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Post by Captain Ameijin! on Dec 6, 2018 12:56:35 GMT -6
The bar was desolate considering the hour. The usual hustle and bustle of crewman having an after-work beer or three was replaced by the quiet hum of music playing from the speakers hidden around the bar. Since they were on shore leave, Myra supposed that the usual patrons were making asses out of themselves on dry land instead. She took a small sip of her sangria, eagerly awaiting for the birthday boy to arrive.
His present lay on a barstool next to her own. A festive party hat and party horn rested on the table in front of it, ostensibly a ‘reservation’ for the seat; not that it mattered much. Myra checked her PDA. It had only been a few minutes since she fired off a text to Ernest, ushering him to join her at the bar. She promised she wouldn’t be hosting a surprise party the crew had cooked up, deciding that a more casual affair was more up Ernest’s alley.
The message marked ‘Read’.
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Post by S☆E on Dec 8, 2018 12:33:00 GMT -6
With a well-timed swing of his blade Ernest cleaved through the dragon's tail, severing it as it swung towards him. "Finally. No more farming dragon scales, that's the last one I needed." He sprinted away from the beast as it roared a stream of fire toward him. Once he was out of harms way he flipped open the Omnicrafter's Omnibus. "Three more Crystal Slime Essence til I can make that new blade. Ugh... They have such a low spawn rate. Guess it's back to-"
His phone chimed, interrupting his train of thought. He took off his headset and set aside the controller. "Now who's this? The Shirdel girl, huh. Sure thing." He double-checked to make sure that the game had auto-saved, flicked it off and ambled down to the ship's bar. It was pretty empty, likely most of the crew was off messing around town. Myra stuck out like a sore thumb sitting next to that gold-foil party hat. He slipped up next to her and popped it on his head. "Happy birthday to me."
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Post by Captain Ameijin! on Dec 8, 2018 15:49:42 GMT -6
“Congratulations on making it through another year.”
Myra lifted the party horn from off the table and held it between two fingers, not unlike a cigarette. She took a deep breath in and blew into the cheap instrument with a fwip-TOOOOOOOT. He fingers flicked back and forth as if to imitate the descent of multi-colored confetti from overhead. With a dry laugh she set the horn back onto the table, lifting Ernest’s present from the barstool it occupied and pushing it lightly against his chest.
“Go ahead birthday boy, open it.”
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Post by S☆E on Dec 8, 2018 17:15:21 GMT -6
Ernest sat down and ordered a matching sangria, fumbling with the tie on the present. Inside was a brown rectangular box, nothing fancy. Ernest flipped it over first, looking at it from all sides before opening it. "Whoa, hey now, is this-? Ahah, no way! It looks just like the real deal!" He pulled out an eye-patch, the rawhide cord of it adorned with small colored glass beads and on the main part was a Tiger's Eye stone set in a brass socket. "This is from Sun-Hunter, the eye-patch of the Golden Exile, Karoso! Looks handmade too. Did you make this, Myra?" he asked, impressed.
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Post by Captain Ameijin! on Dec 8, 2018 21:57:14 GMT -6
“Have to do something besides training to keep myself sane, what with all this free time we’ve been given.”
A sheepish smile pulled reluctantly at the edge of her lips. She took a long sip of sangria in an admittedly futile attempt to disguise it. Finally she set the empty glass down, turning in her chair towards Ernest as he admired her handiwork.
“Going to try it on or what? Wasn’t made just to sit pretty on a shelf for all its life, you know.”
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Post by S☆E on Dec 8, 2018 23:43:17 GMT -6
"Heh, sure." Ernest said and slid it on over his right eye. He looked at his reflection in the mirror behind the bar and grinned like a kid. "Man, I look nothing like Karoso but this still feels cool. No wonder he was always so confident. Wearing something like this is empowering."
He sat back down and took a drink from his glass, still wearing it. "So how'd you guess I'm a fantasy buff? It's not exactly something you can tell by looking at me. Been spying on me, or did you get some intel from elsewhere?" he asked, comically raising an eyebrow and adopting a faux-serious tone.
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Post by Captain Ameijin! on Dec 9, 2018 16:28:41 GMT -6
“Let’s just say that I have my sources…” Myra glanced towards the bartender, Lisa, and the two shared a knowing smirk. “Should be careful what you say when you’ve had just a few drinks too many. There are eyes and ears all around this ship, you know.”
Myra leaned forward and gently removed the eyepatch from his face, placing it back inside her box and setting it to the side as Lisa opened the tiny fridge behind the bar and removed a small frosted cake. The bartender lit the candle atop the cake and carefully pushed it towards Ernest.
“Empowering as the eyepatch may be, I’d advise against wearing it while drinking. Inebriation and a lack of depth perception are a dangerous mix.”
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Post by S☆E on Dec 13, 2018 20:53:28 GMT -6
As Ernest looked down at the cake a familiar aroma wafted directly into his nostalgia zone. Coconut and pineapple...
"Lisa, you didn't! Pina Colada cake? Aw shucks, this is be the best birthday I've had in recent years."
He blew out the candle and cut himself a slice. "Mmmf- Sweet and moist, made with a generous amount of rum. Y'all have some too!" He stuffed his mouth with a large forkful of cake, thinking back to the good times he'd had with cake and company...
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It was the spring of 0364. Ernest's squadron was mired in a long deployment in Jovian space, running heavy interference against a weapon-smuggling paramilitary group hiding behind the facade of a "colonial security company". Their skirmishes were quick and brutal affairs, messy for both sides. Things were so busy Ernest hadn't even realized what day it was until-
"Cheers, you ugly bastard!" "Congrats, you made it through another year somehow!" "Amazing you managed to live with an empty head like that!" "Happy Birthday, Ernest!"
He snapped back to himself, having spaced out for a bit thinking about the next mission. "Wh- Shit, guys, I had completely forgot! Is it the seventh already?" He looked at his watch and sure enough his birthday had snuck up on him. Robbie, Marla, Nona and Connie surrounded him, holding out a cake. "Where'd you get this? You didn't try to bake again, did you?" he asked, looking at Connie.
"Oh no, we ordered it from a little place we saw last week, y'know at that space station?" Marla reassured him. Connie chuckled, a little embarrassed. "I didn't make it, so you probably won't get food poisoning this time."
"It's your favorite, you crusty dog. Pineapple and coconut." Robbie said proudly. "I remember you tellin' me your ma used to make a cake like this for you every year."
"He was quite insistent," chimed Nona. "Robbie made sure that the order was right, he even told the clerk 'If this cake isn't perfect I'm going to come back and tear this place up!'" she said, pantomiming Robbie's threat in an exaggerated manner. "Dangit girl, don't sell me out like that! People are gonna think I'm soft or somethin'." Ernest took a bite out of his birthday cake while everyone laughed, the tastes and camaraderie made the dangerous mission ahead seem far away and not so bad...
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Ernest realized he hadn't said anything in a while, the two other guests to the party eating cake and waiting on him. "Sorry, had a bit of a flashback moment there. Thanks for this, you two. Really. I've had a lot of shit on my mind lately but this..." He waved his fork around, pointing at everything, "This makes it all easier to handle. Now let's get some birthday shots going! Lisa, Myra, we've got 47 shots to get through and the night is still young. I hope y'all are ready!"
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