[end of vacation] cool youth party for cool youths

[and_survive]

It wasn't a birthday party, for all that she'd turned seventeen a few days ago. Or, at least, crossed the date that marked that; there was always that confusion about time, here, and not just how it meant she was either seventeen or wouldn't be born for another three years. It was, as a lot of things about Darrow were, slightly out of joint.

That wasn't why, though. She just hadn't thought of it such. It was a party to mark the creeping end of summer vacation, the fact that although the season itself was still going strong, school would have its claws in them soon enough and then it would be gone, the last of the hot days fading while they were stuck inside.

She thought it made for a good venue for the cause. Konoha-Uchi didn't entirely feel like hers; it was a home, but one that she'd moved into and been left behind in, as with so much in her life, and she didn't have a sense of ownership, just a simpler one of residence. Which seemed a little fitting, frankly, for inviting her friends and their friends and frankly anyone else in an expanding circle of youth to come on by and live it up before commitments got their hooks in all of them again. She'd loaded the pickup with food and drinks and ice and was still relying a little on people bringing a thing or two themselves, but she'd done alright, she thought, considering she still wasn't technically old enough to be getting some of what was absolutely vital to any good party, but she'd managed, with some help.

Aside from the bedrooms, which she'd closed off -- Korra's because she'd never been quite sure what to do with that one, now, her own because Kyle could make all the social media posts about soul-searching quests to be open and honest with his love that he liked, he wasn't going to be open and honest with his love in her bedroom if he showed up -- she'd opened all the living spaces up to the outside, allowing breezes and people both to sweep through as they would, between the indoors and the shaded spaces of the porches. Even the lake, if anyone got hot or drunk or just plain whimsical enough to throw themselves in.

On a day like this one it didn't seem like the bar for that would be very high. The water was clear and quiet and calm, much like the surrounds usually were. Sometimes, that quiet seclusion was a goal in and of itself.

Today, it was mostly a good setting in which to get raucous.

[gathering post for gathering in. gather. party.]

Comments

[light_of_the_world]

"Your house, your rules," Hild agreed with an echo of Ellie's nod. That said, Hild doubted her ability to put anything bounced into the cup. A throw seemed smoother and had less influences to take into account.

She rolled the ball lightly against her hip, trying to remove some of the excess beer so her fingers wouldn't slip. She aimed, shot, and watched as the ball bounced off the crowded rims of the cups.

"Fuck."

[and_survive]

"Fu- no, it's fine, we'll get it back," Ellie said, clapping her hands together and rolling her head a little, as if limbering up would help any. "There's no way they make two in- C'MON."

They had, in fact, made two in a row. Ellie fished out the ball and frowned at the cup before downing it.

[light_of_the_world]

"Okay, fuck this," Hild said with renewed determination. If she had sleeves -- if she ever wore sleeves -- she would have rolled them up to show her firm intention.

She hated to lose, but more so she hated not knowing how to do a thing when the time came. She needed to succeed in this.

"You'll get this one." Prophecy, perhaps not, but she said it with confidence. "You can do it."

[and_survive]

"I can hit a white rabbit with an arrow in the snow, I can do it," Ellie said, although she wasn't sure this would convince the ball, which felt slippery and uncooperative, or the cups, which did not seem entirely steady. This was not her first drink of the evening.

"I got this, I got-" she threw, and finished with undue surprise when with a splash the ball landed in a cup, nearly toppling it, "-this! Ha!"

[light_of_the_world]

Hild's brows rose at Ellie's boast, because that was an impressive boast. A cup on a table was different from a rabbit in snow, and a ping pong ball was different from a bow or rifle, but the statement filled Hild with more confidence.

She let out a whoop and raised her arms high. "Yes! We will not go down so easily!" she shouted at the other side of the table.

[and_survive]

It might have been grey and it might not have been the first she'd shot at, but that was how boasting worked. Ellie was not above exaggeration.

"Yeah!" Ellie crowed, mirroring the gesture, arms in the air, and then pointing. "Eat it!" She paused, considered the phrasing. "Drink it!"

[light_of_the_world]

Hild snorted at Ellie's mix up and quickly covered her mouth with her hand. The boys at the other side of the table seemed mildly annoyed but, as they were still in the lead, drank their beer without much grumbling.

That is until they attempted to shoot again and Hild let out a loud roar of a(n Old) British war cry, startling the boy so badly that the ball barely hit the lip of the front cup.

"Well, that's sad," Hild said dismissively as she retrieved the ball.

[and_survive]

"Ha!" Ellie said, stomping a delighted foot. "That was fucking fantastic, you've got lungs."

And a keen sense of what the game called for, obviously. Solid tactic. Great tactic. They would dominate this thing yet.

Maybe they'd be expecting the yelling thing, now, but she still kind of wanted to try. It had been a good war cry.

[light_of_the_world]

The problem now was simply that Hild did not know how to aim and shoot. It was obvious enough to her that she couldn't rely upon Ellie to shoot and for her to drink and shout whenever it was needed.

Hild waited until one of the boys had finished mimicking her tactic of shouting to toss the ball. It was woefully short, but a lucky bounce had it slipping into one of the side cups.

"That counts!" she shouted before anyone could complain.

[and_survive]

"It counts!" Ellie shouted, as soon as she'd registered what Hild was saying, throwing in a point that flicked between the cups and their opponents for good measure.

"Yeah! Nice," she said, shifting the hand so that she was holding it up for a high five.