strangetrip | [EP] The Worst Birthday

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[EP] The Worst Birthday

Of course, everybody had birthdays - even if they didn't know what day it was on the calendar, that didn't stop someone having them. Vax'ildan hadn't honestly thought much about it, until Joanna had got talking when to plant what one afternoon amongst the herbs in her garden. Seasons, months, weeks, days... They were different in this world from what Vax knew. Nevertheless, when he stopped to do a bit of his own math, he thought it must be very near his own birthday in Exandria.

Their birthday. His, by only a couple of minutes, and then Vex'ahlia's.

It seemed a stupid thing to get hung up about. But once it (she) had wormed its way into his brain, his heart, he couldn't get it (her) out, and it became a crushing reminder that Vex could be lost to him forever. He didn't have much in the way of distractions, and the more he tried to forget about it, the worse it had got until he sank into a drowning sulk. He avoided everyone and everything including his mirror-matched room, effectively vanishing for a few days on end, until gravely admitting that the only way out might very well be through.

Which is how he ended up sitting in the one corner of a booth in the cafe, armor exchanged for a simple sleeveless tunic and loose pants from Songrun, staring at the empty seat across from him with arms folded on the table in a bit of a hunch.

"Get us a drink," he told the passers-by mirthlessly, without so much as turning to look at them or stopping to count how many he'd had already. Did it matter? "It's our birthday."

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Percy tossed the whiskey back as well, struck by a sudden memory of this same good burn shared with Vex in rather different circumstances. That had been after the Courage was gone and long before morning had arrived.

"You know when I fell in love with her?" Percy asked, setting the glass down carefully and refilling it from his flask.

Vax just stared at him, surprised at the... At Percy. He held on to his empty glass, but hadn't got around to putting it back down yet.

"No," Vax admitted quietly.

"Neither does she." Percy smiled, one of his 'I'm a complete asshole' smiles that made even his closest friends wonder why they kept him around.

"And I think she deserves to hear it first, don't you? So. Let's get blind drunk."

That fucking self-satisfied look. That was Percy's perverse charm, there. That was what Vex loved, the terrible cleverness of him, the pride.

"Percival," Vax'ildan murmured after a moment of shock. "I love you. You know I do, truly. But I'm also getting drunk enough where I'm tempted to dive over the table and throttle you." Vax pushed his empty glass at the other man. "Pour."

Percival -- mindful of the fact that. at this distance, Vax could likely turn him into a pincushion before he fell off the bench -- poured.

Another shot, and another memory. "Is this your master plan for the whole day?"

"Oh, no. No." Vax matched him the shot, closing his eyes a moment to steady himself after, feeling the color gradually rising into his face. "I'm bound to pass out before the whole of the day is through. That's kind of the point."

"Ah, that explains why you've started early." Percy gave some thought to this while he poured another round. On one hand, it may have been more merciful to allow Vax the ability to blot out his pain today.

On the other, mercy was not a crime of which Percy had often been accused.

"A charming tribute to her," he observed and raised the shot glass.

Vax gave him a dark look. He was rather sure Vex would understand. He'd been awful enough company during their separation for the Slayer's Take work. That had been the blink of an eye compared to this. He'd been positive and hopeful and strong for long enough. He was exhausted. "What exactly am I supposed to do in this fucking place? What tribute brings my sister back to me this time?"

If any of Vox Machina thought they understood what Vax had sacrificed to regain his sister, it should be Percy.

Of course Percy understood. He more than anyway understood brooding, obsessing and lingering over the loss of your family. And that's why he knew, "No tribute. No deals. We haven't found a way out yet and they haven't found a way to us. But we don't give up. We don't give up. You all dragged my body off that gods-fucked island. Your sister put an arrow in the oldest, maddest thing in the Feywild. You gave yourself to a death goddess. We find a way."

He poured another shot. "But you could also spend your birthday obliterated. That's a choice too."

Vax looked into his glass, studying the whiskey. He did love Percy, and Percy drove him crazy in a singular way. The worst of which being how often he was right about things. "...Can I 'not give up' tomorrow, do you think? Today, it's... Is? Already kind of a wash."

Percy knew a useless fight when he saw it. The trouble was, he was very poor at accepting it. "I suppose you could. There's plenty of alcohol in this place and our dear friends the angriest cleric can always rebuild your insides if you liquify them."

A separate idea occurred to him.

"Or we could throw Cashew in the pool."

Vax visibly brightened for the first time since... Today, certainly. He didn't quite smile. But it was really very close.

"Can we? Would you really, Freddy?"

Percy adjusted his glasses. "After all, it's what Vex would want us to do."

"She always was a good influence on you." Now Vax did smile, a little. "For Vex," he toasted again, draining the shot with renewed vigor.

This was a terrible idea. A leaving Scanlan and Grog alone together to do something sneaky kind of terrible.

Percy actually grinned.

"Where do you think he's hiding today?"

Vax almost forgot what a dick Percy has been, when he smiled like that, equal parts charming and irreverently wicked. He had an excellent mind for mischief. When he let himself.

"He was around here, somewhere, earlier... Dunno, now. His room?"

Percy recapped his flask then eyed Vax thoughtfully. "If you try to stand up, are you just going to fall down again?"

It was a good question.

"Only maybe," Vax determined, though the idea clearly didn't bother him. It was no reason not to try and throw Cashew into the pool. As far as he could figure. "Would you...pick me up again, Percival? If I did fall."

Maybe it was the alcohol or missing Vex or just Percy losing his damn mind, but even the small smile he'd been sporting disappeared for an entirely sincere expression. He reached up and took his glasses off, cleaning the lenses before replacing them. "Any day, any time, as many times as necessary. In the last five years...I thought I'd lost my family and I did. But we've all of us made another one."

That was a good answer.

Vax hadn't expected it. And sure, he'd fallen down deep enough in his cups to be overly sentimental - but that wasn't this. His expression softened.

"...Thanks," he said after a moment, a touch husky. "For reminding me."

Percy shrugged. "You're my brother."

He hauled himself out of the booth to his feet. The room swayed alarmingly. Possibly, the fourth shot had been a mistake.

Vax eagerly shimmied out of the booth after Percy so they-

Whoa.

Vax caught himself with the heel of his palm on the edge of the table before he could crumple to the floor, exactly. ...Well. He had been making a determined effort to drown himself, after all.

"I think," he suggested, slinging himself onto the seat again and holding his head in one hand to slow the reeling, "Percy, could you... Bring'm here, d'you think? Just say... Tell him I need heals. A healing. That'd do." Percy wouldn't even have to lie.

Percy felt unsteady and Vax looked even more so. "You should, you should go to the pool. Sit out there. Better to be at the site of the ambush."

He nodded firmly and swayed with the force of it. "Tack. Ticks," he said clearly, separating it into two words.

"Not you too," Vax groaned. Though if there was anyone else who was allowed to get shit-faced over Vex'ahlia... "Pool's too far and I'd drown before you'd got'm there. Then you'd have no half-elves, none at all. So we'll - just-" Ugh. Thinking and making words was Percy's job. "Heals first."

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[EP] The Worst Birthday

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