Status: In Progress
Date: July 20th, 2006 ||
Location: Ioyla's Apartment ||
Participants: Ioyla, Blitz, Ilistala, Jerava, Elena, Anarya, Akina, Brimstone
Ilistala was napping in her mother's bedroom with the door shut and blinds closed. Blitz would stand guard of his keeper's door for a while, then slink out to sniff at the hot oven and pester Ioyla. Icky, having spent the entire morning chasing a roll of papier-mache and eventually eating it, was camped out at Ioyla's feet. He would poke his head up every once and a while, yelp quietly, and go back to trying to digest synthetic materials.
"Goddamn, man, this s**t is boring," Ioyla muttered when Blitz trotted into the living room. The Mozou shrugged, leaning against a wall and snuffling.
"Quit complaining. It's not that bad." Blitz arched a brow when Ioyla huffed an exhasperated sigh.
"Can't ya justagree an'feel sorry for me? Ke-riest."
Yes, indeed everything was all set, including the predictable bickering between an animated clay figurine and young demon. All that was left were the guests.
Stala's first birthday has begun!A whine preceded the group up the stairs, as Elena was in full royal pout mode. She wasn't unhappy about coming to see Ilistala. It was more the 'why'd Anarya have to come along?' whine that was becoming, on the one hand, less common as Elena did more things without her mother's attendance, and on the other, more and more annoying as the girl added complaints to her already long list.
"And this place looks a little icky," Elena added as they reached the correct floor, Jer not wanting to trust the elevator.
"Not everyone has a house like ours," Jer said dryly, not at all disturbed or discomfited by their surroundings. Anarya, the main cause for the complaints, didn't say anything, just looked around her with bright eyes, tail wrapped around her arm as the girl sat comfortably on her mother's hip. "We're here," Jer said quietly, looking at the somewhat battered card in her free hand. Elena shifted her gift to a one handed grip and knocked on the door firmly.
The noises behind the closed door, which started once Jer knocked, were quite strange: an excited squeal, loud crashes, confused barking, and muffled cursing, plus a hearty laugh from some creature not exactly human.
Several moments later, the front door swung open, and standing in the doorframe was one giggly, bouncy Ilistala. "Hi!" she chirped, balancing on the heels of her feet to peer behind Jer and the noticeably taller, noticeably prettier, noticeably older Elena, checking for anyone else. No one but the bright girl in Jer's arms! Yay!
Stepping back to let the group in, the scene behind Stala could be only one of two things: humorously sad, or sadly humorous. In the rush to answer the knocking door, Ioyla had tripped right over her feet and crashed to the floor, her face buried in the mass of short, scrawny limbs. Icky had begun barking, and Blitz, still chilling by the wall, was still laughing at Ioyla. Ilistala took that oppurtunity to steal the prize from her mother and answer the door herself.
"Presents?" the little one queeried, leading Jer and company into the hallway, where, still, Ioyla lay crumpled on the floor.Jer quirked an eyebrow at the cacophony of noise that erupted when Elena knocked, but didn't say anything. Her daughter stepped back from the door somewhat apprehensively, but relaxed when Stala finally opened the door.
"Hi Stala!" Elena chirped, suddenly much more cheerful.
"Happy Birthday~!" she continued, stepping into the not-quite disaster area that was the living room.
"What she said," Jer said, choking back a laugh and hiding a grin from Ioyla, who probably wouldn't have seen it anyway.
"Birfday!" Arya said, flapping her wings enthusiastically.
"Happy!" Elena rolled her eyes as Jer set the Shattered girl down, who immediately fell on her butt and started giggling madly, feathers dropping and disappearing as she continued to flap her wings. If she kept it up, odds were she'd eventually overload the a/c and wouldn't that just be fun.
"Presents, yes," Elena said, ignoring her clearly insane little sister.
"But for later, okay?" she continued, looking around for somewhere to set the box down.
"I'm...okay!" Ioyla called, finally crawling to her feet once Stala had let everyone in. Brushing off her knees, she swiped a messy lock behind her ear and grinned. "Don't tell no one I tripped, kay, Jer?" She coughed, stepped over the fallen coffee table, and joined Ilistala near the hallway. "You too, Elena," she added.
"Mommy, shush!" Stala hissed, turning and placing one stiff index finger over her lips in an exagerated maner. Ioyla giggled, bent down to place a kiss on Stala's head, and moved to the kitchen, beckoning to Jer for her to follow. Grown up time, yay!
Finally registering that there was another kid in the room, Ilistala turned to Arya, eyes wide. "Pretty wings, yes," she commented, reaching out to gently stroke the younger Shattered's wings. So warm! It reminded her of hot pizza, fresh from the box.
"It's kay, Lena," the toddler continued once the topic of presents was noticed, "I gots a present! See?" She suddenly lifted her skirt, baring her new present: My Little Pony pink cotton panties, complete with a lacey trim and a frilly pink bow right in the middle. Blitz coughed and decided to hang out with Icky over by the couch. Definately not a good idea to show off some new underwear...."Nooooooooooooooo!" Ever since Akina had managed to get Brimstone out the door of their small house in Barton, which had been a battle all in itself, this is how it had been.
