Chapter 40 – House Party

Wherein things definitely do not go as planned.

Despite the two marvellous parties Valentina had taken her and Bosra to, Rose had been looking forward to seeing her college friends. The fairy-tale revels were amazing, but she craved that hometown vibe of hanging out with kindred spirits, without social pressure. 

The party with her Bardic College classmates should offer just that. 

Bosra and Valentina helped her set up the dinner table as a buffet. Rose had spent some of her savings to provide wine and ale which she set out on one side of the table. Glasses were set down next to the drinks. Valentina opted for the cheaper versions, instead of the artistically engraved crystal ones, at Rose’s urging. Crystal did not say informal. 

Together, they made sure the downstairs areas were straightened up; the maid who cleaned three times a week was away. Dead leaves were picked from the Winter Wake wreaths. New candles were inserted into the seasonal stands set about the various rooms. 

Rose was in the kitchen with her friends, nervous energy overtaking her now that everything was ready. 

"Relax, Pupper. It’s just friends, yeah?"

Rose did not have to answer Bosra’s remark, because that was the moment a knock reverberated through the hall. 

With an exuberant smile, she opened the door to let in the first of her guests; two classmates and a friend of theirs. Seasonal greetings were exchanged, cheeks were kissed, and food dishes were added to the buffet. 

There was no chance to question her friends about their tag-along. A new set of guests knocked as gently as possible with the massive brass ring. Rose opened the door and the ritual of exchanging seasonal greetings, kissing cheeks, and adding dishes – or bottles of some alcoholic beverage or other – to the buffet was repeated.

What was also repeated was the tagging along of unannounced acquaintances. The second should have been a warning, the third should have clued Rose in to the trend. This party was going to be more than just friends. The arrivals didn’t dry up after all twelve or so invited folk had entered Valentina’s demesne.

During all this, Rose had barely made it to the buffet once. Valentina–who appeared to be having the time of her life–had brought her a drink in the hall, of which she’d taken maybe two sips.

As she welcomed yet another group kind-heartedly–forgoing her drink yet again–she wondered how many more people were coming. Why had nobody given her a heads up about the fact that they were openly inviting others?

Rose’s frustration deepened when people she could barely stand in class arrived, once again with total strangers in tow. She stopped one of her college colleagues by grabbing her upper arm and pulling her to the side.  

"What happened? We were having a party with just us... the Outside kids." 

"I don't know. Are you mad I brought Silla? She was on her own, but lives in my apartment building. We cling, you know." 

"No. I'm not mad about that... " Rose breathed in sharply through her nose, trying to calm herself and failing. "I expected maybe fifteen people in my HOME. Not fifty people of whom I know maybe half!!!"

"Look, I don't know either, okay. But yeah..." the college friend looked around. "This wasn’t really what I imagined either. This is starting to be more like those campus parties you always skip."

Rose skipped those for a reason. She was bullied enough as it was. She wasn’t going to invite more of it, especially not from doped-up drunks who forgot that inhibitions were a concept at all.

"Whatever, " the college friend said. "I’ll help you clean up. You should just have a good time for now."

Rose intended to. Except… as she toured the rooms, she kept picking up half-spilt drinks and empty plates balancing on vicarious corners. Plates and cups reappeared as fast as she could take them away, all to the underscore of off-tune to awful music. Bardic College apparently had more influence on the classically schooled kids than they wanted to admit.

Close to tears, Rose crossed the hall to tell the musicians off, when she witnessed Bosra plucking a couple from the stairs as they were kissing and groping, going up to find a room with more privacy. Bosra picked both of them up by the scruff and tossed them down into the hall in one fell swoop.

"Hey, what’d you do that for, dickhead?" the young man shouted, pulling himself into an upright position. He rubbed the back of his neck as if it pained him. The girl beside him merely moaned, already too doped-up to feel much of anything.

Bosra descended like the hulking menace she was. Violence seeped from every pore in her body. Her eyes had darkened to ink-black wells.

"Nevermind," the kid squawked, scrambling to get his feet under him. He made a dash for the salon.

Rose stepped into Bosra’s path. "The girl needs help," Rose whispered, sensing that if she let Bosra follow the young man, windows would break. Bosra blinked and looked at the young woman still lying prone on the floor and moaning. She grunted in acquiescence.

Imminent crisis averted, Rose continued after her tour, walking straight into a haze of some sweet yet herbal smelling drug that cloyed her skin and made her want to gag.

Instantly, she had had enough.

"OUT!" she shouted. "Everyone who doesn't live here, out!" It would have made more of an impression if a coughing fit hadn’t taken her right then. As it was, the occupants of the room merely blinked owlishly. 

"O. U. T. Out!" she continued as soon as she got her breath back.

Behind her, she felt more than saw Bosra walk in.

Bosra heard the Pupper yell and decided enough was enough. Marching into the salon, she picked up two lanky college kids and carried them under her arm – angry toddler style – to the front door, where she threw them out, not even trying to avoid the paving and not caring how they landed. With great satisfaction, she watched them scurry away.

Others seemed to catch the drift, squeezing past her, having grabbed coats and shawls on their way out. She went back in to aid those who hadn’t gotten the message yet.

