[OPEN] like... y'know, nya.

[constellates]

WHO: Anya, Ami, & everyone they know!
WHERE: The Inkwell also known as Recollé's Premiere Nekomimi Cafe But Only For One Day, Dammit Anya
WHEN: September 23rd!
WHAT: you have a birthday, and you have a birthday, and yoU HAVE A BIRTHDAY. the goths, the idols, and whoever else wants to come in for cake and cat ears.
WARNINGS: should be none!

[Don't ask how this happened, but it did.

When someone steps into the Inkwell today, they'll find that it's been - temporarily revamped? Someone sparked an idea for Anya's birthday to have a theme. And in a burst of what can only be called.... creativity(?) it was decided: nekomimi cafe.

Hence why, upon entering the establishment you'll be encouraged to pick your poison. No, really.

It would appear that just about the rest of the guests have somehow been convinced into it? And there's a number of people here - the birthday celebrants themselves, Anya and Ami flitting around to mingle - but also students from Recolle High. Preps, jocks, goths, band kids, and whoever else Anya invited. So apparently barkeeps, gods, dancers, college students, trolls.

The whole lot.

Please help yourself to not one but two whole cakes that are rolled out. Sing Happy Birthday way off pitch. Take pictures of each other in your ridiculous ears. Learn something about goth fashion or idol culture. Sneak over to the present table and try to piggyback on one of the gifts if you forgot yours?!

Have a wild time, party animal.

ooc: please feel free to mingle and set up top-levels at your leisure!! it's an open log.]

Comments

[constellates]

[ I : WELCOME ]

[Your first mistake was coming in today, probably. Your second mistake was catching Anya's eye with your entrance. She excuses herself from whatever had her just moments before, then going up to you.]

Bсем привет! Hello! I am happy you are here. Ah - did you pick?

[She gestures up to her hair - where she has her own pair of cat ears.]

Nekomimi...!

[ II : NECESSARY ]

[Hello friend. Anya may or may not know you, but you're at her party now? So she's going to be very excited and - when you don't look like you're at risk of choking on cake - she's going to excitedly come up to you, a pair of fuzzy white cat ears clipped into her hair and all.

And very excitedly, happily - ]

Nya!

[someone is very happy about the theme.]

[ IIIa : GOOD SURPRISE ]

[And as the party enters its final hour, it's finally time for present opening. Anya will be guided over to the table and it doesn't matter how many gifts are there for her, if there's even one, her reaction will be the same. A surprised little look and glancing around, as if to make sure that she heard that correctly.]

Подарок...? A gift? For Anya?

[Careful, she's likely to get emotional.]

[ IIIb : BAD SURPRISE ]

[Later, there will just be a few gifts left. Boxes and envelopes alike. They're unmarked on who they're from.

That's definitely a good sign.]

Ah but... все? I should open all, yes?

[Fair warning - this'll probably either be creepy fan letters or unfortunate Retrospec gifts.]

[ IV : WILDCARD ]

[ and I'm down for anything else too! feel free to hit me up at evergrace if you'd like to plot out anything in particular! ]

iii both of them

[adoringpast]

[ sena's... not supposed to be here, to be honest. the original plan was to approach her at the agency, give her the gift and leave, but life has been too hectic nowadays so he hasn't had the chance to do it.

until now, but only because lelouch really wanted to go for some reason.

so here he is, complete with stupid cat ears and all, waiting until anya is down to unwrapping the last few presents, many of which have no return address. that's not good. but anyways. ]

... Here.

[ the nicely-wrapped present is carefully placed in her hands while she's still busying herself with a gift? so rude. ]

iiia

[glaciers]

[There's a box that's been neatly wrapped in blue, with some kind of starry pattern on it. The tag very clearly says who it's from, "Shouto."]

Yes. Happy birthday.

[And in that box is a gray kitty plushie with a blue ribbon around its neck.]

present timeee

[doublesmall]

[of course chuuya got her something. like he'd let her birthday pass without giving her some sort of present-- he'd made her wait until the party itself to actually get her gift, but he finally fetches it and hands it over.

it's a medium-sized, flat box wrapped in blue and silver paper, with a little silver ribbon on it.]

Happy late birthday, kiddo. Seemed like the kind of thing you might like, so...

