Thirty years old.

The big 30.

Cassidy Libergeonengiow MacQueen was no longer a man in his twenties. The age of acceptable bachelorhood was coming to a close! Much longer and he would be an old spinster. Flynn didn't even want to think about the fact that Cass was really, only four months older than Flynn himself, and he too would be stepping into the world of spinsterdom soon enough. But at least he and Cass would be spinsters together. Cass with his insects, Flynn with his plants. A match made in heaven.

Flynn had invited just about everyone he knew to celebrate Cass' big day, regardless of whether or not Cassidy actually knew them. Or liked them. In that, Flynn was not a considerate friend. However, he wanted this special occasion to be celebratedby all! And as workaholic healers, they rarely got the chance to loosen up and party.

Yes. It was a Monday. Healers didn't exactly get all weekends off. Drinking on a Monday night was not  exactly unusual. In fact, it was downright responsible! Flynn and Cass had the next morning off of work to sleep off any hangover.

In his hand was a beautifully wrapped gift. Inside was a glass case with a large purple arachnid scurrying up and down the walls. It was the perfect gift.

"Drink up, Cass!" Flynn insisted as the bartender set a couple shots in front of them, "You're old now! Dirty Thirty!"

Cassidy was painfully aware of how old he was. Thirty was a milestone: it seemed that the years had slipped by without Cass even realizing it, and now here he was, three decades old. There was that voice in the back of his head reminding him Thirty years old, and what have you accomplished? Nothing note-worthy. That constant thought never let him forget that time went by quickly. Of course, there was also Flynn telling him that he was old and all of that nonsense. That certainly didn't help.

The bartender set the shots down in front of the two healers and Cass couldn't help himself as he grinned and pulled the shot glass towards him. Sure, getting old was inevitable, but tonight was a night to act like he had no responsibilities and he would deal with the aftermath in the morning, He waited for Flynn so that they could knock back the shots together and once that was over, Cass slammed the glass back down on the bar. That was only the first of many more to come.

"D'you have to call it my 'Dirty Thirty?'" Cass arched his eyebrows in Flynn's direction, knowing that the answer was probably a resounding yes, "It sounds...a little creepy. Maybe it's the rhyming." Rhyming had always seemed a little sinister to Cass.

He glanced around the bar, searching for familiar faces but couldn't pick out any. "Who all did you invite, anyhow?" Cass inquired of Flynn, sure that Flynn had invited plenty of people whom Cass himself didn't know. It was fine either way, because once he was good and intoxicated, Cass would have no trouble making new friends. It was Sober Cass who was bad at making friends. His eyes were caught by the gift that Flynn held and Cass's curiosity was more than piqued. Flynn probably got him something perfect; after all, no one knew Cass better than his best friend.

Cass signaled the bartender, who brought over two more shots, one of which Cass hastily raised in Flynn's direction, motioning for Flynn to do the same with his own drink. "To my youthful glow," Cass offered with a chuckle, "No matter how old I get, may I forever look like I'm twenty-two." He took the drink quickly and already wanted another. Tonight would be legendary.

Behold: Jonquil Enright's super power – the ability to come off of a shift and transform from a lime-clad, blood splattered mess into hell on wheels. A colleague’s thirtieth birthday was just the sort of excuse she needed to slip on a pair of strappy heels and produce an even shorter shadow than usual. The venue was... well, it wouldn't exactly have been her first choice, but the witch still had a few short weeks to go before she was facing her own birthday and impending spinsterdom – though celebrating a thirtieth was making her feel much less dread about her twenty-fifth. She was but a child, light and free as a bird! Her face was lit up with a grin as she strutted over toward the bar, catching the tail end of her cousin's toast.

