The Barrow-Downs' Third Birthday Party and Downie Awards

[HerenIstarion]

Six misterious figures dissolved into the crowd

"oh, c'mon" thought H-I "I'm not in the wild any more, am I? It's supposed to be highly secured Award Ceremony. Why do I try to find something suspicious everywhere? Even banisters I don't trust, and what have those six done to me? And me being tired already"

He drank the last of his beer, left the glass on the bar and slided to the sofa.

"let us have some rest before the real fun begins"

the slightly self-mocking thoughts spinned lazily in the back of his mind

"hah, making so much buzz of it..."

He closed his eyes

[ May 01, 2003: Message edited by: HerenIstarion ]

[Diamond18]

Diamond surreptitiously spiked her Dr. Pepper with a smidgen of Scotch. She had no idea if Scotch went well with Dr. Pepper, but she decided to take advantage of the abundance of alcohol before Squatter drank the place dry.

She gave a cheery wave to the black-suited man in question. “Cheerio,” she said, to match the cheery wave, noting with interest a waiter who passed by, bearing a towering cake bedecked with cherries. She cheekily plucked one cheery cherry from off the cake and popped it into her mouth.

“You’re looking dashing, Decay,” she declared. “Definitely a dapper definition of swank styling.”

Then she turned back to Annun and said, redundantly, “Cheerio to you, Annun! You indeed rendered me momentarily speechless with your vivaciously vigorous love of Vodka. By the by, do you like cherries, too?”

[Arafangwen]

"I say we go over and introduce ourselves, if Menelien will ever reach us over here.... I wonder if she heard me at all. And do you have any idea where Findoroiel is? I'm about to be worried for her." she searched worriedly through the growing crowd for any site of Menelien of Findoroiel.

[Mattius]

Mattius and Chicken looked about with intent to drink. A large Uruk-hai approached Mattius,

"Take your coat guv'nor?"

Mattius handed him the leather jacket revealing his Rage Against the Machine T-shirt. Chicken took a look at him and sighed.

"Oh you can talk, your walking about nude except for those shades."

With that Chicken clipped off the glasses, folded them and placed them carefully in the seam of his yellow feathers. With his right wing he pointed to his collar. Mattius sighed at playing servant and untied his leash all the while Chicken pointed his nose/beak up in the air.

Mattius folded the leash and popped it into the pocket of his baggy jeans. Baggy, thank Eru Mattius had read up on What To Wear only two days prior.

Chicken must have still been seething at the nude comment as he walked off totally blanking Mattius. Fine, thought the young man, be that way you little McNugget. Chicken had made his way over to The Phantom who busilly taked away on a cell phone. The two had never met but Chicken had decided that the two, being as high and mighty as they each were, should.

Mattius stood around and searched for someone as lonesome and boarderline alcoholic as himself. Sat in the middle of the bar was a strange looking man knocking back drink like a production line.

Squatter... he thought to himself, making his way over to man taking full advantage of the free bar.

[ May 01, 2003: Message edited by: Mattius ]

[Ainaserkewen]

"Ah, I've found Airehiriel, and I, Reesha am ready for my next interview, let's get started. How did you chose your name?"
"I tried a lot of different combinations of my real name in the name generator for an elvish name, and didn't like any of them. So I tried putting in things that came into my mind. White Elf was one of them. It sounded elegant to me, and I liked Airehiriel, so I kept that...I seem to have strayed from being very elegant though, oh well."
"What is your favorite forum on the BDs?"
"That would definately have to be Middle Earth Mayhem!"

"Who is your favorite Administrator/Moderator?"
"Hmm, that could range on being a dangerous question to answer...I think I will say 'No comment' for that one! Playing it safe, you know."

"What is your favorite thing about the BD?"
"That there are so many like minded people in the world, and we can all congregrate in the same place and share our thoughts and feelings, even if some of us do get a bit silly sometimes. I also really love to laugh, and this place really fits the bill!"

