Approximately 7:00 PM, at Flynn's flat. He has organized a few of his plants for the occasion, though he has yet to remove the resident squirrel who refuses to leave. Post as if your character is just coming in-- Flynn's door is unlocked, so anyone who is invited can simply walk in. Flynn would have sent many invitations, so any adult character is welcome.

The plotting thread is here


Flynn had spent about a week planning a sleepover party, which was really an excuse to get all the people he enjoyed together to get drunk and do stupid things. He had not only sent invitations via owl, he had also showed up at his friends’ houses and invited them to his sleepover party via sing-a-gram. Needless to say, his singing wasn’t that good and his dog howled at inappropriate moments, ruining the song in Flynn’s eyes. His apartment was decorated—though the overwhelming amount of plants that hung from his ceiling and along the walls did not count as decoration—they were always there, giving his flat a bit of a forest-y feel. At least his bathroom and kitchen were limited to three plants apiece.

No, his idea of decoration was enchanting his plants to sparkle and also dance to music if people so desired to sing. His kitchen counters were full of different store-bought snacks (because Merlin forbid he cook anything for the party), as well as many different bottles of alcoholic beverages, and glasses to put the beverages in.  He was excited—so very excited, though he had no idea who was actually going to show up. He dressed in his finest sleepover garb--  a weird cartoon mouse sweater he had found in a muggle store, along with cat slippers. His moose pajama pants were a gift he had received last Christmas from his sister, and he wore them every chance he had. He wished he had some hedgehog clothes, but hedgehogs were a bit harder to come by than cats and mice.  In a bag by the door, he had many different pajama pants and shirts, just in case someone had the gall to show up wearing daytime clothes.

The healer leaped onto his hideous plaid couch and propped up on his side, eyes watching his front door intently. He had no doubts that people would show up—if they didn’t, he would make a point to pester his friends for weeks until they gave him a satisfactory apology. His tiny grey dog, Henry, was watching the door just as carefully, ready to yap at anyone who dare enter.

Kale jogged up the stairs towards Flynns flat, blanket stuffed into a pillow in one hand and casually tossed over his shoulder, and a case of cola in the other. He knew well that there would be almost nothing non-alcoholic at the party and he thought ahead enough to bring his own beverages. If anything, he could drink cola in-between a beer or two. It wasn't like he was planning on getting completely knackered and besides, Flynn wouldn't let him go overboard. The cola was more of a precaution. At least, this was what he told himself as he climbed what felt like a dozen flights of stairs.

Arriving at Flynn's front door, Kale didn't bother to knock. It wasn't like Flynn to lock the door, especially when he was expecting company. Sometimes even if he wasn't. He was that type of guy. Somehow managing to grasp both his pillow and the cola in one hand, Kale pushed open the door enough to squeeze in.

Having been there at least a couple of times now, Kale was prepared for the onslaught of verdant greenery that made up the jungle that was Flynn Hughes flat. You couldn't take two steps into the place without nearly sticking your foot into a pot, or in some cases, the gaping jaw of something carnivorous, or so Kale assumed. He hadn't seen any man eating plants, but he didn't put it past Flynn to have them. Probably fed it door to door salesman.

What he wasn't prepared for was Flynn himself, lounging on his hideous couch in a position that screamed "Sex me up baby" despite the giant leering head of Mickey Mouse on his chest. Kale nearly dropped his soda. "Jesus, Mate... That... Thats bloody creepy..." He motioned towards Flynns position, trying hard not to laugh. "You trying to come onto me or something? Is that why I am the only one here? I must warn you, I need at least two bottles of wine and a dozen roses first..."

Arcturus pulled his duffel bag over his shoulder and roughly adjusted it as he walked up the stairs to Flynn's flat, gripping a bottle of sparkling elderflower.  He was still struggling to not mutter a few choice words towards Flynn, who had arrived on his doorstep a few days ago to deliver the worst invitation to, of all things, a sleepover party. His parents had pretended that nothing had happened after a brief moment of making some sense of the unexpected arrival at their door, although his mother as usual made the dry comment of "Hope you bring home a girl for once" when he bid them goodbye.

Which made no sense whatsoever. No, wait, it made perfect sense. Apparently he was less than sociable in the eyes of his colleagues; Arcturus knew they knew that he was the kind of person who just needed a lot of space on his own. Therefore this was the least productive thing to do to get him to socialise.

