Forums » General Roleplay » Summer Soiree: Birthday Party [...] (closed)

((Hey hey! So this is my very first Summer Soiree topic, and I'm excited but also pretty nervous to post it. I was originally going to do something else entirely, but the characters that would have hosted that event are still a major work in progress; I don't have the energy to finish them and didn't want to post with such a disasterous profile... so instead, I'm doing this! I hope it interests at least a few people, that everyone has lots of fun, and that I don't get too overwhelmed haha.
As a quick heads-up, I intend to keep this topic open until July 12th, or possibly the 13th, since certain Life Things™ which will be happening after that time will mean I probably can't participate much afterwards.
And one last thing: this technically is meant to take place on modern(ish)-day Earth, but if you want to bring in sci-fi, fantasy, or other types of characters, I won't complain!
But anyway, with that stuff out of the way... onto the summer festivities!))

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12:48 P.M.. Aspen saw the time as they checked their phone for the sixth time within the last half hour. They were anxious, not that they would admit it. See, today was their birthday, and they were standing in the shade of a maple tree in a bright and sunny park, a soft breeze rustling the leaves above their head. This party had not been their idea. In fact, they hadn't even known about it until that morning. Their father was the one who had set it up, sending out invitations to everyone in the neighbourhood. He definitely meant well. The little two-person family was new to the area, having only moved here at the end of last month. Aspen's father had just wanted to help them make friends, by inviting any local kids or teens to celebrate Aspen's 13th birthday with them. And Aspen appreciated the thought, they really did. They had dressed up and everything (if changing out their t-shirt for a mossy green button-up and wearing their one pair of pants without any holes counted as dressing up.) But the whole thing felt a little bit weird, inviting total strangers to celebrate for a kid they never met and might not even like.
Would anyone even show up? Were there even other kids around here? Aspen's father hadn't said anything about who was or was not coming, just that they would have to wait and see. So here they were, waiting. They were trying to be optimistic, because maybe some people really would show up and they could have fun and make some new friends. But there was still that worry, of 'what if no-one shows up and they all think we're ridiculous and when I go to school in September they'll know me as that weird kid who tried to have a birthday party with strangers, haha, what a loser, and they'll all hate me—'
They checked the time again. 12:51. Aspen let out a sigh, and their father looked over from where he sat on a wooden bench.
"Aspen," He said to them, "You need to stop worrying, and stop checking the time. The guests will get here when they get here."
Aspen nodded, resolutely shoving their phone into a pocket of their pants. They closed their eyes, took a deep breath, and put on a smile. 'Have to stay positive', they thought. After all, their father had put in all the effort to set this up for them. Putting in effort was something he rarely did, so Aspen felt they had to be grateful for that. Besides, he seemed to firmly believe that there would be guests, so maybe there really would be.
Opening their eyes again, Aspen took another look around the park. There wasn't much here, just a few picnic tables and benches, along with a lot of trees (which was nice, because they provided shade from the sun.) To make things a bit more festive, balloons were tied to each table leg, and on the table nearest to Aspen's father sat a stack of paper plates decorated with a pattern of shells and sea creatures, along with a large cooler filled with cans of pop and lemonade (plus a top secret dessert that Aspen wasn't allowed to know about yet.) Aside from that, there was no food anywhere; that would be provided a bit later into the day, as promised on the invitations Aspen's father had sent out. Of course, the invitations also listed an address (this very park), the starting time of the event (1:00 P.M.), and a phone number to contact Aspen's father before the party, if needed.
Aspen leaned back against the maple tree. A bright green balloon was tied to their left wrist, and they bopped it back and forth between their hands as they watched for any cars or pedestrians to approach the park. Of course, there was always the chance of people arriving who weren't here for the party at all, but even so, anyone could stop by without being invited, if the sight of the event interested them. A banner hanging between two of the trees read "HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASPEN!!!" in big, brightly-coloured letters, so it was pretty obvious what was going on here.

Whenever Mixie was not occupying her time with gorging herself on whatever remotely edible creature or object was available to her, Mixie loved spending her time scaring the ever-living daylights out of people. She considered it a hobby. One she was particularly good at, no less.

However, her most recent attempt at this game was met with a rather... unconventional turn.

