Midsummer Bash

[puppy_lancer]

Characters: Lancer, the people he invited to the party, and everyone else who wants to stumble in
Setting: Floor 25, July 5, afternoon
Format: Open
Summary: Lancer throws a party for midsummer, since the Tower obviously needs a breather.
Warnings: None so far.

[To be honest, Lancer wanted to have the party in the evening, sometime around twilight. That would have been the most romantic time for it. Unfortunately, when in the Tower, one had to account for things like monsters. As a result, he had to hold it during the afternoon. But it wasn't too bad of a compromise.]

[This was, of course, a more simple affair than Diarmuid's birthday. For food, he had hauled a couple of tables up here and lined the table with dinner food. The centerpiece was a cake which had a heart drawn on it in red frosting. In one corner of the meadow, he had used some boxes and tarp to make some sort of booth where people could hide from the sun (and steal kisses off of each other). In the center of the meadow, he had piled a large stack of wood, perfect for lighting a bonfire by the party's end. The structures had all been surrounded with wreaths made from the meadow's flowers.]

[As soon as he's done with the setup, Lancer will sit down next to the firewood pile, waiting for people to come.]

Comments

[vermicompost]

[Kariya himself wasn't particularly worried about monsters, considering the fact that Lancelot could protect him. When night came, his Servant could simply carry him back down to the dorms.

It wasn't hard to pick out Sephiroth in a crowd. He was someone who definitely could be said to stand out. As Kariya hadn't seen him in person in a while, he thought it would be nice to talk to him again and started walking toward him. Sephiroth would probably notice that Kariya, never in good shape to begin with, was now also missing half an arm. He brought up his good arm in a small wave as he approached.]

Hello, Sephiroth. It's good to see you.

[neverbeamemory]

[Sephiroth slowly half-turns from gazing into the flames of the bonfire when he hears Kariya. He is as close to the fire as he could get without being burned and though the heat stings at his eyes it is somewhat of a welcome sting.

Kariya, one of the few voices in the Tower that he recognizes immediately and yet doesn't have any reason to react to as he might others. That doesn't rule out that he might come to be a threat, though, if he were as powerful as Lancelot had made him out to be.]

Hello, Kariya. [The silver haired warrior returns the greeting but not the sentiment. As always. His green gaze glinted over the missing arm but he doesn't make a comment, only offers a slight acknowledging nod to let Kariya know that he has made a note of it.

He refrains from looking around for Lancelot, for the time being. That suspicion from their previous conversation was never verified after all. Sephiroth had avoided to ask outright.]

[vermicompost]

[He returns Sephiroth's nod. It's a relief, not to have to talk about his arm, honestly. He doesn't like having to do without it, and it had been alarming to lose it, but he feels it was better not to think about it too much, to cope with the loss as best he can.]

How have you been, lately? I hope you were all right last month. I know it was difficult. Not that you can't handle yourself.

[neverbeamemory]

All in all it went relatively smoothly. A welcome distraction, to be honest.

[Which it did, and it was. For him. Despite now having to re-adjust to more usual sleeping hours Sephiroth had come through without any real damage. All injuries pretty much gone. There was the faintest line of the last scar to his cheek visible at a certain angle in the light but that was all.

No monster had managed to kill him, only a girl with a fluke dagger-throw had. The following day though, what he remembered, along with that numbed-arm after the paralysis; THAT had been his point of concern for the month.

That will always be his secret, however.]

I heard of some hardship on your side. [He's not directly referring to the arm, for all Sephiroth knows that could have been the result of his fight with his parasites. But now seems a good an opportunity as ever to try to tie up what Lancelot told him that day.]

[vermicompost]

I'm glad. It's good that someone got some benefit from it. Someone like you must enjoy a challenge like that.

[Kariya had enjoyed the pain-free moments of the glamour failure, himself, so he wasn't about to chastise someone for enjoying something that had brought others pain. He imagines Sephiroth had been hunting monsters to help people, too, so how could he find any harm in that?]

Hardship? I'm not sure who you've been talking to. What did they say?

[He doesn't know what friends or acquaintances he might share with Sephiroth.] We had a fight with a monster, but otherwise... [He pauses. He'd prefer not to speak about unpleasant things at a party, but it's hard to keep the subject from his mind.] My niece did leave the Tower. [As far as he's concerned, there's no greater hardship that that.] I'm worried about her. I want to believe she's all right, but sometimes it's hard...

[neverbeamemory]

Yes. It seems that in killing at least, we can still cling to some bastion of reality.

[There is something rather dark in his tone that directly questions Kariya's impression that he'd been in it for helping anyone. Indeed, it had been only about putting his own skills to the test against whatever Ruana deigned to unleash at him. He'd been as ruthless on the occasions that the monsters had been in their daytime forms.]

One of those I share a dormitory with, he mentioned serving a Kariya. He came in covered in blood one day... [He trails off, it really starts to feel tenuous despite how certain he had been moments ago.]

Forgive me the assumption if it wasn't you he referred to. [Sephiroth raises his shoulders a little in a minute shrug, on the edge of dismissing the assumption entirely. He doesn't even have a name for this room mate of his, it didn't seem like one was required.

Sephiroth doesn't have anything to say in response to Kariya's concern about his niece. There is significant disconnect there in fact, having no connection with anyone in the Tower at all that he would feel concerned about if they suddenly left. Neither would he want one. Instead Sephiroth nods as if it might convey some sort of understanding, from what he remembers of previous conversations with the crippled one - he is one of those that holds family in high regard.]