video | i got a pair of wings for my birthday

[lyingheart]

[ Annie has damp hair she's wearing in a braid draped over her shoulder, sitting next to Krieg at a wood table, water glasses and what might be alcohol in frosted glasses before them. They're both facing the camera. Annie isn't smiling, but she's holding her one hand up making a victory sign in the least enthused manner ever. ]

Puck, just take the photograph already.

[ Krieg, bemasked as always although presumably?? Also drinking?? Is a little more into this whole photo session than Annie - he leans in next to his buddy and also flashes a victory sign...behind her head. Classic. ]

You gotta say "CHEESE", Honeyshine!

[ She starts frowning, eyes slanting to look askance up at him. ]

Why the hell would I shout cheese—

[ She's cut off as the sound of singing begins, a cupcake with a candle burning brightly in the middle being placed down in front of her. Puck shifts the camera to show the serving staff gathered behind the two diners, everyone smiling as brightly as the candle burns. Happy Birthday to you~ Annie is almost cut out of the frame, but what can still be seen of her face has her eyes going from blinking down at the cupcake, to wide open with the whites showing. What the legitimate fuck?! ]

Because when you say it you smile! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BIRTHDAY GIRL!!!!

[ The servers finish the song with a loud, “Happy 18th Birthday, Annie!” which anyone who knows she just turned 17, actually, might tip off about why she has a beer. Annie has hunched her shoulders, and the camera's starting to shake as Puck laughs silently. Annie gives Krieg a flat look, plucks the still burning candle out of the cupcake, and without a hitch in her movements, shoves the pretty, frosted cupcake into his masked face.

And blows out her candle. ]

Happy birthday yourself.

[ Krieg, his mask now caked in confectionery, just laughs. ]

PffffmnahahahahAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

[ The video ends as a small, barely there smile curls her lips up at the corners while he laughs and the servers look on in slightly distressed confusion. ]

Comments

[shiro2hero]

I hope she has.

That sounds like the kind of place she'd love.

[lyingheart]

It is. Probably for most people where we're from. Meat ends up being a luxury.

Though here if it isn't fish it's also a mystery, at least it's edible and tastes good

[shiro2hero]

Yeah, that's what Armin and the others have mentioned before.

I've stopped trying to eat it while I'm here, though.

[lyingheart]

More meat for Sasha that way.

You know what I'm really thankful for about this place? So far, no giant bug type Pokemon who suck blood.

[ buzzwole doesn't... doesn't quite count... ]

[shiro2hero]

And yet, there are still spiders.

Big spiders.

[lyingheart]

Big spiders with big targets to aim for in those legs.

... do they even have eight legs?

[shiro2hero]

What? No. They're pokemon.

You can't hurt them!

[lyingheart]

Shiro, you should ask Armin how I met Arlert sometime.

[ by kicking the bird Pokemon out of the sky. when Arlert attacked.

Annie really, really doesn't feel bad about defending herself and hers. hurting Pokemon? yes, when they instigate. they'll love, and hopefully, they'll learn. ]

[shiro2hero]

Arlert? Who is... that?

[lyingheart]

A giant featherbrains.

[shiro2hero]

Annie... you know that doesn't explain anything, right?

[lyingheart]

Oh, I'm aware. You've met Arlert before, though I don't expect you to remember it. Either way, ask Armin for the story. He's got a way with words.

[shiro2hero]

What do you mean I won't remember it?

[lyingheart]

I mean things were hectic on Halloween night. Therefore, it wouldn't be a surprise if you didn't remember Arlert.

[ she wasn't making a claim on what he would or wouldn't remember, but Arlert had been the hoothoot she called out to when tracking down Lute over that Halloween night. since he didn't seem to remember, and it was one unimportant detail from that hectic night, she truly didn't expect there to be a reason he would have recalled the Pokemon who flew overhead. ]

[shiro2hero]

Ah Right.

I sort of forgot Halloween was like that this year.

[In comparison to other years, it was kind of low-key. Easy to forget about it in the face of the others.]

[lyingheart]

With how the last few seem to have gone, it's understandable. A night of feverish sweets collecting and prank playing didn't cause much harm. These are good things.

[shiro2hero]

Yeah... they were.

Wish more nights were like that.

[lyingheart]

You're not finding a few like that here and there, on this world?

[shiro2hero]

There are. But... part of me always expects something to go wrong.

Like prom.

[lyingheart]

You are, or were, a soldier. Or whatever term you prefer. I don't think anyone whose been there and loved through anything like war ever fully learns to relax again. Something already might go wrong. Sometimes we're even right about that.

[shiro2hero]

[Well. Never say talking to Annie didn't go anywhere strange. Or somber. Because this sure did. It sure goes against what he's been striving for. Hoping for.]

You really don't believe it's possible?

[lyingheart]

No. I think we cope. I think with time and support, we're even happy. But I don't think we ever fully come back. We're never who we were before. We change, and I think part of that change is learning a new way to live with all the people who've never had to do or see the things we have.

[shiro2hero]

[We're never who we were before]

No matter what we want, huh?

[What if that's all you wanted? Just the chance. The potential. To be Shiro, when all that's left is the Kerberos Pilot, the Champion? The Black Paladin?]

[lyingheart]

No matter what we want. We've changed. There's no undoing that... there's just continuing to change and adapt.

For what it's worth, all I know is the person you are after all those things in your life. And you're not a shitty asshole. So there's that.

[ this is someone who will never, ever, ever be asked to give a peptalk. ever. ]

[shiro2hero]

I appreciate that.

[Even if it wasn't entirely what he was concerned about to begin with. But oh well. It's... something.]

Anyway

Happy birthday. I know I already said so, but. One more time can't hurt.