CHAPTER 2
Birthday Cake
-Two eggs. Crack on side of bowl; bowl should be shallow so any shell to fall in can be easily picked out.
-Chervil, dill, garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste.
-Tablespoon or so of milk. Eyeball it.
-Tilt bowl slightly. Beat hard and fast with fork until consistent in color.
-Pan. Butter. Preheat pan to medium first so butter won't stick.
-Dump eggs into pan.
-Wait until top is reasonably firm, then tilt pan forward and fold over edge of eggs.
-Cheddar and parmesan. Allow to melt slightly.
-Tilt pan so omelet slides onto plate. Twist wrist and allow gravity to do the folding.
-For garnish, cut in half and spread open so cheese oozes out. Spearmint leaf.
-Toast. Butter and strawberry jam.
-Give to resident female, midget, psychopath mantrin, who squeals and runs in a strange sort of waddle to dive onto a beanbag, sit up and turn on television in one fluid motion. Grimace, expecting complete contents of plate to either fly off or become garnish for said midget's nightshirt.
It was early morning, and the cartoons were showing at full force. Nodyr was convinced that the reason for them being on so early was to give children a reason to want to get up for school. Maybe they did not want to go to school, but at least they would want to get out of bed. It was also convenient how, after running for a full hour, they would end just in time to leave for school; after that there would be absolutely nothing with any entertainment value until the hour after school was over.
The only problem Nodyr saw with the whole arrangement was how there was not even anything entertaining for the adults until that time. For the rest of the morning and early afternoon there was nothing but long-winded, monotonous advertisements for products no one really needed, despite what they would have you believe. If these were not to one's taste, there was always a channel or two that showed really bad movies that no one really cared about. Of course, the alternative was to just turn the shows off and do something constructive. But what fun was that? However, once something worth watching finally did come on, it would be at the same time as the cartoons, and the cartoons always won. No contest.
Fortunately, there was sometimes homework to distract the children from fighting with the adults for television rights after school. Unfortunately, Stith knew of no such thing as homework and would not until that autumn, when her home schooling would begin. Nodyr worried if this was even the case, as he felt he could not handle giving her extra work. After all, she would surely be angry with him.
For him, even if he could gain control over the television, there would be sitcoms that night. Tomorrow was Stith's birthday, and the evening's entertainment--the party was that night as they would not be home the following day--would be the ravings and extreme hyperactivity of a six-year-old, fueled by enough sugar from cake and ice cream to kill an entire herd of diabetics. In the following week there would be little aftershocks of this earthquake as leftover pieces of cake would be eaten with dinner. Fortunately, that would be her only massive dose of straight sugar until the next year. It was fine to have a sweet tooth, but it was not fine to indulge it with candy at such a young age.
Especially not with somebody who would not yet brush her teeth without coersion.
"Another year, another birthday," Nodyr said with a nostalgic sigh and, after watching Stith watch the amazing amount of violence that was her cartoon, turned toward the sink and started to clean up after himself.
Nodyr never did look forward to birthdays, despite the joy of seeing Stith so happy; even his own were dreaded. Rather than thinking of himself as one year older, he thought of himself as one year closer to his death. At his youthful age of twenty six years, he was experiencing something of a quarter-of-a-life crisis. Often he worried about what would happen after death, even though he did not believe that anything happened, other than his body being returned to the planet. His life energy would help new life to grow. This is what his parents had taught him, but still, the thought of not being alive was terrifying.
And then before death, there was more fear. He worried about falling victim to a strange toxin or disease that would slow his heart and brain activity to the point that the hospital's sensors would not pick them up and instead register him as dead. They would then proceed to bury him alive, and he would be helpless to stop them.
It bothered him to think that near-death-experiences were mere illusions, even though he knew they were, conjured up by the brain to distract itself from the pain of death. The thought of what was coming would make any such experience not so pleasant. He would surely fight it, he thought.
It also bothered him to think that there were literally hundreds, if not thousands, of religions that all claimed to be right about what happened next. Which one was right? Were any of them right? His parents view was at least comforting, and not so damning as many of the others.
"Erseeeeeeeeeeh?" Stith whined, interrupting Nodyr's morbid thoughts with a tug on the leg of his bathrobe. Nodyr lurched somewhat in surprise, having been caught up in the torrents of his wild imagination. There was something about the way she had spoken that made his head hurt, but he shrugged it off despite the unsettling feeling.
