CLOSED | Dylan's 15th Birthday

[codicies]

Who: Dylan Brock codicies, his housemates, and those invited to the party — which is pretty much everyone he's had a positive interaction with.
What: Dylan's 15th birthday party, a bonfire cookout!
When: October 8
Where: Home of Diana Prince in Little Love, KS
Content Warnings: none (but will label things if asked)

Dylan's 15th Birthday Bonfire

Toplevel Prompts:

SETUP

(CLOSED to Dylan's housemates & anyone who might have showed up early to help prep)

Setting up for the party beforehand.

FOOD

Autumn has set in. The daytime is cool, the evenings are chilly, and there's a bonfire roaring in one of Diana's fields. Dylan's been prepping food for the party all morning — There's sausages, s'more supplies, and shish kebabs stacked with meat & vegetables. There's even some sweet potatoes! He saw a video on Japanese street food and wanted to try cooking potatoes on the fire in foil.

As for drinks, of course water and soda are available, but he managed to borrow some coffee urns from a kind caterer in town in exchange for a little manual labor. Now he's got a great setup for hot coffee, hot chocolate, AND hot cider all evening!

There's also a VERY large sheet cake for serving later. He'd been offered a brain-shaped cake, but the pictures had been a little too realistic, and he didn't think he (or the guests) would find it all too appetizing.

Though he's a little afraid the brain cake is still coming out, whether he likes it or not, but the sheet cake will be what he uses to blow out the candles, thank you very much.

SWORDPLAY

One of the gifts Dylan received was a real-life sword from Diana! He's been taking lessons from her and is ready to try it out. There's a little clearing a little ways from the bonfire where he's trying it out. If you want, you can come and spar — with Dylan, with Diana, or even with each other. With swords, sticks, or even with fists!! Come join the impromptu Fight Club.

EDIT to add: there are real AND wooden swords available for sparring, as well as wooden & straw dummies to practice on as well!

GAME TIME

There are frisbees, a football, soccer balls, even a ninepin set?? Do you have these games in your world? There's all kinds of fun sports gear available. Or you could grab something at random and start a game of Calvinball.

FIRESIDE

With the daylight fading, the fire becomes the center of activity. As you roast marshmallows or weiners (or grab one of those potatoes out of the fire) everyone huddles around, seated on rocks, stumps or lawn chairs as we all sing songs and tell stories.

Any spooky tales from your homeworld? Any songs you'd like to sing? Dylan had gotten a few guitar lessons from Jaskier before he disappeared, so if you start singing, he'll try to follow along with chords!

FIREWORKS

oh my god who brought those. please don't set any crops on fire. EXTINGUISHERS ON STANDBY.

WILDCARD

Any Standard Bonfire Activities I've forgotten, go ahead and throw them in!

After-Party Sleepover

(CLOSED to Dylan's housemates + Nico, Will, Hunter, Hibiki, and Chris Yukine)

Six teenagers sleeping on couches & air mattresses in the living room, watching movies... what crimes will they commit?

Comments

[demigoth]

[ The edges of this party are unusually crowded. Nico’s there too, head-to-toe in black with a skull on his shirt and belt buckle, holding an empty plate. He’s spoiled for choice and doesn’t know what he wants.

And now, he’s too distracted to finish choosing. For the second time in a month, he’s looking at a dead young man. But - not dead? Death still lingers on this one - he’s not near death. He died. Why does this keep happening? Is it Nico? Is there something wrong with Hades throwing off his perception, the way Apollo’s troubles affected his oracles?

Nico is openly staring while he tries to figure this out. ]

Re: A

[codicies]

[ Dylan's arranging the s'mores tray, and he looks around, trying to figure out what Will could do. ]

Actually, Dr. Will, it is gonna be a pretty big fire out there. Do you know what we'd need on hand in case someone got burned?

[robintohood]

[It's easy for Jason to notice he's being openly stared at. He's not the one who should be the center of attention today. The kid doesn't seem to be hiding it either. Jason calmly finishes a shish kebab before looking back at Nico]

Something wrong?

[codicies]

Dylan's delighted to get anything, really — this is the first time in his life a birthday party of his had this big of a turnout.

He tears into the paper, eyes going wide as he sees the small knife in the box... and he grins. Dylan has no idea what kind of vibe he gives off that inspires people to keep giving him blades, but he hopes it continues.

"A pocket knife?" He looks back up at Six, beaming. "Thank you so much!"

[demigoth]

You’re alive.

[ He says it plainly, like he’s certain that it should be otherwise. Nico doesn’t want to correct that - he has very little room to judge in the cases of people escaping death. If the guy deserves a second chance at life, good. Glad he gets it. He’s not all that old.

