Ain't No Party Like An O'Connor Party

[Adelle O'Connor]

Adelle sat on one of the couches in the Armitage country house, her feet up on the table, reading Infinite Jest before the party got too loud to concentrate. The O'Connor parents had given Matt and Adelle free run of the house for their birthday party, and just about the whole school and everyone else they could think of had been invited to ring in the twins' sixteenth. And while her name was on the cake, and she'd been nice enough to secure some weed and booze, Adelle still felt that it was a Matt party through and through and she was perfectly content to let her brother take the spotlight for this one.

That morning, she'd eventually acquiesced to her mum's constant requests for her to run a brush through her hair, for God's sake, but the party dress her mother had picked out was still crumpled in a small ball at the bottom of Adelle's closet. Noting the time, she got up from the couch and started punching buttons on her iPod, looking for a good song to blast from the speakers as the guests started to arrive.

(ooc: EVERYONE IS INVITED, WHOOOO! Come oooon in!)

[Matthew O'Connor]

((ooc: I couldn't resist but make a fake invitation pretty much saying the same- that anyone and everyone was welcome, haha, Matt apologises in advance for the randomers that'll be invading Adelle's quiet moment.))

Having spent most of the morning reassuring his parents (aka lying through his teeth) that the party would not get out of hand and that him and Adelle would throw the most civilised sixteenth birthday party the rich, snobby Pureblood world had ever seen, Matt had pushed their parents out of the house at midday and had spent the time since then decorating the house appropriately. Stopping by the kitchen then to shove a couple more beers in the cooler (he was running out of room since there were already several bottles chilling in there, ready for when the guests arrived), he grabbed a bottle of beer for himself and took a swig as he headed through the huge house to find his sister.

"Hey, hey womb mate!" Matt called out enthusiastically as he entered a room to find Adelle busy choosing songs on her iPod. "How do you feel being sixteen? Well sixteen and a day but who's counting really?" he asked as he bounded over to the sofa, flopping down on it with a grin as he laid down on it, feet comfortably plonked over the arm of the sofa. Looking up at the ceiling for a moment in thought, he then announced, "I feel older, Addie, do I look older... do I have... bags on my eyes, crow's feet, god forbid, wrinkles?!" he asked dramatically, with wide eyes at the very thought of any signs of aging showing. He'd no sooner laid down on the sofa that he bounded upright again, sitting cross-legged atop the seat, because he... well because he was Matt. Usually hyper, the prospect of a rather wonderful house party had sent his levels of enthusiasm through the roof... and the alcohol he'd already consumed probably wasn't helping either.

[Adelle O'Connor]

(ooc: I loved the invitations! And don't mind me, I just jazzed up the thread title a little bit, heh)

Adelle turned her head to see her brother bound into the room and grinned genuinely; even if big parties weren't her cup of tea, it was always fun to see Matt so clearly thrilled, even beyond his usual hyper nature. She continued to scroll through her albums and eventually settled on Janelle Monáe, cranking the volume up to a danceable level.

"I dunno, better than fifteen?" Adelle leant lethargically against the back of the sofa and put her head against the palm of her hand. She looked down and pretended to inspect Matt's face for the telltale signs of aging, those supposed fine lines and wrinkles that adverts were always trying to convince everyone they possessed. "Mmmhmm, yep, there they are," she joked. "Very soon you'll start feeling the desire to shout at children, eat bitter-tasting sweets and wear very high-waisted trousers... I'm going to ask you to fight that urge."

[Matthew O'Connor]

((ooc: haha thank you so much! Well I, for one, am loving the thread title.))

"Here's a question that often baffles me, sis... how did I end up with a twin with such an awesome taste, especially when it comes to music suitable for a party?" Matt asked with a huge grin, looking up at his sister momentarily from his reclined position, before flopping back down again and staring at the ceiling.

As Adelle leant back against the sofa, Matt looked up at her and soon his eyes narrowed as she jokingly claimed he had those age-defining lines. "Oh my god I so need to break out the Olay! Or maybe just knick mum's," he exclaimed before breaking out into a grin as Adelle clued him in on what else must signify him aging. "So, basically, I'll turn into Granddad on mum's side I mean? Minus the prison cell, obviously," he commented lightly before shrugging, "The high-waisted trousers I could do, come on, you knock I'd rock them... but the desire to shout at children, well, I think most people are born with that once they themselves stop being children. Buuuuut, I hearby promise you, Adelle O'Connor, that I will never begin enjoying to eat bitter tasting sweets... if I do, Avada Kedavra me because I'm practically already-dead," he said dramatically with a sure nod of his head as though he were deadly serious.

