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

[hauntedsavior]

[earned her acknowledgement. that sounds like satoko through and through, even in the midst of everything else that anna's hearing right now. she doesn't understand a lot about paul yet, but it's a huge vote of confidence for him that satoko is willing to acknowledge him. there's a little more... there's a little more warmth inside of her. like A2 is starting to recognize things, like she's recognizing that satoko won't attack or kill her by coming close and that she's already close to anna already.]

[the android is calming down and the girl is smiling.]

'm an adult, Satoko. I drugged myself. [she corrects it.] Ourselves. I've been talking with A2 all night... it's been nice. [a lazy sort of smile, lips slowly parting.] She was afraid of you when you walked up. You know that? She's seen the end of her world and you still scared her.

[loopsbian]

Then you'll have to take a scolding in his stead! Responsible young ladies shouldn't do such things, you know. It's untoward.

[ her heart laughs well before her throat does. neither one of them fits that mold, in even the slightest way. none of the three of them, she suspects. ]

Is that so? You should commend her judgment. [ no laughter this time. but the ancient thing within satoko rumbles, shifts - a satisfied exhale, a smirk taken to geological scale. ] Unlike some white-haired individuals, she clearly knows a problem when she sees one.

[hauntedsavior]

Please.

[anna rolls her eye even as the voices within and without agree with satoko. but she ignores them. she knows who she trusts and right now she trusts this witch who has come to join her on this evening.]

I didn't always have white hair. Used to be like yours, 'til A2 moved in. Ain't that right, girl? [she rests an open palm on her chest to try to feel something more. there's no reaction, but not because A2 isn't amused.] And I've always been a perfect judge of character. 'Specially if someone comes from my world, and that's basically where you're from, so I know I'm right.

[loopsbian]

Well, how was I supposed to know that? I'm a witch, you dolt, not a psychic!

[ there's absolutely no menace, absolutely no frustration within her - though anna likely would have guessed that even without the spice. this is just how satoko speaks. this is how the human within her chooses to shape her conduct, her discourse, her friendships.

friendship. it radiates forth from her core.
entertainment. it echoes, long and hollow, beneath.

both intertwine when she looks at anna, smiling despite herself. ]

And need I remind you, you are hardly a psychic yourself! Lest you forget, I'm a good deal older than you. I'm sure I've done things that'd make you quake in your little metal boots!

[hauntedsavior]

[and though anna absolutely knows to trust satoko, knows how dangerous she is... well, hearing her throw this tantrum is just funny. especially because that's what anna is choosing to identify it as, instead of anything far more serious. she lets out a deep, slow laugh and smiles up at satoko.]

I would never forget. You'd never let me. [she's having a good amount of fun with this right now. she always does, with satoko. there's happiness and relaxation here and it's not even remotely subtle. satoko delights her more than she scares A2, or maybe it's just that anna is speaking louder right now.]

You could always ask about me, if you wanted. You know I'm an open enough book for you, Hojo-sama. [she laughs again, closer to a snicker at her own stupidity. god. she hopes it's funny. she hopes that that level of entertainment holds as she keeps doing her gay little performances for satoko.]

[loopsbian]

I'm glad we see eye to eye on that much, at least!

[ she laughs, and for a single moment she sounds - she feels - like the teen she appears to be. like the teen she should be. but the chasm within her is ever-present, ever-looming, and the illusion only lasts for a moment.

she flops back on her back, looking up to the night sky alongside anna. ]

...what is there to ask? [ it's a genuine question. ] You're alive. You're well. Some unknown substance is running through you, and I imagine it's providing you plenty of entertainment.

[ no judgment. well, maybe a tiny bit of judgment, solely from the human side. the witch within her is more curious than anything.

after a few moments, she finally finds something: ]

Is there anything you want to tell me?

[hauntedsavior]

Mm.

[she turns her head towards satoko and puts her hand back in the grass between them. among them? there are three people here, after all. doesn't matter.]

You know, usually when people are friends, they try to learn more about each other. [she doesn't want to take her eye away from the sky for too long, though. she likes staring at the stars, the moon. in a way in reminds her of home. in a way, it brings A2 peace that she's never known. no matter what way she's choosing to identify with right now, she turns her head back up. her words are still gentle, though. if there's any chiding for satoko not behaving in the way that "normal" people do, it's barely perceptible in the words alone.]

I don't know. Maybe I'm getting full of myself, you know? [she sighs, her chest falling visibly.] You're probably the second-most powerful person I've ever met. No reason you'd be that curious about my life or anything. But a lot of times I feel like I just don't know how to relate to you.