[when she opens it, it'll be a framed print of this star map. just pretend it says recolle and not san francisco ok.]

joins the present train

[okitactless]

[Yasusada's gift comes in a small gift box, so it's easy to hand it over to her with a bright smile, once she seems to have a moment to spare. Regardless of his strong, negative opinions about the party theme, Anya is Anya, and he's happy to see her happy. ...Or emotional?? That works too he guesses]

An-chan! Happy birthday! [And despite the cat ears on his head, he looks more like a puppy wagging its tail than anything else. OPEN IT OPEN IT]

IIIa, sorta

[doitrockapella]

[It's probably understandable that Carmen's keeping a low profile at the party, not least of which because birthday parties are by definition Someone Else's Show™ and spectating at someone else's affair is admittedly something she's never been altogether good at. Still, she definitely makes time to swing by, and even goes the extra mile of accepting a pair of black cat's ears to nestle into her hair (because when in Rome, obviously), and surreptitiously drops off a present on the gift table when she has the chance.

Where she found a music box in this particular style is anyone's guess, but hey: being the daughter of a former international art dealer probably has its perks when it comes to knowing where to look and who to ask in order to find novelties like this.]

iii (just the present!)

[impulsives]

[ Since Shin's just trying to recover after this giant mess, he can't bring himself to look presentable for anything, so he's going to just leave his present alongside a short letter. Presumably it's Sena that leaves it for her to find since well that's what friends do right. ]

Hey! Sorry I can't make it today, I'm recovering from something at the moment so I had a friend drop it off for you. Hopefully you'll like it! I modified it a bit so that it can actually glow in the dark. Just flick the small switch on the bottom to turn it on!

[ If she does press the switch, the colorless planet in the center actually changes color gradually! The bottom also lights up, so the floating snowflakes will look more like stars when in a dark environment. ]

iii both

[cattack]

[Once it's time for presents, Cleo is finally going to stop hiding long enough to hold out a neatly-wrapped box to Anya.

Inside, of course, is a helmet.]

Ah... Happy birthday, Anya. I hope you like it.

iiia

[secare]

( naturally, yukine has no business being here. while they were still friends, he's not really been trying to impose his presence on her because he's still feeling pretty awkward about everything, but he couldn't bring himself to not at least come by and drop off a gift.

he has, however, forgone the cat ears. he's not going to stay long, so there isn't a need for that. he'd rather try to disappear in the crowd of other people.

on the table, there's a flat yellow box with a shiny pink ribbon. inside is a nice winter coat. on the tiny card attached to the ribbon, there's a small note stating "happy birthday! -yukine". )

IIIb

[goen]

[ Yato is the cook here so yes he's technically working, but in practice people are mostly just eating cake so he'll mingle with the party people when there's a lull in the orders. He wears a black chef's coat in a casual fashion, sleeves rolled up and top button undone, but it won't stop him from wearing cat ears too because they're a goddamn classic and it is important to adhere to the birthday girl's wishes always.

For the record, he left a gift for her too: a plush, hand-sewn blanket with a cute pattern, packaged in a plain gift box. It is perhaps shockingly understated, considering who it's coming from.

Anyway. Yato wanders over and stares at the unmarked presents with her. ]

No names? Did you see who dropped 'em off?

present

[thisloveisjustice]

[Tatsuo is only able to drop by for a little while, but he does drop by. He dons a set of felt puppy ears at the door and goes to find Anya to deliver her gift. He wasn't entirely sure what to get her at all, so he'd asked a sale clerk what to get his teenage 'niece' who was very fashionable and had a soft spot for monkeys. This was the result.]

iiia!

[sharplydressed]

Mmhm! It wouldn't be complete without one, yeah? So happy birthdaaay!

[SO ENTHUSIASTIC but look, birthdays are meant to be WIDELY CELEBRATED. So of course he comes with a package - neatly wrapped with impeccably folded blue paper and a silver bow tied so nicely that it looks like a stores clerk did it for him. He's just a dang perfectionist.

Inside the box itself is a shrug in matching colors: deep blue, somewhat sheer, and woven through with silver threading so that in certain lights, it has a low shimmer quality. It's his attempt at capturing the star theme Anya is so openly fond of.]

iii-a

[windeity]

[Anya plz. John looks more surprised that she looks surprised but there's a nod anyway.]

Well yeah. It is for your birthday, you know? Birthdays mean presents.

IIIa

[cheetahsenpai]

Yep! Of course I have a gift for you! I actually have two, but you have to see them first.

[Kuramochi gestures for Anya to follow him as they walk over to one of the tables that has food on it to a table towards the end.]

I wanted to make your favorite foods that we've cooked together before. I would have made more, but I didn't want to be in the kitchen all day and miss your party, so I made five dishes. That way you can have left overs too! Oh and cupcakes count cause I remember we made a lot of cupcakes. I'm not done yet, hold on.

