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

[what_big_teeth]

"Thanks," said Eleanor, relaxing a little into a soft smile, and it had nothing to do with the fact that she had a Squishy now. Although that did help, because something about having a drink in your hand helped dull some of the social awkwardness.

"And yeah," she then agreed, letting her eyes trail over the setting again as she took a sip, "she really did. This place is beautiful."

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

[what_big_teeth]

"That's a pretty lofty goal," said Eleanor, snorting faintly, and entitely blaming her sudden bout of wit on recent poetry recitation clearly still having her feel a bit lyrical, "even for this elevation. But do you think she'll notice if I tried blending one into her Squishy one of these days?"

And she grinned back at Arden, a bit easier now with things getting under way.

"You guys have done a really great job with all of this, by the way," she added, figuring it wouldn't hurt to let Arden know her hard work had paid off nicely from her vantage so far. "It's beautiful ."

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

[slothbabyproductions]

“What are friends for?” Kamala said returning the hug, gleefully. “Besides I did not want to disappoint BD. Droid disappointment is the worst disappointment.”

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[singlenakedwhat]

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

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[slothbabyproductions]

"Oh! Hi, Henry!" Kamala said with a grin. "Yeah, I was actually a sloth on my birthday? But Arden and Eleanor through a little thing on Saturday. How are you doing?"

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

[singlenakedwhat]

"Eh," Henry wrinkled her nose. If she hadn't been holding a plate in one hand and a can in the other, she probably would have made a 'so-so' gesture to accompany it. "You know. Getting on, I guess. Uh," she added after a pause. "You?"

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

[hasaknightjob]

"Of course!" Steven said. "It's as you wanted it? No changes needed?"

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

[hasaknightjob]

"Thank you, love," Steven said. "It's thoughtful for them to include us."

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Hello, Detective," Arden said with a smile. "Glad to see you and Steven."

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[unusual_sith]

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

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[hasaknightjob]

"Lana, hello!" Steven said with a cheerful wave. "Well, thank you. Yourself?"

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!"

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[unusual_sith]

Lana laughed. "I'll accept 'Professor Lana'. And you're welcome; thank you for inviting me. It's good of you to do this for Cal."