tampered | (no subject)

(no subject)

When; 11 Jun, afternoon
Rating; G! I promise.
Characters; residents of the MKR apartment
Summary; A surprise party for Clef, planned by Presea, ends up being a surprise party for Presea as well. That's the kinda thing that happens when the Knights are around and your birthdays are a week apart.
Log; When you come from a medieval analogue society, the City can be endlessly fascinating. Maybe Clef and Presea took a lot of walks, but it was because what they saw never bored them. They enjoyed the opportunity for conversation or silence, the chance to stretch their legs and hold hands and just be together.

They'd been planning to celebrate Clef's birthday on Tuesday, but that had been derailed by Eagle and Hikaru's entrance into the City... which neither of them saw as bad, necessarily, but it had preoccupied the time they'd planned for celebrations. Neither had said anything about it. Presea had hinted that a party had been planned, but she had no idea that Clef had turned it around on her and asked Umi and Fuu to surprise her as well. So he said nothing either. Now that Hikaru and Eagle were more or less settled in, there was time for the cheerful normality of a birthday party. Or two.

So it was with cheer, other concerns shelved for the time being, that they returned to the apartment that afternoon. They'd been gone for a couple of hours, giving the girls time to set up decorations and such. On the threshold, Presea paused, smiling down at Clef.

"I hope it's a good evening," she said.

"I know it will be," he said, with a private smile of his own, and they opened the door.

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Clef, for his part, was glad the party had been pushed back a few days. He hadn't had a chance to tell (more like hint) to Umi that it ought to be a joint party until the day before it was supposed to happen, and then he had to figure out peach cobbler without Presea noticing. He really didn't consider himself to be much of a chef, but he hoped she liked it anyway. Peaches were a pretty tasty fruit, despite their fuzziness and herd-like tendencies, but neither he nor Presea had given much serious consideration to them as a source of nourishment as opposed to one of amusement.

He did have an ulterior motive to making it a joint party, though - after Umi's birthday he was a little bit apprehensive about the girls' ability to throw a quiet celebration. Not that he wasn't appreciative, but he didn't want to be the center of so much attention when usually he celebrated the day of his birth by going off and seeking peace and quiet. Fortunately, as he soon realized, that would not be a problem because there really weren't many people here other than roommates. It was more like a quiet dinner with friends than anything else.

The girls had done a very good job with the arrangements, and this was the first thing Presea realized when she stepped back into the apartment. She nodded approvingly and then there were people calling out birthday wishes to her as well, which threw her for a loop. She hadn't mentioned her own birthday to anyone but Clef, but judging by the look he had given her earlier, he'd mentioned it to them. In any case, she accepted their fond wishes happily, flattered by the attention.

She made sure to thank everyone personally but found a stray moment when everyone else was preoccupied to pull Clef off to the pseudo-privacy of the kitchen. She wanted to give him her gift, after all-- a pair of earrings that she'd carefully and secretly crafted over the past couple of weeks.

"I have a surprise for you," she said, grinning as she reached into her pockets. "Another one," she amended after a moment's thought.

Clef had been mingling around with the other guests and generally enjoying the party, once he realized that it would be small enough to manage. He had just reached a lull in the socialization and was idly half-participating in a conversation regarding the comparative virtues of various kinds of magic when Presea pulled him aside. At a larger informal celebration, as he had noticed at Umi's party, the kitchen tended to be fairly full of a certain type of person who tended to linger there, and Clef was not entirely sure yet if he was one of those people. Fortunately for both of them, the kitchen happened to be empty when Presea pulled him into it.

While the concept of exchanging gifts on one's birthday had not escaped him, the notion of receiving them had. "But I don't think I can be more surprised," he protested - and then grinned a little in embarrassment. He didn't know what to say, but that was probably not it.

"I'm going to try!" she said, with a determined smile. She took a step back as she bent down to his level-- she knew he didn't like it when people tt. She hadn't wrapped the jewelry or put a bow on it, but that didn't really matter. She knew he'd understand the thought she'd put into them. The pale silver wire, strung with purple and pink beads, was delicate-looking (but stronger than it seemed; she wasn't the Pharle for nothing) and slender, less flashy than the style he had worn in Cephiro, more modern.

"Happy birthday," she said softly, a small blush creeping onto her face, as she waited for his approval.

Edited 2010-06-11 03:17 (UTC)

Anytime soon now. Truth be told, playing double agent on both Clef and Presea had come with lots of fun attached, even if it'd also been complicated. The Knights had needed to make sure no details transpired to either the Guru or the Pharle that they shouldn't know while, at the same time, they kept the conspiracy going. The party arrangements completed, all that remained to do now was to actually unleash the surprise.

"This is going to be something." Umi commented to her co-conspirators, keeping her voice low as a whisper for added secrecy. Still she couldn't help but giggle at the silliness of the situation. "If we manage to pull this one right and surprise the two of them I think we can hands-down consider ourselves GREAT at birthday parties."