"What do you like most about Tolkien's books/movies?"
"I think it would be difficult to summerize why I love them both. I have always loved fantasy stories that would draw me into the world and keep me interested. I enjoy loving the characters and following their adventures. His books are filled with wonderful images, and the best thing about it all, in my opinion, is that there is no sex and swearing, and it doesn't need these things to be good! (Of course, I don't think any book or movie needs those things to be good, but Hollywood apparently has a diffenet opinion.)

I love the movies for basically the same reasons, but I really enjoy being able to see the fantasy come to life."
"Thanks for your time, enjoy the party."

"Thanks for the interview! I enjoyed it."

[the real findorfin]

Fin pulled Thoriel up to the dance floor. She seemed slightly unsteady, but who was he to judge, he had already had two bottles of wine!

They began to dance and Fin judged that they were doing alright, but he couldn't understand why the other dancers were going all over the place, what was the matter with them.
"Why, I never knew you could dance so well," Fin exclaimed to Thoriel.
"Don't you ever stop," she mocked, "you've already got me here, you dont have to try."
"Try...?" Fin said confused, "my dear Thoriel. I have never had to try at it, nor would I stop even if every women in the world were at my call."

They continued to dance (Eru, wasn't everyone around them awful), and when the music finished he escorted Thoriel back to the table and poured her another glass of wine. "Alatariel?" he beckoned.
"Give me a minute," she replied unsteadily.
Fin smiled, and turning, noticed Niluial strangely alone on one side of the room. He turned and saw Don also alone.
"Playing matchmaker again I see," he muttered, "Alatariel my dear, I'll be back in a second." The slightly tipsy elf-maiden nodded and giggled.

Fin moved away quickly and called Niliual over. When she was beside him he took hold of her arm and escorted her to Don, "my friend, when you loose your sword do I complain....no. But Niluial, tut tut." Fin laughed as Don's face took on a sour expression, before cracking into a smile. He pushed the couple together and returned to the table. After swigging another large amount of wine, he tok Alatariel's hand and escorted her to the floor.

[Ainaserkewen]

"No, no, I don't think so." Ainaserkewen said to Aranfangwen, still looking at that elf.
"Not unless you know him."
"I don't think so, but lets ask around, we'll find someone to introduce him. What about Reesha? She was talking to him."
"Yah, but she probably was asking him for directions to Mr. Underhill. Probably doesn't know his name." She sighed, would she ever meet this guy.

[Niluial]

Niluial was on her 5th shot of vodka! Someone tapped on her shoulder! “Ahh Don.. finally you arrived!” Niluial said with relief.
“Umm Nil… are you a little tipsy..?”
“Me tipsy, oh never! I only had one, four, two, three.. well I had some vodka”
“Hmm it would be a good idea for you to go to the bathroom and freshen up and drink tons of water, what do you say?”
“Ok but join me for a shot of vodka!”
“I don’t think so, now Nil the awards are coming later.”
“Oh ok, I’ll go. Now don’t go anywhere” Niluial said walking of.

Ten minutes she was back looking, kind of sober! “That’s better!” Don said. “Yes I feel way better” Niluial said acting normal again. “Come I want to dance!”
She took Don’s hand and they danced. Niluial like putting her head on Donlammenion shoulder, it was warm and comforting.

As they danced Niluial thought about her eventful evening. She liked Donlammenion he was sweet and romantic. “I am enjoying myself Don, thank you for taking me” Niluial said dreamily. “Oh well its my pleasure but the night is still young and there is lots to do!” Donlammenion exclaimed. “hmm your right” Niluial said still in a trance. Donlammenion liked Niluial, he liked fun, wild, sensitive, beautiful girls.

[Durelin]

Rytien had been done eating for a long while, spending most of her time standing by the wall watching as people arrived. Then she saw Lyra pass by her in a strange conga line. She rushed over to tap on her shoulder.