“Dirty indeed!” she laughed, her voice booming over the ambient sounds of the pub, bending over to envelope the birthday boy in a hug. Pulling back, she exhaled on a chuckle, a smile twisting at her bright red lips. “I kid, I kid,” Jo insisted, giving her head a soft shake, “You look fantastic. Happy birthday!” She settled herself on a stool, crossing her long legs and situating her purse in her lap as she eyed the round of shots being placed on the bar. “And what are you boys drinking tonight?” she asked – she was often happy to try to match the men shot for shot, but her standards were a touch higher than your average pub rat's... and unlike the old men at the bar, she did have to work in the morning. She'd have to behave... whatever that meant.

“I'd like to buy a round, but unfortunately for my pocketbook, I have standards – so let's get it over with before a crowd comes along, and before you're both two sheets to the wind and don't know any better! What do you say?”

Hot on the heels of Healer Enright came Nona Spectre (as usual). The girls had been a solid pair since their third year at Hogwarts, which was actually how she happened to know Flynn and Cass in the first place (well, besides the fact her brother Eoin was in their year, it never ceased to amaze her how intertwined her life could be with so many others). As Joni flanked the birthday boy on one side, Nona took the other, bestowing a hug and kiss of her own while the other witch offered to buy drinks, "who do we stick with the job of making sure you two get home and don't end up in Knockturn getting matchy bum tattoos"?

Her grin was cheeky as she presented Cass with a neatly wrapped package, one arm still draped across his back, "Now, it's nothing fancy, but the second I saw it I thought of you". She was pretty sure Cassidy was going to blush himself half to death when he opened it to find a hip flask adorned with a nearly naked vintage pinup. She was kind of looking forward to it because, well, he was adorable when he blushed. Plus, it was hilarious that at the age of 30 cleavage could still discombobulate him so much, "Next round's on me, but be sure to go top shelf for Jojo, Princess can't handle midlevel booze".

"Heee-eeeey!" Ahmes proclaimed loudly as she approached the gaggle of Healers--and bonus! Nona Spectre. 

Today was a weekday, which meant that Ahmes would likely have to utilize her inborn free spirit for fun, rather than relying upon the powers and proofs that be.  Ready to get started, Ahmes breezed her way down the line in array of greetings--hoping to catch all by surprise.  "Joni," She began coyly.  Despite not knowing the witch particularly well, she gave her  a little peck on the cheek and a squeeze. Next Nona.  With a proclamation of "Free hugs!" Ahmes wrapped both arms around the werewolf-lover, rocking back and forth a couple of times for good measure in an embraceable dance.  Spinning out of it, she down the line to Flynn, who received a cheek pinch, and finally on to Mr. Dirty Thirty himself.

"And you, Birthday Boy," she proclaimed, pausing in front of him, deliberating, and opting for face-smooshing kiss on the cheek.  She didn't really know him at all, as a matter of fact, but with a face like that, this would--she hoped--probably change.  "Well," she sighed as she looked over the crew, "that's everyone... Sorry to interrupt" she said without the least bit of contrition.  Ahmes did not mind at all.  "Oh!" she gasped, throwing her hands up in the air before digging them into her bottomless purse.  "And a little something for your 30."  The pewter bottle she placed in his hand was labelled simply "Love." 

"Made and tested it myself.  It works," she said ambiguously with a sly nod.

And then there were five.

All of whom, Cassidy knew. The chances of the first three people to show up to the party knowing Cass were actually pretty slim, considering the rather hefty invite list. Perhaps, the people who did not know Cass were uncomfortable with showing up at a birthday party for him. Oh well. Their loss. Cass was a great guy and was in the mood to loosen up with a shot or two. If people met Cass now... Perhaps they'd get the first impression that he was actually a laid back guy!

He gave his cousin a fond look. Growing up, Jo had always been the ickle baby cousin to him. She was, what-- six years younger than him?  Still, Flynn loved all his cousins like siblings, particularly the ones around his age. Their family was a large, close knit one, especially when the Peppers were taken into consideration. Flynn was thankful for the giant support system and their mostly unconditional love. Cass, too, was part of the family-- an honorary Hughes. Flynn hoped that one day Cass would marry one of his cousins, then he could be part of the Hughes-Pepper clan officially.