"Noooooooooooooo!" If Brim could blush, his face was bound to be bright red by now, as he had been screaming in protest for the entire ride into Aekea. In fact, the only moment of silence had come when Akina's green coupe had entered downtown Aekea, passing by the power plant Brim had asked to visit weeks ago. There was still a smudge on her window where Brim had accidentally oozed out of absentmindedness.
"Brimstone," Akina barked, raising her voice beyond what she usually did. The sheer fact that she used his whole name was enough to make the toddler pause.
"We are going to Ilistala's birthday party, whether you like it or not, and if you continue to act like this, then I will embarrass you in front of everyone. And no more TV." The neon-haired toddler had opened his mouth to retort, but at the threat of losing his precious television time, he silenced himself, apparently ready to 'play nice'.
Approaching the apartment listed on Brim's invite, the elf smoothed her son's hair out of his eyes and knocked on the door. The moment his mother's back was turned, of course, Brimstone quickly pushed his hair back so that it fell in his face; hey, he had only agreed to not scream, after all.
Jer held a hand over her mouth as she watched Ioyla stand up. "I won't, I promise," she said once the urge to laugh was gone and lowering her hand. "Be good you two," she said, resting a hand on Elena's head before she followed the demon into the kitchen.
"Of course," Elena chirped, still ignoring the giggling loon on the floor.
Arya's wings twitched at the touch, and the girl abruptly stopped giggling. The wings quivered and held still, a few feathers dropping off to spark against the floor before disappearing. With a hiss, Arya's tail unwrapped from around her arm and lay on the floor, staring at Stala with unblinking black eyes.
"Stop that," Elena snapped to her sister.
"And that's nice," the Tall Tale continued, cutting off as Stala decided to show off.
"Very nice," she choked out, embarassed for Stala, although the other girl likely wasn't at all concerned about it.
"Maybe you should put your dress down, someone's at the door," the girl said, regaining her composure, although her cheeks were still stained a slight pink, grateful to whoever was at the door for providing a distraction.
Although the kitchen was just a few feet away from where the girls were standing, the fact that it was a seperate room alltogether made Ioyla feel relaxed and comfortable. Bending down quickly to check the cake once both women were in the kitchen, Ioyla stood just as quick to yank open the fridge door, glass condiment bottles rattling in the process.
"You want a beer or somethin?" she asked Jer, rooting around the upper-level. Obviously too impatient to wait for some kind of answer, she turned back to face Jerava, one bottle of alcohol in each hand. Ioyla popped the top off one and took a small sip, doing the same for Jer (sans stealing a few gulps), holding it out for the elf woman. It was clear she would not take no for an answer.
Meanwhile, Ilistala continued to happily show off her panties, half because she was proud of her new present, and half because her mother hadn't caught her. Yet. Stala knew she would be in trouble if she was found to be flashing her undies, but it's all about the risks!
"Tail has snakeyhead on it, yes. Like...like Ofie!" The Shattered toddler dropped her dress to clap her hands together and first wiggle them in Elena's face, then Arya's, as if her hands and arms were a living, breathing snake (and that Elena and Arya would have any idea who Ophi was). "Pretty wings," she added solmenly.
Stala went quiet, then, as her somewhat-sensitive earing had picked up something: it sounded like that Kina lady Ma had met earlier! Yay! Squealing, Ilistala rushed over to the door and yanked it open, much like Ioyla had done with the refridgerator door earlier, to find Akina and Brimmyhead pouting.
"HI!" she yelled, immediately lifting up her dress again. Some hello, huh?"Oh my," came Akina's surprised reply at the sight of Stala's, well, nether-region. Brim, on the other hand, just fell silent and wide eyed for a moment, cocking his head to one side in confusion. What was she
doing? Akina had warned Brimstone about how rude it was to flash people your privates after a certain incident with Naraka a few months ago.
"Stalaface grooooooooooss..." he decided at last, turning his head away but still peeking out of the corner of his eye. Had she no shame!
Lifting Brimstone from the ground, Akina shuffled him to her side, smiling awkwardly down at the flash-prone girl before her.
"Is Ioyla here?" she said at last, hoping to ease things up. Her fingers gripped a little tighter around the wrapped gifts she had in the bag she held. One was an unwrapped bottle of Elvish wine that Akina had bottled herself. (After noting Ioyla's preference for wine, she hoped it would be a welcome house-warming/nice-to-know-you gift.) In the much smaller wrapped box, there was a pair of hair clips sporting red and orange fire daisies.
Still standing on the threshold, the elf and neon-hair Shattered waited for an invite in, sliding into the room once it was made.
"Sure," Jer said, taking the drink with no hesitation. Nevermind that the elf didn't usually drink; this was Ioyla's house and Jer didn't want to be rude. Besides, a drink sounded good, what with the morning she'd had.
