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

Eddie Brock + Venom | OTA

[frenchkissed]

1. Set-Up

( 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. )

2. Sword Fight

( 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...

3. Presents

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. )

4. Fireworks

( 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! )

5. Sleepover

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.

3

[codicies]

[ Dylan is have a fantastic time. He's smiling and laughing alongside all the friends he's made here — in a handful of months, he's gained more friends than he had in years back home, and right now it feels like he couldn't be happier.

When Eddie takes him aside, Dylan follows without protest. ]

Sure. What's up?

[frenchkissed]

( dylan SHOULD be having a fantastic time! he deserves it. )

Nothing's up, really. Just wanted to give you... a thing... Or, like, things? Plural? Several things?

( a couple things! a handful of things!

regardless, he brings dylan into the house where it's less crowded. unironically, it's the same room they sat in some odd months ago when dylan first arrived and they both sobbed over eddie being a dad, though probably for different reasons. )

So, like, don't be mad, but... when they whole universe sort of tore itself apart and everything was all open and inter-dimensional and stuff, V and I tried to track down Eddie. Your Eddie. Eddie #1?

[codicies]

[ Dylan's eyes go wide. He wants to respond, but his voice catches in his throat — Does he dare get his hopes up?

No... if dad was actually here, no way he'd have waited this long to make himself known.

Still, he can feel his heart start to race in anticipation about what this could possibly be leading up to. Right before he'd been picked up by the confluence, most of dad's time was taken up by the King in Black gig, and sometimes Dylan wouldn't see him for a week or more.

Did Eddie find dad's unconscious body bound to the pillar? Meet dad while he was possessing some symbote matter? Or... nothing at all?

Dylan nods slowly, swallowing down the lump in his throat. He tries not to look to hopeful. ]

...How did it go?

[frenchkissed]

( better to make this quick. no use dragging this out any longer than he has to; the suspense is killing him. )

Uh... It was hard. Probably the hardest job I've ever done, tracking a guy down across universes, with the added bonus of the guy also sorta being me, but not really me? Lots of hurdles. Logistically, psychologically, like... in terms of physics, but that part was pretty beyond me.

Anyway.

We just wanted to let him know you were safe. And that you miss him like crazy probably, y'know?

Trouble is, we didn't know if any of the guys we found were really your dad. Like, your dad. Because, and this was news to us, but there are a LOT of Eddie Brocks out there, apparently.

Like, in the end, we found a big, buff guy with like military fade, and we met a weirdly handsome blonde dude who wasn't big on smiling, and we met a photographer... we met some dude dressed all in black who REALLY hated Spider-Man... we met a guy piloting a fucking swarm of Symbiotes who didn't talk AT ALL... we met a chick named Gwen, who totally wasn't your dad, yeah, but she DID bond with Venom, so she landed on our list... THE T-REX, yeah, yep, we ran into a dinosaur for a bit— THE ONE WITH THE SWORDS, katanas, yeah. He talked a lot... There was that Flash dude?

And, like, some of them looked pretty close to the guy you described, but I don't know if 'close enough' counts with a thing like this.

( with the preamble out of the way, it's time for dylan to finally (finally!) get his present — a stack of papers all tucked into a manila folder. some of the papers are handwritten notes, while others are typed transcriptions and partial interviews between eddie, venom, and the Pantheon of Eddies™, all personally addressed to dylan. )

We thought it'd be better if you decided that for yourself. When we explained things, they all had something they wanted to say to you... I mean, obviously. If an alternate universe version of me came bursting in out of nowhere to tell me I had a son who missed me, I'd probably have a lot to say, too... The inter-dimensional channels aren't completely closed off, I think, so if you ever want to go meet some of these guys AND GIRLS, we should probably be able to retrace our steps. If you'd ever want to. I know this is, like, a lot... So if you wanna just... think about stuff? That's cool, too.

1. Setup

[badbutsadboy]

[Okay, so this guy has to be Dylan's dad, because he's doing the same goop...thing.]

[But he hasn't had a chance to really ask Dylan much about his family. He's assumed so far that he just has some kind of power similar to abomination magic.]

