[text | action for housemates]

[exeggutorhead]

[Action]

[Another year in Johto a month ago...and now, another birthday. Which is a strange thing to think about. Up until a few years ago, he hadn't even known the date of his own birth, hadn't even thought to wonder what it was. Back in Amestris, a homunculus' birth isn't something that anybody really wants to remember or celebrate, after all. But here? People have found it out, wheedled it out of him...people have remembered it, asked after it, thought that the fact that Envy was born was something important.]

[And for two years now, he's awkwardly accepted the couple of gifts and the well wishes he's gotten, but it had still felt strange to even acknowledge. But now, the third year he's known about the day...it feels a little more natural. He actually remembers what day it is without being reminded, and if any of his patched together little family brings it up, or does something for the occasion?]

[Well, maybe this year he'll react a little less like a cat who's just encountered a vacuum cleaner for the first time.]

[Text]

Hey, I've got a question for anyone who feels like answering. When you do things for somebody's birthday, what is it that you're celebrating about them? Is it that they managed to survive an extra year or that they were born in the first place or just because parties are fun or what?

What is it about a birthday that makes it something important?

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[exeggutorhead]

[The look on Envy's face when he sees that...cake...is absolutely worth the effort she put in to make it.]

[It's an expression caught halfway between alarm at the creation on the table (does she expect him to eat it right here and now and can he find a way to not??) and happiness that she'd remembered the day.]

That's....thanks?

[a_sin_for_him]

I made it myself! From scratch.

[Oh yes, this entirely worth it. That mix of distress and shock and the determination to appreciate the effort...]

[It's everything she'd hoped for. Enough so that she can't keep the facade up any longer. She snaps a picture with her 'gear, laughing, needing to preserve this moment.]

Oh for god's sake, don't touch that terrible thing, it's likely to land you in the Center. Your real cake's in the fridge, it's from a bakery.

[exeggutorhead]

[Envy lets out an AUDIBLE sigh of relief, letting his head sink down onto the table.]

Don't scare me like that, Lust. I thought I was going to have to either wind up in the hospital or try and sneak it to Guttle when you weren't looking.

[Although he has to laugh at least a little, chuckles shaking his shoulders as he props his head back up on his hands.]

Well, I trust you to know what flavor I like--did you take a picture?!

[He just now caught up to the snapping noise and her 'Gear being out. NOW he's caught between incredibly pleased that she did something like this for him and indignant.]

[a_sin_for_him]

I'm horrified you'd ever think to feed poor dear Guttle that biohazard.

[She'd be the one who'd have to deal with the consequences, and she doubts they'd be pretty.]

Of course I did. I like to preserve memories. That one was worth preserving, you should have seen your face.

[exeggutorhead]

Are you kidding? Guttle can eat anything, probably even that cake.

[Because you know there's been at least a few times where there's been a game of "concoct something out of assorted snack food and whatever's in the fridge to see how fast Guttle will eat it". Probably when Lust isn't around. But he sinks his chin onto the table, groaning.]

I knooow. Ugh, that's what I get for having a sister, isn't it?

[There's the slightest hint of an affectionate grin on his face when he says that part, even though his head's still down.]

[a_sin_for_him]

Just because he can doesn't mean he should.

[Lust retrieves the actual cake and presents it. That's far more appropriate. But really, the effort of making the dummy cake had been worth it.]

Don't whine, you adore me. Happy birthday. Actually, this time. Do you have any big plans?