Birthday Party

[peripheries]

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

Comments

Lazarus Sauveterre (L Lawliet) | Death Note | OTA

[hearthebell]

Prologue: Before Dark

[L's plan for the evening was very different than what ended up happening. As one who has long accepted and internalized that most of what other people do just isn't for him for all sorts of reasons, he can talk himself out of recognizing actual evidence to the contrary.

He'd been invited as Paul's friend and Bond. He'd still chalked it up to a mistake, and made arrangements for Lycka to deliver a note and gift so that Paul would know that he hadn't forgotten, and understand that the real present is his unselfish absence. He doesn't trust himself to not pull something (someone) irresistible apart, ramming a screwdriver into the delicate workings of an uneasy truce that seems to mostly be for Paul's sake.

He's in the Archives, his books and self covered in a fine layer of dust, when he receives Paul's message, and he stops what he's doing, nudging aside his cold coffee and glancing uncertainly at Lycka.]

It's got to be some kind of trick, right?

[His orca omen responds by summarily pushing over his chair.

He commits to what will give him time to derail his current plan and cobble together a new one. He leaves the Archives, cold coffee and all, checking into a hotel so he can shower, shaking out the wrinkles in the clean set of working class men's clothes that had spent a little too long shoved into the bottom of his backpack.

He looks like a slob, in the end, but at least one who has been fastidiously scrubbed down. An effort was made.]

A. The Skinny-Shamer in the Room

[He arrives a little later than he'd said he would, seeming vaguely flustered. His dark hair is flat and wet and his drably-colored clothes look oversized and rumpled, but the olfactory glow of strawberry-scented soap hangs about his slouching and lackluster frame like a halo.

After giving the skeleton his coat and taking in the decorations at Bone House (a place where he will always feel like an unwelcome intruder), he heads to the refreshment table, surveying the excess and finally just taking an angel food cake. The whole thing, serving platter and all.

He doesn't think that skeletons can really look judgmental, but if one could, this one might have just managed it.]

You're too skinny. You should eat more.

[It feels so powerful to be the one saying that instead of hearing it. The skeleton's eye sockets just stare, and L stares back, leaning down to take a large, dominant bite out of the top of the cake without breaking eye-socket contact.]

B. The Adult in the Room

[In truth, L probably would have felt too old for a party with fun and games and lively antics when he was about eight. Childish as he is, there are other ways he seems ancient and jaded, and he wanders around as though trying desperately to search for the appeal in the silliness.

It's a celebration of Paul, which also feels oddly dissonant. But if this can give the teen a break from his typical somber sense of duty, it must be a good thing... and it's indicative, in places, of someone like him, who doesn't really understand humans but is trying to pull together something that can appeal to them. Kaworu went all out, huh? Honest effort...

He steers clear of the obvious alcohol and drugs, because he feels that it's important for him to remain clearheaded while in Bone House. He's already struggling not to stray and poke around where he isn't wanted, specifically, because doesn't it mean that something is being hidden, something that could hurt others, hurt Paul once "The Captain" has no further use for him, or Paul dares to defy or question his authority?

He puts it out of his mind. He's here to show Paul that he remembered what the unselfish decision actually was, and acted on it.

He takes a tooth, lets the skeleton spin him, and wins the sandworm game that is basically impossible to lose. His award is a tequila shot, which he frowns at. The skeleton nudges it toward him insistently.

One won't hurt. Everyone else is so much further gone, because they started earlier. I still have an edge.

He's determined to retain that edge, but L is anxious in crowds and destined to win a lot more games. Who's to say how long it'll last when there's the gentle easiness of laughter that comes with social lubrication, and also brownies?]

C. The Detective in the Room

[This room is significant. This room is locked.

The lock is flimsy. L could pick it and toss it aside, without even bothering with blood magic, and no one is even watching.

He weighs the decision, but either because the inherent alienation he lives with has driven him to seek a more familiar situation, or the bits of imbibing that have made it into his system have emboldened his resolve, he's reaching for the lock, speaking softly and clearly in the antique language that is laced with blood magic.]

Metarkares sheffoleskra.

[Submit to me. The lock breaks delicately, almost politely, and L slips into the study.]

