birthday time! (open)

[entreats]

Who: Anyone invited for Ruby Rose's birthday party or other CR!
What: It's time to celebrate Ruby's party!
When: October 31st
Where: Over at the Clockhouse

Content Warnings: Magical insects (butterflies), mentions of blood.



[ It's a mingle log for Ruby's birthday! Feel free to make your own toplevels or tag around.

The doors of the odd big green house are open for easy entry, and the entire place seems to have been decorated for the party - there's a big 'happy birthday Ruby!' banner, strings put up as decoration, though both those things look a little home-made - look, Trench isn't exactly a modern party place with modern party supplies, okay! - and there are countless paper lanterns across the rooms and the front of the house, all with butterflies made out of golden light in them. Apparently someone didn't bother to make those for all of the butterflies, since some are just flying around freely, though they're entirely harmless. They seem to avoid landing on anyone, unless you stick your hand out to get them to land there on purpose.

There's also food present, courtesy of Oscar - which is to say that it's actually edible. There's birthday cake, and all sorts of snacks that are free for anyone to grab! Get some food, talk to the birthday girl, mingle with people, make your trip here worth it. ]

Comments

ota!

[entreats]

[ Of course Ange is present at the party. And thought she's making a pretty decent effort not to show it, she's pretty worried about how it will go. It's the first party she's organized, after all, even if she didn't exactly do all of it by herself. (Bless Oscar for his help, else this would have gone terribly.)

But while she hates parties, and hates mingling, it wouldn't feel right to throw a party and then stick to the wall like some sort of wallflower. So Ange sucks up her usual tendency to avoid social situations, instead approaching some of the partygoers.

(Yes, yes, she did dress up a little for the occassion, please do not point this out or remind her, do not perceive her--) ]

Ah.. Thanks for showing up. Though maybe I should instead be thankful to this month for keeping any walls-dripping-blood scenarios away from us that we can even have a party, huh.

[onekindsoul]

[Hey. Hey Ange. Ruby can't help but perceive the girl who went to all of this effort for her. She just has to point out how much she appreciates it, especially when she knows that this isn't exactly Ange's thing. So she creeps up on Ange when she's not looking and throws an arm over her shoulder.]

Hey- Thank you so much!

[And she leans in and plants a kiss on Ange's cheek.

She may have forgotten that pda is not Ange's thing.

Oops.]

[hauntedsavior]

Hey, no problem.

[anna, meanwhile, has not dressed up at all, because she hasn't had the chance to. she still wants to, sure, but she hasn't found the time and it's probably bad form to show up to a birthday party in full hunter gear anyway.]

So you're... her girlfriend? Don't think we've had the chance to really meet yet. Name's Anna. [she offers a hand, the fingers blackened with not-quite-metal.] Local android and sword enthusiast. You and her met in the dream?

[possessum]

( A fellow introvert stands a bit nervously off to the side, though Peter's anxiety is considerably less than it'd normally be, since he knows a few people who live here. He's also come with Luna, the Paleblood girl able to actually leave the house for extended periods now instead of remain holed up at the mercy of her migraines. Though he's still keeping a close watch over her — Peter not separating from her side for long.

Though they do end up parting ways here and there to mingle with various friends, and Peter's standing alone now, his attention currently fixed on one of the golden butterflies flitting around close to him. It seems familiar somehow, though he's not sure why, his attention captivated by it.... He's staring at the thing very intently, almost as though in a daze when someone approaches him, and the boy quickly turns his head to look down to her. )

Oh. Hello. ( His smile is shy, but genuine. And it's... probably immediately clear this is not the same creature Ange met once at the school. Not only for the way he's actually behaving like a normal person... but there also isn't any recognition of her. )

Right? I can't believe we actually made it through this month blood-free. ( He says, awkwardly, just because everything Peter does is a little bit awkward. The shy smile widens a little. )

I'm Peter, by the way.

Re: ota!

[imaglyphwitch]

Luz did decide to dress up today, and had a small green parcel in her hand. It had been some time since she'd gone to visit Ruby, but after their fiasco earlier she was hoping that her friend was doing better.

Being a guest, Luz naturally walked over to Ange and gave a polite bow].

This party looks great, Ange! You've really outdone yourself!

How's Ruby doing? Last time I saw her was not so great, and I didn't get chance to check up on her. I had one of those bad headaches the past few days.

[auralaura]

[Fox is happy Ruby's got so many looking out for her, and when he gets the invite, he knows he's going to attend. It's been a while since he got to attend a party and he doesn't care if it's a big one or a small one.]

I'd never missed a party for Rubes. [Or one partially put together by Oscar. It also gives Fox a chance to actually check out all these people Ruby and Oscar have become friends with. He sniffs the air.]