"Hello Lyra! Glad you came, as if you'd miss this," she said gesturing to take in the large, colorful hall. "Did you hear about my new sword? The Heron Mark blade? Too bad those mangy 'security' orcs to it away." Rytien sneered in disgust.

"Well, anyway, I see you're enjoying yourself already!" Rytien grinned, looking around at the milling guests the remnants of Lyra's conga line. "Oh, you know, you should try some dragon steak. It really is exqusite!"

[Diamond18]

Diamond caught sight of Mattius approaching the bar. A sly smile spread slowly over her face, and she said, "Matt! Did I miss Chicken? Ah, well, I'd been looking forward to having a dance with the skinny poultry, but I do recall speculating on your own dancing abilities. Perhaps today we'll find out?"

[Arafangwen]

Arafangwen giggled, This is proving to be fun after all, she thought to herself as she looked over to make sure that the dwarven fellow was still asleep at thier table.

"Ainaserkewen, do stop putting yourself down! You're a quite lovely woman if I do say so my self, I'm almost envyous. You have nothing to be emberassed about. Now come, let's ask Reesha what she knows."
Arafangwen said as she dragged Ainaserkewen over to where Reesha stood to ask a few questions...

[ May 01, 2003: Message edited by: Arafangwen ]

[Sophia the Thunder Mistress]

Sophia trailed the others over to the bar. She stood beside Annunfuiniel and took a glass of whatever she was drinking and swallowed it resolutely in one gulp. All this party and no dancing at all?! Now this was what simply wouldn't do.

She saw Alatariel and Fin leaving the dance floor laughing hysterically. Fin was a little unsteady on his feet, but what was that? She grinned, and despite Annun's call to her to stay, she deposited her empty class on the table and hurried over to where Fin was about to sit back down.

She touched his arm and said, "Not so fast..."

He smiled his flirty grin at her and asked smoothly, "What can I do for you, Sophia?"

"It's my turn," she said sweetly as she practically dragged him out to the dance floor. As they began to dance Sophia realized for the first time that she'd had a bit too much to drink, but who cared? The floor was supposed to spin, she was dancing! When they returned to the table she was dizzy and feeling much better about life. She flopped down into her seat beside Maegaladiel and wondered where Fin was off to with that mischievous look on his face.

[ May 01, 2003: Message edited by: Sophia the Thunder Mistress ]

[the real findorfin]

As they sat, Fin ran across to the bar and whispered hurriedly with one of the waiters. He soon returned and after a couple of minutes nodded at the waiter who was stood, waiting for the signal. The man, moved quickly, producing a large tray from behind the bar with an endless amount of whisky shots. He put the tray down on the table and Fin thanked him, slipping him a few gold coins.

The elf lord quickly placed the shot glasses in four rows in front of him, Thoriel, Sophia and Alatariel. "Now we can really drink," he exclaimed, "on three, two, one."

The four of them downed shot after shot. Fin noticed, as he quickly gulped down the strong dwarvish whisky, that Alatariel was quickly fading. "Of dear," he thought and slammed down the final glass.
"Yes!" he cried, before recovering his dignity. Sophia and Thoriel finshed mere seconds later and Fin, declared it a draw. Alatariel finished a few seconda after, her eyes now very glazed.

"Um," Fin said, "Perhaps we should give the drink a rest Alatariel."
"mmmm," came the reply.

Fin quickly rose and managed to get a glass of water from the bar. He returned and Alatariel slowly swallowed it down.

"What next?" Fin asked Thoriel and Sophia, as he propped his drunken escort up.