The Water Knight smiled at her friends. Her case was special. She'd enjoyed a birthday in The City that'd been happy beyond all possible hopes. Now Umi wanted to do as much for both Presea and Clef.

Presea stepped into the room first, looking around curiously for the people she knew had to be there. Something was a little strange here, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it...

"They're lovely," he uttered quietly, his eyes lifting from the earrings in her hands to meet her gaze. A small smile crept onto his features, then, just before he abruptly stepped back to remove the pair he was already wearing (which did happen to be the one from Cephiro), slipping them into the pocket of his slacks for now before replacing them with the new pair. "I hope I do them justice."

Then he took her by the hands and leaned in so that their noses touched. "Thank you."

It wasn't obvious then, but those earrings had just replaced the flashy blue Cephirian ones as his default pair.

Clef walked in behind her with a slight grin on his face. Turning a surprise party into a joint surprise party when you're one of the people being surprised takes just a little bit of skill in social engineering. So, although he was amazed at the lengths the girls had gone to while they were out, the very things that seemed off to Presea - such as the fact that the white streamers on the walls and ceiling were twisted with orange ones - just made him smile until he couldn't keep quiet about it anymore.

"Surprise~."

She squeezed his hands. "You're welcome. I'm glad you like them." She beamed at him. "I like having the excuse to give you a present. And they look nice on you."

She reached out and just barely cupped his ear as if examining her handiwork to make sure it did look as nice as she had hoped.

She whirled around and pretended to glare at him. "This was supposed to be a surprise for you," she said, resting a hand on her hip. "Now you've turned it around on me?"

Her eyes held humor though, and she was trying not to laugh.

Fuu enjoyed how sneaky surprise parties can get sometimes. Actually, she enjoyed them more than a common person might have. There was just this thrill and excitement and sheer delight in keeping the party secret and prepare behind the celebrant's back. In this case, it was as if it doubled the fun. Presea asked them but Clef turned it around so she had to pretend to Presea that they were preparing a party for Clef but instead it was for her. Not to mention the fact that they were also preparing for Clef.

How incredibly wonderful.

She had to restrain a giggle when Presea found everything out. It was always priceless to see their reactions.

Presea glanced around, clearly surprised and for a moment quite confused, but eventually the confusion melted into a bright smile.

"Girls!" she said. "You really--" Another pause. "This is lovely. Thank you."

"Please don't mention it. It was our honor," Fuu replied, the same smile on her lips. It always felt like that whoever was the one celebrating. But, right now, the feeling was something she couldn't explain. Probably there weren't many words to describe such glee.

She approached Presea. "Happy Birthday!"

"I have to mention it," Presea answered warmly. She leaned forward and swept Fuu into a hug. "It's very kind of you guys to go to all the trouble for us."

"Isn't that what friends are for?" Fuu's response was almost done as a matter of fact. Although, clearly it wasn't devoid of any warmth or sincerity she always abides to.

"That doesn't mean I'm not allowed to be appreciative!" Presea answered with a small laugh. "It looks like you really worked hard on this."

Fuu couldn't help a bit of a giggle. "We tried. It's a joint effort, so I'm satisfied with how it ended up," She replied, gaze straying over the preparations they had made. It wasn't too much, really. Home-cooked meals, pastries, and a bit of decorations - just enough to warm the hearts of the celebrants they held dear.

"I'm glad, then." She winked. "We'll have to do this whenever your birthday comes around again." There were some Earth traditions worth adopting, in Presea's opinion.

"Oh, that would be a bit far away from now, Presea-san." She wondered if she calculated right, it was just June now. So, that meant a few more months before her birthday.

"Well, if you're still here by then, you have to let us, okay?" she answered with a smile.

"Of course!" Fuu reassured, clapping her hands together in a sign of glee. "And if Guru Clef and Presea-san are still here during their next birthday, we'll do this again." She added, beaming.

"Let's hope we've all gotten to go home by then," Presea said easily, with a small laugh. She'd settled here in the City for now, but being away from Cephiro for a full year was more than she could comprehend.

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(no subject)

I'M ALL SHY, POSTING FIRST. AND THIS IS ALL INTROSPECTION, WTF.

OH YOU SO CUTE<3

MY TAG SUCKED. yours was better <3

oh you hush.<3

Surprise party for two! || open

Surprise party for two! || open

<3

Surprise party for two! || open /argues with phone

gd my HTML fail in prev comment; also<3

Surprise party for two! || open /argues with phone

late, but. | open

we<3u anyway | open

ilu all too ♥ | open

aww yay | open

i miss fuu shenanigans XD | open

we miss them too! | open

i'll try and be more active~ i need to do one for that essay curse | open

well, I'd never say no to more Fuuposts~ | open

/just posted while notifs are being wonky x_x | open

if LJ didn't do news posts every week, maybe notifs would work. x_x | open

THIS. so so true. >.> | open

I hate the new homepage, too. | open