party post } let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find (forward dated to 1/28))

[krmvgivv]

Who: The WIRTHDAY BOY, Dipper, Mabel, anyone friends with Wirt/anyone who happens to show up.
Where: fourth floor tea room
When: forward dated to 1/28
Rating: unlikely to get higher than PG-13
Summary: It's Wirt's 17th birthday! Dipper and Mabel are in charge of planning, and Wirt doesn't want anything too big or crazy. So you know. Time for an open mic party.
The Story:

Invitations spread quietly by word of mouth. "Surprise Party. Come to the fourth floor tea room. Bring something to perform. Don't tell Wirt!" Dipper and Mabel make sure to tell the people they know are Wirt's friends, but they also expect word to get around. Others can hear about it or just come in. Wirt doesn't want a big party, but they're guessing the particulars of this party will keep it small.

By the time people start to arrive, the tea room's been transformed. It looks like the most cliche hipster cafe you can imagine, like a preteen girl's imagination made flesh. There are mismatched chairs and low windows and exposed brick, and a stage that looks more like a wooden platform than anything else. There's a coffee bar with tea and hot chocolate and lots of cookies and snacks piled high, plus a cake. There aren't any baristas here. Just a sign that reads Cafe Music and Wirts.

Price of admission is agreeing to perform something, though the birthday boy is excused from this unless he wants to go. It's supposed to be fun for him, after all.

Comments

[waitin]

I really did like it a lot. ( Clementine gets it's all kind of... a lot to have to deal with at once, but she thinks he's doing a pretty good job of rolling with the punches. It's why she doesn't press much more when she can tell he's flustered, but Clementine never says anything she doesn't mean.

Never says anything she doesn't believe.

...and now it's her turn to look a bit... sheepish. Not that Clementine ever really does, but- There are exceptions, and she is really good at being tough and not so good at the slightly more emotional. stuff. )

Oh, uh. Yeah. You don't have to open it up now or anything, but I wanted to give you something.

( and hopefully, it's okay. she learned how to write from georgia, and while she's no poet, no novelist, she can write now legibly. in this case, she made a little book, and she wrote about wirt's brother- about the memories clementine has of him in wonderland. mostly just little every day stuff, but that's sometimes the part that gets lost easily.

she originally met greg when she was just eleven so she has a few. he was one of the first people she met when she ended up in wonderland. sometimes that's the hardest part about not having someone anymore, about losing them. it feels like she forgets the details, like some of that stuff can get lost so she wanted to have what she remembered written down. and she wanted wirt to have it. )

[singloversing]

You definitely didn't have to. I-I mean, I wasn't really expecting anything from anyone? But, thank you.

[Wirt's definitely curious about it, so even though she said he doesn't have to open it now, he carefully opens it. He's someone who's gentle when unwrapping things, and doesn't just tear into it recklessly.

Everything in his body stops when he sees what's inside the book. They're stories, but a quick look is enough to see that every story is about Greg, a bunch of little moments captured on the page forever. All he wants to do is curl up in a corner and read it cover to cover and absorb every word. It would be almost like having him there.]

...You wrote all of this for me?

[Wirt is in awe. He honestly looks like he might cry, and he rubs at his eyes to try and stop it before it happens. This handwritten book is something precious in a world where memories are often in danger of being stolen.]

I-I don't know what to say. [Yes, he does. He just wants to say it right.] ...Thank you. It really means a lot.

wails wirt omg ;o;

[waitin]

Remember? I don't do anything because I have to.

( She said that to him once before when he was in the clinic after coming back from his world, when they talked about what had happened in his world. Clementine was much younger at the time, but she's still the same.

Clementine only does what she wants to do, what she chooses to do. There is sure as hell not enough time in life to do anything else. She looks down even as she nods, because of course she did it for him. Her hand kind of slips behind her neck. She's not really good at the social/emotional stuff sometimes, but she does care. )

I thought you might like to have it since he's- Greg's not here. Cause this place can make us forget, cause sometimes being away from someone for awhile can make you forget.

( Her smile is soft but true as she lifts her head again to meet his gaze. )

You're welcome. I'm... glad you like it.

[singloversing]

[He does remember that, now that she mentions it. She was really there for him that day, and it meant a lot to him. Sure, she was younger, but...she's still the same person. She still admires her for only doing what she wants to do, and consequently being kind because she wants to.]

I love it. I...I haven't really said anything to anyone, but I've been thinking about that kind of thing lately?

[He holds the book close to him as he speaks, as though he's giving it a gentle hug.]

That skeleton event a couple of months ago was mine, and...I-I mean I don't know what I lost, because if I knew I wouldn't be able to say I lost it? But I know where the hole is, like where that word is supposed to go. And...it feels super weird. Whatever I lost the first time my world had an event must not have been a word I use all the time anyway? So...it's been on my mind.

[It's a little eerie how she managed to pick something so perfect for him even when he hadn't been talking about it. He won't question it though, because it really does mean the world to him.]

[waitin]

( Clementine quiets down to listen to him, nodding as he explains. She figures it must be even more on someone's mind after having an Event from their world, knowing the cost of it. ...also, that Event was seriously freaky, Wirt. His life always seems so wild to her in a different way than her own can be pretty wild.

At least hers is pretty straight forward, but skeletons.... )

Really? I didn't... know you were thinking about it. It's just- It's what I would want to have. Of AJ.

He's- I raised him since he was a baby. ( brother, son. ...not either limit is really fitting for their relationship, but it's on those levels. he's family. and clementine was there with him since his birth minus the year or so where she thought he'd died. so yeah. )

I'd want something like that of him, and that's why- That's why I thought to give that to you for your brother. Who knows what this place might take from us, but if we can keep even a notebook full of stuff we remember... that's something.

[singloversing]

W-Well, I wasn't really telling anyone about it either. It just a coincidence, but a really cool one.

[He knows it wasn't on purpose, but sometimes things that aren't on purpose can still be meaningful. It almost means more because it's serendipitous. However, his face face in empathy when she speaks about AJ.]

Yeah...it's definitely a good idea. We never know when we might lose something, or someone.

[He would never, ever want to lose Greg. There might have been a time when he was less sure of that, but now? He would never question it. He wants to keep that memory of Greg forever.]

I wish I knew AJ, so I could return the favor.

[Clementine shouldn't have to forget anyone either, especially someone who is family to her. He doesn't know enough about AJ to compile something this thoughtful, but he suddenly really wishes he did.]