A Yellow Submarine

[Jack Dyson]

You're invited! These were the words screamed from the floral purple card that Jack had discovered upon opening the morning post. He had stood there in his underpants, staring at it for at least five minutes before accepting the fact that he had been invited to the party of someone unrelated to him. He had shuffled into the cramped kitchen, where he was subsequently pounced upon by a fluffy white cat. "Argh! Cat! Get off me!" This had become a morning ritual for Cat, and she was showing no sign of giving it up any time soon. Jack scraped some cat food from a tin and into the bowl. Happy with this, Cat pounced upon the bowl instead of Jack. Jack sighed in relief and made his own 'breakfast', though it was actually the early afternoon..

Three days later, and Jack was bracing himself for the first party he had been to in years. The invite had said to come in fancy-dress, a fact that Jack had spent many hours thinking over. He spent a lot of time, at home, dressed up in erratic outfits, and though he could easily choose one of those, he didn't know which style to go for. What was appropriate for a grown-up birthday party? He didn't have the funds to buy something new.. With a heavy sigh, Jack had tried on all of his clothes, finally settling upon a flowing black shirt and black leather trousers with a belt. He had even made a point to mess up his hair and twist it a little bit and add an ounce of makeup. He stared at himself in the mirror by the front door as he picked up his keys. "Oh, Jack.. You're mother would be so proud." He said to himself in a sarcastic tone. His hand fell upon the door handle and he started on his journey to a life-changing party.

It was eight thirty-seven when Jack stumbled from his car and into the lap of a party that was already thriving in the quiet street. At the door, he was greeted by two drunken young men dressed as doctors, one of whom forced a bottle of beer into Jack's hand. Cautious of what was really in it, Jack didn't take a swig, instead thanking the man and stepping inside. He fought his way through the crowd of people to the one place where it seemed to thin- a leather couch by the living room window. There were only four people in the area, one of whom was sat beside Jack on the couch, the other two being one of those lovey-dovey talking couples who stood in the outskirts of a party, ignoring everybody else. Honestly, it was a wonder why they even bothered to turn up..
"Jack Dyson?" the voice caused Jack to jump and turn his head. He was on his feet in seconds. The person talking to him was dressed as a rabbit. An obvious choice. "I.. Yeah." He felt a little guilty for not recognising the girl smiling at him- Madeline, the host of the party and the birthday girl. "So glad you could make it." she beamed before skipping back off to join her friends and pointing at Jack. Slowly, he sat back down. Great; he hadn't seen her in years and she was already back to pointing and gossiping. Why had he come here?A penguin carrying a tray of drinks, handed one to Jack and waddled on. "Cheers." he said miserably. If only he realised just what all these people were..

 

[Axel Zemonif]

Axel looked down at his 'costume' and smiled. He was getting ready for a friends birthday party and it required a costume. Well, she wasn't really a friend. They had dated at some point during his schooling and she, apparently, hadn't gotten over it. The boy looked at his costume again, he wasn't really in a costume, he had just put his old community service jumpsuit back on. It was handy in a situation like this and, hopefully, would deter the girl from liking him so much. she was getting annoying.

Axel apparated to the alley by her house, where all of the wizarding folk had been told to go to. She was muggle born and had invited some of her muggle friends to the party. That was one of the three reasons that he had agreed to come to the party. He hadn't ever met a real muggle before and he figured it would be interesting. The other two reasons were that she wouldn't be able to bug him about not going and, the main reason, there would be alcohol.

Axel stepped out of the alley way and made his way to the house. Upon the door being opened he was pounced on in a bone crushing hug with a rabbit ear in the face. "Hi, Madeline." He refused to call her Maddie like she asked. He wanted to do nothing to encourage her. She eventually let go and began to twirl her hair and talk at him. She was, not surprisingly, dressed as a rabbit. "I'm going to get a drink, let you get back to your guests." He said after five minutes of ignoring her.

