After everyone was done chatting and eating, the festivities moved onto gift opening and mingling. Penelope turned up the music a bit, hoping to liven up the party. People had begun dipping into the punch bowl which tasted slightly tainted with alcohol. Again, another attempt by someone unknown to help everyone loosen up.

"So who's gift is first?" Penelope asked as they all gathered around the little table with presents.

"Ah, I think the boyfriend should go first." Jeremy called out, knowing his present wouldn't make sense unless Rhydian handed his over first. And it was usually nice to let the significant other of the birthday girl show his love for her first.

"Rhydian already ga-" Waya stopped talking and everyone could see the realization of what she had just said in her expression. She hadn't meant to say it. She and Rhydian hadn't even really spoken about their kiss and how they would go on from there. It had been her idea to keep it a secret and she was the blabbermouth who ruined that. Within the same hour! Her guards were down. She was always so careful, but the music, the food, her friends and actually being friends with them, had lowered her defenses and she'd slipped.

Rhydian just stood there and stared at her. She'd said she had wanted to keep it to themselves. He could feel his ears burning with embarrassment, and knew it wasn't just his ears that were flushed.

Waya's outburst made Veronica arch her brow and look at the two of them curiously. "Does that mean....Ooooooo you two are dating now????" She asked in disbelief. She couldn't believe she'd missed such a crucial bit of gossip like that.

"What did he get you?" asked Penelope.

"Shut up Ver..." Waya growled through gritted teeth and sort of smacked at her.

Junior's brow furrowed, not quite sure how he felt about this. He suddenly kissed Maribele rather passionately, though briefly. "Yeah..." He aid. "Thought so." He smirked at Rhydian. "Congrats man."

Maribel was a bit stunned by the sudden passionate kiss and it seemed to be almost off put by it. It's announced Waya and Rhydian are dating and Junior just did that? What the heck was that all about?

Veronica coughed when Waya smacked her. She couldn't help herself though. "Given her reaction? I'd say he gave her himself."

Rhydian's eyes about popped out of his skull at Veronica's insinuation...

Jeremy coughed hard at Waya's reveal, grinning widely. "Congrats you two." he said with a wave of his hand, before Veronica spoke. He flapped his hands at the girl "Oh please Veronica, don't jump to conclusions. Not everyone has your morals after all."

Eliza was... surprised. That was the mild way of putting it. She swallowed hard, staring wide eyed at Rhydian and Waya. After a little while a breathy "Well..." escaped her.

George was... There was no way to tell what George was. He seemed to not even be turned on right now. He was completely still, quiet... Was this George angry? Depressed? Maybe Rhydian should be careful around him...

The twins had remained quiet all this time but as the conversation dragged on and they saw how uncomfortable Waya and Rhydian were getting, one of them plucked a small gift from the table and handed it to her. It was time to move on. The gift was small, just a bit bigger than her palm and wrapped in a white paper with colorful balloons printed on it. "From the both of us." they said in sync.

Waya was thankful for the twins breaking the ice. "Thanks..." She said, taking the package. She tore off the paper and opened the small box.

Inside was a woven, paracord bracelet. It was primarily made with navy and black cording, but in the center, a silver cord was used to embellish an 'X' into the braid. To tie it on, she would have to have someone knot the end. Honestly, it was really nothing all that special. Probably only about $2.00 at retail and a pretty lame birthday gift by anyone's standards. "We took turns making it...so it's not that good or perfect." the twins said, looking sheepish at their gift. "And we're sorry if it falls apart, we never made anything like that before."

Waya smiled. "I love it." She said honestly. "I really do... You actually made this? By yourselves? And you didn't cook it?" She was smiling. It wasn't much, but that they made it was what she loved about it.

They grinned when they saw she was pleased with it. "It took longer than it probably should have honestly." Jayden said with a wince, itching the back of his head.
"We watched about three different videos on Youtube showing you how to do it." added Jaden with a laugh. Upon closer inspection, she could make out where they had messed up. The pattern changed and things didn't quite repeat, but it showed that it was handmade. "Glad you like it."

"I do." Waya said. She pushed up her sleeve. "Gime a hand." She said, offering her wrist.

"You didn't put beads on it." Penelope said.

"It's paracord." Jayden said, "You don't put beads on it."
"Yeah- it can be cut and used for survival situations." Jaden explained as he picked up the bracelet and double knotted it on.

