School Food... Enough Said (open)

[Kylie Jenson]

Kylie nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, I know what you mean. People used to look at me like I was crazy all the time, but my parents had enough money that the schools never kicked me out, and everyone pretended to be my friend so they would get invited to the elaborate birthday parties my father would throw for me. I tried to be friendly with all of them, I really did. I don't like having enemies, and I would really rather be friends with everyone, but they just weren't nice people, for the most part. So, I started making my parties exclusive, only inviting x number of people to each one. Since the guest list was so much smaller, my father saw that as an excuse to make the parties even more elaborate, and people fought over the invitations, being super nice to me for months in advance, all the while saying horrible things behind my back. Then the others would tell me about the mean things their friends said about me so that they could get on my good side. It was actually kind of funny to watch. My worst vice is gossip; I love hearing it, even if it's about me. So I'd let them fight it out, and then invite the select few who weren't total jerks to me all the time. I hung out with nerds and social cast-outs a lot, but at least they could see past the wings. I wish you could've met them; I think you would've liked them. One of the girls was a vegetarian..."

Kylie laughed softly at the memory of those girls she'd hung out with, and those memories reminded her of something.

"Hey, Vixen?" she asked, "Do you have some sort of nickname you're usually called? I'm not used to calling my friends by their formal names."

[Vix]

Vix listened to Kylie talk about her old friends. He didn't show it, but secretly, he was jealous. He wished people would fight over him. Even pretend to be his friend to come to a party for him. He wished there were parties just for him, where he could select who could come. He wished he had a father who would throw big parties for him, and to pay for him to go to nice schools where no one would make fun of him. He wished he could've even met some "nerds" as Kylie called them, who could see past his wings and actually be his friend. He heard Kylie mention one of her friends being a vegetarian, and how she wished he could've met them, and he wished so too.

He at Kylie as she asked about nicknames, and he nodded. "I usually go by Vix." he said, then chuckled lightly. "But I'm used to being called Vic, because at all the group homes I stayed at when they asked my name I'd say Vix but I mumbled, and was quite shy then, so the adults couldn't always here me and would introduce me as Vic, so I just got used to it."

[Kylie Jenson]

Kylie laughed softly as he mentioned getting called Vic. Still, it wasn't as if it was too far off from his usual nickname, so she supposed it wasn't that bad.

"Alright then, Vix and/or Vic," she laughed, winking at him playfully, "You can call me Kyles if you want, though Kylie is fine, too. Kyles is what everyone called me back home. Man, I really do wish you could've met some of my friends. And my dad and brothers, too. I think you would've liked them." Suddenly, Kylie had an idea, and inspiration lit up her eyes as she sat straight up, palms smacked flat on the table.

"I know! You can come to my house for winter break! It'd be great! My dad's waiting 'til then to have my birthday party, so you can come to that and meet my friends and my family! Well, except my mom, since she never stays around the house for my birthday parties, but you don't want to meet her, anyway. And if you want, you could even celebrate Christmas with us! And you wouldn't be the only guy, since some of my friends are guys. It'd be perfect!" As impulsive as always, Kylie suddenly realized she'd forgotten one small little detail.

"Well, I mean, you can come if you don't have other plans," she mumbled, remembering that he might already have somewhere to go over winter break.

[Vix]

Vix face light up, as he smiled brightly. He thought he was dreaming for a moment, she was inviting him to stay at her house over winter break? He could barely believe it. Then suddenly she fell quiet and mumbled something about him having other plans. He shook his head. "No, no. I don't have any other plans, but I wouldn't want to intrude or anything. It's not exactly my place to just come to your house and meet a bunch of people I don't know... But if you insist, I won't decline." He smiled, imagining the scene. He'd never celebrated Christmas before. He always seemed to be at the center or with a family who didn't celebrate it during that time of the year. He remembers there being a tree with some presents underneath one year at one of the homes, but none of them had his name on them. He hadn't expected them too... He'd never really been to a birthday party either, beings when kids at the homes celebrated theirs, they'd ask for him not be around. No one wanted the freak at their party.