[ May 01, 2003: Message edited by: the real findorfin ]

[Ainaserkewen]

Ainserkewen did go over to Reesha with Arafangwen, but didn't ask questions.
"It's time to go Reesha."
"What, I just got started, boy, this will be my big break."
"Go?" Asked Arafangwen.
"Yah, I'm afraid I can't stay out all night. I'm tired, and I have homework. Like predicting the kings downfall. Thank you for your help and your compliments, but I will be back, early tomorrow, then you and I will descover the mystery name of this elf."
"What elf?" Reesha asked.
"Nothing!" They said together.
Reesha made a face at them, and walked over to where she left her coat.
"Why do you need to take Reesha with you?" Asked Arafangwen.
"I don't, but we're going over interviews tonight. Thank you again."
Ainaserkewen slipped out the back where blues eyes white dragon was waiting for her. A small tear rolled down her cheek as she flew away.

[GaladrieloftheOlden]

“Menelien! How nice of you to finally join us! I'm sorry to say that your "escort" seems to have been drugged by a certain hippo, but you may join us in introducing ourselves to that elf over there if you would like.” “Errm.” Said Menelien, looking over at Gimli, whose face looked suspiciously as if somebody had colored on it, who was snoring away peacefully with his head on the table. Trippo the Hippo was next to him, giggling insanely, leading Menelien to the idea that perhaps he had overdone it on the beer. “I’ll be just fine, thanks.” she went on, not looking at the good looking elf, not trusting herself to stand without tripping immediately. “I’ll just sit here with a drink, say hi to some friends…” Menelien realized that she was sitting alone by this time, as the girls had all left to swoon over the elf (no offense meant, I’m just kidding you guys), and Gimli having slipped to a new position under the table. Menelien looked around the room, trying to find somebody she knew. She waved a hi to Sophia and giggled at the sight of some tipsy dwarves singing Ricky Martin, revolting though it may seem. Suddenly, her eye caught something else. Someone she knew only slightly, Finrondioel, behaving rather queerly. Her eyes seemed to bulge out slightly as she stared at somethings, then somebody pulled her down. Hmm… party pranks are always fun to watch. thought Menelien, managing to walk over to the spot without knocking anything down, for once. What the hell? thought Menelien. She heard a scream and decided that it wasn't a prank and that it was time to do something... but just here her usual clumsiness saught up with her and she fell forward with a crash.

[ May 01, 2003: Message edited by: GaladrieloftheOlden ]

[Niluial]

Niluial and Donlammenion danced moving closer every second. “I wonder when the awards will happen?” Niluial asked. “I don’t really know” Don said. Niluial looked deeply in Donlammenion eyes still in a weird trance. “You seem to be in awe of something Nil” Donlammenion asked with a amused face. “I am just in awe of you and life, oh and the party!” Niluial said “Oh and just letting you know just before we leave I will get really tipsy, would you like to join” she whipserd. “Well I would love to but the end is still far away! Stop thinking about the end of the wonderful evening and start thinking about what a wonderful eveing still awaits us my beautiful lady!” Donlammenion said.

[Antien]

Antien skillfully strides to the bar with a confident air and said "cherry wine, please." The bartender looks at her suspiciosly. "arn't you a bit YOUNG to have alcohol?" he asks, wondering how many times she had got away with drinking alcohol."No." she replied, though she knew she wasn't going to get ANYTHING to drink here. "But I'm driving. I probobly shouldn't have wine anyway."

Antien walks to the middle of the hall and screams "Do the wave for Boromir, the disco king!" And with that, the mirror ball starts rotating and disco music comes on. During the innteruption, she spikes the punch and gets a cup for herself.

When the disco music and the mirror ball are turned off, some people wonder how Antien rigged the mirror ball...

Others wonder why the punch tastes more like cherry and alcohol...

[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

"Why, thank you, old thing: you're looking pretty nice yourself."

Squatter put down his fourth whisky and smiled urbanely, effortlessly glossing over his somewhat rosy complexion. He hailed Diamond, with the cheery bonhomie of someone whose drinks are being bought by someone else, as indeed he was greeting anyone who happened to throw a couple of words his way. "Not sure exactly what this evening's about, old girl; but the bar's top-notch," he added helpfully.

Suddenly the hirsuit hedon's eye was drawn to an outlandish figure striding fowlly across the room. "I say," he remarked. "Is that a huge yellow chicken?" He looked at his glass suspiciously and put it down. "Knew it was too good to be true," he muttered.

