Simple Gifts

a/n: Some simple gifts, with not a whole lot of romance, around the City of New Los Angels. Happy Valentines day!

Case the Cross, Justin, Mathias, Aisha, Tatsu, Lin, Vandham, Chausson, Nagi, Yelv, Eleonora, Frye, H.B., Phog, Doug, Alexa, Irina, Gwin, Murderess, Wolf and Miss Duna Valdileo.

Prospectors crunch rocks.

All the good things belong to Monolith Soft, and Case is my baby Cross.

Case walked quickly towards the fountain, take-away cups in hand. "Hey, Justin, I got you something." She handed on cup carefully to the golden haired Mediator.

He peeled off the lid gingerly and inhaled. "Mmm, hazelnut, my favorite."

She looked over his coffee and her grin disappeared. "Shoot. The foam art got ruined."

"What was it?"

She blushed. "Nothing important. They were doing hearts for Valentine's day."

"Oh, yes, that's today, isn't it?"

"Yup, so they tell me. I can't claim much experience personally but I'm trying to fit in."

"I should get you something nice in return. I'll think about it."

xcxcxcxc

Mathias' cheeks matched the bright pink of the envelope on his desk. He picked it up to examine it. No sender's name. Was it from someone he knew? Or could it be that he had a secret admirer?

He ripped it open with excitement. A faint wave of unpleasant odor escaped from the tear, growing stronger as he pulled out a card decorated with roses and hearts. He gagged slightly, almost dropping the card. He felt a gentle bump at his ankle. Looking down, he saw Aisha, the stowaway cat who was also his partner Curator.

"We must investigate, right?" he said to her. She replied with a cheerful "merowp". He took heart and opened the card.

A minute later, he was laughing as he watched the cat roll contentedly over the piscanoid-scented card. He wasn't the one with the secret admirer.

xcxcxcxcxcxc

"Special bento box for Linly. Packed with extras for sharing." The round low-slung alien passed a bundle to his human friend.

She weighed the sack in her hand and frowned. "It feels heavy. If this is more of your Happy Healthy Travel Snacks (tm), I'm going to throw them back in your face. Twigs and leaves are not food."

"Nothing of sort. Open and see!"

Lin did as Tatsu suggested, pulling a string that released the drab covering. Inside was a laquered box with row upon row of gummi littlepons. "Yesssssss! Are any of them strawlenny flavored?"

"All of them. Linly's favorite, right?"

"Aw yes! Thank you, Tatsu!" She popped one in her mouth, and then dropped another into Tatsu's waiting maw. "Hey, Commander, you want one?"

Vandham put down his coffee mug and accepted a tiny candy. "Kinda cute. They even have little toes." He bit in and Lin shrieked with laughter.

"OHMAHGAH they have jelly in them! You should clean your mustache now!"

xcxcxc

Maurice eyed the can of nuts with suspicion. It had been a gift from Commander Vandham. Clearly, upon opening it, a wave of toy snakes would launch themselves into Chausson's face. He could refuse, but that would be admitting that he was the butt of the Commander's jokes.

Without a flutter of an eyelid, he twisted the lid, aiming slightly away from his face. Hopefully a few of the snakes would hit the leering gift-giver. A slight hiss was all that came out. He peered into the can. Nuts. Nothing but nuts.

"Sort of an apology for all that stuff I pulled over New Years," Vandham said, glancing at the third man standing near by.

Maurice sampled one psuedo-pecan carefully, then offered it to the other two. Nagi accepted a few, while Vandham, his mustache a peculiar mottled pink, took a rattling handful.

Chausson spent the rest of the day waiting for the trick.

("There's no trick," Vandham assured Nagi later. "That's the whole point. I'm hoping he loses sleep.")

xcxcxcxc

Hope was running out of space in her arms. All day long, at every turn, another BLADE had handed her a small gift, chocolate or a stuffed animal or a card, along with their thanks for all her kindnesses. She wished she hadn't planned such a busy day and could drop off the supply at her rooms, but there simply wasn't time for that.

She managed to grab a moment's peace, resting on a bench near the cathedral. She set her treasures gently beside her. She was warmed to the core to know that people appreciated her. It was worth having tired arms.

Then she noticed a glum figure on the neighboring bench. Hunched, shoulders drawn down, head drooping. She recognized the citizen, and knew that they'd been having a particularly hard month. Hope plucked a small box of candy from the pile and walked over to them.

"Hi. I thought we might share some candy today. Would you mind?"

By the end of the day, Hope's arms were empty but her heart had been doubly filled.

xcxcxcxcxcxcxcx

"Back it up, boys! Careful now!" Yelv directed.

"I'm not a boy," grunted one of the BLADEs maneuvering the bright red box.

