[closed] the hit 2004 film starring alexa vega

[survivorsguilt]

Who: Ellie + Magnus, Lup, Taako, Merle, Angus + Rey, Nick + Duck
What: Sleepovers!
Where: Several homes
When: Varied dates throughout September
Warnings: n/a, may be updated

Prompts in the comments!

Comments

magnus + taako + lup + merle + angus - 13th

[survivorsguilt]

arrival

[After two outta three successes, Ellie is feeling a little cocky. She knocks, noisy and rapid, and calls out:]

This is a stick up! Lemme in if you value your lives!

shenanigans

[An Ellie option for all your sleepover activity needs! Hair brushing, (Mags?) braiding, (Lup??) nail painting, (Taako???) and deep philosophical Q&A games!! (Merle????)]

late night wanderings

[She wakes in a cold sweat. Same old. Any of the household awake past midnight will find Ellie pacing outside, sitting up and keeping a watchful eye out the nearest window, digging around for food, or even catch the moment of her rude awakening. Hey, no one said she was a perfect guest.]

late night wanderings

[restinglichface]

[The elves of the household may enjoy sleeping, but that doesn't necessarily mean they need to.

When Ellie tries sneaking upstairs to the kitchen, the house may seem unnaturally quiet and dark, but the moment she steps into the shared living space, there's a glowing, disembodied face peering through the darkness at her.]

You turned around or looking for a snack? [Naturally, Lup is stretched out over the couch in the dark with her phone in front of her, the soft glow lighting up only her face in the otherwise dark room. Don't question it.]

[survivorsguilt]

[Jesus. Ellie's heart stops for a second, and she barely keeps herself from making a sound.]

Fuck. Dude. Don't do that to me.

[She's jumpy as hell, and takes a second to just breathe.]

I'm- yeah, I'm just. Looking for food.

[restinglichface]

[Lup sits up as Ellie curses, unable to stop the slightest of smiles from tugging at her mouth. She certainly hadn't been intending to scare a child today, but it's surprisingly satisfying. Would recommend!]

Hey, you're the one who walked in all sneaky on me. Bee-tee-dubs, pretty on point sneaking skills.

[The elf drops her phone to the couch and moves to her feet, striding across the living room to flick on the nearby switch, flooding both this room and attached kitchen with light.]

Whatcha in the mood for? Has my brother already bragged about us being the best fucking chefs in this place or what?

[survivorsguilt]

[Ellie turns her head up to smirk at Lup, and can't help looking a little pleased in return. Look at these two smug assholes.]

I am pretty good at that.

[Gotta be, where she's from. Or she wouldn't still be alive, honestly.

She relaxes a little as light fills the room. Once upon a time that would have been a mistake, but it's not like there are rage-fueled monsters attracted to light like moths in this cave. (Not currently, anyway.)]

Uh- what? No? Fuck, are you offering to cook for me?

[Is this Christmas?]

[restinglichface]

[Not currently is right. Though there is a sweet, but sort of bitey dog in the next room over they really don't want to wake.

At Ellie's question, Lup turns to give her a look that says 'what the fuck do you think'?] What else would I do? Leave it up to you to operate the oven? Can you even reach the knobs, shortie?

[By the particular curl of her grin and the amusement shining in her eyes, Ellie should be able to tell it's just a tease. Ellie isn't that short. That's Merle.] Seriously, what sounds good? Taako and I always cook for these assholes. They can't do a thing for themselves.

shenans YOU THOUGHT THE NAIL PAINTING WOULD COME FROM LUP BUUUUUT

[armcollector]

[Peanut has been locked in her room, which Magnus is trying not to think of as prison but Ellie's reaction to her is extreme enough that he doesn't want anything to happen between them. The varren has plenty of food, water, and makeshift toys made from old clothes, so she'll be fine, even if she raps at the door every hour or so. He checks on her every once in a while, too, to make absolutely sure Peanut is safe and good.

He's just dipped out of the death room and he settles back in with Ellie. During his time away, Ellie seems to have been pretty alright, which is all he asks for. He hopes that impression isn't wrong.

He peeks into a cupboard in the living room where they've set up, calling out to her behind him.]

Hey, Angel, what's your favorite color?

YYYYYYYYYYYYES

[survivorsguilt]

[She's still vaguely uncomfortable knowing there's a varren that close by, but Ellie can tell Magnus is really trying for her. She doesn't wanna be a dick. He doesn't know what happened, after all.

