The shuffle of skipping feet reverberated through the empty, early-morning halls of the Delphinus, accompanied by an off-key singing voice that exuded far too much jubilation for the liking of the grumpy, sleepy crew. Much to their chagrin and pillow-aided ear-blocking, the warbling voice and thundering landings of their awakener passed each of their rooms in turn, as the ear-grating words rang out with terrible, terrible glee.
"Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to me! Haaaappy biiiirthdaaaay, dear Aika…"
She prepared for the finale with a great, inward breath, the suspense growing palpable as the crew braced for the worst.
"Haaaappeeee birrrrrthdaaaay… TO… MEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
The final, horrible note was met with audible, if pillow-muffled, groans aplenty. Just like any day where some ungodly force possessed her to sing, Aika's 18th birthday had kicked off to a pretty sour start.
She burst into Vyse's room, startling him as she flung the door open with clumsy, happy hands, although he was already mournfully awake.
"Vyse, do you know what day it is?" she asked, bounding giddily off the walls, barely able to contain the answer. When the only reply she received was a whining grunt, she revealed the ill-kept secret.
"It's MY BIRTHDAY, you lazy lubber! Now get up and celebrate!"
"But Aika," Vyse groaned, "it's 6 a.m. The fish wouldn't even be biting yet," he muttered, turning his back to the invading light and unwanted guest. He tossed a wayward glance over his shoulder at her through sleep-blurred eyes; she was a big, faceless blur at this hour.
"It's also our first day off this week, so…" he yawned as sleep overtook the rest of his sentence, garbling the words.
"Sleep up later, wake more now…" he drifted off with a snore.
Suddenly, hands were upon him, violently shaking his body awake. "NO, not later!" she exclaimed, stomping a foot to the floor for emphasis. "I've already been born by this time 18 years ago!"
She cleared her throat and struck a pose, one hand extended in the air, as though preparing to recite something. "Be ye a sailor, wake thee bright and early; be ye a fellow surly, say thee always, 'Later!'"
She lowered her arms and put her hands to her hips, evidently satisfied with her point. "Does that sound familiar to you, Vysie-poo?"
Vyse cringed at the reminder of the many times he'd been scolded for his lack of punctuality.
"Sure, my dad -- er," Vyse stammered, correcting himself by force of habit, "our old Captain taught us that rhyme. But remember this one," he intoned from behind a back still turned to Aika.
"If to proper rest the traveled sailor be committed, with no finer a sailor will the skies be a'smitten." An air of import carried the words. "There. See? We'll be up at 9."
"Fine! Be that way. I'll be in the Mess Hall, waiting for my party." With that, Aika, wearing a reddened look of frustration, stormed out of the room.
Vyse sighed and lingered a moment in his hammock. He stumbled to his feet, got out of his room and bellowed an announcement down the hall.
"Sorry for the disturbance! Please remain in your rooms folks, IT'S OUR DAY OFF!"
The collective sound of the weary crew, newly asleep and presently awakened, scared off some sleeping fish from the skies nearby the Delphinus.
A few hours later, Aika traipsed through the halls once more, knocking on each door in sequence, to resume her birthday revelry. A grumbling person emerged from each entrance, joining the mob that slowly marched towards the Mess Hall.
Once they arrived and moreover, roused from the last lingering pull of sleep, their spirits lightened considerably. Each bearing a gift in hand, all 22 crewmembers, plus Vyse, Fina, and Enrique, placed their presents on the grand dining table as Aika delighted in her growing stack of goodies.
"Oh, that one looks like a BIG one! Who is that one from!" she would shout now again in her elation, shaking the gift close to one ear in an attempt to divine the contents.
Other times, she could be heard calling out, "that is surely one odd-looking present there! I have no idea what it could be! I'll do that one first! No, make it that one!"
Finally, after all the gifts had been crammed onto the table, she begun the lengthy process of determining which one she would definitely open first. While she deliberated, Vyse whispered to Fina the details of his gift.