[Lush]

Lush was slightly worried that the appearance of vodka might put turn her cheeks from the colour of innocence to the colour of experience, but hearing S refer to her as "decent" restored her confidence in purity, chastity, decency, and other lofty words that end in "y."

Warmed by either Mithadan's politeness (which was so smooth, it could practically serve as a slip 'n slide) or the alcohol, Lush threw back another "stopka" and made eyes at Squatter's manly charm, impressed with the fact that he managed to get the cuff-links from the pawnbroker, as intended.

She also wondered whether she was still supposed to kiss anyone (a major threat to her innocence no doubt!), as decreed by Diamond-the-wise-and-too-attractive-for-her-own-good, but decided to decide that after another shot.

[ May 01, 2003: Message edited by: Lush ]

[Child of the 7th Age]

Cami grinned sheepishly back at Poppy as a large scaly head with whirling eyes of gold slowly emerged from the corner of the box. The beast fixed one jaundiced eye on Cami and the other on her friend, snorting in disgust as a large cloud of smoke ascended to the ceiling.

With immaculate disdain, the wyrm extended her razar-sharp talon and mused, "I should have known you were the one who called me here." Angara wrinkled her nose with distaste as she surveyed the entire gathering , then asked, "And where is Piosenniel?"

Cami sputtered out an answer. "Her keyboard is broken. She can't be here. I think one of the wargs who was with her must have sat on it."

Wargs? Angara cocked one wing in a threatening pose and growled softly under her breath. Since when did the fair Elf hang out with wargs? Bad company indeed. It could only be the influence of Mithadan.

"And where, pray tell, amidst all this circus, is Mithadan hiding?"

"Oh, Angara, he's not hiding. Mithadan is in charge of this whole show. He arranged the entire party."

The dragon drew back abruptly and let out a single roar of laughter tinged with jagged flame, "I might have known! He's the only one who would come up with something as diabolical as this."

[Lyra Greenleaf]

"OOps" Lyra nearly fell over. She wasn't entirely sure why she was walking around. Surely it would have made more sense to sit down when her head was pounding so? Eagerly looking around she found a chair. Just Hobbit sized, oh good.

Strange people came up to talk to her. Anuion, staring round eyed at his date, Aman talked to her. He's paying close attention to his grammar she thought with a smile. She was about to compliment him when she realised he'd already stopped posting and wandered off. Back to the beautiful Aman, no doubt. Next were a pair of Elves, at least she thought they were- her vision was blurring a little by then. They talked for a while before wandering off Elf stalking.

"Hello Lyra! Glad you came, as if you'd miss this," Lyra turned to face a strange woman. All the others paled in comparison. She was just not Tolkien! "Did you hear about my new sword? The Heron Mark blade? Too bad those mangy 'security' orcs to it away."

A name swam into Lyra's head, shaking she cleared it. That can't be right! All the signs of tipsyness had vanished. It was very odd, but then this was a completely freeplaying party.
"Rytien?" she asked. "You know how we feel about swords"
Lyra shook her head again. Maybe the effects hadn't gone as much as she thought. Where had that come from? And why did she suddenly feel the urge to dance? As she stood to the strains of the macarena, she thought that perhaps this was not what she had meant by dancing. Still, she was a Hobbit from the Shire, and she wanted to macarena!
"Care to dance, Treekiller?"

[Arafangwen]

Arafangwen reluctently waved goodbye to Ainaserkewen and relised that all of her group had left her to despair on her own, then out of the corner of her eye she spotted Menelien at thier table. So with delight she ran back to speak to her and avoid extreme boredom.

"Menelien, what's wrong?!" she asked as the girl seemed alarmed and then in her haste to get up tripped over herself.