Just as she had let out her most bellowing roar, putting on her scariest face, and finished watching a young girl scream and run for the hills, Mixie noticed the girl had dropped something in all the chaos. Curiously, the demon went and picked it up.

"A... birthday party invitation?" Mixie squinted, another set of eyes appearing on her cheeks. "Bein' held today? At 1 o'clock?"

She hadn't been to a birthday party in... well, ever. Never invited to any when she was younger, and there was no way she'd be invited to any now. Perhaps... this was the time to finally see what she's been missing out on? Not only that, but a chance at getting free food? That was something she could not turn down.

However, she couldn't show up to the party looking like this! That was just asking for trouble. She's scared plenty of people already today, what if one of them was at the party and opted to call the police? They'd have definitely realized Mixie's appearance wasn't just a well-made cosplay. It was the real-deal.

...This called for a human disguise.

Not long before the party was about to officially begin, Mixie had managed to steal borrow some clothes: A sundress with sunflower patterns, a white sun hat in the same colour, and a pair of sunglasses. It did not conceal the entirety of Mixie's demonic appearance, but most of it was better than none of it. Her lower arms, tail, and legs were all concealed by the dress, the hat concealed her horns, and the sunglasses concealed her eyes. All suited up, she made her way to the party.

"Now now, doll, behave yourself," She muttered to herself. "No attackin' people, no eatin' them, no nothin'. Just play nice, and you won't get in trouble! Simple as that."

Indeed, she'd have to be on her best behavior should she want to stay at the party. Speaking of which, she had just shown up, and... it was looking a bit empty. Though to be fair, it had only just begun. Maybe some other people were late.

"Hellooo?" She called out. "Anyone there?"

"Hey! Hey!" Aspen had just caught sight of Mixie's approach, and was now jumping up and down in excitement. "Someone's here! It's a person!" They said gleefully, addressing their father (who had already noticed Mixie and really didn't need Aspen to point her out, not that he could complain about the kid's enthusiasm.)
"Heeey! Welcome to the party!" They called out to Mixie. Aspen grabbed the string of a bright yellow balloon, untying it from the table where it had just been attached. They then scampered towards Mixie with a big grin, their optimism renewed. Someone had shown up! There really would be a party! ... She was here for the party, right?
...
"You are here for the party, right?"

"Of course I am, doll!" Mixie held up the invitation. "I mean, I've never been formally invited to a birthday party before, so this was my chance!"

She readjusted her sunglasses to avoid revealing her crimson eyes as she glossed over the invitation again. "Thanks for that, by the way... Eh, Aspen?"

She wanted to give Aspen one of her classic, toothy grins, but refrained from doing so to avoid showing off her shark teeth. "The name's Mixie, by the way! I'm kinda... new around town. So when I got this invitation, I was a bit surprised, y'know?"

Ohhhh, if only Aspen knew that this invitation was technically stolen from the girl who originally received it...

Mixie held out a hand to shake. Her claws were quite long and sharp... however, due to how unnaturally white they were, Mixie could easily pass them off as being fake.

"Yup, I'm Aspen!" They nodded cheerfully. "It's nice to meet you! And I'm so glad you showed up!" They beamed, completely unaware that anything was out of the ordinary here. Not that they would have minded too much, anyway. Aspen was all for chaos. It was their dad who would have a real problem if any of Mixie's secrets were revealed.
After shaking Mixie's clawed hand (a little awkwardly because they weren't one for formalities), Aspen held out the yellow balloon so that their guest could take it. They briefly considered that Mixie's (what they thought to be) fake nails must have taken a long time to put on, as well as being very fragile and easily broken. It seemed really inconvenient in their opinion, but eh, to each their own!
"Your dress is really pretty, by the way," They commented, totally oblivious to the fact that Mixie's entire outfit was stolen property. They also took notice of how short Mixie was— tall when compared to Aspen themself, but still very short relative to the average human. They wondered how old she was. Probably a teenager, they figured, but beyond that Aspen wasn't too sure.

"Isn't it?" Mixie had a look at the intricate sunflower patterns. "I just got it. It's nice and cool! Managed to get myself a matching hat, too. Heh."

