deercountry | Birthday Party

Birthday Party

Who: Paul Atreides and all his CR
What: Throwing everyone’s favorite Duke a surprise birthday party
When: Forwarded dated to April 1st
Where: Bone House in Gaze

Content Warnings: Drinking, underage drinking, drugs (both fictional and not), drawings of space worms, skeletons, will add further warnings if necessary

When you arrive at the house in Gaze, (affectionately known as Bone House), a skeleton will open the door and offer to take your coat if you have one. No need to take your shoes off or anything!

The large house has been decorated with black streamers and confetti. In the entryway and hung on the railing to the second floor that overlooks the entrance to the great room are large banners that say “HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAUL” (though one looks like it used to say “Jaune” but was just painted over? Whatever).

In the Living Room, there is a large board and various colored markers for people to write messages to the birthday boy. There is also a table full of bottled water and various couches, chairs, and beanbags to collapse into if the party gets to be too much and one needs a quiet place to rest or a place to chill if you’ve imbibed too much… well, whatever you had.

It is also where all the food and drinks are.

There’s an extremely large charcuterie board with the usual meats, cheeses, and olives as well as an extremely eccentric collection of snacks ranging from individual sized Cheez-it bags, to humungous bags of Doritos and salty chips, as well as nearly every kind of Oreo one can imagine.

There are also various cakes, all angel food. Some are misshapen, some have an attempt at being frosted with whipped cream and fruit, one even says “Happy Birthday Ka-” before that was hastily covered with a bunch of strawberries jammed really close together.

At the island, a skeleton is playing bartender. Surprisingly, it can seem to take and understand individual orders, but there’s always a constant flow of tequila shots being made and sent out to the great hall to be served by another skeleton.

And, no, of course it’s not going to check your age to see if you’re legal. It’s a skeleton. Why would it care?

The Great Hall is the center of activity and where everyone is encouraged to mingle and have fun. There is a skeleton on the grand piano in the corner gleefully playing piano covers of the hits from the Shrek Soundtrack with the occasional cover of “DaRude’s Sandstorm” when it has another one to help out.

In another corner, on huge piece of paper that spans nearly 6ft wide and 8ft tall is drawing of an Arrakis sandworm and it’s giant maw. The game is Pin the Tooth on the Sandworm and it’s… very easy… because the worm maw is most of the board. Even if the skeleton spins you as you’re blindfolded, it’s pretty hard to lose. If you manage to do it, which is likely, the skeleton running the game will award you a tequila shot! If you lose, the skeletons will award you a tequila shot (but it’s rail).

(It’s a drinking game, isn’t the point to drink?)

There’s also a table that has many candelabras on it, numbering up to seventeen. They’re still lit and burning even though there is a sign that says “make a wish!” even though it almost looks like a shrine for the dead.

…It’s maybe clear that the concept of “birthday candles” was greatly misunderstood.

There is also a skeleton dealing out small doses of “Spice”, a psychoactive drug straight outta the Duneverse. However, you must check in with this Skeleton to get a dose. There will be no “permanently melting your brain with ancestral memories” at this party!

Teacher’s/God’s/Jod’s/The Emperor Undying’s study, adjacent to the main hall, is closed and locked. Though, the lock is fairly easy to break if someone really wanted to get in. There’s not even skeletons guarding.

That said, many things are warded with eerie runes of blood and bone.

So, fuck around and find out.

The upstairs is generally off limits. Party goers can climb up the stairs, and it’s encouraged if they want to look over the Great Room from above, but all of the bedrooms are carefully guarded by more skeletons who will SCREAM VERY LOUDLY if you try to enter and will become hostile if done by force.

Of course, this won’t happen if you are with someone who lives in the house.

Enjoy the party! Mingle away!

((ooc: if you have any questions or anything, please hit me up at

worldtype)) or via PM.))

Birthday Board | At the Party | The Morning After | IC Party Games | Spice Dealer

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Kaworu expected Paul to find him eventually. It's not like he was hiding. He just wanted to ensure that Paul had a chance to go out and experience his party, the gifts, the messages, the people before needing to overthink things or get answers that he might focus on instead.