[Annunfuiniel]

"Umm...what? Cherries? Why of course. Though I prefer cranberries with my vodka." Annun met Diamond's query hastily in between two gulps. The bitter sweet taste of the draught calmed her nerves and she was able to think straight again. Or maybe that wasn't quite accurate utterance as she couldn't count anymore the drinks she had taken... Sophia had followed her to the table for a drink but soon left for a dance. "Come back soon, we have lots of catching up to do!" Annun called to her back.

Diamond's diamonds suddenly caught her eye - one more mark she wasn't at her sharpest for she had not noted those extraordinary gems earlier. "Dashy necklace you wear if I may say so. Surely those diamonds must come straight from the Mines of Moria corp. Do you happen to have some connections to that direction?"

Annun wasn't quite sure if Diamond had heard her question for she had been changing words with Mattius. "A Chicken? Ok, enough vodka for me, thank you!" She said and left the half-ful (or half-empty, depending on her mood) glass drop to the table.

[ May 01, 2003: Message edited by: Annunfuiniel ]

[Diamond18]

Diamond leaned against the bar and basked in her own deadly attractiveness. "Oh, 'tender," she said, setting her empty glass on the shiny mahogany surface of the bar, “be a dear and make me up another Vodka spiked with Dr. Pepper, would you?”

She tapped her fingers on the bar and mused to herself, “It’s taking Mattius a dreadful long time to get over here.” She looked up to see him busily signing autographs on Barbie-doll posters, which were being flung in his face by countless female admirers. “Aha,” she nodded to herself. “Popularity waits for no Brit.”

She turned to Lush and remarked, “If you kiss Squatter, I’ll kiss Mith, agreed?”

[Mattius]

Mattius placed a hand on Squatter's shoulder and took a seat next to him.

"I think drinking may be affecting your eyesight chum, hes no giant, although he is a yellow chicken, his name is Chicken and I am his comrade althogh sometimes I'd just like to grap the little runt's throat and..." Mattius' rambling stopped when he saw Diamond and Squatter's nervous stares. "Never mind..."

"Indeed," said Squatter intensely pointing at his empty glass whilst eye balling the waiter. Mattius looked up at Diamond, at last ready to answer her question.

"You may see me dance tonight, or this week depending how long this shin-dig lasts, but not before a few sly ones." He tugged on a waiter and whispered his order to him. The man in the penguin suit went off down the bar.

******

Chicken was still mad at Mattius and getting madder, The Phantom still had not finished on the phone. Chicken stood tapping his foot and looking at an invisble watch on his left wing- the non-political kind.

******

The waiter approached Mattius,

"Dom Perigon '54 sir, in a pint mug as requested..."

Mattius thanked him joyfully and began to gulp the fine drink down, with at least a quater of it drolling southward down his chin. A few moments later when all the light yellow liqued had gone he placed the pint mug upside down on his head and turned to Squatter,

"Good year..."

[GaladrieloftheOlden]

Menelien was not able to instantly answer Arafangwen's question, as a. she had had some beer (a young teenager! *gasp*), and was feeling a bit tipsy b. she was currently lying on the floor covered in broken glass and wood, but luckily, no food or liquid.

[Eruanna]

Eruanna could hear the pounding of the music over the roar of the bike's engine, as she braked gently and glided over to the kerbside. Engaging the kickstand she dismounted, then reached up to remove her motorcycle helmet. Fluffing up the hair around her elven ears, she thought ruefully,that perhaps the biker leathers had been a mistake.

The sound of laboured breathing and the pungent, unmistakeable odour of Uruk assailed her nostrils. She turned and scowled at the one that approached her.

"Gotcher invite?" he growled. "Can't letya in wivout yer invite!"

Sighing, she dipped her hand into the deep pocket of her leather jacket. Finding the precious invitation at last, she waved the small, gold embossed, green vellum rectangle triumphantly under its nose.

The Uruk, finally satisfied of her right to be there, waved her onto the slightly grubby red carpet. Excitement and terror fought for first place, as she licked her lips nervously. This was her first Barrow Downs Party and she really hoped that it wouldn't be her last!