"Well, I guess my turn now." Jeremy said, standing up and smiling at Waya. He went over to a little table in the corner and picked up a flat present, being careful with it. "It's a little fragile." he said, handing over the record with care "Make sure to open it the way I've written on the paper, don't want anything falling out."

"This is really cool guys, thanks." Waya told them again as Jeremy came forward. "It's a record." She said with a smile and glanced at Rhydian. She was sorry for blabbing, but thanks to him she could listen to records now. She began opening it. "Either that or a calendar. If you got me a calendar I'm gonna have to hurt you." BUt she was smiling as she said it.

"If I got you a calender I'd be the worst person ever." Jeremy said with a chuckle, shrugging and waving at her to open it. He hoped she liked Joan Jet, quite rock and roll, with a little bit of late 70s early 80s feminism. He suspected she'd like it.

"Oh this is great Jeremy!" Waya said, revealing Bad Reputation, Joan Jett's first album from 1981. "I used to have this one on cd, but I don't know where it went." She suspected one of the other students no longer in residence had taken it. "And vinyl sounds better than cd's ever did."

"Thought it would be something you like." Jeremy said with a shrug, opening his arms slightly and offering up a shy hug. She didn't have to if she didn't want to. "Not exactly a first pressing, but I knew you'd enjoy it."

"It's great." Waya said. "Some of her best stuff was on her first couple albums."

Rhydian looked at Jeremy a little curiously. "How did you know I was getting her a record player?"

"I've been having a LOT of outer body experiences lately." Jeremy admitted with a small shrug "I might have overheard something or picked something up or been in a computer or something."

Maribel grabbed the gift she and Junior brought together and handed the box wrapped in purple paper to Waya.

Waya tore into the paper and revealed a box, after she opened it she smiled. It was a black hoodie, which she seemed to have a collection of. On the front was a graphic image of the WHO logo with the bulls-eye. It had been distressed to appear vintage. "This is awesome." She said, lifting it out of the box.

"We weren't sure what size." Junior said. "Mari said you were a small but we went with medium just in case."

"Medium is perfect." Waya said, putting it on. It fit well, not as tight as her usual hoodies but it was roomy and warm and she was a bosomus girl, so guess was a good one. "Ha, it's even got thumb holes. Awesome."

"Mari actually sewed those in." Junior said proudly. If anyone could sew it was their little web spinner. 

Maribel clasped her hands and smiled brightly. She was very glad that Waya liked their gift. She even clapped and bounced a bit to show she was happy.

George shifted near the door. He moved forward a little bit, trying not to be noticed as he placed a bundle of small packages on the table. They were very small, one fitting comfortably on the palm of a normal person's hand. He stepped back again, not wanting to say anything, just hoping someone pointed them out at some point, and that he'd made the deposit stealthily.

Merril had been watching the scene like he was on a couch, alone, observing an exciting tv program. At some point during the gift exchange he got his hands on some discarded wrapping paper and was subtly playing with it.

"Guess that makes it my turn, right?" Veronica said as she strolled to the gift table. Things would've been much easier if they had all moved over to it in the first place. She collected her gift and looked at the others curiously. They weren't there a minute ago...

Eliza looked over at Veronica, though she hadn't been as observant of the presents as other people. She was smiling widely, waiting for Veronica to come back, her heart a flutter when she thought of her own present.

She wouldn't have to wait long, after getting over her original shock, Veronica brought her present over to Waya. "It's not as extravagant as a record player or personalized stuff, but I thought you'd like this."

"Knowing you it's something I can't wear in public." Waya said with a smile as she tore into the gift.

"Oh, you mean like your x-suit?" Veronica asked with a smirk as she opened the gift. What was inside the box was a lovely dark blue corset surrounded by a thin layer of mesh, that comprised the entirety of the blouse. "I sorta thought we could get you all dolled up and go out on the town. But now I sorta figure that it'd be nice for you to wear out on a date."

Waya's cheeks blushed a soft baby blue as Veronica said that. She gave Veronica a sort of rueful glance but pushed aside the tissue paper to reveal the blouse. "Geeze Ver... this is..." Sexy was the term that came to mind, but instead she said, "Really nice..."

"Hah! That seems more for the 'after date' attire." Penelope laughed and elbowed Rhydian in the arm.