D. WILDCARD

[You can have it all! Throw your prompt here and I'll roll with it!]

b!! 🥳

[asas]

[ it was getting late! that was the only reason shōyō was possibly the first to be preparing to leave the party mansion in gaze so soon. not because it was getting too rowdy— despite the alcohol and spice, the athlete keeps to his straight edge and drinks juice while the others drink tequila, says no to whatever psychedelic powders the cool kids are trying, and instead runs high on his own natural energy (that might possibly be more energetic than the before and after teenagers, put together). he’s set on taking better care of himself after the tense month of march, he doesn’t want to spend another set of weeks trying to fight off the ache in his bones nor does he want to get as absurdly hyper as he did when he fell asleep in ear worm (whatever happened there, because he didn’t exactly know, other than it was bad for him, when he had a pretty straight mindset that it was good at the time! how strange).

he’s only broken his streak after one more game before calling it a night, winning himself a glass of something that sparkles (tequila?) that he finally says okay to as a final parting gift. he almost choked. it tasted horrible. and, that was his first ever drink in his life. at twenty-four? these hooligans would be shaking him like a madlad. way over the age limit and this is what he does with his power! yes. all for monster calves and an obsession with balls.

his throat and chest burn hot even after he’s swallowed alcohol, feeling— well, not fluttery, but he think he’s alright and should be alright as long as he doesn’t have any more and gets to bed soon. he gives his good byes, he congratulates the birthday boy one last time and makes a long way toward the door, during this process looking around him and saying good night to it. it had been a good night.

his heart drops and jumps when he spots something though, someone— shōyō knew right then and there that he wasn’t leaving anymore. at least not yet. the abrupt change of plans comes with a grin that lights up the room, trekking his way to a mess of black hair and a terrible slouch. ]

Lazarus!

[ lazarus may need to hold his drink and the rest of him when hurricane shōyō hits and hits hard— with a merciless embrace that packs the punch expected. at least this way, he wouldn’t leave. he wouldn’t disappear on him either, tight against his chest and squeezing the air right out of his lungs. ]

[hearthebell]

[L does not navigate the party even remotely like one who belongs, but it's only recently that he managed to show up at all. His thick dark hair is even still slightly damp from his strawberry-scented shower, and he's roaming around and exploring the games and observing the predominantly much younger individuals at this soiree.

Not their fault, not his fault, but in so many ways, L is worlds apart from the typical teenager.

He's worlds apart from the typical jock, too, but Shōyō has grown to be much more than that to him. He immediately stiffens and laughs uncertainly, then in a more relaxed way when the volleyball player crushes into him. If he can unpin his skinny arms, he'll even embrace him back.]

Where have you been? This is the first time I've seen you here. If I'd known I would have walked with you, so it didn't look like I was overly invested in the kids being irresponsible with substances.

[asas]

[ lazarus will have to do his best with t-rex arms, because shoyo is rather insistent on crushing him! and lifting him up! off his feet! for a few seconds, all while his chuckles are muffled into a mess of fabric and hair, before propping him back down and releasing him. he's only had one tequila. maybe he's lacking just a bar of inhibition. he has to laugh again, even. he almost forgot that they were both some years over these hooligans! ]

I was saying bye to everyone up on the roof— I was just about to leave! [ they could walk together, now! it wasn't a problem! shoyo seems to be guiding them both away from the entrance and exit to do just that. ] M'glad you made it before I did!

[ now, he has more than enough reason to stay for just a little bit longer. ]

[hearthebell]

[L stiffens and startles when Shōyō just goes ahead and lifts his scrawny scarecrow body, laughing in the nervous manner of someone whose feet aren't currently on the ground. It's good to see his friend in such high spirits, and as usual, they are contagious. Just like that, L doesn't feel quite so much like an outsider at this party where almost everyone is both much younger and in a more mentally altered state than he is.]

You were leaving? Don't yet. I mean, only if it's not any trouble. I'm really glad you're here.

[asas]

I can’t leave now, [ and, in a teasing tone as he set his hand on the side of lazarus’ shoulder to give a light squeeze, ] you’ll look too invested in the kids snorting cinnamon.

[ red cocaine. spicy weed. same difference. either way, he’s not getting near that. ]

[hearthebell]

[L still hasn't decided whether he wants to try the spice; his risktaking nature is directly at odds with his sense of caution in this particular house. Maybe he has tried it already and has no idea; there are people here who seem more than happy to slip others a little dose of something if it will get them to loosen up a bit, and L has never had a natural knack for that inclination.

Maybe that's behind him reaching out to offer a reciprocal, if somewhat more awkward, motion, patting the side of Shoyo's head just above his ear. It's like a compromise between the top of his head and his cheek.]

Thank you for your sacrifice. I guess I owe you a game of volleyball at the next viable opportunity.

C

[the_obedient_servant]

I'd be careful. [When exactly they slipped in behind L and entered the study along with him, who can say. One moment they weren't there and the next, they appeared. They take a long look at Teacher's study. They have a way of averting consequences like this.

Lazarus doesn't.]

A lot of things in here are warded, and they can inflict some nasty effects.

