Griselda's Birthday (Open)

There is a little grove about three miles away from the main road. Inside the grove, several boulders had been set up as a 'seating' sort of arrangement. Jamie looked at his six-year-old daughter, arranging cushions so that guests could be comfortable and smiled. This whole thing had been her idea. There were logs in place as well for seating, as well as plenty of land and grass space. The food was in his SUV and would be brought out a bit later, the logs for the bonfire set in place. And because he was a creature of tradition, a very old, very well-loved set of bagpipes rested against one of the trees that sheltered the grove from prying eyes. Rhiana had wanted this to be a traditional party after all, complete with music, singing, dancing and right down to the tea and shortbread. And, of course, Griselda's favorite dish, blood sausage. The little girl had even arranged most of this herself, which made Jamie swell with pride.

All that was left now was to finish a bit of setup and wait for people to arrive. He didn't expect very many, but there were a good number of mortals who had been invited that he expected very much would show up, if for no other reason than his cousin's stunning beauty.

The Ventrue arrived with Miyu and looked around for a place to lay the gift they'd brought for Griselda. Victor had spaced on wrapping it, because he was a typical man and spaced on minor details like that.

"Prince Alexander, thank you for the invite"

She arrived with Victor, wearing a simple dress. She also had a gift for Griselda, though hers was wrapped and much smaller. Just a token, really, and she smiled and gave the Prince a wave when they arrived, sitting her gift down next to Victor's.

Jamie looked up from where he was unpacking a picnic basket full of food and smiled, pointing to Rhiana.

"This be her doin'. I jus' signed my name t' th' invite since we figured tha' i' might ha' a bit more weight wi' folks."

Victor chuckled, although he would have taken her invite with equal weight.

"Miss Rhiana, you did a lovely job."

The little girl beamed.

"Do you think she'll like it?"

"I think she'll love it" Victor smiled warmly. He suspected she was in little girl mode at the moment and ran with it.

The little girl smiled.

"Good. Now, do you all know the song Scotland Forever?"

"Vaguely..." he said remembering back to his grandmother.

She giggled and leaned in close to whisper.

"Watch my dad and my aunt when they start to play it. It's funny."

Victor leaned down and smirked. "Ok."

George and Matthew made their way into the grove - one wearing blue, the other wearing green. They each had a guitar case slung over their backs, obviously knowing ahead of time that there would be some sort of musical entertainment for the evening. They carried between them a very, very large wrapped box - bigger than a man, though they seemed to carry it with ease. Which meant that they had to make their way slowly into the grove, but make it, they surely were, offering Jamie, Rhiana, Victor and Miyu a smile.

Abigail showed up, dressed comfortably and with her hair and makeup done since it was a party. Despite everything else she still wanted to show for Griselda. Viktor and Rhiana got smiles on greeting as she resisted the urge to move to Jamie's side. Clearly she didn't want to do anything unwanted

Victor smiled at the two Toreador and seemed oddly pleased they would be playing. It was another chance to try and catch up on modern music. So far he was somewhere in the 1950's. Maybe in another decade or two he'd get to fully appreciate the 80's. Noting the heavy box and happily recalling he could actually lift heavy objects again he walked up. "Need a hand?"

He glanced as Abigail entered and waved at her with another smile.

They looked up at Victor and smiled.

"No, thank you, Mister Steele. We have it," they said. It looked like they did - the box was heavy, true, but it was more ungainly than it was heavy and as a result, they just had to maneuver it properly to get it into place toward the gift table (rock?).

Abigail O'Reilly wrote:

Abigail showed up, dressed comfortably and with her hair and makeup done since it was a party.  Despite everything else she still wanted to show for Griselda.  Viktor and Rhiana got smiles on greeting as she resisted the urge to move to Jamie's side.   Clearly she didn't want to do anything unwanted

Rhiana smiled, waved and even came over for a hug. Despite any issues between Abigail and her father, she still carried quite a bit of affection for the Irish woman. Throwing her small arms around Abigail, she hugged her around the waist, surprisingly tight for the small girl's frame.

"I'm glad you came," she said quietly. "Auntie will be pleased."

Rhiana wrote:

Rhiana smiled, waved and even came over for a hug. Despite any issues between Abigail and her father, she still carried quite a bit of affection for the Irish woman. Throwing her small arms around Abigail, she hugged her around the waist, surprisingly tight for the small girl's frame.

"I'm glad you came," she said quietly. "Auntie will be pleased."

Abigail hugged her back, grinning as she did. She had been making an effort to not let outside issues effect her relationship with the girl as she was rather fond of her as well. "Aye, o' course I came. I wouldn' miss i' for anythin'. Took tha whole nigh' off work an' everythin'."

The little girl beamed.

"Good! Auntie doesn't know this is her birthday party. I told everybody to get here by 10, but I told her we were having a family get-together, McKenzie clan, I mean. So she thinks we're just having a family deal and won't be here until 11."

She laughed.

"Daddy helped some, but it was mostly me, yes."

"Well I' is a great idea. Need any help?"

She nodded.

"Yes, please! If you could help me get the wood arranged for the fire and then we can start getting the tea and shortbread ready for people, that would be great. We have whiskey, too, but that will be for later, when the singing and music starts."

Oriella came walking through the woods, into the grove. She had a medium-sized package in her hands, wrapped in paper that declared 'Happy Birthday!' all over it in bright colors. Much like the paper, the colorful Tremere was all smiles and charm as she came into view, obviously in a very good mood as she nearly skipped more than she walked into the grove.

She wasn't as pretty as some of the other women. And she was much more shy. Considering that she had a toddler on her hip since Lorelei disappeared into the aether and she was left raising the woman's daughter, she was a lot more quiet and even somewhat shy. She felt like an ass; she had no gift to give. But the fact that she had been invited shocked the hell out of her and she couldn't justify not coming to the gathering. Even if the kid on her hip was a werewolf, she still had Clan duties to attend to and Griselda's birthday fell under 'Clan duties'.

Truthfully, she was just ecstatic that it seemed like she hadn't been completely forgotten. So she was not far behind Oriella, she just had a little girl on her hip, dressed in bright red.

The Malkavian Primogen hadn't been seen in quite some time. He tended to avoid most gatherings of Kindred, due in large part to his own eccentricities. Confession: had it not been the Prince himself asking him to attend this gathering, he would not be here in the least. Since it had been Jamie to invite him, it would have been rude to not attend.

He could not abide rudeness.

He was strolling behind the girl with the child on her hip, making a point to let it be shown that he was breathing, blinking. The normal things that normal people like he very much was not did.