The twins blushed a bit, unable to help but imagine Waya in such a beautiful, tight corset. Sure, the boys may be "over" her, but damn the girl was still a looker.

"Wow..." Rhydian whispered, staring in disbelief at the corset. He winced and rubbed at his arm when Penelope elbowed him.

"See? I knew you'd like it!" Veronica said with a happy smile. She glanced over at Rhydian and grinned mischievously. "I guess it's a present for you too.... So does that mean I'm off the hook when your birthday rolls around?"

"Huh?" Rhydian replied, shaking his head when he'd realized someone had spoken to him. "Oh...uh.. I guess?"

"Well it'll..." Eliza rotated a hand around in mid-air trying to make words come to her but finding none. "It'll fit." she said after a few moments, trying not to think about waya in that.

"It's beautiful Ver, thanks." Waya said. "But we're..." She looked at Rhydian, not sure what to say. "Just, don't make a big deal of it. We don't even know what's going on at the moment..."

Veronica held her hands up in defense. "I'm not the one who said anything." She smiled and shrugged. She could always pry her for details later, when they weren't surrounded by everyone else anyway.

"Now now, who's next?" Eliza said with a wide grin, clapping her hands and wondering who had left that pile of little wrapped presents on the table now. She wanted to be last after all.

"I can go!" chimed Penelope, going to the table to get her gift for Waya. Plucking a pink envelope, she handed it over.

Waya took what was obviously a card. "You didn't have to." She told Pen. They didn't exactly get along. "But thanks..." She sliced the envelope open with her finger and pulled out what was inside.

It was a normal birthday card with a cute little kitty on the front wearing a pair of sunglasses. A bit tacky really. Inside the card was what looked like a certificate. Upon further inspection, Waya read that it was a prepaid recording session at Birdbeak Studios downtown and if anyone else here knew how expensive these sessions were, it was Waya.

Waya held the certificate, reading, then looked up at Penelope, rather deadpan. It was hard to tell what she thought of the gift. Perhaps it would have been better for Pen to have played her father's last album over and over again during the party.

Seeing her expression, Penelope tried to convince her, "Oh come on! It's the best in the city! It is a four star shop and has a ton of good reviews. I thought it would be cool for you to get back into singing again. Junior says you're awfully talented."

Waya shot a look at Junior that told him she wasn't happy about him talking about her behind her back like that. She turned back to Penelope. "Thank you." She told her, slipping the certificate back in the envelope. She slid it into the cover of the Joan Jett album. "I promise I'll think about it."

"Who have we got left?" Eliza asked, looking around, almost bouncing on the spot as it got closer and closer to her own time to give the present.

"Who left these?" asked Jayden, walking over to the gift table where he found several packages with the same paper but no name.

Junior looked about, the likely suspects were Phinagin, Strawberry and George. He'd bet good money on George.

George had the overwhelming desire to leave, but just stood there. He just hoped that Waya liked them. She might not. He hoped she did.

"Well fork em over." Waya said, trying to bed down the unease she felt from Penelope's gift. "I'm sure we'll figure it out."

Eliza reached over, carefully taking hold of them and bringing them over to Waya. She let out a small hum, confused at them, turning the little packets over in her hands before holding them out for Waya.

Waya inspected the first package but nothing like scent or sensation could tell her who it was from. Not that she'd admit to relying on any of her hyperactive senses for anything at all. Still... She slipped her nails into the paper and began to open the package.

It was wooden, the smell came through at once, wood. Carved wood. Very detailed carved wood in fact. The little wolf curled up on the small plinth beneath it, gazing up at Waya as it wagged its tail. Or as close to wagging its tail as a small carved wooden animal could achieve, considering it was an inanimate object. George squirmed slightly where he stood, wondering if she'd like the handful of little carved wolves. He'd done each in their own pose... and he'd tried to make it as detailed as possible.

As soon as Waya's eyes fell on it, she knew who it was from. Not because George knew her so intimately that he knew she would adore such a thing (her mother whittled and Waya had always found it extraordinarily fascinating how some people could pull images out of wood), but because it was so utterly perfect. Human eyes and hands could not; unless by the extraordinary intelligence of Franklyn or his father, Reed Richards (Eliza might manage it) something, especially an animal so flawlessly. It was the lack of mistakes that gave George away. But unlike a computer or machine that was programed to preform the task from a preset design, George had carved the little thing out of love and in that the little wolf was a work of art. Something people made, not robots. "George..." She said, looking almost sad as she looked over at him. "It's beautiful."

