riverviewlogs | [OPEN] Eddie's Bday Bash

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[OPEN] Eddie's Bday Bash

who: Eddie's friends + any party crashers!
what: A surprise party for Eddie Thawne's 30th birthday
when: forward dated a little to July 4th
where: A nice park not too far from the river
warnings: Spiked drinks, will add as needed

Cisco, Taako, and Yuri have all come together to throw Eddie a party for his 30th birthday!

The party has a chill, summer barbecue vibe; the list of invited guests was limited to people who are friends and coworkers of Eddie, but any characters are welcome to stop by and join in the fun. It takes place in a large park near to the river, with trees and a wide expanse of grass. There is a marquee set up, to protect the party-goers from the bright sun, and casual seating inside on blankets atop the grass. Since Yuri handled the decorations, there's a lot more leopard print than one would expect in this context. Like a lot more.

SURPRISE!

Cisco sent out the invitations went a week in advance, all the details included along with a particularly dire warning that if anyone blabbed to Eddie about even the existence of a party, Cisco would do horrible things to them with science as punishment. Somehow, remarkably (though likely not because of those threats), no one gives away the secret, which means that around 3PM everyone is waiting in the marquee for Taako to lure Eddie in. Cisco goes around, handing everyone party poppers with plenty of confetti and glitter and telling them to hush and get ready for the big moment!

FOOD

If Taako were catering this party for either himself or for someone who had given him free range, there would be a lot of delicate hors d'oeuvres and over the top cakes to feed a crowd of people, but he's managed to keep the theme and the person this party is for in mind, and gone for something a little more chill. The cake(s) is still fancy, as are the mini cakes to go with it, and he had a little fun with the macarons, because what's the point of being an amazing baker if he can't show off.

There are typical munchies set out on a table, although the chips and dips are all handmade rather than store bought, and the cheese and crackers came from a little deli that Taako is particularly fond of. The main event itself is a burger bar, with the assorted meat being cooked on a nearby barbeque by either Taako, or…. a floating set of tools that seem to be keeping a pretty good eye on things, when Taako is off doing whatever it is that he does when he isn't cooking. There's also an assortment of warm and cold salads, for anyone who's into that kind of thing.

There's not an overabundance of food, but it also never seems to look as though things are going to run out. Magic, bitches.

REFRESHMENTS (WITH A LITTLE EXTRA)

About an hour into the party, some mischievous guest takes it upon themselves to add a little something extra to the refreshments, just to make things interesting. But this isn’t your average slipping in a little bit of vodka in the punch on the sly situation. Instead, if your character drinks either of the following, they will feel the following effects:

iced tea: anyone who drinks the iced tea will feel the effects of a mild truth potion. the effects do not compel the drinker to spill unrelated secrets, but are strong enough to prevent white lies and cause some pretty awkward social faux pas.

lemonade: anyone who drinks the lemonade will feel the effects of a mild fascination potion. this potion will cause the person who drinks it to become obsessed with an object, person, or phenomenon that they see or hear within the first two minutes after drinking it. this can encompass anything, so use your creativity – do they become suddenly enthralled with cake? a song that was playing from the dj station? with another partygoer’s shoes?

The effects are cumulative, so if your character fixes themselves an Arnold Palmer, they will become both truthful AND fascinated. The effects last up to four hours.

SINGING & PRESENTS

At some point in the afternoon, everyone will gather around to make Eddie go through the process of blowing out candles on the big cake (Cisco allowed himself to be talked down from 30 individual candles to two candles, one with a 3 and one with an 0). Enthusiastic, hopefully not TOO off-key singing is highly encouraged.

After that, there is a table where anyone who brought a present will have left it by that point; anything, however little or small, however appropriate or inappropriate, is welcome.

DANCING & FIREWORKS

Who doesn’t love a bit of dancing? As the afternoon starts to fade into evening, partygoers who are inclined to shake their moneymakers can move out of the marquee to the small portable dance floor that has been set up on the grass. Nearby is a pretty cushy sound setup with plenty of speakers and Riverview’s own Otabek lending his talents as DJ.

Once sunset has faded and the sky is dark enough to properly appreciate it, a fireworks show has been prepared by Taako, to wrap the night up with a bang!

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Creepy undead stuff? Do I even wanna know?

[ He has a shrewd guess what she's talking about with the mean slutty version of herself. Almost everyone had been, well, not themselves for a while there. As far as Cisco can tell, he was one of the lucky ones who was spared, but he'd seen grown adults he knows running around as adolescents, had run into people who were the same age but had a whole personality transplant... it was all just VERY weird, and he was relieved when it was over.