"We'll get some top shelf tequila then?" Flynn's liquor of choice was a nice tequila, though he also liked a good whiskey and vodka.... Rum and gin, however, could go shrivel up and die.

He was already beginning to feel warm in the face from the shots he and Cass had already done. And it caused him to be a bit more amused by the gaggle of women surrounding the birthday boy than he usually would have been. So needless to say, Flynn's amusement levels were through the roof.

"Cass, open your presents!" He exclaimed, the pile was adding up.  Besides, he was dying to know what Nona got him. Knowing Nona, Cass would probably turn some shade of red.

Cassidy MacQueen was finally joining 'Club 30', saying farewell to his twenties to the decade where supposedly one was meant to already have their life together. It probably wasn't the time to ask if Cass knew this, and if anything, he probably already did have things together, he was an accomplished healer, they were the organised, clever ones.

Then again, there was putting your birthday drinks on a Monday night - but there was nobody to tell you otherwise at that age, was there? It didn't seem to have prevented many of the St Mungo's staff propping up the bar inside Rover's by the time Johann and Balfour arrived.

The first few moments were a flurry of hellos, handshakes, hugs and kisses on the cheeks for the girls, Johann delivering Nona one of those knowing winks, the mischief from earlier in the month still providing good humour between them both.

"Love the jumper, Flynn." Johann remarked, gesturing to the knitted dinosaur. Conventional was no word to describe Flynn Hughes. "Not sure I could carry that off, but perhaps an idea on what I can buy Balfour for Christmas." He wasn't being serious and the glint in his eye gave this away.

"Cassidy, happy birthday mate." He extended his hand though the shake ended up more of a manly grip and pat to the younger wizard's upper arm. He'd forgotten exactly how they'd become acquainted, probably through the myriad of mutual friends in a pub somewhere. "Congratulations on surviving your twenties."

Someone mentioned tequila.

"We did buy some more hangover remedy, didn't we?" Johann asked Balfour casually, rubbing the back of his head through his curls. It sounded like Monday might be a bit heavy...

It struck Balfour, almost as soon as he arrived at Rover's, that they were further into their appropriately titled dirty thirties than anyone else at the birthday thrash. The crowd that had gathered for Cass' tonight were a spirited and lively sort, however, so there was no time to lament on growing old or leaving behind brighter days.

Certainly his thirties were less hazardous than earlier years so it would be a great pleasure to welcome another person to that fold.

He went straight to the man of the hour as Johann caught up with the rest, taking Cassidy by the hand in a friendly way before pulling him into a hearty hug. "Many happy returns, eh?" The Scotsman exclaimed - it didn't matter that he only really knew the other wizard from the occasional run-in at St.Mungo's and through Flynn. "I'll sport you a bottle of Scottish Firewhiskey under the condition you finish the damned thing."

If it was your birthday, then everyone was by definition obligated to be a good friend. And getting someone drunk to Valhalla was the best definition of friend.

Balfour returned to his partner after fetching starter drinks from the bar - gin and tonic - pausing only to give Nona a quick hug and peck on the forehead in greeting. "Charming as ever cousin," he remarked with just enough affection to remind her that he'd held none of the hard feelings from earlier that month or their moving day.

His arm went snugly around Johann's waist just as a cry went out, simultaneously echoing Flynn's vocal desire for tequila and the unwrapping of gifts. Balfour had a feeling that this might be the instant from which everything would spiral into insanity.

Going into work tomorrow was going to be a Herculean effort. "Aye, wouldn't be without it~" he replied to Johann and then lowered his voice before handing over a gin and tonic. "Keep an eye on me, won't you. The last time we had tequila there was dancing involved."

If anything truly mad happened tonight, it would be nice if they could at least remember some measure of it!

