[Ven's been through enough of these things to know how important this is - and for him it's kind of a personal birthday party as well, since his birthday had been just a few days before. Being bounced around from home to home as a kid meant he didn't have much in the way of birthday celebrations, so he honestly prefers this as the marker than anything else. A party just isn't important to him - he likes knowing he's part of something bigger, that he's making a difference, that he finally found a home to belong to. Getting his sixth bar is just reaffirming that for him.]
[He's made an effort to flatten his hair for this and failed miserably; it's so thick it just sticks up everywhere like it always does. He's also wearing the only purple t-shirt he managed to save (the one he was wearing when he went on furlough in the first place) and his best pair of pants, and he's got his sword by his side as usual. He's sticking close to John, ready to corral him if need be, because he fully expects his new brother to start screaming at the branding.]
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[He's made an effort to flatten his hair for this and failed miserably; it's so thick it just sticks up everywhere like it always does. He's also wearing the only purple t-shirt he managed to save (the one he was wearing when he went on furlough in the first place) and his best pair of pants, and he's got his sword by his side as usual. He's sticking close to John, ready to corral him if need be, because he fully expects his new brother to start screaming at the branding.]