Amelia, Ch 177
"Alright," Missy instructed. "Everyone quiet."
We waited in silence as Riley walked in. A quick mental instruction, and the walls unfurled. "Surprise!" we shouted in unison, causing the girl to jump like a bomb went off. "Happy birthday!"
"But it's not my birthday!" she exclaimed, both confused and smiling.
"Makes it easier to surprise you, doesn't it?" Missy pointed out, having warped around behind her friend, causing her to jump again.
Emma spoke next. "I remember you saying you don't remember your actual birthday, so we decided to pick one for you. Because we can do that kinda thing. Plus we have to do it before it gets too cold to properly appreciate ice cream."
"Plus nine, nine sounded like as good a number as any," Zach added. "Now let's all get fat on icecream. Except me, I have a power related exemption to obesity. The rest of you are just going to have to live with it."
"Okay, Clarice," I said, glancing over at Vicky. Lucky us, she really had no idea of what Bonesaw looked like. Clarice was a 'known' low level shapeshifter, after all, so the black haired girl could easily be the same person, no questions asked.
Of course, all the 'kids' of our group, Zach and Theo and Missy and Trevor, were here. And the 'adults', meaning the other core members. Except Rey, Sabah and Lily. There was no reason to involve them in this. The former had found an exciting new idea for his evolution project, and the others really didn't interact well with Riley. "So it's up to you. Food first, or cake?"
Riley was all smiles. "What's the food?"
"Pizza," I answered.
"Pizza," Riley agreed.
"My poor figure," Vicky moaned in mock grief.
....
The various cliques formed up as expected. Emma and Trevor managed to trip across some kind of Tinker topic, and suddenly the rest of the party didn't exist to them. Taylor and I managed to back ourselves out of the center of attention, and somehow Lisa was chatting with Vicky and Crystal. I, meanwhile, thanked every star that Vicky had no idea she was talking to the girl formerly known as Tattletale.
"Oh god damn it," Taylor sighed. AnnoyanceAmusement. "Remember when you said we needed to get Lisa laid? And then we forgot to do it?"
A sense of dread hit me. "What is she trying to do this time?"
"Let's put it this way... how would you like to have an immortal brother in law?"
"You cannot possibly be serious," I groaned. "Honestly? Has Crystal mentioned how Zach keeps hitting on her?"
"If I didn't know better, I'd swear she was in on it with Lisa," Taylor elaborated. "Come to think of it, I actually don't know better. Do you think your cousin would hook Zach up with your sister?"
"Yes, I totally see that happening," I acknowledged, rubbing my hand over my eyes. "I am going to kill them both. Then I am going to have Riley raise them from the dead. Then I am going to turn them into cows and feed them to Dinah's griffon."
"Don't you have a mass limitation? Pretty sure they're significantly smaller than a cow," Taylor joked.
Then I'll turn them both into a single small cow," I corrected. "Happy now?"
"I'll get the steak sauce," she offered. AmusedMischievous. "And maybe some chocolate sauce for later," she added in a low voice. I blushed, and then leaned against her.
"You're a horrible tease," I informed her yet again.
....
"Time for the cake!" Zach announced, carrying the tray it was on. What he set down was, amusingly enough, shaped like a mushroom. Some red toadstool looking thing with large black dots for eyes on the stem.
"You are such a geek," Missy informed him.
"Guilty," he agreed. "And it took me forever to find a bakery that could figure out what I was talking about. So show proper gratitude."
"I love it!" Riley declared, smiling broadly. "I've never had a custom cake before!"
CompassionPitySad. I glanced over at Taylor. She was right, it was sad. The poor girl had lived with a group of traveling monsters. If they even cared about her birthday, it was as a sick game by Jack. Riley was so happy every time she go to do something that was normal to the point of boring. And I was still thinking about that while singing her birthday song, and feeling sorry that we couldn't use her real name for it. Not for the first time, I wished I had made Jack's death take longer.