Ellie sits with her legs crossed underneath her, hair messy and loose around her shoulders (a rare sight). She leans back and stares at the ceiling, lips pursed in contemplation.]

Mmmmmm. That's a toughie. Maybe blue. Like a bright blue. What's yours?

[armcollector]

[Magnus pokes through the varying bottles of nail polish he's picked up through his time here. It's something he always keeps a lookout for; he's kept his nails painted since he started living with Julia, and even after she was gone, it's just a practiced ritual at this point. He feels naked without something on his nails, and it makes him feel kinda nice. Like his big, meaty hands don't have to be all gruff and sandpaper and tough.

They're still not soft to the touch, but they feel nice to look at, though he always has to reapply often with how fast they chip. He has a new color every week. Sometimes twice a week.]

You're almost lucky, I've got blue, but it's, uh, more navy than bright.

[He pulls out the dark blue polish, not quite navy exactly, but definitely a more subtle hue.]

Mine changes all the time. Right now it's purple.

[Sure enough, he's also got a lavender colored one. He shakes both bottles, displaying them for her.]

You want in on this? It's not a good sleepover until we paint each other's nails and talk about who we like.

[survivorsguilt]

[Ellie peers curiously at the bottles, at first not at all sure what he's got planned. Is that some kind of tiny bottle of paint? Are they drawing? Shit, are they gonna draw on the walls? She'd be down for that.

But then he holds out the bottles and shows off his nails, and it clicks. Oh. Shit.]

Fuck, that's so rad.

[She hardly notices she's said it out loud. Nail polish isn't something Ellie's ever encountered before. Of course she's heard of it! She gets the basic idea! But being suddenly presented with the opportunity to mess around with it herself- well, it's stupid exciting, even to a girl who gives zero shits about her appearance most of the time.

The blue that Ham has presented might not be the bright color she loves, but it's still really nice. Like clean water at night. Like her favourite old jeans, the ones she had to throw away when they split through the knees.]

Hell yeah! [Ellie grins, and holds out her hands for inspection. They're a grimy mess.] Let's do it.

[armcollector]

[When Ellie offers her hands, dirt clinging to them like they've never been washed, Magnus blinks at them, then laughs.]

Okay, hang on.

[He wanders back out of the room, and in a few seconds returns with a wet washcloth. He sets the tiny bottles of polish to the side and takes a seat beside her, taking her hands.]

I'm no nail salon guy, but your fingernails gotta be clean. Otherwise the polish will just stick to the dirt and come off too easily.

[If she lets him, he'll do the wiping of her hands himself, play the part of the salon artist, but if she wants to take the washcloth on her own, he'll let her.]

arrival

[weedbgon]

[ Who the fuck is that?? Merle has no idea. But since he's around the door vicinity, he might as well think the statement over and see what's going on.

For the sake of clarification, he doesn't open the door yet. He just yells back through it. ]

I mean, do I gotta value the lives of everyone in here?

thank god

[survivorsguilt]

[Ellie doesn't think she recognizes that voice. It sounds vaguely familiar, but it sure as hell ain't Taako, Lup, or Ham.

Boy, it'll be awkward if this is the wrong place.]

Uhhhh... no? I mean, just yours, I guess. If you wanna be that guy.

[weedbgon]

[ He laughs. ]

Kid, I don't have any problems being that guy! [ Merle, a man who tossed like half of his HP out there to give Taako more HP one time, in the greatest show of cleric competence he's ever made. But like. Angus is here and he's not allowed to know if Merle likes him or anything.

Anyway, he opens the door. ]

Some people just say "trick or treat" when they want the door open, though.

[survivorsguilt]

[Despite how morally questionable the reply is, it makes Ellie laugh. Plus, it's a fair enough view to have, where she's from.]

Oh hey! I totally know you! Stamp dude. You live with Ha- Magnus?

[weedbgon]

[ He may not have much of a memory, but he's only talked about stamps with one person here, ever, so that was definitely one worth hanging onto. ]

Oh yeah, we go way back! Same adventuring party. He does all the axe-swingin' and I do all the healing. And I guess Taako does all the wizarding. Don't quote me on any of that. Come on in!