It took a moment for the twins to realize George had made it. When could he have bought it at a store as an eight foot robot? They both glanced at one another, feeling a little stupid for their armband gift.

Even Rhydian was feeling a bit stupid for the gift he'd gotten her. The little wooden wolf was incredible, and he couldn't help but feel jealously bubble up within his chest as he looked at the other presents that were wrapped in the same paper. He could only imagine what else George had gotten her...

George shrank, physically shrank, when people reacted to the wolf. "It's... it's nothing. Machine tooled." George said with a weak laughing noise, waving his hands and shifting on the spot. He'd wanted her to be happy about it, find it cute perhaps, but not... this... He felt daggers come from the others. He had just thought she'd like it, but the way some people were reacting, it was clear they obviously thought he'd overstepped his bounds. He should have just stayed downstairs...

Eliza smiled widely, gazing down at the little wolf in Waya's hands. "Come on, lets open some of the other ones." she said, presenting the four other little packages. Each would contain a wolf in a different pose, each as carefully crafted as the last.

Jeremy was grinning slightly as he gazed down at the wolf. George could be so weird sometimes, but he could have a heart of gold sometimes. Literally, if he wanted to, probably.

It wasn't jealously toward George that caused Veronica to stare at the wolf. She looked at the robot in a new light and smiled warmly to him. "George...I didn't know you could do that. It's so beautiful."

Eagerly Waya opened all the little wolves. She thought the one howling was her favorite, but the one sound asleep looked almost as if it might breath. Another was dropped onto it's elbows, tongue lolling happily and another was on it's back, curled in s comma as if playing with the other one. "George, these are awesome. They look almost real"

"How did you carve it? With a knife? Or do you have lasers?" asked Penelope.

George was unable to speak. His voice box must have malfunctioned or broken or... or something. He shuddered, but raised his hand, as if raising it palm out to stop them from speaking. However, what he actually was doing, was showing them the few little tools that popped out of the tip of his fingers. Little blades, tools, screwdriver heads, a pair of bolt cutters, soldering tool, he had quite the swiss army knife collection in his fingers.

"Thank you, George." Waya told him. "These are great. I love them." His silence was a little disconcerting, but almost cute at the same time. Like a child called forward to be praised and had shut down out of shyness. She thought to ask another question, but doubted he would answer. "Ok, what's next?" She asked, clapping her hands together to draw everyone's attention from George.

'That looks like all of it.' Maribel signed to everyone, noting the empty gift table.

"Oh, then maybe my turn?" Eliza said with a little smile, bobbing up and down on her feet.

Waya smiled. Eliza and her were a bit closer now than they had once been, but Waya had no idea what was on Eliza's mind.

"Alright, up." Junior said, leaving Maribel's side. He was in on Eliza's gift and went to Waya, taking her elbow and guiding her out of the chair. "This requires a bit of traveling."

"Alright everyone!" Eliza called out with a wide smile, clapping her hands "Lets head downstairs." She smiled widely, looking towards the elevator.

Jeremy stood up, looking confused, brushing himself down and wondering what exactly was going on.

"Oh... what's this now?" Jayden asked Eliza, "You didn't sculpt something too, did you?" He nudged his cousin in the elbow jokingly.

"You'll see guys." Eliza said with a wide smile, shaking her head and moving over to the elevator "Come down as soon as possible." With that, she waved to them, and took the elevator down to Eliza's Lab.

Junior made sure Waya followed Liz.

Rhydian followed the group down, curious as to what Eliza was up to. She'd spent so much time down in the lab that he pretty much figured whatever it was had to be down there still, but the suspense was rather maddening.

Veronica looked at Eliza curiously as she headed downstairs. She got to her feet and walked to the couch where Merril was. "You coming, cutie? Downstairs is where all the cool stuff is."

Everyone that Chel controlled crammed themselves into the elevator when it arrived all at once.

Jeremy grinned, moving over towards it as well, glancing over at Merril and giving a little smile at him before moving over to the elevator. The boy had arrived at a rather busy time it seemed.

"I like cool stuff," Merril said with a grin, tucking whatever he was folding the paper into within his pocket. He followed Veronica happily, giddy that all the girls were calling him cute.

