metalogs | CLOSED | Dylan's 15th Birthday

Entry tags:

CLOSED | Dylan's 15th Birthday

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?

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Have you ever seen Whose Line is it Anyway? Let's set this up like a game of HOEDOWN.

Reply with a prompt & a starting verse, and/or reply to another thread. ]

[ Dylan's still pretty new to guitar, but he knows enough to string these chords together. With the prompt of Space, he starts singing — ]

I've never been off planet, I've always been on Earth

Even though out there's the place of my ancestors' birth

Someday I'll hop a rocket and I'll take a trip up there

'Cause they say that in the void of space no one can hear you swear!

(( I'll match whatever writing style you prefer! ))

A: Prep
Dylan's surprisingly organized as he preps for the party. He's chopping meat & veggies for the shish kebabs and arranging them on skewers, AND avoiding cross-contamination with proper handling!

Or maybe you catch him a little later, after the prepped skewers are covered & in the fridge, as he arranges S'more supplies on a large tray.

Or even outside, setting up chairs around the makeshift fire pit!

B: Swordplay
Dylan isn't quite used to the weight of this particular sword, but he's getting better at it already. He's still a little clumsy, but it's clear he's been practicing. He stands in a fighting stance, grinning and glancing around.

"Okay, who wants to take me on?"

C: Food
Dylan's got a small pile of oblong foil shapes in his arms, and he starts tossing them into the bonfire.

"Sweet potatoes," he says to anyone who asks what they are. "I saw something about it in a video on Japanese street food!"

D: Drink
Oh, hey, what's that bottle in Dylan's hand? Looks like he swiped a beer from the cooler and is sneaking a swig of it. You're not gonna be a total narc, are you??

E: Wildcard
There's other things going on at the party. Engage with Dylan in some tomfoolery.

Edited 2022-10-08 22:08 (UTC)

A. Prep
Surprisingly, Sleeper is actually being reasonably helpful for a change. This is an important date to Dylan, so they have chosen to do what they can to make things go off well. Whether than means helping to move and arrange outdoor furniture in their less common humanoid guise or clambering up trees and fences to put up lights, they're definitely around. And more than willing to give an opinion if invited.

They may also be behind this monstrosity being next to the sheet cake on the dessert table. Which is a perfectly edible cake, once you get past the appearance.

B. Present time

Once the guests start arriving, Sleeper takes time to find a spot among the presents because it gives them the opportunity to observe and also interact with guests that might have brought something for the guest of honor. It's not really a huge deal, and nobody is expecting a lot of them, but having a guard cat on the table seems effective, right?

C. Food and Drink

While they tend to keep their distance from the open flames for safety's sake, Sleeper is definitely enjoying the food. If you're roasting marshmallows or sausages, you may get asked for some extra. They'll even bring over a proper plate.

D. Wildcard

Got an idea of where to see the cat, or their large humanoid shape, depending on what's going on, feel free to drop a line or just start something here.

[Pretty much as soon as Will has gotten Nico settled into napping on the couch, and after having eaten a KitKat, he walks into the kitchen to see if he can help with any prep work. It's only polite to at least offer to help!]

Anything I can do to help out, birthday boy?

A. Prep/Packing Up

The birthday boy had invited him despite them having fairly recently met, so Six decided that perhaps the best way to introduce himself to the neighbors would be to help setup. He wasn't an expert on parties, but he had two perfectly good hands for moving things around. Just needed someone to tell him what to do whether it was setting up before the party or breaking everything back down as the guests started heading home.

B. Food

There was something nostalgic about the food. Not that the Numbers did cookouts or anything, but Six had definitely had the roasted sweet potato on a stick before. A sweet treat that didn't make him sick to his stomach. The only thing better would be to roast an apple over an open flame.

Regardless, he was probably on his second or third mug of hot apple cider. He was going to pass on cake and not just because one of them looked like a brain.

C. Swordplay/Hand-to-Hand

Now this was an activity he was familiar with.

He looked at the lineup of swords, periodically picking them up to test the feel before putting them back down. He had his own, of course, but he wasn't sure if they'd be considered cheating since he had so much practice with them. Could be seen as an unfair advantage if other people were trying to adjust to unfamiliar weapons.