But whatever. He knew Flynn all too well; if he skimped out on this the healer would hound him with his own personal brand of vengeance. So, dressed in his grey t-shirt and jeans, which was exactly what he slept in to begin with anyway, he continued climbing the stairs with a scowl.

When he walked into Flynn's flat, he was not in a good mood from the internal tempest of irritability in his head. Seeing Flynn lying on his garish couch with the air of a self-proclaimed ladykiller made him stop and give the healer the most disgruntled, disapproving stare of silence that he had ever made in his life before going to just put the bottle on the kitchen table. Then he noticed the other fellow in the flat, upon hearing his questions to the abominable figure on the couch, and lost some of the internalised rage in the process of saying "Oh, oops...I didn't see you there. And I'm here, don't sweat it." He cast a less-than-amused glance at Flynn. "I'd like to see him try and seduce a man."

"Should I knock? I think he said to just come on in," Fauna whispered over her shoulder to Charlie, shifting a platter of half-burnt cookies from one hand to the other as the cold made her breath fog. She lingered a moment longer on the top steps of Flynn's apartment building, then knocked quietly and walked in.

And heard the tail end of a comment about seducing a man.

Grateful that the cold had already made her cheeks red, Fauna waved shyly at the young men in the room, and glanced back at Charlie. It was a good thing she'd invited him along. Otherwise, she might have skittered out the door like the hounds of hell (or just Henry) were after her. Moving past the sparkling plants, she zeroed in on Flynn with his... hilariously odd pose and goofy sweater.

"Minnie Mouse fan?" She gestured at his outfit with a wide smile. At least she wasn't the only one dressed in real pajamas, with her cupcake slippers, bunny hat, and oversized sweater because Merlin, it was cold out.

"This is my friend Charlie. Charlie, Flynn," she gestured between them. "He's just come back into town recently so I thought I'd drag him along." Actually, she'd owled him in a panic and he'd been kind enough to accompany her. She smiled at her fellow Hufflepuff graduate, and looked at the other guests, wondering how Flynn knew them.

When she'd met the Healer, he'd helped her cook dinner for her flatmates, and she'd invited him to the Auror Trainees' Halloween grill party. Now, it seemed he was returning the invitation (via singing gram!). Fauna wouldn't call it a crush yet. But she'd be lying if she said she hadn't spent hours deciding which wacky hat she should pair with her wacky pajama bottoms.

Charlie had gotten Fauna’s owl and had laughed for a good twenty minutes afterwards as he read about the young healer’s singing invitation. He just couldn’t believe that an adult (other than himself) would have the balls to actually stand on someone’s doorstep and sing. He wondered briefly if their host was a good singer, but decided against voicing his query. He, of course, accepted the offer graciously, if only because he hadn’t really had much of an opportunity to hang out with Fauna since his return to London.

Charlie just shrugged when his friend asked about entry into the flat. He held a bag full of delicacies his mum had made and insisted he bring along. She had been very excited to find that the young wizard was going out, and had shoved homemade fudge and various pastries in his arms and shooed him out the door. He was not dressed as the other partygoers were. He was robed in his finest muggle attire: skinny jeans and a clean pressed button-down shirt with a leather jacket and matching scarf and gloves. He didn’t own any pajamas, he slept in just his skivvies, and he wasn’t sure what exactly to expect when she opened the apartment door.

The first thing he noticed was the sheer green foliage that covered every inch of the flat. At first he wasn’t sure if he had been transported to a forest somewhere, but then he started to notice things you’d expect in an apartment, including snide sexual innuendo. The next thing he noticed was a yammering yapping dog whose incessant barking was starting to test Charlie’s patience. When Fauna introduced him to Flynn, Charlie gave one of his award-winning smiles and waved the bag of goodies in front of his face. “Hiya! Where ya want the goods?” He asked happily.

Ruby had finagled a night off from The Inkwell then she'd popped by the shop just down from to grab some chocolate biscuits before rushing back to her flat to get her overnight bag, change into her pajamas and pick up the newest Accio Ladies! and Muggly the Bear albums she'd found for Flynn earlier in the week. He had such eclectic tastes. She was just glad he wasn't an avid Mandrake Siren fan because that got old with all the touring her father was doing and people wanting to know when they'd cut the next record... like she had any idea what her father was doing with his life? Had only had a vaguely stronger sense of direction than his oldest daughter at this point in his life.