How much food did Oscar make?

[winter_bestowed]

[Winter had decided to attend in part because Rei was as well, but in part to check on Ruby and see how she was doing. Winter knew that there were plenty of others doing the same, but an additional pair never hurt. Plus these days it wasn't often that Winter received an invitation to much, so she was going to take the opportunity and try and relax just a little.

Rei was currently speaking with Ruby and a few of the other guests, and so Winter was off to the side just observing. Keeping out of the way and not making much small talk. When Ange walked over though Winter offered a smile.]

It has been a welcome respite compared to last year. I'm glad that she has the chance to celebrate it properly this year. We should thank you for organizing this, I'm certain that it means a lot to her.

[undermoonlight]

[Good news for Ange and her wish not to be perceived: Atsushi is an idiot.]

Ange-chan! You're looking cute today. [No time or braincells wasted!] Mm, you did an amazing job. It looks fantastic! This must have taken forever to set up.

[threelayers]

[Neopolitan had been surprised at the invitation, and had almost thought about showing up in disguise, but realized that being the only person at Ruby Rose's party in disguise would have meant she wasn't in disguise at all, so ... fuck it. She showed up pink and in living color.

Skipping up to Ange, she waved and bobbed her head before pulling out her omni and setting up the holo display for her typing as usual.]

Come on.
Who doesn't like decorating in bloody corpses?
It's Trench chique!

Thanks for inviting me.

[vibing]

Hey, yeah. Thanks for the invite. Swanky place.

[ Yuri isn't exactly dressed up. He's wearing black, and he always wears black, his hair tied back for once to make himself more presentable as Flynn would say. He gives Ange a smile, a hand hooked on his hip as he looks around the foyer. ]

Walls-dripping-with-blood a common problem for you?

[sparklehorror]

[Unfortunately for everyone when Mabel rolls a perception check she tends to get either a whole lot of nothing or a natural twenty, with very little in between. Today, exactly one person said "her girlfriend" in Ange's direction while Mabel was across the room entirely, and her shippy little ears picked this out of the din of the crowd like a clarion call. Not long after, poor Ange will find herself being sparkled at by a petite fourteen year old in a homemade 90's party dress, resplendent with a giant bow in her naturally enormous hair, sparkling up at her with wide, happy eyes.]

You're the girlfriend.

[This is whispered very loudly. Mabel's whole day is made.]

[creidim]

[ Luna's certainly doing better than she has been for the last month; it's actually a surprise she's managed to make it. Floored with migraines that last hours, sometimes days have kept her confined to her room for most of October. As the month falls, she's well enough to be out longer. She's still looking a little tired, a little worn around the eyes — but she's quite happy to be out.

And while Peter is still sticking close, keeping an eye on her, she does float off on her own at times. She's quite taken with the golden butterflies fluttering through the air, reaching up in hopes one might land on her. They're quite something, she's delighted by them. ]

Hello, Ange—! [ There's a small smile, of course she's make it to Ruby's party. It's nice she's actually has a chance to celebrate this year, of course. ] It's been quite strange, not having the usual October horrors, isn't it? Makes you wonder if in Trench it's going to be another month instead.

[payingfordeliverance]

I don't know, from the sound of things sooner or later you've really got to make the best of it, you know?

[Don't worry, Ange, Break cannot see that you are wearing nice things for your girlfriend. In fact he has no idea who is speaking to him at all, just that a voice is being cast in his direction. His omen observes her with interest, yes, but he is merely a noodley black dog with glowing spectral eyes, nothing weird to see here.]

Surely there's some way to run with that sort of aesthetic. Teacups fashioned from the skulls of one's enemies, perhaps.

[bolstafir]

[Bless these baby teens. If Qrow had done the organizing things would probably be on fire right now. Maybe even some of it intentionally because you cannot ask him to have a reasonable perception of what belongs at a birthday party when it comes to their family. He's definitely set off illegal fireworks with the girls before, for instance.]

Yeah, it's nice that things are quiet this time around. Really didn't want to go two for two on what happened last year.

[Though certainly there is no need to dwell on That. He will appreciate the lack of endless night or blood-filled streets and faucets and the lack of monsters or people going insane and murdering each other. One does not look a gift-horse in the mouth, after all.]

You look nice, kiddo. Get new clothes for today?

[sorry what was that about not perceiving her again .... perceiving is what he Does rip.]

THE BIRTHDAY GIRL - OTA

[onekindsoul]

[Now while Ruby Rose is the most observant person in all of Trench (She isn't.), this party somehow managed to fly completely under her radar. The surprise party was a success and when arrives from doing her own little ritual to pay her respect to those who couldn't be here today she find herself caught off guard and surrounded by friends thanks to all of Ange's hard work.

