birthday preparations Who: Emily Miliona & Darius Delacreaux What: Planning a party for Cormac because his birthday is coming up soon! Where: Cafe du ciel rose When: Midday Rating: Mild Status: Complete.
Cormac's birthday approached and Emily wanted him to have a party. Her own birthday came around during the peak of the plague, so any celebrating she did was with her parents, and briefly with Cormac for when he came to dinner. For her, her parents might have thrown some event to keep appearances, but Emily knew that Cormac wasn't terribly fond of a grand ado. A party, however, with his friends was the best and a surprise party would amuse her more than it would excite him.
Planning this party gave her the opportunity to get better acquainted with Darius. Not a foul word was uttered by the white mage and it intrigued Emily. So she sent an invitation to Darius to meet her at Cafe du ciel rose with intentions of having him help her plan this party. It felt only fair to include her fiancée's best friend, after all. And Darius could give her some interesting insights to Cormac's activities over the last few years. Though she knew that visiting the whore house was one of those.
She sat at the table waiting for Darius to arrive with a cup of tea resting before her. It was fresh and the steam floated upward in smokey tendrils dancing into nothing. She was dressed in white, making the red jewel settled between her collar bones pop even more than it normally would. The gift from Cormac rarely left her sight and limited her wardrobe to specific colors so it would match.
It wouldn’t take long for the white mage to enter the establishment shortly after Emily herself had say. Unfortunately, the long hours at one of the clinics he worked at had left him running at least a little late, and feeling terribly exhausted. Yet, thus was the life of a white mage. There were always more people who needed help, than people to help them.
“Hey.” A slightly forced, but polite, smile emerged briefly across his lips before Darius took his own seat with a short nod of his head. “Sorry for keeping you. Hope you weren’t waiting too long.” With a scrape of the chair legs over the floor, the seat was pulled up to the table, and the man began to unfold the nearest napkin before settling it across his lap. His next move would be to reach for a menu. Damn he was starved.
“So, you wanted to talk about Cormac?”
"Hello, Darius," Emily greeted with her usual warm smile. She allowed him the moment to take his seat and waved a hand, "No, it's fine. I understand that you're busy, so I really appreciate that you came here." If she'd stayed here, she too, might be working in some establishment of some sort where her white magic could help and heal. But life had different plans, and for now she had to use what time she had with Darius to talk about Cormac's birthday before he would be running off to help more people. Like any good white mage was doing.
She nodded, "Yes, his birthday is coming up. The end of the month, I believe. I wanted to throw a party for him, and I was hoping you would be able to give some ideas, or even help out where you could. I know you have a lot to do, but it's Cormac and his birthday, and...I wanted it to mean something and also be something he'd enjoy, so…" That's why she needed Darius there. What party could be better than one planned by his best friend and his fiancée?
"We don't have to plan it all now, but at least get started," she offered, not wanting to take too much time out of his schedule.
“Oh yeah.” Darius never had been all that good with dates. He had known Cormac long enough that undoubtedly, the memory would have kicked his ass into gear eventually - perhaps even on the day of the other man’s birthday, but clearly, that hadn’t quite come into the reality of his mind at this point until Emily had mentioned it.
“Yeah, sure.” Darius’ head bobbed up, and down as he nodded along. “Makes sense.” Pulling open the menu between his hands, eyes began to skim over what this place had to offer. Nothing too heavy from the looks of it, which was disappointing, but really, what had he expected of a place famous for tea? Though… Then Emily’s words hit him. Plan a party Cormac liked… Wait a second.
The white mage’s forehead scrunched up, and his menu lowered a bit. “Uh, no disrespect Emily, but you sure you want me to help plan a party he’ll like? Or you wanna plan a party he’ll tolerate?”
Darius was agreeing and that was easier than she thought. Not that she really believed that Darius would make this difficult, but usually the idea of party planning to most men was the equivalent of indentured servitude. And then his expression changed. Emily's head tilted slightly to the side of his question and opened her mouth to say something and then closed it. While she knew a great deal about her fiancée, that question actually made her question her plans.
"If you would...clarify," Emily said with a hint of genuine confusion in the tone, "I know Cormac doesn't enjoy grand affairs very much, and I'd prefer to keep the number of attendees down to a group of people who doesn't roll his eyes at repeatedly." But that's what Darius was here for, right? To make sure Cormac would actually enjoy his party? Or at least like it enough not to have desires of leaving early.
She placed the menu down before her as to give Darius her undivided attention.
