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

[monomachy]

Diana's eyes track the appendages as they move for the platters and plates, and she can't help but be impressed with their precision. They look like some kind of advanced technology, like the sort Tony tinkers with now and then, but she knows that nothing like them exists in her own world--her own time.

After another moment, her eyes return to the man, and her smile grows as she bobs her head in greeting. "Welcome, Otto. I'm Diana. This is my home, as well as Eddie's and the boys'." She knows that Eddie keeps saying that they are only a temporary fixture, that they'll "get out of her hair" once they find a place for all of them, but she keeps reassuring him that they don't have to leave. In fact, she prefers having them on the ranch. It would be far too large a space for just her. "Come, let's get these outside and then have a bite ourselves."

[doctopoda]

Otto's grown used to people watching the actuators, particularly when they're all in motion like this. He tries not to use them so casually in public. But a gathering of other metas feels different, and Diana's gaze doesn't seem frightened or judgemental. It's fine.

"Lots of food," he comments, returning her smile. "Reminds me of some parties I had when I was a kid. Fewer sweet potatoes at those." Not that he minds, the sweet potato thing sounds interesting!

[monomachy]

She maneuvers around him and pushes the kitchen door open with one shoulder, striding through the house and out the sliding door into the yard where the food tables are set up. She doesn't seem to have a problem carrying as many platters as she is, either from their weight or balancing them. She continues speaking as they move towards the tables.

"People around here really like sweet potatoes." Probably because they're an autumnal root vegetable, and it's the middle of the season. "I wasn't sure what everyone would like, so I just got a little of everything." Once she sets her plates down, she turns towards him, suddenly looking a bit serious. "Would you say this is a good party? A typical one. It is the first one I've ever thrown, so I'd like some insight."

[doctopoda]

Otto chuckles. "Ah, I may be the wrong person to ask! I haven't been to a kid's birthday party since I was young myself." He and Rosie...well, children just never happened for them. Maybe that's part of the reason they tended to drift apart from those of their friends who did.

"But it seems typical enough to me, except for the...swords?" He glances over at the combat yard set-up as they reach the tables. At least they're wooden swords. That's better than he expected from this place, honestly. "I guess that's what happens when you've got all these kids fighting crime."

[monomachy]

She ponders that for a moment, lips pressed together in thought. "That's still more experience with them than I have." It feels... a little strange to admit, but Diana was the only child on Themyscira. She never had a birthday party like this.

Her brows rise, and after she finishes arranging the platters of food, she reaches for an empty plate for each of them. "That was my idea. Dylan wanted to learn to use a sword, so I thought his friends, might, too. I gave him his first blade as a gift." That is definitely pride in her voice.

[doctopoda]

Otto accepts the plate (in his normal human hand, obviously). No longer occupied, the tentacles have mostly relaxed into lowered positions around his size, although the upper-right one has its claw open as if it's looking at Diana.

And - well! That stresses him a little! But he's seen Dylan in much more unsafe situations than this, so...standards are different here, he guesses. "I guess it couldn't hurt, in a place like this. Are you going to be holding classes?" For children. Obviously. Otto has no intention of learning to swordfight.

[monomachy]

Diana starts to fill her plate, though she never quite takes her eyes off the single tentacle that has stayed... alert? That's the only way she can think to describe it. While it's a little off-putting, it isn't as if it or Otto have done anything to really alarm her. Advanced technology is still just a little difficult for her to get used to seeing.

Her brows raise a bit, and she finishes loading up her plate before she answers. "I don't know." It's an honest answer. "I've thought about it, but..." She trails off briefly, uncertain how to phrase the next part before finally just settling on the truth. "When I was trained, it was for war. I don't know how to train for anything else." Recreation, or just basic self-defense. It's something she'd have to put a lot of thought into.

[doctopoda]

The claw on the "active" tentacle rotates in place, and Otto looks a bit sheepish.

"I'm sorry. They help me with my sight - my eyes aren't what they used to be." He taps the edge of his dark glasses. Though he knows it can come off as unnerving, there's nearly always at least one actuator looking wherever he is these days, especially when they're out in the sunlight.

As to the rest...well. What do you even say to that? "I see. Well, they seem to be enjoying what you've done so far."