Oz Spellman
March 12, 2023 4:57 AM
Sweet Sixteen (tag Xav's friends) by Oz Spellman
Oz stepped into the MARS sports room, and onto the eyeballingly neon carpet of the bowling alley. He had practised several times, both getting the room right and actually playing the game, which he’d never had a chance to do before.He’d asked Henry to help him carry the food down from the kitchens. He hadn’t asked the elves for anything too complicated, deciding that the words ‘popcorn chicken’ were likely to be misinterpreted, and had just opted for French Fries. Those should have matched the setting, especially as he’d transfigured little baskets for them to sit in, but they looked suspiciously like you could trace their lineage back to real potatoes.
He remembered Xav's birthday in first year, when he had invited the whole beginner cohort. That party hadn't gone super well for Oz, but he was pretty sure Xav had had a good time, and that was the point. Nothing like it had happened since though. Birthdays were one of the things that had fallen by the wayside with Xav's life falling apart - or at least the energy and confidence to invite the whole year group had vanished. Obviously, Xav's birthday hadn't gone anywhere, and the fact that he couldn't do much for it clearly bothered him. So, Oz was determined to step up, go into Best Boyfriend Mode and fix it. Especially as it was Xav's sixteenth.
Given that it was such a special birthday, he was worried that a crummy little bowling party wasn't enough. He thought that Xav was more comfortably middle class than insane-reality-TV-show rich, but Oz felt like Xav's family would have done more. He wasn't up for inviting their whole cohort, and now that they were split across different groups again, he wasn't even sure what that meant. He had gone for inviting people he knew Xav actively liked, which meant Philippe, Val, Henry and Robyn. He had checked with the latter that she didn't think bowling was a completely horrible idea. She didn't, and also hadn't been able to suggest anything better.
So. Here they were.
Or would be soon. He had asked people to be prompt so they could surprise Xav, assuming he hadn't peeked at what his birthday would contain.
As the guests gathered, Oz was busy trying to coax some cake decorations into existence. Funnily enough, there wasn’t a specific spell for making a tiny little set of skate ramps, so he was just winging it with catch-all material transfigurations, a lot of visualisation, and occasional swearing. Especially when his first attempts to animate the tiny little skater he had made resulted in it face-planting in the rainbow frosting, and Oz somewhat botched the charms needed to retrieve it and smooth over that mistake neatly. He frowned away most offers of help, though he did let someone else shape the default candles into a ‘1’ and a ‘6’ for fear he was running out of time. The rest of the preparations had taken care of themselves, or MARS had taken care of them—there were balloons, a banner, and even party hats though Oz wasn’t sure anyone would actually want to wear those (he hadn’t considered the fact that MARS took most of its instruction from projecting what he thought it ought to look like).
After a few attempts, he got the skater going. It looked more like it was floating back and forth on the ramp than actually skating, but it was a skater, and moving, and that was going to have to do because the door was opening…
OOC: Hi. This is set in April, but I wanted to post it early because
a) multiperson threads can take time
and
b) I felt like it would be a nice change from my recent contributions to just have something fluffy and fun.
I'm making this a multithread in case people want to split off later, but I do have a follow up post of Xav arriving and people are welcome to thread onto that for as long as it makes sense to.
As specified in the post, Oz has invited Philippe, Val, Henry and Robyn. Sorry to anyone else who regards themselves as Xav's friends - you probably are too, but this is Oz's take on it.
Subthreads: ...for me? by Xavier Lundstrom with Valentine Duell, Oz Spellman
Alone among friends by Henry Spellman with Robyn Lundstrom
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Oz Spellman
Sweet Sixteen (tag Xav's friends)
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Henry Spellman
March 14, 2023 12:06 AM
Alone among friends by Henry Spellman
Henry was not dating anyone. Henry didn't even really have friends. He was invited to Xavier's party because he was Oz' brother, not because Xavier actually liked him, although Xavier did seem like he liked him well enough. Whether that was because Henry was a super fun dude or whether it was because Henry was Oz' brother was an easy one to figure out though.He did the appropriate jumping and surprising and cheering and then took a seat somewhere he could watch the rest of the group play games and enjoy the sweetness that was his brother's relationship. He was excited for Oz, and it wasn't Oz' fault that Henry's own mental health hadn't really improved despite life circumstances doing so. It was just how things were and that was how it was and it was fine. Totally completely fine.
Henry sipped on a soda and ate a french fry, debating if he wanted to bother with bowling shoes. He probably should so it wasn't weird and depressing for him to be there at least, but then it would be a whole are you bowling with us or alone? ordeal and it would be weird. Right? That sounded like it would be weird.
