[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

[splinten]

[The lizard child is liking his face, and Dirk was dragged to safety. What is this world.

He does, actually, calm down a little when Lalli notes he also doesn't know. It's the obvious conclusion—the other two people who asked Dirk seem similarly out of the loop on what constitutes friendship, so of course Lalli would be in the same boat if he's even asking—but it's still a relief, because sometimes the obvious conclusion seems impossible.]

Jesus is a religious figure, known as the Son of God, who supposedly died in order to redeem humanity of their sins. Superman is a guy from stories who protects people and likes apple pie. [He doesn't know if Superman likes pie but he's pretty sure that's part of his The American Way thing.

That was rattled off automatically. It is Dirk's comfort zone. After that, he says,]

Yeah, okay. That sounds good. Friendshipwise, I mean. It sounds like we probably are friends. If that's what you want to be.

[lalliho]

[He waits patiently, staring but not expectant of anything as Dirk rambles. So this was how the kid coped in this kind of situation... He feels a little gross for finding it such a fascinating process to witness, but it's not something that can be helped. He's spent his life watching people rather than being one.]

I don't think Jesus would be my friend. I worship different gods. Apple pie is good, though.

[Just take these gentle facts and process them, know he's listening. Stay in that safe zone, but know you're not alone. That's all he ever needed.]

[splinten]

Jesus is everyone's friend, except when it's considered politically expedient for him to be otherwise. I've never had apple pie.

[Dirk feels calmer now. Apple pie-deprived life or not, he thinks he has this whole scenario covered. Lalli wants them to be friends, so they can be friends. That seems okay? Dirk doesn't want to rip his heart out of his chest and stomp on it in order to spare Lalli from the smallest feeling of unhappiness, but maybe that's also okay. Maybe friendship doesn't have to be that extreme. Maybe it can be a kind of calm comfort, without emotions so intense that sometimes you think you'll suffocate on them.

It's kind of nice.]

[lalliho]

[It sure is nice to consider a friendship that isn't so destructive. It suuuure is. That Jesus friendship stuff sounds Fake, though.]

I didn't have apple pie until here. We don't have a lot of fruit in Finland. I think one of the cakes has fruit?

[splinten]

There's fruit cake. It is supposedly the worst case.

[lalliho]

[what]

But cake is good and rich people like fruit.

[splinten]

In every movie ever made, fruit cake is the shitty cake the relative you hate brings you at Christmas, thereby proving to the audience and the world at large that they're the literal worst.

[lalliho]

[But...]

I don't hate Emil... And he doesn't hate me. Maybe it's different for birthdays and...whatever the thing you said was?

[splinten]

None of those are fruit cakes. They're cakes with fruit in them. Fruit cakes are more like a hard loaf of bread with candied fruits inside them.

[lalliho]

[what the fuck is happening!!!]

Then it's a bread, not a cake! [Okay, let him just...pinch the bridge of his nose and sigh... Don't confuse him into frustration while he wants to ride the high of friendship...] So it's not an apple pie and it's not a fruit cake, but you can have some of it anyway.

[splinten]

Things are named stupidly often. There are usually reasons, but it ends up being stupid anyway.

[That's just a fact about fruitcake.]

Yeah I'd like that. Thanks.

[lalliho]

Okay. Are you better again?

[He looks much better, but you never know.]

[splinten]

I wasn't ever not better.

[He's always cool, Lalli. ALWAYS]

[lalliho]

Dirk.

[Dirk.]

Don't be stupid.

[splinten]

I'm not being stupid. Do I have to have the 'people don't like admitting to weakness' conversation with you, too?

[lalliho]

[Did you know Lalli can do something so typically human like roll his eyes? He can!]

My cousin cries all the time and pretends he doesn't. [Hm... Wonder how he'll deal with...

...Anyway.] That's stupid, though. Pretending he doesn't cry doesn't change why he cries, or that people know he cries. It just makes him a liar to people that care.

[splinten]

No, it gives him the space to deal with things in his own way how he feels he needs to instead of rubbing in his face something that makes him feel weak and stupid.

[lalliho]

[quirks an eyebrow up...]

Maybe. But Onni doesn't really deal with things a lot.

[Lalli straightens out with a big stretch and a groan before looking towards the Cake Zone.]

...I understand some of it. But I was just asking so I didn't assume the wrong thing or make you do something you weren't ready for. A lot of times, I'm not good at knowing. Or figuring out someone is lying. I think that for some things, simple is better for everyone.

[splinten]

[Lalli isn't wrong. Dirk knows that from his own life. But—

He hates being weak. He hates people knowing he's weak. He hates failing.

He chokes all that back and says,]

Thanks. I do honestly appreciate it.

Let's get to the cake, though.

[Cake is way easier than feelings okay.]