Veronica smiled and lead him to the elevator. Naturally, they had to wait a little for it to return. Hopefully, Eliza would wait until everyone was downstairs before revealing her gift for Waya. "So whatcha working on?" She asked him, pointing towards his pocket.

"Well, I didn't know there would be a birthday, so I, uh, made Waya a ninja star," Merril said and reluctantly revealed his middle school style origami. 

Veronica grinned widely. "She'll like it. And it shows you've got a sweet heart too, to even think about it when you've just gotten here." She nudged his arm playfully, "I think she'll let you stay for sure. She just likes to make a big deal out of everything."

"She was sort of scary until the party," Merril admitted. "But the act dropped pretty fast when it started. Hey, what was you name again?"

"I'm Veronica, Veronica Darling." She said and held her hand out to shake his. "I guess with all the fuss, we didn't get a chance to be introduced properly."

"What's your mutation?" Merril asked with a slight cock of his head. He knew names but not powers, not unless they were somehow obvious.

Veronica grinned and softly placed her right hand on his shoulder. Then another right hand appeared on his opposite shoulder. From that side, she said. "We can go up to eight duplicates."

Merril jumped at the second touch and then went slack jawed with awe. A quick, pervy thought crossed his mind and his face settled into a mischievous smile as he decided not to think aloud. "Cooool," he said instead.

"Yup. It is cool." Veronica said, dispersing her duplicate. "What's even better is that, as one, I have all the attributes of eight. Pretty handy stuff, but the more I make, the less we all have." The elevator door opened and she smiled to him. "Ready to see the sights?"


"Didn't I hear something about cake earlier?" Waya asked as the party made their way back to the food court.

---

"I could use a hell of a lot of sugar right now." Junior said, his arm around Maribel. He wasn't leaning on her, but she could feel him sway ever so slightly when they stood still.

---

"That's what those luscious twins said..." Veronica stated as she followed the rest of them.

---

"Working on it." Jayden said with his brother over by the cake. "Unless you guys want to sing before I cut it?"

---

"Come on everyone, real quick." Eliza sparked up with more than a little joy in her voice before starting "Happy Birthday to you" slowly but with enthusiasm. She wanted the others to catch up so she was trying to get them all together.

---

"Oh God no..." Waya hid her face in her hands. In a manner of seconds Penelope was going to be singing.

---

Rhydian came up beside Waya and took her hands away from her face. "Come on. It's tradition." He smiled warmly, he was quite glad she'd gone and blabbed about the two of them so quickly, it meant he didn't have to hide anything. He wasn't about to sing right in her face though. He'd hold off on joining the song for the moment.

---

Veronica smiled when Eliza started the song up and quickly joined in. If no one else joined, she could always split into 8 to give them some good harmony.

---

---

Surprisingly, Penelope held her mouth shut. After the recent energy boost from the basement, if she were to sing now...she would probably decapitate the birthday girl.

---

Maribel couldn't sing along, but she smiled and swayed with everyone's singing.

---

The twins shrugged and joined in singing with the lot.

---

Junior sang, but he was horribly off key and tried not to draw attention to himself.

---

Jeremy joined in as well, grinning slightly and kinda enjoying Waya's embarrassment, seeing as it was practically a must to make the birthday boy or girl uncomfortable with singing. She still seemed happy though.

---

"To yooooou." Eliza ended the song with a wide grin and a smile to the others, glad that so many had joined in.

---

Waya blushed a healthy shade of baby blue, but for someone who commonly threatened other people, she was taking it rather well.

---

Seeing her embarrassment, Junior clapped his hands at the end of the first verse, stopping everybody before the 'We wish you many more.' part. "Okay." He said. "I was promised cake!"

---

The twins laughed and went back to cutting it.

---

Veronica laughed softly and moved over to the twins. "Need help handing them out?" She asked with a grin.

---

Rhydian squeezed her hand softly and smiled. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

---

Waya was still blushing, but she gave an agreeing look to Rhydian. She took her hand from his but patted his knee instead. She didn't want to make him feel bad but it wasn't as if they were dating. It had only been perhaps an hour since they'd been upstairs together. She didn't feel comfortable enough to go around holding hands in front of everyone else.

