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

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?"

[outofyourshadow]

Lena couldn't help feeling just a tad uncomfortable. Tea parties weren't exactly her thing, especially since she had had to go out of her way to buy a nicer looking outfit. Plus, she'd never met Aziraphale and the friend he was so eager to show off to everyone (other than on the bulletin boards, but names were never signed on their responses). But Webby had been super excited about it, and she how could she say no to a face like that?

Besides, there was something fitting about their first date going to a tea party, considering the night that the two of them first met in the first place.

When Aziraphale came over, she nodded her head in greeting. "Lena," she responded, trying her best to at least sound friendly. "Nice to meet you."

[woo_oo]

Webby happily snatched up a cookie, but instead of taking a bite, she began using it as more of a baton or pointer. "And I'm Webby. Lena's my girlfriend."

WOW. That felt GREAT.

"She's my girlfriend and we're here on a date."

Even better!

"We're on a date because we're dating!"

Okay maybe she needs to stop.

[temptationaccomplished]

"Oh, a date," he cooed with a grin, looking at the two. Webby's excitement was palpable and infectious. Aziraphale understood; he'd been there. Maybe not there exactly, not on a date, but he totally understood her uncontrollable joy at sharing and showing off one's incredible friend. He was there. Currently.

That was why they were having this tea party, after all. It was Aziraphale's equivalent to Webby's outburst. Sort of.

"Well, I'm proud to have you two as guests during your date. You make a lovely couple." They really did. And then, because this was the question to ask couples, because who didn't enjoy telling their story (or so Aziraphale assumed, as he certainly did, when given the chance): "However did you two meet?"

[outofyourshadow]

Despite feeling a bit awkward, Lena managed a small smile. "Thanks."

The feeling returned, however, at the question of their first meeting. Even though she knew that she could avoid all the Magica stuff, even just their initial meeting didn't sound...the best.

"Webby found me writing fake SOS notes and sending them out in bottles. Then I convinced her to sneak into a birthday party for the mother of a family of crooks. We got caught, and spent the rest of the night evading them as they chased us all over town."

[woo_oo]

"It was awesome." Webby sighed blissfully, unable to forget that magical, horrifying night. "And initially most of it was a ruse just to get close to me so she could try and get into my grandmother's boss's house and steal an important item to unleash a magical monstrosity." Webby sees no problem letting out all the details.

"But, along the way, fake friendship turned into real friendship which turned into romantic feelings and now we're going to be together forever." Amen!

[temptationaccomplished]

Aziraphale looked from Webby to her girlfriend, brow raised and a slightly concerned smile tugging at his lips, as if to ask the far more sensible-seeming Lena if this was absurd exaggeration. Unleashing magical monstrosities with the girlfriend, hm. No wonder Webby was in Ka. Definitely put his own actions into perspective.

"I have no doubt," he agreed, as it was not his place to attempt to tell his classmate that she may not spend forever with her childhood-friend-turned-girlfriend. They just might. They were astoundingly sweet together, and after all, some birds did mate for life, he was certain he had heard such in a documentary. Mostly certain. Couldn't recall if that was the case for ducks, however. In any case, one could only hope to achieve their level of adorableness. "You're just perfect together. Webby once told me about wanting to be an adventurer, and it sounds like you provide adventures to spare, Miss Lena. Nothing better than a wonderfully bad influence with a good heart." And then, because he was curious.
"Whatever became of that magical monstrosity?"

[outofyourshadow]

The smile that Lena gave Az would tell him, no, Webby was actually not exaggerating. Leave it to Webby to find enjoyment in what others would consider an unforgivable betrayal.

She can't help blushing a bit; aside from Webby, she was unused to words of praise, and she can't help the creeping feeling that they were more than she deserved. "Uh...thanks."

She paused a moment, glancing at Webby while playing a bit with her hair. "From what I've heard, she'd been defeated. I don't know all the details, though."