"Snakey," Arya said equally solemnly, wiggling her hands right back at Stala. For her part, Elena was grateful Arya had stopped laughing inanely and that her tail hadn't bit anyone. Last time that had happened, the victim (poor Aurion) had had a nasty sunburn around the area.
"Stala," Elena breathed out, blushing furiously red, completely embarassed.
"That's not proper," the young elf scolded, setting a hand on her hip to stare at the Shattered girl sternly. She was going to teach at least
one of the little kids she dealt with manners, darnit! Nevermind that it was a losing battle in most cases...thought that counted, right? Right? Blush rapidly fading as Elena decided that she was the only beacon of civility and culture among the three in the room (which...was true enough), the Tall Tale dropped a curtsy to Akina and Brim.
"Miss Ioyla and my mum are in the kitchen," Elena offered helpfully.
"Oh! My name's Elena, and this is my sister Anarya," she said with a bow of her head and a wave of her arm to indicate the other firey-headed child.
"Hihi~" Arya chirped, spinning around to face the open door, waggling her wings in greeting.
The silence that followed from Ioyla after Ilistala lifted her dress was quite long. While Stala still stood at the door, panties blazing, Ioyla heaved a mighty sigh and pinched the bridge. "Scuse me," she murmured to Jer, slipping past her friend to stretch over Elena and Arya and scoop Stala up into her arms, who protested by whining and jerking around.
"Oh!" Ioyla said once it dawned on her that it was Akina and her kid, Brimstone, "damn, I'm sorry! Please come in~" The demon kicked the door closed once Akina and Brim were inside, then put Stala back on the floor to take the arm of the older woman to lead her into the kitchen.
"I got, uh...water'n juice. And beer. Who don't like beer? I tell you, someone says they don't like beer is fuc--freakin lyin." Ioyla nodded and pulled another bottle of beer out of the fridge for Akina, wiggling it. "Oh!" she said again, probably interrupting someone; "this is Jerava, and Jer, this is Akina. Say hellopleasetameetcha'n alla that crappy manners~"
But for Ilistala, the introductory formalities were the last thing on her mind. "Brimmyhead!" she squeaked, hopping up on one foot to wrap two extra-warm arms around Brimstone's shoulders. The possibility of sinking into the artificial Shattered's body was promptly ignored, as were all other reactions that could happen, instead taking Brim's hand (much like her mother did) and leading him to the pack of children over yonder.
"Brimmyhead, Lena. Lena, Brimmyhead. Arya!" Introductions out of the way, Ilistala clapped her hands together and hopped around. "We play, yuh? Hidenseek?"Akina was mid-introduction to Elena when Ioyla tore into the room and took charge of the situation. Brim was still staring in confusion at Ilistala's crotch, and thankfully, he was too young to really treasure the moment. The pair shuffled through the door as both were torn in separate directions.
Letting herself cave in to peer pressure, the elf took the beer from Ioyla and murmured,
"Oh, thank you." Pulling out the bottle of wine she had brought, the elf extended it toward the demon girl saying,
"This is for you." Before she could really settle though, her attention was thrust toward the unfamiliar woman. Someone new? How lovely.
"Nice to meet you." Back with the children, Brimstone strained away from Ilistala's hug, though he managed to stay solid even as she grabbed his hand. The boy didn't really like being called "Brimmyhead", but he was feeling a bit shy for some reason.
"Hi," he murmured, looking away and ignoring Stala and the other kids completely.
Jer took a pull on her beer as Ioyla reached over Elena's hastily ducked head to pick her daughter up. "Hope I don't have to deal with that," Jer murmured into the bottle as she held it at her lips, looking at Arya with a bemused expression on her face. Dropping the bottle from her mouth, Jer nodded at Akina. "Nice to meet you as well," she said with a sort of philosophical expression on her face. If she hadn't wanted to meet people, she wouldn't have come to the party, right?
"Brimmyhead!" Arya squealed, clapping her hands together. That was a great name! Why couldn't she have a name as awesome as -- oooh he had wings too! Arya scooted closer to Brim, wings hastily folded against her back.
"Hello," Elena said with another curtsey.
"Your name isn't Brimmyhead, is it?" she asked almost plaintively. That wasn't a proper name at all. It was likely a nickname of some sort, along the same lines as her 'Lena' appellation.
"Hide and seek?" Elena asked, looking at Stala curiously.
"Is there really enough room here to play that?"Like an ecstatic child just receiving the gift of their dreams, Ioyla nearly snatched the wine from Akina's hands, shaking the bottle gleefully. Oooo, alcohol! Yay alcohol! "Thank ya kindly, Kina," the demon squeaked, twirling on her heels to stash the gift in the overhead cupbord.
Now what? Ioyla emphasized her abrupt boredom by sliding her thumb and fore-finger across her chin, tapping her cheek and humming and looking like a complete fool. "Damn," she suddenly mused, humming some more, "did anyone bring board games? Scrabble? Clue? Twister?" There was a brief pause as an idea struck. "Naked Twister!"
