[EP] The Worst Birthday

[st_abby]

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."

Comments

[st_abby]

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?"

[st_ockandbarrel]

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

[st_abby]

"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.

[st_ockandbarrel]

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?"

[st_abby]

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?"

[st_ockandbarrel]

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

[st_abby]

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."

[st_ockandbarrel]

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."

[st_abby]

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."

[st_ockandbarrel]

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.

[st_abby]

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.

[st_ockandbarrel]

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.

[st_abby]

"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."