[loopsbian]

I've learned more about you than you might expect. [ this time, it's satoko's turn for a gentle chiding. ] You trust far too easily. You talk in your sleep. You have a thing for older women, especially when they're smaller than you.

[ that one might have been unkind. well. too bad. ]

And you're the one to have brought power into a discussion on friendship. [ she sighs - though she hardly sounds angry. ] Boredom is the only thing that can kill a witch, remember? Why in heavens' name would I care if you're powerful or not? My only concern is whether or not you're interesting enough to waste my time on.

[ she doesn't say it aloud. she shouldn't have to.

but there's a reason she's out here with anna, right now. ]

[hauntedsavior]

[well, if this is how satoko has chosen to waste her time, anna's not enough of a fool to begrudge her for it. she doesn't react at first, appearing to give it a second or two of thought, and then...]

I do not have a thing for older women.

[if anything, younger women have a thing for her, or at least that's been her experience. maybe she's been the milf this whole time. either way, she's trying to steer the conversation a little more pleasantly and it could not be more obvious. but she's too high to care, and A2 seems to appreciate it herself—that's probably what that release of tension is that's hanging inside her.]

I have a thing for not being alone in the middle of the night. 'n I have a thing for really appreciating the people who stay with me so I don't have to deal with it. And maybe one day trusting people's gonna bite me in the ass, but whatever, you know? [she tries to shrug, but forgets that she's lying down so it doesn't work. there's the sense of raised hackles again from A2 as anna talks.] I'm a big girl and I know how to handle it if shit turns bad.

[loopsbian]

Miss Anna, if I were to find a way to bring Mrs. Kimiyoshi back- [ -and they both remember what that means- ] -I daresay Miss Kainé would have a new rival. You were very nearly struck speechless in the street, as I recall.

[ okay, now she's definitely being a little shit. hardly offensive, though. just teasing in that way of hers. ]

...one word of advice, if you'll indulge me. [ she takes a deep breath, exhales softly. ] If it does backfire on you, try not to take it to heart. Short though your life might be, it'll feel much, much longer without people to trust.

[ "it'll feel much longer." she says it as she might a curse. ]

[hauntedsavior]

[now, listen. anna would love the chance to sound cool and unaffected by the absolute callout on display here. but satoko is right, as satoko usually is, and it's possible that anna absolutely deserves it. she laughs at the absolutely correct read of her as a person, slow and drawn out, and it's only as it fades and satoko continues that anna feels A2 protest once more. to the word of advice, to the insistence that she find someone to trust. the only thing trust has done is put her in this position, she says. there's nobody left to trust anymore. and anna hears it, feels it more than anything else, and she breathes in.]

She and I have both been there. She still is, I think. Can you feel her? Yelling about how she doesn't have anyone to trust anymore. [she's asking like the answer doesn't really matter.] But that's what I want to be for her. And that's what I want people like you to be for me. We're all here together now, and we can't just live in isolation, you know...? We have to find people we can trust to have at least some of our best interests in heart. 'Cause I know how I get when I'm alone—you know, like, really, actually alone. And I don't wanna be that way ever again.

So maybe it'll hurt, you know? Maybe I'll trust the wrong person and it'll blow up in my face. But I'd rather make mistakes than never make any choice at all.

[loopsbian]

[ anna's laughter is a welcome reprieve, both for the human and the witch; there is a smile within the both of them, and while one is a great sight kinder - a great sight more innocent - they are both real nonetheless. ]

Of course I can't feel her, you lunkhead! Unlike you, I don't make a habit of taking unknown substances from strangers. [ she's given out too many of them to fall victim herself, after all. ] But... I do understand, of course. It's easy to fall into that sort of trap, isn't it? A trap of self-victimization, self-made and all the more ruthless for it.

[ she rolls to her side, looking anna head-on. her eyes glow red - the mark of a witch. ]

I won't promise to have your best interests in mind. But I've no interest in lying to you, either. If you ask me questions, I won't lie. [ a sardonic chuckle. ] Though you might prefer it, I imagine.

[hauntedsavior]

[all anna can find herself thinking is that satoko does look a special kind of pretty with red eyes. it's meant to be important and it might be a threat, too, but anna is of course too high to recognize it for anything beyond the aesthetic.]

You already told me some scary truths, you know? The future sight. And I still don't know if you ever got your payment for that, really. [she straightens out her legs and stretches them a little.] Don't know if you care about it anymore. But whether it hurts or not, I think I'm always gonna prefer the truth. Lying for too long doesn't get anyone anywhere.