braidtrain | [Ryslig] IC Inbox

[He gives a short bark of laughter.]

Didn't I say we could go once you got rid of your parasite? [He pulls his hands out of his pockets and raises them in a shrug-like gesture.] You're bug free now, aren't you? And today seemed as good a day as any to keep that promise.

[Because it's your birthday. Surprise! The thing he had to "drop off" was you!]

[Again her crest is raised almost instantaneously, the girl doing these little excited bird hops in place that fluff up her feathers and make her hair ribbons jingle.]

Really?

[They're gonna go play in the arcade? Really???]

Would we be standing here otherwise? [No, Mabel, he just dragged you out here to look at the arcade from the outside. Time to go now!] Of course.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!! [Listen to that happy squeal of hers. She quickly reaches up to grab his hand, pulling on him as she tires to hop into the arcade. Come on!! Come on, come on, come on!!!! Let's go, let's go play!]

Let's play everything! We can play shooters and fighters and oh! Oh do you wanna play some of the racers? Maybe they have those ones that have actual motorcycles as controllers! Do you think they had those kinds of things in the older times?

[Oh she's so excited.]

H-Hey now, watch it. [He's not resisting at all, there's no need to pull like that!]

Don't ask me though, I've never been to any of the arcades here. I have no idea what kind of stuff they've got.

Oops, sorry...

[She doesn't tug anymore, but she doesn't let go of his hand either. Once inside she's looking wide eyed at everything, trying to decide where to start.]

What kinds of things do you like? I'll play anything!

Mmmm...I'm pretty good with shooters and fighters. I like games with a decent amount of action in them.

Alright!

[That sounds good to her! A good place to start. And continue, even. It's a surprise she doesn't manage to drag him to every game that's in there really. She even gets him to play things like foosball with her! It's a really fun afternoon that we're going to handwave because I have no idea what kind of games even exist in that time but they are surely just as satisfied with the experience as they are disappointed with how outdated everything continues to be.

And it's not until they're leaving the arcade that she remembers something very important.]

Thanks Hiko...this was really fun! I wanna play with you again sometime, okay? Maybe we can do that for your birthday next--

[She gives a soft gasp as something hits her and quickly stops, digging into the feathers under her ribs. Those have become a very handy place to keep things. Pretty soon she produces the small box she'd grabbed before she left and holds it up to him.]

Here! Jeeeeez you surprised me so much with that I totally forgot to give this to you!

[Fun times were had all around with super retro arcade games, even by a stick in the mud like Fuyuhiko. He even went all out on most of the games because going easy on someone is bullshit, even if it's their birthday. And, let's be real here, it's not like he'd be constantly kicking her ass anyway.]

[Dear god though, he hopes he's not still stuck here for a THIRD birthday. Something he doesn't get the chance to say before Mabel is shoving a small box in his face. Oh. This is...]

[He takes the box, but doesn't make to open it yet. Should...he do that right here? Right now? In this middle of an arcade? This isn't like when he went out to lunch with Gundam...]

...thanks.

[He definitely wouldn't be kicking her ass constantly. She's pretty good at this stuff you know! Even if he did, or won most of the time, she still had a lot of fun doing it. Because doing it together is the whole thing that makes it fun, no matter who's winning.

And if you ARE here for a third birthday, she will make it the best damn birthday you've ever had!! But that will be then and this is now. And right now she's just grinning up at him.]

It's late, but happy birthday! I hope you weren't expecting me to just forget about it or something.

[You don't have to open it now, she won't make you.]

Was there anything else you wanted to do? We could grab a snack before we go home or something! I don't have any plans after all.

I wasn't expecting you to forget, no, but... [He fumbles the present a little in his hands, thinking about how he wants to put this. He didn't expect her to forget, but he also wasn't expecting a present. Though, just leaving it at that kind of makes it sound like he has a negative opinion of her.] ...thanks.

[Again. He's not sure what else to say, so why not??? Say the same thing twice???]