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Henry Spellman
Alone among friends
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Robyn Lundstrom
March 16, 2023 4:21 AM
At least you're among friends by Robyn Lundstrom
Robyn was glad not to be left out of Xavier's birthday, obviously. Birthdays were fun, Xavier was her brother, and no one liked being left out. She wasn't even intimidated by it being all older kids as she stepped into the MARS room. With two older brothers, she had plenty of experience of being surrounded by older kids. Her main concern was whether they would actually give her the time of day or whether she would be doomed to fade into the background.Val and Philippe were there, which was reassuring. They were older Teppenpaws and therefore both nice by default and also responsible for looking out for her - Philippe was Head Boy and Val was basically nice to everyone. As the party got started though, Robyn noticed someone else hovering more on the edge than in the middle. Someone who's attention she didn't get as many opportunities to seek as she did Philippe and Val's... Somewhere between kindred spirits and curiosity, she made her way over to where Henry was eating French Fries.
The snacks were on one of those... Shelf-bar- area for holding the snacks thingies just behind the plastic seats. She pressed her palms onto it, straightening her elbows so that her feet picked up off the floor and she was very-nearly-almost a similar height to him.
"Hi," she said, before realising both that she lacked the arm strength to maintain her current position, and that it occupied her hands and thus left her unable to eat. With a slight sigh, she lowered herself down. Judging by the glowing list of names that Oz had filled out, Henry wouldn't be hers for very long before getting called up to bowl (Robyn's own name was bottom of the list, of course). "We could be in a club," she offered. "Like, the 'our brothers are gross but at least we get French Fries out of it Club.' Not cos they're both boys," she added hurriedly, not wanting Henry to think she was homophobic. "It's just gross that Xavier's kissing anyone. French Fry cheers?" she offered, holding up her basket.
OOC: Mentions of Oz's list not god-modding as he is also mine and it was referenced in his post - however the order/details weren't so if you feel it clashes too much with what you wrote, I can adjust.
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Robyn Lundstrom
At least you're among friends
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Henry Spellman
March 16, 2023 11:24 PM
Am I? by Henry Spellman
Henry raised his eyebrows and leaned back some, surprised by the young girl's sudden intrusion into his space. He knew who she was the way that you know your teacher has a kid at school but don't really know wh they are (except in magic school because it was way too small not to know anyone) and relaxed when he registered who it was that was joining him. He didn't want to think it never happened that someone approached him unexpectedly but it certainly happened rarely enough that it stood out to him when it did. He looked at Xavier's sister in a new light for her bravery - or insanity - in approaching. He always sort of wondered what other people thought when they met him when they only knew Oz, since there was definitely no chance to doubt whether the two Spellmans were related."Hey," Henry replied, smiling in understanding of the awkwardness that was existing as a tween when she lowered herself back to the floor. He always forgot he was basically a grown up until he was standing near someone much shorter than him. The idea that your sibling was gross for kissing someone was a funny one to Henry; it had been a long time since he'd had thoughts other than get some and be safe with regards to Oz' love life, but he supposed it was probably different being the same age and gender. And face. "Ah, Oz is good looking though at least," he joked, not quite selling the new confident persona he was hoping to develop in adulthood. "French fry cheers," he added, bumping his basket into hers.
It was his turn to bowl then and he wiped his salty hands on his pants before excusing himself to take his turn (he didn't knock any pins down the first time but got them all on the second shot after he had taken a second to think about the way the ball moved in conjunction with the lane and what not). When he returned, he cocked his head at the girl a bit. Henry didn't know a ton about Xavier's family but this girl was here so she must not have been too bad. Shame she was so much younger than Henry; it would've been nice to have a chance at a girl without having to go around dating people. Or meeting them.
"Is it weird hanging out with just a bunch of older kids?" he asked, grasping for small talk that probably wouldn't backfire.
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Henry Spellman
Am I?
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Robyn Lundstrom
March 18, 2023 8:30 AM
It seems like it? by Robyn Lundstrom
Yes! He had returned her French Fry cheers! Friendship iniated. And almost immediately placed in jeopardy, as Robyn instinctively wrinkled her nose at the idea of anyone Xavier liked being good-looking, before remembering who she was talking to."You're better," she informed Henry to cover her mistake. And she could absolutely make up some reasons why on the spot if need be. He didn't have gross gel in his hair or Xavier slobber on his face for starters.
Whilst he bowled, she worked on being tall. If she went with her elbows and forearms instead of her hands, she was more stable and could almost manipulate a French Fry into her mouth provided she had it in her hand before she started.
"Good job," she said, dropping once again to floor height to give Henry a slightly salty high five when he returned.
"I have two older brothers. I'm used to it," she assured Henry. "And I'm almost thirteen," she said, making it sound as grown up as possible. She wished she could say that she was already thirteen but unfortunately that wouldn't be true for another few weeks. And, as usual, just as she was entering one phase, Xavier would be exiting - she would be a teenager and he would be a sort of adult (not really, but she bet he would think so and milk it for all it was worth). "It's only weird in that I'm not being told I can't join in. How about you? Is it weird being around not-the-same-age people?"
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Robyn Lundstrom
It seems like it?
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