oh, it's your birthday? (semi-closed)

[skaikru]

Who: Jade Curtiss' Birthday Brigade
When: 11/22
Where: 109
Summary: You ever be sitting in a Red Robin and feel a sense of dread as waiters approach with a cupcake...
Warnings: None yet

( in the end, it's relatively simple. tear recognized the date in jade's journal, tear mentions it to clarke, clarke mentions it to rita, and so forth. the wheels of plotting kick into motion and, without a lot of fretting, a plan falls into place.

a small handful of people receive the following text about a week prior: )

Tuesday. 11/22/(????). 109. 6pm.

( there's maybe a little agonizing over decorations and appropriate birthday customs. there's not enough trust in asking gal friday for an ice cream cake outright, but they'll make due. maybe someone can roll and staple pieces of notebook paper into party hats eventually, but the main goal was to keep their mutual, unsuspecting prey in the dark until the very last moment.

make no mistake, they're coming for you, colonel. )

Comments

ARRIVAL

[skaikru]

( come the day and appropriate time, people start to knock on the door and trickle in... )

[skaikru]

( clarke will be first, and it's not an unnatural sight. there are day long stretches where she's basically a third cabinmate and has absolutely slept on the floor before. what's more important, her poker face is immaculate when natsuno lets her in, and she'll make a beeline for the coffee table in order to start clearing away unloading packages of chips and candy bars

also not an uncommon sight, her hoarding tendencies are well known. but feel free to posit on how weird it is to be stashing them all here, and how excessive the amount brought seems to be, jade. )

nothing is even happening yet and im already laughing smh

[fonomena]

[Indeed, Clarke visiting cabin 109 is hardly a particularly notable thing these days. Even in the very beginning, neither Natsuno nor Clarke had ever bothered to warn Jade in advance about potential visits...and by now, Natsuno letting Clarke come bustling in through the door every few days or so is pretty much a practical routine of the ship.

And so, on this particular day, when she comes breezing inside...she simply gets a slight nod of greeting from where Jade. The picture of a supremely unsuspecting victim where he sits on the couch, just sort of idly nursing a cup of coffee for the evening. As you do, in a very normal hour of very normal downtime, when you don't expect anything particularly exciting to be happening anytime particularly soon.

...Though.

Those are kind of a lot of bags. Huh.

Jade arches his eyebrows at her over the rim of his mug, with a half-amused smile, as the coffee table is promptly obliterated with snacks.]

My my...finally ran out of room for stashing things in your cabin, have you?

Re: ARRIVAL

[hellonspectacles]

Palamedes comes into 109 as part of what we are going to call the second (and slightly more puzzling) wave of arrivals. It isn’t that he never visits the cabin that Jade and Natsuno share, but his visits are decidedly rarer than Clarke’s or Rita’s. In order to avoid suspicion, he knows he is going to need a reason for stopping by.

He comes in carrying a lumpy package awkwardly wrapped in a Tommy Bahama scarf (the closest thing to wrapping paper he can find) under one arm and his notebook under the other. “Colonel!” he says cheerfully—probably too cheerfully—“You’ll be pleased to know that my latest experiment yielded some interesting results…”

Then he stops and looks around the room. “Goodness, it’s getting crowded in here, isn’t it?”

Nailed it.

[fonomena]

It's true, occasions where Pal happens to stop by cabin 109 happen to be rather fewer and farther between. Looking back on this tide of visitors with the context of retrospect, Jade's going to come away from all this wondering if they all even went so far as to tactically plan their order of visitation before springing this ridiculous surprise upon him...because Jade has been eased into a fair amount of exasperated complacence by the initial arrivals of Clarke and Rita. Easily explained away, those particular coincidences...but--

Well, the expression on Jade's face around this point is mildly incredulous at the very least, when Pal invites himself inside. That is kind of a lot of cheer over there, and that sure is a lumpy package he's got under one arm...

"Just a tad, yes," Jade intones from his position on one side of the couch, eyebrows arching as he gives Pal a very...speculative look, across the way. "I hope you have a sweet tooth, though it would surprise me somewhat. ...You may as well come inside--here--" Shifting over, some sitting room is formed between Jade and the Tommy Bahama bag Rita had dropped on the other end of the couch earlier, when she'd arrived. "Latest experiment, you say?"

Perhaps not the question he could be asking, but certainly a question he can be asking. Curious as to how Pal answers, here...