[hearthebell]

[L's usually fairly keenly aware of his surroundings. Whether it's because the study dampens sound or because he was hyper-attuned to taking in its contents for potential pitfalls or traps, he startles noticeably at the sound of Chara's voice.]

Good to know. What things?

[Never mind that he's breaking and entering; as far as he's concerned, so is Chara.]

[the_obedient_servant]

[Chara takes some satisfaction in watching him startle as they look about the room with a hum.]

The journals. The boxes are also cursed, but I don't know what specifically with.

What are you looking for?

[hearthebell]

[His brows raise with sharpened interest.

Journals?]

Nothing in particular. I wouldn't want to trespass against our generous host, or disrespect his things. Honestly, I thought this was the coat closet.

[the_obedient_servant]

Then I suppose you don't need my help getting out of this study alive and with all your limbs attached?

[hearthebell]

I didn't think so, but when you put it that way... is that what the wards do? Surely there isn't one on the exit.

[As far as he's concerned, behind his round goggly eyes, Chara basically just called him out on not intending to just leave.]

a

[wannasmash]

L was... busy after the Leviathan battle, and so was Midoriya. The Leviathan, Midoriya's subsequent Corruption, and a new secret threat did not so much change him as take some of his relentless determination and put it on the outside. It leaves less room for his usual guileless smiles. His eyes used to look at the world wide open in earnestness or surprise. Now they are restful, serious, and settled into this new face.

Still, past it all, he remains the kind, polite young Hero who reminded the camp to pick up their beach trash and couldn't bring himself to tell his good friend Paul what "69" was. (Now he probably could, but still wouldn't, for the laugh they'd have later about it.) He studiously waits until an appropriate(?) moment to intrude on L's staring-and-eating-cake contest with the skeleton and decides to treat it as normal and fine.

"Sauveterre-san, it's good to see you." Doing whatever the hell he's doing. Midoriya's voice is too calm and sober for this environment, but there is a slight garbling over his name. It's a difficult one with his accent, understandable to trip up. Or, he's had something to drink and it's just wearing off. A cup of water has been foisted on him, for his own good.

"I've been meaning to talk to you. Now's as good a time as any."

[hearthebell]

Everyone seems to have brought some kind of restless strain to this party in their own way. Some are quieting or engorging it with substances; others are existing in the moment with it and allowing it to inhabit space, noting, with every step and glance, how it's changed the way they see the world and all who would call them "friend" within it.

Again, without a word really needing to be said about it, they understand each other.

"Deku..."

He greets the boy, speaking around a sloppy mouthful of airy and crumbling cake. The skeleton has won this staring contest.

"If that's so... yes, it's as good at time as any," he agrees, fumbling a bit himself as he tries to figure out what to do with the cake. He's taken three large bites total, and is probably full. He can't just put it back. He decides to grab some cups, likely intended for punch, and begin to break the cake into pieces small enough to jam into each one like all-cake parfaits. They stack nicely for carrying.

[wannasmash]

He must really love cake, Midoriya thinks, keeping his strained expression mild and fleeting. Table manners are apparently for people who are at a table.

"I hope you're doing well--Oh, I--can carry that for you if you'd like. Please don't let me keep you from..." eating an entire cake? His protest is his usual brand of politeness, but with less of a nervous energy. Midoriya wears his newly outward fortitude well. He shouldn't have to in so short a time.

Regardless of what form absconding with the cake takes, L has an accomplice and a corner free of people and skeletons in which to talk. Midoriya feels their low voices will be hushed by the noise ("Spooky Scary Skeletons") around them. There's no great need for secrecy at the moment, but it's not party talk.

"I'm continuing my Hero work after the battle, but I thought I'd make some changes. Pro Hero is a public profession. Most Heroes only have to keep quiet if there's something like a gag order for an ongoing police investigation." He explains this without hesitation or emphasis, a familiarity that comes with experience.

"I've been thinking being public isn't so smart here." He chooses these words carefully for their truth. They were sifted from something other than that.

[hearthebell]

L loves cake, so much as others love breathing, or resting, or human touch. It seems necessary; it seems to replace all those things. It's both very simple and painfully complicated.

He wipes some crumbs from his chin, noting and puzzling privately over a change that seems to have come over Deku since the last time they spoke, when he learned something no one here should have ever found out, all because L got overconfident about the winter mournings.

They walk, juggling cups full of mashed-down cake. They find a quiet corner, and as Deku speaks, his brows raise higher under his shaggy bangs. When he speaks, he does so carefully.

"It's... really a decision you need to make for yourself," he replies, blinking his overlarge, round eyes. "The question is... can you go back, from however public you've been so far?"