But Nico would like an explanation, thanks. ]

[robintohood]

[That's... an odd statement to make. Is the kid just being weird? However, the vigilante detective part of Jason tugs at him and he has a guess to why Nico said that in such an odd way]

Yes and...?

[Jason decides to feign ignorance for now and see what happens. It's one of those times when Jason doesn't want to be right about what's really happening]

[demigoth]

And… I want to know why. And why you’re here.

[ Fair questions in his estimation. Resurrecting the dead can piss off a number of powerful gods. If this is something new, Nico would like to know before the Furies and an armload of psychopomps turn up. ]

I don’t want Dylan’s birthday party getting ruined because you get drug back.

[robintohood]

[It's serious. Magic isn't his forte but Jason guesses that's how the kid knows his full status. Most people and things don't seem notice.

He remains calm as he doesn't want to draw further attention and ruin Dylan's birthday party]

If you mean "here" as in the party, it's because Sleeper and Dylan invited me and I figured why not. Not often I leave the city. If you mean "here" as in the living world, it's kind of a complicated story. I've been like this for over five years.

Who are you?

Re: Fireside

[badbutsadboy]

[An adult he knows and kind of likes suddenly getting up doesn't make him cringe, per se, but he does look concerned that he made Jason upset. Did he just make some kind of big human culture faux pas? Was burning books seen as super evil? Were people going to be mad at him? Did he do something that might upset Dylan, too?]

Sorry, I -

I should've waited for an answer first.

[He sits back down on the ground near the fire, somewhat stiffly, hands on his drawn-up knees like it's best if he doesn't do anything with them, looking like he feels tremendously awkward.]

[His expression is a little plaintive when he looks up at Jason.]

I didn't mean any offense, if what I said was offensive to human culture.

[There's a clear anxiety here, both behind how he immediately got up to rectify what he thought was a mistake, and in response to thinking the getting up in itself was a mistake.]

[He is trying way way, waaay too hard to deserve being welcomed to what he thinks is a big social formal friend occasion, with specific rituals. It's not the same as just...hanging out with the friends who took him in, especially since he at least is from the same culture and world as most of them. He's not from the same culture as Luz but she's a very weird (and nice) girl that isn't easy to offend.]

[The (perceived) formality of the event and unfamiliar culture is getting to him a little, it feels like there are unseen hurdles he has to avoid tripping on or he might make people mad and want him to be gone.]

[Like someone might worry about using the wrong fork at a fancy dinner, but if doing so would make you get told to leave.]

[badbutsadboy]

[He doesn't side-eye the bone in the least bit, it looks just like a typical stick back home. That's what happens when your world's trees sprung from the corpse of a dead being. Everything is in flesh tones, and growing things have a flesh-and-bone sort of appearance too.]

Make some more of what?

[robintohood]

[Jason makes a small smile to try and reassure Hunter. He can see how anxious Hunter is and how much effort he's putting in with keeping up with appearances for his friends. He's sympathetic]

It's okay. You just caught me by surprise. You didn't offend me.

[Jason's speaking patiently, calmly, and honestly. There was no need to be upset]

Plus, you didn't know and it's far from the biggest offense to make. You're fine.

[Jason spears a sweet potato and begins to hold it over the fire to roast it]

For a lot of humans these days, gathering around a campfire means community and talking to each other. It's supposed to be nice and nothing formal. We tell stories and sometimes doing that while roasting some treats.

[badbutsadboy]

[He visibly relaxes.]

Oh. So even though today's a formal occasion, it's more like a friends-hanging-out thing.

[He at least has a concept of that. He'd had lots of casual chats online with his friends, and even with the threat of the Day of Unity looming, he'd had enough time to goof around with Gus and develop a secret handshake.]

[They'd spent some time around a fire then, too, but it was partly for warmth in the caves the students and faculty had hid from the Coven scouts in, or the caverns hiding the resistance. It hadn't occurred to him that maybe it was part of a social experience, too. Bonding around the fire as they tried to build up their courage for what was to come.]

[He imitates Jason, picking up one of the potatoes. It's partly monkey see, monkey do, imitating a nearby adult that seems to know what's going on, but also he'd tried one earlier and it'd been pretty good.]

Back home, we did this when hiding out from the Coven Scouts, but it was also pretty cold in the caves the resistance was hiding in. So it was also just...practical.

[He scratches his chin with his free hand.]

I don't actually know if people back home do it for fun, too.

[codicies]

[ Dylan stifles a laugh at the bit about the 'Walmarket,' but doesn't hide the smile. ]

I'm sure they'll look into that right away.

[ Dylan's caught off gard when Hunter presents the pie and bows. ]

Oh, uh — you don't have to bow, it's okay! This isn't super formal or anything, I'm really happy you're here. Thank you so much for the... pie.

