Hat One - Party cone
Cevarau smiled as he placed the simple paper cone on the girl's head. It was made with the same patterned paper that concealed each gift in the small stack of presents, but he knew Ceil didn't care. She hadn't even remembered it was her birthday till she'd been pulled aside and asked to come to the mess hall.
He watched as the young genius ripped into the packages, after being goaded from careful seam following, crying in overwhelmed happiness with each small but thoughtful gift. None were frivolous, except the paper flower bouquet from Aloette, also made from the same paper. A mug with coffee, a scarf and glove set, an external hard drive, a small fabric repair kit with an extra spool of pink thread. The taser got some raised eyebrows, then flat looks, as Zero immediately started coaching her how to use it.
There was simple fun; Twenty Questions, non-betting Thimblerig, Charades, jokes and riddles.
The well-wishes were for a peaceful birthday, rather than a happy one, and the day passed by with plenty of smiles and laughter.
The next morning Cevaru knocked on Ciel's door to give some research notes she'd requested. The room was the usual mess, but on a cleared space on a shelf above her computer, sat a simple paper cone.
For my younger sister: Happy Birthday! Next hat: Feb 14th
I don't own any Rockman characters. 'Sept some figurines.