[Kuramochi jogs over to his bag to pull out a gift bag. He walks over and hands it to Anya.]

Here you go happy birthday!

[Inside she'll find two dark blue bracelets with sliver star patterns of her sign on them along with two blue hair clips that he hopes matches.]

iii-ish

[admiringly]

[ Chiyo's present for Anya includes a card with a cute sketch of a bunch of kittens with ribbons tied around their necks, and inside the card is a small print of Anya in her debut outfit in full color... unless there's blue or green involved, then she makes the best color substitutions she can. Inside the gift bag is a hair accessory and a jar full of origami stars. If any of the stars ever gets undone and/or Anya fishes one out to undo the star, she will find handwritten little messages from Chiyo that range from things like Your songs will make people happy! to I'm happy we're friends! to random inspirational quotes she found online or some of her favorite song lyrics.

I am a-ok if you want to handwave the rest of this thread, but otherwise, Chiyo probably is around fighting her embarrassment over wearing a nekomimi headband. ]

iiia!

[insantafe]

[ Jack had no idea this was for two girls instead of just Anya, or he would’ve at least tried to bring something for both of them?? As it is, all he has to offer is a gift tucked under his arm and the sight of him sporting raccoon ears.

He’s going to regret that last one, isn’t he. Maybe if he’s lucky no one will take pictures… but fuck if he’s going to let Anya down.

It takes longer than it should for him to find her, distracted as he is by birthday decorations and... all the ears… but when he does, Jack gives her his best smile and offers her the gift. Wrapped in old newspapers and only a few inches larger than the standard textbook, it doesn’t look all that remarkable. Once Anya unwraps it, however, she’ll find herself holding a painting of a very familiar castle sitting on a grassy, the perfect fairy tale scene. ]

It’s your birthday, right? Go on, open it.

[thesettingsun]

[A: nekomimi outfits]
[So Shuji was here to drink, maybe chat with Chuuya some. He'd vaguely heard that there was something happening not during his shift, but he wasn't told that it was. This.

But he does actually know Ami, so he doesn't mind staying for her party, even if he wasn't technically invited... It doesn't seem like either of the birthday girls mind, so it's probably fine.

The first order of business: deciding on what ears to wear. Shuji keeps picking up a set of dark red cat ears and checking it against his hair, then black cat ears, then mouse ears, repeat from start.]

If I'd known I was going to be wearing ears today I'd have coordinated more...

[No one told him about this and he didn't get to coordinate his outfit with the cat ears!!]

[B: present panic]
[The most obvious problem with accidentally walking into someone's birthday party is that Shuji didn't bring a present. For either of the girls. That's twice as bad as not bringing a present to one person's birthday party.

Which is why he can be heard muttering to himself over his virgin Green Swizzler:]

Is an IOU okay? Is that tacky, cash is tacky, but I don't have the time to get a gift card... What would it even be an IOU for...?

[Help.]

[C: wildcard]
[hit me up]

b

[constellates]

[ . . . is Shuji okay.

Anya is wandering around when she hears the mumbling and tilting her head - ]

IO...

Xорошо? Are you okay?

[she doesn't know him that well - her schedule has made her less of a regular visitor to the inkwell even though she stops by to see Chuuya when she can - but why does he look so worried at the party....]

[okitactless]

the grumpy one

[Yasusada hates cats.

This is no secret. But he came anyway, because Anya is important and somehow impossible to say "no" to, especially for a special occasion.

So here he is, sulking at the bar off in the corner with a pair of black cat ears on his head. His hair is so poofy that it's hard to even see them, but that's the point. If alcohol's allowed for the grown-ups, he'll be grumbling into a Scotch--if not, probably just some tea.]

Why did it have to be cats... what's with the world and cats these days... this is such bad luck...

[yams get out with your superstitious nonsense]

The cheerful one

[Of course, it's still a celebration, and he isn't going to ruin Anya's day. So when he's not sulking, he'll be wandering around and chatting amicably, happy to try and get to know Anya's many, many, many (many........) friends.

...He'll also be snooping by the presents, because he's nosy.]

I wonder if I'd get in trouble for shaking it... [HE WANTS TO KNOW WHAT'S IN THERE.]

wildcard

[Anything else!]

grumpy punks

[sharplydressed]

The universe is trying to tell you something, duh.

[It's saying ACCEPT CATS INTO YOUR LIFE, YASUSADA... Especially the ones named Poppy who are good and pure and have done no wrong.