“Well, I mean,” A hand waved off to one side, his menu all but forgotten for a moment. “For as long as I’ve known Cormac his idea of ‘fun’,” If it could even be called that… “is booze, hookers, and money.” A slight shrug was given. “I mean, I’d guess it’s a little different now with you back in the picture, but unless the guy’s drunk, having sex, or in piles of money, I dunno if there’s anything else he’d actually enjoy. Cormac’s more of a sit in the corner, get drunk and ignore people, or call them idiots, and assholes.” If this chick didn’t know that, she didn’t really know Cormac as far as Darius was concerned. Hell, maybe Cormac was different with this chick but… Darius had yet to really see them together.
Fingers smoothed over the top of his menu without a thought. “Keeping the number of people is down. I could probably give you some suggestions on wine he likes if you want, though who you could invite that he doesn’t hate, well…” Another passive shrug. “We both might just be sitting here.”
"Oh, I'm aware," Emily laughed, "Though he wasn't been to the Sapphire House for quite some time. I fully expect you to take him there or somewhere he can get properly drunk when it comes time for us to get married." Between her return and the plague, the only trip she knew he made there was at the behest of Audrey when she was just Audrey to the both of them. Cormac might not think that Emily knew, but it didn't take too much digging to find out where the other woman had come from and been so discreet about.
She laughed a bit, "Cormac is not a people person. That much hasn't changed. Regardless, I don't think having the alcohol flowing for him to celebrate is a bad idea. I'll be hijacking him in the morning to travel." Though there was that esper he recently obtained. That was something to be figured out at another time.
"But really, Cormac's friends are numbered so few? Even acquaintances he wouldn't mind drinking with?" she raised an eyebrow. Not that she cared much if Cormac had an abundance of friends, but still, limiting to Darius and herself didn't make for much of a party.
Time for them to get married…. Was that still on? Cormac had been perpetually drunk, and miserable since she left but… Now that she was suddenly, and mysteriously back? That seemed a… Pretty big assumption. To just come back and figure the marriage was still totally on? A slight shrug would be all that was given outwardly. “Yeah, sure.” Though Darius would have to be careful to make sure it was outlined as Cormac’s party, he didn’t need his name associated with one of the gem houses, even if he had nothing against them.
Darius couldn’t help but look… Mildly confused, and somewhat surprised at Emily’s question about Cormac’s friends.
“Uh, Emily? You’ve met the guy, right? Cormac’s kinda a prick. Not everyone’s tastes, you know?” A sideways nod of his head was earned next as eyes fell back down to the menu. “ ‘sides, not like he really likes much of anyone either.”
Emily made a face. The sort of face that was coming to admit that Darius was right. This was Cormac, he didn't have friends that weren't Darius, and everyone he kept around him were people that he found some sort of use out of. Though she was still trying to figure out the exact nature of his business with Cian. She'd been investigating that a bit but there were limits to what she could find out without somehow drawing a curious eye in her direction.
She sighed. "You're right," she frowned, "I was hoping that by some miracle he'd improved on that, but I guess it'd be strange for Cormac to be a social butterfly and chatting happily with everyone while making small talk." The thought was so absurd she let out a laugh, "Sorry, excuse me." There was a soft shake of her head.
"Perhaps we should just forgo the party idea," she said, "I'm sure you'll have plenty of fun on your own. And then in the morning we'll leave town for a few days. He wanted a holiday. Or at least, hinted very strongly. And by hinting very strongly, well, Cormac said it." He wasn't subtle about these things, and he rarely asked anything of her, so she felt it was the very least she could do.
Darius couldn’t help the crinkling of his forehead at the - seemingly - frustrated admission, followed by a laugh from Emily. What was she expecting? People didn’t just change overnight, and well, sure she’d been gone for five years but… This was Cormac they were talking about. The guy wasn’t exactly the picture of self-awareness and internal motivation for change and personal growth. A hand waved absently when she asked for an excuse. “Nah, nothin’ to worry about. I mean, don’t get me wrong, the guy’s one of my best friends, but he’s not much for, well, people.” The truth was the truth, no matter how you cut it.
His head bobbed with a nod. “Might be a better idea. I’ll take the guy out, get him wasted, and bring him home for you to take care of,” A boyish grin rose despite himself. “how’s that sound for a deal?”
"Did I just walk into that?" Emily questioned and then let out a laugh, "I did, didn't I? Fine, you two have your fun and I'll deal with the aftermath. Hangovers shouldn't be too hard to take care of, the last thing I want is for us to be traveling with him dealing with one." She didn't mind Cormac going out and doing something with Darius, because this was for Cormac. If anyone got her thinking of someone other than herself, it was Cormac. He was her most obvious weakness, in plain sight, one that everyone knew, and she could care less.
She took a drink of her tea, "Thank you, Darius. And don't lose him when you take him out. Or forget him." There was a light note of teasing in her voice and then she looked down at the menu again and said, "Now, let's eat."