The All-Purpose Room, Midnight Manor, Saturday Afternoon

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

As far as Cal was aware, Arden had set this whole thing up to celebrate his win in paintball. After remembering the All-Purpose room existed and getting permission from Steven to use it, Arden had programmed in a decent-sized mountain for them to climb. If her side had a lot more hand- and footholds than Cal Climbing-Would-Be-My-Middle-Name Kestis' had, well...sometimes mountains grew that way. Or whatever. Hush.

Of course, what Cal didn't know was that while Arden was keeping him busy with a climb, BD-1 (the true architect of this party) and Kamala were busy setting up everything for the party proper. The top of the mountain turned into a beautiful landscape dominated by verdant trees so big there were houses built into them, with mountains shrouded in mist far in the distance, dominated by a tree even larger still. Arden had been very glad that BD-1 was able to communicate with Midnight, too; he'd had a very specific idea of how Kashyyyk was supposed to look and there was no way that she could have translated binary well enough to have pulled it off. Of course, beautiful alien vista or not, this was an Earth birthday party and some things were absolutely required. So there were a bunch of moddable pizzas (including two vegan, and several with very spicy toppings), soda, bowls of chips and popcorn, a fruit and a veggie platter, and, the centerpiece of it all: a chocolate and pistachio ice cream cake from Chilly Boulder with HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY CAL! written on it.

And probably red Squishies, because Kamala had been deputized for setup.

Welcome to Keshyyyk, everybody. Hope you brought your party hats.

[Friends, neighbors, frenemies, and especially GFFA folks, please feel free to assume you've gotten an invitation emailed, texted, sent via droid and/or carrier pigeon...whatever! However it got to you, please show up and help Cal celebrate his twenty-first birthday in style!]

Comments

Arrive and Mingle

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Always the most popular of the OCD

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[what_big_teeth]

Eleanor knew that whatever Arden was going to put together for this would be incredible, but she wasn't expecting it to be quite this incredible. So at least the gawking appreciation of it managed to pull her a little bit out of her usual party-related nervousness when she showed up, with a small wrapped present (there was nothing quite like having to find a present for someone to highlight that you didn't know them very well, but she figured anyone could like and use a nice journal and a fancy pen), a little on the early side of things just in case Arden and Kamala needed any further help in setting things up.

But she came in feeling like they definitely had it covered!

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[slothbabyproductions]

After all the guests had been elevated to the party, Kamala made her way over to Eleanor. Of course she brought her a squishy.

“Arden went all out for this, didn’t she?” Kamala said looking around at the setting.

This of course should not have been a surprise at all to Kamala.

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Oh hey, Ellie, you made it!" Arden said after catching her breath taking a few moments to appreciate how everything had come together. She grinned. "Glad you're here, maybe together we can convince Kamala to eat a single vegetable."

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[slothbabyproductions]

Of course there were Squishes there! In a cooler of course because Kamal couldn’t figure out how to get a working Squishy machine to the top of the mountain.

Yes, she could have asked Midnight but she didn’t think of that.

So until Cal showed up, Kamala was set to mingle and also work as the elevator service to the top of the mountain.

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Thanks, bestie," Arden said, giving Kamala a hug. "Couldn't have done it without you."

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[singlenakedwhat]

"Hey, uh. Heard it was your birthday last week?" Henry said as she approached Kamala.

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[singlenakedwhat]

Henry had been lying real low the last few weeks, but was finally feeling up to what passed for her as social again.

Which mostly meant she was hanging out on the periphery of everything with a soda and a slice of pizza.

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Arden was, in fact, a little surprised to see her but offered a smile and a nod of welcome. "Hey," she said with a wave. "How've you been?"

Weird weekend? What weird weekend? Arden didn't know what anyone was talking about.

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[hasaknightjob]

Steven and Llewellyn who would ping in later certainly wouldn't miss one of their resident's birthdays. They came by when it seemed like there might be enough people about to say hello to.

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Steven!" Arden said, bouncing over with a bright grin. "Thank you again for letting us use this space. And you, too, Midnight! This was perfect!"