He turns and leans to face Paul (failing to notice that he has to unconsciously grip the railing to keep himself steady thanks to the same liquor experimentation)]

You're easier to get thank you think. And it's part of being a guardian, isn't it?

[Reflexively, Paul reaches out to steady Kaworu, and then it's natural for his hand to stay there, just in case. The fact that Kaworu can both fly and is almost immune to danger from injury are, as he reminds the other boy on a semi-regular basis, beside the point. People look out for each other.]

Apparently I am. And how would I know? I'm just a human. We don't know anything.

[Which is funny, when Paul thinks about it. He laughs a little louder than he usually does, which still isn't much to write home about.]

[Kaworu leans easily into Paul’s grip and laughs when Paul laughs. He doesn’t mind that it’s too loud, he just likes to hear it and the warmth it stirs in his chest.]

Well, it was good this time. It made it easier. So I forgive you.

[Paul's instinct is to ruffle Kaworu's hair, as he usually does whenever it seems necessary to deflate his ego slightly. But it doesn't seem appropriate now, not after all the work Kaworu put in on his behalf.]

Thank you.

[He squeezes Kaworu's shoulder to underscore his gratitude.]

For forgiving me, and the party. It's a good one. [No, not quite.] It's a very good one.

...I just wanted to hear you laugh like that. And you can't thank me for forgiving you. It's your birthday, you have to forgive someone on their birthday.

Or so I understand.

[He leans closer so their foreheads are nearly touching.]

I'm glad. I... wanted it to be a very good one.

[Paul closes the gap, a gentle tapping nudge he pulls back from without more lingering than the slowing of certain substances creates.]

I think whoever told you that was trying to get out of trouble.

[He's still close enough that the tracery of green through the blues of his irises can be seen.]

You should be proud of yourself. I'm proud of you.

...Really? It seems like a reasonable rule to me, given the importance of birthdays to humans.

[He sighs softly, through his nose, it probably tickles Paul's nose but he doesn't care. It's nice to look into Paul's eyes and see the green again, see the same color that was Kaworu now knows was gifted to Paul by his mother. (Or at least traits from parents could seem like gifts to him). He had settled with the blue long ago, but he never liked it as much.

The word "proud" echoes around in his head. And a voice in the bag of his head, something dark that he didn't know existed and grows a little louder as he even mildly entertains it. He didn't do this just to feel good, right?]

I've never heard those words before.

Edited 2022-03-27 14:35 (UTC)

[Paul's nose is tickled, wrinkling slightly as he processes the sensation with another quiet laugh that fades when Kaworu says another of those deeply - fucked up - things that he says, sometimes. The ones that made Paul originally so intent on making what he thought was Kaworu's party a good one.]

Well, I am.

[He insists, shifting to loop his arm around Kaworu's shoulder, bringing them side to side as Paul half-leans, half-sits on the railing.]

Look at how much you've learned. Things like this are a skill. Paying attention to people, finding out what they like - then putting it all together? I'm impressed. I really am.

I didn't even know I'd learned them.

[It's easy to lean into Paul's embrace (though there's a little bit of a wobble as he does). He takes in what Paul says, swinging his feet, heels going through the space between the railing slightly.

He'd simply done what he'd felt like he wanted to do. And tried to make sure all the necessary pieces were there and placed in order together. All the parts coming together to make a whole.]

But are you happy?

I'm happy.

[It's not the kind of question to tease about. Not when he is, despite himself, a feeling that keeps catching him by surprise, like an unexpected friend around a corner.]

I like all of it. I like that you did it, and that you did it for me.

[He tugs Kaworu a fraction closer, for a moment, that slight increase of pressure typical of Paul's affectionate gestures. The forthrightness is not, or it didn't used to be, but he's learning things too.]

Are you happy? And it's not selfish if you are. Doing things for other people - it makes most people happy.

I'm... happy.

[There's only a brief moment of consideration and Paul's further elimination of distance between them confirms it. Kaworu feels light and warm and the feeling surges when he looks into the crowd and sees someone also smiling, or writing on the birthday board, or just being in the space. He found a way to get everyone here. He did that.]