Placing his hands on the edge of the sink for balance, Nodyr looked down at the youth to his side. "Yes, Junebug?" he asked, using her pet name and hoping that whatever she had to say would get him out of his state of blues.
"Can I have some cake?"
Her eyes wide and aglow with hope, Stith flashed a naïve ear-to-ear grin and bobbed up and down on her feet. Nodyr turned to face her, crossing his feet at the ankles and propping himself up on the edge of the sink with an arm.
"Now, Stith, I would love to give you some cake, but it's not time. We have to wait until ahmo comes home, and then we have to wait until after dinner. If you have cake now you'll get all bouncy, and then you'll be really tired and you won't have any fun tonight," he said quickly, without any hint of sternness.
"Please?" Stith said, showing all of her teeth in a bright smile that could have even blinded a mole. Her tail happily wagged from side to side on the pillow behind her, creating a heavy thump that resembled an excited dog's tail beating against the floor.
"Ahmo is going to be really upset if you do," Nodyr said in a last ditch effort to convince her. He knew it would not work. He was right.
"Please?" Stith said again with the same innocent smile. She was doing her best to look as adorable as possible. "You love me, don't you?"
Nodyr blew out his breath, chewing on his bottom lip as he watched her. An ill look covered his face, much like if he had just stubbed his toe on a brick wall. The grimace slowly melted into a smile from the assault of Stith's cherub-like expression. "Oh come here," he finally said, smirking. "You've found my weakness."
Within an instant, she had sprung onto her feet and dashed into the kitchen. "Where is it?" she asked rapidly, her head zipping from side to side like a frightened animal keeping watch for a predator. The only difference being that she was the predator.
"IIIIII don't know," he said, teasing her, his eyes tracing the ceiling. "I, just, can't, remember." As he said this, he punctuated each word by tapping his knuckles on his forehead.
"Erseh! Where is it!" she said pleadingly.
"Oh—" Nodyr grabbed onto his chin. "I may have thrown it away," he said, and then added after hearing her squeal in horror, "Or maybe not. "
"Where is it?" she whined and then began frantically opening up the cabinets.
"Umm." he began to tap his toes against the tile, his tail gently swishing. "Is it up here?" he asked innocently, opening a cabinet above the refrigerator. "Nope. Now where did I put it?"
"Erseh!" Stith said, crossing her arms over her chest in a behavior she had learned from Sarah. At this moment, she suddenly remembered where the cake was, and something told her that "erseh" knew as well. "You put it up there!" she said excitedly, pointing at a cabinet above the stove, and leaping as if trying to reach it herself.
"Now Stith," Nodyr said as he looked at her with a wry smile. "You know I took it out of the oven. You even helped me ice it." And this was true. During the process, she had become perhaps a little too frisky with the spatula, getting icing all over the pan, the counter, her shirt, her hands, and pretty much everywhere but on the cake itself. What resulted was a cake that resembled a balding man's head, with its scattered, thinning patches of icing on top of the tan colored cake. The misplaced icing was in turn licked up, at least some of it anyhow. Nodyr managed to pick her up before she made herself sick.
Stith continued to frantically point at the cabinet door. She grunted in frustration, wondering why he was being so difficult.
"Junebug, it can't be on the ceiling either!" he laughed, and then turned around to open a small door under the sink. "Could it be in the trash?"
"No!" As annoyed as she was, Stith could not help but laugh at this thought. Holding a hand over her muzzle, she did her best to stifle the oncoming giggle.
Nodyr pulled out the trashcan and inspected it, scanning it liberally. He turned it over several times, bringing his green-blue eyes close, and sniffing like a bloodhound. With this done, he lifted it up and looked inside; fortunately there was nothing in it. He then put the can over his head and said, "It's not in here either." His voice was muffled by the white, plastic can.
"Erseh, it's up there!" Stith finally said, giving up at his feigned ignorance.
He lowered himself to her, bringing his large muzzle up against her tiny one. "Are you sure?" he said in a delicate whisper. "Because I think I saw it—" He paused, suddenly scooping Stith up into his arms, causing her to gleefully squeal. Her legs and tail dangled limply below as he supported her under her rump and back. "—in ahmo's underwear!"