"Boys and dudes," corrected Yelv. They had reached the Mission Board and he was fussing over getting the box up the small set of steps.

"And what is this, exactly?" Eleonora had placed herself between the moving crew and the crowded space directly in front of the electronic listings.

"Eleonora!" Yelv said with enthusiasm. "We found ya!"

"I'm always here, dear."

"I brought you chocolates."

Eleonora eyed the box. It was the size of a small ovis. "Chocolates?"

"Yup."

She looked at him brightly. "Challenge accepted."

xcxcxcxcxcxcx

Frye flicked two small boxes into the air, one to his brother and one to H.B. "Happy Vals and Pals Day."

H.B. grabbed his present with disgust, holding it with two fingers. "I don't smoke."

"They're not cigs, idiot," Frye replied. "Give me credit for not having ONE bad habit."

"Indeed. You have many."

Phog was busy inspecting his small box. He shook it. A light rattle was heard.

"Candy hearts," explained Frye. "Candid and Credible, once again trying to do human culture better than humans." He had his own box, and had already opened it. He poured a few small pastel hearts into his hand, sorting with a rough finger. "Here, this one suits you." He flicked a candy at H.B.

H.B. flinched as it bounced off his cheek, but he caught it nonetheless. "GET TIED OKAY?" he read. The writing twinkled slightly. "I am not eating this."

"Go on. They're great. Pizza flavored, not that I need to say that. But I hear they're really solid, so just suck on it. Do not bite."
H.B. was about to argue when a loud crunching sound filled the air.

"Phog, what the hell, bro?! What did I just say?!"

The Prospector smiled at his brother. "4 on the Mohs scale of hardness."

xcxcxcxccx

"Oh barf, Doug. Do not hand me some dumb card for this dumb holiday. Barf barf barf." Alexa waved the offending card in the air to emphasize her words.

Doug didn't seem dismayed. "You'd prefer chocolate?"

"I'd prefer you and Lin whip me up some cupcakes. Two dozen of them. With a mescal chaser. It has been that kind of week." She frowned at the card some more.

"Read the back of the card, 'lexa," he suggested.

"Whatever." She flipped the paper and read out. "Punch and fold this card to make YOUR OWN PAPER SKELL HAIRBAND NOW WE'RE TALKING BOY!"

A few minutes of frantic folding later, a tiny pink Verus Cain was perched on Alexa's delighted head.

xcxcxcxcxcxcxcxc

Murdress plonked a large package on the table in the Interceptors' station, sending a small and bedraggled bundle of tulips flying.

"Hey," Gwin whined.

"Pick those up," ordered Irina distractedly.

"But they were for y..."

"So. I got you this," Murderess spoke over the young man. "Armor. A full set, top quality, far better than you could buy off the shelf from the Armory Alley. I'd name the designer, but you wouldn't recognize it." She didn't wait for Irina to touch the present, instead bossily flicking it open. "If you mangle the augments, do not come crying to me. As it stands, this has all the attack qualities your three remaining brain cells could ask for."

Irina was already deaf to anything, inspecting the truly astonishing Weapon Attack Power Up and Range XX improvements. She didn't hear Gwin's grumbling and she didn't hear Murderess' addendum. Not that Sharon really wanted Irina to hear it anyway. She also didn't expect Irina to notice the base defense level that would make a trained Harrier fall to his knees and weep. "If you aren't going to protect yourself, you need this level of gear because I can't be expected to always be there."

xcxcxcxcxcx

Miss Duna Valdileo looked at the small box, wrapped with a satin bow. "What is that?"

"Valentine's Day gift. It's candy." The gruff BLADE pushed it into her hands. "Part of human traditions and all that."

"Ah, yes. This is your day to express love, correct?"

"Yeah." Wolf's bald head was shining a peculiar pink, even in the dim light of the Ma-non ship. "Love for family and friends. Appreciation of collegues."

Duna stopped herself from clasping the box to her freckled blue chest. Instead she held it neutrally. "The Prone do not have exactly the same holiday."

"That's a shame. But that's the reason for our inter-species training scheme, right? So that we can enjoy and learn from each other."

"I shall enjoy this, then."

"Good. Good. I wanted to make sure you didn't miss it this year."

"That was very thoughtful of you, BLADE Wolf." She thought a moment. "We do not have the same holiday, but we have one in spring that might be similar. We dance to celebrate the beauty of the world. It is early in the season, I think, but I could dance it for you, if you would like?"

"Yes, I would appreciate it, Miss Valdileo."

She danced for her friend, without music, and it was good that he had given her the candy already, because if he had still been holding it, it would have melted.

a/n: I woke up at 3am because this story wanted me to write it. Happy Vals and Pals day!