"Blow out the candles and make a birthday wish," Missy instructed. Riley, smiling, did as instructed and took out all twelve candles in a single blow, to the cheers of everyone present. Some were probably more about being polite than anything, but it made her happy.
Lisa stayed away from the cake, though she did grab some chocolate ice cream. I opted to approach her then, when she was alone for a minute. "Y'know, if you keep putting all this effort into getting Zach laid," I started. "I'm going to start to suspect you have a crush on him."
She looked at me. "And if I deny it, you're just going to claim I'm in denial, huh?"
"You did the same thing to me and Taylor for weeks, even knowing there was nothing at all between us," I pointed out.
"Yep," she said with a 'pop' sound on the 'p'. "And that's why I'm not going to fall for the trap."
"You do realize that I can create a disease that only works on you, right?" I asked. "That's my sister."
"She thinks Zach's hot," Lisa informed my dismissive. "That's not my fault."
"You don't have to encourage it," I insisted.
"All I did was point out that he's surprisingly insightful for a moron," she insisted. "Crystal's the one who did most of the work."
I just stood there, letting the skepticism drip from my stance.
"... after I prompted her," Lisa admitted. "Besides, tell me your sister doesn't need someone with a sense of humor. Or, for that matter, the ability to actually understand other people. Something that seems genetically impossible for your family and everyone they're romantically interested in."
"Don't see her going after a younger guy," I countered. I didn't bother arguing the second part of that. It was, after all, painfully true.
"Only a bit over a year, there," Lisa corrected. "Less if you subtract the three months for not existing."
"Well, at least he's an improvement over Dean," I finally conceded. "Do you have any idea how an empath could be so damn dense when it comes to people?"
"As often as you've dealt with Lisa doing basically the same dumb things," Crystal spoke up from where she'd come up behind me. "You'd think you'd have figured it out by now. Thinkers are actually stupid."
"Oh, fuck you, too," Lisa replied.
....
"And now the most important part," I said. "Gifts!"
Riley was, of course, still having the time of her life. It was something of a pity there weren't more kids around her age available for this. Not that she had a real lack of options.
"Mine first," I handed her a package. Riley tore into it. "New backpack," I told her.
"Love Bug!" she exclaimed, showing the picture on the pack. I kinda worried about her dealing with kids making fun of her for such obviously childish loves, but Clarice was already weird enough that a little more would only help her persona.
Taylor handed hers over next. "Sort of a matching set," she said as Riley pulled out her brand new coat, same show theme. Granted, Clarice didn't need it and I was pretty sure Riley had added cybernetics that meant she didn't need it, either. "Hard to find one in a size that'd fit, but you've got it."
Riley quickly put it on, despite it not being nearly cold enough for that yet. "It's perfect, thank you!"
"We all had to pitch in on this one," Missy handed over hers. Riley opened it, pulling out a red and white outfit that was too small to be for her. It had extra arms, too. "We had Clotho put together a Christmas outfit for Snowball."
"We were originally thinking a Halloween costume, but then we thought he doesn't need help for that," Theo spoke up.
"I voted for Valentine's Day, myself," Zach added. "But I was overruled."
"We'll have to show off mine later," Emma replied. "It isn't here yet."
"Okay, I'm next," Victoria stated. I didn't even know she brought a gift. She waited for Riley to pull the wrapping off. Another outfit. "It's an equestrian outfit. For when you ride Bella."
"Cool!" Riley pulled out the dark blue jacket.
"It's from both of us," Crystal added.
"My idea," Victoria claimed.
"You didn't even know her size," Crystal argued back. "Plus I bought the boots, which are the best part."
"Whatever," Victoria replied.
"And I'm last," Lisa spoke up, handing over hers. "I figured everyone else would do clothes. I got you a book. Complete works of Edgar Allen Poe. I was gonna get you some Lovecraft, but then I decided that my sanity has suffered enough, already."
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A/N- A Waff chapter. I figured we were due for one.
I'll get around to Moar Suffering! later.