Ruby is not one to go half way with celebrating her birthday either! She'll loudly start up singing happy birthday at random for people to join in on singing.

She can also be found literally stuffing her face with food and if anyone comes by she'll proudly challenge them.]

I bet you I can eat three pieces of cake before you even eat one! I bet I still could do it while stuffing it up my nose!

[Or maybe she'll just run and up and give someone a hug, say hi and thank them for coming-

Either way Ruby Rose is here and causing trouble.]

[possessum]

( Peter's extremely glad that this was possible for Ruby — having a birthday during Deerington's bloodiest of months wasn't exactly the easiest thing to deal with, he knows. His own birthday happens to be the day after Ruby's, so it kind of fell into the cusp of people struggling to recover from the hells of October.... Not that Peter ever really wanted to celebrate his own; he'd kind of rather forget it exists.

But his friend's? He's very glad they can do something for her; she deserves that. As expected, Peter stands a bit shyly by himself for the moment — he'd come with Luna, and generally has been keeping an eye on the Paleblood girl who'd been having such a tough time through October, but there are times they do split apart to mingle with various friends. He's enjoying just kind of watching everything, his attention frequently captivated by those flying golden butterflies, the demon within him completely absorbed by them.

He's looking a little bit zoned out when there's a smaller body suddenly attached to him, and the boy's blinking widely before he realises who it is giving him a surprise hug. ) Ruby, Happy Birthday—!

( Long arms slip around his friend to return the hug — warm and tight, and Peter's smiling down at her. He has a gift for her tucked into his jacket pocket... but it's kind of weird and he's not sure how to explain... )

This is really nice, dude...! And wow, you guys' place is huge.

[imaglyphwitch]

RUBY!

[And she joined in with the singing before swinging over and giving her friend a hug].

Happy birthday! I'm jealous, I almost wish I had my birthday in October! Less for the insane horrible reasons and more for the fun, creepy ones!

I like the place, it's big! Definitely less busy than ours if you know what I mean!

[auralaura]

[Fox gets blindsided by a hug he only had seconds to realize was coming. But since it's the birthday girl herself, he'll let it slide and return it. It's been a while since he talked to her telepathically, so he avoids it for now.]

Hey Rubes, I like my ribs where they are.

[Says the guy with eight inches on her.]

not here

[royalfling]

[ A weirdly large raccoon drops off a present earlier in the day with a note attached that reads in very fancy handwriting: ]

Happy birthday, Ruby!!!
I'm so so so so sorry I can't make your party, I wish I'd known I wouldn't have scheduled the Raccoon Room opening the same night :(
I'm thinking of you and wishing you the best most wonderful birthday! Let's get lunch together to make up for it!
I hope you enjoy these presents and your party.
Wishing you the happiest of birthdays,
Wu & Mako

[ The present has two parts. In a basket, wrapped neatly, are homemade steamed buns, some filled with mushrooms, and some filled with fruits. There's also a small jewelry box nestled in the basket, holding a necklace with another note: ]

I promise these aren't weird blood jewels!

Don't worry Mako didn't pick it out.

- Wu

[winter_bestowed]

[While Winter didn't object to cake, she was not one to partake in it often. Once the candles had been blown out and the cake cut, eventually, she found a plate in hand with a slice on it. And of course Ruby was ensuring she had her fill as well.]

I don't think that will be necessary. I have no doubt in your ability to eat cake at an impressive rate.

[She had the letters from Weiss, and had seen enough when they were all training and celebrating.]

But Happy Birthday Ruby.

[undermoonlight]

... I'm sure that you can!

[But Atsushi is relieved to see Ruby eating well. He himself is too shy to take more than half a slice, fearing that he'll be leaving nothing for those who come after him. As much as he loves to eat, Atsushi is the conservative sort.

Even his gift for Ruby is modest. He didn't even think to wrap it, because he didn't want to trouble anyone with helping him find wrapping paper. He's found a nice enough metal tin instead and filled it with his own clumsily baked cookies.]

Though if you eat three slices of cake, you might not have any use for these. [As in, no room in her stomach.] Happy Birthday, Ruby-chan.

ota

[wannasmash]

Since Midoriya was making a batch of candied apples for the kids at Koz Orphanage anyway, he set aside some extra to bring to Ruby, all dyed her trademark red. He had no idea what to get her that she might not already have, but food was usually a hit with most people. Unless she was allergic to apples. Or sugar. Or whatever plants the red food dye was made from...

Too late now! If she didn't like them, he could find something else. It would be a crime to show up empty-handed!

He arrived in a hurry, since he was technically between shifts and had to change and everything. Midoriya's sense of "fashion" was boring, other than his red sneakers. His version of dressing up was a black button-down shirt and any pair of pants that weren't basketball shorts. He set the bakery box labeled To Rose-san, From Deku down near the food.