Well, if nothing else, he could join in the hand-to-hand sparring.

D. Fireside

Six sat on the edge of the fire where the group wasn't as tightly-clustered. He'd surprisingly been having a pretty decent time even though he wasn't one for parties as a general rule. True, he'd spent a good chunk of it more or less on the periphery, but he'd enjoyed it.

The spooky stories he knew probably wouldn't be appropriate given they were all true. And not entirely family-friendly. Well, there'd been that one mission with Knight he could've possibly told without too many issues, but if Knight ever showed up, he'd probably try and kill him for it even though it was equally-embarrassing for both former mercenaries.

Instead, he contented himself to primarily sit and listen.

E. Fireworks

"...Are these even legal in this area?"

Though the moment the question was out of his mouth, he supposed if there were people with superpowers around, fireworks were probably low on the priorities list for local law enforcement.

Wildcard

Got something you'd like to bounce off of me? Go ahead and drop it here!

Six had a small, neatly-wrapped box which he added to the presents table after he'd finished helping set up. He paused at the sight of the cat.

"Hello, Sleeper. Making sure no one wanders off with any of the gifts?"

"Happy birthday, Dylan. Thank you for inviting me."

The small, neatly-wrapped box had required a trip back to Central City to find an appropriate shop that could make the item. It wasn't as symbolic and personal as a tanto -- he didn't know Dylan well enough for something of such heavy significance -- but the little foldable kogatana was a useful little knife. Primarily used for woodworking or sharpening pencils, but deadly in a pinch should someone try to hurt the kid.

"That's one part of it. Also it's a place to meet the people I might not have that Dylan invited," Sleeper says, raising their head to look at him.

"Also, you never know what people might bring. Could be dangerous." Not that they actually expect anyone to gift-wrap a bomb or poison gas.

"Lucky for us that you're on alert."

He set the small box down in front of Sleeper for the cat's investigation. It was pretty lightweight, it only containing a small folding kogatana, but it wasn't dangerous.

"I also helped with deciding on the cake."

Yeah, well, at least they understand human flavor and taste choices. Even if one of the cakes is odd.

Sleeper does take a moment to sniff and otherwise inspect the package, before returning to watching the party from a sphinx-like pose.

"Someone has to try to keep everyone out of trouble. Not that I actually expect any."

"I'll be passing on both, unfortunately. Not a fan of sugar."

He waited until the inspection was done before moving the package to one side. He then paused, hand somewhat extended towards the cat in mute offer of scratches. However, he knew better than to just start petting. That was rude even to a normal cat.

"Always good to be on alert for it regardless. I've heard strange things have a tendency to happen in this town."

Sleeper nudges the hand in an equally non-verbal acceptance of being petted, nor really minding as long as someone is polite about it.

"You're missing out. But there's plenty of other things to eat. There will be a crowd of teenagers having a sleepover, so there had to quite a stockpile to start with." Are they joking? Only somewhat. Teenagers really can eat.

i. octo-cab service (closed to Jason)

[Truthfully, without having a role to play, Otto might not have attended the party at all.

It's nothing personal. He likes Dylan and Eddie! Just...well, he hasn't been to a fifteen-year-old's birthday party since he was that age himself; he's not quite sure what he's meant to do there. And...well, maybe he finds excuses to bow out of social affairs more than he used to. It's just...different, these days.

Point being, though - he was asked to help out, so of course he'll do that! Dylan has a few unaligned friends in other cities without transport, and Otto has his own teleporter courtesy of the Alliance. He's probably not meant to be using it to cart unaligned metas around on social calls, but honestly that is half of what he does with it.

He hasn't actually spoken to this Jason before. Dylan was the one to set everything up and send him the meetup coordinates. As he teleports in, Otto spares a second to hope that Dylan mentioned the entire actuator situation to his friend.]

Jason?

ii. swordplay

[Of course once he's there, Otto sticks around. It'd just be rude otherwise.

When the impromptu fight club begins, he's stood off to the side, watching Dylan and the sword with something that looks like muted horror.]

Is this what kid's parties look like these days?

iii. fireside.

[Thank god, the rest of the party is a little more normal!

Otto sits on a filed-down stump he's procured from somewhere or other, rather than a chair like everyone else. He doesn't tend to get along well with chairs.