Stith burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter from this comment. She was shaking so vigorously that she was nearly dropped, which would not have been a pleasant scenario, despite her seemingly amazing ability to survive falls without more than a bruise the size of a pea. Tears streamed from her eyes like miniature waterfalls; Nodyr delicately wiped these up with the sleeve of his robe.
Once she began to settle down, which was quite awhile, he finally walked over to the cabinet that she had been pointing at all of this time. Resting Stith on the countertop to free up a hand, he opened the cabinet and pulled out their cake. It was in a plastic pan, and covered with clear, plastic wrap to help keep it fresh, as well as keep any unwanted pests from devouring it. Pest control was a real problem at their house, but they just could not afford it.
"Stith, go sit down and watch your cartoons, and I'll bring you a piece. Alright?" Nodyr said as he opened the next cabinet and pulled out two plates.
"Will you come watch them with me?" Stith asked, rocking back and forth on the countertop.
"Of course," he said, smiling. Nodyr then leaned forward and gave her a little lick on the side of her muzzle. This caused her to gag and wipe her lips off hastily.
"Okay!" she finally said with much enthusiasm after recovering from the lick. She bounced off of the counter and zipped into the living room.
When she was finally out of the kitchen, Nodyr called after her. "Stith?"
"What!"
He paused for dramatic effect and waited for her to call again. "Underwear!" he said suddenly, smiling gleefully as he heard her fall over with laughter once more.
Slam!
Sarah hastily closed the door to the hotel's dumpster and dusted off her hands. Her thin lips curled in disgust at the stream of beer now staining her pants. This along with a molding, half eaten pizza, and a used tampon were just some of the foul things that she had had to pick up that afternoon and send to the trash. She had never had to do this before, oh no. But today, for some reason, her supervisor thought that it might be a good idea to have her do the work of the public areas workers. Of course they had taken the day off without even asking.
"Yuck," she said, feeling her stomach protest the odors that were all ripening in the heat. Her hair was growing sticky with sweat, and was currently fastening itself to the back of her neck. This she did her best to brush and peel off of her skin using the backs of her hands. It did little good, but her palms were now too disgusting to even consider bringing near her hair. "At least I get to go home soon," she moaned in fatigue.
After rubbing her hands on the back of her pants, Sarah hurried back inside the hotel. If not for the grueling work that she had to suffer through, she would have considered the place beautiful. It was a three story, L shaped building with a coral painted exterior. The window trims were all forest green, and from standing in front of the entrance, one could easily see the enormous chandelier that hung over the lobby, sparkling and twinkling like a nest of diamonds. On the west side of the bottom floor was a giant mural featuring bottle nosed dolphins. Although there were none on Solbrecht, the humans still held a special place for them and felt that the painting would bring a more tropical feel to the area. As if that was needed.
Dabbing her soaked forehead on her shirtsleeve, Sarah glanced up at the thermometer on the side of the building. 111 degrees. And that was without the humidity factor. The pathetic thing was, this was a moderate day for the summer. To her, it was quite amazing that so few had been the victims of heat stroke, and even death. For a human these certainly were not natural temperatures. Often she was jealous of how well the mantrins managed to deal with the heat, especially the Orkeht race, with their tiny, light frames, and extra large ears that helped to keep their bodies cool.
Before entering the hotel, she leaned over the fountain that was out back, and splashed several handfuls of cold water on her face and neck. The fountain itself was of a family, a human family. In the center was a concrete statue of a mother and father, both of seemingly Caucasoid origin. They both wore bright smiles, and between them skipped a young boy, holding their hands and owning an equally joyful expression.
It was with much relief that Sarah finally found her way inside. Once there, she was treated to an icy blast of air from the overhead vent. This air, combined with the dampness on her face was especially pleasurable. If there was one thing that her civilization did right, it was in air-cooling technology. The interior of the hotel was kept at an average temperature of 72 degrees. To most, especially the humans, entering from the sweltering climate outside felt wonderful.
Soon Sarah was reunited with her housekeeping cart. It was a heavy, dreadful peace of equipment that always wanted to go in every direction, except the one in which it was being pushed. She was not sure if a more stubborn object could exist. Well, there was Stith, but no inanimate object could be more stubborn, surely. The cart often felt as if the wheels were covered in superglue.
