[closed] we took the long way around to the future we pursued

[thedarkbond]

Who: Ren Suzugamori (thedarkbond) & people he ended up inviting (so Juno Steel (stuns), Mollymauk Tealeaf (mollymocked), Iskandar (conqueredhearts), Yusei Fudo (planetary_bonds), Allura (quintessent), Diana Cavendish (fiendennor), and Axel (icingonthecake))
What: not another birthday log Ren's 23rd birthday party, a.k.a. a study in cramming eight people into a tiny apartment (mostly).
When: December 12th
Where: Ren's tiny apartment in western Wyver, and then some of the Fyrran-Blessed Waters further out west.
Warning(s): Nudity b/c public baths, but nothing yet otherwise.

[About a week and a half ago, Ren sent out some texts to people he actually knows decently enough here to invite to a party - he eventually caved on his own intent and did actually tell everyone that he was inviting them to dinner for his birthday, but it came with the caveat of only having to bring a present if you wanted to. There's even a bonus shrugging kaomoji there to accentuate exactly how much he doesn't mind.

It's a little obvious once anyone gets there that Ren had to be a bit...specific about the logistics, though, because even eight total people in an apartment this small is going to be an interesting prospect. It's single room and puny, with even the bed lying on a heightened loft since there'd be no room for it on the main floor, with the kitchen beneath the loft and the rest of the room mostly taken up by a couch, a cupboard and some drawers, and a line of shelves that sticks out of the windowsill, a small brown cat lying on the cushioned top of these. There's a table dragged out slightly into the middle of the room with plenty of food all over it ranging from cute sweets like donuts, cookies and dorayaki (many with cat designs or icing), to...more cute sweets, to some actual proper food in-between all that, including sausages cut to look like octopi, some kind of rich soup in a very large self-serve bowl with lots of meat pieces in it (that Ren probably won't mention is tripe unless he's asked, because he doesn't think that's important as long as it tastes nice), and lots of takoyaki. He's playing to his favourites here, really, but it's all made well and it even looks like Ren might be a little tired from making it all (all rumours that he's tired from having fallen asleep in the stasis room the previous night are entirely fabricated). He doesn't have a singular cake, but instead a plate of cute cupcakes of kittens playing with yarn. Each one has a different fruit center, so feel free to trade them around to find out what they all are!

Though, honestly, you're going to be sharing at least one thing anyway, because nobody is getting any personal space around this table. You're going to be pretty much literally rubbing shoulders with the person next to you for the entire dinner segment, so enjoy that.

Thankfully, at least Ren realises that's not really viable for the entire night, so after dinner, anyone who's happy to depart then can leave, and anyone who enjoys a good public bath can follow Ren out further west, down a lengthy and winding path that it looks like Ren himself might not even remember the way down at points (though the fact that there's occasional salespeople offering towels and bath salts and the like is probably a good sign he's still going the right way). What lies at the end of it is a large, but secluded natural spring, water running gently into it from a second spring that lies slightly higher up. It's pleasantly warm despite the cold weather out, and once anyone sinks into the waters, they may find themselves even more relaxed than usual. It's a lovely night, the pool is surrounded by flowers and the occasional overhanging tree, and there's the pleasant buzz that comes after good food and probably some amount of alcohol.

Anyone who can't make their way back to their own home or prefers not to find an inn afterwards is welcome to stay overnight back at the apartment, but the main sleeping options are either the couch, on the floor with all the cushions, or sharing with Ren in the loft, which is not terribly roomy.]

Comments

[thedarkbond]

Well, some of them are cute about it, I guess, but I think it's more interesting when they get used to it. [Like one or two of his friends from home that he could mention. There's something a tiny bit wistful about the tone, but more in the sense of him thinking about playing around with someone like that now.

He does smile a little at the mention of being better known.] Hmm, should I start being more mysterious? Or maybe I should just ask you more questions next time.

[While Molly does generally offer his own side of things enough for Ren to get a better sense of him when they talk, Ren does sometimes end up on weird enough tangents that he gets distracted from inquiring more about things where Molly comes from.]

[mollymocked]

I'll answer any question you have. [He slaps a hand on the top of the water, looking every bit the carnival barker he still is- you can take the carnie out of the carnival, but you can't take the carnival out of the carnie.] We're in a place of steam and honesty.

[Or as honest as Molly feels like being. He's accustomed to bathhouses and immune to the hot water and scrutiny combo that makes people buckle to the truth.]

[thedarkbond]

"Any" question seems like it could end badly... [Ren's not rude enough to bring up "bad memories" in a situation like this, but an open offer like that could be misinterpreted. He hums a little as he considers what kind of interesting thing he could ask, though.]

