fandomtownies | The boardwalk, Friday evening

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!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She grinned. "I don't think I'd object if we were, honestly."

"That's so nice! I'd totally be the spazzy black sheep cousin who, like, owns a flower shop or something."

Ino blinked.

Then laughed. "That's just creepy now!" she said. "We own a flower shop, actually. Mom runs it."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously!" She was giggling now. "Yamanaka Flowers."

"Okaaaaay, so what do the black sheep in your family do?" Hers apparently dyed themselves pink and went to private school in Maryland.

Ino wrinkled her nose up in thought. "I don't think we've got any right now," she said slowly. "Mom's relatives died when I was just a baby, and Dad was an only child."

"Holy cow, want some of mine? I have spares." Not that she could really imaging giving any of them away, but maybe she could share them? "I'm sorry, by the way."

"I don't think they'd care to be given away," Ino noted wryly, but smiled. "I don't even remember them, honestly. A demon attacked the village when I wasn't even a month old. A lot of people died before Hokage-sama managed to get rid of it."

"You never know," she said, thinking of two of her sisters in particular. Daniel probably wouldn't mind going off with a pretty girl, either. "Does anybody here have a good story?"

"Most people do," she said easily. "The problem is getting people to talk 'bout them--especially if they're bad, you know? A lot of people just want to forget here."

"That's what I meant. It seems like everyone's had such a hard life before coming here. Isn't anybody, y'know, happy?"

Ino tilted her head. "I'm happy, most of the time," she said. "And so are a lot of people. Bad things happening don't mean we've got to be always depressing, or that we think our lives are bad. Sometimes it's just a fact."

"I kinda envy you your outlook."

"It's easier," she said. "And healthier than being down all the time."

"Sure. Except now I think you're not really a teenager, and are just a really well-adjusted adult who's pretending," she teased.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm barely more than a kid in the ways that really matter back home."

"What ways are those?"

"Too many to list," Ino admitted ruefully. "And, wow, depressing to think about."

"So we won't think about them," she decided, "and you can tell me all about your significant other type person instead. Or, if you don't have one of those, we can scope."

"I vote scope," Ino decided. "I mean, technically, there's sorta someone? But wow, he's barely talked to me at all in like, months, so yeah. Scoping!"

"Months?" Molly winced. "Okay, so we scope. Do you have a type?"

"Yeah, besides a few notes passed in class? That's it." Ino wrinkled her nose.

"And, um, dangerous?" There was a theme here.

"We so need to find someone who appreciates you better," she decided, looking around for someone who looked dangerous. "Tall, short, hair color, hobbies? Anything?"

"Taller than me, which wow isn't hard, um, a fighter--not someone who'll let me trample over them in an argument," Ino couldn't help it, she liked arguments. "Knows 'bout weapons, I guess. I don't mind if he doesn't know about all of my weapons but you know, know something? I'm not picky about hair as long as it's decently taken care of, though I'd rather longer."

Hmmm.