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

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You're from Japan?

[The flush of color in Paul's cheeks offers a partial explanation for why he brushes by Ochako's apparent visceral distress at his rice-misadventures. Another part of the explanation lies in the brightness of his mood beyond that. It inclines him to a certain magnanimity.

The rest lies in his very sincerely attempted attempt at making use of the Japanese his good green-haired friend has been tutoring him in.]

Where I am from, we have rice. We make it.

[Then he switches back, relying on the ambient translation to make sense of his native Galach (although it always misses key tonal stresses, he's noticed).]

I didn't use to cook much of it myself, but I do know how it's supposed to be. I'm not a barbarian.

[Ochako nods her head at the question, but then stops to listen curiously with a tilted head and a slow lift of one brow. They...make rice? I mean, surely he means like...cooked rice and stuff. Because rice is grown, o-obviously. It's a plant - a grain - unless maybe it was one of those, uhh...what are they called. Those American-made things. Genetically modified foods?? Or something? Ochako never understood that...and it sounded gross as fuck. How the hell does America exist, seriously.]

Ehehe, well...in all honesty, it's not a requirement to wash your rice, but ah... [Man, even just saying that feels so viscerally incorrect.] You really, really should. It helps with the taste, and it makes the end product nice and fluffy and soft!! Um, if you ever want any pointers, or recipes, I know a couple simple ones.

[The rice is grown, but Paul's grasp of verbs is still imperfect. Unfortunately for the both of them, he's not able to distinguish her incredulity at the concept of making rice from her general incredulity at the whole absurd state of him.]

Of course you wash it.

[Paul tilts his head, now just a little incredulous himself. There's not knowing much, and there's knowing nothing.]

...but is there anything else? I do want to know. It's the least I can do to save my reputation.

[Ochako giggles a little. He's a bit of an odd duck, but seems earnest enough, and she's just way too nice to openly judge someone she literally just met. No, the teasing and being honest to the point of being kind of rude happens when Ochako really knows someone, and has been friends a few months or longer.]

Well, usually the amount of times you wash it varies on the type of rice you use, but the general consensus is to make sure the water is clear before you really cook it - at least for white rice, ehehe. I've actually...never eaten brown rice before.

Oh!! And obviously the rice to water ratio is very important. Mostly just follow the packaging, but I find it's a one-to-one ratio a lot of the time. Sometimes one-to-one and a half rice to water.

[Achievement unlocked: how to get this girl to blab endlessly - mention food.]

[Paul isn't scribbling in a notebook or muttering to himself, and yet, somehow, he still looks a little like Midoriya as he focuses intently on Ochako's words, nodding at each revelation like it's the critical secret of some grand design.]

And you should use the same cups to measure both.

[Instead of, say: using two differently sized mugs to measure out rice and water, respectively, which could happen to anyone, if you think about it, given how imprecise the directions can be.]

What do you put in your rice when it's done? Besides - everything, since it's rice - but typically, if you're making a meal. I've been having trouble finding some of the things I'm used to, but I don't know if I have the names right.

[Honestly, just the sheer look of attentiveness has Ochako giggling a bit, reminded so much of her friend when he's really in the zone about something he likes (Heroes, it's always Heroes). But, at the mention of cups, Ochako actually perks up and she waves her hand with a shake of her head.]

Actually, in my region of my world, we don't use cups for measurement - I think that's just an America thing, ehehe. Japan uses the metric system, so for liquids, it's milliliters, and for solids, it's grams!!

[And thank fucking god Nippon was literally an older version of Japan, so Ochako didn't have to learn anything different. For real, America is so...weird about their stuff. Feets, foots, inches...miles. Pounds. Cups and bowls and whatever the fuck else. Weird. And good lord, Fahrenheit just makes zero sense at all.]

Well, most of the time we put cooked rice in bowls if we eat it plain... But if it's paired with curry or something like that...we use a large plate. Omurice and fried rice are served on plates most of the time, since they're kind of, um...I guess main dishes or entrees, and plain white rice is kind of like a side a lot of the time.

[Paul scoffs in amazement - not at Ochako, but at the revelation there are places that also do things sensibly out there in the multiverse. (Of course, weights would have to be converted between planets of varying gravity, but most human still live on planets close to Planetary Standard.)

The rest of her explanation is a little mystifying until Paul realizes his mistake in phrasing, and then, embarrassingly, the tips of his ears flush as he laughs softly at himself.]

I meant what do you put in it, as in - fish, sauces, vegetables. I apologize. I [may have indulged a little too much in certain substances] sometimes don't translate well.

It does sound like Japan and Caladan eat rice the same way. Namely, often and with everything we can get our hands on. Tell me, what's your favorite way to have rice?

Oh!!

[Well, now it's Ochako's turn to turn a little pinker around her already pink cheeks. She giggles awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck and clears her throat. Oops, that was a pretty stupid assumption she just made there, ahaha... Definitely not the sharpest knife in the drawer, this one.]

Well, it's a bunch of different things, but depends on what sort of dish you're making!! I'm not sure if you know what sushi is? That's one dish, and it's basically just seasoned rice with raw fish and veggies inside.

We also fry rice with veggies like carrots, onion, corn, peas...and other seasonings and sauces to make fried rice. Sometimes there's meat like chicken or pork in that... Um...there's also onigiri, which is just a ball of rice with various fillings...my favorite is tuna-mayo!!