The initial question concerning who would be at the bar that night was almost immediately answered. In a matter of moments, Cass was engulfed in a small cloud of familiar faces. Everyone seemed to appear one right after the other and Cass was happy to see that they were people he actually knew. Here he was, thinking that Flynn had invited a bunch of absolute strangers that he had picked up off of the street. He still didn’t completely put it past Flynn. The night was still young.

After returning the hugs bestowed on him by Jo and Nona, Cass cautiously took the package from the latter when she said that she thought of him the second she saw it. “See, when you say that, it worries me about what this package contains,” he told her, his eyebrows arched. During the years that Cass had known Nona and Jo (which had been many, thanks to Flynn), teasing Cass had seemed to be one of Nona’s favorite pastimes. It didn’t help that he could be so easily flustered by things that would not unsettle most thirty-year-old men.

Cass eyed the bottle that Ahmes handed him, unsure if it was a drink or a potion, though he settled on potion when she mentioned that she had made it. He also wasn’t sure if the heat he was beginning to feel in his cheeks was due to the few shots he already had under his belt or if he was blushing at the bottle labeled ‘Love’ and the way that Ahmes had kissed his cheek. He chose to blame it on the alcohol. “Thank you!” Cass told her with a grin, a little more enthusiastically than he had meant, and then he placed the bottle with the unopened gifts from Flynn and Nona.

Balfour and Johann arrived directly after the others and Cass stood up to greet them. “Hey, great to see you guys!” Cass exclaimed, shaking hands with Johann and then being pulled into a hug by Balfour, which took him a bit by surprise. “I never leave a bottle of firewhiskey unfinished,” Cass assured Balfour, before inviting the two to have a seat.

“Tequila it is,” Cass echoed Flynn’s sentiment as he sat back down on his stool, turning to Jo with a smirk, “Something high-end enough for your sophisticated palate, of course.” While waiting for the drinks, Cass heard Flynn’s cry of presents. “Alright, alright, settle down,” Cass insisted, but being equally curious about his gifts, he picked up the first, which happened to be from Nona. Bracing himself, Cass tore the wrapping paper…

…and immediately turned a bright crimson. It was a flask, on the front of which was a very scantily-clad woman. “Ah, um,” Cass chuckled awkwardly, trying and failing to look Nona in the eye, “How did you know that this was exactly what I needed?” Leave it Nona to get him something with a mostly naked woman on the front. That tequila was about to come in handy.

Margo was pretty busy, but not too busy to go to the pub.  Sure, it was a Monday night, but that never stopped her.  Plus, Balfour had mentioned going to Rover’s and she thought maybe Nona had mentioned it once or twice too (which wasn’t totally bizarre, considering they were related), but with that crowd… she knew it would be worth it.

Plus, she wasn’t going to just sit in their flat, no matter how awesome it was.  It was just so nice to be unafraid of running into someone or having to excuse herself to the dumb bint upstairs who hated her.  Ugh! Good riddance to that woman, Margo thought before shrugging on her leather jacket. 

She hadn’t seen Lizard when she got into the door, but she imagined he was around the flat somewhere.  Or maybe he was wandering in the garden or something of the sort.  Margo didn’t keep particularly close eyes on him; at least not now that MacDuff wasn’t a problem.

Shrugging her shoulders, Margo wished she could jog down the stairs.  The lift was a much better choice and as she rolled her hip, she was sort of glad for the reminder of limitations to a false limb.  Going down the stairs would probably be the worst, and she planned on spending plenty of time at the bar standing. 

Maybe they forgot about the time she tried to play darts and she could try again.  No matter how enchanted those little darts were, it had sure been a night full of close calls.  She wondered if a lifetime ban could be enacted by curse… not that she could reverse it anyway, not without setting the bar on fire. 