In any case, though--]

Cuuute.

[As he reaches up to pinch the headband ears as if they're real ones...]

[redarm]

[I. Good luck getting ears on him]

[ Noah can't stay the whole time, he promised he'd go on a ghost expedition with Mr. Doushi. But he wasn't going to be rude enough not to show up to Anya and Ami's birthday party, so he'll be there in his usual black attire and with a couple of presents in hand for the birthday girls.

However when the staff tries to encourage him to put on animal gear, he seems less than willing. He can be overheard talking to some poor staff members ]

Put those on me and I'll make sure yours are a permanent part of your head.

[Lovely.]

[II. That loser in the corner]

[After putting his gifts in the right spot, he can later be found exactly where you can expect him to be: skulking in the most corner-like area of the room, with a plate of food. He doesn't seem all that interested in interacting with anyone near by.

Clearly, some things never change]

i

[constellates]

[Noah please.

At least Anya's in a good enough mood that him threatening the staff just manages to? Make her laugh? Uh.]

Noah...! You are here? Oдолжение... please show kindness, you do not have to put on ears if you do not want...

[even though she

thinks he should]

[cattack]

[I: Arrival]

[As Cleo arrives, well. It's been a week since her accident at the dojo, and she's trying to get out again, but it's not easy, and she's still jumpy. Which means being cornered by an employee and being told to wear a cat ear headband, but... Well, her own cat ears are twitching wildly, before drooping.]

No- As you can see, I have my own- Well, sort of... Regardless, I don't have any need for those.

[she's going to shoot you a pleading look. will you help her.]

[II: Wallflower]

[Once she's safe, and absolutely not wearing a second set of cat ears, she's just... Going to try to wallflower. She'll have some snacks and hide and try to look like she's not avoiding people, while avoiding people as hard as she can. Which means you should definitely bug her.]

i.

[livingdeadgirl]

[She sure will! Ami uses her administrative powers as Co-Birthday Girl to shoo the employee away.]

I think we can make an exception this time! As you can see, she already has some.

[truedetective]

[I]

[Naoto will be dead in the ground before she puts a pair of ears on. Probably. It's silly, and dumb, but it's somehow cute and endearing for people like Anya and Ami to do it. Naoto doesn't think she'll try one herself-- and her cap makes people doing it to her difficult-- but she does keep flicking her eyes over to the table where they're set, while she stands off to the side and sips some punch.

She is looking very botherable, but also very standoffish. As is tradition.]

[II]

[She's carrying two presents. One is a fairly small cylinder, about six inches long. The other is a more lumpy wrapping job, indicating that whatever is inside is soft. Fabric, perhaps?] Ah... are we supposed to just leave these on the table or...?

ii

[parodeity]

I think so. If you didn't mark who it's from I have a pen you can borrow real quick?

[ if that's her concern here. ]

[windeity]

I.

[See the problem is that John Egbert is kind of a sucker when it comes to people he likes. He likes both of these girls, Anya being one of the first people he met in the city and Ami being someone he's getting to know. But again, this is a problem because he's actually busy staring at the array of animal ears and why is this happening? Why?

Despite his better judgment, he's picking up a pair of white ears, giving them a thoughtful frown but not quite putting them on yet? He'll turn to anyone nearby though and grin, holding the ears out for examination.]

Think they'll clash? [It's pretty clear he's teasing, but given that he's in black slacks, a dark gray shirt and what was once a blue bowtie (now gray) it might not be a bad question.]

II

[He misses his sylladex. He doesn't even know how it works and Dave says he sucks at it regardless, but he misses it. It would make carrying things easier because by the time he retrieves the presents for the birthday girls from Dave's sylladex, he realizes that the gift wrapping is coming loose. Other partygoers can find him standing at the gifts table hovering over two packages, biting his lip in thought while attempting to borrow tape from one package and transfer to another. Perhaps you're approaching to deliver your gifts while he's standing there, but that doesn't stop him from speaking up.]

Do you have a pen I can borrow?

III/wildcard

[Anything else! John can be found sort of wandering through and mingling among people, chatting with people he knows or even just striking up casual conversation with anyone he doesn't know. Are you both eyeing the cake? Swapping out ears? Trying to stay out of the line of fire and not die of embarrassment because you've been coerced by enthusiastic teenagers? The choice is yours.]

i

[parodeity]

[ dave tips his head to the side as he considers, before he shakes his head and reaches out to take the ears from john, setting them back down. ]

Kind of. This would be easier if you picked a back-up favorite color - [ but he picks some gray ears instead, offering those over. ] - but we'll just have to make due in the meantime. If you're not into clashing, do these. If you want to clash, go bigger than white, dude. There's like, neon pink options.

