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 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?"

"I think it's done," Vax told her, knowing it would be very risky even to try dragging himself back to his room by now. He'd probably pass out in one of the halls and wake up drooling into the gaudy carpet. "Vex wouldn't have wanted to do all this, anyway. She's got just a touch more class."

Mind you, that would also be Vex the pie-eating-contest hurler, and Vex the foul-mouthed, and Vex the breast-flasher. Just a touch more class than him.

"Eat your cupcake and drink a glass of water." Nothing would save him from his epic hangover at this point, but the water would help a little.

"I'll tell you a story about how I ended up doing the rooftop thing while you're eating."

Vax'ildan picked up one half of the cupcake, giving the other a wistful look. He didn't think he could eat the whole of it. But he did reach for the water, as well, taking a long swallow before turning his attention back to Steph expectantly.

Steph picked up the other half of the cupcake and started licking the frosting off like an ice cream cone. "So, I was, like...thirteen or fourteen, I think. My dad had been in prison for a couple of years and had just gotten out again. Dad, I mentioned, is kind of an addict but not like drugs or anything. His addiction is crime. And being really bad at it. See, he would rob places but he'd leave clue - really deliberate clues - for the police."

She rolled her eyes. Being the Cluemaster's daughter was embarrassing on a lot of levels but the fact that he was a Riddler knockoff was one of the worst. "Anyway, so he'd just gotten home after the last visit to Blackgate and he swore up and down that he was really done this time."

Vax was two bites into his bit of cupcake, not as tidy with the frosting as he would be any other day, when he stopped altogether to stare at Steph. ...Her father was a criminal. She was saying her father was a criminal, and everything she'd done, vigilanteism and so on, that had been because of him.

Was he understanding that right? Because this would be a fine time not to be pickled, thanks.

"...But he wasn't?"

"Bingo. Within a month, he had his old buddies over at the house and they were talking about...oh, knocking over a bank or something. There was a theme." Steph rolled her eyes. "You know, at first, I was actually surprised. But that didn't last long. I thought...not this time. I was done with it. So I called the police and told them his whole plan."

She sucked a bit of frosting off her finger. "They blew me off. 'The tip line isn't for pranks, kid.' So, yeah, that wasn't going to work. And I thought about reaching out to Batman, get him to stop but Dad was small time. Not really in the Bat's league. Which basically left...me."

"That's why you did the whole...dress-up justice," he said softly. Vax didn't mean it to tease. He meant... That it made a lot more sense to him, when she explained it in that way.

"So you put on your mask and armor, and... What did you do then?"

"Yep. I mean, well, armor is probably a strong word. I've mentioned that I was a gymnast? So basically it was a full body leo." The incredibly flimsy costume that had been the first Spoiler uniform was probably slightly better than being naked but not much. Still, her first Nomex-Kevlar suit had been a long way off.

"Anyway, I figured out where they were planning their heists and did my best to leave clues to lead the police to stop them. Didn't work, but it did get Robin and Bats attention. They helped me stop them and got Dad another tour at Blackgate."

She decided to leave out the bit about the sulfuric acid and having to be talked out of killing her dad. This was a fun story. "And that was the illustrious beginning of the Spoiler."

"Sounds pretty dangerous," he pointed out conspiratorially, before cramming the last of his cupcake into his mouth. "Spfthlfth."

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