He looked around and froze, a nervous smile fixed on his face. He forgot that he wasn't used to mingling with people not related to school or work. Oh crap, that's a lot of people I don't know.

[entreats]

Maybe it's since the other is looking so nervous - it feels relatable, even though it doesn't show up on Ange's face quite the way it seems to show up on his own - or maybe it's because Ange feels like it'd be rude for her to not greet people when she's the one organizing this party.. whatever the specific reason is, Ange finds herself approaching the boy.

There's not quite a smile on her face, since she's definitely put on her pokerface for the occasion to hide all her nerves behind, but at least it doesn't make her seem super unfriendly either.

Just hard to read, really.

"Ah, you came. Aren't you.."

Ange frowns, trying to recall the list of names she had to sort through when she was figuring out who to invite..

".. sorry. Your name slipped my mind. But you're a friend of Ruby's, right?"

OTA

[payingfordeliverance]

A Marvelous First Impression

[Despite this month having been blessedly free of things like blood rivers and limb loss, October has brutally beaten the snot out of every single emotion Break possesses, so all it took was Qrow saying things like "my niece" and "birthday" and "where are the best bakeries" in his general vicinity to send Break off on a cake quest rampage. Break loves quests -- once a knight, always a knight, really -- and he does know all the best bakeries in town already, having done this research for his own much quieter birthday about a month ago. Cranking up the dial on his "charmingly eccentric blind old aristocrat" mode and flirting gleefully with the staff at all these places has gotten him a lot of loot indeed, and so it is that the mythical Xerxes Break trots into the main room with stacks of bakery boxes in each hand and another stack balanced effortlessly on top of his head.]

Good daaaaaay, all, and a very merry one it is, I'm sure -- someone relieve me of these, yes? I can't see a blessed thing.

[Break's ever faithful omen saunters in close at his side, preventing Break from walking into things while he isn't using his cane. Said cane is in the omen's mouth, and a bundle of apple cider donuts is tied around the dog's neck. Look, Break has heard that the birthday girl's sweet tooth rivals his own, and that means you can never have enough.]

Wallflowering

[So anyway at the last party Break went to everything caught fire and a lot of people died.

He isn't worried about that sort of thing now, of course, but it's only Break's second month away from his own world drawing to a close now, and the past is never far from his thoughts. He also barely knows anyone present save for Qrow and perhaps Oscar, and setting out to mingle with a bunch of young people feels exhausting now that he's actually arrived. Because of that he elects to find a nice quiet spot at the edge of things to settle down in, his omen helpfully sitting on his foot and leaning up against him for ear rubs. Break doesn't look sad or anything. He enjoys eavesdropping, and it seems that Sleepers as a whole tend to be interesting people worth listening to. But he probably won't be seeking out much conversation himself save to give his regards to Ruby, and despite his loud entrance, Break sneaks so effectively that when he leaves in an hour or three it will be more like he simply vanished.]

Wallflowering

[onekindsoul]

[Break's entrance had been absolute treat and something that Ruby was going to remember whenever she saw him from now on. But she manages to catch sight of him hanging out on his own in the middle of the party and she can't help but smile a little seeing that. No wonder he got along well with her uncle Qrow. They both seemed to be cut from the same cloth.

She takes a moment to step away from all the festivities to join in with him.]

So- I hear you've really hit it off with my uncle. Been enjoying a sleep over or two, huh?

OTA

[avatar_state]

She spends a significant amount of her time with cake. Cake is delicious and not the most plentiful and frequent thing for her to have eaten, back home. So she's happy to indulge in it - even if it means she's going to have to do a lot of running to compensate for it.

She mainly watches people, a lot of them unfamiliar, chin resting on her hands. She is, as ever, more than happy to meet new people.

OTA

[justoscar]

Cooking was stress relief for Oscar, as was taking care of his friends. He would have volunteered for the task anyway, but Ange personally asking him to do so in preparation for a party that was infinitely better than the previous year's gave him extra incentive to give 110% of his effort to the task.

Tired from the work but exhilarated from the bustle of energy that sparked and snapped from the crowded room, Oscar was content to keep his distance from the throng. A satisfied grin spread across his face as he watched the ebb and flow of the party.

It was a job well done-- and just what they needed after a harrowing year.

[threelayers]

He wasn't entirely alone along the fringes. Sure, a certain someone had gotten invited and was being a good little guest. But she was still not a lover of crowds. So, as soon as she could hang back and wallflower, she was doing that.

She leaned against the wall near where he was and gave Oscar a tip of the hat, smiling over at him and waving once. He was looking pleased with himself wasn't he?