Because coincidences sure are piling upon coincidences in this room, all of a sudden--

[qliphoths]

[ whoever opens the door for tear is greeted with a nod and brief levelled
gaze.

her poker face had never been as solidly impassible as the colonel's himself,
but remaining calm under pressure was a forte of hers. she walks rather casually
over to the table to put down some snacks of her own (she'd selected savoury
ones to balance out the sweets she'd presumed would be overwhelmingly present).
there were little baked goods made with cheese and herbs, chips, crackers and nuts that
she'd taken from the buffet.

when she's done setting them out, she chooses to situate herself right next to jade,
hands folding calmly on her lap. ]

Good evening. You seem well, Colonel.

[ there's a small hint of teasing to her voice, under its usual monotony.
tear knows him well enough to be sure he's calculating possibilities about
what's going on -- wondering, maybe suspicious.

at least, it's a little fun to think of him that way. ]

[fonomena]

[Considering these cabins are generally designed for two people at a given time, maybe a third visitor in a pinch...things are getting decidedly crowded in here, by the time Tear arrives. This newest addition to the increasingly baffling number of people--and the fact that she also brings in snacks, the sort that even seem deliberately selected to relieve the quantity of sweeter things already on the table--both combine to result in Jade...giving her a Look, as she promptly settles down right beside him afterwards.

He hears that hint of teasing, Tear! "Wondering" about this entire situation is really putting it incredibly lightly, at this point, and--]

My, good evening to you as well. You certainly seem quite unbothered, presently. [Unsurprisingly, there's a dryly sardonic tint to his tone by this time, emphasized by the small beat of a pause that falls between them.] ...What, exactly...is going on here, Tear?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

[skaikru]

( be it with a collective yell or just a casual passing mention, now the jig is now up and they get to collectively bask in the glow of... jade curtiss' mortification! oh this is going to be delightful. )

CAKE

[skaikru]

( maybe nobody asked friday outright for a cake, but they've done there best. after birthday wishes are exchanged, seemingly out of nowhere manifests a metric shit ton of chocolate cake slices and brownies. in addition to mint chocolate chip ice cream, because rita mentioned he liked "toothpaste flavors" and this was the least suspicious thing scoops offered along those lines. it's gonna be delicious, but it's also going to be a melty mess. )

melty cake meet questionable cookies

[myagic]

[So one of the things weighing down her tote bag was a plate loaded with messily frosted shortbread cookies, which Rita has added to the dessert pile. Now, she could've done the sensible thing and sourced the mint chip ice cream like Clarke did, or maybe peppermint patties from the sundries shop.

Instead, she did the genius thing: nab cookies from the cafe, and take inspiration from her own toothpaste flavours comment to its natural conclusion--the icing on the cookies was vanilla frosting scooped from cupcakes at the buffet, mixed with actual toothpaste. Hey, toothpaste is made to go in the mouth, so obviously it's not bad for you, right?

Go on, eat the cookies.]

[neverleave]

[The egg sandwich debacle proved that culinary was NOT one of Rita Mordio's talents, but perhaps being forced to eat it taught her the error of her ways. Curiosity gets the better of Natsuno as he takes one cookie. He can smell something minty, but the ice cream is also minty, so he's fairly unsuspecting...

Still, it's better to check before he takes a bite. He glances at Rita.]

Did you try one already?

[fonomena]

[Goodness, really, as if the snacks on the coffee table weren't already quite enough to contend with...

Truth be told, Jade doesn't generally harbor much of a sweet tooth as a general rule, but--now there's the obligation of all this afoot, and he may or may not still be trying to regain his footing from the absolute mortification of the earlier surprise. So, still mildly struggling with a range of feeling somewhere between embarrassment and exasperation and blindsided appreciation, he...does opt to help himself to a smaller bowl of ice cream, in the end. It's something to do with his hands and focus, at least, as he alternates between this and frowning in consternation at the absolute crowd of well-meaning associates milling about the room at this point.]

I suppose in one sense it's rather fortunate there aren't any usable kitchens available on this ship...I cannot imagine what you all might have gotten up to in there otherwise. [He can recognize that these desserts likely have origins in Scoops and the sweets area of the buffet--but there's not actually anything too disparaging in his tone here, at least. Hard to muster such a thing, when the effort here still speaks for itself. He's just...thoroughly bemused, still, mostly......] --Not a bad selection of flavors, all told. But this ice cream isn't going to last long. If we wish to keep it from outright becoming a drink before the end of the night, we ought to move some of it into the bit of freezer storage we have in here...

