Midnight Manor Boarding House Movie Room, Saturday Evening

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

As soon as Kamala had turned back into a person yesterday, Arden and Eleanor had swung into action. Arden had contacted Mr. and Mrs. Khan to let them know that Operation Birthday Bash was a go and about what time she'd be by to pick up the cake, and then called Mr. Najaf to see if he would be willing to cook up a whole slew of gyros (including some vegan gyros in case Steven or Watts showed up) for Kamala's birthday the next day. She also messaged Bruno and asked Mr. and Mrs. Khan if they could pass the invitation on to Nakia, letting them know about the party and offering to arrange portal service if they could make it out. After that had come handwavily messaging everybody else to let them know that they were celebrating Kamala's belated birthday at Midnight Manor on Saturday evening.

And lo, now it was the appointed hour. Ellie was keeping Kamala distracted upstairs (Arden was not asking how), and she was here setting out drinks (sodas, though Mr. Khan had sent Arden home with a jug of 'sweet tea,' which she had been very appreciative of and had appreciatively poured down the drain once she'd gotten home), gyros, and setting out Mrs. Khan's cake, leaving a spot in case Ellie had somehow managed to find or invent a Squishie cake. Bollywood movies were playing on the TV (though currently with the volume very low), there was a karaoke machine on standby, balloons and streamers were up, the guests Avengers assembled...

Now all they needed was the co-host and the birthday girl!

[Open! If you're a student, a resident of Midnight Manor, or just think Kamala is cool, feel free to handwave yourself an invite!]

Comments

Arrive and Mingle (Pre-Surprise)

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Shh! Stay quiet! We don't want Kamala to hear anything!

Re: Arrive and Mingle (Pre-Surprise)

[hasaknightjob]

Steven and Llewellyn modded with permission because it's traveling back from Disney day popped their heads in.

"Arden! Hello! Is it all right if we're here?"

Re: Arrive and Mingle (Pre-Surprise)

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Hi, Steven! Hi, Detective Watts! Yeah, please come in," Arden said, waving them inside if they didn't enter fast enough. "I even grabbed some vegan gyros for you in case you showed up!"

Re: Arrive and Mingle (Pre-Surprise)

[hasaknightjob]

"That's so kind of you," Steven said. They would absolutely be helping themselves to those gyros. Odds were good that Llewellyn was beelining for them already. "And don't worry, we won't stay long. Just wanted to pop our heads in to say happy birthday to Kamala is all."

SURPRISE!!

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

And the birthday girl appears! Please wait for Kamala to ping in and then feel free to smother her with well-wishes and friendship!

Re: SURPRISE!!

[slothbabyproductions]

Let’s be honest, it doesn’t take much to distract Kamala. All Eleanor had to do was ask who the people on her wall were and there would have been an enthusiastic lore dump of the MCU on the poor girl.

Or Eleanor could have done shadow puppets with her hands. You don’t know!

Regardless, when Kamala came downstairs there was definitely a look of confusion as she walked into the room.

“What’s all this?”

Re: SURPRISE!!

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

And, honestly, if someone had been taking bets, she would have put money on it being the MCU tour, which was why she deliberately wasn't asking.

"SURPRISE!!" Arden (and presumably the rest of the guests) yelled. "Happy birthday, Kamala!"

Re: SURPRISE!!

[slothbabyproductions]

“Whaaat?!”

Kamala’s hands first covered her face in surprise and then slid down to cover her heart. “You didn’t have to do this!”

But that didn’t stop her from immediately giving her bestie a hug. “You guys are the best!”

Re: SURPRISE!!

[what_big_teeth]

Hey, there had been cupcakes and silly hats as promised, too! But, yeah, Eleanor really should have accounted for the fact that the hardest part of her job would be trying to find a way to actually get the lid back on that MCU can of worms she'd opened enough to actually get Kamala eventually over to the movie room.

And once everyone had done their part in ensuring that the Birthday Girl was thoroughly surprised and happy birthdays, Eleanor contributed her own with a shy and sheepish (and honestly somewhat thrilled) kiss on the cheek.

"It's not like we could just let you being a sloth get in the way of your birthday, right?"

Re: SURPRISE!!

[slothbabyproductions]

“Hmm. I guess,” Kamala said with a little smirk before pulling Eleanor into an intense hug followed by a short but not-so-shy kiss. “So the cupcakes weren’t cutting it, huh?” She teased. “You really didn’t have to do this.”

