hell of a party

[middlingalong]

Ivan must be drunker than he thought he was. He could have sworn he knew his way around Vivienne's parents' house, since she wanted to introduce him last week and showed him the place, but maybe they have a... secret... upstairs... bar? where Vivienne's room is supposed to be? And most certainly was last time he checked? He's never going to find the sweater she sent him up looking for here, anyway. Why is there a secret upstairs bar in Vivienne's parents' house?

Comments

[thisvorlunatic]

"Yeah, I guess."

[isthisart]

"And - Nika, did your mama and da name you or was that in your basket?"

"They did it."

"My name and Isabella's both have the sound 'bel' in them, and 'mir' in our second names. If you wanted to find your dragon birth parents that might be a hint that Simon couldn't have found on his own, if you used to have a different name with that sound."

"Huh. Okay. I like my name now just fine though."

"It's pretty."

[middlingalong]

Ivans have become tired of whirligig.

"Read me a story," Tiny Ivan says to his alt.

"Sure. What story do you want?"

"I dunno. Something good."

Ivan goes to the bar and borrows a copy of some adventure story he liked when he was seven, which tiny Ivan will not have read yet. He reads tiny Ivan the adventure story.

[pythbox]

"Hey," says Little Miles. "Cetagandan Grownup Nika. How're my bones?"

[isthisart]

Cetagandan Grownup Nika checks. "About halfway done," she reports. "It would probably be safe to take you out of the brace now, although I suspect you'd immediately try to run around at top speed, and while you probably wouldn't break anything if you walked you might still do if you slammed into a wall."

[thisvorlunatic]

"I don't even know how to run around," says Little Miles.

"That's not better," Grownup Miles points out. "That is in fact arguably worse."

[isthisart]

"But it should be all done soon. Do you want anything else to eat?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"Yeah!" says Little Miles. "Ha, I win again, Grownup Me."

"Yes," sighs grownup him. "Yes you do."

"Ha."

[isthisart]

Linya plunks a plate of Bar-recommended food in front of Little Miles.

When the food is gone, and his bones are done, and his sister has been informed by Bothari that she must wait to teach him to walk until it's clear that the results will persist beyond the magic bar, and various last-minute purchases for the little alts have been made and packed up for transportation, and Linya and Isabella have both picked up and hugged their little one and enclosed letters to her various grownups, and Tiny Ivan has had his hair ruffled and been advised against trying aged fish and in favor of being nice to Koudelka girls -

the small alts, and Bothari, and boxes upon boxes of stuff, go home.

[dream_me_up]

A little while later - long enough for Miles to have settled into reading his copy of Linya's magic books - the upstairs contingent comes back down.

Lalita is carrying Mark.

[unmarred]

Mark is giggling.

[thisvorlunatic]

Stalas is trailing behind them, looking fondly exasperated.

[isthisart]

"Either you were up there a very long time, or your time dilation was behaving uncooperatively."

[dream_me_up]

"We were up there a while," Lalita says cheerfully.

[unmarred]

Mark peers at Miles's table.

"...Who the hell beat you at Strat-O?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"Um," says Miles. "I did, technically."

[isthisart]

"You missed some more alts."

[warpfairy]

"There was one of us who was about four, and a five-year-old Miles and a six-year-old Ivan. Oddly enough, the us and the Miles were siblings, her being adopted. She didn't look like us, either. Linyabel got pictures."

[unmarred]

"I don't know what you mean about our time dilation behaving uncooperatively, then," says Mark. "If I'd come down here and there'd been small children all over the place I'd've turned right back around."

[middlingalong]

"But they were so cute."

[unmarred]

"I'm sure."

[thisvorlunatic]

Stalas gives Mark a slightly concerned look. Miles catches it, and gives them both a slightly concerned look.

[isthisart]

"What's the issue with small adorable children? Who were, interestingly, from a universe that is just like ours only very secretly magical."

[unmarred]

"I don't want anything to do with small adorable children," says Mark.

[isthisart]

"Well, they've been sent home with all their souvenirs, so you will not have to have anything to do with them."