The days leading up to today's date had been carefully marked down by Reimi for quite some time, so when she woke up, gotten dressed and walked into the lobby and looked at today's date indicated by the calendar hanging over the fridge, she felt enormously happy.
"Today's Faize's birthday!" she said to herself, unable to hide her smile. "He's going to have so much fun today, I know it."
Reimi had been preparing this day ever since Faize was discussing birthdays on Eldar. Apparently, they celebrated birthdays much different then they did on Earth: Faize claimed the were to venture into jungle and kill the most dangerous monster that was roaming around, then feast on their brains after a lengthy ceremony. She remembered Edge looked a little green after he described, in great detail, the way they gutted the monster.
"It makes me queasy, to be honest," Faize confessed. "I'd rather have something easier on the stomach, like berries or nuts."
She had convinced the rest of the crew to host Faize a real birthday party, much to Lymle's protests, but promised her a bigger slice of cake than Faize's. "Everyone has to get him their own gift!" she declared. "Nothing cheap, but from the heart. If anyone gets him Cerberus' dog food or something unmentionable from Cerberus, they will be denied cake. I must approve any gift that anyone gets him. Understand?"
They all agreed, but when everyone but Edge left, she cornered him with a fiery glare. "Edge, you have to get him an extra-special gift for his birthday. That's an order!"
"Me?" Edge blustered, looking confused. "But why?"
"Because Faize views you as a big brother, Edge. You're his idol - his inspiration. Not getting a present from the person you respect most is like a slap in the face. So, please, Edge...make some effort, all right?" Reimi pouted, making Edge feel uncomfortable and annoyed.
"All right, all right, I'll do it," he grumbled. "I might as well; anyway, he's been working really hard lately. He needs a gift."
Reimi clapped her hands excitedly. "Great! Edge, I'm so proud of you. Please help us to make this Faize's best birthday ever!"
Edge sighed inwardly as Reimi skipped away. This whole thing was a pain, and when it had to do with Faize it just made things harder. Reimi had a point, though - whatever Edge gave him he would always keep it by his side; he could get him a clump of grass with a bow tied round the stalks and Faize would carry it around in a flowerpot. Whatever it had to be, it had to amuse Faize so he would pay attention more to it than to him.
But that was two months ago; at this present time was the morn of Faize's birthday. Reimi believed that it was his twentieth birthday - or was it different in Eldarian years? She didn't really understand the concept of phases on different planets - so she wanted to make this one a birthday he'd always remember.
To put stage one of her grand plan into action, she barged into the quarters of her crewmates. "Myuria! Lymle! Wake up!" she sang. "Today is Faize's birthday!"
Myuria opened one bleary eye at the impossibly perky Reimi. "Get out," she mumbled. Lymle, however, snapped awake and hopped out of her bunk. "Hooray! Reirei and Lym are gonna party, kay?"
"That's right, Lymle!" Reimi smiled, picking her up and twirling her around. "Go wake up Bacchie, Sarah and Merry, all right? Myuria will come around eventually, so tell them to get the streamers up everywhere."
"What about Edgie?" Lymle asked, struggling slightly in Reimi's grasp. Reimi set her down and smiled mischievously.
"I'll wake him up," she promised. "He's giving Faize the best present today. I mean...er, everyone will give him great presents!" she quickly corrected herself, seeing Lymle glaring at her.
break
At last, as soon as Reimi roused Edge and Myuria, they went into full party prepping mode around the Calnus. The walls became adorned with multicolored streamers, and Sarah had blown up balloons (after popping the first twenty) that hung around on the floor, just waiting to be stepped on. Cerberus and Lymle had decided to amuse themselves by popping at least ten until Reimi had scolded them.
"Why don't they have any strings?" Reimi sighed, picking up the tattered corpses of the balloons.
"The shop I bought them at didn't have any," Sarah said apologetically, depositing them in a small trash bag. "They said that you don't need them if you're just going to inhale the air inside them."
Reimi made a mental note to accompany Sarah they next time they shopped for party supplies.
Once the main lobby was finished, she made Bacchus fetch Faize, who she had allowed to sleep in for the day. When Faize entered, rubbing his eyes, his amethyst eyes turned the size of small saucers.
"Wh..." he began, apparently shocked. "Reimi...Auntie...what's going on?"
"Surprise! Happy birthday!" Nearly everyone exclaimed, throwing confetti in his face. Faize's cheeks turned pink with embarrassment and happiness; he had never experienced a communal chant for himself before.
"Faize, we've made a cake for you! Your favorite kind too - or, well, Lym told me it was your favorite. Myuria and Lym helped me, so I really hope you like it. It's my birthday present for you." Reimi hugged Faize, looking truly happy that Faize seemed so happy.