Fire, on the other hand, is easy! He's got marshmallows on a skewer in one claw, and a potato held loosely in the other. That actuator spins its claw back and forth a little as it sits in the flames, excited to be trying to cook a potato! For his part, Otto's drinking a hot cider.]

You can see the stars so well, away from the city like this.

[...still not moving to Kansas, though.]

iv. wildcard

(( hit me up at lluosogrwydd if you want to do something else. or just tag me with it. ))

"Feel free to eat my share." If the post with the chocolate was anything to go by, it wouldn't hurt Sleeper.

He began stroking the cat before starting to scratch behind the ears. He gave a small snort.

"Nice to hear some things remain consistent between worlds."

If those teenagers also had powers, it'd probably be like being around a group of blackholes.

[Jason was surprised when Sleeper invited him to Dylan's birthday party. Truthfully he was more friends with Sleeper than with Dylan. Not that he had anything against the kid. It's just that they haven't talked as much as Jason has with Sleeper.

Ultimately though, he decides to come. It helps that Dylan arranged his transportation.

In Central City, Jason waits at the meetup point with a wrapped box. He then waves when Otto says his name. With the older man's tentacles it seems it would've been impossible to miss him]

Hey. Otto, right?

Right around the time prep is ending

[ In Nico’s defense, he was invited for a sleepover. It’s just that the sleeping started a little early for Nico. He’d volunteered to bring an extra person or two, no more than 2 trips with 3 open spots, but he’d warned that it would make him sleepy.

He wasn’t kidding, either, Nico had passed out with part of a kitkat still dangling out of his mouth. No real warning, just ni-ni Nico. At least Will would’ve expected it.

Now, he’s waking up, and from the distressed little sounds he’d be making right before he sat bolt upright, it wasn’t the best dream. Nico looks around the room wildly, eyes settling on you for a panicked moment. And then he remembers and eases into a slouch. ]

Right. The party.

Swordplay

[ Nico’s sitting with his legs outstretched on the ground at the edge of the training area, watching others work. A nasty-looking black sword balanced across his knees unsheathed. It’s there for his own protection - he knows they’re using practice swords, and he’s not going to get beaned in the head with one if someone loses their grip. He wants something to deflect unexpected projectiles with.

He wouldn’t mind sparring, but he’s definitely trying to avoid catching Dylan’s eye. Showing up to someone’s birthday and taking them on with a huge training advantage is unnecessarily mean. ]

Sleepover

[ Maybe the other kids are interested in the movie choices, but Nico doesn’t have enough of a modern pop culture grounding to campaign for a particular film. He’s busily checking out the stack of board games. There’s Twister, the Here to Slay game Nico had bought Dylan as a birthday present, and … a Ouija board.

Nico turns it over in his hands, clearly confused. He’s not sure if he should be insulted.]

Do slumber parties always try to commune with the dead?

Wildcard

Edited 2022-10-09 03:03 (UTC)

A) Food

[Thanks to Dylan and Otto, Jason makes it to the party. He's even bought a present. He puts it down with the other gifts before getting himself a plate of food.

After getting himself two shish kebabs, sausage, and some hot cider, he stays at the edge of the crowd and people watch as he eats]

B) Swordplay

[The chance to further practice his swordplay during a 15-year-old's birthday party is a great surprise for Jason and now he feels less socially awkward about coming. Instead it's been replaced by very mild nervousness and excitement that he might have a chance to spar with Wonder Woman. And even if he doesn't, it would still be worth seeing her spar with others.

He has a wooden practice sword and is making some tentative swings, ready to play and train]

C) Wildcard

((OOC: Hit me! I'm always open to new CR! Have questions or concerns? Go for it! My contact information is on this journal's profile page. I'm also in the game's discord server and I have a feedback post.))

Setup [locked to any others there for setup]

[Hunter has of course busied himself the second he got here. It's not that the Demon Realm doesn't celebrate occasions like birthdays, but Hunter has never been invited to one. He hasn't been friends with Luz and the others long enough for a birthday to pass and the Coven scouts had never invited him to birthday parties. Who invited their boss of all people?]

