It's Jane's Brithday

[strideallknight]

WHO: Jane Crocker, Dave Strider, and anyone who wants to celebrate Jane's birthday
TONE: Party hardy yo
RATING: G, M for Strider mouths
WHEN: April 13th, After lunch to the dinner bell
WHERE: The lake
WHAT: What it says on the tin, man. Dave and Rose have organized a little birthday party for Jane, and here we are.
STATUS: Ongoing

[What's there to say? Just have fun and be merry! The only subthread is optional, the rest of this log is for mingling.]

Comments

[stubbornskeptic]

Despite being, well, rather flustered by all of this attention and focus being thrust upon her (by people other than her slightly overbearing father, that is) Jane is actually having a pretty amazing time. She's taking part in all the festivities and can be found doing just about anything. And the cake, well, it has her Crocker seal of approval. She owes Dave a thank you for that, along with everything else.

Rose too, as much as she still feels awkward around her after. Uh.

...In any case, she's definitely enjoying herself and is happy to greet and party with everyone.

[seeringlight]

Speaking of Rose, the other is approaching her. She has a nice bag with tissue paper stuffed into it in her hand. "Hello, Jane. I hope you're enjoying yourself. A birthday should be enjoyable, after all."

She holds out the bag to the other. "I am not particularly knowledgeable of what you are interested in, but I hope that these gifts will be suitable for you."

[stubbornskeptic]

Jane's cheeks immediately burn with a mixture of-- oh, jealousy, hurt, confusion, annoyance, embarrassment. Too many emotions to deal with right now, so she pushes it all aside and smiles, her cheeks already cooling as she relaxes.

"Oh, thank you Rose! I'm sure it's lovely. I'm really not all that picky anyway, hoo hoo!"

She takes the bag and opens it, peeking down at her gifts.

[seeringlight]

Rose may have noticed it slightly, but doesn't really think any of it. Or at the very least, she decides that it isn't too important to press when Jane should be enjoying herself. Maybe she has a slight head cold or some kind.

"I wanted to give something that you would like to have though."

Rose has knitted Jane some oven mitts. They have little blue heart designs stitched into them. There's also a knitted apron. That one isn't as well made. Who knew aprons would be hard to knit!!! She also included chocolate and candy. "I can always make something else if those are not to your liking."

[stubbornskeptic]

Jane holds them up, immediately, well. Touched! And. And they're really very well made! Better than she could do!

Oh, she might actually tear up. This isn't fair. She should be-- oh, she doesn't know. Sassy or something? Aloof? But instead Rose is such a sweetheart and she. She actually likes her quite a bit!

Jane puts it all back in the bag, places the bag down in the grass, and pulls Rose into a hug. "I love it! I really do!"

[seeringlight]

Rose ended up being that significant other you want to hate, but you can't because she's legitimately not a terrible person. Obviously they should just elope together. Obviously.

Rose hugs her back. "I hope you're enjoying yourself today, Jane. I'm glad that I could have helped in anyway to make it better."

[stubbornskeptic]

Jane pulls away, laughing nervously.

"Oh, it's all so amazing. I still can't believe Dave went to this much trouble." She shakes her head, adding, "I suppose I'll have to find some way to pay him back, though I don't know how."

[strideallknight]

Awww yeah, with some help from Dirk and Bro, Dave is able to get Jane's favorite music to play with some fancy magic. His family is awesome, obviously.

After making sure it's all going smoothly, he makes goes off to find Jane. It's not long before he finds her, and comes up from behind to tap her on the shoulder. His present is being held in one hand, and is, of course, wrapped in red paper.

"Yo, birthday girl. How're you liking the party?"

[stubbornskeptic]

Jane turns, immediately blushing because it wasn't that long ago that Dave got a chance to see her goods, so to speak, and the fact that he threw this party would be embarrassing and overwhelming without that hanging over her head and.

Well, anyway.

She beams at him. "It's lovely. You went to far too much trouble, Dave. I don't think I deserve it all, frankly."

[shitknickers]

Jake is a good deal better at remembering dates here than he is in canon. Mostly, honestly, because he's dating one of the coordinators of the party, let's be real. He keeps a little datebook, but he doesn't always remember to check every single day every day always to make sure he's not forgetting anything. Thankfully, with Rose being half of the party's organization, Jake had time to come up with something for a gift and everything.

Things have been a little... Awkward, he's noticed, with himself and Jane, and Jane and a handful of other people. He's not terribly good at understanding why, but he hopes that at least on her birthday things might be better. And in an effort to aid that, he presents her with a little box wrapped in blue paper with a little silver bow on it, and a card with her name sitting on top of it. The card is small and in an envelope, which like the rest of it is written in Jake's difficult to decipher green handwriting. He presented the box to her with a smile and a hug.

"Happy birthday, miss Janey," he said lightly.

