strangetrip | [EP] NOT the Worst Birthday Ever

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[EP] NOT the Worst Birthday Ever

It was hard to believe Vex had been at Madonna Inn almost a year. It felt both far longer and not nearly that long.

It also wasn't anything to celebrate. Unlike today, which demanded to be celebrated. Not with anything big or flashy. No surprise parties, thank you! But drinks certainly. Not like last year, though, when Vex hadn't been here at all, and Vax had attempted to drown himself and her absence in booze. It was their birthday and they were both here to raise a glass together.

So drinks. And cake, because birthdays had always meant cake, even when Vax had had to swipe it for them, or cut a purse to buy it. So when she slid into a booth in the bar, wearing a shirt Percy insisted she needed, she set a plate with two cupcakes, one almost black with chocolate and espresso, the other snowy white but flavored with mint, on the table between them and kissed her brother on the cheek, pleased to see he was wearing the shirt to match. They were twins, after all.

"Get us a drink," she said with a bright grin and a twinkle in her eye for the person passing by. "It's our birthday."

(tag either twinnie's TL, or get them both by request)

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Snow didn't smile, but there may have been humor in her tone when she answered, "Stupid hat might've tipped me off."

"Oh! Right," Vax intoned with surprise, as if he'd only just remembered, and made a show of leaning to where he could see Vex's hat on her own head more clearly. "I've been meaning to say something to her, but I don't really want to make her feel a fool on our special day."

If Snow wasn't careful, Vex and Vax were going to make an actual human out of her, because she found herself snorting loudly and then hastily covering her mouth to hold in any further laughing.

"I think she already knows."

"She is very perceptive, my sister," Vax agreed, looking entirely pleased with the sound that had come out of Snow.

"Are you a pastries person?" A good half of his dark chocolate and espresso cupcake sat neglected in front of him, and he waggled it in place at her by the little paper cup as if to entice her. "It's good, but also very sweet. It would be such a shame if it were to go to waste..." Of course, maybe she would turn her nose up at a-half-eaten-anything offered her.

Snow wasn't going to say no straight off, but she did have to look at the remaining part of the cupcake and ask, "... You don't want it?" With a subtext of 'why?' and 'what's wrong with it?'

Was she wary because she thought he was trying to pass off his garbage? ...Probably she was just wary. About most things. That seemed to be her way.

"Maybe just-" He picked up a nearby fork, stabbing off a bite and popping it into his mouth. "This much more," Vax said around it. See? It's good. Promise. Then he forked up another bite, and offered it over to her with a smile. "You can't properly celebrate a birthday without cake. But eating it all by yourself would seem sort of sad, wouldn't you say?"

"Maybe." Her experience of birthdays had always been a lonely one, her and her governess, and perhaps her father when she was very small. He gave her toys and clothes and jewels for her gun. But there was no togetherness, even when he had been there.

Snow hesitated, but not for very long. There had been a period in her life where she had been denied any sweet, nice thing, and even though that time was longer and longer ago every day it had left its mark.

She took the offered fork and the offered bite of cake, sighing with pleasure at the taste of chocolate on her tongue.

It felt like a small win - or a small gift, was more timely to say. Snow actually letting herself be seen enjoying something was surely better than anything else he might've asked her for.

"Help yourself," Vax eased back in his seat and chased the rich chocolate taste with a sip of the nice, crisp ale. "Is chocolate your favorite, would you say?"

Snow took her time to savor before she swallowed, considering that question. When it came to preferences, she'd spent so much time focusing on things she didn't like and things she wanted to avoid, that thinking about what she enjoyed was... an unpracticed skill to say the least. "For cake? I think so. If it's ice cream, then strawberry."

"Ooh. You ever get the ice cream together on the cake, let it melt into there juuuuust little bit?" He held thumb and forefinger close to demonstrate the amount of melting he meant, squinting at her through the gap between them. "That's brilliant, but you've got to time it right. Can't let it go all mushy."

Snow had to shake her head and she fought back a smile, though not entirely successfully. She could imagine it, or at least she thought she could, but that wasn't something she'd ever done.

"No?! Really? As old as you are? ...Well, you've got something to look forward to for your next birthday, then." He didn't know when that was. But he'd learn it, somehow. He was sneaky. And maybe Vex even knew already.

He reached to pull the ridiculous hat from his head, and made as if to reach over the table and crown Snow with it instead. "Maybe we'd better check the Birthday Hat for fit. In case we need to order a smaller one from Caroline," Vax suggested.

Snow leaned back away from the hat and glared at it like a cat ready to flatten its ears and hiss. "I'd be perfectly happy having nothing to do with Caroline ever."

Edited 2018-06-19 03:16 (UTC)

Vax's look went quizzical some as he put the hat down on the tabletop instead. "Really? You feel that strongly? I mean, I know she's a bit much, but she means well anyway."

Snow nodded once. Yes, she felt that strongly. She'd practically hated Caroline and her well-meaning intensity on sight, even if she couldn't articulate the why of it. It was like being under the glare of a searchlight.

"Did she say something, to put you off? Or do something?" Vax wasn't trying to correct however Snow felt, so much as understand. Snow didn't speak her mind very often, so when she did, it felt important to try and listen.

Snow made a movement that was simultaneously trying to be a shrug but tensing into a bristle. She looked away.

"I've never really stopped to think about it," he admitted after a moment. "But she's your opposite in a lot of ways, isn't she? Vocal and perky where you're quiet and serious."

He crossed his arms in front of him and leaned forward on the tabletop just a bit, searching her face even if it was turned away from him. "I don't mind Caroline. But I'm also glad there's people like you here, Snow," he told her quietly, as if sharing a secret.

Snow froze at that. Regina aside, not many people ever just told her straight that they were glad to have her around. Not that they'd never implied it or said it in other ways, she didn't think nobody wanted her or anything (not anymore), but.

She blushed and ducked her head.

Vax just smiled at her softly for a moment, before reaching to retrieve his fork. He used the edge of the tines to tuck another bite of the bittersweet chocolate cake into his mouth. "Thanka again. For helping to celebrate our birthday."

Then he turned the fork around and set it with the last few bites of cupcake, pushing both neatly in front of Snow. "Next time, we'll do it up with the ice cream."

"You're welcome, I guess." Snow didn't hesitate this time, reaching for the offered cake and the fork. And she may have smiled, just a bit, for only a moment.

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[EP] NOT the Worst Birthday Ever

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