[Elena Biermann]

((ooc: I’m loving the title, and this threat too! Hope you don’t mind that Elena dragged Justin there, I can change it though if he’s not coming for some reason.))

Elena dragged her brother by the hand to Matt & Adelle’s party. It probably wasn’t as difficult as she made it out to be seeing as Matt was there, and being that it was his birthday gave Justin an excuse to hang about Matt all night long.

Walking through the crowds of people with her new hair colour- something between mahogany and magenta – and the purple dress she bought for the occasion. Slipping through loads of people after finding a chilled bottle of beer Elena, still in awe at the gigantic home, found Matt lounging on the sofa and Adelle punching buttons on her iPod. As Matt popped up into a cross legged position she lowered herself onto one arm of the sofa nearest Matt. “You have baby soft skin Mattie,” she teased patting his cheek to emphasise her words as though he were a small child.

Pulling the two presents hid behind her back in one arm she handed one to each of them, “From Justin and I,” she smiled almost mischievously. The presents were neatly wrapped with decorative bows and taped on top were very inappropriate sex toys, and things like condoms and racy knickers. “Just in case,” she added, “Those were from me,” she finished to save face with Justin, a thing like that might embarrass him to the point of… well something drastic. “But I think you will both like what’s inside,” Elena held great consideration for both Matt & Adelle’s gifts as she opened her beer and took a sip.

“Loving the music, Janelle Monáe,” she nodded her head to Adelle before taking another swig. “Yes, please Matt, fight the urge to wear high-waisted trousers, that is one thing you just can’t work,” she contradicted Matt’s statement as he flopped back down into a reclined position.

((ooc: I don’t really know what they would want, I assume Matt would like a book and Adelle would like an advanced potions set maybe? I dunno, but pretend they got something brilliantly amazing! Also I figured that Justin would have wanted to pick out Matt’s present but I left that open ended because I didn’t want to assume anything, hehe.))

[Justin Biermann]

(ooc: It's fine! and yeeeah, Justin was pretty much guaranteed to show up sometime haha)

Justin had tried his best to play it cool when Elena suggested they head over to Matt and Adelle's party. Oh, well, I guess we could go. I mean, if you insist. He'd done the requisite grumbling about how he should be home watching the World Cup, and was appropriately mortified by the manner in which Elena had chosen to decorate the twins' gifts. Yet somehow he'd managed to ensure that both he and his sister arrived at precisely 4:00, and he was the first to burst through the door and seek out the guests of honour. Imagine that!

After getting himself a beer, he easily spotted Matt, Adelle and Elena again and waved casually. "You actually live here?" Justin said in mild surprise, craning his neck upward to gaze at the impossibly high ceilings. Relieved that Elena had took... uh... "credit" for the presents taped to each box, he motioned to Matt's gift with the top of his beer bottle. "I picked it out. It's just a book, no big deal," he added; Justin apparently did not understand the concept of a "surprise". He'd inadvertently discovered the book of short stories in Flourish & Blotts a while back, and had been holding onto it for just such an occasion. He absently peeled at the label on his beer bottle, briefly glancing at Elena and trying to send her psychic signals to not say anything embarrassing, please.

[Adelle O'Connor]

Adelle glanced serenely at the growing crowd, watching groups slowly form and disperse. She'd drank and smoked a bit before the party started, which helped to calm her nerves and allowed her to find peace with the unruly strangers currently piling into her home. She and Matt were lucky their parents had let them use the house, really; she figured it was because they'd always been discreet about sneaking out and were good at covering up their greater transgressions. As the youngest of the family, they'd learned from their siblings' mistakes, and had been covering for each other since they could speak.

Adelle smiled lightly at her brother. "I plan on becoming Great-Aunt Eleanor." She then twisted her face up and put on the voice of a shrill, angry old woman, shaking her fist. "Who stole my new set of teeth? I think it was the Muggles!"