I'm happy to see you happy. And happy that you know that it's for you.

So we're all agreed.

[Paul laughs at his own less-than-a-joke, caught up in some obscure inner reference. It subsides as he surveys the crowd below them, bustling with people.]

I've never had a birthday party like this.

[A soft admission, tinted in tone to make it clear he means it positively, before he brightens.]

You know I'll have to get you back for this, don't you? This is very serious.

[There is a moment of nerves when Paul says that. Like his heart can't quite beat and it's on the verge of tottering over some precipice. Then his shoulders relax at the tone and the laugh at his own (stupid) joke rings nicely in his ears.

He leans back, looking down at the party over a slider shoulder.]

I don't think you'll be able to do that.

Oh, is that so?

[Paul does attempt to ruffle Kaworu's hair this time, but finds it more challenging than expected to do that at the same time as he secures Kaworu in place, so it turns into more of a sideways tousle than anything.]

What do you want to bet on it?

[He reaches up and grabs Paul as the taller boy secures him into place, fingers twisted in his collared shirt to himself steady as the handrail is forgotten.

What would he bet on it? Anything important he's found here, he's not willing to give up. And anything not important doesn't matter enough to bet. There's things that he's happy with, even if sometimes he still wants to reach out and grab more. More to fill the void.]

If you pull it off, I'll give you a kiss. A kiss from an angel is probably special.

[A joke! You know. Nothing serious. He knows betting against Paul is a bad idea by now.]

[Paul looks at Kaworu.

It's not the lightly arch look he gives when being teased, or the weighted seriousness of the one he bestows when telling Kaworu things he marks as important. It's not the warmly playful looks he casts at the other boy before games.

Paul knows the thing he pretends not to, the gentle and untempered yearning that spirals up inside Kaworu's eyes when they land on him, sometimes. It's a delicate dance he's in with that crimson whirlpool, one that spins, always, on the axis of care.

He looks at Kaworu, and he thinks about it.]

It probably is special.

[His fingers are very close at Paul's throat. So is the rest of him. He finds that they hush him, a little.]

Are you sure that's what you want to bet?

[In that moment, Kaworu perhaps understands why humans don’t always say what they mean. Or why he wrapped words in a joke. There’s a risk to truth, of giving up too much of yourself, of exposing weakness, of changing things that you thought were steady and that will be forever transformed.

It’s now Kaworu’s turn to pull back, as Paul did in his tent, and break a small tether between them. He lets go of Paul, even if it feels like ripping off layers of his own skin, and grips the railing once again.]

If you’d take it.

[The railing feels cold. Or maybe his hands are very hot.]

Or I’d take over all your chores for a month.

[It's the insistence on a choice that makes up Paul's mind, more than anything else. It tilts a balance of decision, not to toppling, but to a definitive slant.

He always makes things more complicated than they need to be.]

If you did all my chores for a month, I'd just end up doing yours.

[Paul shrugs, shifting to set his own hands on the railing, maintaining the narrow space between them. It feels fair.]

The original bet, then.

[Paul's tone is light, a little too much so. He thinks of wings in an updraft, a slow, warmed spin.]

If I surprise you with something you like as much as I like this. Fair?

I could do both! Chores aren't hard, they're just so dull.

[Okay, Paul is maybe right. Chores are still something he's learning. They're both learning. Kaworu scoots closer again, his pinky brushing against Paul's, and shoulders bumping as he sways slightly from the drink and the music.]

Yes, the original bet.

[Paul's tone is so light, Kaworu wonders if he might find it up on the ceiling, drifting lazily around the atmosphere with the streamers and confetti. His eyes glance up and then back at Paul.]

Fair.

[It's only a matter of minor adjustment to hook his pinky over Kaworu's as he counterbalances the other boy's sway. He's taken Kaworu's hand in his before. There's nothing new about it, except that it feels new, as if he's forgotten the slender warmth of his fingers since the last time he touched them.]

You should be careful. I'm good at surprising people.