[livingdeadgirl]

i. birthday girl

[It's Ami's party, too! She's probably the one who invited most of the goths. For her kitty ears, she picked the black ones with the red lining.

She'll be scampering around and mingling, as one does. Sometimes her lusus tags along, and sometimes it doesn't. And if she sees someone who doesn't have ears yet, well! The gimmick may have been Anya's idea, but it seems Ami's 100% on board.]

Hey! Where's your ears?

ii. party animal

[The aforementioned lusus doesn't spend the whole party following at Ami's heels. She can occasionally be found on her own, whether watching the proceedings, or taking a little nap under a table, or munching on some hay in a basket set aside for this purpose.

But she's also something of a curious creature, so she might decide to come over to strangers and say hello as well. Pet her? Feed her? Marvel at her xenobiological significance? Stop her from snitching from the veggie tray when nobody's looking? YOU DECIDE.]

iii. presents (pasts and futures)

[or: THE BEST PART OF ANY BIRTHDAY PARTY, BAR NONE

Ami's acceptance speech for each present is considerably less bashful than Anya's. She winds up making a little show of it - who's this from? thanks so much! - and any package whose contents aren't immediately obvious will get a little sniff, shake, and listen, not necessarily in that order.]

All righty, what do we have here...?

[Meanwhile, her lusus has a great deal of fun playing with the wrapping paper.]

iv. wildcard

[anything else too! cake? candles? wishes? birthday pranks? go for it! or you can hmu at caturday if you prefer thats cool too]

iii

[buncho]

[ Okay, so Ryoji's gift is very predictable and not something he can physically give her, so he won't be tagging in. But what he got for Ami is a receipt sent to her phone: $120 pledged to this tarot deck project in Ami's name, whereupon she'll receive a deck, box, and custom gold foil design in a little over a year's time, whenever the project is complete.

Mafuyu, on the other hand, has no time for patience, elbowing her way towards the presents table when Ami starts opening them. She hasn't put hers on the table, having clamped it between her arm and side throughout the entire party, sometimes using it as a tray to balance her plates of food. ]

Ami! Open mine next! Here!

[ It's not wrapped so much as it's stuffed inside a plastic grocery bag. Ami can make a great show of pulling out... a cheap plastic school folder. Opening that, she'll find it stuffed full of hall passes, filled out and signed and ready to go. ]

You started high school this month, right? Then you'll need these! The teachers and custodians know my face so they don't work for me anymore, so you'll make better use of them than me!

[parodeity]

cat ears;

[ there's absolutely no complaint from dave as he puts the cat ears on (choosing them because...cats are better than the other options...) and if anyone looks at him askance he will just.

make his hands into a paw motion and deadpan state: ]

Meow.

[ this isn't embarrassing him at all, is it...for the record, aside from the ears he's very well dressed in a black vest and tie with a red dress shirt and slacks. this is probably more than the party dress code called for. ]

say cheese;

[ for a good portion of the evening, dave seems to be hanging out taking pictures - with a polaroid camera, this time around. whenever he takes a shot, he snags the polaroid and waves it in the air to make the image appear, then offers it up. ]

If you want to see. They're all goin' into a scrapbook, though.

wildcard;

[ or find dave doing whatever the fuck. he mingles, on and off, usually to take photos, but can frequently be found chilling out on the sidelines with juice or something. ]

[evidentiary]

i. she did not mean to be here...

[ fun fact: kyouko kirigiri's cousin works at the inkwell. or did. or has. and she was just dropping by to see if he was around, and then, like, all this? happened?

she somehow found it hard to say no to anya or someone else here, and is Very Reluctantly but stoicly wearing some cat ears.

she is otherwise in a casual floral skirt and nice work blouse, her hair tied back neatly in a braid.

...and she is of course just. sticking to the wall, but if she sees you with a phone or any photo-taking device - ]

...I'm going to need to ask you to reconsider that. [ FIRMLY. ]

widcard;

[ or do something besides that it's late ]

wildcard fight me x2

[windeity]

[John eventually meanders his way around the Inkwell and it's only when he glances back that he realizes there's a familiar face. Kyouko's still sticking to the wall, but he doesn't seem too fussed about joining her even with his gray cat ears clipped into his hair.]

It could be worse, you know.