Housewarming Party (Open to the Invitees) - Sunflower Beach

He had the creepy vibe of someone with a very low humanity, but he reached out a hand for Estela, the little girl tucked firmly on his hip.

"Nice to meet you, miss."

The blond was distracting herself from feeling bad by picking out more glasses and more drinks from the kitchen. It was either that or have everyone see that she was upset. Not now, she didn't want to be upset now so she tried to just push the thoughts away. They could be dealt with later.

Estela cringed slightly, but took hold of the extended hand. "The little munchkin on by your side is adorable" she said to try to hide her feelings.

The look on his face said that he noticed. But he covered it with a smile.

"This is Rhiana. My niece, Jamie's daughter."

"And she is adorable" the Caitiff smiled, putting the tray of glasses and drinks down on a nearby table before moving to wrap an arm around Medwyn's waist, reaching over so she could ruffle said munchkin's hair a bit.

Trying to ease the mutual tension Estela averted her eyes as she spoke."Thank you for the invitation. This is a lovely gathering. I'm just glad to be able to meet people." Estela shifted uneasily from right to left foot, and looked at the child again.

The little girl seemed just a little bit older than she looked. She started to squirm to get down from Medwyn's hip, holding out a hand to Estela.

"Wanna take a walk?"

As soon as she started to squirm, the German sat her on the ground. On her own two feet. Because anything else is just asking for pain.

And it was about this time that Cass, leading Rai by the hand, came back into the house from the garden with a smile on her lips.

She had a smile, too, holding Cassiel's hand as she stepped back inside.

Estela looked up for just a moment at the German. "I noticed some lovely gardens on the way in. Would it be acceptable to take a small walk with Rhiana? We won't be gone but a minute."

He nodded with a smile.

"Of course. Take your time."

Because he understood. Really, he did.

Strangely enough perhaps the blond only offered a brief smile towards Griselda and Cassiel before looking away again. Subterfuge wasn't her strong point, there was obviously something slightly nagging there, but she seemed otherwise okay. All smiled while she continued to linger at Medwyn's side. Her hand on his back.

Relieved, Estela extended her hand, offering it to the little girl to hold on their excursion outdoors. Flickering a brief smile at Medwyn before departing the room.

The little girl slipped her hand into Estela's and happily scampered toward outside.

Holding the little girls delicate small hand in her own they excused themselves from the crowd and made their way to the gardens.

She led the woman out to the garden without another word.

Alex was late. Okay, he was really late. But at least he had a decent reason and at least he wasn't empty handed.

With a bottle wrapped in yellow tissue paper and bearing a light blue bow and a bouquet of flowers in an elegant crystal vase, Alex made his way to the front door and knocked just loud enough to be heard.

The blond pushed herself up onto her toes, touching a light kiss to Medwyn's cheek.
"I'll get that" she said softly, her hand brushing across his back as she slipped away from him to answer the door. And as always, the person on the other side of the door, in this case, Alex, was greeted by a bright smile from the caitiff.

"Hey, you made it" she'd kind of thought he'd be a no show at this point if she was to be honest.

"I'm really sorry, Teddy. I get held up at the office. We had a board meeting that ran late and I had to check some numbers in R&D and make sure I had the international time zone of the UAE right..."

He stopped himself, "I'm babbling," he smiled offering her the flowers and the bottle, "the flowers or for you, the bottle is for you and Medwyn."

"Oh, they're beautiful..." she said softly as she took the flowers gingerly and cradled them into the corner of her arm with care so she could free one hand to take the bottle as well. "You really didn't have to you know?" though it was obvious she was happy for the presents.

She stepped aside, holding the door open with her shoulders so he could come inside and into a hall that was beginning to fill with shoes from the guests who'd already arrived.

Alex slid his shoes off as he stepped passed Teddy, "I'm glad you like them. I'm guessing the evening's been relatively calm so far?"

"Yeah, pretty much" you know, except the awkwardness that had the blond a bit upset since she had no clue what was going on with her guests not being comfortable in her home. She was covering it up though at this stage. No point bringing people down when it wasn't an occasion to be down about.

"Most are in the living room, I'll get these in some water and put this somewhere i can't knock it over" she smiled, holding up the still wrapped up bottle.

Alex smiled, "Great. I guess I'll see you in the living room, then."

He moved out of Teddy's way and made his way to the living room, giving McKay and Jamie both a polite nod.

Cassiel, Rai and Medwyn was there as well as two of Jamie's ghouls, while Rhiana had dragged Estela outside.

As for Teddy she disappeared into the kitchen, the sound of running soon being heard followed by the low grunts of someone having to work to get the damn vase off the top shelf but apparently succeeding without knocking anything over.
That sound was followed by the rustling of paper being unwrapped and then a long moment of silence.

Wow...