Mixie happily took the balloon. Noticing how Aspen had tied it around their wrist, she opted to do the same. Normally, she'd use her second set of arms for something like this, but unfortunately, she could not. Least, she couldn't without foiling her disguise. It was quite a struggle to do it with one hand, but fortunately her ambidexterity made it a little easier.

She has also noticed she was actually the taller one here. Quite an interesting change of pace. Aspen couldn't be that old- she believed the invitation said they were turning 13? Sheesh, they were nowhere near done growing. Mixie was a young adult, 18 to be exact, and she stopped growing at 4'11". She rounded it off to 5 feet tall, if you count her horns. Mixie could blame her mother for her height. She wasn't tall, either.

The only thing that made it obvious that Mixie wasn't a child was her voice; it was a tad more gruff than your average female's.

"Well!" Aspen spun in a little circle, not for any real reason, but just because it seemed fun. "I'm, um, not sure what we should do now! I've actually never really had a birthday party before and uh, no-one else is here... But! There's going to be pizza in a bit! I hope you like pizza. Or if not, you could probably, um..." They trailed off, having lost their train of thought. "Well anyway, we could sit at one of those tables if you want," They gestured to the tables in question, and to their dad who was still seated at one, watching the two of them talk. "That's my dad over there. This whole thing was his idea, actually. But like, even so, he doesn't seem to know what he's doing either? I've never had a birthday party, so he's never thrown one. Probably should've looked at a tutorial or something. Because, like, when I asked him what we'd do at the party? He just said 'y'know, just talk and do whatever else it is that kids your age do.' Dude, I don't know, kids my age don't even like me so how should I know what we—" This time, instead of trailing off, Aspen paused abruptly. "Man, I'm really rambling." They momentarily hid their face behind their hands, grimacing because oh boy they were probably making a fool of themself and annoying this potential new friend. "S-Sorry. Um. But yeah! We can just... do whatever, I guess...? I did bring Uno and some drawing stuff. And I think the park has a playground further back, and maybe some cool nature-y stuff to see..."

Bouncing into the park, Orna looked around with a smile, swinging her takeout box in one hand, without a care in the world.
The box was paper and cardboard and plastic, and full of cake, and it had a ribbon. The cake was white and white-frosted, dairy free and Made with honey-sugar and organic ingredients. She was pretty sure someone would eat it, and her brother had insisted that she bring it - when a 'chef-in-training' had extras, they NEEDED to go somewhere good. And what better place than a party? So much he insisted that she had packed it up, kissed his cheek, and brought it with her. He would probably like the party, but he wanted to finish his technique instead, so he had stayed at home making paper-and-frosting roses.

"Hulloo!" She called, waving her invitation gently. It had been stuck to a plant in their yard earlier that day; she'd talked with her brother about it, made up her mind, and zipped her boots all the way up in preparation. Today was a day for play! "I brought a board game... Happy birthday, kiddo, I hope it's nice." She beamed at the young person of honor in the festivities, and nodded, with a slight sense of curiosity, at the beskirted person with the strange aura, and at the father of the birthday child.

"Oh!" A big smile stretched across Aspen's face as someone new approached. "Hi there!" They greeted the new arrival with enthusiasm.
Aspen had been thinking they were lucky to get one birthday guest, but now there was another! And with cake? And a board game? This was turning out so much better than they had ever expected.
"Welcome to the party! Thanks so much for coming!" They said. "I'm Aspen, this is Mixie, and my dad's over there." They pointed first to themself, then to Mixie and their father in turn. "And how 'bout you? Who might you be?"

"Who doesn't like pizza? Always a solid choice," Mixie smiled, not baring those fangs. "Especially if you've got lots of people to feed."

In reality, Mixie loved food, period. Didn't matter what- or who- it was; if it was even remotely digestible, she'd eat it. I suppose that's what being the Sin of Gluttony does to you.
Pizza was something she hadn't had in a while, though. This was already shaping to be a good idea! She even seemed to have quite a bit in common with Aspen, which was also nice.

And what's this? A newcomer! Mixie crossed her arms (just the two, let's be clear), and waved with the hand the balloon was tied around. "Hey there, mo- My friend! Good to see ya."