She quickly pulled the remaining objects from her pockets that needed to be on the cart. Soon, a pair of latex gloves, a cleaning rag, and an assortment of tiny soap and shampoo bottles were carelessly tossed on top of the cart. With a great heave, she pushed it toward the elevator.
Fortunately the elevator also opened in the back, and this door led into the housekeeping area. Otherwise, the staff would have had to perform Olympic quality gymnastics with their carts, in order to get them through the main doorway.
Unfortunately, the elevator itself tended to be a little on the slow side. How could it possibly take over a minute to travel just three floors, Sarah often wondered. There were plenty of complaints but nothing ever managed to be done about it. She looked at her watch impatiently as she waited, tapped her foot, cleared her throat, and hummed simple tunes in her head that never managed to evolve past a few notes.
Finally, after a wait that rivaled one at a doctor's office, the elevator arrived. The door swung open with a cheerful "ping," and then Sarah hefted her cart through it. On the way through, her hand reached out and pressed the rear 1 button, whose purpose was to open the back door into housekeeping. It soon swung open with an equally cheerful ping. She then pushed the cart to the end of the room, and shoved it in the storage closet. Only one other cart was in there, much to her relief. It was also a great pain when the closet was nearly full, as no one ever seemed to care how their carts were placed. In many instances, whoever was last had to pull a few of the carts out, reorganize them, and finally place his or her cart back where it belonged.
Despite being in a hurry to get home, Sarah took many liberties to postpone clocking out for the day. The longer she waited, the more time she would have, and of course the more money she would make. In reality, the extra minute or two that she could stall would bring her an insignificant increase in pay, but every little bit helped. Her entire income had to support the whole family since Nodyr did not work.
Just past 15:00, she swiped her ID card, signaling the end of her workday. On her typical schedule, she worked far later, but that day she had convinced her boss to let her leave early for Stith's birthday. What followed was the weekend, and that week Sarah's weekend was free, so she was most excited about being able to leave for the extended break. As she placed her ID back into her pocket, she heard the backdoor open.
Two of her coworkers came in from the break room, a roly-poly human by the name of Gwen Robbins, and a mantrin of the Sogowan race named Jenny. It was unusual for mantrins to take human names, but sometimes the cultures bled together. Whatever had just been said it must have been hilarious, as Gwen was giggling without shame. However, in Gwen's case, a beetle walking across the road would have been worth a laugh.
"What's so funny?" Sarah asked. She was well ready to leave, but her curiosity had gotten the better of her.
Gwen brought a tiny, plump hand up to her mouth to stifle the giggles without any luck. "Well," she said, then slapped her hand down on the nearest counter and scrunched her face up as if too overwhelmed to continue. "Jenny was just doing the funniest impression of Howard."
"You shouldn't make fun of the boss," Sarah replied. Despite her thoughts, she could not help a small chuckle as she pictured what must have happened. Even though he was a human, Jenny could do so some brutally accurate impressions of him, not to mention others. Sarah had been the victim of a few herself.
"Oh but it was so funny!" Gwen shouted as her giggles turned into an uproar to prove her point. "Come on, do it again!" she said, nudging Jenny in the side.
"Forget it," the mantrin replied, walking past her. "He could come in here any moment." With this, she grabbed her cart that had been left in front of the elevator, and then pushed the button so that she could get back to work.
"I guess I'll be waiting a few days," she said to Sarah with a smile, showing a mouthful of not so perfect teeth.
"Possibly longer," she said. "It's not an exaggeration when people say the stairs are faster."
"Well I can't quite take them with this piece of crap can I?" Jenny said, smacking the cart with her fist. Several shampoo bottles and a few towels fell onto the dirty tiled floor, forcing Gwen into another giggling fit. These she quickly picked up and placed back where they belonged. Once everything was neat and tidy she gave Sarah a look as if to say "don't tell anyone."
An unpleasant odor suddenly caught Sarah's round nose, causing it to twitch. She coughed. "Have you been smoking again?" she asked accusingly.
"You've got to go somehow dear," she said with a hint of satisfaction on her face. In the same breath, the joyous ping of the elevator sounded and she heaved her cart into it to finish her work for the day. "Say happy birthday to Stith for me," she said as the door closed behind her. "And give your sexy mate a kiss for me!"