Oh, hell no, Ilistala would have said, had she been older, not so awkward with words, and actually listening to her mother ramble on about nakedness and Twister. Why was Brimmyhead acting so funny? He surely wasn't shy when she had first met him! Huh!
"Yuh, nuff room," the Shattered toddler replied, taking ahold of Brim's hand and shaking it. She donned a most common expression found in the Infriti household: apprehension. Brimmyhead wasn't supposed to be quiet, he was supposed to be...funny! "Wake up!" Stala demanded, driving her point home by drawing Brimstone's arm up to her mouth and licking the back of his hand. Yup.In the kitchen, Akina laughed a bit as Ioyla snatched the wine from her hand. It was only their second meeting, and yet, the elf already felt that she really knew the impulsive demon that stood before her.
"It was my pleasure," she responded politely, still unable to shake old practices.
But it was what the demon said next the truly confused Akina. Clue? Twister? The elf didn't know what Naked Twister was, but she imagined it to be a far more sinister version of whatever the original Twister was. Scrabble was the only one the she understood as it had been something she had played often to improve her English when she first got to Gaia.
"I have a deck of cards in my bag," Akina volunteered quickly, hoping to get out of playing the naked game.
In the other room, Brimstone was still sitting silently, speaking only to correct his name with a flat,
"Brimstone. I'm Brimstone." The nuclear Shattered was quietly wondered how long Akina intended to stay in his place. There was a sci-fi movie marathon on TV that night, and he was already annoyed enough that he had to miss
any of it, let alone the whole thing. Honestly, he was just going to march right over to Akina and-----
WHAT THE HELL.
Wide radioactive green eyes turned sharply to Ilistala, mouth agape.
"STALAFACE!" he shouted before diving headfirst at his dear host, fully intent on making her wish she had never licked him. Damn, if only he had known (or had enough control on his powers to), he would have definitely turned the outermost layer of his skin to acid to burn her tongue off. Then she'd be sorry!
Flailing at Stala, Brim was experiencing one of his frequent moments of short temperment. How fun. Let's wrestle.
Jerava made a mental note to not purchase any alchohol for Ioyla. Ever. A brief tail twitch was the only indication of the elf's general level of awkwardness at being here; Jer did not have friends that invited her over for their kid's birthday parties. Then again, there were few enough people on Gaia that she considered friends, let alone friends with kids. "Cards, yes," Jer said equally quickly following Akina's suggestion. She'd heard of the games Ioyla had listed off - and Naked Twister was something Jer would only play under two circumstances, neither of which had been met so far today. "What kind of card game?" she asked, hoping Ioyla would not suggest strip poker.
"If you're sure," Elena said dubiously while Arya went back to burbling obliviously; the Tall Tale made a mental note to ask her mum to make sure any future siblings (though hopefully there were none) were at least intelligent enough to not make complete fools of themselves in public. Honestly, Arya was so embarrasing.
"Brimstone," Elena repeated automatically, her mind still detailing why exactly Anarya was a waste of space.
"I'm Elena, and it's a pleasure to meet you." she continued, not noticing right away that Brim was now diving at Stala and that Arya was now quiet, watching the unfolding fight with bright eyes, clearly fascinated by this whole thing.
"What?" she said, none too intelligently herself, while her mind tried to catch up. First things first, however: Get out of the way! Huffing indignantly, the girl stalked over to the couch and sat down abruptly, arms folded angrily. Didn't
anyone have manners anymore?
"Strip poker!" Ioyla chirped, almost as if she were reading Jerava's mind. But she soon squashed that idea once the thought of exposing naked elven and demon bodies to small children seemed almost illegal. And, besides, Ioyla would probably win. ...by cheating, of course.
Placing a fingertip to her chin, Ioyla adopted a thinking expression, most common in children's programs and silent black-and-white movies. "Hmm," she mused, "what about...go fish? Slap jack? Fifty-whatev'r-number-card-pickup thingy?" Family friendly! Nothing higher than a PG rating allowed. Snore. And yet, even in deep thought (which was hardly deep at all), Ioyla failed to notice the potentially violent scene unfolding just a few feet away.
"Brimmyhead!" Ilistala cried once she and her friend were rolling around on the floor. She flailed and kicked and pinched whatever she could get her chubby little fingers on, be it Brimstone's sorry excuse for flesh, or her own. Which was her own skin, most of the time.
"OW!" she yelped, having eventually rolled about enough to bump into the wall. Climbing to her feet, Stala tenderly rubbed her wounds, which included several inflamed red patches of flesh and a small scratch on the bridge of her nose. Humph! Brimmyhead sure didn't like affection! Stala quietly stomped over to the couch to join Elena, picking up Arya on the way and dragging her across the floor. It wasn't nice to leave everyone out!
Once at the frayed, torn, and sometimes uncomfortable lump of wood and cotton stuffing Ioyla liked to call a couch, Ilistala plopped right next to Elena, patting the cushion on the other side for Brimstone. "Come along~" she sing-songed, apparently forgiving of the scuffle. After all, it was her birthday--she had to show some kind of maturity.Akina's eyes went wide at Ioyla's suggestion.
