[Voice / Action: CH1 Floor 4, 5/1] Birthday Party (Joint post with Ino)

[16autumnroad]

[VOICE, INO]
[A loud, familiar voice would be heard throughout the network today. Good thing it's not so early in the morning when it hollers or there'd be a lot of ruined mornings today despite the important announcement.]

Hey, Luceti! We've all had a lot of drama these past few days so, what do you all say about a little party? It's Chouji's birthday today and, of course, that needs celebrating!

Come by the first community building and you'll find the happenings on the fourth floor. See you there!

[With a little giggle, the announcement ends there.]

--

[ACTION]
It was only a little bit of a surprise to Chouji when he received an invitation to his own birthday party, delivered to the apartment door. These were things you just had to expect and accept with Ino as a teammate. Everyone on the floor along with Kiba and Asuma received paper invitations. Then he heard her network post, inviting pretty much everyone in the village. Ino.

He'd laughed and grinned when he woke up to a knock on the apartment door and the smell of chips that morning, a purple whirlwind demanding entrance to the apartment so she could decorate it. A glance down the hallway showed a trail of butterfly decorations, marking the path of Hurricane Ino.

Chouji gladly spent half of his birthday in the kitchen, likewise decorated with butterflies, cooking for his own party. He'd always been the team's cook, and there was no reason for that to change just because it was his party.

By dinnertime, the common areas as well as Chouji, Shikamaru, and Masaomi's apartment held enough potato chips to feed an army even without all the food Chouji cooked. Barbecue, of course, along with vegetables, rice, fish, chicken curry, miso soup, and one or two desserts. He made sure to include pudding, his thanks to Ino for her thought and effort.

Now they just needed some guests to help eat it all.


((OOC: I am very close to done with the semester and will be back to full tagging speed ASAP! I'll match whatever format you tag me in, prose or brackets.

Open to anyone! Threadhopping and mingling highly encouraged! It's a party.))

Comments

[16autumnroad]

Chouji files this away in the mental list he keeps of everyone's favorite foods. He does try to predict what each of his friends would like to eat, and anyone who brings a fresh-baked pie to a stranger for his birthday is well-worth befriending.

"I'm glad I made plenty of it, then."

The slice of pie vanishes at an almost alarming rate. "Maybe it is more than usual, but I don't think that's a bad thing. Who doesn't like cinnamon?" Chouji was entirely sincere when he said he liked everything. The cinnamon doesn't completely overwhelm the apple, so the recipe works well in any case.

[windandrain]

Saori eats her bowl in several quick gulps, poking around the table for other things. Sharing food with a stranger was one of the most important things one could ever truly do.

"You...didn't happen to prepare eggs in any form did you?" she asks as she watches him chow down with a genuinely pleased look. She's delighted to have made something he so obviously enjoys. "And I'm very, very glad you like it. Cinnamon is a truly wonderful spice, it adds such an interesting flavor to everything."

[16autumnroad]

"I didn't, but eggs are easy enough that we could just detour to the kitchen and make some." It wouldn't take long, and Ino decorated the kitchen anyway. Technically, cooking wouldn't even involve leaving the party. Chouji wouldn't have offered unless he were sincere; he truly wouldn't mind making eggs in the middle of his birthday party.

He nods eagerly. "I agree, even if I don't cook with it too often." This is mostly due to the fact that Chouji makes more main courses than he does desserts.

[windandrain]

"Well...if you don't mind." replies with a genuine smile. Eggs were a sure way to make her follow you home and give you a blessing. She loved well prepared eggs. "I would not want you doing anything on your birthday that you didn't absolutely want to do."

[16autumnroad]

"I cooked most of the rest of this today," Chouji gestures to everything on the table. "If I minded cooking, I wouldn't offer. What kind of eggs do you like? Scrambled? Fried? Boiled?"

Eggs are Shikamaru's least favorite food, so Chouji doesn't cook them often. He likes everything, so he generally pays attention to other people's preferences. Eggs will be a nice change. He leads the way toward the kitchen, down the butterfly and streamer covered hallway.

[windandrain]

"Well...um. An omelette? Would that be alright?" She asks this almost tremulously, a faint quaver in her voice. Chouji, you've just become the most beautiful young ninja in the world to her. Anyone who makes her omelettes, or eggs at all? Well, they get a special place in her heart.

[16autumnroad]

"Of course that would be alright! What do you want in it?" Chouji is already at the fridge getting out eggs. He plans to cook enough for both of them, plus a little extra in case someone wanders into the kitchen hungry while they're cooking. Food seems to be the focal point of this party, and Chouji refuses to deprive anyone of what they want to eat on his birthday.

He's eating whatever he wants today, and so should everyone else.

[windandrain]

"Cheese, maybe a little ham if that's alright?" If he's cooking so willingly she may as well be a little extravagant. She leans against the counter, not sure if she should help or just let him work. It is his kitchen, after all.

"Can I help? Or would you like me to make you something too? A trade, since it is your birthday after all."

[16autumnroad]

"It's fine." Why cook food for her if he isn't going to cook it the way she'd like it? He pulls additional ingredients from the fridge.

Chouji just smiles and shakes his head at the offer. "Didn't the pie count as you making something for me? You're welcome to anything here but the last few apples if you'd like to cook, though. I rarely turn down an offer of food. Or you could slice or grate the cheese."

[windandrain]

"Well, as I'm a little out of ideas on what to cook, I'll just help for the moment." She's more than willing to go along with whatever he'd like. It's his birthday, after all, and he's the one making her food. She takes up a bowl and a bit of cheese and starts grating away.

"So, may I ask. How long have you been in Luceti?"

[16autumnroad]

After setting a pan on the stove to heat, Chouji cracks eggs into a bowl as he answers.

"I've been here about a month and a half." He frowns, considering the oddities of time in Luceti. "My birthday was just a couple months before I arrived, though. So I shouldn't be eighteen yet, and I was already seventeen before." He's going to keep calling himself seventeen, regardless of the birthday party, because that's certainly truer than the alternative.

[windandrain]

Still grating, Saori nods. She could understand that. Time didn't always match up. And it was sometimes a bit more...wobbly.

"So you're fairly new then? Oh, that's nice. It's a good time of year to arrive I think. Better than winter when everything is cold and the Malnosso leave you to freeze."

[16autumnroad]

"Yes, new enough." The mention of freezing, though, makes him frown. "Do they leave people in the exact same clothes in winter as spring or summer?"

He whisks the eggs before turning his attention to the ham and getting that ready. "I guess I should just be grateful for their timing!"

[windandrain]

"They do," she nods. "It truly is a wonder nobody has frozen to death yet."

[16autumnroad]

Smiling, Chouji pours the eggs into the pan, sprinkling bits of ham in as well. It will be ready for cheese soon enough. "I'm very glad not to have been the first."

[windandrain]

"As am I," Saori grins, patting him on the shoulder. "I have a feeling about you. A good one. It's nice to meet such a generous young man."

[16autumnroad]

He blushes slightly at the praise, shaking his head. "Generous? You're the one who came to celebrate a stranger's birthday. You even baked a pie for someone you'd never met before."

[windandrain]

"Well, birthdays are special. Even I celebrate them, and I'm four hundred and seventy two." She laughs, watching the eggs cook.

[16autumnroad]

"Four hundred seventy two!?" The incredulous words slip out before Chouji realizes he's being rude. His apology is stilted and sheepish. "I'm sorry, I just... would never have known." After another short pause, he decides he's already been rude, so he might as well ask quietly, "Are you really four hundred seventy two?"

Chouji supposes that anything is possible, given how different some worlds are from his own. This was unexpected, though.

[windandrain]

Smiling at the incredulity, she nods. "I am." She leans against the counter, palms resting casually against it. "I may look it, but I'm not...human. I don't know what you're world is like, not really. In mine, I am a Myojin. A god of wind and rain."

[16autumnroad]

"We have shinigami, and the tailed beasts are superhuman, but that's not the same thing." He stops to think for a moment, then adds slowly, "There are shrines and such, but I don't know of anyone who has ever met a deity in our world."

He isn't positive what the polite thing to do is when a god shows up at his party bearing apple pie, but Chouji is pretty sure the proper protocol involves feeding her a good omelette. That in mind, he turns his attention to the food while he processes the information. He adds cheese and watches it carefully to make sure it cooks evenly and doesn't overcook.

[windandrain]

"Ah, another world where my kind have...I suppose the best way to say it is retired." Saori shrugs and watches him cook for a moment before going on. "Sometimes that happens. The gods of a place grow old or weary, or the people lose faith, or any number of things. And they just leave. Return to Heaven rather than visiting the world of men. But that's not really good birthday talk, now is it?"

[16autumnroad]

"Are there a lot of worlds like that? Not the one you come from, though." He hopes, at least. The way she said it did not sound as if Saori's world was among the ones with 'retired' gods.

He shakes his head. "We should probably stick to happy things for tonight at least. Like the fact that the omelet is ready!" Chouji splits it onto two plates and hands one off to Saori, keeping the other for himself. He takes a bite and gestures for Saori to do the same, waiting for her approval of the food.

[windandrain]

"From what I've seen, yes. But...in my world it's a slow process. I certainly am not retired, anyway."

She smiles and nods at the suggestion though, and takes the omelette with a grin. Taking a moment, Saori sniffs it and nods approvingly before taking a bite. Her smile grows by several degrees of...latitude and she takes another.

"It's perfect, thank you!"

[16autumnroad]

"Four hundred seventy two and nowhere near retirement." Chouji grins at Saori, joking with her. "Very admirable dedication."

And that smile prompts a widening of his own, as Chouji promptly sets about devouring his own share of the dish. "Good! I'm glad. You're very welcome."