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WHO: Friends and family of Andromeda Tonks.
WHERE: House (H)Tonksgood
WHEN: Tuesday, January 17th, 7pm (or roundabouts)
WARNINGS: I'll let you know!
SUMMARY: It is Andromeda's birthday. Tonks is going to throw her mother a party.
FORMAT: consonants and vowels.

[ It is her mother's birthday. In lieu of something extravagant for a gift, Tonks has opted to have a dinner instead. Her friends have been invited.

Being a thoughtful and considerate daughter, Tonks is not making her mother cook. She is taking care of the food and the desert! No, no. Don't panic. Tonks isn't cooking. Her fingers work! She hasn't lost her voice. It's pizza for dinner!

The dinning room table is covered with an assortment of different pizzas. There's thin crust. There's handtossed. There's a pizza with everything, there's a pizza with just cheese. There are some sides such as crisps and vegetables for dipping.

For desert, there's a chocolate cake sitting on a buffet. It's iced with a gooey, chocolate fudge frosting. There are loads of candles stuck in the top, too many to possibly represent Andromeda's real age but too few to set the place on fire. If chocolate cake doesn't appeal to you, there are vanilla cupcakes with yellow frosting. Plus, there's ice cream. Drinks are varied.

And because Tonks is such a considerate daughter, there will be no cleaning up! It's plastic utensils along with paper cups and plates for all! They're yellow. They match the yellow and orange birthday decorations that adorn the interior.

Come one. Come all. It's a pizza party. ]

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[ And suspicions confirmed. Damnit, Tonks.

He rubs at the back of his neck, then jerks a thumb in the nebulous other direction from which he'd come. ]

...I can go, if-

[It isn't her fault that Tonks just thinks she has a lot of friends who are men. This also happens to be true, after all.

She hasn't told her daughter about either of her not-so-successful dates.]

No! That is, no -- I'm glad to see you. I just didn't think you'd want to come.

Well if Tonks hadn't insisted...

[ A little honesty's probably appropriate. But he'll drop the awkward arm finally and hold out the gift he has in hand instead. ]

Let's just say I'm glad to have the chance to hand it over in person.

[Unfortunately, this isn't the greatest venue to discuss what the implications of his leaving in the middle of their date are. It's -- still too public.]

I think it's a touch more meaningful that way.

[And the fact that he'd come made her think that maybe they could still at least talk things over.]

You and me both. [ spoilers: it's candy. And having given it to her leaves an opening to take a spot leaning against the wall instead. Not encroaching so much as hovering. ]

Listen, about about the other night...

This is becoming a recurring theme, isn't it?

[She takes the candy with a smile, though, carefully unwrapping the edges of the box.]

We -- can go somewhere quieter, if you'd prefer.

[No need to talk about this where she knows people are within earshot.]

I don't want to steal you away.

[ And there's a quick, almost guilty glance back at the rest of the party, just in case someone else already has similar designs. ]

[Wes might've been around somewhere, but -- well, nobody is making active designs to steal her away.

She ducks her head briefly.]

I'm sure they won't miss me for a little while.

Roof?

[ What better place to grab some guaranteed privacy without actually having to leave? ]

[She's not going to mention that this seems to be a theme with Dick and his wards, but she does nod.]

Works for me.

[ Reaching for a hand in a room full of people she's either related to or maybe dating would be a little forward, so he gestures with his chin instead and then heads for the door. He can always carry her if it comes to that. ]

[Hopefully it doesn't come to that. She's got some spells that can help her out with that, or if worse comes to worse she can climb. She did have to get out of the house as an unruly teenager somehow, after all, and the manor had high walls.

She follows him to the door and then outside after grabbing a jacket. It's still winter, darn it. ]

Is this where you wow me with acrobatics?

[It is, actually.]

[ Well, yes.

It's not every day he gets to perform - even just for an audience of one - so this time he's in the mood to make it count. A quick jump, followed by a flip and a pivot, and one last patented quadruple somersault, and he's perching up on the roof with a quick little ta-da flourish. ]

Thought you'd never ask.

[She wasn't expecting that, that's for sure.

Her own ascent is a little slower, aided by a good ascendio spell and a firm grip on the edge of the house.]

I'm not as graceful, unfortunately.

You're fine. [ This time he will offer a hand, when she gets close enough. ]

Remind me sometime and I'll show you how we get around up here for real.