[In Ochako's defense, Paul's obtuseness about cooking so far would easily suggest that wherever he comes from has some unpredictable idiosyncrasies surrounding food. A person never knows when a space empire might abandon bowls for the aesthetic.]

We have rice balls too.

[He's this close to saying it as an exclamation instead of a softly pleased realization, but manages to contain himself. Logically, of course two rice islands would end up with similarities. But still.]

I've heard of sushi, but I've never had it, not exactly. Sometimes we'd have raw fish in bowls of rice and vegetables, but I don't think it's the same.

Thank you. I'll have to keep this in mind for my revenge.

[Paul smiles only a little sinisterly.]

[By god, the moment Ochako learns there are people from space here, she's going to go off. Izuku is nerdy about All Might and Heroes in general, and Ochako is the space geek. Studying the intricacies of gravity for her quirk evolved into a love of space and science in general, and she's got a vast knowledge of both - mostly the former, though. She would quite literally vibrate in her seat if she met a space traveler/explorer.]

Uwaah, really?! I'd love to try them, then! I wonder if there's any differences or similarities between the two, ehehe. [Since the varieties of onigiri and its fillings are vast in modern Japan.]

Sushi is pretty expensive, so I, um...d-don't really get it very often. Not the good kind, anyway. [The prime cuts of fish that are just insanely good, but cost an extreme amount of money.] But I think i know what you're talking about!! There's a dish in Hawaii I think that's very similar to that!

And, of course, we have lots of rice bowls with meat and fish on top, too. Or veggies. Mmmh...I think in Korea there's a particular rice bowl combo that's really popular cuz it looks so colorful and pretty with all the veggies and stuff they use. I don't remember the name though... [It's bibimbap.]

[Hawaii and Korea are as novel to Paul as other worlds would be to Ochako, place names he notes to himself for future exploration in study. He is going to prove he can cook if it kills him, although ideally not anyone else. He's not looking to assassinate any avian surgeons.]

If I ever figure out how to make them myself, you'll be the first person I tell, I promise.

[She deserves it for encouraging him, or at least not discouraging him.]

It sounds like you have a lot of good things to eat in Japan. My other friend from there is always teaching me about new food too, like hotpot, and yakiniku. They're the one helping me with my Japanese, too. I wish I could visit there, one day.

[The landmass that was this world's Japan might still exist, but even if they could get there, Paul doubts it's at all the same.]

Oh, do you...need someone to help teach you to cook? I'm not a pro or anything, but I learned from my mama, and the recipes she taught me are really tasty. They're also super duper cheap, too!!

[Because the Urarakas were hard up for money most of Ochako's life (or all of it, honestly), Mrs. Uraraka was very good at making delicious, home cooked meals on a tight budget. And in time, she passed that knowledge (and bargain hunting/couponing) down to her daughter as well. Plus, Ochako just enjoys to cook - it's a ton of fun and good food always tends to bring people together, or make them happy. And she's always enjoyed the laughter and smiles of others.]

Oh yeah!! We have more variety nowadays, taking inspiration from other cultures and their food and stuff, but my favorites will always be the traditional ones!! And hotpot is the best. I think Deku-kun actually set up a hotpot for everyone to try, so i definitely suggest it! [Clapping her hands together excitedly, Ochako beams. Someone so excited and wanting to visit her country is just...feel good vibes, man.] If you ever get to go, try to do it in April!! You'll get to see the cherry blossoms in full bloom, and they're sooo pretty!

[Ochako's ready offer of help reminds Paul of Deku as well, now that she's mentioned him. She must be one of his fellow exceptional students, the friends he spoke about missing so much, and Paul's estimation of her (already positive) ticks up a few degrees.]

Anything that helps food stretch longer would be very helpful. We're lucky to have plenty for now, but I'm not certain we can count on that.

[Between Teacher and Harrowhark, they're not short of bloodstones to trade for, and Paul has preserved a good quantity of food from the proliferation last month, but it's something he thinks about. It's also someone offering recipes from her mother, and Paul has more of a sentimental streak than he always lets show.]

I'm planning to stop by the hotpot soon, if you'd like to join me. You could tell me more about the cherry blossoms? They've been in a few of the books, but it's not the same as hearing about them from someone who's seen them.

["""Exceptional""". Ochako definitely has her strengths in math and science, but she is nothing if not painfully average when it comes to academics. Izuku is sweet, but he's embellishing like crazy. Is she a good Hero? Oh, absolutely - Ochako is strong, fierce, and determined. Plus, she's kind, helpful, and friendly. Is she smart? It's...situational, at best.]

Oh!! Well, that's easy! I know plenty of tips and tricks to make food last!! You can actually freeze certain fruits, vegetables, and even bread to make it last longer.[Seriously, you pick this sort of shit up VERY fast when you grow up poor. The Uraraka family knows a lot about making food that's tasty and filling on a very strict budget, or making what little they have stretch as long as possible.]

Of course!! I wish I still had my phone... I have plenty of pictures on there from the flower-viewing festivals they hold...and there's a bunch of sakura on the campus around UA, too. It'd be so nice to get to see some here, but...I doubt that'll ever happen, unfortunately, ehehe.

[But as she heads over to the hotpot table, Ochako will indulge in some good food and pleasant company. She goes on and on about her country's gorgeous and very fleeting flower, their symbolism, and anything else Paul asks about. And of course, letting him know about a few trade secrets regarding how best to prep various foods, store them, and preserve them.]

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Birthday Party

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as an american, i will always take every opportunity to roast america's metric system

as a canadian: we're sorry about all that

sobs quietly

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wrapping here!