The More Populated But Still Creepy Mansion, Wednesday Evening

[deathsmajesty]

It was Ignis' birthday today and between his general desire to not make a fuss over himself and her own desire to throw an island-wide celebration, Liliana had compromised on throwing him the smallest dinner(ish) party ever, just the six of them (seven, counting Noctra, which Liliana was if only to pad the numbers), and also Summer, who Liliana had managed to sneak in as the secret eighth guest in by calling her the bartender for the evening - even if she was one of the people on the island who had known Ignis the longest. Still, Liliana consoled herself, baby steps. This year, a tiny dinner party, next year a tasteful garden party, the year after that, absolute extravaganza.

And she could always demand absolute extravaganzas for her own birthdays until then, anyway.

Err. Not that she was making plans that far in advance, mind. Just, hypothetically, that would be the general progression of things, ahem.

Since they weren't actually sitting down for a meal and there were so few people, Liliana had set everything out in their large parlor with her steward on duty to rotate food from the kitchen to the sideboard before anything had a chance to sit out too long. Setting up an impromptu bar had taken a little finagling, but the clever use of a high table and an unused china cabinet (as well as the fervent wish that she'd tasked Prompto with entertaining Ignis all day so Gladio would have been available to hoist heavy furniture around) had given her Summer a corner of the room to work her magic, as well as plenty of room for the bottles of wine and jello shots she was bringing with her, which would join the bottle of excellent bourbon and the array of non-alcoholic beverages that Liliana had provided. Soft music was drifting out from several discreetly-placed speakers, kept low enough to not interfere with conversation, and there were plenty of comfortable places to sit. A last minute reminder from her steward meant the room had even been baby proofed, both in the sense of 'dangers removed for baby's safety' and 'valuables removed from baby's reach.'

Liliana liked her belongings intact and drool-free, thank you.

And now with the house prepared and the hostess ready, all that was lacking were people!

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Summer at the Bar

[deathsmajesty]

Taking the evening off from her usual Caritas shift, Summer had driven an almost impossible bargain to agree to bartend tonight.

Liliana just hoped Ignis would forgive her.

Re: Summer at the Bar

[somethingwithturquoise]

Look, honestly, being invited to such an ~exclusive~ event was more than enough to convince Summer to get here, but if she could drive a hard bargain on top of it, she was going to do it.

Because, yeah, hi, she'd known these bros before all you bitches.

Her outfit was definitely both a nod to Ignis' personal style and her role as drink slinger tonight, and, as promised, she'd brought quite a few very nice wines and champagnes for everyone to enjoy....and one terrible one.

It came in a JUG!

And, of course, she had provided a variety of her fanciest of jello shots, of course, including a non-alcoholic one, something with champagne, something with layers, something with rosemary...a few fancy fruits....

And, of course, coffee.

Re: Summer at the Bar

[deathsmajesty]

"Oooh," Liliana said, coming over to see all of what Summer had wrought. "These jello shots look fantastic. I can't wait to try a little of almost everything you've brought."

Almost everything. That jug was getting a hell of a side eye.

Re: Summer at the Bar

[somethingwithturquoise]

Ah, but the real question was how you would feel about that jug after you'd tried everything else!

Summer, of course, beamed proudly at Liliana's assessment.

"Thank you," she gushed. "Please make sure to also tell Ignis how good I made them look, too, because if I tell him, he will not believe me."

And she had no one to blame but herself, because that's what happened when literally half your early friendship with someone was based entirely on sending them pictures of the most horrendous food you could find and also teasing him about his total himbo boyfriend.

Re: Summer at the Bar

[deathsmajesty]

It was a good thing Liliana didn't know much about Goose beyond the sobriquet, because she would have so many questions about Ignis dating a himbo.

(Also, himbo was a delightful portmanteau she would steal immediately upon hearing it for the first time.)

"Oh?" she laughed, as sparkling as the champagne jello shot. "And you think he'll trust my judgment after I admit to allowing you to bring jugged wine into--our house?" Just the slightest pause there before the plural possessive pronoun over the more neutral 'the.'

"Though he may require that I sample all of them and report back my findings, which..." She placed a tragic wrist to her forehead. "If I must, I must. I'll find a way to rise to the occasion somehow."

Weird how that applied to the jello shots, and not the jug wine.

Re: Summer at the Bar

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Oh," Summer's beam got even brighter, and if the two of them kept this up, the birthday boy wasn't going to be the only one blinded at this party, really, "so you noticed the jug!"

It was literally front and center in a place of honor, Summer. You'd have to practically be bli--

Okay, okay, that was enough of picking from the low hanging fruit.

"Honestly, he'll probably be impressed that jugged wine is the worst I brought with me. And obviously very touched and grateful for your sacrifice here tonight, Liliana."

Re: Summer at the Bar

[deathsmajesty]

"Darling, I assure you, it caught my eye first thing." Liliana wasn't crass enough (or, more properly, wasn't angry enough to be moved to crassness) to make any out loud comparisons to punchbowls and unpleasant things floating in them, but one might have crossed her mind. "Fortunately, the next thing I spotted were your very cunning jello shots and therefore didn't seriously rethink my decision to ask you to bartend."

She paused to pluck a bramble jello shot and look it over with appreciation before nibbling at it to get an idea of the taste and consistency. "Thank you," she added. "For agreeing. It wouldn't be the same party without you."

Liliana didn't know if Summer shared Ignis' knack of hearing the underlying meanings to things said, so that even a single sentence could do the work of two or three, but that was fine. Even if she didn't hear all of what Liliana meant, the stated sentiments were true and close enough that it didn't much matter.

Re: Summer at the Bar

[somethingwithturquoise]

"No party ever is," said Summer, with a pleased little smirk and a lofty lift of her chin, because she'd cultivated an image, dammit, and teenage her would lose her shit over how far she'd come in that regard. "But, hell, yeah, you're totally welcome. I mean, I'm sure there's a few people crying into their Tino-poured beers right now from me not being at the bar, but this is literally the most exclusive gig on the island right now, it's an honor."

Not to mention kind of cool, really, if a little brain-breaky if she thought about the timing of it all too much, to see all these dumb chocobros and how much they'd changed and grown over the years/decade into the chocomen they were today. Almost made her feel a weird sense of pride. Like, Prompto, the goofy kid who vouched for the sex doll option that one time, was a dad now. Mr. I Will Absolutely Not Text 'U Up' had himself a hot goth girlfriend throwing him a stupid fancy birthday party. And Gladio?

Well, it was definitely a shame about Gladio, but at least she'd been able to get in there at some point!

Re: Summer at the Bar

[deathsmajesty]

"From what I've heard about Tino, it's a valid complaint," Liliana said wryly, not going any further into who might be doing what crying.

Also, while Ignis still had never texted 'U Up' (at least to the best of Liliana's knowledge), Summer would probably be smug if she heard that he most certainly had sent messages with the same intention, if more verbose and ostensibly more tasteful.

...And then there had been her phone calls, which...never mind.

"Hmm, and here I was chiding Ignis for wanting something small and intimate, rather than an island-wide celebration, but I hadn't considered the exclusivity, aspect," she said with a laugh. "I'll have to commend him on his wisdom."

Even if they both knew it had come from a desperate attempt to not be the center of attention. For him, Liliana would at least pretend.