"I think she's going to really like this one," he confided with a sly grin. "I had it custom-made for her without her even knowing! She's such a heavy sleeper, it was easy…" he chuckled his amusement.
Fina looked at him with some worry, and just the slightest bit of indignant jealousy, in her features. "Vyse, you snuck into her room at night? How rude!" she hissed with a stamping of his toes, to which he reacted with a yelp.
"OWCH! Fina! What are you trying to do, break my toes! Not to mention give away my great surprise?"
"I'm worried for you if she doesn't like the idea of you taking her measurements! That sounds like a naughty present!" she continued scolding.
Vyse burst into uncontrollable laughter, doubling over and breathing his response through riotous giggles. "Oh, you're so silly, Fina! You… you thought… I took her… HAHAHA!"
By this point, Fina had assumed the color of a beet as onlookers stared, while Aika remained fairly oblivious to the unfolding scene. Finally taking notice, she hollered, "Vyse! WHAT is so funny! You better not have gotten me another gag gift," she menaced, a fist shaken in Vyse's direction, "or I swear…"
"No, no, it's… not like that." He wiped a tear from his eye, a broad grin still on his face. "Just get the party started, willya?"
"Alright! Listen up everyone!" she beckoned. "I'm starting to open them now! So, if I may have your attention, please!"
The din of the crowd died down, as she commenced her gift-opening bonanza. She first scooped up a decidedly bottle-shaped gift and read the tag aloud. "To Aika, From Don. Aw, thank you Don!"
She tore into it, her hands a ravenous whirlwind eager to hoist the treasure aloft. When she unwrapped it completely, a moment of stunned silence fell upon her heretofore constantly talking mouth, and with a look of dismay she brought the gift to eye level.
"It's a bottle of Loqua… Mur Loqua, eh?" she eked out in disappointment at the item synonymous with 'sailor's commodity', opening the bottle to take a whiff.
"GEEZ!" She instantly made a face and recoiled at the pungent odour that filled the room. "Well… that's… nice."
Don chimed in excitedly. "It's vintage! Really good stuff! I'd be glad to pour a glass for myself in a toast to you, if you'd let me!"
Aika forced a smile. "Sure, Don. I don't really like Loqua this strong, you know, but it's a … thoughtful gift. Thank you." She set it aside with a bit of a huff.
"Ok, let's move on." She grabbed a slender, blocky-ended present wrapped in the Skies Times, the daily newspaper of Arcadia. "What do we have here?"
Izmael blushed a bit in embarrassment, an uncharacteristic expression for the overconfident builder. "I'm sorry, Aika. I never was good at wrapping stuff, but I make up for that by being, y'know, a general genius of architecture."
A knowing glance passed around the room as eyes rolled at the little man's fixation on his craft. They all appreciated his efforts in building the base, sure. But he just goes on and on…
Aika tore feverishly into her prize. When it was finally revealed, a quizzical look entered her face, as she lifted it up in one hand for all to see. "A hammer?"
"Yep! To help you with some repairs around the ship!" Izmael proffered, spinning and making a hammering motion in the air. "Ba-BAAAHM! It's state of the art, never-break technology you've got there!"
"Okay, great. But, you and Kirala do most of the repairs around here… but hey, I could start any time, now." She raised an eyebrow sarcastically. "Thanks."
With a shrug of her shoulders at the hopelessness of the situation, Aika set upon the next gift in line, finding it rather heavily wrapped in clashing pink-and-red, polka-dotted paper. Layer upon layer fell away, until finally, extracting the gift, she found it to be no more than a square of folded fabric – in colors Aika dared not dream, even in her nightmares.
"Unfold it!" a woman's voice called from the audience. Clara, who was suspending her duties as captain of her veritable love-boat to attend on this occasion, was evidently the one responsible.
Once unfolded, a quilted, patterned bedspread, heart-pocked and lace-frilled, sprawled out to cover the other gifts in its hideous retina-burning glory.
"AAAAH!" Aika nearly cried out.
"Don't you like it?" Clara whined. Eyes downcast, she rubbed a shiny, sequined, pointy-toed shoe on the floor. "I made it especially for you."