"Why, thank you, Auntie." Faize was touched by Reimi's sincere smile. "I'm sure I'll enjoy it if you made it."
Myuria snickered. "Spoken like a true womanizer."
"We'll eat it after Bacchus gives everyone a party hat," Reimi explained. "It's in the freezer by the bar right now, so you can peek at it in a minute." She bustled away to Bacchus, who was struggling with Lymle with a bag of poppers.
"Bacchie, I want a pink one!" Lymle whined, grabbing and stretching the plastic bag. "Cerbie told me he wants a blue one! To match his scarf!"
"Miss Lymle, please," Bacchus said, a touch of exasperation on his voice. "I'll give them to you when everyone's ready-"
"Lym!" Reimi scolded, and Faize turned away from the conversation to glance at Edge. The big bro in question had been oddly quiet ever since they had surprised him; he hadn't offered his birthday wishes for him at all. Instead, he had been lurking around with a slightly pinkish face, averting his green eyes away from Faize. Faize worried if he had a fever. He didn't want his big brother, or at least his appointed one, walking around while Faize was having fun. He approached him cautiously.
"Big bro?"
Edge was jerked out of his reverie. "F-Faize?"
"Big bro, are you all right? You're not looking good at all. Well, you look fine; but your face is pink. Do you have a fever?"
"Er...no, but I...I'm fine! Just leave it be. I'm fine, Faize." Edge turned his back on Faize, effectively shutting him out. Faize looked crestfallen as he stared at Edge's back.
"But, big bro..."
"Faize!" Meracle suddenly appeared by him. "Quit paying attention to Edge and pay attention to me! Reimi's lighting the candles on your cake, aren't you excited? I looove cake!"
"Oh, erm, uh..." Faize glanced at Meracle and then Edge, and allowed himself to be pulled over to the center of the room. Bacchus had just put Sarah's red and yellow striped party hat on, and was moving towards Faize.
"Mister Faize, do you require a party hat?"
"Oh, um, thank you." He allowed Bacchus to pull out a red party hat and put it on his head, which clashed horribly with his hair. Everyone seemed to have one, he noted while looking around, except Myuria and...
"Mister Edge requested not to have one," Bacchus said, as if he had read Faize's thoughts. "He said he was going to bring his own, but it appears that isn't the case."
Faize glanced at Edge, but to his surprise he had disappeared. Reimi sensed the longing in his eyes, because she walked over to him and said "It's all right, Faize. He's just in one of his moods. He'll be fine soon."
"If you say so, Auntie." Faize was doubtful, because it took ages for Edge to revert to normal after his Alternate Earth experience.
"Do we have nineteen candles?" Myuria asked who was bending over the cake with Sarah and Lymle.
"Think so, 'kay," Lymle affirmed.
"What about one more?" Reimi suggested. "On Earth, we added one for good luck. Well, maybe it's different on Eldar, so Faize can do what he wants."
"No, I like that idea." He smiled with difficulty. Reimi figured his thoughts were still firmly on Edge. "It's very nice. I would like to have good luck."
"Fine, then. Kid, do you have another candle?" Myuria nodded her approval, and then turned to Lymle. Lymle poked around the candle box that had been coincidentally stored in the Calnus' fridge and produced one more pink and white candle.
Myuria plunked the twentieth candle in the cake and the three of the admired it.
"Shall we let Faize see it?" Sarah asked.
The three of them nodded, Myuria and Sarah carried the cake out in the main lobby of the Calnus. It was a two layer cake with red and green frosting, which he noted was sloppily applied but the gesture moved him. Reimi took out a small box of matches from the fridge, lit them, and carefully applied to the flame to the twenty candles.
"Happy birthday to you...happy birthday to you..." Reimi began, and everyone joined in. Everyone except Edge that is, who was still suspiciously hanging back. Faize felt his heart melt; what had he done to Edge lately that would cause this callousness? Although, he had accidentally dropped Edge's toothbrush in the toilet the other day…and he also had accidentally walked in on Edge sitting on the toilet… (why did Edge yell "Bacchus, no!" when he opened the door? Sometimes Faize didn't understand him.) so maybe Edge did have a very good reason to be angry with him. God, how embarrassing! He did apologise, but it wasn't heartfelt as Edge would've liked.
"To….you!" they finished, punctuated with clapping. Faize smiled awkwardly, hoping the fire would mask his blushing cheeks.
"Make a wish!" Myuria called, which was responded with hoots of agreement from Meracle and Lymle.
