[open] t-t-t-taking over, teenage rebellion!

[furiousfists]

WHO: Adaine Abernant (furiousfists), Fabian Seacaster (maximumlegend), and YOU!
WHEN: June 3rd
WHERE: Apartment building's rec room
WHAT: Joint birthday party!
NOTES\WARNINGS: Underage drinking

It's only thanks to Aurora's message that Adaine has any idea what day it is. She looks at the text on her earpiece's readout and blinks, comprehension coming to her slowly.

Today is June 3rd, of the year 40██.

June 3rd...

June 3rd??

"Holy shit, it's my birthday!"

Adaine's birthdays haven't been much to shake a stick at, historically speaking. It's only in the past year, after she stopped living with her parents and moved in with Jawbone in Mordred Manor that anyone ever gave a crap or tried to give her anything for it. If it hadn't been for Jawbone, she might've been perfectly happy to let another year pass without fanfare. But now? She wants to at least acknowledge it. She'd be happy with just a slice of cake at the diner, but there's one thing that makes her think that perhaps that won't cut it.

If today is June 3rd, Adaine's birthday, then that means a few days ago it was May 31st. Fabian's birthday. And Fabian Seacaster is not one to let a birthday celebration be anything but maximum legend.

And, so it is that the two birthday Bad Kids set about throwing as raucous of a birthday bash as they can manage with such short lead time. The rec room in the bottom floor of the apartment building is decorated to the nines with balloons and streamers, with snacks, sodas, and even some alcohol to make mixed drinks set out on a table for all to enjoy. Anyone who the pair have spoken with is invited, but if anyone makes any comments about teenagers drinking alcohol, they're labeled a buzzkill and told to vacate the premises. Adaine manages to find a boombox somewhere with a CD, and plays some generic party music for people to dance to, should they feel so inclined.

All in all, it is a night of revelry, the likes of which Etraya has likely never seen before.

Comments

[furiousfists]

[ Adaine, in fact, has a slice of the semi-homemade cake on a paper plate on her lap as Riz approaches her! She took a corner piece, of course, to maximize on the amount of frosting and rainbow sprinkles. She's sitting by herself in a corner, but she's still having a blast, and so she greets Riz with a warm smile. ]

Riz, you... You didn't have to get me anything!

[ She sets her plate of cake aside so that she can take the gift bag into her lap, eyebrows raising when she feels the weight of it. ]

Ooh, it's heavy! [ She beams, starting to pull aside the tissue paper. ] What could it be...

[ She pulls out the squishmallow plush first, her eyes instantly drawn to the bright green fabric. Her mouth slips into a delighted 'o' shape and she smiles at Riz, before she digs in further and finds the source of the weight— a blanket which is clearly homemade. ]

Riz... Did you make this? I...

[ She's never received such a touching, heartfelt gift before. She's at a bit of a loss for words. So, instead, she just slips forward from her chair and pulls Riz into a hug. ]

[stresstokens]

It's your birthday! Of course I had to get you something!

[ He grins at her, letting himself get pulled into a hug. This isn't the way they should be celebrating either of their birthdays, trapped in this place away from all of their friends, the more raucous among them notably missing. Riz feels their presence like a missing tooth, as though his tongue keeps gravitating towards where something ought to be, and he's surprised over and over again by its absence. Which means it was up to him as the sole representative of the unbirthday Bad Kids to make sure it's as special as they can muster. ]

I didn't really make it. I just sewed two of them together, [ he says with a wry smile. It's not very well-done, he knows, even with his nimble-fingered dexterity and devotion. Proper weighted blankets are sewn with pockets of beads evenly spreadthroughout, but Riz just separated the whole thing into four quadrants to keep them from lumping into one corner, and some of the corners are frayed and worn as he tried to figure out how to best secure the stitches. Still, as long as you spread it out with care and wriggle underneath, it'll work the same. If he could have bought one instead, he would have, but the shopping situation in Etraya leaves much to be desired.

He squeezes her tightly, as though trying to channel Jawbone's monstrous bear hugs. Not that he's ever been the recipient of one (no thank you), but he knows Adaine must get them on a regular basis. ] ...I'm glad you like it.

[furiousfists]

That's still making it. [ It's more making it than she would have thought to manage. It just goes to show who of the three of them grew up with money readily available, and who grew up needing to make things by hand to make ends meet.

Riz's small goblin arms could never compare to the warm, fuzzy strength of Jawbone's hugs, but they're good in their own way. They're good because they're not always readily available, so when you receive one, you know it's because you've earned it. ]

I do. I really do like it. Thank you.

[stresstokens]

You're welcome!

[ Riz sits back on his haunches, legs curled underneath him on the couch. He's rarely a hard guy to read unless he's making a concerted effort to disguise his emotions, which he's not; he looks deeply pleased with himself, almost like he does when he cracks a minor case. It's the sort of thing people never tell you about having really good friends, that you get just as much out of giving things to them as you do receiving things, and it's not just something people say because they're supposed to. ]

So... enjoying the party? I feel like it turned out pretty well, all things considered! [ He peers around the room. ] And you guys have met a lot of people.

[ He glances at her, a question in his raised brow; are most of these people Fabian's?

[furiousfists]

[ Her halfhearted chuckle should be all the answer to the unspoken question that Riz needs, but Adaine will clarify out loud. ]

Oh, most of the people here are here because of Fabian. I know... a couple of them. [ She points out a couple people across the room: ] Asuka... Mal... Aerith. I spoke to Krouse online, but I'd not met him in person yet.

[stresstokens]

Well, now that they've attended your birthday party, they've gotta be your friend. Especially now that they can see how cool you are, [ Riz says, fondly elbowing her, not a trace of artifice to his words. He does think she's cool. If anyone else can't see that, that's their problem. ]

I've met all of those people too. Not on, like, party-invitation level acquaintance, but we know each other. They all seem pretty nice. [ Riz thinks most folks seem pretty nice, though. For all his cynicism, he likes people. ] I've actually mentioned you to a couple of them, though not by name. I told Mal I knew someone who might be able to help with recharging her future-gun. She let me shoot it. [ He sighs, wistful. ] I want one.

[ Don't be greedy, Riz. You can't go around wanting two guns when Adaine doesn't even have one yet. ]

[furiousfists]

[ Adaine chuckles again, but she accepts the elbow-bump. ] I don't think that's how making friends works.

[ But then, what would she know? She made the best friends of her life by fighting corn cuties abominations with them. ]

I didn't know Mal had a... future-gun? What makes a gun a future-gun?

[stresstokens]

It could be. I'm pretty sure making friends at parties is the normal way of doing it.

[ As opposed to bonding through battling strange corn abominations. Or killing your old bully, making him believe he shit his pants, and then encouraging him to repent. Or meeting a librarian at a deranged pirate city.

They've got weird friends. (Even if Ayda is not, he thinks, his friend yet. She's Adaine's friend, though. That kind of counts.) ]

It shoots these energy bolts instead of bullets? Just pure energy, pow. Apparently they can be deflected by other bolts of energy, which is a downside, but they look a lot stronger than my bullets. She said that they needed an actual charge to keep using them, but they don't have the technology for that here.

[ But they do have one of the finest wizards in all of Spyre, in Riz's humble opinion, once Mal has earned their trust enough to want to actually further arm the woman. ]