[ He takes the pie first, staring at it blankly. It is... not at all appetizing, but he's not gonna say that to Hunter's face. Still... if there was any household to bring this pie to, it was this one. Even if Dylan didn't eat it, Sleeper or Venom definitely would.

But for now... ]

Well, there's not enough to go around, so I'll put this away to eat later.

[ He looks curiously at the sphere. ]

[robintohood]

If people in your world go camping for fun, it's possible they have this custom too or something similar.

[Jason's not sure how similar Hunter's world is to human worlds. Further complicating things is how different Hunter's life apparently was from most people]

Sometimes humans tell scary stories around a campfire for fun but we don't have to do that. They can just be other genres.

[codicies]

Dylan sees that Jason has a practice sword, and quickly (but gently, as if it's a priceless artifact) sets down his new sword for one of the wooden ones.

He grins, holding it up in the way Diana had taught him.

"En garde!"

She did not teach him that part, it just felt right.

[badbutsadboy]

[Hunter stands up straight and looks pleased that Dylan seems to like the pie. He is right, a traditional birthday pie is usually just for the birthday person, there's not enough for everyone else. And he's been busy preparing for the party, so it makes perfect sense he'd just eat it later when he had time to enjoy it.]

[So fortunately he doesn't stare expectantly at Dylan and wait for him to eat it or look upset it's getting tucked away.]

[Instead, he nods at the other gift.]

I tried to get something I could understand the purpose of and it seemed useful. It's the kind of thing I heard the coven scouts sometimes mention as gifts they'd gotten.

[When he unwraps it, it's...]

[A magic 8 ball.]

I didn't know humans could make their own scrying globes without magic, but I guess they figured out how to do the equivalent of precognition magic with your science.

You can ask it advice about the future!

[badbutsadboy]

I don't know if they do camping for fun back home, either. Maybe?

[Weird, how he doesn't even know stuff people do in his world if it's like...normal-people stuff. Even he can recognize it, the stark contrast between his upbringing and that of his friends.]

Telling stories sounds a lot more fun than the camping I've done.

I've only ever been camping if we had to travel long distances for some kind of mission and stay overnight in the wilderness.

Or during my trials.

[demigoth]

Nico di Angelo.

[ He has no real problem giving his name. While Sleeper and Dylan probably have looser rules regarding who gets invited to a party, they wouldn’t invite someone dangerous. Well, at least not in the stalking and murdering sense. ]

So it’s been five years…

[ That’s a long time to be missing and unnoticed. Nico decides it’s unlikely that anything will come of it tonight. Not his problem and not going to make it his problem.

He takes a shush kabob from the table, waves it at the guy like bye, and takes his leave. ]

[sixthdeadliest]

"It's a kogatana. A bit different than the pocketknives you typically see in the States."

When Dylan opened the blade he would see that the edge wasn't curved like a typical pocketknife. That and the edge was much bigger.

"They used to be standard school supplies for Japanese children in addition to being used by woodcarvers. The blade can go quite some time without sharpening due to the design and the forging process for the steel. It's a small, versatile knife that can be used to do basic carving, sharpening pencils, or defend yourself in a pinch. Unlike pocketknives, that one blade is designed to be multifunctional so you don't need additional blades in the handle."

Swordplay

[sixthdeadliest]

[Six offers a shrug.]

Most birthdays for me were only slightly different than my usual days: training with a break for useful gifts. A lot of sword and knife practice in addition to hand-to-hand.

[He reaches out to pick up one of the wooden swords from the table.]

Of course, it took a while for us to get up to using live steel for sparring. Master didn't want us actually killing each other.

[robintohood]

[Too late. After a conversation opener like the one Nico gave, Jason wants to know more. This might become a problem later down the road]

Yeah. Five years and no brain cravings if that also helps. I don't suppose you know about any creepy underground pools of glowing green liquid?

[robintohood]

What were these trials like? They were for training?

[Jason steels himself. Hunter is young and based on what else Jason knows about him, these trials might've not been the most pleasant experiences]

[robintohood]

Jason smirks at Dylan's enthusiasm. The kid's got the right energy at least.

He charges forward, aiming for a "stab" to the side.

"Been practicing long?"

[demigoth]

[ Nico stops. Turns back.

There are five rivers in the Underworld, and one is, in fact, green. ]

What were you doing in the Archeron?

[ Aka the river of pain, the river of woe, the river of lost souls.

There’s a real river in Greece by the same name, but that’s not what he’s talking about. How's your Homer and Virgil? ]

[robintohood]

[The Archeron? Interesting. It's been awhile since Jason went in-depth with Greek mythology or read Dante's Inferno so it takes a moment for him to remember what it is.

Funny. He's never compared the Lazarus Pits to the Archeron but they're not entirely different either]

Don't know if the Lazarus Pits are what inspired the Greeks but I didn't have a choice in the matter. I was dumped there dead and then came out alive again.