She nodded to Elena and then Justin as they approached, graciously accepting her gift. "Thanks, you two..." she said quietly, smiling in amusement at the items Elena had included with what was surely an otherwise classy and Justin-approved gift. She wasn't planning on needing to use, say, the condoms anytime soon, but she was still fairly unfazed by the whole thing. Unhooking a pair of handcuffs, she snapped one cuff against her wrist and decided to wear it as a fashion statement. Adelle then pried from the box what she would only describe as a glittery electric blue disco-wang. Holding it up honourably, she said, "Hey Matt, what do you think Mum would say if I stuck this to the bathroom wall and started hanging towels off it?" She then unwrapped her potions set, grinned in the very huge way that she very rarely did anymore, and started to pick excitedly through all of the parts. "This is amazing... wow, thank you."

[Matthew O'Connor]

Laughing at Adelle's rather magnificent impression of their Great-Aunt Eleanor he responded with a thumbs-up, "Spot on, Addie, really, spot on! I'd give it a 10 out of 10 for authenticity sooo you're through to the next round," he enthused in a tone that even an overly-camp game show host would envy. Looking up then as Elena and Justin arrived, his grin grew even wider and he let out a celebratory exclamation, "Woo! The Biermanns are in the house and looking goooood!"

"Yeah, stupidly showy-offy isn't it?" Matt commented as Justin seemed a bit surprised that their house, which he'd described inadequately as 'stupidly bloody huge' to everyone, was that... posh. However, turning as the girl spoke once more he, "Aww, you guys," he said, his tone becoming a tad more genuine and a tad less dramatic in the process, as Elena handed them both their presents. "I am loving the, what I assume was, Elena Extra, it's just what I always wanted, chocolate flavoured condoms!" he joked and then smiled as the girl indeed confirmed they were her additions to the presents. About to open his present he looked up and sent a quick smile to Justin as the boy seemed to misunderstand the idea of a surprise present, "Thanks you guys," he said before, upon opening it he grinned excitedly upon seeing a book of short stories that he was certain Justin must have picked out and knew Matt would like. "Wow, this really is... just yet more proof of how awesome you Biermanns are, thanks," he said seriously, smiling at the both of them once more in a warm way before it made way for what would undoubtedly be the OTT insanely-happy grin that would be permanently etched into his face for the rest of the part.

"Heyyyyy, I could work it!" Matt protested to Elena's accusation, pretending to glare at her before looking to Justin for moral support, "Yo, Cooler Biermann... I could rock the high-waisted trousers look, couldn't I?" Leaning over to grab his drink from the nearby table he took a swig from the bottle before almost snorting the drink back out again as he saw... what could only be described as the thing Adelle brandished then. "I say do it," he replied seriously, dramatic voice and all, "For one, the shrill screaming and the 'oh my gods' we'd hear when she discovered it would undoubtedly be priceless... probably rival only to that time she discovered Bradley, face down in his bed, covered in his own vomit. Her reactions to finding that we aren't all as sexually or socially repressed as she is continues to astound me, sis," he commented conversationally. Then, taking another sip of his drink he continued thoughtfully, "Y'know, I think to aim for the best possible total-meltdown, you hang the wang on the bathroom wall, we lay in wait for her to discover it, and then I'll innocently pass by the bathroom door and calmly tell her I'm not nearly as 'straight' as she thinks I am," he suggested, a little too into the idea of causing their mum that much grief. Really, Matt couldn't believe their parents didn't know how not-quite-heterosexual he was.

[Elena Biermann]

Elena punched her brother in the arm as he gave away the surprise to Mattie’s gift, “You’re not supposed to tell him,” she teased with a smile. Giving Matt a knowing smile she said, “It was Justin’s idea,” and pointed to her brother. Justin really needed to do something with Matt and Elena would do all she could to help her brother, getting the credit- which he well deserved- for the present seemed like a safe and subtle option- even though Elena didn’t really like being subtle, but her brother was a delicate soul.

Elena smirked slightly as Adelle pried the glittery electric blue disco-wang from the box. She caught onto Justin’s psychic signals and couldn’t help but disobey them. She was careful about some things but as his sister it was customary to embarrass him at least once a day. “Justin really liked that one,” she said purely to embarrass him. “He said it was sparkly,” she teased, not that he had ever said such a thing but it was an experiment- that sounded like a good enough excuse- to test what exact shade of red he might turn. Tomato, beetroot, the possibilities were endless. “I liked it because it lights up like a disco ball when you turn it on,” she said, knowing Justin would probably classify this as an outrageous and highly inappropriate comment.