Orna smiled cheerily when the others were introduced, nodding politely and giving a small bow. "I am Orna Rollo, I go to an academy... pretty far from here, actually, and I'm in fashion and tech design as well as a few other... Hobbies. I like skating also, for example..."
She bared her teeth - they were quite sharp-looking.

She set the cake in its box onto a decorative rock, and removed her purse with the board game from around herself.
"You don't have to play, of course," she said, in advance, "and it's not exactly a big kid game, but to be honest I wasn't sure what we'd be doing. And it's nice to get to know each other."

The rules on the box involved dice, categories, and cards with facts. Players rolled a 9-sided die, and the one with the highest number got to choose the card category. Then a card was drawn, and a fact about the category was on the card along with a picture. The categories were sharks, dinosaurs, plants, birds, fruits, and vegetables. It did indeed seem a childish game. She had merely brought it as an icebreaker. "Nobody really needs to play... If they don't want to..." Orna sheepishly grinned and scratched her head.

She had an odd feeling about these two. The birthday royal, as her family put it, was a child who seemed full of energy, yet repressed; the other was a gleamingly well-dressed person who seemed constantly on the verge of laughter. Similar souls yet opposite somehow...

"That sounds pretty cool," Aspen said, in response to Orna's list of hobbies. "It's nice to meet you, Orna!"
After that, they looked over the board game. It did seem like something made for younger kids, though if they were being honest, Aspen thought it seemed like it might be fun anyway. But they worried that their other guests might disagree. So, not wanting to seem too childish, they just shrugged nonchalantly. "If you guys want to play it, then sure. If not, no big deal."
Looking to Orna, they said, "I was telling Mixie before you got here, but I brought an Uno deck, and some stuff for drawing. Um. If anyone wants that." Aspen had actually brought the drawing supplies for themself, in case no-one showed up and they ended up being alone all afternoon. Of course, they were still perfectly happy to let others draw too, but they weren't sure if anyone would want to since it didn't exactly seem like a very party-ish activity.
"I was also thinking it'd be fun to go check out what else is in the park, but since it's still pretty early, it might be best to wait around here for a while longer, in case anyone else shows up. Oh also, Orna, you can take a balloon if you want!" There were many of them tied to the picnic tables, in every colour of the rainbow.

Well... this was interesting.

Another sharp-toothed creature that looked human? Mixie raised an eyebrow, giving a quick and subtle peek over her sunglasses, just to make sure she wasn't just seeing things. Perhaps she wasn't the only monster here? Mixie had no way to be certain, but maybe she'd find out given enough time.

Curiosity aside, Mixie turned back to Aspen. "Hey, that sounds like a lotta fun! I love goin' on hikes, y'know? Explorin' the wilderness, in the calm and quiet..."

It's true, Mixie loved secluded hikes. Even before she used it as an easy way to pick off unsuspecting hikers without getting caught...

'NO! No,' She suddenly thought to herself. 'Don't even think about doin' that right now.'

Mixie complied to her own wishes. If they were going to go for a hike, it was going to be fun for everyone. This was the first party she was 'invited' to, and she was not going to ruin it.

"If you like, we can wait for others to get here before playing, I don't mind. I do like hiking, it's true, and drawing is lovely, but I'm more dressed for... Sports or combat at the moment. There's a junglegym over there, so I might check that out... This is a pretty good training spot... Drawing might be good, yeah!" Orna had a hearty chuckle. She was more used to using colored pencils and bright paints than anything else, but any sketching was a good exercise.

"So, you haven't been here long, right? What sort of places do you like to go to? If you ever want to go to botanical gardens I know of some lovely ones, and if you want a partner for any of the walk-in craft center programs, my little bro cooks there." She tried making conversation while opening up a bottle of water. It was warm out, and she was used to focusing while outside. Still, light conversation was half the point of a party, right? At least to her. She didn't know what other people thought.

Turning to Mixie, she asked cordially, "Have you been here long?

"I sort of spend a lot of my time just, wandering around places," Aspen told Orna. "Forests, parks, even random stores... It's just fun to see what there is to see, y'know? And, now that I'm in a new place, there'll be lots'a extra new stuff to check out!" They smiled widely. "Botanical gardens sound neat, too! I've never been to one before... And crafts're definitely fun! I'll have to start joining in on some of that stuff!"
Then, seeing Orna pull out a water bottle, something occurred to them. "Oh hey, we've got juice and pop and stuff in the cooler, if either of you want anything." They gestured to where the cooler sat. On that note, they stepped away from the little group to go to the cooler themself, selecting a can of tropical fruit juice and holding the nice cold can against their forehead for a moment before cracking it open.

