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

[terriblepurpose]

[It's a number of gifts that wouldn't have been out of place where Paul comes from, and given what he knows of Sansa, it doesn't strike Paul as odd. What does strike him, as he accepts the armor (cupcakes set aside on a nearby table, for now, kitten kept close), is their complexity and extent.]

I can only thank you again. This is very fine armor. It must have taken you a long time to make.

[He drapes it over his arm as elegantly as he can, for now, though he'll have to see about putting it somewhere people aren't trying to break into for safekeeping later on.]

We're all still learning things. It's one of the parts of this place I like. Magic or baking - which might as well be the same thing, as far as I'm concerned.

[dohaeris]

[sansa laughs!]

At least we don't have to do magic in order to eat!

[and smiles thoughtfully.]

That's a wonderful way to look at it.

[she did like learning new things, once upon a time. now all she thinks about is how much she still has to learn.]

I'm glad I can do magic, and cook mushrooms, even if I have to clean dishes when I'd rather be sewing with Lady. Truly, that's one of the parts of this place that I like, I have so much time to sew. I was able to finish your jacket quite quickly because no one was interrupting me.

[she flashes a brighter smile.]

Were you very surprised by your party?

[terriblepurpose]

[At the mention of 'no one was interrupting' Paul's smile quirks higher, a little more wry.]

I remember that, when I first came here. All the uninterrupted time. It was quiet. Not like -

[He looks around the room, bustling with people beginning to get into a kind of relaxation he's never seen so many near-strangers willing to engage in - a kind of relaxation he's never indulged in himself, for a variety of reasons that don't matter the same way here. (Sometimes, he wonders if they ever mattered, but that's a childish thought to have on your seventeenth birthday.)]

- although, I still do have more time of my own than I used to. I hope that you do too. And as for being very surprised, I'd like to say otherwise, but - yes. Although, in self-defense, I usually don't expect conspiracies against me to be so pleasant.

[dohaeris]

[she giggles.]

Namedays are special. If I ever manage to figure out when mine is with the calendar here I would be glad to open my home to--[she glances around. she recognizes probably one or two of the guests, besides kaworu and paul.] some of these people, anyway.

[as for conspiracies--littlefinger never even asked her nameday. doubtless he wishes to give alayne a new one. but it would be very like her brothers to surprise them with nameday parties, although of course not this large. and she could tell when paul called himself a stranger to her that he might perhaps underestimate the degree to which people care about him in much the same manner as jon snow. and he always the most fun to surprise (though they rarely had the chance, given that he and robb were responsible for much of the shenanigans at winterfell).]

Everyone was very glad for a chance to show you they care about you. And for the promise of free ale.

[terriblepurpose]

[Paul follows her sweep across the room with a little amusement and a greater part of fondness: he's used to not knowing all of the people at his own birthday parties, but he's used to them being there for reasons more convoluted than free alcohol and offerings of cake.]

I counted the days for mine. It seemed simplest.

[Technically, it was a month ago, but he'd been otherwise preoccupied on the day of.]

I hope we have enough food for everyone. I was expecting something a little quieter. Which I am now realizing was also part of the plan.

[dohaeris]

[in winterfell she'd been excited to see a room full people she didn't know, in king's landing it was just one of many unpleasantries. in the vale, it became exciting again after the empty sameness of the eyrie, although in hindsight many of the guests proved a disappointment. here, well, the people are more interesting. she laughs.]

Kaworu wouldn't let me help! I don't think he even took any of my suggestions. I was organizing a tourney before I came here, and he said he'd never thrown a party before! Did he even ask you to make your favorite kind of cake, so he could try it?

[terriblepurpose]

[Sansa's concern over the proper planning of parties draws up shades of nostalgia for Paul. He can imagine his mother showing the same concern, although her disapproval would have been expressed in a specific pressing of her mouth and delicately arched eyebrows instead of words. He thinks words are a touch kinder.]

I think he did good work, for his first time. [He says, fondly.] I promise he did listen, even if he acted like he didn't.

As for that...the truth is, I don't know what my favorite kind of cake is.