"Please," Sarah said to the elevator door. It really bothered her when others talked about Nodyr in such a way, and Jenny was no stranger to doing so. On more than one occasion she had walked by him and made licking gestures, not to mention wiggling her tail seductively. Fortunately for Sarah, Nodyr really was not interested in her feeble advances, even if they really were just for show.
However, he did blush liberally anytime one of Sarah's coworkers decided to flirt with him. Sometimes his brown cheeks grew redder than a ripe cherry.
"Are you leaving now?" Gwen asked, holding off her giggles long enough to get in a few words.
"I sure am," she said. Sarah reached into her pocket to pull out her keys. These she twirled around her fingers a few times, causing a faint jingle from the various trinkets on the chain. "I've already clocked out, so if you'll let me, I'd like to get home."
When she walked through the front door, Sarah managed to catch both Nodyr and Stith sound asleep on the couch. However it was likely that Stith was only faking it, as she tended to do often. On more than one night they had thought she was finally asleep, only to leave the room and be woken a few minutes later to the sound of her creating havoc all throughout the house. Nodyr, on the other hand, was a sure bet to actually be asleep. She knew how fond he was of naps, but what really gave it away was his light snoring. Even though it was annoying, Sarah managed to find it cute when he did it. As far as she was concerned, everything he did was endearing.
She watched them through a cascade of hair. Before getting out of the car, she had removed her hair band, and since then her sticky, sweaty hair had flopped over her eyes, as it had always insisted on doing. This she pulled together into a thick strand and did her best to hold out of the way as she walked over to the couch.
"I'm home dear," she said, leaning over the two sleeping mantrins. "Wake up, Stith." She gave her daughter a gentle shake on her back as she spoke.
Much to Sarah's surprise, Stith was actually asleep or at the least doing an excellent job of faking it. Gradually she opened her eyes, yawned, and then rolled off of Nodyr's chest onto the floor. This was followed by a giggle. Stith then bounced onto her feet, climbed back onto Nodyr, fell off again, and then continued giggling.
"Okay, that's enough of that," Sarah said, grabbing the young mantrin's hand and pulling her back onto her feet. The mantrin in question whined in protest, stumbling considerably with each motion until she was finally upon her feet. Brushing herself free from whatever imaginary dust and germs had accumulated, probably in an attempt to distract Sarah from what she would soon see, Stith shifted the weight from one foot to the other several times before finally looking up.
Sure enough, Sarah saw what it was that Stith was trying to hide, and as soon as she saw it the human bent forward to grasp the younger mantrin's chin between her thumb and index finger to get in a closer look. "And just what do we have here?" she asked, turning Stith's muzzle while the mantrin struggled and whined in complaint.
There were the unmistakable remnants of what appeared to be buttercream around the ridges and folds of her faux beak. It was chocolate, and Nodyr had made it himself, even though Sarah had insisted that he simply buy a jar of the stuff; it was easy enough to make, being only sugar with enough butter to hold it together when creamed, but it used an enourmous amount of sugar. The stuff was expensive, as it simply refused to grow in the colonized portions of Solbrecht and had to be sent from Earth.
This whole affair slightly upset Sarah, but not because of Stith; it did not bother her in the least that Stith had wanted an early piece of cake. That was to be expected. What bothered her was the fact that Nodyr had indulged her, knowing full well that it would probably spoil her appetite for dinner, as Stith did not have to eat much before being full.
"Somebody's been eating the cake," Sarah said matter-of-factly, lifting her head slightly and looking down her nose at Stith as she retrieved a handkerchief from her pocket to wipe the buttercream from her muzzle. Stith looked rather annoyed, her ears laid back and a scowl on her muzzle. The mantrin hated not knowing whether her mother was angry at her, her father, or angry at all.
Nodyr did his best to act innocent of the crime, even though he knew that she had found him out. Stretching his legs out in front of him and allowing them to snap back, then popping his neck and stretching his arms above him, he was the picture of lethargy. Not a word came from his muzzle, as he did not want to risk making his situation any worse.
Soon enough, the awkward silence got to the point where he simply had to say something.
