you only live twice or so it seems

[scalpedsociety]

Who: Aramat and YOU.
What: Aramat's Birthday! (Gifts optional, but recommended.)
When: May 10th
Where: The Loft, the Grocery store, Various Clubs and Bars.
Warnings: Possible sexy stuff, possible violence, etc, etc....

01: PREP | May 9th | did my invitations disappear/why'd I put my heart on every cursive letter?

Sometime during the 9th, an anonymous email comes in for everyone that knows Aramat. The contents are as such.

FRIENDS OF CERTAIN PRIDE PIANIST (PRIDE, VIRGO, OR OTHERWISE)

Her birthday is soon and she's throwing a little gathering at this address on the tenth of May starting at 2 P.M....

And the address to the loft is plainly out.

There will be cake, food, alcohol, and the possibility of performance. Gifts are optional, but appreciated. Let's enjoy ourselves before this world tour begins or one of us disappears. :) See you there!

P.S. Delete this email soon as you get it. If you snitch, I will come after you and collect my presents.

Aramat isn't sure what came over her to type that out but it feels right enough to make that threat. (Snitches get fucking stitches and have their important organs removed for her trophies.) Aramat wakes up early to go to stores for food, decorations, and most importantly, alcohol.

Will you run into the lady over at one of the stores?

02: PARTY | May 10th | i keep doin' it over and over again/the never ending places i never been/no one is catching on or calling my bluff

If you ask Aramat how old she is, even she can't really tell you.

Either way, that doesn't matter. Aramat is just getting finished setting up the spread of food on a large table surrounded by every type of liquor imaginable. (There also soft drinks as well, for the teetotalers in her life.) The menu is sort of diverse, Italian recipes that are fish related, steak, finger foods such as deviled eggs, ordered sushi, classic mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, and fried chicken, there's plenty of desserts as well. Cookies, cakes, and pies as far as the eye can see.

Aramat gets into a red dress and waits at the entrance of her in a chair, calm music, fresh flowers in vases, and fairy lights strewn all over the loft.

She wonders if she's just in denial about herself or what's going on.

03: PERFORMANCE/KARAOKE | May 10th | do every stupid thing that makes you feel alive/do every stupid thing to try to drive the dark away

In a corner of the loft there's a basic set up of drums, electric guitar, and bass. However the guests can bring their instruments of choice. What else does a bunch of somewhat drunken (brainwashed) musicians would do with instruments? Play of course.

04: BARS/CLUBS | May 10th | it's your birthday, it's your birthday/bad bitch contest, you win first place

Aramat isn't Squalo with his tour of 23 bars, but after her party she feels the need to cut even more loose. She isn't settling for a specific number, but she is hopping from bar to bar, from club to club in her slooty dress . She may already be tipsy from the party, so she's stumbling a bit.

Comments

[iitrebel]

"Don't get sappy on me now," he deadpans, even as the awkwardness in his pat to her back betrays him. "Just tell me if you like them."

In the bag are a variety of floral pendants. He had no idea which to choose, and so, since it's not like his money is going to spend itself, tried for a little of everything.

[scalpedsociety]

"Thank you. They're so beautiful." One for every day of the week and then some.

[iitrebel]

"Yeah, hopefully it'll get you out of this goth shit they keep pushing on us." Well, less him these days, and especially since Xie An vanished off the face of the earth, but hey, you never know. "So gonna tear it up tonight?"

[scalpedsociety]

"I mean I enjoy the aesthetic personally, but it would be nice to wear different colors on stage other than the accepted goth spectrum." Xie An may be gone, but other managers have come to take her place.

Is it strange that she misses that little fashion-obsessed twit now?

"Sure. I could go for some drinking and scandalous dancing on other people. You?"

[iitrebel]

"I did consider arson," he quips dryly, "but drinking and scandalous dancing sounds way better to me. What number is this, anyway? You can always tell people you're a cougar now, depending on the age."

Even if age is kind of meaningless after a certain decade of misery, but whatever, right?

[scalpedsociety]

Aramat isn't so sure. "Thirty-ish? Forty-ish?"

She shrugs at that. Listen when you do crazy things, you don't count birthdays much.

[iitrebel]

"Ha ha, nice, I have seniority on you." He says it with the same deadpan as usual, but also, he's completely serious.

He's probably older than most of the people in this building, when he thinks about it. Trippy.

"You should check TFLN throughout the night to get ideas for your drunk escapades, if you ask me."

[scalpedsociety]

"You're... older than me?" She knows she's white but this... is rather extreme.

"I don't think I want to end up in another tabloid." Little does she know she'll be in a tabloid for a different reason.

[iitrebel]

"Yup," he says, and offers no further explanation. Instead, he just tilts his head to the side and rubs the back of his neck.

"Want me to pick fights with any paparazzi who try to follow you?"

[scalpedsociety]

Ghosts exist, there's the possibly of alien and/or robots as well, it could be possible for Artolo to look far younger than he really is.

"Of course, you can hold them for me if you like."

[iitrebel]

He snorts, a ghost of a smile playing at the corner of his mouth. “What, do you wanna get violent on ‘em?”

[scalpedsociety]

"Kind of." Hey, he wanted her to be truthful right?

[iitrebel]

Oh, well, that’s some shit. He doesn’t seem to immediately judge her, however, just a considering tilt of his head. “Like, how violent?”

[scalpedsociety]

"Enough to make them not do it again." Aramat says matter of factly.

[iitrebel]

“Yeah, but death-never-do-it-again or just a casual mutilation?” From anyone else, that might sound judgmental, but Artolo talks about it like it’s the weather. The memories that curl in his head talk about far worse things, after all. He needs to gauge how bad this actually is.

[scalpedsociety]

"I don't know. Depends on how I feel, really." Aramat says nonchalantly.

[iitrebel]

Huh. For a moment, there’s a flicker of- blue within yellow, pupil a slash of black, bared fangs- but Artolo shakes his head. “That kind of thing probably ends in prison, just sayin’.”

[scalpedsociety]

"I've been to a place like prison before... besides you think Lesedi can reach us in a prison?" Aramat questions.

[iitrebel]

“Yes” is the blunt and unhesitating answer. “She straight up murdered someone, I don’t think she gives a shit about laws.”