So, the walk was further than it used to be, Margo was a little sore by the time she arrived – no matter how long she had this thing, she figured it would always just be a little painful… but nothing a little drink might help her with.  She made her way directly for the bar before anything else.  A firewhiskey securely in hand, a delectable sip on her tongue: those things allowed her to turn her dark eyes toward the rest of the bar and she immediately saw her towering friend and equally as lanky “man”friend (boyfriend seemed too weird because they were both older than her)… but it was without further ado that she made her way over.

With her drink head steadily, Margo crossed the floor (dodging a few people) in her path and whacked her arm around Balfour’s back, before locking herself onto his other side.  She assumed a natural spot, after all (naturally uncomfortable, of course). Looking into the rest of the group, several very familiar faces and a few she didn’t recognize, Margo was not above crashing a party.  With a lopsided grin, she looked from Balfour to Nona to Ahmes, “Congrats on… whatever!” she raised her glass and took another drink, “What are we celebrating?” Margo asked before she got distracted, “Oooh tequila! Excellent choice.” 

Nona watched Cass' face expectantly and was not disappointed. He turned the loveliest shade of red she'd seen in ages and it was all she could do to keep from squealing and clapping her hands like a gleeful child. She avoided this, of course, by clasping her hands together and smiling so wide it face almost hurt, "I just knew you needed it, Love! I'm so glad you like it," and then she couldn't help but giggle and give the man a good nature'd hug and fleeting kiss on the cheek, "You're a wonderful sport, and I may have also actually gotten you a very respectable tie, but you only get it if you venture round for drinks so I can convince you and Flynn my roommate is not actually the Dark Lord incarnate". She was a crafty one wasn't she?

There was a flurry of arrivals, her cousin and Joh were greeted with genuine enthusiasm (though perhaps Balfour less so than the surprisingly saucy Storm). She was letting everyone else have a go at her favorite blushing target when who should appear but the aforementioned roommate. She knew she had mentioned to the other witch there was a gathering at Rover's but one could never be completely sure when Margo was actually listening and when she was simply giving you a series of uh-huh's to placate Nona's sometimes incessant yammering. Shooting a sidelong glance to Flynn she decided he probably wouldn't really make a giant scene in the bar over something that happened literally a decade ago.

"Marjooooo," her greeting was bright as she dropped a kiss on the other woman's cheek, linking arms with her and pushing toward the bar should Amherst need to sit. "Today is Cass' birthday, so they're being terribly irresponsible and drinking on a Monday night. As you know I am routinely irresponsible on Mondays, so this is nothing new, but someone surely remembered to get cake," she gave Flynn a pointed look. You could not turn 30 without a proper cake. It was a must. Nona was fairly sure when she turned 30, all those years from now, she'd one a Princess cake, a pink castle and a big fuss. She might celebrate for a week, or the whole month, depending on how depressed she was when she actually turned the dreaded three-oooh.

Balour confirmed that such remedies were in good supply back at Atreus and passed Johann a gin and tonic, for which Johann uttered quiet thanks, smiling happily. At Balfour's drop in tone his eyebrows raised ever so slightly, wondering what his lover was about to say.

"Keep an eye on me, won't you. The last time we had tequila there was dancing involved."

The corner of Johann's mouth curled up.
"Oh you can guarantee my eyes won't leave you if that is the case." He assured Balfour and took a quick sip of his drink, eyes not leaving Balfour even at that moment.

"Alright, I will." He agreed with a slow blink. "No fun later if you're too far gone, after all."

"… settle down."
"Ah, to be young and thirty again." Johann chuckled as their attention was drawn to Cassidy tearing open presents. The first had the healer turn bright red, and Johann leaned forward ever so slightly to try and see what on earth it was. On seeing it was some half dressed woman he sat back, deciding to let the others find out.

There was a thud onto Balfour's back and Johann looked round suddenly to see Margo had arrived.
"Margo," He raised his drink to her and smiled warmly.
"Congrats on whatever! What are we celebrating?" Luckily Nona was on hand to bring her up to speed, but Johann shook his head gently in amusement that Margo would come to a party regardless of whether she knew the purpose.