Strip poker? The elf was most definitely neither drunk enough nor extroverted enough to engage in a game such as that. So, it was with a hint of panic in her voice that she quickly cut in,
"Oh, yes, go fish or slapjack would be wonderful, I think." Truth be told, the elf did not know much about any other card game aside from those. For a moment, blue eyes flickered to see Brim and Ilistala wrestling, but honestly, the elf had no doubt that the fiery-shattered girl could hold her own against Brim... though she still watched them like a hawk out of the corner of her eye.
"Grawr!" Brim cried aloud. A war chant perhaps? Stalaface was being a real t**t today, and it was time she was punished for her insubordination. Granted, this did not go as well as the nuclear Shattered would have wanted... at all. Fleshy though she was, Ilistala was also a bit more difficult to get a hold of than he had imagined, leaving Brim to snap his teeth at whatever skin he came into contact with, that is to say, generally his own.
Not hearing Elena as they scuffled, Brim was fully invested in the fight at hand. Grunting and fuming, curls of smoke began to lick off of Brimstone's skin as his body began to heat up, but just as he started smoking, Brim and his temporary growth Ilistala bumped into the wall.
The ball split apart, and Brim regarded it as a victory for him though he sported a series of white bruises across his dark skin.
"Jerk," he spat under his breath, wanting the last word. Ilistala, of course, could brush it off, but Brimstone was going to hold a grudge... as long as he could remember it.
So, dragging his feet, he plopped down on the couch where Ilistala had patted with his arms folded across his chest. Cheer up, emo kid.
"I think you mean fifty two card pickup," Jer said to Ioyla, covering another smile with a sip of beer.
"Go fish, however, sounds fine to me, as I don't particularly like cleaning even my own house." Another sip of beer.
"Shall we start?" she asked, taking a seat at the table they were currently standing around, setting her beer in front of her, having successfully ignored the fight in the living room. Hadn't sounded like Elena or Arya were involved, thus it was none of her business.
"You're both rude," Elena informed Stala and Brim after they joined her on the couch.
"Stala, are we going to do something or just sit here until the cake is done?" the girl asked, her normally pleasant demeanor having disappeared as she watched the two children roll around on the floor. Not only was that rude and undignified (you'd never catch Elena doing anything like that), well, mainly it was just rude and undignified. Elena thumped her feet lightly against the side of the couch, narrowly missing Arya's head, who was burbling nonsense at Stala from the floor in front of the couch.
"Fight 'gain," Arya demanded, poking Stala's leg with a finger.
"Bored," she whined, turning to poke Elena's leg, wings fluttering again. Elena twitched her skirt away from her sister, and ignored her.
"Yes, zactly, fifty-two card pickup," said Ioyla to Jer's correction. There was a very slight hint of bitterness in her voice, but it was soon drowned out to sudden glee: a timer she had placed atop the oven, one that had been ticking away quietly for about an hour, went off with a shrill ring, which led to Ioyla's squeal of delight.
"Hold that thought, bitches!" The demon whirled around the small kitchen, narrowly avoiding Akina and Jer's faces with her gangly hands. Virtually in the exact same spot she had been standing in only several moments ago (even after all of the asinine spinning), Ioyla bent down, yanked open a cupbord drawer, and returned to her standing position with two oven mitts, which she proudly slipped onto her hands. "Party games are gonna hafta wait: the cake's ready~!"
She opened the oven door, head bopping and smile dazzling, and out came the cake. It was a nice size, round and spongy, with bright green frosting and numerous sugar decorations; most notably the strange blue-colored hearts and yellow-tinted apples. Besides, who baked a cake with the frosting already on?
Ioyla Infriti, that's who.
Ioyla spun around again, aiming to scoot out of the kitchen and place the colorful cake of sugary doom atop her table. It was obvious she was quite pleased with her labor of platonic love, even if the chances of it tasting like anything other than death was slimmer than the chance of winning the lottery. If allowed to squirm past the two elven guests, Ioyla would dump the monsterous thing on her table, waiting for everyone else to get the hint and come have some damn cake.
Meanwhile, back on the couch!
Ilistala had taken quite the liking to Elena's new tats. They were so pretty! And her hair, so shiny, what with all the constellations and stars and...and...other stuff! Jealousy licked at the pit of her heart, but Stala pushed it down to admire the princess' arms some more, quietly drawing her finger across her cool skin.
When Brimstone joined the pair, Stala was ready to start playing. Yay! "Kay," she mumbled, pulling herself to her feet...but not before catching the scent of sugary delight. Ilistala's attention waned from party games to the cake, where it sat, colorful and majestic, next to her insanely proud mother.
"We play after cake! Yes!" The little toddler took off for the table (although the distance between the couch and table wasn't exactly an amazing definition of distance), arms splayed behind her back, airplane-style. "Yummy yummy cake time, food time for me~" she sang, circling the table and eventually climbing into her chair to bounce and giggle with excitement.