[Referring, of course, to the top half of the mini fridge that occupies the standard layout of every cabin aboard the ship...! About time they got some proper food-related mileage out of it in here, honestly.]

[sabigoe]

[ Taking place a little after this top-level because I too wanted to comment underneath the cake top-level.

Perhaps Fio may have overheard the title from Palamedes nearby. Or Tear. Fio does not know anyone who's a "Colonel" but that seems to be what they're calling him. Fio shuffles over to Jade, holding her own bowl of ice cream with two spoons shoved into it. (The second one is to play pretend with Judith... shhh...) ]

Mr. Specs...? Why are you "the Colonel"?

[sabigoe]

[ This is the second birthday party that Fio has the chance to attend this month! She's probably part of the last few visitors to slip into the room. She always knew of Jade's cabin number, but it's the first that she's ever set foot into the room. While Fio's wearing her favorite jumper dress today, her hair is styled a little differently from the usual twintails. Tied in a thick braid hanging in front of her shoulder, with a ribbon at the end. Along with a plain black headband on top of her head that seems to be a great addition to complete the rest of her look. She had braided her hair just as Jade taught her, but it's a little more neatly done compared to when she first learned.

Her plus one is of course, Judith the teddy bear-- who has miraculously returned with rainbow stitches. As usual, it floats silently in a fixed position slightly behind her owner. Fio will never forget the experience of having her soul lost in the last month, but she appears to be in a far better mood than earlier in the month if she isn't clutching her stuffed animal close at all times. Her smile is happier, no longer forced or weak.

Unfortunately, she didn't have a chance to get a gift. But among the brownies and ice cream, there might be one cupcake that sticks out. The other visitors may have seen Fio slip the cupcake in with the rest of the treats, along with a small piece of peppermint candy still in its wrapper. Fio had grabbed a vanilla-frosted cupcake from the buffet and decorated it with some of the candies from the bag of Halloween goodies from Castor. Red candy M&Ms for the eyes, colorful sour candy strings and belts for the glasses, smiley mouth and hair. (Pretend it's decorated a bit like this...) This looks like a rather crudely done cupcake of Jade's face... ]

It looks just like Mr. Specs, doesn't it?

[ She smiles proudly! COLONEL??? WHO'S THE COLONEL? ]

[neverleave]

[It's nice to see Fio in a better mood and with Judith in toe. Natsuno takes one look at the cupcake and immediately snaps a photo with his phone. He briefly considers making fun of "Mr. Specs", then remembers that he's "Yuuyu" so laughing at Jade's nickname will only encourage him to mock him right back.]

It does. Good job, blondie. Maybe just -

[He adjusts some of the sour candy to give the smiling cupcake downturned eyebrows.]

Now it looks like it's telling a bad joke.

GROUP MINGLING

[skaikru]

( this is here as a free for all of threadjacking each other's conversations and/or roasting jade excessively. )

[skaikru]

( about an hour into this makeshift party, when some of the surprise has melted away and it's become just a small gathering of familiar faces and cake, cupcake, brownies, and awful cookies have been picked over, clarke decidedly...

will be That Asshole. and calls directly at jade, loud enough to override any other conversations going on: )

I think this is when you're supposed to give a speech.

[myagic]

[Rita doesn't even care whether or not this is expected at birthdays, she's delighted to back Clarke up on this one, calling out even more loudly (just in case Jade thinks he's going to ignore this, because ohhhhh no).]

Yeah, come on! Let's hear your appreciation, Mister Specs.

[As long as the party is all about embarrassing Jade and all...]

GIFT EXCHANGE

[skaikru]

( we're teenagers, not savages. of course there's presents! )

[myagic]

[For as long as Rita can remember, she's never given someone a birthday gift, but she learned that it's apparently a thing people do. And, well...sure, she doesn't have to do things according to anyone else's customs, and she can give someone a gift anytime, anywhere, birthday or not!!

...No, she totally didn't wrack her brains for days trying to think of something good, haha, of course not... Who would ever think that...

Anyway!! When "happy birthday"s have been exchanged and cake eaten and Jade already thoroughly embarrassed (ha, now that's a sight!), Rita at some point approaches Jade, equal parts pleased and flustered and smug and anxious (sure, the cookies didn't go over as well as she expected...but this is where she put all of her true genius, anyway!!).]

It's time.