At the doorway yet another security Orc held up his hand imperiously. Bother! She was already far more than the fashionably recommended one hour late.

"Weapons?" he demanded.

Eruanna shook her head vehemently, but stepped obediently through the metal detecting device that had been cunningly installed.

A few moments later she was standing on the threshold of what promised to be The Mother of All Parties!

[Mattius]

"By the way," Mattius added looking up at Diamond, "sorry it took me so long to get here, those damn people at Matel leaked some news that I was going to be here."

[alaklondewen]

Alaklondewen slipped through the doors after assuring the Guard there wasn't room for any weapons in this dress. The hall was amazing, and the party had definitely started. She searched for the bar, and spotted Lush, Annun and Diamond with a couple of shots.

"Looks like a good place to start to me," she said to herself and made her way to the bar.

"Hello, Ladies. I'm Alaklondewen, I do not believe we've been formerly introduced. Hmm...how about a shot of Stoli to start with?" She asked Mithaden.

[ May 01, 2003: Message edited by: alaklondewen ]

[ May 01, 2003: Message edited by: alaklondewen ]

[Arafangwen]

Arafangwen upon reaching Menelien, attempted to help her up without hurting her on all the broken glass shards.

"What happened Menelien?!" Arafangwen asked again in alarm over her state of distress

[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

"What on earth's the matter with you?"

The Squatter was casting an amused glance in Lush's direction. "Stop gawping, gel," he admonished lightly. "People will think you have a taste for cheap Victorian jewellery. Sit down and have a drink."

"It most certainly is, old boy," he agreed, glancing back to Mattius. I think you may have spilled a bit, but I think you broke ten seconds. Come and join our happy throng!"

Truth to tell, he was beginning to enjoy himself: this was by far the liveliest gathering he'd attended in a long while, and it was very well-catered. Now he was settled in his favourite place he was feeling rather well-disposed towards the whole company. "And when, alas! our brains are gone," he declaimed. "What nobler substitute than wine?"

He returned to his drink in Byronic mode.

[ May 01, 2003: Message edited by: The Squatter of Amon Rûdh ]

[The Saucepan Man]

Having eventually managed to locate an attendant who seemed vaguely to know what he was doing, the Saucepan Man had finally been able to arrange for his mirrorball to be proudly affixed above the dance floor. After standing back to admire the way that it flashed and twinkled pleasingly off the dazzling array of lights and the jewellery and happy faces of the assembled Barrow Downs elite, he had wandered off for a drink.

"What can I get you, sir," asked the barman, suspiciously eyeing the strange little man and his assorted kitchenwear standing before him. "Ale? Wine? Champagne? Or we've just received a large crate load of Finlandia vodka."

"Oh no!" replied Saucepan. "That would never do. I am a children's character, after all."

He hastily untied a kettle from just below his left shoulder and asked the increasingly baffled barman to fill it with tea. This duly done, Saucepan poured a cup of nice, refreshing tea and surveyed the Hall, happily watching the sight of his fellow Downers enjoying themselves.

[ May 02, 2003: Message edited by: The Saucepan Man ]

[Firondoiel]

Firondoiel struggled againist her captor but to no avail. She couldn't even call for help because of the hand over her mouth. Becoming desperate she bit down hard on the hand. With a yelp the strange female withdrew her bleeding hand but kept a hold of Firondoiel's arm.

"What did you do that for?" she asked gruffly.

"What do you want?" Asked Firondoiel, a little breathless from her struggling.

"Where is it?" Demanded one of the smaller figures ignoring Firondoiel.

"Where is what?" Firondoiel asked totaly bewildered.

"The food of course." Was the strange reply

"All the food is in there." Firondoiel gestured down the hallway utterly confused. "But what..."

Firondoiel was so abruptly released that she fell hard against the wall. The six females rushed past her down the hallway. At the end of the hall the huddled together and began whispering. Then they entered the party and mysteriously melted into the crowd and Firondoiel was left alone in the dark hallway wondering what kind of havoc they would bring on the party.