If Elena and Brim hadn't already removed themselves from the couch and started the amazing journey to the birthday girl, Ilistala would pound the tabletop with two chubby fists and cry: "Come ONNNN!" What a sweet little girl.Pictures of fifty-two cards flying about the room filled Akina's head as they spoke of card games, hoping beyond hope that a nice game of Go Fish! would ensue instead. Fortunately, cake interrupted any further card ventures. The elf stared curiously at the cake as Ioyla proudly brought it out of the oven. It looked... interesting.
"Oh, cake," she said softly, tossing her gaze over to Jer.
In the other room, Brimstone's nostrils had just picked up the sickly sweet smell of cake next door. He heard Elena and Arya's comments, and turning to both, he flatly said,
"Cake. Cake now. Be rude and fight later." Hopping to his feet, the toddler began to waddle after Ilistala, drool practically spilling out of his mouth.
Crossing the room, Brim walked over to his mother and poked her in the kneecap, giving her a pick-me-up-woman stare. The elf smiled and scooped her son up into her arms, plopping him down into a chair and running her hand through his hair. The young Shattered reached in vain for the cake, threatening to smash it to delicious bits, but Akina reacted in time to bat away his heads, uttering a stern,
"Brimstone. No."Jer was about to comment on something when the timer went off. Mouth opened, she closed it with a barely audbile click and eyed the creation coming out of the oven with a certain amount of trepidation.
"Oh, good," she said with a somewhat sickly smile.
"Cake. Looks good," she continued, surprisingly enough meaning it. It didn't look poisonous, and perhaps Ioyla knew what she was doing when it came to cooking. Not really willing to risk the cake completely sober, Jer took another drink of her beer, catching Akina's glance and returning a brief quirked eyebrow.
"You've already got the rude part down rather well," Elena said to Brimstone's back before getting up off the couch herself.
"Come on, Arya," she said with a sigh, bending over to pick Arya's squirmy little body up.
"And if you give me another sunburn, I will freeze your stupid little tail's head off," the Tale muttered darkly under her breath, causing Arya to suddenly stop all movement and whimper slightly, deep in her throat.
"No freeze," Arya said plaintively, holding her arms out to Jer to get away from her apparently psychopathic older sister. Jer settled Arya in her lap and gave Elena a stern glance. There would be much talking about this later, oh yes.
"It's a very nice looking cake, Miss Ioyla," Elena said brightly, ignoring her mum.
"Stala's lucky to have a mum who can cook as good as you." Yes, butter up the one with the food. Good plan! Jer rolled her eyes slightly and ran a finger down Arya's back in an attempt to soothe the toddler. Of course, cake would probably cheer the Shattered girl right up.
Ioyla? Know what she was doing in the kitchen? If she were to hear such a thing, Ioyla would have laughed. Loud. And yet, still, there the colorful monstronsity sat, looming and ominous and all-around evil-looking. Ilistala watched with a curious expression on her face, her hands folded pleasantly in her lap and her stubby little legs swinging back and forth above the frayed pile of cloth Ioyla liked to call a rug.
"Yes," the tiniest one said, resisting the urge to pound on the table like a barbarian--or like Brimstone, if you wanted to use shorter words. She squirmed in her chair with muted excitement.
Ioyla, however, was diminishing: at first, it was triumph that her cake was finished and looking spiffy: almost like a sick rainbow! Then it was impatience: what the hell is taking these kids so damn long to get to the damn table? Sheesh! Finally, it ended up as mild boredom: what's on TV tonight...?
At any rate, Elena, the dantiest yet consequently slowest one of the group, was finally at the table, and it appeared that everyone was ready to eat. Finally. Ioyla brandished a large knife and began cutting away at the cake, picking up slices with the side of the knife and her fingers and placing them on paper plates stacked up next to her arms. All in all, she cut seven pieces--one for each party-goer--and still had enough for leftover dessert. Awesome!
"Dig in," Ioyla commanded, and forked a large green chunk into her mouth.
Moments later, she spat it out onto the floor, chasing the glob of half-chewed cake with a string of curses: "AW JESUS CHRSIT WHAT THE ******** THIS s**t IS NASTY MAN EW WHO BAKED THIS b***h."
Beautiful.No sooner had Ioyla dropped the cake before Brim than he was facefirst in its gooey-ness, slurping and gnawing at the plate as if he had never eaten before. Akina stood behind him, cautiously poking the strange glob of food with her fork and wondering if there was a potted plant or dog nearby that she could pawn the mess off on. Not wanting to be rude, Akina scraped the tiniest bit of what she presumed was icing off the cake and dabbed it rapidly on her tongue, perhaps in the hope that the faster she moved the less she would taste.
It's a shame she was wrong.
Nearly in time to Ioyla's cursing, Akina sputtered for a moment, placing two fingers to her lips as she quietly spit the "icing" back on to her plate. Hopefully, since Brim was eating so much, Ioyla wouldn't notice Akina's rejection of the mess.
Unphased by the terrible taste, Brimstone pressed on in engulfing his piece, looking up only after he had perfected his cake beard.