"She ate her breakfast first, if that's what you're worried about," he said plainly, stretching his muzzle almost obscenely in a yawn. Finally, a faint smile crossed his face and he tried to lighten things up a bit. "Besides, it's her birthday tomorrow. She can be spoiled one or two days a year, can't she?" he asked.
Sarah frowned, but forced herself to relax about the whole issue. It really was not a big deal, but one of her chief concerns was always to make sure that Stith was not spoiled. She had seen the results of over indulging children, and it always led to disobedience and constant want. Just like any habit, it was possible to break it, but also like any habit, it was better not to even start.
In fact, she had occasionaly considered not even celebrating Stith's birthday with gifts so that, when she got older and wanted more and more expensive things, she would not be disappointed when she did not get them. At their income of sub-poverty level, even tiny favors could be a problem.
However, she would be getting at least a few gifts that afternoon. Sarah had bought her a small gift, and then one more that Nodyr had picked out for her. There was also the possibility that a few of Sarah's friends would stop be with something, as well as Stith's occasional baby sitter, Oya.
Even though Nodyr stayed home, he still needed assistance from time to time. This was especially true on the days where all of the cartoons were reruns, leaving Stith with nothing to do but run around the house until she wore herself to exhaustion while Nodyr tried to keep her from destroying things. Unfortunately, Stith took considerably longer to tire than he, leaving her to terrorize the home after all of his energy had been spent. This was when Oya's help was appreciated.
She was a tiny mantrin of the Orkeht race, and even by their standards she was short at just barely reaching five feet when wearing sandals. She was growing old in age, and this was evident from the faint lines along her muzzle, and the dulling horizontal stripes that run from her back, down to her tail tip. Despite her age, her eyes still shined with awareness, as well as experience from many years on the planet. She was often very timid and shy, but she possessed enough experience to know when someone was trying to take advantage of her.
It was just then that Oya herself showed up at the front door. Sarah momentarily pulled herself away from her family to answer it.
"Hi Oya," Sarah said as she pulled open the door. She knew who it was from a one-way viewing window near the top of it. "You'll have to excuse me. I just got home," she then added in reference to her messy hair that was still clinging to her forehead, as well as her crooked, unbuttoned work shirt.
In the Orkeht's hands was an equally tiny gift box, although in her hands it appeared rather large. The box was wrapped in yellow paper with a pink ribbon, her favorite colors. "I've got Stith's present," she said in a tiny, rather high-pitched voice, lifting the box up to just under her muzzle like an offering. She looked up at Sarah, craning her neck back to meet her eyes.
"Well come in," Sarah said, obvious work fatigue weighing down her voice. As she spoke she gestured with one hand for Oya to step inside, which she did rather timidly, as though she were expecting to be hit if she complied.
Once the tiny mantrin was inside, Sarah called to her daughter. "Stith! Oya's here to see you."
"She can't have my cake!" Stith was heard calling rather rudely from the living room.
Oya and Sarah waited momentarily, exchanging glances at one another. Sarah appeared very angry at Stith's lack of manners, while Oya wore an expression of shock. After all, she had never planned to take any cake; her ethnicity rendered her intolerant to high levels of sweets and, for that matter, meat, although the latter was her choice. Because Sarah and Nodyr had the freedom of being omnivores, it was not too much of a hassle for them to share food; however, it was a true pain trying to eat in the homes of her strictly carnivorous Logri friend and for her to eat in Sarah's. Oya's vegeterian habits did render her very healthy because of the high level of vitamins, relatively little fat, and virtually no extra sodium or sugar consumed, but it still made sharing meals an occasional hassle.
Shortly thereafter, Stith was carried in on Nodyr's back. The elder mantrin's ears were slightly flattened as they splayed to either side, and Stith's grinning muzzle was perched in between them. Her legs hung over Nodyr's and were held fast by his hands; her own arms were slung around his neck. This was the only convenient way any mantrin could carry another of any size; otherwise, the legs got in the way. They would either drag on the floor, extend inconveniently out to the side, or otherwise simply get in the way.
As soon as Stith was within her arms' reach, Oya's demeanor changed almost completely. A warm smile drew over her aging lips and she reached a delicate claw up to playfully tickle underneath Stith's chin. The young mantrin cooed and closed her eyes, almost exaggerating the pleasure. "There she is," Oya crooned to her, taking on an almost maternal personality in a complete contrast with her usual shyness. This was Oya when she was exceptionally happy.
