[CLOSED] HYVÄÄ SYNTYMÄPÄIVÄÄ!!

[enflame]

Who: Lalli, Emil, Akira, Dirk, Jude, Ruby, whoever they want to bring, and Lisko!!!
Where: The garden on the recreation floor of the Shehui apartment building everyone’s in.
When: Dec 2nd OOC
Open/Closed: Closed to invited guests

( Hello, beloved and invited guest! Actually, you likely aren’t beloved and maybe aren’t even directly invited. Anyway! Welcome to the birthday party of the age: Lalli Saku Hotakainen who maybe possibly turned 20 sometime...now...soon? Yeah.

His birthday party reflects how unsure the party planner is of the recipient’s actual birthdate. Some parts of the party have obviously been thought out — for instance, there are three birthday cakes (1, 2, 3) and several gifts already present when you arrive. The chairs and decorations, however, are somewhat mismatched and novice in presentation. You might have enough seats for yourself and your guest, and you may or may not get tangled in some haphazard streamers that are lackadaisically slung in trees. It’s a toss up. At least there are ample plates and about five meat and vegetable snack trays.

It’s a very obviously non-traditional festivity. Also there’s a big lizard there. Have fun. )

Comments

[lalliho]

[Fortunately (?) Unbirthday Boy seems to be hanging around the thought out part of the party -- that is, the food -- more often than not, picking away at various snacks and servings without rhyme or reason. It's all pretty dang good food... Every once in a while, he'll stop his own munching to talk to their elto lizard child, Lisko, slowly saying words and then rewarding them with a treat when they repeat it back to him. Sometimes he has to settle for close enough, which isn't a sentiment he seems to share for Hate Death. When just barely missing a full combo, Lalli's hisses and kicks his feet in childish frustration before hunching his shoulders and diving back in. He will conquer this. He's 20 now, maybe, he can do it!!!

There's also a very obvious...absence of Lalli every now and again, despite this being meant to be his party. He stops lurking beneath the food table the first time he freaks someone out by accident, instead choosing to roam off into the open area. Just...too many people.

Or, you know, whatever. It's a party, dude.]

[enflame]

( Emil throws a good party, if he does say so himself. He's not particularly used to setting them up -- receiving them, yes. Throwing them? No.

It doesn't seem to be going badly, except at one point in the evening he does notice that Lalli has wandered off, totally absent when the event is being held in his name. Eyebrow raised as he does a headcount; one, two, three...yup, his friend is nowhere to be found.

Unfamiliar with the garden, Emil pokes around a bit. He's not sure why Lalli would suddenly leave, worried about maybe upsetting him, someone else upsetting him. What's the point in throwing a party if the person it's for isn't around? )

Lalli? Where did you go? ( The question posed is soft, not probing. There's no danger of him excitedly being dragged back to the cluster of people still devouring cake. Telepathy will have to do; Emil is investigating a bush and swearing inwardly about Lalli's forest critter powers of invisibility. )

[lalliho]

[He accepts the transmission readily, even though he doesn't respond right away. It's a much different feeling than the usual "where did you go?" he hears... It's nice. And it feels nice to revel in it for a while.]

Wanted quiet. I'm still close.

[enflame]

Where is close, exactly?

( Because he's tired of looking under bushes and having to brush his pants off and making sure he doesn't have unsightly twigs in his hair. )

[lalliho]

[…bruh.]

Are you...trying to find me? [But why...

Whatever Emil's reasons, Lalli will relent and "trace" a path through images, starting at the party and leading to the secluded part of the garden he's huddled himself in.]

[enflame]

( Thanks for that nice slack you cut for him, man. Emil isn't an expert tracker by any means, and this garden can get a bit...samey. But he eventually finds Lalli and chuffs victoriously. There you are, you rascal. )

Hey. You're alright?

( Somewhere, Lisko is licking a cake. )

SLAMS IN LATE

[splinten]

[This sure is Birthday Times. Dirk's impressed by the timing, wedged perfectly between Jake and Jade's and his birthdays. It makes it easy to ask Jake to come with him as his plus one and gather up what he needs for the gift.

The gift comes in a box. The box is small, maybe the size of a cat. Inside is NOT a cat. Inside is, 1) a portable music player, with big obvious buttons and audio options, 2) headphones with noise-cancellation options, 3) a normal phone charger that works with the outlets in Shehui, and 4) a small generator that can be spun by hand which can also be plugged into the phone because Dirk goes hard.

On the music player is folk songs and gentle instrumental music from Shehui, plus all the Finnish music Dirk had. Which is mostly Loituma's stuff.

As he hands over the box:]

Your clothes will be done by the fourth.

[lalliho]

[Is it really his birthday? Who knows! Probably not. Emil just wanted to celebrate him. What a gay. Er, guy, definitely meant guy. Lalli accepts the box, and while he hadn't really been planning on opening anything before he got back home, the comment that this isn't the clothes he talked about piques his curiosity enough to have him open it the slightest bit and take a peek. Looks like complicated stuff... Nice job with the big buttons, though.]