Oh, you said that language you used when we were trying to catch those lizards was something that denizens of Hell speak. Does that mean you've lived there before...? Or did you learn it from your parents?

[The idea of an inherent language to a group that one doesn't have to learn as they grow up isn't an assumption Ren naturally makes here.]

[mollymocked]

I trust you're not gonna ask anything I clearly don't want to talk about.

[Because once you do, you open the floodgates. Molly's kept his own stock of weird tics Ren has shown that he could start poking at if he felt like being cruel and callous in the face of having his own insecurities and issues prodded. He can only hope that because they understand one another, it won't really come to that.

And his assumption is rewarded. He laughs a little, having hoped for something spectacularly inane.] I want so badly to say I have, but I don't think I can do it with a straight face. That's over the top even for me. No.. It's just something I always knew. No one taught me how to do that... blood boiling trick I was doing either when I spoke it. One day I just did it and it worked, so I kept doing it every time someone irritated me. Very effective with bullies, that.

[thedarkbond]

[Ren does hum slightly in concession to Molly's point about that - he's well aware that he'd likely be taking just as many pointed questions in that situation. But maybe one day something will bother him enough to open that floodgate.

For now, though, he'll take learning more about Molly's people. He tilts his head slightly, a thoughtful frown on his face.] So you just know things and don't have to learn them...? That sounds really useful, humans always have to work really hard at learning new stuff...

[He says that in a huffy sort of tone that implies the application of actual effort to things is a bother to him.] I thought it would be pretty hard to irritate you, myself.

[Then again, that would be a good thing, since it means Molly isn't using that power on every second person.]

[mollymocked]

Crazy, innit? My parents said it just comes to you at some point if you've got the knack for it, and eventually you pick up new things over time. There's a lot of species like that to make up for the fact that there's more humans and they've got a lot going for them as well.

[Like extra feats. I mean what.] Oh, it's very hard, but I grew up in an area where there weren't a lot of tieflings, and people always wanted to be a prick about the horns and the teeth and the eyes, and if they want a devil-blood, then they'll fucking get one. I don't have a problem with giving when what they expect and using that against them.

[thedarkbond]

Hmm, there's only humans where I come from, really...so I guess what we've got going for us is less noticeable. [He mostly just likes the fact that humans can continue to get stronger as long as they work for it, because despite how lazy it is, he's had the experience of winning effortlessly, and it's not very fun.

He makes a rather disdainful tongue-poking expression at the mention of how people apparently treated Molly back home, though.] Right, you mentioned that sort of thing before...I don't know what people expect to happen when they look down on people like that, honestly...

[Someone's going to get angry enough to retaliate one way or another, and in Ren's experience, the people most likely to look down on others are the ones that aren't exactly much to speak of themselves.]

[mollymocked]

When they want to blame someone for something, they can point fingers and say "that one." That's what they expect. And that's yet another reason why I don't like to stay in the same place and gain a reputation. The stranger you are, the more likely someone is gonna blame you for something eventually.

[He flicks a hand and splashes a little bit of water in doing so.] That's the Empire for you. It's not so bad here- a few funny looks, the occasional arsehole, but I think it's my personality they take exception to more than how I look. That's always fun.

[Because Molly loves it when people hate his personality- it means they're not fun and can be fucked with.]

[thedarkbond]

That's so silly, though... [Ren puffs somewhat exaggeratedly at it, though it's not as if there's anything he can do to lessen it in any way. He's had different receptions in various places when he's travelled for business, but there's no way he's encountered anything remotely as ubiquitous as that.

He can relate much more to people taking exception to personality, though, and that makes him smile a bit.] Oh, that part is pretty fun. People are like that with me all the time, so I just show them my cute face more so they get more and more bothered about it.

[mollymocked]

That's the Dwendalian Empire for you. [And maybe also other places, but he has nowhere to compare it to. His travel locations are El Nysa and the Empire and that's it, though he considers that less an Empire thing and more a people thing.

He slides into the water a bit more, chuckling to himself. Oh, he and Ren really are too much alike for anyone to be comfortable with.]

But that is precisely why you should do it. Frustrating awful people is much safer and more satisfying than just about anything else you can do to them.

[thedarkbond]

Right? They don't seem to understand that...they complain about people messing around with them and they don't realise it just makes us want to do it more. [Ren rolls himself around a bit to lean against the side of the bath, crossing his arms over on the edge and resting his head sideways on them.]

Most of the actually awful people in my world are pretty boring but also really want attention, though...so I mostly bother those ones by ignoring them or pretending to forget them. It makes them way angrier when I do that.