One last party

[bythewaves]

Who: Arnold (and Benedict) and OPEN!
Where: The Benedict Family House in Locke
When: Now, and til... whenever I guess
What: Arnold's doing an art exhibit, and opening it with a massive party. Because that's what you do when you're idle rich, apparently. Numbered get in free but it *is* open to the public. Once the party is done, the main room of the house will remain open until he gets bored and closes it to have an exhibition elsewhere.

He's wanted to do an exhibit ever since he came to Locke, but what with one thing or another...

But you know, with the Moon being a Snake (and gosh darn it, but he wishes he hadn't slept through his mythology classes)... HEY you only live once right? There'll be flyers posted and ads on the TV, and his friends and pseudo family get invites. Numbered get in free, but Benedict Galleries is holding an open exhibition at the house in Locke.

Anyone and everyone is welcome, catering is provided. There'll be sculpture and art and a live band. Why not come along?

Arnold will be his professional best, grinning and chatting and hobnobbing, or maybe you just want to mingle? Catch up with a few friends, maybe. Benedict's around as well, being quiet and shy and retiring, but if you want to talk art, particularly some of the stranger avant garde type things, he's your man.

Come in, the booze is free.

And for family... well. He wants them to meet, the girl who might be his mother, and the boy who is definitely his father. And he wants them to meet Liam, and Julien, and he wants them to be friends. And if the world really is ending... well. What better place is there to meet that than with family, after all.

Comments

[highly_gifted]

"More precisely, Makalaurë - Maglor, the man who now is Arnold - was High King of the Noldor, like his brother and father and grandfather before him." He has no actual idea what that title entails, but yeah. That was a thing.

[arrowpoint]

Liam was about to say something when the sensation of an echo washes over him. His face goes momentarily blank, then he shakes his head and looks back at Feivel.

"No, definitely wasn't him. I wasn't a Noldor like at all, so my other dad had to be someone else."

[highly_gifted]

"A Sinda, then?" It's the only other Elf culture that he knows about, so it is a reasonable question. Though he knows that it is more likely that he is wrong, there must have been more than two cultures in that world.

[arrowpoint]

That gives Liam pause, almost as if he's waiting for the information to just come to him... but it doesn't.

"Well, I speak Sindarin. So I guess that makes sense if the words are related..."

He pauses.

"Then again like, everybody speaks it. Dad speaks it."

[highly_gifted]

"My other barely spoke it. From what I understand, he had only begun to learn or systematize it and then stopped." Which irks him but also... If his other was anything like him, he can't think of many things that might have stopped him from finishing such a task. And assuming that it wasn't a case of all Sindarin speakers and Sindarin written records suddenly being gone - sure, to be reincarnated he must have died, but to find something that that death likely interrupted still is a whole different level of awkward.

[arrowpoint]

"But you speak something else, right? Um... like whatever Gabriel speaks? Do you know Gabriel?"

It was obvious by now that this kid was an Elf, considering the ears and being his...grand...father-ish type person? That was a really strange thought.

"What's your name again?"

[highly_gifted]

"I know Gabriel." But he's never heard him speak anything but English. Interesting. He'll have to investigate.

"And I'm Feivel Arandale. Gabriel is my father's cousin."

ahaha i love this little brat

[arrowpoint]

Liam laughs softly.

"I'm not too surprised, dude. Everybody seems to be related to everybody... but hey, nice to meet you. I'm Liam."

He's back to his wine after that, unintentionally becoming a bit fidgety and looking uncomfortable.

[highly_gifted]

"Liam Benedict." He makes a mental note of that and will write it down later. "Do you have siblings and if so, are they numbered?

...If the wine makes you fidgety like that, you should really stop drinking it. Unless you're an alcoholic and it makes the fidgeting go away, but you look a bit young for that." So much disapproval.

[arrowpoint]

"Yeah, Keira's my twin sister, but she's not numbered."

At the criticism. , he nearly spits his drink before he gives the kid an annoyed and offended look.

"Seriously? Dude, first, I'm an adult, so I can do what I want. Second, this is like, only glass two and it's not what's making me uncomfortable, okay?"

Truthfully he was trying to use the wine to keep himself together, but Feivel didn't need to know that.

[highly_gifted]

"Then what makes you uncomfortable? It can't be me because you were fine just a minute ago and we were already talking at that point." His tone may or may not be quite challenging (hint: it is). Because really, Liam, be complete in your answers or it will look like you're lying.

[arrowpoint]

Liam makes a frustrated noise and looks up to the ceiling. The kid was becoming kind of annoying in that smart-ass way.

"Look, it has to do with some past life stuff with my dad, it's none of your business."

[highly_gifted]

"Considering that when it comes to "past life stuff" your father is my son, I believe that it is "my business"." He's growing kind of annoyed here as well, though he isn't yet at the point of frustration.

[arrowpoint]

"What are you, like ten?" He's purposely underestimating trying to drive his point home.

"You're not his dad now so you don't need to know about that kind of stuff. It's not it was a video game back then, it was real and when people killed people and people died it really happened."

[highly_gifted]

Ouch, that hits home harder than it probably was supposed to, considering that he according to his passport should look 14, not 12. So his response is a bit sharper than it would have been anyway.

"Only someone who is mentally five will not understand that people still kill each other in our time, which is also real, and that anyone who is able to watch and comprehend the news will have heard and seen enough of that. Unless they exposure to this world is entirely through videogames, which isn't true for me." 'But perhaps for you' goes unsaid, but hangs very loudly in the air.

[arrowpoint]

Liam responds with a similar tone, not appreciating being judged by what appeared to be a pre-teen.

"It's one thing to see it on the news, but it's another to live it - trust me, you don't want to know."

If he was thinking a little more clearly, perhaps he would have even felt sorry for the kid being rather young and numbered, but at the moment his own lack of maturity was acting up.

[highly_gifted]

"If you tell me what your problem is, that is not me living it; it is is me hearing about what your former self knew or lived through." He'd roll his eyes, but he is totally the most mature so he won't do that and instead try to look down at someone who is almost a head taller than him.

It's not going too well, but he's still managing to emanate an aura of "you are dumb".

[arrowpoint]

Oh fuck this is basically how Liam feels about this conversation. Any intention of being a responsible adult and protecting the innocence of minors suddenly went out the window. He snaps at Feivel.

"Oh my God, fine! You want to know what my problem is?" Liam starts gesturing wildly while he speaks.

"Maybe it's all the - I don't know - people being killed and dying? Maybe it's finding out my dad is a kinslayer, because that sounds like a great job description. Maybe I'm just done with this numbered stuff, and all the weird memories and random horses and shit, okay? Happy now?"

[highly_gifted]

Feivel is about to come up with a scathing reply when the echo hits.

And it hits hard, though that is barely visible - his eyes widen by only a fraction, and his stance doesn't change, but then he abruptly turns around without a word and walks away, towards the exit.

[arrowpoint]

He says nothing as the kid turns to leave, since he'd become frustrated and angry - only partially at Feivel, really. Mostly he was just upset about recent events.

A small part of him does feel guilty for snapping, but in stubbornness he pushes that thought aside and turns back to the snack table. The kid seemed tough, he probably hadn't traumatized him or anything.