4853/Karita's Birthday Celebrations

Karita's Birthday Celebrations
Date of Scene:	24 January 2021
Location:	809 - Karita's Apartment
Synopsis:	(Back dated to Karita's Birthday) It's Karita's birthday! Andy has dinner and ice-cream plans, Karita has others. They meet in the middle.
Cast of Characters:	Andy Katsaros, Karita Landry

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Andy Katsaros has posed:
It's late afternoon, blending into early evening, with the sun low in the sky but twilight not yet having hit. For most, dinner is still a short time away, and around the collegiate campus classes are wrapping up for the day and students are wrapping up their studies and preparing for whatever homework, hobbies or humdrum makes up their respective nights. For one, however, the day was thankfully free from academia for once and so Andy Katsaros has been blessed with the free time to plan what he hopes will be an extraordinarily memorable birthday celebration for his long-time friend and more recent girlfriend, Karita Landry.

Dressed a step up from casual, but still a few notches down from formal, Andy is currently decked out in a loose-fitting vest-and-slacks ensemble, with a long-sleeved and collared shirt underneath that compliments the dark grey of the vest and pants with narrow pin-stripes. Keeping the outfit grounded towards the casual side, he doesn't wear a tie, though his hair is slicked back and looks decidedly more presentable than his normal wind-tossed affair. He's just now arriving at Karita's apartment door, a package just smaller than a shoe-box tucked under one arm and wrapped in glossy white paper, and knocks on her door with an eager if somewhat nervous smile.

Karita Landry has posed:
What a day! What a freaking day! First Gramma Holly called and said the flight she was going to take to see Karita on her birthday was grounded, and there wasn't any connected flight out until the NEXT DAY. This disappointing turn of events was bad enough, not getting to see her grandmother on her birthday, Karita had some how managed to put her tye-die clothing in with her white skirt. (Or is that her white skirt in with her tye-die clothing?) Regardless, this was not peanut butter and chocolate, the combination had turned her skirt into a mix-mash of hues that basically looked brown. Fucking brown.

It was the only normal skirt she had and now it looked like puke had hit it. Karita loved color! Even if it had been turned pink, that would be better than puke!

Finally, as things always happen in threes, Karita was on the telephone with a freaking out client who had a 'ghost attack her kid', and 'needed help tonight'. RIGHT NOW. On. Karita's birthday. When Karita really wanted to just - do something more fun. Like, maybe call up Andy and Marly and Lana and the others and go out for pizza and ice cream! But no. No. Here this woman was sobbing in Karita's ear about her child having scratches the size of a shoe down her back and she needed them to come out TONIGHT.

About this time as Karita quietly ends the call, the door knocks and the hazzled looking psychic medium flings open the door to gaze at who's knocking with a quizzical. "Andy?... why are you dressed so slick?" Karita - for her part, is decked out in pajama bottoms, a long men's t-shirt that reads 'New York Rangers', fuzzy pink socks and her hair pulled into a bun with chopsticks.

Andy Katsaros has posed:
Perhaps immediately missing the frazzled state of the woman who answers the door, Andy is all smiles to her quizzical question and quick to answer in an engaging tone, "Ah, but the question is - why aren't *you*?" His face lightens up even more after asking the question, again clearly having no idea as to the harried day that Kari has been having. "After all, it's your birthday. Aaaand," he continues, drawing out the word, "What better way to celebrate than a dinner for two at Zarelli's Pizzaria and a couple of scoops at The Blue Moon afterwards?" Both establishments are always packed, and even though Zarelli's isn't 'formal' dining, it's nearly impossible to get a table there without prior reservations. And The Blue Moon is widely known as hands-down the best authentic ice cream parlor on this side of the city. He lifts his eyebrows encouragingly at the last, before he decides that it might be best to clarify. "With me, of course. Dinner for two with me."

It's only after he gets all of this out that he can perhaps begin to see just how frazzled Kari is, that sort of frayed look behind her eyes and, most importantly, the fact that not only is she not dressed for a night out - which, he was sort of expecting - but the girl is barely dressed at all. Like, she still has her pajama bottoms on! Andy blinks twice and stammers as this clicks in his brain, and suddenly his idea of a 'surprise' dinner out suddenly doesn't seem as clever as it has all day. "Oh, geeze, I... I should have called first, shouldn't I?" he starts out, forehead wrinkling. "I mean, I just thought that, you know, being your birthday and all, and..." He starts and stops again a couple of times before he clears his throat and makes a sound caught somewhere between a sigh and a groan. "Urgh. I mean - if tonight's, you know, not the best, I can cancel the reservations and we can totally go another night. Or.. you know.. whatever..."

Karita Landry has posed:
Standing with the door open, one hand on the door knob, the other hanging at her side, Karita's brows raise upwards as Andy begins, and continues. The expression turns into a one brow up, the other brow down expression of disbelief, followed by her mouth parting open, then closing again. Which is, again, followed by Karita just letting out a quiet sigh as Andy continues and then finally gets a good look at Karita's less than stellar current attire. She. COULD. Let him stammer about for awhile longer, but instead, Karita simply takes a step to one side, letting Andy into her room versus him remaining outside.