---

"Yeah sure." Jaden said and handed her two plates with slices on it.
"Wait." Jayden swooped in and plopped a scoop of ice cream on each then said, "Okay... now you are ready."

---

Veronica smiled and as she walked away, she also stayed in the same place. There was a wide grin on her face as she held her hands back out for more. "Don't I make a wonderful team of waitresses?"

---

"Extra ice-cream on mine please!" Jeremy called out towards the twins, rubbing his stomach. He had quite the appetite sometimes but it never stuck on him.

---

Eliza carefully approached Waya, looking slightly bashful as she spoke to her. "I... hope I gave you what you wanted for your birthday." she said gently, giving her a little nod before moving away.

---

Waya caught Eliza's wrist. "I got a lot of awesome stuff today." She told her. "But I don't think anything can compare to the possibility of getting everyone back."

---

The twins passed out plates to Maribel who offered to distribute dessert. She gave the first to Waya, then Eliza. Then she gave a slice to Junior, who needed the sugar.

---

Eliza's cheeks glowed a little pink before she moved in and gave Waya a very brief hug. "Thanks." she said softly before moving over and taking her cake with a smile "Thank you Maribel."

---

The party was a success. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves throughout the evening. There was music, provided by Penelope, who stuck to songs she knew Waya would prefer. There were more snacks brought out and overall merriment, especially thanks to Eliza's breakthrough down in the lab earlier. Wine coolers and other lightly alcoholic beverage were brought out from storage but only a certain few chose to drink any to help loosen up. It was early now... nearing 1am and everyone was starting to make their way back to their rooms upstairs, deciding to clean up the mess in the morning.

Veronica had chosen to have a few of the wine coolers and discovered that her liver was not one of the things that had the strength of eight... She could hardly stand and was swaying back and forth as she attempted to stay upright. "I umm...think I need some help..."

Waya wasn't appreciative of the presence of alcohol, but she didn't let her opinion hamper the others. They were too young but it wasn't as if there was much chance of getting in trouble. After all, she spent most of her time talking to Liz. "And Junior just runs the thing?" She asked. "By manipulating the energy output on the right frequency?"

Maribel had several coolers, finding the taste satisfying. Her arms hung on Junior, her face planted itself in his stomach as she tried to walk. The quiet, usually reserved young girl was drunk off wine coolers. This left her wobbly and quite touchy feely on Junior.

The twins had spent the better half of the party sitting by themselves on the far side of the food court mingling only amongst themselves and not being very social at all anymore.

Junior was mildly nervous concerning Maribel. He knew she was having issues with her abilities and did not want to end up temporarily paralyzed and twitching on the floor. "Come on you, you need to go to bed."

Rhydian was still sipping from the only wine cooler he had taken the whole night. He was sitting with Liz and Waya and paying close attention to their conversation. He didn't really have any input on the topic, but he enjoyed learning.

Veronica stumbled her way over to the far side of the room, where the twins were moping. "Hey cuties...Why the long faces?"

The twins looked up at her, not really knowing why she was talking to them. "Tired."
"Very tired." they replied to her.

"Le'sh get ya boysh ta bed!" it was Eliza, she had been partying to celebrate the completion of her device, and had become a little tipsy. She was swaying, very content with herself and grinning from ear to ear. She was holding the twins by the shoulders now, wobbling a little but content.

"Can someone cut Eliza off?" Jeremy called from his seat a little way away, though he was obviously messing around, it was about time she stopped drinking. She might be a bit sick later on.

"Then let's go to bed!" Veronica told them both with a wide lopsided grin. No one else would talk to her, seeing how hyped up they all were with the machine being functional...

"I guess everyone is beginning to head to bed." Waya told Rhydian.

Jaden took Veronica by the arm while Jayden did the same to Eliza.
"Come on you two." Jayden said.
"We'll get you to bed." said Jaden.

Veronica sighed happily and leaned against Jaden with a sloppy smile on her face. "Thank you..."

"You... you boysh... ain't too bad..." Eliza muttered to Jayden as she was taken by the arm and lead along "Ya... ya look after ush... sho much. I can... can't cook fer... fer nuffin." She rubbed her stomach, wobbling a little as she walked "Thanksh... really..."

Jayden smiled and helped her walk to the elevator, "You aren't half bad either, cuz. Looks like you had fun tonight, we're glad. It's nice to see more of you."
Jaden helped with Veronica but eventually just scooped her into his arms.