Cisco sees her hair shift color when she touches it, or else he thinks he sees it. He's not quite sure. Maybe it was a trick of the light. He hadn't been paying a whole lot of attention to her hair, before, so he can't really compare it to a clear image.]

Okay, but to be fair... does anyone ever really want to break something? Usually just kind of happens without planning it.

[ All the same, he gestures her towards the grill as if giving permission for her to do her own thing. And maybe he's just going to stick around and make sure she doesn't set herself or anyone else on fire. Cisco is taking NO chances with this party. ]

Cisco. It is kinda weird, isn't it? But, um, actually I like... just moved out. I'm living with Eddie, now. Which made the whole surprise party thing a lot trickier to plan, believe me.

My best friend talks to the dead, in that she's raised a corpse to talk to before.

*Lola is just going to move away from this topic because she likes eating and while she loves Letha... she does not love Letha's creepy zombie powers.*

Sometimes... people want to break things because it makes them feel less alone. I guess...

*If that didn't have a story behind it, what didn't. Still, his other thing made her stop and look at him. She then tried to think if she'd seen him lately, or if the other her did.*

Oh. I, guess I wasn't paying attention. Sorry. I can't plan surprise parties, I don't really do well with secrets. I just have to hope nobody believes me when I spill whatever it is.

*Lola has to know things, but also while she lives in that housing she wants to make sure everyone is... happy. And she couldn't do that as Dolores, which just added to her worries.*

Was it the no privacy thing? Or the craziness that just happened? Cause that was very new, and something I never want ever again.

[ There is no one word to describe the face that Cisco makes when Lola says her friend animated a corpse and had a conversation with it. It's a mix of horror, disgust, disbelief, curiosity, and another helping of disgust on top. ]

Yuck.

[ He's also more than happy not to ask any follow-up questions about whatever kind of recreational necromancy bullshit her friend had going on, because he still hasn't gotten a chance to grab a burger and he doesn't want to put himself off eating by thinking about it too hard.

The thing she says about people wanting to break things to feel less alone is a pretty weird non sequitur; he'd just been talking about as far as accidents are concerned, but clearly she's got something else that's bothering her, making her answer like that when he was mostly commenting on how common it is for people to be clumsy. ]

Naw, c'mon, why would you notice? We'd literally never talked to each other til today, and there's a lotta people living there.

[ The fact that she has to ask why he left confirms what he'd been expecting - she hadn't been one of the ones he woke up when he'd had that awful vibe. Maybe she's a really deep sleeper, or maybe she was still out that night: it had only been around midnight, after all. It's kind of a relief, knowing that she doesn't know. It wasn't so much the embarrassment of the initial incident that had driven him away, so much as the fact that so many of his roommates started looking at him differently, afterwards. He could tell they were curious, that they were making assumptions and guesses and he hated it. ]

The privacy thing.

[ Which is such an abbreviated version of the truth that it is functionally a lie, but Cisco hasn't had any of that iced tea yet, and he doesn't know this girl from Adam. ]

When you say the craziness, you mean everybody changing, right? That was some pretty weird shit...

I... like making sure everyone is okay. I mean, I try to when I can. Or cook a lot more food so that the people who don't cook are okay. I just kinda lost track of things for a while. First because of schoolwork and then because... I wasn't me.

*Dolores was the gift that kept on giving for Lola. Every time she considered a part of Dolores, what she'd done or how she thought... it just made her feel worse. Lola spent a few moments just focusing on the grill and her burger.*

I'd complain about your language, but that's what it was.

Have you ever seen what you could have been and decided you never want to see that ever again?

[ Lola's speech only makes Cisco exponentially more grateful that she doesn't know the real reason why he'd moved out. If she thinks of herself as some kind of nurturer whose job it is making everybody okay, then she's exactly the type of person who would want to get involved if she found out he has nightmares of the 'scream so loud you wake up everyone in the building' variety. And even though Cisco is not okay (though he's trying his hardest to fake it), the last thing he wants is some stranger getting all up in his business, good intentions or not. ]

My language? For real? You from the 1950s or something?

[ It's a joke, but there's just a tiny hint of scorn underneath. Maybe it's a good thing they'd never spoken while they lived on the same floor, if she's prim enough that someone saying 'shit' makes her feel entitled to complain. Cisco's not in the habit of letting other people tell him how to speak. ]

What do you mean? Like... a potential future?

*She looks down at herself. She didn't look very 1950s in skinny jeans, cute boots, and a tank top. Although her hair decorations could have been a flappery vibe.*

No, just... swearing isn't something I do a lot of. It just isn't polite.