She took the flight of stairs from her flat two at a time and hustled off toward Flynn's pulling her coat more snugly around her shivering body. Bleedin' English fall, felt like they had two seasons a year cold and slightly less cold; still she was excited. She hadn't been to a sleepover in ages and Kale would be there and maybe a few other people. When she finally arrived at his front door her teeth were chattering a bit and it wasn't so much raining as it was that constant moisture that seemed to hand in the English air. It had wrecked havoc on her formerly straightened hair, but she wasn't so very worried as she let herself in and followed the noise to where Flynn laid splayed on the couch.

She blinked once, then twice before unzipping her coat and producing the two records, "You only get these if you sit up and close your legs, Hughes. I did not get the night off from dealing with Knockturnites who want magical ink so you could try to seduce Kale and Charlie," her voice was teasing as she nudged Charlie with her shoulder before dropping a friendly kiss on Kale's cheek. It was a little strange seeing him, now that she was all moved out on her own but nice nonetheless. Everyone just seemed to be standing around, waiting for the host to move... so Ruby did the most natural thing in the world for a Flickwick, she dropped her bag next to the couch and flopped herself down on the middle of his stomach, "Your hosting skills could use some work mate, you're suppose to offer us all a very stiff drink". 

He felt like as soon as he had gotten into his ‘draw me like one of your French girls’ position, people started barging in. He much preferred it to people knocking—after all, he was expecting company, and all of his potentially dangerous plants were safely locked away in his bedroom closet, among his slippers and dress clothes. First, it was Kale—and as soon as he made the ‘coming onto me’ comment, Flynn grinned deviously before giving Kale an attempt at a ‘come hither’ look. Instead, he simply resembled the blue steel look from Zoolander with his lips pursed together and eyebrows raised. “Is this creepy?” he inquired, “Or does it make you feel warm and tingly?”

Of course, then Arcturus decided it was prime time to walk in. “Pssssh, I seduce you every day!” He exclaimed, before glaring critically at his fellow healer’s lack of pajamas. He pointed to his bag dramatically. “You need to wear night clothes.” Flynn said in all seriousness, “Or else I will dress you myself.” He glared at Arcturus for a bit longer until he realized-- Ah, Fauna! Flynn’s face lit up, and even more so when she said she brought a friend. She looked so cute when she blushed. He glanced down at his shirt and grinned.

“Is that what the mouse’s name is? Mini? She doesn’t look tiny to me. She takes up most of my sweater.”  He gave Charlie a dimpled smile, “Nice to meet you, Charlie. If you open one of my closets, it’s best to bring your wand. It’s getting difficult to keep track of some of my plants.”  He was joking. Partially. “Now, you  better get some pajamas on before Henry here has an aneurysm.” All while he was talking, his little grey thing of a dog was glaring and possibly yapping a bit at all of the newcomers.

The next thing Flynn knew, there was a butt on his stomach. He let out a squeal and flailed madly, knocking Ruby off of him  before standing on the armrest of his couch, looking at Ruby tentatively as if she were a spider who had just climbed up his leg. She was a cute lady, yes-- but the sitting down on his torso bit was not something he had expected. But-- when he saw the records he just about exploded. Of course she knew what records he liked (though he liked everything, to be honest). He was a regular at Reducto, and had a bit of an impressive album collection hidden under his bed along with a mysterious pink plant that smelled vaguely of canned peaches.

His eyes darted from Fauna’s cookies to Ruby’s records. He hadn’t expected anyone to bring anything, and he was dying to listen to a record and eat one of Fauna’s delicious cookies. “Ruby, you better let me listen to that record or I’ll make sure you are put on Mildred’s hit list.” He said stubbornly, and then he giggled at the realization that he was delivering threats to almost all of his guests.  “And Fauna--” He gave her a puppy dog pout “Can I pleeeease try a cookie?” Then he motioned vaguely to the kitchen, “And everybody, there’s drinks in there, and snacks. I didn’t even TRY to cook for the occasion. Does that count as offering stiff drinks? I think it does."  There wasn’t really an occasion to be celebrating, Flynn just wanted to feel special.

