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

Re: SURPRISE!!

[moreofaponchoguy]

"This is perfect, thank you," Cal said. A place to write his thoughts down where no one else would be subjected to them was, in fact, an amazing gift. "Did you know this was happening when we talked last week?"

No judgement, he was just trying to figure out how long his friends had been sneaking around.

Re: SURPRISE!!

[what_big_teeth]

Eleanor gave a faintly apologic smile. "I did," she confessed, and the birthday secrets, it would seem, May never end with Arden's still on the horizon! "I was actually on back-up to help in case Kamala was still a sloth by this weekend," a detail that should help with figuring out the timeline of scheming a little!, "but, thankfully, that didn't end up being an issue at all."

Re: SURPRISE!!

[moreofaponchoguy]

"Thank you for the mental image of Kamala as a sloth trying to slooowly help set things up," Cal said with a laugh. "I'm glad it didn't come to that. I don't think I've ever had such a nice celebration for myself before."

Re: SURPRISE!!

[what_big_teeth]

Well, now Eleanor was wondering if she could convince Kamala to actually draw that mental picture.

"If she'd have stayed a sloth, we probably wouldn't be celebrating until next week. But I'm glad you're enjoying it. Arden did such a great job with it. Well, and BD, as well." She gave the little droid a smile, with a small wave. "I heard he had a big hand in it as well."

Re: SURPRISE!!

[moreofaponchoguy]

"Yeah, that's BD. He likes to get himself into everything," Cal said, while BD-1 made a pleased beeping noise. "I'm going to have to put a bell on him so he stops sneaking off and telling people all my secrets. Are you a fan of surprise parties?"

Re: SURPRISE!!

[what_big_teeth]

"I've never really been a very big fan of even just parties in general," Eleanor admitted, "much less surprise ones. What about you? Are parties for birthdays a big things where you're from?"

Re: SURPRISE!!

[moreofaponchoguy]

Cal toned the "Nooope," back a little to not make it sound like he didn't know anything about parties, because that seemed more traumatic than it was. "We have big celebrations for big things, but birthdays are more of a private affair. They should involve more ice cream cakes though, I have to admit."