“What?” she looked at her brother raising her hands to the sides with an innocent shrug, “Really you should be thanking me, if anything were to happen they have protection .” She emphasised, “Father would be proud,” she grinned at her brother with a small laugh knowing this wasn’t the case. Heaven forbid her father knew what she got up to, she’d probably be sent off to a nunnery. She loved her father, but he really didn’t know how to approach the ‘girl stuff’ and her ‘blossoming into a woman’ thing. They simply avoided it altogether.

“I dunno,” she told Matt almost tauntingly. She wondered how long it would take before Matt was tricked into wearing a pair to prove her wrong. “That’s disgusting,” Elena grimaced as she pictured Bradley. “Thank god! Otherwise I don’t think we could be friends,” she joked. Elena laughed at the idea. “After she notices you could walk in and take it off the wall saying, ‘Oh thanks mum I was looking for that’ all innocent like,” she was thoroughly amused by the idea, but would never do something like that to her own father.

Glancing to Adelle and her handcuffs she smirked, “Making a new fad I see?” she joked good naturedly hoping she would like her ‘real’ gift. Adelle was a hard sort to pick for but their little chat had given her an idea. Elena smiled slightly at Adelle’s smile which was surprisingly big and warm, “You’re welcome,” she shrugged as if it was no big deal. “I found it in this new Potions shop in Diagon Alley. They had all sorts of weird stuff, some of it was kinda wicked, most of which I couldn’t pronounce but that seemed like it had loads of stuff… and the beginner one really didn’t seem like your style,” she chattered almost as if she were excited that she had been spot on before shrugging coolly and taking another sip of her beer.

((ooc: sorry that was a wee bit long.))

[Justin Biermann]

"What? He was gonna find out what it was in five seconds anyway," Justin pointed out, shrugging as he took a swig from his beer. "I found it a while back. Made me think of you. And that... is the Thrilling Story of the Book," he said sarcastically. Justin furrowed his eyebrows, totally clueless about the apparently dire high-waisted trouser issue (this was a guy who thought shirts with words printed on them were just a little too over-the-top) but wanting to appear supportive. "Well, I've never been called the cooler Biermann before, so... I support your argument, whatever that might be."

At his sister's words, Justin felt the tops of his ears start to burn bright crimson. The fact that he was sat facing his crush just compounded his embarrassment, and caused him to suddenly reach for another beer. He also briefly considered diving under the table. "Let me just state, for the record, that I had nothing to do with this." He'd blame his increasingly maroon-tinged skin on unusually warm temperatures due to global warming, the alcohol, the brutal curse of a naturally ruddy complexion, anything but the giant blue dick in the room. "Wow, Elena, I didn't realise you had a different father from me. What a shocking revelation," he said dryly with a light laugh, because that really did not sound like Lars Biermann.

Justin caught the last comment made by Matt and glanced up with mild surprise. "Your parents don't know?" It was just a casual, offhand comment from Matt, but the thought of coming out had been weighing pretty heavily on Justin lately. "I mean, it's fine. I'm gonna tell my dad soon. Well, maybe in a few weeks. I think he deserves to see one last World Cup before I give him his fatal heart attack," he joked, trying to lighten up what was a pretty serious concern for him right now.

[Adelle O'Connor]

Adelle leaned over the sofa to inspect the chocolate-flavoured condoms atop Matt's gift. "Aw man, I only got grape," she pretended to complain. "Wait, hold on, here you go," Adelle said suddenly, standing up to stuff the condoms in the front pocket of Justin's shirt, patting it lightly. The alcohol had given her a certain... boldness that she typically lacked. It also made it slightly difficult for her to smoothly return to her seat on the sofa.

She held up one wrist and shook the handcuff. "It's a statement on repression... supposedly free, but the phantom shackles still remain," Adelle improvised darkly, in a pronouncement that would sound a bit more dramatic were she not currently investigating the sparkly light-up features Elena had just described to her. "Hey, not my fault the Discostick perfectly matches the decor in our upstairs bathroom," she said nonchalantly, like her mother's breakdown would be just a casual side effect of her skillful home decoration. Adelle tucked her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, making a mental note to become a regular at this new Potions shop over the summer. She didn't like very many people, but had always been fond of Elena, and she supposed that if she had to bond with other people at school, she could do much much worse.

[Matthew O'Connor]

Looking up from the book to Elena and then Justin, Matt grinned, "Aww you saw this and thought of me? Biermann, you're the best," he said genuinly before smiling as he supported his argument. "Hey, you don't need to know what the hell's going on, just nod and agree... that method's got me through life so far," he joked.