I dunno about a snack, but I could go for some tea. If you're done here, we can go to a cafe or something.

[And then he can open his present there, once they're sitting down. Because that's a little less awkward than just standing in the middle of an arcade. So, for now, he slips the little box into his pocket.]

[She can't help the small giggle that escapes her, a hand moving up to cover her beak as if that'd help hide it. She's not laughing at you, promise! ...well okay, maybe a little bit. You don't gotta be flustered Hiko.]

A cafe sounds good!

[Ready to start hopping along towards said cafe when you are! There are a few nearby and she likes them all pretty equally, so just head off in a different direction and they can go and get settled in and have some tea and probably a copious amount of sweets on Mabel's side...]

[Ugh, this is still weird for him, okay? He's mostly gotten used to having friends, by now, but getting something like BIRTHDAY GIFTS from friends is still weird and new.]

[But, alright, off to a cafe they go! Fuyuhiko knows exactly which one he wants to go to, too. It's one he usually goes to alone and during dead hours so he can eat sweets in peace, without being seen. he doesn't plan on getting any with Mabel around, but he figures she'll probably want something. Plus, the tea is pretty good.]

[So, once they have their goodies and are tucked away in a booth, Fuyuhiko asks:]

So...am I supposed to wait till I get home to open it?

[The present.]

Edited 2016-10-04 23:33 (UTC)

[You can eat sweets around her, Hiko. It's not like she'll judge you!! But they are out in public and who knows what all those other people might think, so better safe than sorry. Just let Mabel eat all the sweets. She'll eat enough for both of you, probably.]

You can if you want! But you gotta get Mahiru to take pictures of you while you open it so I can see!

[You may as well open it now......]

[Ugh, no. She'll judge him. She'll say it's cute or something...]

...I'll just open it now then.

[He's not asking Mahiru to take pictures of something like that. That defeats the purpose of doing it at home, where he can't be seen!]

[But alright. He sets his tea cup down for a minute, shifting on the bench to pull the package back out of his pocket. Alright...what have we got in here, then?]

[Not at all! She probably wouldn't even comment on it. But onto the box-

Similar to Hiko's gift, there's a card blocking any hope of seeing what the actual gift is. It's a simple white envelope and an even simpler black card on the inside. There's some elegant gold leafing on the front, but it's clearly not meant to be a birthday card or anything. Likely just a generic, blank card. Surprisingly there's no glitter.

On the inside, the right half of the card is a handful of lovingly drawn doodles. Some of him, some of his classmates, a couple attempts at a shiba...and of course plenty of hearts, as per usual. While there isn't any glitter, there are stickers aplenty. The left has a message carefully penned in purple ink, hearts dotting all the i's. It was clearly supposed to start with "Hiko", but since she originally wrote it that was hastily scribbled out and replaced with "Big bro". Probably done after opening her gift from him earlier.

~~Hiko~~ Big bro!! -

Even if this is really late, I had to get you a gift! I mean I guess I didn't have to, since that makes it sound like that's the only reason I got one for you, but I wanted to! Cuz it's a really important day, you know? I think Ryslig would be a lot different if you weren't here, and even though it's not really that great that you are, since I'm sure everyone wishes everyone were back home instead, I'm still really really glad that you're around. I don't think I'd have nearly as much fun, or feel nearly as go ~~comf~~ safe.

Happy birthday!!!! Love Mabel!

(P.S. you're super hard to shop for you should like write up a list of stuff you like for people some time!!
P.P.S. sorry this is so short and lame, it's hard to put into words how I feel, so I'll just have to hug you a whole bunch when I give this to you. Better be ready!! (Or enjoy it if I already hugged you by now.)

Once he's ready to move on to the gift itself, he'll find a little tissue paper covering it, separating it from the card. Pulling that back reveals two different things. A gold tie pin and a gold lapel pin. Nothing super fancy but the look on her face clearly says she's hoping it'll be good enough.

Because again. He is really hard to shop for...]

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