[ May 01, 2003: Message edited by: Firondoiel ]

[Diamond18]

“Nice hat,” said Diamond to Mattius with a nod.

She absently fingered the mithril chain heavily laden with gems, and suddenly recalled that she had not answered Annun’s question. “This necklace is an old family artifact. Made by the Elves, you know,” she nodded again, taking a sip from her drink. “I daresay the diamonds themselves may have come from the Mines of Moria, but as I had no direct parlay with the craftsmen, I can only assume.”

She nodded thrice, this time directing the head-bob to the newly arrived Alaklondewen. And then, for lack of a better thing to say, she downed the last of her second drink and turned two doeful eyes to the bartender. “Maybe a champagne and Mountain Dew this time?”

[GaladrieloftheOlden]

"I... I have no idea." said Menelien in a slightly slurred voice as she stood up from the glass. (This was nothing strange to Menelien. If she could avoid crashing into something at least once a day, well, thank heaven, I guess.) "I thought someone was playing a party prank, and I came over to look... and well, everyone who was here disappeared, so I guess I might have drunk too much and started seeing things... and then I crashed into a table. At least there weren’t drinks on it. Speaking of drinks, by the way..." Still she wondered where the people she had seen were. And then a group of women in black rushed past her towards the food, screaming at the tops of their voices...I really should stop drinking, thought Menelien.

[ May 01, 2003: Message edited by: GaladrieloftheOlden ]

[Firondoiel]

Firondoiel exited the hallway with her arm aching. The crown of flowers in her hair were lopsided and her dress was wrinkled. She started looking for Arafangwen and her other friends.

[Eruanna]

The heat and the noise of dozens of alcohol fuelled voices met Eruanna as she surveyed the room, hoping to catch sight of a familiar face.

She saw a likely looking group at the bar and sauntered over, dodging in between a few very enthusiastic dancers.

"What's your poison?" queried the barman.

"Hmm.....make mine a pint of the 'broon...er a pint of Newcastle brown ale, please...in a straight glass." Taking note of the bartender's grin, Eruanna decided that her next drink should be a bit more lady-like.

Turning to watch the festivities, she raised her glass. "Happy Birthday, Barrowdowns!"

[Mattius]

Mattius nodded towards Diamond and knocked on the bar to signify another only this time he asked for,

"A pitcher of ale big enough for one man who hates an ego-tistical yellow dancing chicken called Chicken."

The bar tender smiled nervously before handing over the large jug and an empty pintglass. Mattius polietly refused the glass.

"The jug will be fine thank you very much."

He decided to take the drinking a bit more steadily as he didn't want to do something stupid like attack Chicken in front of all these celebrities and also the world media. As much as he wanted to...

[Annunfuiniel]

Alaklondewen's arrival was a pleasant surprise. Annun greeted her with a (slightly drunken) smile and questioned what she had been doing lately. She remembered seeing her in the Quiz and Quotes forums but not freaquently enough lately. The yellow dancing chicken named Chicken was a major distracting factor as Annun tried to listens to Alak's answer.

[ May 01, 2003: Message edited by: Annunfuiniel ]

[Lush]

"We walk in beauty, like the night," Lush mused demurely, unable to tear her eyes away from the jewelry before her, as she sretched her dripping limbs faintly, thinking she's done a feat today, but considering a few other feats while at it.

Squatter cocked an eyebrow at her, but said nothing, as his mouth was occupied with his drink.

Lush was only able to tear her eyes away for long enough to shout at the Saucepan Man:

"There shall be no sobri...I mean, how do you do, Sir?!?!?!"

This isn't working, she thought to herself, unaware, apparently, that her thoughts were being broadcast to the entire gathering of beautiful people. I keep slipping up and turning into myself again. More vodka!

[ May 01, 2003: Message edited by: Lush ]