"Well, calling would have been good." She does instruct, "Though I do appreciate the attention, don't get me wrong!" Which is continued by Karita moving towards her bedroom, closing the door behind her. The sound of rummaging about can be heard, while her lovely white skirt (now brown) remains spread out on a chair next to the kitchen. "And I can't believe you got reservations for Zarelli's!" Karita's voice echoes from behind the doorway to her bedroom, then silence for a good few minutes.

Now, Karita hasn't given an answer one way or another until she emerges from her bedroom in a pair of black slacks and dark, blood red blouse tucked into the slacks. The blouse is simple in design, nothing too fancy, cold shoulder with sleeves that drape down to her wrists, a slightly scooped neckline, and a pair of blood red heels to match. (The heels are about three inches, offering a more 'formal' look to the otherwise just above casual outfit.)

Her hair has been yanked loose from the bun and pulled into a French braid that hangs gently down her back. The perfect solution to a day without a shower, a simple, yet elegant, braid. "So, what do you say we have pizza, ice-cream, and then a night at a haunted house?" Karita offers a wry grin to her expression.

Andy Katsaros has posed:
As he enters the room, Andy's eye is immediately caught by the skirt that's colored in such interesting hues of brown, his own eyebrow quirking up briefly at the garment. "I called in a favor with management there," he calls back in regards to snagging a reservation, though it's hard to tell if he's joking about it or may perhaps actually be telling the truth. As time ticks on, he scrutinizes the sad skirt a bit more, his mouth opening as he's just about to give in to his curiosity and inquire about the strange coloration, before Karita emerges from her bedroom dressed in simple but alluring elegance.

"Hubba hubba," Andy smiles broadly at the sight of the girl's attire. "I don't think I've ever seen that outfit before..." Or any outfit similar, really, given Kari's typical style of dress. "It looks great on you." An understatement, clearly, given the way his gaze remains fixed on the scooped neckline and exposed shoulders for a long moment before he catches himself. A slight flush of color meeting his cheeks as he brings his attention back to Kari's eyes proper, Andy begins to smile and nod in response, though his expression turns a bit confused at the sudden inclusion of haunted houses to the evening's schedule.

"Great, I'm so glad you're..." he begins, before the last bit sinks in. "Er... A haunted house? There.. there wasn't something the paranormal group had going on tonight that I forgot about, was there? Oh man. That would be just something I'd do..." The bridge of his nose wrinkles up and the corners of his mouth tug downwards, one hand moving to grab his phone and begin flipping trough his calendar app. "I usually put all of those down on my calendar, but.." He pauses then, glancing back to Kari and her wry grin. "Wait. This.. isn't something with the group, is it." That's a statement he makes, not a question. "Is there... Is that old guard captain's house near the Blue Moon finally opening up for tours or something? You've been trying to get ahold of them for months!"

Karita Landry has posed:
"Nothing so great.." Karita begins, moving to grab her purse, which is eyed critically, then brought into the bedroom where Karita switches the purse out for a smaller clutch before she collects her coat and moves towards the door leading out. "I got a call from a lady who lives on the outskirts of the city. She just moved into the house and tonight she had the worse encounter yet, her kid got scratched, a really big one down his back. So I told her I'd help if I could. Which, we could call in the others, but I know for a fact most are busy tonight, or out of town."

"And." Karita offers as she moves out the doorway and into the hallway. "With it being just us, I can ... make things quick. A little talk with the resident, if there is one, a little sage show of force if they refuse to go, and then we can return here without all the pomp, circumstance, and scientific display that we normally have to go through when everyone is there."

Pausing, again, Karita leans up and offers a peck on Andy's cheek. "You're cute when you're flustered by the way. Also, ignore the puke colored skirt. I some how managed to wash it with every color I own and white and that do not mix."

Andy Katsaros has posed:
"But.../we're/ busy..." Andy starts out in a small voice before he succumbs to the realization and inevitability that, in all honesty, a side trip to a haunted house is actually a fairly perfect capper to a birthday celebration for Karita. He nods to the description of the events, then, and with a more matter-of-fact tone to his voice agrees to Kari's sum-up. "Yeah, that will make things a bit quicker, depending on what's going on there." He leans up against the wall by the doorway, pondering for a moment. "Though, sometimes the scientific pomp and circumstance is good for the homeowners. Seeing being believing and all of that."

Andy smiles, and then the smile grows even broader at the light peck on his cheek - a gesture that's answered by his arm briefly wrapping around Kari's waist as she leans in close. "Good thing you usually make me flustered, then," he's quick to answet, still grinning. His gaze then flicks back to the mottled brown skirt, features twisting to the side just a bit. "I.. was trying to ignore it, but, somehow it just wasn't letting me," he confesses. "I was worried that you'd gotten into a fight with a chocolate syrup bottle. Either that, or, you went on an possession call without any backup and that wasn't just the color of puke...." Andy clears his throat quietly. "I'm, ah, glad to hear it was just a laundry mishap. You need to remember to wash like colors together," he chides gently, sounding far too knowledgable about such things than he really has a right to. "Anyways..." he continues, smiling as he moves to the apartment door, one hand still holding onto the small package, the other arm held out with his elbrow crooked just so. "Shall we?"