She was in the process of removing two more, those having been removed previously, crawling to the curb, when a cheap carriage pulled to a stop. As the occupant got out, at least one more guy than fitted comfortably entered, to let themselves be driven elsewhere. Bosra didn’t care where that elsewhere was, or how heavy a load the poor horse had to pull, as long as she got rid of the ticks.

"Party's over," she announced  with a growl to the newest arrival. 

"Oh. Should I have come earlier?" 

"No. Leave."

"Don't you recognise me?" the thirty-something man asked. 

Bosra paused to give him a once over and recognised him as the barista from Paragon's Cup. "Okay. Yeah. I do. Bob, something. Party's still over." 

"Can I at least use your toilet? My cab just left."

Bosra chuffed. "Sure. Why don't you." Anything if he would just leave again. 

Which he didn't. As she was throwing out people left and right, and Rose was trying to get a clean-up crew together from her actual friends, the shit started following her around.

It was on her to-do-list to call him a new cab, when she walked into the salon and Tina was in a corner, feeling up a boy that was part human... part... lanky, horny shadow. His hands were roaming her well-clad body as they were snogging.

With a loud growl, Bosra plucked Tina away and sat her down on the coffee table. "Sit. Stay."

The half-shadow boy, probably Fae, held up his hand apologetically and grinned a smile that was way too toothy, those teeth way too sharp. She couldn't even think about kissing... that.

"So... rough party huh?" Bob Something asked, as the half-shadow left in a puff of smoke. 

"Yes. Now get lost." 

"... ... something something... something more." 

Bosra wiped her face with her hand, trying not to snap. "Next cab, you're in it." She shoved him towards the front door. 

"I'll still see you at the Paragon's Cup, right?" he asked in a love-sick voice that made her want to puke. 

"Sure." She shoved him outside and closed the door.

Tina lay on the salon table, giggling, staring up at the ceiling. Bosra looked up to check that it was just her friend being high.

Tiny turtles made of ambient light, each a different colour, floated and bobbed around the central crown moulding stucco piece, as if swimming on an invisible current.

Bosra shook her head, hoping to dislodge the vision. The turtles stayed.

Someone must have cast a spell that they didn't need concentration for. She snorted. She saw one turtle duck toward her with a goofy smile on its beak. She tried to wave it away, but it avoided her hand expertly. 

Rude man... she would swear she heard it say. 

With the biggest sigh ever, she left the salon to find Rose. 

Rose was in the kitchen with the clean-up crew. A few of her actual friends had stuck around to help. There was a lot of camaraderie - joking, singing, and teasing; gossip being spilled about a shared acquaintance - as the dishes were being done, so Bosra let them be. 

She stomped out of the house, onto the front path. The air was fresh, with a note of chilly. It might finally start to freeze. The sky was clearing up too. 

The lawn was sogging wet, but she braved it anyway to check all was secure outside, no damage done. She found only one more idiot moaning to himself in the hydrangea plot. She removed him to the sidewalk. With a huff, because he would die out here if he didn't sober up, she went inside to arrange with one of the kitchen girls that he would be given a cup of joe. At least that way he wouldn't die of hypothermia, she hoped.

She trudged back to finish her round and found another idiot by the scullery door, wedged between the woodpile and the outdoor sink. He was digging around like he was a badger. Smelled like one too. Must be a druid. 

"Ey. Idiot."

He turned around, looking spaced out. He growled and hissed at her like an angry badger. 

"Quit that. Now."

He did. He looked sad. 

She sighed, mollified. "Coffee for you. Hope you sober up, ‘cause soon as a cab gets here, I'm putting you in it."

He didn't appear to understand her. 

As it turned out, after she got about half a cup of coffee and a lot of short cake into him, he was in fact a badger. A badger who had been polymorphed into a man. With some difficulty, she managed to get him back outside and into the little coppice that was shared with three other properties on the back east side of their yard. 

Meanwhile, Rose cleaned up the music room and dining room. She sniffed every food item and tossed most on suspicion of having been spiked. One batch of punch had been drained because it smelled too earthy – like mushrooms do, and another she disposed of because it held so much alcohol, she could have cleaned grease off a carriage wheel with it. 

Tired, disillusioned and hungry, Rose sat down on the sofa in the salon. The friends that had stayed were in the process of leaving, but she couldn't muster the energy to see them out. 

One walked in and remarked about Tina laying on the knee high table, staring at the ceiling. 

Rose looked up and saw the floating spectral turtle-lights.

Great. 

She reassured her friend that Tina would be taken care of, that she wouldn't be left alone, and that Rose would make a sobering drink before they sent the young half-elven woman to bed. 

The last of her college friends left. 

Bosra stomped in, Rose heard, and locked the doors. 

Rose felt her gaze drawn to the ceiling. The turtles continued their bobbing and weaving. It was oddly calming. Enchanting, though she could feel no magical influence past that of the spell on the ceiling. 

She could hear Bosra rummaging around in the kitchen, and was not surprised when a cup of joe and a thick slice of chocolate cake were pressed into her hands. "Thanks, Bosra."

"Hmm."

"I'm sorry about... you know..."

"What?"

"These people not behaving like decent humanoid beings."

"Eh. Apology accepted."

Rose ate and drank. For once, the imbibing of coffee made her feel even more tired. "Let's get Tina to bed, before I crash." She glanced at the ceiling with its floating turtles again. "At least they won't burn the house down."