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[pocketpretzels]

Watts was indeed here, having beelined for the food, unsurprisingly. It wasn't long, though, before he appeared at Steven's side with a slice of vegan pizza for each of them.

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[unusual_sith]

"Hello, Steven!" Lana smiled. "How have you been?"

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[unusual_sith]

Lana did not have a party hat. Which was probably good - Sith hats were ridiculous.

She did, however, have herself and a nicely-wrapped present. Hopefully that was good enough.

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

In fairness, party hats had neither been expected or provided, so Lana was in good company.

"Professor Ben--err, Professor Lana!" Look, it took some practice to get Arden comfortable with calling adults she didn't see on the regular by their unadorned first name. "Thank you for coming!"

SURPRISE!!

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

And finally he reaches the summit of the mountain! Once Cal pings in, have at with the birthday greetings!

Re: SURPRISE!!

[moreofaponchoguy]

Cal was in a great mood as he made it to the top of the mountain. He had been careful to not get too far ahead of Arden, to show her where to hold and move next, while also making sure he was ahead of her because hi, he was great at this sort of thing.

When Cal got to the top, he stopped for a second as his hands hit fertile grass, and stared for a moment as he pulled himself up. He knew this place, where parts were still beautiful and untouched by the Empire, and he just took it all in until BD-1 ran over and perched on his leg.

"Surprise!" he cheered.

"Uh, what's all this?" Cal asked. They'd already had a birthday party last week, surely this wasn't something like that?

Re: SURPRISE!!

[slothbabyproductions]

"Surprise!" Kamala shouted with a giddy bounce. "And it's your birthday party, you big goof!"

She shoved a wrapped cardboard tube that was capped on both ends. It also had a ridiculous bow on it as well.

If Cal were to unwrap it, he would find a drawing that (a very much modded) BD had helped with. It was a comic style drawing of the interior of the Stinger Mantis and showed Cere, Greez, Merrin, BD, and Cal all relaxing and laughing with each other.

There was also another drawing of a recent movie night at Midnight with Arden, BD, and Cal snuggled up on the couch with Dean and Remy drinking beer in the background. Illyana, Eleanor and Kamala were sitting on the floor eating popcorn and watching the movie and giggling. Steven and Watts were on the other couch watching everyone with a look of contenment and pride at their residents. Even Marc and Henry were in the picture looking in on the group from the doorway.

Re: SURPRISE!!

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Surprise," Arden said from behind him, wearing a very smug and sassy smile. If he asked, she was going to insist that she'd been so slow at times to give everybody a chance to get ready.

And some of that might even be true!

Re: SURPRISE!!

[what_big_teeth]

Eleanor's social shyness prevented her from really joining in on the big shout of surprise (she figured Kamala would cover it enthusiastically enough for the both of them, anyway), but she did, at some point, come up to Cal to offer a "Hi, Cal," a "Happy birthday", and offer out her small gift for him.

"It isn't much," she warned him, "but I still wanted to het you something."

And if it just ended up collecting dust in a corner of his room somewhere, she'd think it was a terrible waste of a decent journal and pen, but she'd also understand.

Re: SURPRISE!!

[hasaknightjob]

"Cal!" Steven said, cheerfully. "Happy birthday. May you have many more."

Re: SURPRISE!!

[pocketpretzels]

Watts still didn't understand the appeal of surprise parties, though other people seemed to like them. Most importantly in this moment, Cal seemed to be pleased. And that, of course, was what mattered.

"Mr. Kestis. Many happy returns."

Re: SURPRISE!!

[singlenakedwhat]

"So, uh," Henry said, hands shoved in her jean pockets. "Happy birthday. I hear."

Other Stuff

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

There's food! (A lot of food, actually, considering it's Cal.) Watch several of those pizzas, though; they're extra-spicy. There are speakers playing music cleverly inset into the trees. There are trees to climb if you are side you missed getting here the long way. There are vines to swing on and even a beautiful lake to jump (or fall) into if that's your thing.

Anyway, if you wanna do something other than mingle? This is your spot!

OOC

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

The truest love: