Your name is John Egbert and boy are you excited!
Sure, birthdays might not be as impressive as Christmas, or even when they're someone else's, but a party is a party and who doesn't love parties?
Your dad pulls up outside the Lalonde residence and drops you off with a swift "Have a good time, son" before zooming away back to the suburbs. The big square building before you is modern, expensive... and big. You wonder that Rose doesn't have parties more often just to take up some of the space.
You nervously shift the present under your arm and run up to the door. It opens at first ring to reveal a grinning Harley and a solemn, yet jubilant, birthday girl Rose.
They usher you in with a "come on!" and you end up in a big three way hug, present slipping from your arms.
"Here's your present, Mrs Birthday Pants!" and you practically send the parcel flying at Rose's face. She sweet catch!es it and opens it quickly.
It's a long and warm looking purple and blue striped scarf, rather ineptly knitted by your own self.
"Did you make this, John?"
"Yeah, I... wanted to give you something homemade. That wasn't a cake."
She looks at you, smiling warmly, and thanks you "profoundly". You see her finger a few dropped stitches fondly.
"Strider is obviously going to be late," Jade says, rolling her eyes.
"While we wait for his intolerable ego to arrive, why don't we go through to the lounge?"
You do. It's decked out in purple and black streakers, a cavern of a room covered in paper and decorations. A rather large pile of presents lie in the corner, already opened. You wish you were as rich as Rose.
"No pony this year," she says with relief, "although I must admit the engraved locket dripped with motherly affection. The decorations really top the cake."
Jade makes a face. "Why don't you just drop the whole passive-aggressive thing and accept all the shiny gifts?" She looks at the pile with longing. You know what she means. You birthdays are never as lavish as this.
Rose guides you both gently to the buffet table in the corner, which is laden with pink frosted cupcakes and chocolate gateaus, all iced with black to look like jewelled lace. You suddenly understand why your father has been so secretive lately.
And in the middle of the table, a mysterious mound covered by a thin black cloth.
Rose grits her teeth.
"Jade, I'm afraid it's too late to drop anything. You see that glorious mountain in the middle? That peak of hidden discovery just waiting to be uncovered? I have to reveal it soon. It will be ostentatious. It will be unforgettable."
She sighs a heavy sigh and looks up at the ceiling grandly, as if facing an unseen overhead audience.
"It will be just one update in one act of one continuous war, by which she may win this battle..."
"What is she looking at?" you whisper to Jade.
"... yet it will be one sacrifice in ensuring-" and here Rose clenched her fist, raised it high in the air and hissed "-that it is the war she will lose."
There was a long and bemused silence.
"Are we allowed to eat it after?" you ask while Jade bursts into applause.
"You should be an actress! That was a really good - uh - performance!" she says.
Rose merely smiles appreciatively. "Thank you, thank you. I feel that on birthdays one should be allowed to act as they wish they could every day. It is one indulgence I am happy to allow myself."
All three of you spend a good time just swapping idle chatter - god you're missed your friends - until you note, "It's really hot in here. Did you turn the heating up for some reason?"
She shakes her head. "No, it's just been really hot today. All the glass just acts as a greenhouse."
"You would have thought someone would've thought of a solution for that," Jade ponders, "otherwise rich people would always be going around half-cooked."
"Some of them already do," says the blonde girl, noticing a stray empty bottle of liquor that had found itself on the cake table.
The potentially awkward moment is dissolved by the doorbell, and Jade bounces off to answer it squeaking "Daaaave!" and you're left grinning at Rose. It's just so exciting for everyone to be here. You couldn't imagine it any other way.

You grin at Rose cheekily. "So have you planned for us tonight? Any unorthodox dark rituals inspired by the deepest darkest unmentionables of B'ylob-thingy?"
"Unfortunately, B'ylob-thingy appears to be indisposed so we'll have to make do without his strangely unreferencable items of an untalkable nature. I was thinking more conventional activities, such as music, or truth and dares."
"Hold up," Dave says bursting through the door, "if a lonely goth-wannabe snarky broad plays her freakish cult music in the woods and no-one's around to hear it, how long until someone has to call a Strider to rescue her playlist?
Jade appeared, laughing behind him.
"What if she's perfectly content listening alone to her music by herself in the woods?" Rose raises an eyebrow.
"Well tough Ms Lafrump, your shit has well and truly been rescued like a dude on treasure island because the one, the only Dave Strider is here. All up and Superman in this shit, I'm telling ya."
You and Jade catch each others eye, and suddenly you're infected with laughter as well.
"It would certainly appear that someone is wearing his underwear outside of his trousers, although I see no Superman before me..."
"Yeah well maybe you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth and shut up and be rescued, especially when the horse is as bodacious as I am. Talking of gifts..." He pulls a present from behind his back.
Opening it quizzically, Rose laughs. It's a small wooden cat puppet, with strings attached to its four legs and tail, and a little bow tie around its neck.
"I tried to make it as not creepy as possible," he shudders, "and I figure that as long as it's nothing like Lil Cal then I'm on the right track."
"No, it's not creepy at all," Rose reassures him, and gives him a sweet peck on the cheek. He wipes it disdainfully.
"It's times like these when I'm wiping gooey black lipstick off my face that I remember just how weird you all really are," he says rolling his eyes. His attention settles on you and Jade.
"Oh look, its giggling in stereo. What's up Egface?"
He holds up a hand and you return the sweetest of high-fives. "Oh you know, the sky, space, aeroplanes..."
"Funny, real funny." He looks down his shades at you. "You should go into stand up."
Music is put on, food is distributed, talk is swapped - the evening is warm, cosy yet tempered with excitement, at least for you. You're in a practically guardian free house, there's no limit to how long you're staying... and you're with your three best friends. You look at them, scattered about the room, and reflect there's nowhere you'd rather be, and no-one you'd rather be with, then right here with them.

A natural lull comes to the evening - a good time for a game, Rose says, and suggests finding a truth or dare game on her laptop. You all agree.
"OK..." she says later, "John: truth or dare?"
"Hmm, dare," you say.
"Oh... squawk like a bird and shit on your desk."
"What? That can't be right?"
"... just do the squawk part."
You squawk and flap your arms uselessly, pecking at Jade's head and sending her squealing.
"Right. Dave. Truth or dare."
"Dare," he says without hesitation.
"Bleat like a goat."
He blinks at her. "These dares are utter crap." he says. "Did you deliberately censor them or...?"
He scooches across.

== Be the scoocher.

AN: guys i have no idea what i'm doing on this site because i just transferred across from ao3 and...

everything is so different...

so bear with me while i sort it all out! ^^;