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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"I approve of strawberry." Steph picked it up and took an experimental sniff. Way less burning alcohol nonsense than the last one and lots of pleasant sugary fruity smells. A quick taste test confirmed Vax's choice. "Oh, that's lots better. I'll stick with this one."

"Are these the extent of your birthday plans or will there be cake?"

"No cakes planned." It would seem wrong of him to do. Like a celebration, almost. "That might soak up some of the alcohol," Vax suggested.

Steph frowned at that, looking up at him with narrowed eyes to judge just how unbudgably emo he was being. High Tim, she wondered or was he at full Bruce? He wasn't doing this on top of the Inn on a moonless night but maybe that was just a matter of time.

"Rum cake," she said. It would go well with her daiquiri - and yeah, she'd remembered what it was called. "Come on. It's your birthday. You're telling me that you can't have a little bit of cake on your birthday? That doesn't seem right."

He noted the frown, the look - the determined cheer. She was certainly trying. It was good of her, and his expression did soften a little.

"It's not right I have to do any of it without my sister," he explained. "When we were still very young, after we'd left Syngorn... I stole us cakes, one year. Then figured out it was better to steal the money to buy the cakes." He thought that answered her question, in his current state. Didn't it?

Near Bruce. Just wait for tonight.

"So what's your sister doing today, do you think?" Because sometimes you had to lean into the brood to get them out the other side.

She wondered if Dot knew how to make a rum cake.

Vax'ildan went quiet a moment, face cinching with an attempt at concentration. "I dunno," he replied after a long beat. "If it's like Percy and Kash say... They say maybe no one's even noticed I'm here, because there's a me there. So... Maybe it's fine, for her. Because she's got a me."

Steph brushed his hair back from his face and tucked it behind one slightly pointed ear. "We don't really know that. So instead of assuming that no one knows we're gone, let's assume they do. What's she doing without you on your birthday? Does it involve her bodyweight in alcohol too?"

Vax closed his eyes at the softness of her touch. Her words. He let himself soak them in, focus on something other than his despairing mood. "Vex wouldn't," he told her. "Not this much. Not in what passes for public. Probably she'd want to be alone. With Percy."

And in turn, he'd rather be with his girlfriend. Well, Steph was a poor substitute but she could at least stick with him.

"How come you didn't opt for private? I mean, Percy's here and all." And Stephanie may not have been super fond of the guy but she could tell how close they were. Plus, she had eyes.

"I spent enough time in hiding. I don't know that's done me much good. As for Percival, it's... Complicated," Vax decided with a sigh. "But we will. Have. Together."

The words seemed to make perfect sense in his head, but got dumped out in a hot mess as he spoke them.

Stephanie's eyebrows lifted, then decided that Vax had missed the entendre in that statement, which, given how much he'd had to drink....

Either that or he was sleeping with Percy. That was also possible, though kind of confusing considering the girlfriend thing. Also the weird sibling sharing thing. Steph didn't have a sister but if she did, that would be a bridge too far.

"Uh, sure. It's good, that you're not hiding. Because drinking alone is way worse, at least according to those 'are you an alcoholic checklists.'" Which she had read many times. "I'm sorry your sister isn't here, Vax. Can I be your honorary sister for the day?"

Vax had meant that he and Percy had shared drinks in Vex's honor. It didn't cross his mind that Steph may have taken away a very different interpretation.

He was well focused on attempting to answer her question, anyway. His expression warmed all the way down, and he quirked the first of a smile, giving her a funny, speculative look. "No," he told her outright. "You definitely can not be my sister. That would be...too weird."

Weird? ...oh. OH.

"Oh."

It was probably wrong to feel smug.

"Okay, not sister. But substitute shoulder and celebrant for the time being." She smiled back at him. "You know, no one celebrated my birthday with me this year. It may have been because I didn't tell anyone about it."

"That might do it. ...Wait, was that here? Or was it before all of..." He stopped to give her a scrutinizing squint. "How long ago was your birthday, Stephie?"

Edited 2017-05-30 21:20 (UTC)

She shrugged and picked up her daiquiri in an elaborate show of casualness. "About two months ago."

To be honest -- and she could be honest in her own mind -- she hadn't felt like celebrating at the time. Plus she wasn't sure that it had actually been her birthday, since it definitely hadn't been Christmas when she left Gotham. "At least by the calendar. I think it's probably more like four months from now if we're going by timeline."

He scrunched his brow. "So I'm either very early, or rather late? Is that, like-" He lifted a glass at her. "A half-empty, half-full sort of thing? Do I get to choose? Because I would like to, really. Celebrate. Your birthday. ...There could be cake."

Right, so... Definitely drunk. And smooth. Very smooth, Vax'ildan.

"If we're celebrating my birthday, there will definitely be cake." Obviously.

The trouble, Stephanie realized, with drinking when you didn't usually, is that you could feel the bad decisions taking over. And the devil on her shoulder with the rum cake had several good points about the last time they'd both ended up with compromised decision making abilities.

She bit her lip and leaned away before she did something dumb. "The question is, are you willing to put your current plans on hold or should I get a raincheck?"

Plans? He stared at her for a moment, trying to remember if there was actually something he was expected to do or not.

At a loss, Vax gave up on the thinking and just smiled at her instead. "If I had one of them, it couldn't have been more important than spending time with you." ...It was totally a cornball thing to say. But then, it wasn't intended as a pick-up line. He just happened to like Steph.

He reconsidered though. He'd been drinking. Like, buckets. And even if she'd been really a very good sport about it so far, he didn't want her to come away with a lasting impression of him as a drunken asshole. "But I might be a lot more charming and a lot less likely to pass out on you if you wanted to wait."

"It's your birthday. You get to choose what you want." Steph pulled her arm off his shoulder. "Wait here, though. I do require one thing."

She smiled, then was gone.

"That's not what I would've chose," he called after her. But she'd gone already, and Vax knew better than to try to get up all at once again. So he had a sigh and a drink instead.

It didn't take Stephanie long to track down a cupcake in the plethora of baked goods that Dot turned out daily. She snitched it, and a candle, then headed back to Vax. As before, she sat down right next to him, her hip pressed to his, and placed the cupcake triumphantly on the table with the candle stuck in the top.

From her belt, she produced a lighter (useful on patrol) and light the candle's wick. "Okay. Birthday tradition. Blow out the candle and make a wish."

Vax'ildan smiled a little to see the tiny frosted cake and its burning candle, though he couldn't help thinking how lonesome the single flame looked by itself. Maybe next year, sis.

He'd inhaled a deep breath - but then stopped himself, letting it go to look at Steph. "Is this the kind of wish you're supposed to tell? Or does it not come true if you don't keep it secret?" Not that he believed in it either way. But he might as well play along with the rules of the thing. Birthday tradition and all.

She appreciated that he was willing to play along. "I think technically you're not supposed to tell at least until it comes true. Then it's okay to share."

"You never know, with magic."

A funny thing happened, though, when Vax went back to blow out his candle. He almost thought maybe he did believe it could work. He was drunk and there was something on fire and cake and a pretty girl, so it was probably all that added in together that did it. But if a silly little charm had anything at all to do with fate or the future or the shape of this place... Some things, you wanted them too much to let any slight chance you had at getting them pass you by untested.

He blew, the flame went out, a slip of smoke curled up. "Ta-dah," he suggested.

"Well done." She hoped that he got it, whatever he'd wished for. And that when he did, he'd remember to tell her about the wish.

Steph picked up a butter knife from the table and neatly cut the cupcake in two. "What else should we do with your birthday? What do you and Vex do?"

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