"A wish..." Faize stared at the shining candles, which glittered like stars in the dark. I wish…I wish that Edge and I can get along from now on…with Reimi too…
"Blow them out!" Meracle cried shrilly, obviously impatient. Faize obliged, took a deep breath, and blew out the candles. The crew cheered enthusiastically, but Faize's sights were still on Edge.
Reimi cleaned up and began cutting the cake. "Don't forget, Reirei," Lymle reminded her. "Biggest piece is for Lymle, 'kay?"
"Of course," Reimi said. She looked up at Faize and smiled apologetically. "Is that all right, Faize? Do you mind?"
Faize forced a smile. "Of course not," he said, and wondered if this party could get any worse.
Brrrrr
The party continued off without a hitch – for Reimi, anyway, whom was just ecstatic to have a party of hers actually work. It seemed everyone was having fun – well, except for Edge and Faize that is. Edge continued to appear distant and even disappeared for a while, making Faize even more depressed.
This is the worst birthday party ever, he thought, picking at his slightly inedible cake. The girls had put their heart into the pastry, but it tasted slightly burnt and curiously enough, peppery. He didn't want to know what went into this cake, and didn't dare to ask.
"Guys! It's time for presents!" Reimi chirped. "Come over here, and we'll make a circle so you can give Faize your present!"
They all eagerly crowded around Reimi, who seated Faize at the head of the circle. Edge was still nowhere to be seen. A stack of brightly wrapped boxes was beside her. "First present is from…" she picked up one and examined it. "Bacchus!"
Faize accepted the present from her, and gingerly opened it. It was a book that was titled, "Interesting Short Stories to Read on the Toilet".
"Er…thanks, Bacchus." He forced a smile, which Bacchus returned a genuine smile back. "It's wonderful. I appreciate it very much."
The next presents were more thoughtful than Bacchus', but not very original in Faize's opinion. Meracle presented him with a ball of green yarn, which she immediately began playing with after he had set the box down; Sarah gifted him a plastic tea set "so we can play house with Lymle," she had explained. Myuria gave him a cologne set, but as soon as she sprayed it, Faize broke out in bulbous hives.
"Sarah, get the medical kit," Reimi instructed, a touch of exasperation in her voice.
After freshly applying cream to Faize's skin, Lymle thrust two presents into his lap. "From me and Reirei," she said simply, and stared at him.
Faize carefully unwrapped the bigger of the two boxes, which turned out to be Lymle's present. It was a bag of dog treats for Cerberus, apparently, and she told him that they would make Cerberus like him better. Reimi's present was a small stitched replica of Faize himself, which was the only real present he had received that day.
"Well, that about sums things up, doesn't it?" he said gloomily, itching a hive slightly. "Happy birthday to me."
"No, Faize, that's not true!" Reimi exclaimed. "Edge has to give you his present. He should be coming down right about…now." She glanced at the stairs, and Faize followed her eyes.
Indeed, Edge was on coming down from the quarters with an oddly shaped, unicorn patterened package in his hands. It was a shape Faize had never seen before; it vaguely resembled a strange portable device that had commonly transported people on Earth from place to place in the 1800s in a history book he saw many years ago.
"Happy birthday, Faize," Edge said. For the first time today he was grinning broadly and even seemed proud of himself. "I got you a present; I hope you'll like it!"
Faize stared at him, the animosity long gone from his thoughts. He walked over to Edge, knelt down, and began tearing at the wrapping paper. Everyone gasped with delight and surprise as Faize admired his new present with shining eyes.
"Big bro…it's beautiful…"
It was a pink tricycle. But it wasn't just any tricycle – it had a unicorn head connected to the white daisy basket, with a rainbow tail connected to the seat. It was every little girl's dream in a tricycle form, and apparently, it was Faize's birthday delight. His face turned pink with happiness, and he looked at Edge with a shining reverence.
"I love it! It's the best birthday present I've ever gotten!" He was acting like a five year old at Christmastime that just got his first bicycle, except Faize was twenty and this was his first tricycle.
Edge laughed, slightly embarrassed. "No problem, Faize. Anything for my little brother, right?"
Faize's eyes shined, and Edge silently congratulated himself. This was the ultimate present – Faize would stop paying attention to him and Reimi would quit nagging him about being an "older brother" figure to Faize. He admitted he was definitely a little brother type person, but Faize just took it too far sometimes.
"Edge?"
"Yeah?"
"Will you teach me to ride it?" Faize smiled at Edge hopefully. "Please?"
Edge groaned. His brilliant plan had backfired on him, but Reimi was beaming. "He'd love to!" she chirped. "Edge is a great bicycle rider!"
"Oh Edge, I have so much to learn from you!" Faize said, stroking his bicycle as if it was a new pet.
Edge had a feeling this would take a very long, long time.