"When is your birthday anyway?" He asked, remembering her saving her father waiting until winter break to celebrate.

[Kylie Jenson]

Kylie beamed at Vix when he said he didn't have any plans for winter break yet. "Oh, it'll be no problem. Dad always said I could invite whoever I wanted to the house at any time, as long as my mother got warning ahead of time so she could get out of the house. I think my friends embarrassed her. But anyway, it wouldn't be an intrusion at all! Honestly, you just have to come! And I can get my dad to get you some vegan food; you'll have to tell me what all you like," Kylie said, clearly excited about the winter break now, even though it was pretty far away at this point.

"My birthday's the 23rd of November. At first my dad wanted to have the party during the Thanksgiving holiday, but then he decided it'd be best if it wasn't all among all that Thanksgiving-y stuff," she informed him. "When's yours?"

[Vix]

"Your father doesn't need to get any food for me, I'll make due with whatever you have." He said, noting her excitement. He was glad she really wanted him to come. He was actually wanted somewhere. It was wonderful to him. He, for once in his life, felt a lot less like a freak, and a lot more like a person. It showed on his face, a wide grin sat there, happy in its place. It showed that it belonged, even if it was only for now. He felt the urge to hug Kylie, but something inside told him that wouldn't be a very good idea, so he shook the thought for his head, and sat there smiling.

Then when he'd heard when her birthday was, he half chuckled. "Just ten days before your's." He replied when she asked about his. "Oddly enough" He added.

[Kylie Jenson]

Kylie shook her head. "Oh, no, I insist. Besides, it'll probably just be frozen stuff anyway. Not anything insanely special. Ever hear of Jenson Frozen Foods? Yeah, that's my dad's company, so he gets all of his food from there basically free. And that's something else you can tell me about; your favorite foods," she laughed. The whole thing was perfect, and she'd never had a friend who also had wings before. Sure, her mom wouldn't like it, but that was just too bad for her.

Kylie's face lit up brightly as she thought of another idea, this one having to do with the fact that Vix's birthday was so close to her own. "It is? Really? Then we can have a joint birthday party! I'm sure my father wouldn't mind. And we could make the kind of cake that they don't use eggs in, so you can still have some of it." She clapped her hands together gleefully. "It'd be perfect! Don't you think?"

[Vix]

"I like tofu, it's my favorite food. And I like mangoes. Is that good enough? I don't eat much anyway." He said, trying to convince her it wasn't all that necessary. She seemed to be awful excited, and something about it didn't seem right to Vix. No one had ever been like this with him before... Why was she? Then she offered to have a double birthday party for him. He shook his head quickly. "No, no. You don't need to do that, it's supposed to be your birthday party, mine's not important." He shook his head again, repeating himself, "No, no... It's not your job to throw me a birthday party anyway. it's not important, I don't need one anyway, it's fine, just please, no." He smiled, trying to decline politely, he couldn't tell if he was doing well.

[Kylie Jenson]

Kylie raised an eyebrow quizzically. "Just tofu and mangoes? I mean, I know you can do a lot with tofu but...what about, like Portabella mushrooms? Can't you make those into burgers or something? I mean, if all you want is tofu and mangoes, that's cool, too, but..." She shrugged. She supposed that it really didn't matter all that much to her if all he wanted was tofu and mangoes, but she had sort of wanted to try Portabella mushroom burgers. She'd seen a picture of some in a magazine once and she had thought that they looked pretty tasty. But that was alright, Kylie figured she could get her dad to make them some time, anyway.

The smile on her face dimmed a little bit when he declined the joint birthday party. "You don't want a party?" she asked. Kylie couldn't imagine why anyone wouldn't want a party; parties were great!

[Sorry if I spelled Portabella wrong...]

[Vix]

Vix shook his head. "Mangoes and tofu will be just fine. And the vegi burgers, they're no good. And it grosses me out to eat something that's supposed to taste like animal."