[ Merle takes a couple steps back to give her room to pass. He's assuming she's not here for door-to-door fundraising. Probably wants to see Magnus. ]

SHENANIGANS

[pocketspa]

[It's been a long-ass time since Taako's had anything resembling a sleepover party. When you grow up with a twin, every night is sleepover night, but it's not like they've done an actual party in years. They'd convinced the IPRE members to make blanket forts on the deck, before, and supplies are a little more limited here, but he thinks he gets the jist of it.

Which is why he's gathered all the milk chocolate he could find, two skewers, and a huge pot to the stove.]

See, the point of fondue is to, uh, just figure out how much you can put in chocolate and have it not taste like ass. Which I think is as good an experiment as any to substitute for the lack of prepacked snacks around here.

YAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSS

[survivorsguilt]

[Chocolate is a rare commodity where Ellie is from. Since arriving in Hadriel, she's eaten it maybe twice, and both of those times have been world rocking.

She bounces on her heels, nodding along and half listening as Taako speaks.]

Uh huh, uh huh, okay, so when do we start eating it?

[Forget dipping, she's seconds away from just scooping that shit out with her bare hands, burning hot or not.]

dabs

[pocketspa]

[The good thing about being friends with a wizard, especially a transmutation wizard, is that he's damn good at making things into other things. The gods would never drop this much chocolate at once without making a deal, but he's got plenty of spell slots to burn, and fabricate is permanent- not that he couldn't conjure it long enough to figure it out. Spells for making things, especially food, he'll always be damn good at.

Besides, now that he knows a certain mistake is well past him, he has no need to doubt such abilities.]

Right now, buddy! Pick a thing of choice that isn't your hands, 'cause that'll burn like hell and you can't eat this at the clinic. Also, if I hurt you, Mags would probably kill me.

[He sweeps his arm back from the counter to reveal a number of wooden sticks and an artfully designed plate of strawberries, banana slices, marshmallows, chilled balls of peanut butter, and a number of still warm butter cookies.]

Frankly, you outghta be really flattered I went to such trouble.

[As if he isn't gonna be eating as much as she is, honestly.]

dabs back faster

[survivorsguilt]

Yeah, yeah, dude's all bark and no bite.

[The second the words are outta his mouth, Ellie is diving for the skewers and shoving a bunch of banana and peanut butter balls on there. She's not even 100% sure what she's grabbed; she just knows it all looks and smells good.

From the first bite, she's in heaven, and it's all over her face. Eyes half closed, grinning like a dope and through a mouthful of gooey food, she responds:]

Mm hm. You're the bescht.

[Are there tears in her eyes? Maybe.]

rapid dabbing back and forth

[pocketspa]

[All bark and no bite. Yeah, tell that to the Taako from a few months ago when Magnus had him by the front of his shirt, hands raised, screaming. But this isn't about that. It all feels so far away that it doesn't matter, a literal other lifetime away, and Taako idly swipes a strawberry across the top of the pot, biting off the bottom.]

Yeah, I'm totally gonna need that in writing for the next time uh, literally anyone asks. Taako's testimonials: actually the best, forever. That's your payment for all this.

[He's still grinning, though. Took a lot of magical output to get here, but it's always worth it.]

Honestly, next time Magnus asks who the best is, the answer has to be me.

arrival!

[hellosirs]

[ What the heck? Angus just arrived himself, and has no idea that someone's coming over to visit. In his experience, burglars don't usually announce themselves like this... but the voice on the other side of the door sounds sort of young, maybe it's an inexperienced burglar? He presses his ear up against the wood. ]

... Um... that usually works better if you're on the other side of the door, Miss!

[ there is no force in the universe that will make him stop being polite, even to would-be burglars. ]

[survivorsguilt]

[Okay, super not what she was expecting to hear in response. Ellie blinks a couple times, uttering an intelligent:] Uhhh- [in response, and stuttering out a confused laugh.]

I mean, you're not wrong... But, maybe I could like, break it down or something? Or maybe you're like, totally surrounded on all sides!

[hellosirs]

You'd be making a lot more noise if that were the case, I think!

[ Okay, she definitely sounds young, but that doesn't mean she's incompetent at burgling. Angus is the World's Greatest Detective, after all, he'll never begrudge someone a career choice because of their age. He stands on his tiptoes and squints at Ellie through the peephole in the door...

... And then another possibility occurs to him. ]

... Wait, is this a goof? Are you goofing?

[survivorsguilt]

Okay, you're right about that.

[She blinks in surprise a couple times, then cracks up.]

Goofing. Yeah dude, if that's what you wanna call it. What are you, the youngest grandpa ever?