"You still can't have my cake," Stith suddenly said matter-of-factly, interrupting the moment. "It's mine. Erseh made it just for me."
"Yeah. You can't have her cake," Nodyr replied in a mocking, teasing tone. His tongue protruded from the tip of his muzzle, and he crossed his eyes to the best of his ability. Because of the occasion, his quiet nature had also changed; when Nodyr was happy he became almost childish in his ways.
Sarah, on the other hand, had not changed one bit. It was often hard to determine her mood; when asked what was wrong during a down period she would often lie and it was difficult to realize this. This annoyed Nodyr to no end and was the cause of most of their occasional mild feuds. Females of both species could be impossible to read sometimes.
"Oh, yes she can," she said, abruptly poking the leathery, beak-like tip of Stith's muzzle. The young mantrin made a playful growling sound and nearly toppled off of Nodyr as she leaned forward to try and nip. "She deserves a piece of cake just for putting up with you," she added teasingly.
With a sigh, as though her mood had suddenly been deflated, Oya quickly interjected. "No, it's okay. Even if I wanted some I couldn't have it," she said simply. "It's for Stith," she added with a smile as she patted the young mantrin on the shoulder.
Stith stuck her own tongue out in imitation of her adoptive father. "Yep all for me! It's my birthday!" Her tail playfully beat against Nodyr's back, much like on an excited cat that was about to receive a dish of gourmet tuna.
"Happy Birthday," Oya said. "I'll let you celebrate now. I'm going to go back home."
"Bye Oya," Sarah said, opening the door for her.
"Tearhu," Nodyr said in his native language as the petite Orkeht stepped onto the equally tiny front porch.
As Sarah was halfway through closing the door, she paused, scratched at her round nose, and then cleared her throat with a percussive "ehem." "Oya, wait a minute."
"What is it?" she asked with a worried tone lingering in her voice, glancing over her right shoulder at the seemingly upset human with her ears drooping to her neck.
Sarah turned to her daughter. "Don't you have something else to tell her Stith?"
This Stith thought about for a moment. Her muzzle wrinkled into multiple comical contortions as she invested way too much thought for such a simple question; it was not long before Sarah began to wonder if she would start drooling from all of the humming and eh'ing droning from her mouth. "Oh yeah!" she said, her ears suddenly perking to attention along with the rest of her body. "It's my birthday!" Had Stith shone any more teeth in the smile that followed, her entire face would have been overtaken in a dazzling display of sparkling white.
"No not that Stith, and your birthday isn't until tomorrow." Sarah said. It was impossible for her to hold back a long frustrated groan. Arms akimbo, her fists dug into her hips. "You have something else to tell her."
"Umm," the young mantrin said, gnawing on her bottom lip in confusion. "Uhhh…."
This was becoming painful to watch. Sarah could almost hear Stith's brain cels sizzling as she continued to ponder what ever it could be that she needed to say. Before she screamed, and it certainly appeared that she was about to, Nodyr quickly brought his muzzle to Stith's nearest ear and whispered. "You need to thank her for the presents."
"Oh," Stith said. Her lips remained stuck in the "oh" position momentarily as the thought registered. "Myrsya," she said grudgingly.
"That's better. Thanks Nodyr," Sarah said, feeling her frustration subside.
Oya accepted the forced showing of thanks, and then after another round of goodbyes, finally left.
Sarah shook her head sadly as she closed the door and turned to face her family. "I thought you knew better than that by now Stith," she said.
"Oh don't be so hard on her," Nodyr said, smiling. "This should be a happy time." With this, he set Stith down and lowered himself to give her a tight hug from behind. She playfully squirmed and gasped from the firm embrace.
"I know," she said softly, brushing a sweaty tangle of hair from her eyes. "She just needs to have some manners, especially to someone older like Oya." Sarah stepped past her daughter and in front of Nodyr. "You're right, we should be happy now. It's time for a fun weekend with you and Stith." As she spoke, she leaned against him, resting her head on his barrel-like chest, a trait that was common in mantrin males of all races, but most noticeably in Sogowans, the race of which he shared more than half of the traits.
"Let's get ready for tonight," Sarah said after a moment of peace with her mate. "But first, I need a shower."