[wannasmash]

He handles the prized cake cups and his own water safely, if not exactly with grace. He hasn't had much contact with L since they met, other than brief Leviathan-related conversations as they worked in their separate divisions. L spearheaded an antitoxin, and Midoriya was with ground forces.

"Not really. Most of that's not a problem. My name, face, and what I do are known already, and I can live with that. I'm most concerned about the people around me being targeted. I wanted to ask you--everyone--to be careful who you talk to about me. I... don't really know what else to do..." he trails off.

As ever, L's large eyes, unlike Midoriya's, are inscrutable. Midoriya put on a more confident face for several friends already when he gave them this warning--even Paul, who he knows can lie perfectly. (Midoriya doesn't have to ask why that is, for the same reason he doesn't have to ask L.) Here, Midoriya's speaking to a professional closer to his career sphere. He's spoken with detectives before back home, but none on L's level.

[hearthebell]

"I'm discreet... we don't even know each other, if that would be better."

And he says it like he means it, with the painfully cold and distant air of one who treats all relationships like this could happen eventually.

"I am always in service to what is better... please know that."

c

[dohaeris]

[the only locked door has been opened! sansa's heart is pounding, but this is her chance. and she has a very good excuse, her own bath rooms come with locks on them. I'm alayne stone. I'm looking for the bath room. I wouldn't have any reason to go poking around a house full of skeletons. I believe everything the teacher told me. though she cannot fully steady her heart, her paleblood helps amplify her intentions like an aura of innocence. she draws a breath and pushes the door.

there's a man in there, but it's not the teacher. lady knows him, but lady isn't here. she allows some surprise to show on her face.]

Oh! I'm sorry, I thought this was the bath room.

[she steps inside, and draws her hand back towards her body, looking around nervously.]

Is this...your solar?

[she doubts it, but perhaps she can learn what he thinks it is. in any case it will allow her some time to look. she clasps her hands together in front of her--things are glowing ominously and she is wary of touching strange magic, ever since she saw what the blood blisters could do.]

[hearthebell]

[L glances up, startled at the second intrusion. Already, he's half-memorized this study, sped on by his own opportunistic motives, but the girl seems to be genuinely caught unawares, and truly in search of a water closet.]

Probably best not to use it that way.

[He seems darkly amused by the thought of it, in spite of the advice.]

"Solar?"

[His mind flicks through contextual clues before he settles on a probable approximate meaning.]

I don't live here. Just a visitor for the night, as a friend of Paul's.

[There's almost something defensive about it, as if he considers it a little bit insulting that someone might think any part of this was his.]

We haven't met, have we? Because...

[He trails off. It's just a gut feeling, he can't prove anything, but his gut feelings have a pretty high success rate as a general rule. His own Paleblood might amplify that effect, sharpening his intuition even further.]

[dohaeris]

[the faint glowing seems to be coming from the shelves, and she steps cautiously towards them, her brows furrowed.]

Oh, a...study? I'm a friend of Paul's, too.

[she glimpses a vial of blood, and a strange skull, and while she doesn't know enough to recognize them without context, the runes around them seem to indicate danger. she glances back at the man. yes, lady definitely knows him. I saw you in a dream sounds like a line in a silly song, but she's seen quite a lot of things for the first time in dreams, here. and he sounds, perhaps, like he also finds this house of bones somewhat distasteful. possibly. he does seems very droll.]

Sorry. I'm called Alayne. You do look familiar, but I--

[she presses her hands closer together.]

I haven't been here very long, and I have very much to learn about magic and dreams. I couldn't say where we might have met before, exactly.

[she hopes that sounds more normal, but the tequila makes it hard.]

[hearthebell]

Are you? Well met, then.

[Knowing that someone is Paul's friend gives them a sort of leg up in terms of rapport. L begins more neutrally, likes them a bit better, frees them somewhat of the suspicion that most are immediately wreathed in through no fault of their own.]

Alayne... Stone.

[He fits the names together like puzzle pieces, brows raising in sudden comprehension.]

I can say where we've met before, though it wasn't exactly direct.

[dohaeris]

[wow he really is the world's greatest detective]

Yes. [she blinks.] The docks.

It's good to meet you..?

[she doesn't mean to phrase it like a question, but again, it's the tequila.]

Again. It's good to meet you again.

[hearthebell]

[His memory is uncommonly good for someone who runs on sugar and habitual sleeplessness, it's really true.]

Lazarus Sauveterre.

[He holds out an uncertain hand. Does she shake? Does her dream-wolf? Is this patronizing? The gesture seems to waver, in conflict with itself and its own motives.]

I suppose you know the owner of this house, too.