When she asked if he didn't want a party, he didn't know what to say. He looked down, biting his lip a bit. "I've never really had a party actually..." He did want a party, he wanted to know what it'd be like. But he'd be happy just going to a party, he didn't need one of his own. "I've never even been to a party. Just going to your's is enough. I don't need my own." He looked down, picking at the sick on the side of his nail silently, still gnawing on his lip, not knowing what else to tell her to convince her him having his own party was unneeded.

[Kylie Jenson]

Kylie nodded; what he said made sense. If he was vegan because he didn't want to hurt or cage animals, then making something taste like meat probably wouldn't be any better as far as the psychological part of the veganism was concerned. "Alright. I guess I've never tried a Portabella mushroom, so I don't know if they taste like meat or not."

Her eyes grew wide as Vixen admitted that he'd never had a party. Never? Not one party in his entire life? He'd never even been to one? That was unheard of for Kylie, who'd been to many parties and had hosted many more than that. Having never been to a party was like having never drank a glass a water to her.

"Well, it wouldn't be all that different from just going to my party, really," she explained. "Basically, all the guests would already be there and everything. We'd just put your name on the cake, and everyone would sing Happy Birthday to you, too. If you're really against having a party for yourself, you don't have to have one, but it'd really be absolutely no extra trouble at all."

[Vix]

"I really, just don't want one..." He looked down, even though she said it'd be no trouble, something about it didn't feel right to Vix. He just decided it would be better to not make any more conversation about his would be party. He bit his lip thinking for a moment. "So..." He began, thinking of a topic. "What are parties like anyway? I know that they are supposed to be fun... Well from what I understand they are supposed to be fun, but what happens at them to make them fun?" He knew his idea of fun, wasn't what most people considered fun. "Because, I think of reading and writing and silence as fun, I occasionally like listening to music, but that's rare... I like being alone most of the time too, and don't parties have a bunch of people with loud music and stuff?" He was starting to seem unsure of this whole party thing now.

[Kylie Jenson]

The girl let out a small sigh at Vix's repeated declaration that he didn't want a party. "Alright then, if you don't want one..." she said doubtfully. She was amazed that there actually was someone out there who didn't want a party.

Kylie bit her lip at Vixen's question, and her eyebrows lowered in concentration.

"What makes parties fun..." she mumbled to herself, propping an elbow on the table and leaning her chin on her hand. The question really had her stumped. What did make parties fun?

"Well..." she began, a little uncertainly, "Parties are fun because you get to be around people who make you happy, and you can do whatever you want at a party and you never have to worry about being judged, because that's what you do at parties- whatever you want. And you can eat lots of yummy food and tell jokes and get to know people better...whatever you want."

Casting a quick glance at her now-ignored salad bowl, Kylie said, "Maybe I should see if the school will cater my party. I've always wanted cardboard appetizers." She laughed lightly at her own joke, poking at the bowl.

[Vix]

"That's just my problems with parties though," Vix began, "Whatever I want to do, is not be surround by people, especially people I don't know, with everyone moving around and it being hot, with loud music, and people all eating from the same food bowls and what not. It's just not something I think I would find fun, but I guess I can't really say that until I've tried it, which I never have. " He looked down, some what embarrassed, then glanced back up at Kylie, his head still angled downward, "But that's not by choice. At one point I would've done anything to go to a party and having fun with normal people, but after so many years of being uninvited, rejected, and denied, you start to realize how many other things can be enjoyed, and that you don't need anyone else to have a good time. "

[Kylie Jenson]

Kylie's gaze was somber as she listened to Vixen tell her about how he didn't really think he'd like parties. She felt bad that such a fun thing had been ruined for him already before he'd even gotten the chance to really experience one.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I don't usually play very loud music at my parties, or at least, the ones I throw nowadays. One of my friends is blind, so loud music kind of confuses him when he's trying to find people, and so does a lot of moving around. And dancing is totally out of the question for him. Mainly, we sit around and talk, sometimes we play word games and stuff. Any more, I like to keep the parties a little more low-key. You might not believe it, but sometimes it's way more fun to just be normal than to have a lot of money and all the stuff that comes with it, so that's the way I try to make it at my birthday parties now."