“Is this creepy? Or does it make you feel warm and tingly?”

Kale just laughed at this. He could stand there all day and have a banter war with Flynn, it was easy enough to start, but the room was rapidly filling with people and Kale decided to let Flynn enjoy his job as host. As everyone talked and greeted each other, he tossed out a few "Hi, Kale Ferris, I work with Flynn". He recognized everyone for the most part. Arcturus worked with him at Mungos, on a different floor, granted, but one couldn't forget that crazy monochromatic hair of his. Fauna and Charlie were only vaguely familiar. He was pretty sure they were in Hufflepuff with him back in the day, but they were at least 4 years younger, so he wasn't positive.

Flynns reaction to Fauna was surprising. If he was right about Fauna's age, she was more than a decade younger than Hughes and though he knew Flynn was a kid at heart, he didn't think he would go for someone so young. But then, who was he to judge? His relationships were hardly ones to aspire to. Half the time, he rarely bothered to learn the girls surname. If Flynn was happy, so was he. Shrugging off any other thoughts about it, Kale grinned and greeted the newcomers. "Fresh cookies? Cor... We needed something tasty. Flynn always buys the bargain brand..." He laughed, motioning towards the shop-bought treats scattered about on the dining room table.

Suddenly, he felt a new body enter the fray and turned to greet them as well, but the moment he saw who it was, he was flooded with conflicted emotions. On one hand, Ruby had been his best mate for years and he adored her. Hell, he was even the one to invite her to the sleepover in the first place. But on other hand, recent 'incidents' had made it hard to look at her without feeling an uncomfortable mix of anger, regret and longing, which was the exact reason he didn't commit to any long-term relationships (read: longer then a one-night stand). In the end, everyone leaves. Not always by their own volition, but they always did, and he couldn't deal with losing anymore people he loved.

Which is why he had been hesitant about letting Ruby stay with him for the last few months. They were close friends, but Kale had always felt something building up between them that scared him at times and he had been thankful for all the things that kept them separated. But when she showed up on his doorstep that night, scared and lonely, he knew that he couldn't say no. Then, over the last couple of months, he had gotten used to her being there. There was something very comforting about coming home to a warm meal and someone to talk to, rather then a cold, nearly empty flat. Though they hadn't gone farther then snuggling, he felt genuinely attached to her to the point that he had stopped dating around all together. He hadn't needed to.

So, when she announced she was getting a job and moving to her own place about a week ago, Kale had been devastated. Knowing that they were not a couple and that she needed this to move on with her life, he had let go and even helped her get stuff for her new place, despite the fact he hated the neighborhood and her neighbors and the idea of her walking home alone at night. At first he told himself that he was happy about having his place to himself again. He even went out the next night and picked up a buxom blond that was as far separated from Ruby as possible, especially mentally, but no matter how much of Ruby's opposite she was, Ruby was all he could think about during 'the deed'. And it wasn't just seeing her face that made things difficult, it was knowing how disappointed she would be in him. It would be the first time in Kale's romantic life that he kicked a girl out of his flat before the deed was done.

"You only get these if you sit up and close your legs, Hughes. I did not get the night off from dealing with Knockturnites who want magical ink so you could try to seduce Kale and Charlie,"

Her lips touched his cheek, sending a chill through him that he wrote off as being because she was in from the cold. "Hey Rubes..." He greeted her, his smile a bit weaker than normal. She flounced off to toss herself on Flynn, which filled him with a bit more jealousy than it should have, and Kale decided it was time to go mix himself a drink. "I'll get you a drink, Ruby..." He offered as he turned and disappeared into the kitchen. Once separated from the others, he could breath freely. Tonight was going to be trying if he was sober, so he mixed some cola and a fair amount of rum together and gulped it down. It burned on the way down, filling him with a mix of pleasure and shame. "it's only one drink, Kale..." he murmured to himself, though he knew, deep down, that it wouldn't be the last.

Why was she even there? This was the question Joy asked herself over and over while the healer packed what she needed for the sleepover. It wasn't like her to go to these sorts of parties, but after getting an owl about it and Edward insisting the woman needed to have more fun after all the hard work she did, Joy had agreed to go.

