ravkanwitch | [[closed post: jormanen end denam danne näskelle*]]

[[closed post: jormanen end denam danne näskelle*]]

There's something about Dark that reminds Nina of Fjerda – maybe it's the cold and the scarcity. She remembers working long shifts at the cannery in Elling when she was trying to maintain her cover. Everything in that town was worn down and washed out. Even the crystal whiteness of the Ice Court is a bit bland in her memory. While she loves the country of Fjerda itself, somehow (maybe it's Djerholm syndrome; that's a linguistics joke), it all makes her slightly glum. And that's when the brightly colored magazines in the library grabbed her attention. What better time to hold a "slumber party" than now, when the end to Dark is around the corner, but the prospect of winter is still lingering?

Her room has been set up for the party ever since the early afternoon. She pushed her furniture against the walls and moved all of her "stuff" out of the way. With the help of Dionysus and the aftermath of their pinball bet, she set up a spread of juice boxes, grapes, and some really strange but quite tasty Japanese grape gummies. He also provided the jelly for some almond butter and jelly squares that Luo Binghe helped to make – after she promised him that she would spend some quality time with him after the slumber party, of course.

She wasn't exactly sure how to decorate... Festive? Girly? Spooky? A little bit of everything? She hung up a few brightly colored streamers as well as some black streamers and then found all of the spare cushions and blankets in the empty rooms on her level of the mansion. The cushions are laid out on the ground for everyone to sit or lay on along with plenty of blankets on top. She did read that spooky stories are typical at a slumber party, so she's scattered a few decorative bones around the room for a spooky vibe... And then the final touch: she found three strings of fairy lights hidden away in a dusty closet and strung them around the ceiling of the room where they're sparkling away right now. Thankfully, there's been no restriction on that whole "electricity" thing. And then... the wait for the guests to arrive.

[[Let's try this slumber party post this way... For each stage of the evening, I'll post a top level Nina comment. Feel free to respond to whatever strikes your fancy and then interact with everyone else as needed! Hopefully we'll end up with multiple short threads!]]

*Be welcome and wait out the storm, in Fjerdan

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Nina isn't going to say anything, but her ears are pricked for gossip as she quickly scoops Szarka's bottom back into Gideon's arms on her way to the window, as the puppy almost squirms its way out. She takes a quick peek out the window, closing her eyes against the cold wind. It is extremely high.

"Tally, you're doing great!" She yells up at the roof. "It's your turn when you get back in!"

Tally makes her way back through the hallways, in high and bubbly spirits. Everyone knows that she's totally crim now. She comes in through the door and points at Georgia. Gideon's holding the dog now, too, which is cute.

"Georgia-la! Your turn. Truth or dare?"

"Blimey." Georgia usually picks dare, but if that is how the dares are going, it might be time for a change. "Tally-pally, that was double cool with knobs. Truth."

Tally was kind of expecting dare, so she has to think for a minute.

"What's the biggest thing you ever got in trouble for as an ugly? I mean, when you were younger?" Tally asks, both giving Georgia the chance to stealth-brag and wondering about the kinds of tricks she might have pulled.

Gideon casts Tally a grin little over Szarka's head. "Trying to assess everyone's crim level?" she teases, pretending no one had said anything about her at all while she was outside.

"I just want some good stories," Tally protests. "Who knows, maybe Georgia's the most crim one here."

"Oh, bloody hell, let me think. Right, we have this barmy old school caretaker, Elvis, the grumpiest man alive, and this one day it was absolutely nippy noodles, and he was wearing these vair hilarious little earmuffs. So I ran into his hut and started sort of acting out shouting that my friend Jas was on fire, but silently, just mouthing it so he would think he couldn't hear anything through the earmuffs? Which was a classic stroke of brilliantosity on my part—my mates were all laughing, and I was waving my arms about like a loon—and then when he took the earmuffs off and realized it was a joke, he barged after me and slipped and fell and dislocated his hip. I was suspended from Stalag 14 for a week and I had to pretend I had tummy lurgy so my vati wouldn't find out and throw a total nervy b."

Tally can't help but laugh. It's exactly the kind of thing she'd find funny as an ugly, the kind of thing middle pretties would gently scold you for and tell you you'd stop doing after the operation.

"You lied to your crumblies about it too? That's impressive."

"Well, Mutti knew, but she kept it quiet because she wanted to use the fake lurgy as an excuse to take me to the doctor who looks a bit like George Clooney."

"Who's George Clooney?"

Oh, ickle Tress. There are sooooo many things she is clueless about. Georgia grabs several of the old magazines Nina has lying around and flips through them rapidly until she locates a picture of George Clooney. "Here. All the middle aged woman just go mad for him."