[stubbornskeptic]

Jane gives Jake a big smile and then a big hug, taking the box as she steps away once again. "Oh, thank you so much, Jake!"

As she stands clutching the box and savoring the for-once-not-all-that-awkward moment, she finds herself relaxing significantly. It's been a while since being around Jake was this easy. In fact, it's a relief to have him here with her on her birthday. Almost like she had somehow subconsciously expected him to forget or avoid it entirely.

She toys with the bow for a moment, then manages, "It's been a while since we've hung out, hasn't it? I suppose we've both been busy."

DW can you please give me my notifications thanks.

[shitknickers]

He hoisted her off her feet for a moment, giving her a good squeeze before he set her down and let her step back. With a chuckle, he shrugged his shoulders lightly and slid his hands into his pockets.

"Well being in the year we're in," Jake offered. "But it certainly has been too long. I trust today has been good to you?"

eep :C

[stubbornskeptic]

"Oh, it's been quite fine, thanks! I'm feeling much too special, to be honest. Hardly worthy!"

Jane holds up the present a little. "Shall I open it, then?"

sobs.

[shitknickers]

Jake beamed at her, the corners of his eyes scrunching up.

"Well, good! You're supposed to feel special on your birthday." He gestured to the box with a little flourish and a shrug. "And if you like!! It's your birthday, you choose."

<3

[stubbornskeptic]

Jane beams. "Alright, here it goes!" She started tearing into the package, more than a little curious about what Jake would get her.

[toocoolforthis]

Dirk is at the party, of course. There's no way he wouldn't show up. Jane is one of his best friends, after all, he wouldn't miss it even if he did think she was still avoiding him and didn't want to talk to him.

He knows the reason for it now, though, which is why he's tended to hang back and let others celebrate the proceedings more. No need to make things more awkward than they are already, in his opinion.

[strideallknight]

Oh, no, Dirk, you're not allowed to be a wallflower at Jane's party. Dave won't stand for it. They can suffer together for entirely different reasons.

"You look like you're heading off to a funeral instead of someone's birthday," he remarks casually as he ninja's over to Dirk's side.

[toocoolforthis]

To the contrary, he's not being a wallflower. He's keeping out of everyone's way. There's a pretty huge difference there, as far as Dirk is concerned.

Hence why he just gives Dave a look through his shades, and absolutely doesn't move. "You sure it's not just my face?"

[strideallknight]

Dave rolls his eyes behind his own shades. "Please. You usually light up like a thousand watt bulb when you're off to the wonderful world of your best friends' birthday parties. Now you're not, and I'm curious to know why."

More concerned, actually, but he's not going to say that outright.

[shitknickers]

The fact that things have been so strange between the three of them, individually and as a whole, was really starting to bother Jake. But he seriously lacked the finesse for how to approach these sorts of things properly, so he just charged up behind Dirk and planted his face between the Strider's shoulder blades, hugging him loosely around the middle.

"Cheer up, Strider! You're looking awful glum for being at a party, you know," he teased gently. Bugger, he wasn't good at this sort of thing, but he sure did hate seeing his friends in less than good spirits.

[toocoolforthis]

The full-body flinch Dirk did as Jake got his arms around Dirk's waist was a good indication of how much he wasn't prepared for such an enthusiastic hug. He recovered quickly, and nudged Jake's arm with an elbow. There was no point in glancing over his shoulder to try and get a look, not when Jake's face was pressed to his spine, so he just kept looking forward.

"No, that's just my face," he said, evenly. Jake was probably right, but he wasn't about to admit that.

[shitknickers]

"Is not," Jake countered, not moving from his spot in Hugsville. "You may think I don't pay attention but I pay more than you'd expect." Though he did most certainly feel bad for the flinch that Dirk sustained at the contact. "Really, though, are you all right?"

Sorry, Dirk, he's not really intending to let go anytime soon.

[toocoolforthis]

Dirk was quickly coming to realize that this hug was not one he was going to escape, so he might as well enjoy deal with it. And while he wasn't about to lean into it or anything, he would let Jake take more of his weight.

"Yeah, I'm cool," he said with a shrug. "I was helping Dave set this up all day."

this icon is so accurate omf.

[shitknickers]

He had pretty much always been a hugger, and a tenacious jerk about it, too. So while he was pleased that Dirk shifted to a state of slightly more tolerant of the affection, he still wasn't about to let go.

"I imagine that can take it out of a bloke," he mused thoughtfully. "Then what are you doing just standing over here? Why don't you go have yourself a sit."

wow jake awful close there

[toocoolforthis]

"Because I'm not that exhausted," he said with a frown. "Even if I wanted to, you're not making it easy for me." He nudged Jake's arm with an elbow to make it obvious what he meant.

Which didn't mean that he wanted Jake to stop. Jake was dating his sister, but that didn't change that Dirk thought Jake was hot.