Re: SURPRISE!!

[wildgalegirl]

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Charlie yelled along with everyone else. "Hope this is your best year yet!"

Re: SURPRISE!!

[slothbabyproductions]

“Charlie! Thank you!” Kamala said happily. “I had no idea this was happening! But so far this year is turning out great!”

Slothness aside.

Re: SURPRISE!!

[moreofaponchoguy]

"Surprise! Happy birthday!" Cal said, accompanied by a happy cheer from BD. "And congrats on being a person again."

There was probably a better way to phrase that, but it wasn't coming to him at the moment, sorry.

Re: SURPRISE!!

[slothbabyproductions]

"Thank you!" Kamala said giving Cal a brief hug and BD a pat on the head. "And thank you for coming. And yes, I'm totally happy being human again. Being a sloth was cool and all but there's only so much leaves and fruit I can eat."

Re: SURPRISE!!

[hasaknightjob]

Steven and Llewellyn modded with permission since they're traveling back from Disney today were there as well.

"Happy birthday," Steven said to Kamala. "I hope it's a wonderful one."

Other Stuff

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

There's food! There's soda! There's Bollywood movies! There's karaoke! There's probably Mario Kart or Overcooked!

Whatever non-mingling activities you wanna do, this is a great place to do it in!

Re: Other Stuff

[what_big_teeth]

Alas, Eleanor's search to discover the perfect recipe to turn a Squishy into a cake was not successful, because she didn't want cake that looked like a Squishy, but that was all the results she got to weed through. She supposed she could have tried her hand at it regardless, but the time crunch made her feel like it would just be smarter to contact J,GoB and arrange them to make something like the cupcakes she found, only with Red instead, obviously.

And they'd really delivered on that, too. They looked and tasted great, far better than anything Eleanor would have likely have been able to do herself, even though she was pretty sure if she'd made something, even if it wasn't great, Kamala would have still loved it.

But now everyone else could love it, too, because while it worked in nicely with her pre-party distraction and the previous promise of cupcakes, there were still plenty others for the other guests, as well.

Re: Other Stuff

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

After the Surprise! and greeting Kamala, Arden made her way over to Eleanor, all smiles, fist out for a bump. "We pulled it off!" she said, clearly relieved. "Operation Birthday Bash was a success!"

At least today's. She was going to have to throw herself into setting up for the second one next week. BD-1 was counting on her.

Re: Other Stuff

[wildgalegirl]

"These cupcakes are amazing!" Charlie said. Charlie somehow had never had a squishy, but the cupcakes were amazing in their own right.

Re: Other Stuff

[what_big_teeth]

"It really is amazing what they can do at J,GoB!" Eleanor agreed, looking pleased as she came over to Charlie with a grateful sort of smile. "Hi, Charlie. Thanks for coming."

The more people here to celebrate Kamala like she deserved, the better, after all.

Re: Other Stuff

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Kamala had slowly but surely been inducting people into the Cult of the Red Squishy. Everybody thought it was a birthday party but actually it was a ritual to get more people indoctrinated.

"Right? Who knew red #5 was so delicious?" Arden asked.

Re: Other Stuff

[moreofaponchoguy]

Cal was definitely here to be social and hang out with people. But he had also just discovered Mario Kart, so people might need to talk to him between races.

Re: Other Stuff

[what_big_teeth]

In light of finding out that Arden's birthday was coming up pretty soon, too, and wondering if that meant the Party Boss title would have to be temporarily given to her or Kamala, and just knowing she should get to know Cal a little bit better, anyway, Eleanor gave him a small smile and a shy kind of wave.

When he wasn't distracted by a race, anyway.

"Hi, Cal," she said, and gave a little nod to his robot, which was still a little curious and strange to her, but when hasn't her life been full of curious and strange things? "Hi, BD. How are you?"

Re: Other Stuff

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

At some point, Arden was gonna head over and flop onto the ground next to Cal, using his thigh as a pillow. "And here we have the masculinus nerdikus, a subset of the family jediitus," she intoned like a half-assed David Attenborough. "Engaging in socialization with his peer by throwing shells at them."

She grinned up at him and then held her hands up for a hug.

For BD, of course.

OOC

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

There is a sleepy-tired Nuance, too!