"So what is it then?" He asked Cassidy, gesturing to the present from Nona.

Aaaand that was a good half of his social circle in one bar, with Margo's arrival.

Balfour tried not to wince as the witch brought an arm down on his back, effectively sandwiched between her and Johann while the birthday wizard was unwrapping gifts. "Always a pleasure Margo," he managed gruffly after polishing off the first glass of gin and tonic faster than expected. Making room for the tequila, one might reason.

Faces in the crowd peered over to the front to watch as Cass revealed his first present of the night - from Nona - and Balfour laughed, craning his neck forward to catch a glimpse of the cheeky flask. He let his gaze rest for only a moment. Cute. It was the sort of thing that never got old; not if you could get the right reaction.

And, judging from the colour of Cass' countenance, that was the right one. "So what is it then?" his date asked. Balfour suppressed a smirk, tightening his arm around Johann's waist.

"Yes, what is it? Come on, then." he grinned at the healer and spoke over the hubbub of laughter and chattering. "Show it off Cass. Let's get some tequila in there, give us a good old birthday toast!"

In response to Johann's inquiry (and Balfour's encouragement), Cass held the flask up for his friends to get a better look at it. "Might as well pass it around so everyone can have a good laugh about how much I'm blushing," Cass gave a crooked grin and looked round at everyone, his head beginning to feel light from his and Flynn's pre-funking, "And somebody round up some shots so we can toast! Flynn and I can't be the only ones getting plastered." He chuckled, knowing that in a few shots he would lose the ability to be embarrassed - something that would be both a blessing and a curse.

Nona didn't have time to convince Cass and Flynn of her roommate's goodness. As soon as Margo's name was mentioned, she somehow appeared as though she had been summoned. She had been an old tormentor of Flynn (and Cass, as his awkward sidekick) at Hogwarts, so Cass somehow doubted that Flynn had been the one to invite her (on this, the happiest of days!). Besides, she didn't seem to have any idea what was even being celebrated, but Nona seemed to quickly divert the subject to cake. Probably to avoid an outburst on Flynn's part.

Thirty year-old Cass, however, was wiser and more forgiving than twenty-nine year-old Cass. He was all about new leaves (he had decided in the last five minutes since the alcohol had begun to kick in). So on his birthday everyone was welcome - as long as he could have cake and open his other gifts.

He exchanged a look with Flynn, gauging to see if his friend would be up in arms about the new addition to the party. Regardless, there would need to be tequila (Flynn's drink of choice) and since there had been a whole lot of talk but still no shots in front of everyone, Cass flagged down the bartender. "Tequila shots for all of my friends, if you'd please!" he shouted, urging everyone to gather around the bar as the bartender began taking out glasses. Cass let his mind drift to the thought of cake and his unopened present.

When Margo appeared, Flynn froze. He slowly turned his head towards Cass and the two exchanged a look. The look. What was he supposed to do? He couldn't be rude to her! But pretending she didn't exist would be offensive. However, pretending that she wasn't there, enjoying their discomfort (or oblivious to it, he couldn't tell) would be easier. Did she even remember how awful she had been? Yeah, she was younger. But that didn't make the hurt go away!

"Yes, tequila!" He echoed Margo. Tequila would make the panic go away. Tequila was his friend. Tequila never made fun of his wonky teeth or glasses. Tequila never called him a nerd. Tequila made him warm and fuzzy. Tequila would never give him up or let him down. It would never run around or desert him. It may make him cry, though...

Cass ordered another round of the beloved liquor. "Two. Two for me!" Flynn exclaimed, holding up two fingers at the bartender. "Please."  When the drinks appeared, Flynn consumed his one after the other before staring at the unwrapped gifts. "CASS." He shouted, before whispering, "Presents."