Then, taking a sip of his drink he snorted loudly in amusement as Elena claimed her brother really liked the sparkly sex toy. "Really?" he looked to Justin with a jokingly raised eyebrow but, upon seeing the other boy's now-crimson complexion, decided not to take that joking further... he'd planned to make some kind of crude retort but spared the older boy from further embarassment. Instead Matt merely smiled once more before busying himself by taking another sip of his drink before saying, "Seriously guys, thanks for the presents, you're both awesome, go you!"

Shrugging easily, "Well, Bradley's never a pretty picture at best of times so you can just imagine how gross he really looked then. Was fun while it lasted though, mum's freakout on that occassion was one of her best," he commented lightly as though that kind of thing happened all the time which, really, when you had five children probably did, said 'children' were just usually much better at covering for one another when one arrived home hopelessly pissed. "Oh I am loving that idea there Elena!" he enthused at her suggestion before nodding surely, "We have to make this happen, Addie, seriously... I think the vein on mum's forehead might make an appearance if we do."

Matt looked to Justin and chuckled slightly, "Nah they don't know, or at least I haven't actually told them in so many words. One cannot help but wonder how they haven't figured it out though," he commented thoughtfully. Shaking his head slightly he tried to encourage Justin in a sort of hey-it's-not-a-big-deal way even though he could see that, to him, it seemed to be. "Nah, he'll be fine with it, your dad seems pretty cool, he'll just be glad you're 'being true to yourself' or whatever," he said in a casual tone with a smile.

[Kevin Walsh]

(ooc: Kevin is everywhere! There might be a minor post explosion from me tonight, brought to you by my incurable insomnia )

Kevin wandered around the country house with a beer in hand, lightly tugging at the pictures on the walls and inspecting all of the O'Connors' belongings to see what, if anything, he could destroy tonight. Finally coming across the birthday twins themselves (who he couldn't quite destroy as such, but that wouldn't stop him from being mildly annoying at the very least), Kevin threw himself on a nearby sofa and propped his somehow constantly-muddy shoes on the table. "Yo. Cousin One, Cousin Two, Head Boy, Big Tits," he addressed Matthew, Adelle, Justin and Elena respectively, "Someone want to point me in the direction of el toilet-o? It would be mucho appreciated."

[Sebastian Bedworth]

Sebastian walked into the large house and immediately found himself a large glass of a bright liquid that was sure to stain his stomach lining for the forseeable future and took a handful of nibbles and proceeded to walk around the house, touching things that he probably shouldnt be touching before happening across a few people he recognised from Hogwarts and he gave a small wave, scattering nibbles everywhere.

"Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie but banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour" Seb nodded his head towards the nibbles before sitting himself down on the closest surface he could fit on. "Happy birthday by the way, I had a present for you both but I left it on the bus here. It was useless anyway" he shrugged his shoulders before taking a long drink of the colourful concoction.
Noticing the book in 'girl twins' hand, Seb smiled "Men can read smaller print than women; women can hear better than men." before looking to the fellow occupants of the room and gave a sigh, "Is Lil here yet? No, she cant be, she isnt hanging off of Bierman." he winked at straightlaced Justin and laughed softly, "She went to buy some 'stuff' and I havent heard from her since. That was 5 hours ago" he locked at his watch and frowned, shaking his wrist and listening hard to it to make sure it was working.

(ooc. Hope its ok to invade with Seb? I just wanted to join in, lol)

[Adelle O'Connor]

(ooc: Aww, Seb's great! And always appreciated anywhere <3)

Adelle rolled her eyes at her cousin and waved lazily toward the hallway. "Calm your shit down, Kev. First door on your left past the room you puked in last Christmas," she muttered, tucking her feet underneath her and resting her head against a pillow.

She glanced up at Sebastian, listening with quiet politeness to his recited facts. She pondered vaguely over whether he had any control over his constant barrage of trivia or if it was some sort of unconscious verbal tick, like maybe he was actually living some deeply tragic life where -- as hard as he tried -- he honestly couldn't help but tell everyone how many teeth the average shark possesses, or whatever. Adelle shrugged when he explained what happened to the gift. "No big deal. Maybe someone on the bus got some enjoyment out of it... ever notice how half the people on any given bus trip always look completely miserable?" she observed dourly, idly twisting the metal cuff on her wrist.