[But Dylan's goo didn't talk, like a lot of abomination magic. Eddie's dad seems to have a full abomination.]

[He directs his question to Eddie.]

How did you manage to get your abomination to talk?

[It's not meant to be an insult, he just thinks it's that style of magic.]

[frenchkissed]

( yeah, yep, goop runs in the family.

being weirdly rude to aliens doesn't run in the family, but it might just be a human thing, though, because eddie had more or less the same reaction when venom first visited him. he hadn't used the word 'abomination,' but it's not too far off. )

Believe it or not, he came like this. Already talking. It's the getting him to shut up that's the problem.

( ba-bum-tsst.

all three drum sounds come from venom whacking eddie with a branch, which he winces at. )

He spoke different languages before, though. I think it's something to do with... interfacing? He picks up speaking that way, though brain... seeping... Also, only mildly related, but I'm Eddie. The abomination is V.

[badbutsadboy]

I'm Hunter. [No last name.] So you didn't make him? He was already alive?

[Oops.]

[He is curious about it and genuinely wasn't trying to be insulting.]

Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. It's just back home, we have abomination magic. It's...sort of gooey. And people that use it can make these these sort of...goo constructs. But they're just puppets, not alive. They can't talk.

But I guess he's more like a demon.

[A pause.]

...Which isn't a bad thing, in my world. I learned that it's a bad thing here, but back home, they're just one of the two types of people, alongside witches like me.

[He's not a witch but he's not about to say that to anybody.]

[frenchkissed]

Hunter. Cool. Nice to meet you.

( he'd offer a hand to shake, but he's really not that formal of a dude, and his hands are covered in ashes and wood chips from his numerous attempts at getting this fire going, so he offers a fist to bump instead. )

Nah, don't worry about it. He's heard worse.

FROM YOU.

From me, yeah, and others... Abomination is pretty unique, though. Coming from a place with lots of magic, I can see the confusion. These, uh, abominations, do they do anything on their own? Are they like tiny, gooey, henchmen, or more like experiments gone wrong?

( he's curious to know for the sake of just liking to learn things, but it might come in handy should anyone else from hunter's home world come along and also mistake venom for the lesser form of sentient goo. )

Right, no, demon... that's getting into a whole thing... with religion and, yeah, people take that sort of stuff pretty seriously. Depending on who you ask.

So you were born a witch?

4

[robintohood]

[Oh we are SO not doing this tonight. Jason jerks away from the sparkler that was being tied to him]

Hey, knock it off!

[frenchkissed]

( !!! )

YOU INSIST ON BEING A PARTY POOPER?
ON THE DAY OF DYLAN'S BIRTH?
DYLAN'S NAME DAY?!

[robintohood]

[God. Venom is still as dramatic as the last time they talked. Not that he or Eddie would know he's Red Hood for now]

No but I don't like being set on fire! Just light them up before someone gets roasted!

[frenchkissed]

( he never changes, and neither should jason... except maybe his attitude towards getting set ablaze. )

WE SYMBIOTES ARE HARMED BY FIRE.
IT IS VERY DANGEROUS TO US.

WE WILL NEVER KNOW THE JOYS OF FIRE-BASED ACTIVITIES.

WE WILL NEVER DRIVE A TRICYCLE THROUGH A FLAMING RING...
AT THE CIRCUS.
WE WILL NEVER SWALLOW FLAMING SWORDS...
AT THE CIRCUS.
OR JUGGLE LITTLE FLAMING BALLS...
AT THE CIRCUS.

...

YOU MUST DO THIS FOR US.

4

[doctopoda]

[Unfortunately, Otto's back is always being watched! The actuators arch threateningly, one of them clacking its claw. Otto himself turns slightly, his tone mild - though he is also not stopping the actuators from doing any of that!]

Please don't do that.

[frenchkissed]

( wow, yeah, this man seemed eerily prepared for a sneak attack from venom and his sparklers. at least venom has the good sense to stop while he's ahead least he become minced meat. minced goo. the goo that gets squished in those asmr videos. )

IT IS A PARTY.
YOU MUST LEARN TO LIVE.
BEFORE YOU DIE.