"Cake," he murmured quietly, as if reminding himself that
this was what it tasted like. Poor kid, he'd never eat cake again.
Oh well, he wrinkled his nose once before turning back to his guardian to stare curiously at her. Did she like her cake too? The elf just stared back with a soft smile, partially disgusted at the fact that Brim had eaten his whole piece. She grabbed a napkin from nearby and took ahold of Brimstone's face, despite his attempts to break free. One hand pushed his hair out of his eyes while the other attempted to scrub the cake debris off of his nose, cheeks, and chin. Akina managed to get most of it off, and after smelling the cake for that long, she couldn't do it anymore. She'd just have to worry about finishing the job later tonight when Brim took his bath.
Unsure of what to say, Akina just stared at her plate, wondering if anyone would notice her quickly tossing it in the trash can. Brimstone, on the other hand, was ready to get this show on the road.
"PRESENTS!" he announced loudly, looking for wherever they were stashed. Brimstone had seen enough birthday specials on TV to know that there were always presents involved, and deep down, he hoped that Ilistala would give them to him.
Or maybe he could just steal them. Ilistala was pretty small after all, and he had TOTALLY won in the wrestling contest so... it was
on.
Arya was the only one who really moved while Ioyla cut the cake; the Shattered girl had no idea what was coming and so she was kicking her feet against Jer's legs wondering why her mum looked so worried.
"Mum okay?" she asked as the cake was put in front of her.
"I'm fine," Jer assured her, taking a very small piece of cake and staring at it, hoping that someone would take a bite -- ah, there we go. Ioyla had taken the first bite, and obviously the cake wasn't very good. Jer set her fork down and pushed the plate away with a finger, making sure to wipe Arya's fingers off from when the todler had poked the cake in response to her mum's taking a bite off.
"Good thing we ate before coming over," Elena murmured quietly, feeling a bit sorry for Stala. Maybe her mum should have bought a cake. Or they could have brought one, or something. But Brim seemed to like it? So maybe it wasn't that bad? Elena took an even smaller piece of cake than her mum had and immediately regretted putting it in her mouth.
"Could I have some water, please?" she asked after a moment, having mostly stopped herself from making a horrid face.
"Presents!" Arya echoed Brim, clapping her hands together excitedly.
Ilistala didn't care if the cake tasted like dog poop--it was cake, goddammit, and she was going to eat it. In a frenzy that could possibly rival Brimstone's, Stala scooped large bites of food into her mouth, swallowing before she was even done chewing, until, finally, her plate was clean and her belly was uncomfortably full. "Yum," she grimaced, wiping a tan arm across her mouth. Bright green icing was smeared across her face like pastel war paint.
Ioyla, however, was another story: the demon, in a fit of bitter disappointment at her lame culinary skills, had gone so far as to sweep the remainder of the cake into her arms and dump the whole thing in the trashcan. She wouldn't be offended if the others refused to eat it; after all, it was horrible.
Brimstone's sudden suggestion caught Stala's attention, and in a big way. "PRESENTS!" she mimiced, hurling herself off her chair and running around the small apartment, much to the chagrin of Ioyla's downstairs neighbors. "PRESENTSPRESENTSPRESEEEENTS!"
Gee, guess it's time to open some presents, eh?Noting how everyone seemed to be on his wavelength, Brimstone immediately threw himself from the chair so that he could run around too. In fact, he would run
faster than Ilistala could. So, with thudding, awkward steps, the neon-haired Shattered began to stomp around the room, leaning forward and sticking his butt out for increased aerodynamics.
"PREEEEESEEEENTSSSS!" he screamed alongside the birthday girl's own shouts. Little did he know that none of these presents would actually be for
him.
Furtive radioactive green eyes looked around for the first inch of a present. He would get to them first to stake his claim! Oh yes, he would! So, flying across the room, Brim checked each corner for presents, hoping that Ilistala would trip and fall so that he could have the upperhand.
Meanwhile, Akina smiled sympathetically at Ioyla as she gratefully dumped her plate into the trashcan, watching in disgust as Elena tried the cake after Ioyla's outburst. The taste of the mystery cake reminded the elf of a mixture of poop and death in her mouth. (Not that she would ever digress just how she knew what poop and death
tasted like in the first place... Right-o, so, presents now?)
Having grown immune to Brimstone's outbursts, the elf merely walked out into the room with the prancing toddlers, turned to Ioyla, and said,
"I think they might be ready for present-opening." She cracked a grin at the demon as she nabbed Brim with one hand to prevent him from running around any more.
"Come on, B," she whispered in his ear so as not to embarrass him in front of his new friends.
"Try to contain yourself a bit. It's Ilistala's birthday, after all. Let her have her moment with her presents."Her presents?
HER presents? What was this treachery! Brimstone was lured here with a promise of cake and presents, and yes, there was cake but...
no presents for
him? A cruel pout fixed itself upon his lips as the toddler folded his arms and went jelly-legged in protest so that Akina could not make him stand. Not wanting to look like her toddler was in control, the blue-eyed elf quickly took a seat where she had been standing by Brim and pulled him into her lap as if that had been her intention all along.
