and for the dark; and for the light

[founderinglight]

Who: Izunia and you! Especially if you are Ardyn or Maddie.
What: Birthday bros! And a few other conversations. Also, Armiger practice.
Where: Rise kitchens, library, a few other places.
When: The last few days of August and the first week of September.
Warnings: Murdergame discussion likely in Ardyn's thread; child abuse/neglect discussion likely in Maddie's.

[Aug 30; Text -> Kitchens, closed to Ardyn]

[Early afternoon comes a message from Ardyn's least favorite twin - ]

If you're still willing to participate in birthday cake production and related activities, I'll be settling up in the kitchens here in about an hour.

[Always leave him room to back out - truthfully Izunia is still extremely surprised that Ardyn agreed to the idea in the first place. But he'll be at the kitchens at the appointed hour, idly scrubbing pans and loading the dishwasher while he waits, very much not starting on the cake itself until Ardyn arrives.]

[Aug 30; Kitchens/common room, later]

[It appears that someone has set up... a surprising quantity of nicely decorated cake out? And there's also ice cream cake in the freezer. How'd that happen.

If you fail to run into the culprit, you might discover Izunia sprawled across one of the common room couches, a plate with no less than three kinds of cake on it. Most of them are the well-decorated ones, but there's also a very plain one that just says CONGRATULATIONS, YOU'VE AGED on it.

He's also keeping a particular eye out for Maddie if she passes through.]

[Library, Aug 28-Sept 3rd minus the 30th]

[Outside of his birthday celebrations - lowkey as they are - Izunia can mostly be found in the library this week. As usual, a good portion of what he can be caught reading is magic-related texts, but there's also a genuinely shocking number of children's and YA novels getting stacked up next to him, sorted into a series of piles. He seems to be churning through them in about half an hour to an hour a piece, so it's... getting to be a lot by the time he packs it in for the day each day, even with the usual amount of Nap.]

[Beach, Sept 4th, night]

[It's a very far way off from the Station that the flashes of blue light can be seen, and likely to very unusual to those who recognize their source. It's hardly just the trails and afterimages of warping and phasing that hang in the air, though. The shapes of Royal Arms hanging in the air, but also the orbs of light that are seemingly his to conjure now -

It's rare to see Izunia push himself, usually confident in his abilities, but it seems like he's doing so now. And it's suitably impressive, but something about his posture seems unsatisfied...

Hopefully, you weren't so foolish as to approach without a light, though, because if you hadn't heard, the guy flinging explosive balls of light and a variety of magical weapons around is Jumpy in the Dark.

And much later that night, you might catch him returning to the station, physically exhausted but with the usual air of warm gentleness about him, and rather a lot of sand still clinging to his clothes.]

Comments

commons

[blackestwitch]

[ Maddie can smell the cake(s) when she enters, but that's not TOO unusual. They have the stuff to make cakes, people like to eat cake, to each their own.

Despite the fact she now wants some cake, she simply finds an empty couch and collapses onto it in a gay-like manner, pulling up her feet almost immediately and pulling out her phone, casually propping her cane up next to her.

Zel will nod to Izunia, though, as he enters slightly behind Maddie. ]

[founderinglight]

[Well, in addition to the cake smell, there's also the faint scent of cinnamon cologne that Izunia's adopted lately. Zel gets a nod in return before Izunia announces himself, with the clink of a fork being set on a plate.]

Good evening, you two.

[blackestwitch]

[ Gah-- ] OH. I thought I smelled something familiar. [ IS SHE SAYING YOU SMELL?!?!?! ...No it's the cologne. ]

Hey. In a cake mood? [ She pauses... ] Wait, is it your birthday?

kitchens

[burninglight]

I'd like it on record that I'm only doing this because I like cake and I said I would, in that order.

[Ardyn yawned as he walked into the kitchen, as well put together as he ever could be but clearly having only woken up a short time ago by his tone.]

[founderinglight]

I still very much appreciate it.

[It's not like he'd expected Ardyn to offer to show up in the first place. Therefore, it's a happy birthday.]

I haven't bothered getting anything out yet but the pans - I figured you'd probably prefer to supply the ingredients.

beach

[nojohnyouare]

[Mai walks out to the beach and stands there quietly, watching. She keeps a grip on her sword.]

...?

[founderinglight]

[But do you have a light, Mai?

Either way, luckily Izunia does notice her in the light of his own. The outline of a sword standing vertical phases in and out of existence next to him, in blue, as he looks her direction.]

And what's brought you so far out here?

Commons

[stormkingofshepherds]

[Nathaniel pokes his head into the room, followed by an excited-looking Ludicolo's.]

Ah...whose birthday is it? [Rinn is already moving towards the cake, and Nathaniel has to put out an arm to get him to stop.]