[Since this is his first birthday invitation, a gift of welcome he wasn't expecting, he knows he has to achieve proper birthday guest standards. He has to be an exceptional birthday guest and prove that he was worthy of Dylan's invitation. So he's helping out in the kitchen with a great deal of speed and intensity, following the directions of others that seem to know what they're doing. After all, he doesn't know the human food involved in human birthday celebrations, and he needs to make sure he meets the required cooking objectives with speed and precision.]

[He does at least know his way around a kitchen. There were servants at the palace, but it had seemed rude to wake them up anytime he wanted a meal after some kind of mission or patrol that kept him out late, or just for a midnight snack, so he'd often cooked for himself at any off-times. Unlike how he'd originally dealt with his enemies, he'd tried to be more gracious to those serving under him. There was a difference between being a bossy boss with incredibly high standards and just being a jerk, after all. Unlike Adrien, the head of the illusion coven, his goal had never been to make one of his underlings just rage quit.]

The cutting of the vegetables and Earth meats has been accomplished. [Despite the speed he'd worked at, the meat cubes for the kebabs are almost perfectly cube-shaped.] What's the next objective?

[It makes for a bit of an odd sight, someone doing things in the kitchen with a soldier's intensity, like he's on some serious mission, but dressed like that. He's wearing baggy lounge pants that are merchandise for the Angry Birds game, covered in angry red cardinals, white crocks (with white socks with cutesy birds on them), and a t-shirt of a wizard that looks like it belongs on the side of a van.]

[Flapjack, his cardinal Palisman has been helping him where he can, stirring things with a spoon held in his beak or chirping out measurements or suggestions where he can. He's still on the table, hopping around and carrying over kebab sticks one at a time.]

Setup [locked to Dylan]

[Hunter looks extremely anxious as he approaches Dylan.]

I read that in human birthday celebrations, it's traditional for the host whose birthday it is to receive gifts, just like back home. I wasn't really sure what to get you, since humans have a lot of goods in their markets and I don't really know what a human teenager likes.

[To be fair, he also isn't sure what a witch teenager would like best as a gift either. He's different enough from other teens his age that he's pretty sure his tastes wouldn't apply.]

The shopkeeps at the Walmarket weren't the most helpful. [His eyes narrow slightly.] It seemed like they were afflicted with some kind of curse that saps human will, so I reported it to the Alliance. Hopefully one of their mages can help them.

Since I wasn't sure what to get, I figured I'd also give you a traditional birthday pie, like we make back home, in case my gift doesn't meet proper human birthday standards.

[He knows how to make them because he'd found a recipe book when he was younger and sometimes made them for himself on his own birthdays. It was a way of still having something a little celebratory despite celebrating alone.]

[In retrospect, it probably wasn't even his real birthday, just some random day Belos had told him. Or whatever day he clawed his way out of the dirt after the Grimwalker spell brought him to life.]

[He bends down and reaches into the bag he brought to pull out a gift that's clearly a sphere. The feeling and sound of something liquid sloshes inside. The wrapping paper is just pages ripped from magazines, taped awkwardly together.]

[In the other hand, he pulls out a small hand-sized pie. The crust looks fine but the inside looks horrendous, like the meat filling was probably entirely giblets, offal, and/or tongues of some kind. Two roasted chicken feet are sticking out of the top.]

They didn't have bat feet, cockatrice entrails, or trash slug tongues, so I found human world equivalents.

[There are people native to Earth that could have used the ingredients he used in ways that taste truly delicious. He is not one of them, because he's not from Earth. His palate is entirely alien. While nothing in the pie is actually dangerous, it's all ingredients humans use, and it's all fully cooked, it's nowhere close to edible, and every spice is paired wrong.]

[The tragic thing is if he'd given it to one of his witch friends they'd think it was one of the best birthday pies they ever had.]

[Hunter holds out the two gifts, one in each hand, and bows down toward Dylan until he's facing the ground, in an entirely too formal gesture.]

Fireside [OTA]

[Hunter is confused about the fire. He doesn't know why the humans would have one if it wasn't for warmth and it's not that cold seasonally yet. And they all brought warm cloak-like clothes, like the heavy hoodie he brought. The idea it could just be fun rather than practical or for a ritual doesn't occur to him]

What's the fire for? It's not cold enough to really need it for warmth. Everyone's dressed well for the elements.

[His quizzical look is slightly concerned.]