[He wonders what his eyes look like, if they're as half-lidded as they feel. He wonders what all of him looks like, in a way he rarely does, a skimming and not unpleasant self-consciousness.]

So. It's settled. I have to get you back down there so I can conduct a study.

I know. I'm excited to see how you surprise me.

[Well, mask off. He doesn't expect to win this. Not really. And truthfully he doesn't want to. He can't deny the selfish desire to have someone try to surprise him. To make the effort of trying to fool him.

As for how Paul looks, well, if he asked Kaworu, he'd say that he's as handsome as he was back on the beach, his eyes a beautiful sea blue-green instead of a violent blue.]

Oh? Shall we?

[He shifts his pinky to cover Paul's hand with his own, gesturing backwards to indicate, yes, he does mean that he'll yeet them right off this staircase balcony to the room below.]

[There's already a secretive threading to Paul's asymmetrical smile as he nods his assent to the fall, already adjusting himself to better handle the tumbling descent - he's getting better with the inner ear every day.]

As long as we do a flip.

[Paul always sets out to win, even if those victories are sometimes according to criteria set only by himself. Kaworu knows that. There's no need to belabor that, to place unnecessary stress on things that are as-yet delicately tacit.

But under his easy confidence is a tentativeness that doesn't feel like fear, and under Kaworu's hand his is heated, and maybe, he thinks, bracing for the plunge, it's all right to wade instead of dive.]

Only because it's your birthday.

[That's a lie. He'd do a flip anytime for Paul even though his inner ears are adapting much less slowly despite it all being dependant on him (embarrassing).

He knows Paul is planning something, striving for a victory in a battle that is mostly inside his head. That look in his face is too familiar. But at least, now, Kaworu doesn't ask what Paul is thinking. He's also learned that it's impossible to get these plans out of him, no matter how hard he pokes and asks. So instead, all he can do is let Paul win or try to beat him at a game he doesn't know.

He hasn't decided which to pick yet.

Delicate pale fingers move from being cradled in larger, calloused ones, to gripping the hand above his tightly. There's an upwards tug as Kaworu stands on the railing without swaying, impossibly steady on such a small piece of surface. Then he tugs Paul upwards, like he weighs nothing and for a moment they're aligned perfectly, impossibly, on the railing like paper figures in a book.

Then they go over the edge, Paul's hand still in his. Kaworu twists backwards as Paul twists forwards as the area around them distorts with light like the very fabric of reality is twisting. They slow as they make their descent, landing lightly, impossibly lightly, lighter than if they'd simply stepped down the last stair.

Kaworu grips Paul's hand a little as he stumbles, a little uncharacteristically.]

There. Your study then?

Edited 2022-04-01 13:24 (UTC)

[It is characteristic for Paul to steady Kaworu whenever he is unbalanced, one way or another. It's less so for him to keep holding onto Kaworu's hand, standing poised where he landed (smoothly, but he can do better) as if it's the most natural transition imaginable.

He rolls back his shoulders and sweeps his gaze across the room, noting who noticed their descent, who has kept watching, and this part is as much for Kaworu as the rest of it, in its own way. It's drawing a circle that everyone can see, however they ended up arranged in it.]

How many presents do I get? Parties, flips...

[He's lucky, his tone says, and he knows that he is. It's still teasing, but there's that, too.]

And studying. You're spoiling me. [He doesn't say it like a bad thing.] Show me your favorite part of all of this.

[Kaworu settles easily into his hand in Paul's grip. They're so different in as many ways as they are alike. He takes no notice of the people around him and who might be watching. He's confident and assured, perhaps for no reason other than he has no concept of why he'd be anything otherwise.

He squeezes Paul's hand.]

They're not all really presents.

[Paul probably knows but still! He can't just take normal things as presents! For a moment, he looks around and his eyes settle on the Worm Game. He'd listened to Paul, seen him draw these creatures, and talk about them passionately. It's a good reflection of something Paul likes but... is it his favorite?

He turns and gestures at the board left for people to write notes for the Paul. Where people left their sincere feelings that he wanted Paul to understand.]

It's that.

Birthday Party

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