[founderinglight]

Mine.

[Hi, Nathaniel, you get a bit of a wave with a fork.]

2,046, or at least that's what I'm going to count it from. It's near enough.

common room

[motherfucking_ghost]

[...That's cake. That's a bunch of cake. There's just copious amounts of cake? Just sitting out? For anyone to take?]

Did I miss a party? [Don't mind if he do!]

[founderinglight]

[There is so much cake, my dude. And a note about ice cream cake in the freezer. That's also there.]

I didn't feel like having that level of celebration. I'm just abusing my one day a year to eat the way five year olds dream about.

[That is, nothing but cake all day.]

library

[ax_iom]

[Lily's... well. She's been looking for Izunia. She doesn't normally go into the library- Not much point at her reading level. But she does need to keep up appearances, so she does pop in and out sometimes, and when she spots Izunia, she immediately beelines over to him... And then stops to make sure no one else is around.]

Hey. What are you reading?

[founderinglight]

Oh, quite a number of things.

[Look at this stack, Lily.]

Trying to sort the decent from the junk.

Commons

[ohwhenyouloveit]

[Hope stares at the various cakes, before pointing at the CONGRATULATIONS, YOU'VE AGED one.] Nice. [She says it in a very Jailbreak manner.]

[founderinglight]

[It's enough to get a chuckle out of him, at least.]

So it is. Help yourself, if you wish.

common room

[darkcure]

[The attention of one (1) curious child has been drawn. Elize eyes the words on the cake curiously.] "You've aged"? That's a weird thing to put on a cake! Hey, wait, there wasn't a party we weren't invited to, right? We didn't know it was someone's birthday.

[founderinglight]

It's mine. And don't worry - if I'd had a party, you would absolutely have been invited.

[He's not going to have adults party for his birthday. Maybe next week.]

But I really just wanted something on the quieter side.

beach

[shipoutofluck]

[Eizen doesn't approach with a light, but it doesn't exactly matter. Izunia won't notice anyway. The lightshow had gotten his attention and he's... curious to see this display.

So Izunia won't know it, but he has an audience. For a long while, actually. He's found himself a spot to sit and watch. His luck might never be in his favor, but at the very least he knows where it's safe to be when someone's throwing artes magic around.

Even if he's invisible, it's nice being around someone. It's the same feeling he'd had on the Van Eltia. Being around the crew while they couldn't see him... Maybe that seemed sad to some people and maybe it was lacking in a way, but there was still something to it.

A certain warmth.

Eizen wonders, sometimes, if other people can feel it too, even when they don't know he's there. If Benwick could. Or if Izunia can, now. It'd be nice if they could. But, probably not.

He could make his presence known, but he won't. Not... until Izunia stops to take a break.

Well, assuming the curse doesn't end up giving him away somehow before then.]

[founderinglight]

[Big assumption, because a few minutes later -

There is a piece of driftwood in the sand. There is Izunia, in a largely dark setting, confident in the way his body moves, and far more concerned about other creatures in the night.

The two meet at Izunia's foot, tripping him in the end of a warp where the momentum is still going, and he -

Not just into the sand, even, but straight into the water. Splosh, face-first into the surf.]

Beach

[bastilashan]

[Bastila walks out onto the beach. She does not have a lantern or anything with her. However, she is going out to train, so her yellow, double-bladed lightsaber is active. She sees Izunias' orbs and trail, and then the man himself.]

Oh, hello. I was just coming out to train. I hope that I am not bothering you. I can go further down the beach if you would like.

[founderinglight]

[Laser swords are more than enough light.]

Oh, not at all! I'm quite hard to bother, don't worry.

Beach

[class_struggle]

[Light's not a problem - Alex uses his orange-red flames as a lantern. But he is attracted to the display of power, and to the forms that Izunia is going through to channel them.

After a minute or so watching, he nods. Without a word, he begins his own kata, and his own firedancing and martial practice with it.]

[founderinglight]

[There aren't really forms as such - Izunia is a fighter, but not so much a martial artist, and that's apparent in the way he uses some of the weapons. Only with the rapier does he really show the signs of formal training and a distinct stance. Everything else is the mimicked movements of half-remembered descendants, translated to his own.

After a while, though, he realizes that he has company, and switches to the spinning of orbs, working them through complicated patterns as he watches Alex a bit in turn.]

aug 30, commons

[riderofcharlemagne]

[Strangely enough, Astolfo is nowhere to be seen when there is both cake and Izunia about.

However, there is definitely a presence, lingering around Izunia, and he might even hear a stifled giggle in his head...]

[founderinglight]

[Oh he has definitely heard that lurking giggle.]

Now where are you hiding this time, little moon?