She arrived in front of the flat via apparation, her elf at her side. Joy had made Lily come, in case things got out of control or the witch was too drunk to get herself home. Lily wouldn't be drinking at all. The woman wore simple pajamas, enchanted to be self-cleaning. She had some dignity, and would not go home a mess. Lily carried a few bottles of a dark red liquid. Over the elf's normal pink nightgown Lily wore her white cooking apron, intending to perhaps serve refreshments to the other guests of the party. The elf wasn't one to party herself. Joy had everything else she figured would be needed in large bag.

Sighing, Joy opened the door and walked in. She had never seen Flynn's place before, occasionally hearing about it when she talked to him at work. Inside there were already several people. "Hello," the witch greeted the people as brightly as she could manage. She walked in, the elf following at her heels. The woman looked down at the elf, expecting her to introduce herself, but Lily seemed to find the floor much more interesting. "This is Lily, my family elf. She made some elf-made wine for us," Joy finished, motioning to the bottles Lily was holding.

Not asking which way to the kitchen, even though she had no idea, the witch made her way through the room, hearing someone offer to get someone else a drink before disappearing. Joy followed the person, finding herself in the kitchen. Good. "Lily, hand the bottles up to me and I'll put them up onto the counter." Lily nodded without saying anything, giving Joy the bottles of wine which she put next to the other drinks.

The healer uncorked the first bottle and poured herself a glass. If she was going to enjoy the party it was likely she'd need to be blind drunk. Lily still stayed at her heels as she left the kitchen, going to socialize. Everyone else in the room would most likely be young and single, two traits that were long gone for her. Her eyes scanned the room for some familiar face, spotting Arcturus. Joy walked over to him. "I'm going to regret this later, aren't I?" she commented with a laugh.

“Pssssh, I seduce you every day! You need to wear night clothes. Or else I will dress you myself.”

"This is what I sleep in, Flynn," Arcturus snapped. He paused to compose himself and continued, in a much more polite tone, "Hey Kale, not surprised you're here considering this dandy's persuasion methods. How are things?"

The room was filling up now, with plenty of people who were new to him. Arcturus felt the urge to talk to the people he did know and made the move to, but his mind intervened with the suggestion that since he was at a party, he should be more sociable. And to be fair, his mind was right. Arcturus had no problem with this, it was just that he had a time and place for socialising. Oh well, not like he had much of an option other than curling up in the corner, which he found to be dumb even for his standards.

When Joy passed by he gave her a brief nod because of this; he hoped a bit later that he hadn't looked too aloof. She was probably used to his lack of words since he was so terrible at expressing himself to her despite having worked with her for six years.

He looked around the room at the newcomers, silently analysing who looked the most approachable and feeling the slight apprehension that came from being someone who didn't want to stand out but stood out anyway.

“And everybody, there’s drinks in there, and snacks. I didn’t even TRY to cook for the occasion. Does that count as offering stiff drinks? I think it does."

Arcturus said nothing, but rolled his eyes, turned around to give Flynn another glare, and consequently swivelled into Fauna due to not actually being aware of her location. Whether he nudged her or not he wasn't too sure, but he automatically said in alarm, "Oops! Sorry, miss, wasn-- didn't know you were there. Did I tread on your foot as well?"

"I told you," she teased Charlie when the host ordered him to find night clothes. She'd sidestepped the curious bundle of PJs by the front door earlier and had assumed Flynn either needed to do laundry or planned on attacking his guests with spare cat slippers.

She smiled at Ruby when she arrived, glad that someone else she knew well was here. It was always nice not to be the only girl, and it hadn't been long since they'd seen each other at the Halloween party.

Fauna handed the platter of cookies to Flynn with a grin, "Sure. Er... I can't promise they're good. You know me and cooking."

A woman arrived with a house elf in tow. Fauna looked at her curiously but refrained from commenting. The older crowd (twenty-somethings and up) seemed to know each other, and as she puzzled over the possible link, one of them bumped into her. She was suddenly grateful for her well-padded cupcake slippers.

"That's ok," she moved out of the way. "Usually it's me tripping on my own feet."

Fauna offered him an uncertain smile. She'd noticed his shock of white and black hair as soon as she'd walked in, which didn't seem to suit the rest of his appearance. Former wrock star, maybe? She'd also noticed his frequent glaring at Flynn, but just now, he looked genuinely apologetic.

