The boardwalk, Friday evening

[gameknowsgame.livejournal.com]

Blair didn't have ice to work with this time, but she tried to do what she could with the location she had. Luckily the beach was pretty. Besides, too much gold in the decorations tended to cross the line into tacky.

So she kept the decorations to twinkling gold lights and candles. Most of the linens were a crisp white, with golden napkins and table runners to provide pops of color.

The bulk of the gold went into the food. There were brandied apricots, lemon and chocolate cheesecakes, mango sorbets, small cups of saffron vanilla pudding, miniature stuffed yellow peppers, and any number of foods that followed the theme, along with the pies that Ned had made.

Drinks were mixed, but naturally included Goldschläger, as well as coffee and cocoa decorated with tiny gold letters which said things like "Fandom" or "Goodbye Summer."

Blair had staked out a prime table with a view of the water. She sipped at a passionfruit martini, listened to the music coming out of the various speakers she'd had set up, and looked forward to a night of judging watching the crowd.

She was also going to make sure nobody served those skunks. Clearly they didn't know how to hold their liquor.

[ooc: OCD up! Party down!]

Comments

Re: Mingle!

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He blinked at the snapping, but didn't move back. He just listened for the moment.

"Is there anything I can do?"

Bringing it up again wasn't anything he wanted to do but best to check.

Re: Mingle!

[minnesota-teen.livejournal.com]

"No, not really," she said, her shoulders slumping. "I've just been so easily reminded tonight where I come from."

Re: Mingle!

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Well, then," he said with a lift of his chin, "you should also be reminded where you've gotten to. The first is nothing you decide, but the second is your own doing."

Re: Mingle!

[minnesota-teen.livejournal.com]

Amber looked up at him. "I'm not exactly sure where I've gotten to. I think, deep down, I'm just like my ma."

Re: Mingle!

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

Something about what she'd said landed in just the right spot to give him a shiver before he pushed it aside and shook it off.

"I think," he said after a moment, looking at her, "that she gave you certain things. Just as mine gave me certain things. But your fate is not decided by where you came from. I know that."

He leaned a little closer.

"You have..." and this was so deeply personal, so important to him that he couldn't even give it solemnity, "an Amberness that is all your own. And sometimes it's hard to define, hard to see, I'm sure. But I know it's there. And it's not anyone's pale reflection. It's you."

Re: Mingle!

[minnesota-teen.livejournal.com]

She blinked at him, felt a slight trembling in her bottom lip.

"People can be so cruel..." she whispered. "It's hard to remember that I'm my own person when people are cruel."

Re: Mingle!

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"People are usually cruel," he said with what he hoped was gentle cynicism.

"It doesn't have anything to do with you."

After all, there had to be some sort of flipside to believing that nice people being nice didn't reflect on you.

Re: Mingle!

[minnesota-teen.livejournal.com]

"You don't understand. Tonight it had everything to do with me," she told him, dropping her eyes from him to look around. There were so many people here. Happy partying people.

She needed to forget about what happened earlier.

"Tell me you're having a good time tonight? At least?"

Re: Mingle!

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"You're here," he said with a faint grin, "so yes."

A bit of flattery, but not entirely untrue. He did like her. He'd been having a relatively nice evening previously, after all.

Re: Mingle!

[minnesota-teen.livejournal.com]

She quirked her lips, giving him a look. "Flatterer. But I do love it."

Re: Mingle!

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"I haven't talked to anyone else tonight," he said with a shrug, "and it's not as if I don't enjoy your company."

Re: Mingle!

[minnesota-teen.livejournal.com]

"Ah, so if you did talk to someone else before me, you could certainly compare me then," she commented, being all thinky.

"Well, I wasn't exactly me when I greeted you and I'm sorry for that."

Re: Mingle!

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Either way, you're here now. The present, the present! Onward we go."

He smiled at her.

Re: Mingle!

[minnesota-teen.livejournal.com]

She cocked her head. Then laughed.

"Only you, Liir, only you."

Re: Mingle!

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He rolled his eyes.

"If you say so, Amber."

Re: Mingle!

[minnesota-teen.livejournal.com]

Amber reached out to poke him. Just cause.

"No eye rolling."

Re: Mingle!

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He let his eyes roll wildly around, as if she'd poked his marbles all into disarray, and flopped at little like a scarecrow.

Re: Mingle!

[minnesota-teen.livejournal.com]

"Liir? Have you been drinking?" asked Amber, grinning at him.

Re: Mingle!

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He shook his head firmly.

"No rum for me," he told her, straightening. "I'm only being a fool to get a grin from you."

Re: Mingle!

[minnesota-teen.livejournal.com]

"Well you've managed it, quite successfully too," she told him.

A beat.

"Thank you."

Re: Mingle!

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He shrugged.

She was a friend. That is what one does with a friend, isn't it?

Re: Mingle!

[minnesota-teen.livejournal.com]

"Is something wrong?" He seemed just a little... standoffish maybe.

Re: Mingle!

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He shook his head and made sure a smile was on his face.

"No, nothing. I'm just... very much glad I did the right thing. To make you feel better. That's all."

Re: Mingle!

[minnesota-teen.livejournal.com]

"You didn't have to do anything to make me feel better, Liir, just being near you makes me feel better. It's why I found you in the crowd."

Re: Mingle!

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

That was... very good to hear. That he was someone to go to when you felt bad.

That it was to make them feel better was even more lovely.

"Thank you, Amber. I'll try and keep that in mind."

He looked a bit better.

"Other than someone being an ingrate, are you having a good time tonight?"