Are we doing a book-burning? We used to do a lot of those back home but it turned out wild magic wasn't dangerous after all, so it wasted a lot of rare books for no reason.

[The ones he hadn't discreetly pocketed to read for himself, anyway. Someday if someone recommends Fahreinheit 451 for his reading list, he's going to intensely identify with Guy Montag's whole deal.]

But if it's the tradition, I can leave and come back with a book that isn't a rare copy.

[He's already getting up, ready to fly off to a book shop, because he doesn't want to birthday guest wrong.]

After-party Sleepover [locked to those invited]

[Hunter didn't bring any specific pajamas because it's not like he'd ever really worn jim jams back home, just taken off his cloak and mail and tunic, all the things he wore as a uniform, and settled in in the more comfortable clothes he wore underneath. The idea you wear pajamas is a comfy idea your parents teach you. Belos hadn't encouraged any comfiness ever.]

[So he's there still in his t-shirt and lounge pants, sitting on the floor with his back against the couch.]

[He looks thrilled to be there. Not only did he get invited to the party, he got invited to the human social sleepover afterwards, clearly meant for the most elite of friends and acquaintances.]

[He turns to the person next to him.]

Is there anything I should know? If we were chosen to perform the more important arcane birthday rituals, I don't know anything about them.

[A pause.]

They don't involve any Earth animal sacrifice, do they? I didn't bring a change of clothes.

WILD CARD! [OTA]

[Hunter will be all over, doing things way too intensely, feel free to hit me with anything!]

[Will, maybe fortunately, is also off to the side and watching the sparring. He looks pretty relaxed, all things considered.]

Eh, in my world this is what it looks like, definitely. Though with a lot more chaos. If anyone gets hurt, I'll patch 'em up.

[Then, he smiles in some dry amusement.]

Nice to see you again. [A thought occurs to him.] Oh, you know? I never asked how you'd prefer I address you as. Like, Otto or Octavius or something else.

[Jason had been pleased earlier to see Hunter was also invited to the party. It means he's made some friends. Jason had largely left him alone so that he could enjoy having fun with people closer to his age.

Upon hearing his comments about book burning though, Jason's slightly alarmed and gets up with him]

Whoa, hey. We're not doing that tonight.

[Will has just finished his last task for helping to prep the party. He's going over to check on Nico in the living room, but stops when his boyfriend bolts upright and looks around like he's expecting danger. He waits until the other boy sees him, recognizes where he is, and remembers why they're here. Will's smile is small as he looks at Nico.]

Yep. We've just about finished the prep work.

[The son of Apollo sits down next to him and puts a gentle arm across Nico's shoulders, if he allows it.]

How're you feeling?

[ Ah, a fellow fish out of water. ]

It’s just a campfire. It’s for fun, and there’s plenty of firewood so no books will be needed.

[ Nico’s sitting fairly close to the fire and spinning three marshmallows on what looks like a bleached white stick. He’s long since gotten the trick of getting them toasted and gooey without burning them or leaving any nasty cold lumps inside.

He tests one by sliding it off and squishing it a little. Just right. That one gets thrown into the fire, but he offers the bone skewer to Hunter. ]

Here. You can have one of mine. There’s chocolate and graham crackers over there if you want to make a s’more.

Jason's holding a practice sword when Dylan asks who wants to challenge him. He mentally notes how the birthday boy is holding himself up and how he's holding his weapon. They could both use the practice.

"Sure, why not?" Jason says. "Thanks again for the invitation."

Well aware of Sleeper's weakness to fire, Jason walks over holding two plates of food. One is for himself while the other is a plate of sausages for Sleeper.

"Thanks again for the invitation. It's been nice," he says.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 21

CLOSED | Dylan's 15th Birthday

Dylan's 15th Birthday Bonfire

Toplevel Prompts:

CAMPFIRE SONGS

Prompt: SPACE

Dylan Brock | OTA

Sleeper | OTA | CW: brain cake image link

A

Six | OTA

B

Gift + Potential Swordplay

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Otto Octavius | OTA + closed

no subject

no subject

no subject

Jason Todd | OTA

Hunter | OTA + Closed

Swordplay

Fireside

Ending of Prep Time bc his bleeding heart refused the sleepover prompt

no subject

B

C