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]

[If Paul was asked, he'd say that Lexi was perfectly charming. He'd keep to himself that she seems to think that she's more awkward than she really is, as if somewhere along the line in her life she was convinced that was the role she was meant for. It reminds him of a few people he already likes. It inclines him to gentleness.]

The X-ray glasses. You could have been an excellent thief. [His smile slants teasing again.] Or a scientist, I suppose.

[He then waves his hand airily between them, his turn to look awkward.]

It's an extension of existing work, and it's less impressive than it sounds. Most of what I tell people is preventative, anyway. Talk to people who care about you, get rest, try to keep your spirits up. That kind of thing. It's not even magic, most of it.

[thisislife]

[that was pretty much exactly what happened. her older sister, Cassie, was a buxom, outgoing blonde who everyone loved. she was also very obviously the favorite of their parents. and the girl who was supposed to be Lexi's best friend drifted away more and more, so she retreated inside herself, resigning herself to being the awkward, gawky one]

Oh! [she giggled] Yeah, I guess I never thought of it that way. [and she grins] Better go with scientist, I'd feel really bad about being a thief.

[but she's impressed with what he has to say, despite his awkwardness] Maybe not, but it's all something I hadn't considered before. I'm still really new in town, so I'm kind of fumbling around, trying to make friends. And what's that old saying, that an ounce of medicine is worth a pound of cure? Better to go with medicine in whatever its form first.

[terriblepurpose]

You're doing more than trying.

[Paul has forged friendships here over much less than a pleasant conversation and being taught a new dance. He offers it up lightly, but he's aware of the weight it may still have, so he pivots from the declaration with an easy smile still in place.]

You have more of a scientist's qualities, anyway. [He nods to himself as much as her.] Curiosity, thoughtfulness, openness to new experiences, adaptability.

[Also good qualities for a thief, if not for her tender conscience - which is for the best.]

[thisislife]

[she looks genuinely, but pleasantly surprised] Really? Thank you!

[maybe she can emerge from Cassie's shadow here. do things for herself, rather than what was expected of her. build her own circle of friends and be appreciated for her authentic self. the idea is almost too much to handle in the moment, but she knows she can spend some time fully accepting it later.

that, and she can't help grinning, a real grin, not like the tight, strained ones at home]

You're really going to make me blush with all of those nice things you said and I'm a Darkblood, so I'm not sure what that would look like. [there, an attempt at humor. will she stick the landing?

and he's right for the most part about her conscience. other than a little bit of resentment for Cassie nagging at her, though far less here than at home]

[terriblepurpose]

Glittery.

[Paul says it with a perfectly straight face, his hands folded behind his back as he pronounces it with all seriousness. Then his face splits into a grin and he shakes his head.]

It usually looks the same as it ever did, in my experience, but it varies. Truly, the world of blood magic is full of marvels.

[He straddles the line between earnestness and irony in that declaration.]

I should let you get back to the rest of the party. I haven't seen some of my other guests in a while, which usually means they're up to something. Thank you for the dance lessons - I mean that, too.

[Like his statement of budding friendship. He's easier to please than most people think.]

[thisislife]

Glittery as a craft store.

[she says with a chuckle, releasing another one at his grin]

It is. It's like something out of a book, but even more impossible because we're living it.

[and she's always loved fantastical books and movies, but she never imagined herself as the subject of one. or, one of many subjects. it was hard to imagine herself in the role of a heroine]

All right. [and she grins] I know the feeling. And it's the least I could do, I wanted to help.

[and she did. if she can make someone else less socially awkward than she is, that's a good thing]