( great party advice, big guy. )

[doctopoda]

I'd rather not have those so close.

[To his back. Where he got hit by a lot of plasma the one time. It's a thing. One of the actuators does deign to take a sparkler in its claw, though!]

1. Maybe the potential for 2 later on?

[sixthdeadliest]

[Okay. How many people have ooze powers around here? He hopes they're not contagious.]

[He's helping with the setup and has stopped to watch...whatever this is. It's kind of sad, honestly.]

Need a hand? [He pauses, remembering the weird argument.] I won't even use a lighter.

sounds good to me! <3

[frenchkissed]

Yeah, I'll never say no to some help.

Lighter fluid and matches aren't cutting it... you think the wood could be too damp? It did rain, like, a few weeks ago? And wood, y'know, absorbs. It's an absorbent material.

YOUR BRAIN IS AN ABSORBENT MATERIAL!

...Thank you?

( come on down, buddy.

eddie even shifts to make room for the guy who looks like an FBI agent and therefore should probably be NOWHERE NEAR eddie and his murder goo for legal reasons. )

[sixthdeadliest]

[Not FBI or MIB or other three-letter acronym agencies. You're good.]

[Six walks over.]

Unless it's been sitting in water since then, should have dried out by now. I'm going to need some tinder. Paper works well. Also some small sticks we can feed a spark once I have it going. Even if the larger wood piece is damp, building up a small flame into a larger one will help dry out the wood so it can catch.

sleepover, b.

[monomachy]

[Though Diana is no stranger to celebrations (there was almost always a festival or feast on Themyscira), she is not used to cleaning up right after. Of course she had been assigned the duty, as any soldier would, but usually it happened the morning after the party, sleepless night and headaches be damned. But it's... nice to pick up the remains of the celebration now, in the quiet autumn evening, while she knows the children are safe inside, continuing the celebration in their own way. Some kind of ritual called a "sleepover," as she's been told.

She has a bag full of empty pop cans in one hand when she spots Eddie lounging on a chair, and smiles as she walks up to him, grabbing her own chair on the way and settling down into it once she's close, bag forgotten beside her for the moment.]

I think everyone had a wonderful time. It was good to see so much happiness in one place.

[frenchkissed]

( man, diana shouldn't be cleaning anything. she's been the most gracious of hosts; she should kick back and relax while venom and eddie get things taken care of. but eddie knows she's nothing if not stubborn. chances are she'd insist that she help in one way or another even if eddie doesn't feel as if she has to.

after this break, they'll debate.

things are too nice to get hung up on things like who should be assigned to trash duty. )

Yeah, no kidding. Think it's been pretty overdue, all things considered. Especially with Dylan and Sleeper... things were so different back in their world. I'm glad they can live sorta normal lives here.

...

As normal as things can be when you're living with a goddess, a teleporter, and a recovering journalist.

...

I'm happy they've got so many people who support them, is what I mean.

[monomachy]

[She stretches her long legs out in front of her, folding her hands across her lap and letting her head fall back against the back of the chair. She looks like the picture of relaxation, despite how utterly chaotic planning and running this party was. Diana lets her head loll to the side so she can look at Eddie, and her smile softens.]

This is just our normal.

[She says it simply, stating a fact. Her normal used to be having thousands of sisters she fought alonside, and occasionally living in a palace; now she lives on a farm with an oozy family. Normals can change.]

It was nice, having so many people around. [She's used to big crowds. Thousands of sisters, and all.]

4

[definecat]

[Venom better not be considering setting their spawn on fire. Just saying.

However, they might get in on the pranking side of it after attempting to downgrade the level of explosives involved.]

[frenchkissed]

( he'd never!
upon seeing sleeper, though, he crouches down to as close to their level as he can get. )

CHILD.
SMALL ONE.
TINY THING.

...

WE ARE HAPPIER WITH YOU HERE.

[definecat]

[Sleeper can't help the warm fuzzies that causes, and moves close to gain physical contact with Venom, using the touch to convey some of the wonderful, nurturing feelings that they associate with their parent, even if this isn't quite the same Venom.]

I like having you here, too. Not having to look after Dylan alone is nice.