Axel heard giggles as she went back to her friends. They were the 'gossip girls' after all. He grabbed a drink and looked around for someone interesting to talk to. They all seemed boring really, he knew the people from school and the others had turned up in completely mainstream costumes. His eyes rested on a guy in the corner. He appeared to be some sort of camp pirate. Axel grinned and went and sat next to him. In the corner of his eye he noticed that this act had sent the gossip girls off on one, if it was a bad thing to sit next to him then Axel definitely liked this guy. "Hey there, I'm Axel." He raised his glass to the dude and drank some. "What exactly are you?" He didn't exactly want to ask if he was a camp pirate, that could offend the guy.

 

[Jack Dyson]

Jack became suddenly aware that he had speaking company. He smiled in greeting, though he certainly wasn't half as cheerful on the inside. This night was going to go down hill. He knew it was. This guy was probably here to pick on him. Even his thoughts had resigned to the fact that Jack was still a nobody, that he had done very little with his life other than helping people with technology that the world was forcing upon them. To be perfectly honest, Jack dreamed of more; he wanted adventure, danger, and several more drinks.

"Jack Dyson," Jack replied with little enthusiasm. The guy seemed pretty chilled in comparison to the ones outside. And he hadn't yet been insulted. And then he was asked, he assumed, about his costume. Jack had known it wasn't something amazingly obvious, which would hopefully stop people from outright commenting on how last-minute his costume must have been. "I'm a pirate.. Of sorts." He said casually, lifting his drink to his lips and sipping at it. It was an odd flavour, obviously a cocktail of sorts, going by its colour. "Nice costume." He added awkwardly. Well, it's what you say, isn't it?

"So," Jack said, determined to move the conversation away from his own, poor costume. He had decided that this bloke- Axel, was alright. He had noticed the girls looking over, though it was Axel who seemed to have grabbed their attention. "How do you know Madeline?" It was a way of introducing more casual conversation. Madeline was not the greatest of subjects to discuss as Jack hardly knew her, now, but it was one thing they obviously had in common. That, and neither man seemed particularly pleased to be present at the party.

 

[Axel Zemonif]

Axel chuckled at the comment on his costume and shrugged. "Didn't want to spend money on this party and this was the best thing I got." He grinned, the man didn't care if people knew he was a 'criminal', all he had done was get into a fight after all. That was normal for a twentieth birthday party, in his circle of friends anyway. Even Sephie thought it was normal.

Axel mock shuddered at the womans' name. "From school, she wouldn't leave me alone, still won't. I'm only here 'cause she'll hunt me down otherwise." The tone in his voice suggested he was joking but there was a measure of truth in there. Madeline was a borderline stalker, so were her friends, normally he wouldn't bother but there was something about the way they looked at him that scared him slightly. "What about you?"

 

[Jack Dyson]

"Madeline's always been a bit intimidating." He commented. "Also school, well, primary school." he replied to the question. Jack and Madeline had both attended the same primary, a little place with a dull grey and blue uniform. They had sat in those classrooms for hours, watching the paint peeling gradually away from the walls, and the clock tick slowly further towards the end of the day. Jack would spend his time avoiding the other children, most of whom picked on him, and would make little model people out of scrap paper and any other materials he could subtly salvage from the bins.

"I'm guessing you went to wherever it was she disappeared to? She was supposed to go to the same secondary school as me.." He sounded almost offended by his words, even if he hardly knew Madeline. With a slight sigh, he cast his eyes in the direction of those furthest away, trying to pick out anyone else he might have known. Of course, the people here all seemed a bit.. Odd. Yes, Jack was only too aware that it was a fancy dress party, but there was something else about them, though he could not put his finger on it.

Jack didn't seem to realise what he, himself, was, how isolated in comparison to these people his luck in life made him. These people were the special ones, even if they did not see it for themselves. Jack just didn't know how special. He raised his drink to his lips and took another sip. With each sip, he felt happier talking to Axel.