[Not that she'll admit it, but the hand is certainly something she needs. Once she's on the roof proper, though, she's fine.

So. Privacy. That means they should probably -- talk.]

I'll have to do that. So, now that we're alone...

[What were they going to talk about, again? Oh, right.]

...did you get there in time? The other night.

[That seemed like as good a place to start as any.]

[ There's a moment there where he's a little... lost in between the solid, rational question he knows she's asking and the pretty striking spectacularness of her just floating up in his wake, like it's nothing. And wow the warm fingers on his aren't helping. ]

...Yeah. I mean I lost a few, but as far as bad nights go it wouldn't crack top fifty. [ Smooth and casual. Nothing to see here. Definitely not life and death brushed aside like it's nothing. And his hand's clamming up, so he drops it and hits the roof instead, sprawling back in a pretty deliberately relaxed posture. ]

...You did get home okay, right?

[See, Dick, she isn't as helpless as she sometimes looks!]

Well, good. And yes, I got home just fine. Once you know the location of a place like the back of your hand, it's easy to get back with magic.

[And relatively quick, too.

She drops down next to him in a less-relaxed sitting position, tailor style.]

I'm guessing a lot of your dates end like that.

That obvious, huh? [ It's not like he hadn't known it was coming sooner or later. Deep breath, Grayson. ]

...Yeah. Pretty par for the course.

You seem to take it pretty seriously, so I sort of figured.

[At least he's being upfront about it. She glances over to him, brows furrowed only slightly.]

Do you enjoy it, though? Or is it just something -- is it a family thing? Do you feel like it's an obligation?

[She pauses. Way to be invasive, Andromeda.]

I'm rambling, aren't I. You don't -- have to answer those questions if they're too personal.

...No. I mean- It is an obligation. And it isn't.

[ Buck up soldier, Bruce would say.

Or really not, considering the circumstances. Which makes it yet another voice he needs to squash, for this part. She deserves to know. ]

...I lost my parents, when I was Damian’s age. They were murdered. The man who took me in... showed me that I could be proactive. That I didn’t have to wait for the future Dick Grayson’s of the world to suffer like I did. I could stop it. I could help.

All that bad, we could channel into something good. And we did. It is good.

[ He scrubs his hands over his face and takes a breath. It’s one thing to know the answer always, where it counts on the inside, but it’s another to have to put into words for someone else. He turns the gaze a little sideways when he risks looking at her, finally. ]

Is... anything I’m saying making sense?

[Are you prepared for the most sympathetic of faces, Dick? Her parents might not have been murdered, but they'd cut off all ties with her -- it wasn't so different, and not much less traumatizing.

She listens and tries to understand it. There's even more questions she has now -- whether he's been doing this since he was Damian's age, whether -- Damian might be involved, given Dick's pseudo-fatherly relationship with him -- but she can't ask those questions yet. It would put him in a compromising position, after all.

When he does look at her, she doesn't so much say anything as shift herself closer, pulling him in for a hug. It seems like the right thing to do.]

Oh, Dick.

I suppose ... it doesn't have to make perfect sense to me, does it? You believe in what you say. That's just -- a hard way to grow up, carrying that sort of burden.

[ He... blinks once when she goes for the hug, but misplaced sentiment notwithstanding there’s no resistance when he leans in and returns the hold. Truth be told he’s had too few, lately. ]

Must sound that way to you.

[ Crazy. Damnit, he sounds crazy. Just imagining the look on her face is too much right now, which is a good enough reason not to let go, just yet. ]

Believe me, it’s not... even close to the outcome I’d want for every downtrodden orphan. But it was the best thing that ever happened to me, Andie. Finding him...

[She wants to argue with him, tell him that he should've had a childhood -- but that isn't something she should scold him about. It's -- whoever it was that raised him, this man.

What he says, though -- it makes it impossible for her not to ask.]

...Damian. He's involved in this too?

[It's barely a question; Damian had seemed too careful a child to break his leg during some sort of playground accident. She tries to keep as much judgment out of her voice as she could, tries to keep herself neutral.]

[ Imaginary or not, he hears the judgement there, behind the words she isn't saying. And maybe it's one he deserves, after all. ]

...Yeah. I mean I can't give you specifics, but- [ but it would take a take ten minute news search to find pictures of Batman on patrol with Robin. He has to duck his head for a long moment before he can speak again. ]

I'm teaching him to help people.