Tress pulls the magazine closer to take a look, studying the picture thoughtfully. George Clooney is a fairly good-looking man, in her admittedly inexpert opinion. "Oh, okay. That makes sense."

Gideon peers over her shoulder. "This is what middle-aged women like, huh? I'd better take some notes."

Tally stiffens a little. This is Gideon's whole thing with older women, isn't it? She looks at George Clooney, who she actually recognizes as one of the Rusties who appears in a lot of old magazines. He looks... fine, maybe not as relatively good-looking (for an ugly) as some of the men here. His wrinkled face doesn't offer Tally any answers as to what she's supposed to do about being younger than Gideon.

"It's your turn next," she tells Georgia, somewhat abruptly.

Right, so Georgia's options are Tress, Nina or Gideon. As Tally's best mate, it is practically her duty to make sure Gideon is good enough for her. She is already subtracting several points for Gideon's continued fetish for Georgia's mum, erlack a pongoes!! "Gideon. Truth or dare?"

Gideon leans back on her hands, staring Georgia down over her shades. "Dare."

Georgia eyes Gideon dubiously. Her face paint is so tragically what Tally would call fashion-missing. She doesn't really understand what lesbians go for, but surely it's not looking like the villain in a Hamburger-a-gogo Halloween film?? "Wash your face off and let me do your makeup."

Gideon rolls her eyes. "Fine," she says. She opens her mouth. The but is on the tip of her tongue—but you have to not femme me up too bad, but I get to veto shit—but everyone is watching her, and neither Tally or Gu Xiang got addendums. What is she, scared?? She closes her mouth and levers herself off the floor to go wash her face.

"But she's-" Tally starts, but then closes her mouth. Georgia's a Rusty, so she's probably heard of the whole butch thing--obviously, she knows Gideon doesn't want to do it, and that's what makes it a good dare. Still, Tally's not really sure she likes this. It'd be like--making Gideon pretty. The thought makes her stomach twist. Luckily, though, makeup is much easier to wash off than surge.

She can also tell that Georgia won't be happy if she shoots down her dare, so Tally hopes Georgia doesn't press on her objection. Maybe Gideon will like the bonding, even if she doesn't like the result.

Gideon comes back from the bathroom with a clean face, the ends of her hair dripping a little, and settles in front of Georgia, eyeing her. "Only--paint, or whatever," she warns her. "Don't try and make my eyebrows all skinny like yours."

Georgia rolls her eyes and gets out her emergency makeup kit, which she has strapped under her skirt. This is an innovation she pioneered for subtle glamorosity application in the tart's wardrobe after school. She hasn't been wearing makeup every day here—quest-ce que c'est le point??—but that is even more reason for the emergency pouch stratagem. New people arrive here practically every day, and you never know when one of them might have that indefinable Sex Goddiness about them. Already, she has glimpsed some chap hanging around Magnus who looks well promising.

If Georgia is getting herself ready for a date or a gig or some other important whatsit, she starts her routine at LEAST six hours in advance, but she can compromise. It probably wouldn't do to give Gideon Georgia's whole routine at once anyway. It'd be sort of like finding a feral child raised in the forest and dropping her in the centre of Picadilly Circus. Her brains would melt out her ears!!

She gives Gideon a light application of foundation, some subtle blusher and bronzer, lilac eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara and a swipe of frosty gloss, for a timeless look. As she sits back on her heels to admire her handiwork, it must be said that it doesn't exactly look right on Gideon—something about her attitude makes it look like the makeup is sort of sitting on top of her features, rather than blending in smoothy smooth. But Georgia is simply not a miracle worker!! "There."

Gideon looks first to Nina and Gu Xiang, who might break the seal by laughing, and then her eyes slide inexorably to Tally. "Well? Am I pageant-fucking ready?"

"You look like a beautiful flower, ready to win a gold medal at the pageant," Nina tells Gideon in an extremely solemn tone, though the corner of her mouth twitches just slightly.

"Wow," says Gu Xiang, getting way too close in Gideon's personal space, "it's like she's wearing a mask. She looks less like a person than she does with the skull paint!"

"I can't fault your skills, Georgia-la," Tally says truthfully. Tally herself is what Georgia would call utterly rubbish at makeup, so she's impressed by the motor skills.

On the other hand, Gideon looks like any Rusty with makeup caked on: totally ugly. "But they would probably be better used on a more, um, willing and not totally scowl-making canvas?" The corner of her mouth twitches up, and she presses her lips together to keep her face neutral.

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