*Lola considered it, potential future. That didn't seem right. It didn't seem wrong either. Finally she shook her head.*

A potential past, I think. One little change and I was someone else. One of those wishes you make and then spend the rest of the movie desperately trying to get back your real life.

[ Cisco raises his eyebrows at that, but doesn't say anything more. As far as he's concerned, it's a definite mark in the mental 'yikes' column. Cisco's never been one for that sort of politeness, or the sort of people who buy into it. Much too often, he'd found, the idea of strict etiquette was a tool that people like Hartley Rathaway used to make sure people like Cisco remembered their supposed proper place.

Potential past, potential future - does it really make all that much difference? Cisco shrugs and says easily: ]

Yeah, but that's how it is for everybody, you know, a little change here or there and they'd be completely different. You got your real past back now, so, nothing to worry about.

[ He knows it might not be entirely that easy, just putting it out of her mind, but he's also always been a firm believer that people are who they choose to be. If she saw a version of herself she didn't like, she just has to choose not to be that. ]

I keep thinking about all the things she could do that I couldn't. Just... I hated how she got there, but... there were things she could do I couldn't in a million years.

*Lola flipped her burger off the grill and onto a bun she already had set-up on a plate.*

Except be polite, listen to people, and cook. She sucked at all of that. But I just keep getting mad she stole the one dream of mine I wish I could have had forever. Is it dumb to be mad at a me that doesn't even exist for stealing a fantasy that could never have happened?

*Lola had spent so many nights, so many school functions, so many times she thought 'if Mom was here this would be better.' Now she could never wish that again.*

[ Most of what this girl is saying is going over Cisco's head - he doesn't know what she means by this other version of her being able to do things she couldn't. Maybe she means magical powers, maybe she means super strength, hell, maybe she's even talking about dance moves. But it's clear that whatever the situation, it's messing her up bad enough that she's spilling her guts to a stranger at a birthday party, so the least he can do is try to offer some words of wisdom. ]

I'm not gonna lie, I don't really get a lot of what you're talking about, but just in general, I don't think it's ever really dumb to just feel the way you're feeling. Dreams are important. If she messed one up for you... yeah. That sucks.

[ He's feeling pretty glad that whatever had caused all that mess hadn't impacted him, because his life is complicated enough without some other version of himself screwing things up. ]

I'm not really explaining it well.

*Lola was sure if she put it into words, it made it real. So she did her best not to say the one clear deciding factor of why she and Dolores were different. Cause maybe someday she could face it, but it wasn't today.*

But... thanks, even if you don't really get what I'm saying knowing what I feel is right helps.

*Lola smiled, polite and friendly again. Maybe not happy, but she was putting on a much better show.*

So... do you want me to cook you a burger too, or are you fine letting the magic spatula cook yours?

[ Cisco shrugs, still a little bit at a loss as to what just happened, but glad he was some help, at least. Hopefully, when enough time has passed, the whole alternate version of herself will just be a funny memory for this girl. Back when those weird fireflies had been around, Cisco hadn't found them very amusing at all, but looking back now, he can laugh. ]

Thanks, but I think I'ma go with magic spatula. Just for the novelty, you know?

[ He's never had food made by an enchanted inanimate object before, it's all very Beauty and the Beast. Still, it was sweet of Lola to offer. Cisco asks: ]

So how do you know Eddie?

[ If she's here, she must be a friend of his, but Cisco is pretty sure she's not from Central City. Eddie would've mentioned if someone else from their world showed up here. ]

*She's a little put out the inanimate object is trusted more than her, but she brushes it off with a shrug and moves away from the grill with her burger.*

Remember those rave dance party things? Were you here for those? Anyway he worked as chaperone and we talked a little. Then when my birthday came around he showed up. Which should be weird, but it was sweet.

*Lola held up a charm bracelet with a few little cute things hanging from it.*

I was kinda afraid nobody would come, it was so soon after arriving... anyway, I had to return the favor even if now I'm the one that doesn't really fit.

[ Cisco seems to remember some dance parties around the time that he arrived (and honestly, at plenty of other times, too, people really liked to kick it here in the quarantine). He hadn't known the story, but as Lola's telling it, it makes sense. Of course Eddie would volunteer to work as a chaperone, making sure everyone was having a good time and no one was making trouble. And of course, he would show up to Lola's party later, because that's just the sort of guy he is.

The smile on Cisco's face is soft and very fond: ]

Sounds like Eddie.