[Not menacing at all, surely. Anyway, Jade's going to get that Tommy Bahama tote bag shoved toward him to take.]

Here--now open it!

[Inside, he'll find a notebook filled with Rita's messy scrawl as well as...her cat dictionary. Once he uncovers them both, she has a comment about the dictionary-]

I'm only letting you borrow that one, okay? But the other's yours.

[fonomena]

[Rita, you...really need to work on not making even the most mundane of things sound incredibly menacing, we're going from "making you a grave" to saying "it's time" like some kind of grim undertaking is about to start--

But maybe it is kind of a grim undertaking, in one sense!! ...On Jade's end, at least. Jade, who had a grand total of 1.5 actual friends and varying gradients of invested family for the majority of his life--who would generally tend to actively discourage gifts from anyone at every opportunity, especially birthdays--and who's already never quite dealt with a surprise party as flagrant as this one happens to be. ...Objectively, it shouldn't be a surprise that gifts would be starting to pop up here too, yet another car on this embarrassment train...but there's knowing this, versus experiencing this...

...Well, at least there's been some time for the greater bemusement to wear off. Jade's eyeing Rita's approach with a fairly decent poker face by now, though those toothpaste cookies sure are a more recent memory here.]

Oh, of course, far be it from me to object. [A bit dryly, as he catches the bag being aggressively shoved into his arms--!] Your air of confidence implies that this isn't another poisoning attempt...so, let's see, then--

[--Oh. Oh, that's--of course he recognizes the uncovered dictionary, when it also happened to be the very first magic tome from her home that she'd shown him. ...Though where the magic properties actually come in between the pages of cat pictures remains a bit of a mystery. But. All the same, it's unexpected and ridiculous enough in equal measures that an amused smile does cross Jade's features, quite despite himself.]

Borrowing--naturally. You must have been quite reluctant to part with this...I ought to consider myself honored, I'm sure. [He actually is a bit surprised Rita would part with it for awhile, honestly? ...And he probably could use the opportunity to investigate the magic properties past the cats, honestly...but actually saying that aloud would be sappy and gross, of course, so a very mildly sardonic lilt must be applied to the words. ...It wavers again pretty clearly, too, in favor of a burgeoning intrigue when Jade turns his attention to a rather less colorful but no less distinct notebook. ...Hmm? Let's flip this open, actually--] Ah, but what's this? I see your handwriting here...

[skaikru]

( nearer to the end of gift giving, it's clarke's turn to corner him by the desk and slide into jade's immediate field of vision to hand over the present she'd brought him. it'd lived beneath all the snack packs and candy in her camp issued rucksack, and now gets to see the light of day when withdrawn and proffered to the birthday b...oy. man. colonel.

it's a familiar rectangular shape, pretty easily parsed as a book though any telling titles are obscured with that same nautical wrapping paper gal friday dresses all their regains sundries presents with. there's also a card taped to one corner, a torn piece of composition ruled paper folded in half — inside of which he'll find a small doodle of a bespectacled snowman holding a spear, with a neatly written Happy Birthday, Jade beneath it. )

It's not much, but I thought of you while reading it.

[neverleave]

[Natsuno's present comes in a small sundries box, neatly wrapped and with a ribbon. Inside there's a rubik's cube, which he smashed the claw machine to get.]

It's a puzzle.

[hellonspectacles]

[Like everyone else’s gifts, Palamedes’ is rather ad-hoc, scrounged from what could be acquired from the confines of the Serena Eterna and dressed with with ribbons and wrapping—or, in Pal’s case, a scarf folded around a small stack of books. At the time, he had thought that the colorful Tommy Bahama wrap would give his gift a festive brightness, but it mostly looks like the kind of bundle a very nerdy pre-adolescent would put together after reading The Boxcar Children one too many times.

But it’s the gift inside that matters, right? And he is pretty pleased with his choices: three mystery novels he had found in the library and had quite enjoyed. Pal hadn’t even figured out who the murderer was until at least a third of the way through each the books, so he hopes they won’t bore Jade completely.

Attached to the package is a folded up piece of blank stationary that serves as a card. The front reads 'Happy Birthday!' and includes a rather good drawing of a skull. Inside it says,

You are Invited to join Palamedes Sextus
For a Day of Scientific Exploration
One week hence
In the Serena Eterna Infirmary. ]

SIDE CONVOS

[skaikru]

( aka the ones you don't want threadjacked, if any )