"Eep!" Veronica exclaimed when she found herself off the ground. She hooked her arms about Jaden's neck and clung to him.

"Shall I walk you to your room?" Rhydian chivalrously asked Waya.

Penelope, one of the few women who didn't drink, anything turned off the stereo and flicked the lights on so that everyone could see properly on their way out." She was glad the twins and Junior seemed to be cleaning up the drunkards having not wanted to do it herself.

Jeremy stood up as well, rubbing his neck and moving over to Waya and Rhydian. He grinned at Waya, offering his hand to her as well "Now everyone's heading in, I want to wish you goodnight and happy birthday one more time."

"I... I dun know which room... ish mine..." Eliza muttered with a frown, wobbling a little on her feet still "It'sh.... been sho long... Shleeping... downshtairsh..."

"Yours is 112." Jayden told Eliza thoughtfully as the four of them stepped into the elevator and moved up to the dorm level.

"Yeah..." Waya told Rhydian. When Jeremy approached she took his hand. "Thanks, Jeremy. I really loved the record."

"How did you know she'd have a record player though?" Rhydian asked him curiously as he started to gather the gifts around.

"I... uhhh... I kinda... drift around when I can't sleep..." Jeremy said, waving his hand into the air "What can I say? You hid it under your bed."

"That's a nice way of saying you're a snoop." Waya said with a smirk.

"A very nice way of saying it..." Rhydian grumbled and looked at Jeremy. "Sheesh man..." He piled the gifts up as nicely as possible in their boxes and bags. "Want to give us a hand?"

"Sure sure," Jeremy said as he picked up some of the presents "What can I say guys? I like knowing the ins and outs of this place." He looked around towards one of the lifts "I don't say anything though."

Eliza grinned widely at Jayden "Thanksh... Le'sh get me... ta bed..." She twisted slightly and almost slipped over, having to grab Jayden so she didn't drop "Roomsh... shp... shpinn...ning..."

"Just take deep breaths, Eliza. It'll all be fine in a moment." Jayden said. He knew she would be out like a light in no time. The doors closed and the four of them headed up.

"Makes me wonder what else you've snooped about." Waya said, gathering up a couple of the boxes.

"That's for me to know and you to never know." Jeremy said with a nod to Waya "For the others of course, I don't spread rumors."

"That's good, because it'd be pretty easy to find out who was snooping..." Rhydian said with a smirk. "You and Junior are the only ones who can walk through walls, after all."

"Oh please, I'm talking to a psychic and a boy who can probably talk to the doorknobs." Jeremy pointed out with a chuckle, shaking his head before looking over towards the door "Should we go?"

Penelope had no one to talk to, so she grabbed her sweatshirt on the back of a chair and headed to the staircase to go to bed.

Maribel clung onto Junior and leaned her face against his arm. The feelers on her shoulders ticked his skin.

"Easy you." Junior said with a shiver. "Remind me not to let you get so sloshed next time."

Her other hand dropped down to her side and Maribel's elongated fingers slowly wrapped curled around the base of his tail. He was always so sensitive there.

Junior froze. It might as well be a button to cause blood to flow to certain parts of his body. "Mari..." he said softly. "Mari stop it..."

"Yeah but Junior knows better." Waya told Rhydian.

Rhydian pouted and looked down at the presents. "Door knobs don't talk..."

"So you say." Jeremy replied with a little chuckle "Come on, lets get these presents upstairs huh?"

If she could speak, Maribel would have whined. She had let herself play a bit too loosely tonight and was intoxicated... and quite horny. Things between the two have been on and off for a while, but it seemed she longed for companionship again. Her fingers tickled the underside of his tail while still pressing herself against his chest.

Junior Pulled her hand away from his tail. "Come on Mari, you need to get some sleep."

Maribel didn't touch him there again and let him guide her off to her bedroom.

"Shortcut or walk?" Waya asked, content to teleport them if they were.

"Won't that wipe you out?" Rhydian asked her cautiously. He didn't want her to drain herself on her birthday.

"We can walk." Jeremy said with a little laugh and a shake of his head "It's not too far. Or if you want I could walk the stuff up and you could teleport."

"Two people and a arm load of stuff won't even nearly wipe me out." Waya told him. "Teleporting everyone who lives here, yes." She gathered the shadows to them and teleported them to her room.