[video]

[highprofilerichkid]

Hey, everybody. I'm turning... twenty one? Twenty two? Have we decided how we're counting that year in the Dreaming yet?

Anyway, I'm having a party at my place. Everybody's welcome. Even if you don't like me, I do have a lot of ice cream. Just putting that out there.

[Attached is his address in the Sky Sector, and the date and time.

Some Foreigners – specifically, Aya, Raine, Jackie, Bucky, Valdis, Danny, Sonja and Miles – will also receive individual texts, consisting of an ASCII art birthday cake, a smiley face, and a link to this video message. Cute.]

Comments

video; private

[jinzhong]

Whoa, how'd you do that? The cake - that's so cool!

And yeah, I'll definitely come. Happy birthday, man!

[He's gonna bring alcohol. As you do. Happy birthday, Tony, you get the good shit. And you don't even have to share.]

video; private

[highprofilerichkid]

It's just a bunch of text symbols. Like a more complicated emoji. [What, Jackie, you never spent entire class periods creating elaborate ASCII illustrations and sending them to your best friend instead of taking notes?]

It'll be great to have you. Hey, do you think you can make some milkshake cocktails?

[Boozy milkshakes: the highest and best use of both ice cream and booze.]

video; private

[jinzhong]

[Tony? Respectfully? The fuck is an emoji? Jackie never had a smartphone.]

Uh, sure, I guess. Never tried it before, but it sounds easy enough.

[BOOZESHAKES ARE THE HIGHEST CALLING OF MAN. Maybe if he likes them, he'll see about getting them at the Koi.]

And you've got the ice cream, which is good, 'cause I wouldn't know where else to get any.

video; private

[highprofilerichkid]

Yeah, it's the good kind, with eggs in it. You have to cook it. Way more complicated than I thought ice cream would be.

Then you dump liquid nitrogen in it; that's the fun part.

video; private

[jinzhong]

That sounds kinda complicated. And dangerous. [Hey, he barely finished middle school.]

video; private

[highprofilerichkid]

Nah, it's fine. The Leidenfrost effect keeps liquid nitrogen from giving you instant frostbite. It's almost completely safe as long as you don't inhale it or swallow it or get it inside your clothes.

video; private

[jinzhong]

...that still sounds dangerous.

video; private

[highprofilerichkid]

Don't worry about it, this is elementary school science. I do more dangerous stuff every day in the lab.

[Tony, has anyone ever told you that you really suck at being reassuring?]

video; private

[jinzhong]

You know I didn't really go to a lot of school, right?

video; private

[highprofilerichkid]

Technically, I didn't either.

[And that makes it... better...?]