[dohaeris]

[it was my first tourney, and I got them to make a giant lemoncake. she doesn't say it. her mouth curves to one side.]

It's a very good party. [though it might have been better, if she had been able to help.] Perhaps one of the little cakes will be your favorite, and we'll just have to go and get more of them another time.

[terriblepurpose]

[Paul can imagine that Kaworu's bluntness may not have mixed well with Sansa's genteel manners. He can't expect every displaced noble to enjoy mingling with common folk. That Sansa deigned to come at all, and stay, is an impressive thing as it is - the heavens know it took Paul time enough to adjust to the new norms of the land.]

What flavor is your favorite? I should try that first, before anything happens to the rest of them.

[He taps the box of little cakes, returning her smile.]

I know a good bakery in the city. It's run by another mage, and a lady, like yourself. Patisserie Lysithea.

[dohaeris]

[in fact she found kaworu exactly as frustrating as most of the highborn boys she's met, outside of her brothers (and paul). she wouldn't speak poorly of someone of a lower station, if she could help it, and she hopes she hasn't spoken poorly about paul's friend. but she's happy to speak on cake.]

Oh, lemon is my favorite! Do they have lemons, where you come from? I never had chocolate before I came here, but I like it very much.

[she beams!]

I've been to Patisserie Lysithea, but I've only ever met Lord Break. His omen is a hound, and very sweet--I was glad to visit them to fit him for his collar. And I was glad to deliver it, and try more of their cakes. And I'd be very glad to go again, with you.

[terriblepurpose]

We do have citrines, which are like lemons. Chocolate as well. Sometimes together, although I preferred them apart.

[The taste of citrine slices in tea, salt blowing in on full-throated breezes. The sense-memory comes and goes, fleetingly pleasant. He's never had it as a cake, and wonders how the sour will balance with the sweet.]

And I haven't met Lord Break. A decent enough excuse to go back for more cakes.

[And Sansa wants to go with him, specifically. Paul strokes the back of the batkitten's neck with his thumb, thoughtfully.]

If you need an escort, although I can't promise I'll always be quickest to come.

[dohaeris]

[sansa's eyebrows lift. she has come close to sending her omen after paul with an invitation to tea more than once. if I needed an escort, I'd never get anywhere.]

I would like to see you again before my own nameday, which is [she makes a little show of counting out eight fingers] eight months and seventeen days from now.

[assuming the number of days in the months are the same, which they probably aren't. but she smiles.]

I should be glad to accommodate your busy schedule of contemplating mysteries.

[terriblepurpose]

[Paul smiles at the remark about his 'busy schedule of contemplating mysteries', which is euphemism he can imagine using himself. It makes him sound like a scientist, instead of a red-handed priest.]

I'm certain we'll cross paths before then, my lady. For now, I should see to putting these away safely - especially you [addressed to the purring batkitten] - before things escalate.

[It wouldn't be possible to set a date for rendezvous now, but Paul doesn't want to dim the mood of the evening before it even starts with thoughts like that.]

I recommend the most even looking cake, if you're interested in trying them. I think it turned out best.

[dohaeris]

[sansa fixes her smile in place and tells herself not to be stupid, that parties are simply terrible places to make appointments and he's not trying to weasel his way out of plans with her because he knows about her stupid marriage, now, and the kitten really should be kept out of the way.]

You can tell me what you choose to call him, when we do.

[terriblepurpose]

Of course. It will have to be a suitably noble name for such a noble beast.

[There's little polite and a great deal genuine about Paul's grin at her, then the batkitten, who obliges him with a wide, fanged yawn and clumsily unsheathed claws a touch too large for his paws.

He doesn't like to disappoint her with his reticence, and if he knew about her concern regarding her marriage he'd assure her that wasn't the cause; as it is, he notes to himself to keep an eye out for her this evening. He trusts his friends, but he doesn't know everyone here as well as he'd like.]

I'll be back in no time. Please help yourself to anything you like before then.

[With that, and another bow, Paul reshoulders the package of cupcakes before heading upstairs to store his gifts and make up a safe place for the batkitten to spend the evening in a closet. The cupcakes he'll set out in the kitchen on his return, marked with Sansa's name in her honor.]