"I met Flynn by tripping over his dog," she chuckled, deciding to make an attempt at conversation. The dog in question stared at her from behind a glittering house plant, woofing in the back of his throat. Henry, of course, was not one to forgive or forget.

"Um, what's your name? I'm Fauna."

"Arc-- Holl-- Arcturus. Sorry. I usually refer to myself with a different name. Pleasure to meet you, Fauna." Fauna seemed nice enough. Young, too, but once upon a time everyone in this room had been her age so what. "I would offer you my hand, but I think that's too informal for this kind of party to begin with." He nodded at Flynn. "Also, that man over there will try to get me for being a stick in the mud, so I will attempt to not be one for his sake since this is his gig."

He ran a hand through his hair absently. "So where did you meet Flynn where his dog was allowed? Another party, I assume? I never usually go to these things, but this is Flynn. There are some things that you can't say no to, and one of them is him." He chuckled. "He's irresistible in that sense, although I have to resist Silencing his dog."

Ruby found herself in a rueful heap on the floor, still clutching the two records and her tin of biscuits, brown eyes narrowed at Flynn, "Rude," she stuck her tongue out at him, though from the corner of her eye she could see Kale and his reaction just seemed a bit off. Maybe he was still mad that she'd decided to get a place with Theta but...she shook her head, unwilling to think about it. Tonight was supposed to be about fun and cutting loose. She'd been doing more of that lately and trying to keep in touch with old friends - so having Charlie and Fauna there was an extra super bonus.

When she finally stood she offered Flynn the records, her lips pursed to one side, "You are only getting these because you closed your knees and that was part of the deal. Screaming like a girl and throwing me on the floor was not," she stuck her tongue out at him before watching Kale retreat into the kitchen. She knew that he wasn't a big drinker anymore. Actually she wasn't even sure he drank socially anymore, most people in recovery didn't from what she'd read. It wasn't her job to mother him though, the whole reason she'd moved out was to avoid the couple-trap they were falling into. It'd be ridiculous if she let it happen even after moving out.

so she said nothing as she followed him, stopping long enough to wiggle her fingers at Fauna, who was talking to the most interesting man she'd seen lately. He didn't seem totally comfortable being there, but then...who was? Flynn had a wide and varied selection of friends and none of them seemed to be sure how to interact with one another if they weren't already acquainted. Slipping behind Kale she tapped his shoulder then ducked around the other side to reach for the rum, "It's not a race Kale. You keep going like that and you're liable to vom' on one of those freaky looking plants".

He laughed at Ruby, “Fair enough. A deal is a deal, right?”  He too noticed kale’s strange behavior, and he wondered if Ruby had anything to do with it? Ah, he’d just let Ruby deal with it and talk to Kale about it later. There was no reason to make the party all about touchy feely emotion stuff.

Flynn accepted the cookies from Fauna gratefully, and then he took the records from Ruby gleefully, thanking her profusely before he heard some sort of comment about silencing his dog. He leapt towards Fauna and Arcturus before pointing a record at the healer’s face. “If you silence Henry, I swear on my Chinese Chomping Cabbages that I will shave your pretty little head.” Then he gave Fauna a sweet smile and took a bite out of one of the cookies.
“They are DELICIOUS!” he exclaimed, grabbing another cookie and stuffing it in his mouth.  Fortunately, Flynn was just a horrible enough cook that even Fauna’s half-burnt desserts were more than edible for him. “Arcturus. Try one. They taste like they’re form a bakery.”

Fauna let out a little laugh at the antics of the two men. They seemed to know each other well, had likely gone to Hogwarts together or worked together. She couldn't fault Arcturus for not being too interested in parties, since Fauna herself was often more comfortable hanging out in a smaller group.

"Are they, really?" Surprise flickered over her face as she peered over at the platter of cookies, swearing she could still see crumbled burnt bits stuck to the good ones! Fauna smiled obliviously, trusting Flynn's judgment.

She glanced at Flynn before looking back at Arcturus, answering his earlier question. "I tripped over his dog when I was out getting groceries, actually. We were in a muggle area. And um, after talking for a bit, his wand fell out of his pocket and Henry's bark suddenly changed."

A blush spread over her face. "So, I kinda thought he was a suspicious character and threatened to arrest him."

Certain that the party host would have told it in a much more entertaining way, she gave them a sheepish smile.