"That's true, but there aren't a lot of forests around here. I hope ya find one that you like. They're pretty safe mostly, but take your dad with you, too, to some ya know?" The girl tied a balloon around her wrist, bopping it as almost everyone does when they have such a thing, and she put the water bottle back in her bag.
"Thanks! Don't mind if I do." She swigged some of a soda, letting the orange flavor swirl over her tongue, before gaining some courage to show off. Her brother loved when she did tricks in the playground.
"Watch this," she said, and raced to the metal pole upholding some of the climbing shapes in the playground. Orna ran about three steps up it and took a flying leap backwards on the fourth step, landing superhero style (but easy on the body! That stuff is bad for you sometimes) on the ground.

"Cool, right? Oh, but.... Maybe not good for you..... If you don't practice." She laughed. She glanced over at the other guest there; they seemed a little strange. She would keep an eye on them for a little bit - not that they were a villain, necessarily, but she could still be safe about it. It was a party, however, and she intended to enjoy herself.

'Have you been here long?' Orna had asked.

"Wha- Me? Nah. I'm kinda new around town," Mixie absentmindedly glanced around the park. "Was givin' myself a tour of the neighborhood when I suddenly wound up with an invitation to a birthday party! I found it a little funny, since I've never seen this dude in my life, but hey, who am I to pass up on my first party invite? I'd be insane!"

To be fair, Mixie was already insane. But the other partygoers didn't know that.

Mixie helped herself to some grape soda as well. Been a while since she last had this, too, especially while it was still cold. "Thanks, doll!"

And as she was in the midst of taking a long gulp from her can, Mixie watched, in slight awe, as Orna had went out of her way to do a flip off of a section of playground equipment. That was both unexpected and impressive.

"...Wow!" Mixie went to clap with her lower hands instinctively, as one of her upper hands was full, but she quickly had to stop herself. She went to put her soda down so she could clap normally.
She's had extra arms for so long, it felt wrong not using them. Being disguised as a human was much more difficult than she had anticipated...

"That was impressive, darlin'!" Mixie finished up her round of applause, retrieving her fizzy drink. "Where'd you learn that trick, hmmmm?"

"Definitely very cool," Aspen said, clearly impressed by Orna's trick. They wanted to try something like that, too. They refrained, not because it could be unsafe, but because their dad would probably kill them if he saw them doing something unsafe. And he had been silently watching the little group this whole time, though he also seem to be half-distracted by his phone. Even so, Aspen didn't want to risk getting caught doing something stupid, so they'd save the bad ideas for later, when they could go off on their own (as they always did) and he would be none the wiser.
So, instead of doing any fancy flips, they went over to sit on the lower bars of the jungle gym, swinging their legs in the air as they sipped from their can of juice.

Finn enters the party without anyone noticing, sneaking his guitar and a small amplifier with him. Of all the things I could do right now... This is totally worth it, he thought to himself. He plugged the guitar onto his amplifier before recieving a text, it was from his kitsune Aunt, Azumi, worrying about his safety and scolding him for sneaking out of his and Ren's scheduled band practice. Despite not being his mother, she did promise to take care of him when he went to college with Ren, her son, as Ren's familiar.

He let out a wide, arrogant smile and yelled, "A party eh?! How about I spruce things up around here?". He played a guitar solo and began playing one of his band's songs

Aspen flinched, startled by the sudden yelling and loud music. They weren't sure how this guy had managed to sneak in without anyone noticing, considering everyone else was close to the entrance, but eh, here he was.
"Oh... I guess we have another guest...?" Aspen said, sounding uncertain and maybe just a bit disgruntled. They were really not a fan of sudden loud noises, and although having more guests could be fun, this guy who had shown up certainly didn't appear to be a kid or even a teenager, which seemed a bit odd. Random adults waltzing into kids' parties... Yeah, definitely odd, and the kind of thing that would make most people suspicious. So, Aspen's usual enthusiasm was a bit dampened.