ran into each other in Rome, once--on business. I see him there," he says, recounting the tale loudly enough to be heard by those immediately nearby, despite the music. "And- and he's sulking--he really is, such a dour ol' chap, really, my Crowley--and so I asked him. I said. What was it I said? Ah, yes. 'Could I tempt you to some oysters?'" He looks pleased as anything, and it's likely there's a joke here that few understand the punchline.

[woo_oo]

It had been more or less agreed between them - this was officially Webby and Lena's first date. As a result, Webby is dressed a little nicer, and is struggling to restrain herself. As much as she wants to bounce all over and the room and go HEY LOOK I GOT A BEAUTIFUL GIRLFRIEND LIFE IS FANTASTIC, that is not what One Does. So she thinks.

But still, she is practically vibrating with energy, and chugging down tea like there's no tomorrow. She's happy to make new friends, check in with old ones, and be stupidly amazed by card tricks.

"This is a GREAT DAY!"

I'm assuming they're coming together, but let me know

[temptationaccomplished]

Apparently, what one does is hold a silly tea-party-slash-debut-party to show off their other half. So bringing one's beautiful girlfriend to said party and showing her off all over the room is entirely something you SHOULD do. Life is, after all, fantastic.

"Miss Webby," he beams, offering her and her friend a plate of lemon biscuits. This is, presumably, well before Tyzias has taken over, so Aziraphale is in a polite, well-mannered mood. "You'll have to meet Crowley--he has always loved ducks. And," he adds, turning to Lena as if Webby has been keeping a secret of her, "now, who is your lovely friend?"

[sauntereddown]

It's hard not to hear the delighted yelp of Webby's voice, even with how packed this 'polite society gathering' has turned out to be, and Crowley glances up from his perch as Guest of Honor/Embarrassed Friend/Friendly Heckler.

He saw a movie once back in the 80s about a space alien that looked like a talking bird. It wasn't really pleasant to look at unless you were making fun of it. The children walking in thankfully don't have that problem, they just happen to be -

"Ducks."

Okay, hopefully they didn't catch that, that's probably rude. No need to be too rude to kids. With adults they've probably done something recently even if they knew better. Kids are still sorting it out.

The pink one is a little ball of perpetual motion, and he can't help but snort as she inhales the contents of her teacup. "Don't think you're supposed to chug it," he says good-naturedly. "Unless it's iced. Which it's not, we're English, we're supposed to act scandalized by that kind of thing."

[king_of_egypt]

[Atem hadn't intended on attending the party. Although he did quite like Mr. Fell he had a lot on his mind.

His most pressing concern was about one of his friends, and he hopes that they are ok. If he could speak to them he would tell them that they were always welcome to reach out to him if they needed anything even if it was just to talk.

ooc: you can reach me at this journal, or discord (Cyromew#4440) if discord is a thing. Or disregard it if you would rather. Didn't know another way to reach you >>;.. sorry]

[temptationaccomplished]

♥