Elena sighed as her request for water was ignored. The foul taste was, perhaps, her punishment for ignoring her better instincts and taking even a small bite of the cake. Picking the bag with Stala's gifts in it up (oh, yes, she'd been carting that poor thing around for awhile now, and it was looking a bit battered around the top), Elena followed the rather hyperactive (and certainly crazy) Brimstone and the slightly less hyper Stala into the living room.
"Here Stala," Elena said, holding the
bag out to Stala.
"Happy Birthday!" Nevermind that her cake was horrid, and one of her guests was insane (and it wasn't Arya!), it was still Stala's birthday and Elena was determined to make the best of these trying circumstances and make sure that at least some part of the day was good.
Jer had picked Arya up and was currently standing in the living room, toddler held firmly in her arms. "You're the same age as Elena now," she said to Stala, though the two certainly didn't look the same age. "She's still older," the elf added, shifting Arya a bit as she wiggled to get on the floor and attack Stala's gift bag. Jer looked momentarily distracted as a thought crossed her mind -- Elena had grown two months before her first birthday. Did Tall Tales mature faster (appearance wise) then whatever Stala (and Brim and Arya?) were? Would Arya still be a toddler on her first birthday? Dismissing that for later consideration, Jer smiled at Stala and waited for her to open her gift.
When Akina awkwardly sat down on the ground, Ioyla bit back the urge to chortle and snort like an immature fool. "Nicely handled," she said, wheeling back on the balls of her feet to scurry into the kitchen and busy herself there. Suspicious!
Like a moth to a flame did Ilistala Infriti zoom to the offered bag. She tackled the poor thing, squealing, giggling. She ripped the top off with unrestrained excitement, all three gifts tumbling out to the floor in front of her, forming a lopsided semi-circle: a wand of some sort, an orb, and, possibly best of all, a pair of hairpins. Win!
She looked up into Elena's face, absolute adoration shining in her eyes. "Thank you!" the toddler said, bundling all three of Elena's gifts into her arms and pressing them to her chest. It had been her first birthday, after all, and her first gift.
...speaking of which! The Shattered turned to Brimstone, eyebrows cocked to her best effort. Well? her look said quite clearly, where's my present?
Perhaps there would be a gift from the Tokuwa family, perhaps not--it didn't matter at that moment, as Ioyla suddenly came back into the living room area with a small box in her hands. Even more suspicious! I wonder what it could be. It is a mystery.Seeing the present-opening begin, Akina began to slyly feel around in the pockets of her jacket, finally pulling out a card and small box. She would not forget a gift, no way! Smiling sweetly, the elf kept her arms locked tightly around Brimstone, knowing far too well the hungry gaze in his eyes as he stared at all the gifts.
What the heck? Hairpins? Brimstone was not pleased. If he was stealing a gift, it was going to be a good one. Not some lame hairclips. Sure, they would look pretty on Ilistala but--- huh?
Radioactive green eyes narrowed in boredom as the petulant child stared at the card his mother had made him make earlier today. He giggled to himself at the memory of how mad Akina had gotten when she realized he drew a racecar running over Ilistala. Thankfully, the elf covered the racecar with a big flower, but Brimstone knew what was really there. That was all that was important.
Noting Ioyla's approach with the present, Akina did not want to be the last gift opened so, as smoothly as she could manage, she hopped to her feet and set the box and card before Ilistala, uttering a quick,
"Happy birthday!" before hightailing it back to her seat.
Upon opening the box, Ilistala would find a handmade red necklace laced with a braided ribbon and set off with a sparkling round pendant. At the center of the glass pendant, there was an etched flame that seemed to glow different shades of red and orange and appeared to move when the light hit it at different angles. It is also warm to the touch. It is likely some Elven craft that Akina had from "back in the day", but it is not clear from first glance.
Elena mentally forgave Stala for being so rude and messy about the presents. It was her first birthday gift, ever, and thus Stala deserved a bit of leeway in the opening gifts department. Next year, however, she'd better be more mannered about it, or there would be a private conversation between the two girls.
"You're welcome," Elena said with a smile and curtsy.
"The wand's for fire magic, which I thought would be a good fit for you," she explained, although Stala seemed most taken with the hairpins. Which was fine - Miss Nimaina did excellent work with jewelry, and Elena had been tempted to get more than a few pairs of the sticks for herself.
Then it was Brim's turn to offer a gift, and Elena waited attentively for the present to appear. When Akina offered it to Stala, the Tale was nearly as impatient to see what her friend had gotten as she had been for any of her birthday gifts. Peering over the younger girl's shoulder as she opened the box, Elena's mouth opened in an O of awe and wonder.
"That's a very pretty necklace," she said softly, running a finger over the chain of the one she was currently wearing. Oh, yes, Elena was indeed rather competitive and this was a good necklace for Stala, not Elena, who preferred cooler colors to reds and golds.
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