[ He pauses to look around, see if he can spot Eddie amidst the other guests. He is chatting with some people out in the sunshine, near the DJ setup that Otabek is going to be manning later on. His smile widens a little, and he turns back to Lola: ]

That's really sweet of you to return the favor. And I don't know what you're talking about, not fitting, come on. Just 'cause you don't want a magic burger doesn't mean you don't fit. You get him one of those, too?

[ Cisco indicates the charm bracelet, clearly kidding, wanting to know what gift Lola had brought, if any. ]

He's really kind. You are too.

*She was smiling, glad for the distraction. And the fact that he didn't agree that someone still not old enough to do most of the things in the city.*

I got him some ties, with a bit more color to them. You know, liven things up. It's some sorta local silk, very fancy and soft.

*Given Lola's... everything, that's either absolutely sweet or going to lead to the most horrifying array of bright blinding ties ever.*

[ Now that Lola's finished cooking her burger, Cisco nods over in the direction of a nearby table that is empty; the enchanted utensils also click impatiently, as if eager to get back to their work. He walks over with her to grab a seat. ]

Perfect, he needs a little bit of color in his work outfits. I mean, I know detectives have gotta look profesh and all, but not everything has gotta be black blue or grey, surely!

[ One of the things Cisco had always been grateful about, at S.T.A.R. Labs, was the freedom the employees had to wear whatever the hell they wanted, so long as it didn't get in the way of their work. For Caitlin that meant her ridiculous high heels, and for Cisco, it meant bright purple pants and Adventure Time t-shirts. ]

Speaking of color, love the hair. You do it yourself?

I know, right! You can be professional but still have style.

*Best thing about growing up working at her dad's cantina was she had zero problems getting the okay to wear her hair the way she wanted. She could be professional and colorful all she wanted. Here seemed even more okay with that.*

Um... what color is it right now? For my birthday the government gave me a treatment so occasionally it changes when I get distracted. I decided on blue today, is it still blue?

*Yes, yes this is an issue for Lola she forgets her own hair color sometimes. Just don't think about that too much.*

[ Well that was absolutely not the answer Cisco had been expecting. He didn't know there were any answers besides "yes, I dyed it" and "no, I went to a salon". This place sure is a brave new world. ]

Okay I'm gonna need you to unwind and go over that one more time. How do you not know what color your hair is, and why is the government involved?

[ Belatedly, he adds: ]

Also, yeah, it's blue.

So, about a week or so before I turned seventeen I found a coupon, addressed to me, at the communal housing building. With a salon name.

*Lola tilted her head to the side as she started talking, occasionally taking a bite of her burger. It almost stops her from gesturing with her hands the entire time she's talking.*

They walked me through this... procedure, I think it was surgical but the guy's hair kept changing color and that was just so cool I didn't really care about the risks. Probably should have, especially since I didn't understand half the big science words he said, but...

*She tilted her head to the other side, and her hair turned neon pink all at once.*

I can do this. But if I get distracted my hair changes colors sometimes so I don't always know how it looks. I check it pretty often in mirrors and windows but we're kinda in a park so I haven't checked lately. And I wake up it's usually white unless I had a dream that made it some other color.

Apparently it's a really expensive thing I'd never be able to afford otherwise. And it pulls colors out of my memory which is why sometimes it'll just change if I think too hard.

*Minor surgery for hair color powers, no big deal. Her hair slowly turns back to blue as she talks, just because her outfit is not meant for pink.*

In other words it's kinda like a mood ring, but... your hair?

[ Somehow her answer to the question only makes the whole thing much more mysterious. If she had just said that everybody's hair changed color sometimes where she was from, Cisco would have been able to accept that easily enough. People come from all sorts of worlds, here. But the fact that she'd actually gotten her hair surgically altered to do this? Way weirder. ]

So this happened here? Recently? Is that, like, a normal thing, people getting coupons for surgical procedures they've never even heard of before? Was there a reason why?

[ It's possible Cisco is focusing on the wrong details and also overanalyzing a bit, here... ]

I guess if you think a face is kinda like a mood ring? It's a focus thing. I can stand on one foot for a really long time but if I start thinking about stuff I could fall on my butt.

*Lola's answers often had that effect on people, Cisco shouldn't feel bad about that. Then again Lola's sense of reason was a little off.*

I dunno, that's just what happened. I haven't really asked around about it too much. I haven't heard of anyone else getting anything like this. I guess it is a little weird... but I'm really glad I did it.

*This was a lot of details that Lola never really gave much thought to, they didn't seem important.*

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[OPEN] Eddie's Bday Bash

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