"It's… nice. It just doesn't go with my wardrobe… or my room… or my tastes…" Aika sighed. But sensing Clara's effort to craft it, truly ugly though it was even to the most effeminate eyes in the room, she did her best to back peddle. "But that's okay! I can just use it underneath my other blankets..."
"You don't want to see it on your bed? But that's the point! I worked so hard on the aesthetic appeal!" she lamented, lips quivering, eyes on the verge of bawling a flood of tears.
"Alright, fine! I'll always have it covering my whole bed, forever and ever," she practically groaned. About to turn her attention to the next gift, she noticed an attached note. "Wait, what's this?"
"Oh yes!" Clara clasped her hands. "Don't forget to check that, it comes from an old friend."
"Alright then, no harm in sharing it, I suppose." Aika began to read the plain white card aloud with the emotion of a mossy rock. "Blah blah blah, happy birthday to a special girl… sorry I couldn't make it, yadda yadda…" she ignored the contents of the card, rattling off what parts didn't bore her in exasperation.
Eyes scanning down a few lines, she was just about to close the card when it snatched back her attention and made her go bug-eyed. "Nice to know you're legal now! This one's for you, RED!" she gasped in horror.
It struck a shockwave of nausea into all those present. "VIGORO!"
"EEEW!" Aika screamed, tossing the disgust-propelled card out of her hands and down the entire table. She fidgeted in place, flicking her hands as though it would shake off the ickiness.
Clara piped up sheepishly. "Sorry, Aika. He was insistent that I give that to you. Frankly, he made me a little too uncomfortable to refuse."
"Yeah, he'll do that," Aika snorted, shivering ever so slightly at the thought of Vigoro's insistence about anything. "Alright, look. I'm going to do one more, and then, I'm going back to bed -- until the cake's ready, that is."
Vyse licked his lips at the mention of the main course -- since this was Aika's birthday, dessert would be the meal – and heard his stomach grumble. He clutched at the growing, growling void, but couldn't wait any longer. He would have to ask for the food now, not only to keep Aika from leaving, but because his growing stomach noise was attracting Fina's attention.
"Aika, wait! Open mine, please. Then let's have the cake right away!" came his plea, to which Aika merely gave a nonchalant shrug. Thinking the better of his wishy-washy bid, he reiterated his wishes in a more commanding tone. "Captain's orders! The show must go on! Bring out the cake!"
Applause erupted, and Vyse passed his gift up to Aika. She eyed the silvery-papered box with the scrutiny gleaned from the past three turds-for-gifts, and uttered, "All right, fine… this doesn't look too bad, anyway."
She solemnly removed the lid, a sparkle of hope fostered in her eye upon seeing that the small item inside was swaddled in the flag she'd designed. Maybe, just maybe, he thought of me when he got this, she mused. She reprised her earlier anticipation and set about freeing what lied inside.
A corner uncovered, and she saw what looked like a belt. Another corner, and she saw what looked like… a monocle? A mirror? What could this be?
Finally, she wrested the thing from the flag's grip, and lo and behold, she'd gotten…
"An eye patch. You got me an eye patch." She looked sternly at Vyse.
"No, no! NOT just an eye patch. It's just like mine, the Sky Seer Goggles! You can zoom in on things far away, and besides, it just looks really cool. Don't you think?" He flashed a confident, sideways grin. "It fits and everything. Custom-made, just for you. Do you like it? You love it, don't you? I knew you would."
"Yes, very cool… I guess…" she replied with her former solemnity back in full force, "except I think we'd look kind of – well I mean, if we both wore the same – don't you think that would be --"
She could only stutter as she looked at Vyse, who had obviously decided that she unequivocally loved his gift, taken a bite of more cake than he could chew, and presently found his face covered in cake crumbs. "Ffhat'f good, Aika!" he said as he hungrily crammed the errant crumbs back into his mouth. "Ih'm ghad you iike it!"
And Aika was just really steamed. So she ate some cake.