( anyone who volunteered to help get things set up might stumble onto a scene where venom's furiously rubbing two sticks together like a caveman while eddie tries to get things started with matches.

just a casual sunday at the ranch, truth be told. )

IT IS ABOUT THE FRICTION, EDDIE.

Yeah, bud, but there's a reason that we have, y'know, lighters these days, right? Matches? Because it's better than carrying sticks and magnifying glasses around in your pocket.

NO! IT IS BECAUSE HUMANS ARE LAZY. THEY FEAR... THE FRUITS... OF THEIR OWN LABORS...

( says venom, putting in lots of labor with the sticks and getting no fruit in return. he ends up breaking his sticks and grabbing new ones, but this whole old-school thing isn't really working for him. )

( whoever said there are no teeth in sword fights is a total moron because teeth totally have a place in sword fighting. like, if venom were to bite the sword out of an opponents hand, that's an automatic point in his favor, and he's won. that's his strategy. and it's a good one. )

FORFEIT, TINY NERD! CONCEDE OR DIE!

( meanwhile, eddie only ventured into the fight pit just to see how things are going. he never imagined he'd get drawn into a sword fight. he's not doing great. he's not even doing good. it's a lot of eddie ducking and hiding behind his sword, and ultimately throwing his hands up in the air. )

Yield! I yield, man... totally yield. Good, uh, game? GGs all around. Damn, I'm getting too old for this...

Closed to Dylan
( the cool thing about not being perpetually broke for once in his life is the fact that he's able to share his newfound with his friends and family. being on the alliance's payroll isn't wealth, per se, to most people, but eddie has graduated from the starving artist, eating ramen noodles for dinner each week life to being in a tax bracket that lets him afford things like brand-name cereal movies that he can buy instead of rent.

it's unreal.

he and venom can also do things like buy dylan a shitload of cool things. )

Hey, Dyl? Can we borrow you for a sec?

( just a minute or two. eddie doesn't want to take dylan away from his party for too long. )

( who brought the fireworks — is that even a question? who, at his child's fifteenth birthday party, would arrive decked out in glitter and glowsticks with fistfuls of fireworks clutched tight in each wildly waving tentacle but venom? Venom Unpronounceable-Middle-Name Brock brought everything. spinners, sparklers, poppers, floppers, the kind that fly into the air and shoot off into a dozen other kinds of fireworks.

man, this cannot be good for the environment.

but it's a birthday! they're allowed to be environmentally un-friendly for dylan's sake. )

LET'S TIE A LOSER TO A FIREWORK AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS!

( that's you. you're the loser (unless you're dylan, because in that case you're spared). otherwise, yeah, venom is tying something bright and dangerous to your back and preparing to light it just because.

party on! )

a.) Closed to the Rowdy Teens
All right, do whatever you're gonna do, but the prank calls end at midnight. Don't set anything on fire. If you sneak out, that's cool, just don't get the cops called on you. If you do, know your rights. Don't say anything without a lawyer present. If they're not detaining you, they can't hold you. Ask to leave as often as possible. Uh... You all know how to escape out of handcuffs, right?

( so maybe it's not that kind of sleepover. it's still better for eddie to be safe and make sure these kids know the basics. like how to flee from the cops and how to eavesdrop on people without them noticing. just useful life skills for any teen gathering. )

b.) Closed to Ripley & Diana

( with the teens inside doing whatever it is that teens do, eddie and venom are outside picking up after everyone. the mess isn't huge, but it's better to get a head-start on it rather than leave it until morning. at some point, though, they start feeling too lazy to make anymore progress, so the layback in one of the lawn chairs and crack open a beer.

they'll clean more after this. )

I think that went well, don't you? I mean, Dylan seemed pretty happy? So did Sleeper.