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

[sixthdeadliest]

I am. [He pauses.] Otto Octavius, correct?

[He's not aware of your title yet. Sorry, Otto.]

[doctopoda]

Yes, good to meet you in person.

[He offers a handshake. Don't worry about it, he'll inevitably point it out sooner or later.]

How do you know the Brocks?

[sixthdeadliest]

You were a lot of help. Thank you.

[Six gives Otto's hand a firm shake. Enjoy the callouses on his hands, Otto.]

I showed up in the middle of an anti-EVO...anti-Meta protest. Dylan and Sleeper were among a small group of people who took me to a safe spot to give me the basic rundown of what was happening.

[doctopoda]

[Otto frowns, though it's immediately clear that it isn't about Six:]

I hate that they're even involving kids in those. Can't say I'm too surprised, but it's disgusting.

[sixthdeadliest]

Not a fan of it myself. I work with a powered teenager in the field. Honestly, if the situation back in my world allowed it, he wouldn't be on the battlefield.

Sometimes there's no choice, but I'm not sure that's the case here.

[doctopoda]

[Otto sighs and shakes his head.]

There's only one hero back in my world. He's...maybe twenty. I used to think he was too young.

[He still does, really; it's only that he's seen a lot of even younger kids doing the same thing here.]

He'd have said there wasn't a choice. Maybe there wasn't, without any others around. But I wish I'd known when I still could have done something about it.

[It's pointless, but sometimes he thinks about what might have happened if he'd met Peter earlier. Taken him under his wing like he'd wanted. Maybe he never would have found out that he was Spider-Man - or worse, he'd have found out the exact same way - but that kid seemed like he needed some support. The man Otto used to be could've given him that much.]

[sixthdeadliest]

[Six listens in silence for a moment.]

Rex is fifteen. We think. He only has about a year's worth of memory, so we've had to guess. I'm the one who originally found him.

[He pauses.]

He can reverse the nanite mutations. Most of the time at least. Still has trouble with non-humans, and sometimes...sometimes the humans aren't curable. There are scientists on staff trying to find a more universal cure, but until then Rex has to fight. Though the rest of Providence and I back him up.

[doctopoda]

[Otto grimaces a bit. That's the same age as Dylan. It's true that he's run into Dylan often in the middle of bad situations, so he knows the kid can handle himself for the most part, but...god, he's so young.

And with those powers - no matter how anyone feels about it, you can't really argue that he is the only person who could help.]

Sounds like an awful situation. I'm glad he has that backup, at least.

[sixthdeadliest]

We didn't do the best job of being backup outside of combat. We're a more militaristic operation and we've only recently started taking into account Rex's emotional health.

[He's not proud of it, but he doesn't want Otto to get the wrong impression and think that everything is flowers and sunshine.]

Rex isn't in charge of the operation for obvious reasons. You don't put an amnesiac fifteen year-old in charge of forced plasma cascade bombs. Providence existed before Rex, but we've changed our tactics to adapt to him and his abilities. Still have a lot of adapting to do on both ends.

[doctopoda]

Hm. Well, if you're trying, that's already better than a lot of worlds.

[Otto hadn't been especially impressed by any of the adult heroes who were supposedly around in the second Peter's world. And of course his own Peter just had nothing at all.]

I suppose the Guilds are meant to provide a lot of that kind of support here. But in practice?

[He shrugs. Most of the teens he knows didn't affiliate in the first place, and even for those who did...they're not quite as hands-on as they could be, he thinks.]

[sixthdeadliest]

Honestly, I didn't expect much from either guild in the way of more personal protections.

[Jaded as he was.]

[doctopoda]

For the best. They will help you with your medical issues, but for anything else, I guess we're meant to be self-sufficient. Though I can't say I entirely mind - I'd rather the hands-off approach to having them breathe down my neck.

[Especially given his, uh, frequent aiding of unaffliated metas!]

[sixthdeadliest]

Agreed.

[One thing that had bothered him while working for Providence, particularly at the beginning, was all the bureaucracy. However, he'd found a reason to put up with it.]