Fly Away to a Cafe

[halfbread]

Who: Everyone who wants in!
What: The V-Day Café! (Yes, that's what we're going with, no, you can't make WWII jokes.)
Where: The Big House
When: Valentine's Day, mostly evening but various times
Warnings: I have no freakin' clue, it's probably going to depend on individual threads

At 6:00 sharp, the doors are officially open on the first ever Camp Half-Blood Valentine's Day Café. The two biggest rooms on the first floor of the Big House have been turned into dining rooms, one decorated in a much more traditionally "romantic" oeuvre for couples and the second into a relaxing place to hang out just among friends. Both rooms are serving the same menu, and both have a good number of tables set up to accomodate visitors. As people finish eating, the waiters and waitresses will roll around a dessert cart for people to make selections from. Enjolras will be incredibly reluctantly providing serenades in the romantic dining room with some assistance from Cosette, while Chiron's boombox has been borrowed and tuned to the local pop station for the casual dining room. Have fun, everyone!

Comments

[allnerves]

"We've got man and womanpower," Annabeth muses, folding her hands over the table and peering over the menu. "I think we'll be able to manage getting everyone back to bed on time."

There is another quest on the way, she knows, and wants to have as good a time as she can with Percy without getting bogged down by all the thoughts swirling through her mind, even as she smiles at him from across the table.

[againstallodds]

And he smiles back and reaches across the table to take her hand. Really, even though they went to the "fun" dining room instead of the "romantic" dining room, they're still going to be a little sappy. "As long as not everyone's passed out in a food coma."

He won't be, but that's just him. He looks at his own menu, scanning it up and down - and then in a slightly plaintive voice, "We can only choose one thing?"

[allnerves]

A little sappiness is fine by Annabeth. This is still a day to spend with the boy she's in love with and people will just have to deal with a little display if they're even paying attention to them. (There are far more dramatic couples around nowadays compared to their relationship.)

"Um, I'm not going to ask the Demeter cabin to attempt to fill your stomach, Percy," Annabeth laughs, shaking her head.

[againstallodds]

It's very true; despite their history and the antics they get up to, as couple they're actually pretty boring. Which is totally fine by them - their lives are dramatic enough, they need a place that's kind of quiet and boring. They're perfectly happy to have that with each other.

"Awww, why not? If anyone can convince them, it's you." He's grinning as he says that, but it's still true. Annabeth certainly is the most convincing person he knows.

[allnerves]

Well, that may be so, but she doesn't suppose the cabin would take well to her being forceful or a little manipulative. "As soon as the barriers go down," she starts, "we will go to an all you can eat buffet and you can clear them out before lunchtime is over. How does that sound?" which is a little bit sarcastic-sounding, but Annabeth's fond looks across the table should take the edge off.

"Are you ready to place your order?"

[againstallodds]

"As long as it's not one of those really cheap Chinese places." Hey, even he has to draw the line somewhere, and the line is apparently food poisoning. He might be invulnerable, but that doesn't fall under the definition of "invulnerability."

"Yeah... yeah, I think so. The chicken sounds good, and the potatoes. And you're gonna make me get a vegetable, aren't you?" As in a green vegetable.

[allnerves]

Annabeth just looks at him as if to ask, 'What do you think?' He might be invincible, but he's a growing boy, okay. Here at camp, the heroes need to stay healthy.

'I'm interested in the salmon and the rice pilaf," Annabeth decides after another quick glance at their choices." She folds her hands over the menu again, drumming her fingers to a distant beat. "It looks like we still have the table to ourselves even if we picked the group room."

[againstallodds]

"Maybe that'll change, we're kind of early. Probably a lot of the girls are still doing their hair or makeup or painting their shoes or whatever girls do before something like this." Another reason Percy likes Annabeth - she's beautiful, totally, but she doesn't put serious effort into it and she doesn't need to. She's completely stunning just being herself.

One of the waiters drops by and takes their order (and yes, Annabeth, he gets the green beans) and the menus and leaves them with some water, and Percy can't help but smile at her. "It's kind of nice, I guess - we get to pretend we're just regular teenagers for awhile."