That's so fast? [ehhmm...] They won't...be that weird headache stuff, right?

[splinten]

No. I'm not going to give you clothing that would give you a headache.

[He doesn't comment on speed because. Sleep is for the weak.]

[lalliho]

That's good.

[You can never be sure, okay. Also how dare you squander sleep... Appreciate that shit while you can, dude.]

Um... [Ummmm.] I don't really know what I'm supposed to do, now. There's cake?

[do you want cake??]

[splinten]

[Dirk also sucks at parties, and people, and interaction. So.]

Do you, uh, want me to talk about the present at all?

[He doesn't know if Lalli actually knows how it works.]

[secrowtary]

Hello.

[ Lurking beneath the food table time has ended with this greeting, probably. Unless Lalli decides to ignore him and walk away. Let's be real, Hibiki will chase him if that happens. Even if it's just to tell him that running away like that is rude. Whichever scenario will become reality, Hibiki will ask, sooner or later: ]

Are you, by any chance... [ Give him a while to read the smudged writing on hand...okay, maybe it's not that smudged. ] Lalli Saku Hotakainen?

[ They've met before and had a chat but what are introductions??? ]

[lalliho]

[He's plastered himself against one of the table legs in surprise, eyes wide as he watches this...maybe familiar...? guy? He knows his name, so he must... But he was also reading it off his hand. Maybe he had as much of a memory for names as Lalli did?

...Oh right, he should answer.]

...Yes...?

[secrowtary]

Good. I've been looking for you.

[ He's wearing a soft smile and taking his sweet time to reveal a fancy box he's been hiding behind his back. ]

I'm sorry if this isn't much, but Akira asked me to come along quite suddenly and I didn't have enough time to prepare. [ Maybe instead of giving excuses he could, for example, give Lalli the box? ] Oh, right... happy birthday.

[ There. Lalli will find some homemade cookies inside. ]

[lalliho]

[Ah, well... Akira had been invited to bring along whoever, but since this is the one he chose, then...]

How come he chose you?

[He's pretty sure he knows, but confirmation is good. He also doesn't give a fuck after he gives the box a light sniff and cracked open one corner.]

Are these really cookies...?

[THEY LOOK SO... PLASTIC-FANCY?]

[talim]

[ emil had been the one to invite jude, and who was he to deny an invitation? he knew he'd been working hard for lalli's sake, after all. maybe he and lalli could converse over hate die together!

the food catches his eye before anything else, though. he raises an eyebrow and looks at emil. ]

Emil, why are there three cakes?

[enflame]

( wow, thanks for dozing him spectacularly!!! Emil is unphased by the question as he's in the middle of eating...another slice, who's counting. )

Variety! In case someone happens to dislike one or the other, though I can't see how you could. ( Reality: he couldn't choose and he's a brat. )

[talim]

Did you bake these yourself?

[ jude will just... take a piece himself... he has to admit all three look delicious. ]

[enflame]

No. They're custom ordered. Gourmet, if you will.

( He's honestly more proud of this than if he actually DID bake them all himself. )

[talim]

Wow. Fancy.

[ he takes a biiig bite, making a sound of bliss and swallowing it before speaking again. ]

Mmm. This hits the spot. So, is Lalli happy? You really went all out for him.

[actus]

[ akira wouldn't miss this for the world. or any of the worlds they've visited thus far. he's grown close to the pair and he has a definite soft spot for lalli. so naturally here he is, present in hand with surprisingly neat wrapping! all those late night crafting sessions paid off. ]

Hey.

[ he's going to bug the closest person around when he gets there, present still in hand. ]

Think a cat was a good present idea? [ AKIRA??? ]

[enflame]

( Really, Emil's first instinctual response is to be somewhat irritated at gift-giving advice being asked AT THE PARTY with THE GIFT IN HAND!!! But then...bruh......... )

There is not a cat in that box. ( For so many reasons; you're not getting him so easily Akira!!! )

[actus]

[ listen! he tried okay.

akira laughs very briefly and then shakes his head, his curls miraculously remaining in place. what a champion. ]

You're getting too good at knowing when I'm joking.

[ it hadn't been an outright joke - thanks hands!, so the box is still very much in shape. ]

I could have fit a cat in here, though.

[enflame]

( It truly warms Emil's heart to see Akira's hair so well-trained. )

I know you wouldn't put a cat in a box like that. It couldn't breathe! ( Unless there are holes, but even then...you are also a cat lover, he Knows. )

Besides, you'd be insane to bring a cat to Lalli's birthday party...unless you don't know. ( His cat hatred is like. The second thing you learn about him; maybe their social link isn't as far along as he thought... )

[actus]

[ don't know... akira cants his head to the side. those defiant curls are at it again!! ]

Don't know what?

[ he definitely doesn't know! what is he missing... ]