[Gift] Birthday Bash

Andi had missed out on the exact context of why Shibani had decided to have such a massive birthday party, but that was hardly going to stop her from attending it.  Who cared why?  It was happening!

She hadn’t been to very many birthday parties.  Since almost all succubuns were born during March - she’d heard of one or two who were known to have been born a bit early or late - not many bothered with celebrating birthdays, or they might celebrate with a party for themself and all their littermates, not concerning themselves with the actual date much.  Andi and Kaili usually celebrated other things, rather than birthdays, for themselves.

Loosely, she was aware that the first task before the birthday party was to find a suitable present for Shibani.  Which was surprisingly difficult…  Oh sure, she knew what he liked - pillows, blankets, nice ropes, tasty food…  Just…  None of what she was finding when she went looking quite felt suitable.  Maybe it was just the size of the party that was making her uncertain.  After all, it was taking up a whole floor of the Wonderland Casino.  Rumor had it that Dan had beaten Angora in a high stakes game and so it was on the house to him.  Andi, of course, had no idea if that was true, but it sounded reasonable enough.  Dan had looked more smug than usual recently.

Eventually, though, Andi had found a suitable present.  A trio of soft and fluffy pillows - one designed after Dan’s popular moon mochi from the prior year, one designed to look like a hazebloom flower, and one designed to look like a brown bearly.  (She bought a few extra pillows from that set for herself and Kaili, of course - they had a set of marine imp pillows on sale, of course she had to get them for her girlfriend!)

Wrapping them was quite another task, but eventually she settled on using simple white paper and red ropes.  Matching the wrapping to Shibani seemed cute and suitable, after all.

Eventually, the day of the birthday party arrived.  Andi wore a pair of silky white suit pants, a matching jacket, and a fancy black crop top and flats, while her girlfriend, Kaili, wore a lovely dress that looked almost like flowing water.  (From the way Kaili yawned when she looked at it, it might have been too realistically done…  Oh well!)

Of course, Andi carried her to the Casino, so she could nap along the way, and their imps accompanied them.

It didn’t take much time to get up to the party floor.  Andi deposited their gifts on the massive gift table before following Kaili to the bar, since they didn’t see Shibani yet.

“Oh, you’re here quite early!”  Hops was always chipper.  She started mixing their drinks immediately, though, knowing quite well what the couple liked.

“It was either arrive early or risk falling asleep on the couch,” Kaili admitted, yawning.  She gratefully accepted a Salty Grog from Hops’ hands, and then had to keep her lunell from trying to take a dip into it.  “Silly Lux, it’s not a bath for you,” she scolded her imp.

Adi snuggled into Kaili’s neck, seemingly amused at Lux’s attempt to bathe in the drink, while Lumi perched on Andi’s head, gazing around the room curiously.

“I haven’t seen the lunell before, is she new?” Hops asked.

“Yeah, we just got her a few days ago,” Kaili said.  “She’s still learning how to behave, but we’re getting there.  Her name is Luxurious Moonlight Starfall Abyss!”  She was quite proud to declare the name, of course.

“Quite a… unique name, goes well with the other two,” Hops said, somehow maintaining a straight face.

“I thought so too,” Kaili said, beaming.

“Oh, that looks like Shibani arriving now,” Andi said, pointing towards one of the entries to the floor.

Dan was leading Shibani in, and if he had been smug the past few weeks, it was nothing compared to the pride he now radiated.  Shibani was decorated in intricate shibari, more than usual for his special celebration.  It was easy to imagine that Dan had spent hours on the work.

Wave launched herself from Andi’s shoulder, racing for the pair, and Andi sighed, hurrying after.

“Wave?”  Shibani laughed in surprise as the impup launched herself into his arms.  “Did you leave Andi behind?”

Dan nudged the other bun gently, and he looked up to see Andi arriving.

“She said I’m not allowed to wait to say hi,” Andi informed the pair.

“I think we noticed,” Dan said drily.  “I don’t have any mochi for you right now, Wave.”

The impup very clearly pouted for a moment, but she couldn’t keep her tail still for long.  After all, Dan had only said ‘right now’ - there could be mochi for her later!

After a few more pets, Shibani returned Wave to Andi’s shoulder, her usual favorite perch, and gave Lumi, still on her head, a pat.  “Good balance there, that she didn’t fall off.”

“She’s very good,” Kaili said.  She’d snuck up on the trio somehow, carrying her own drink and Andi’s, though she was very quick to hand the latter off.

“Thank you, my dark savior,” Andi said, leaning in to kiss her girlfriend’s cheek.

Both missed Dan rolling his eyes and Shibani covering a grin of amusement.

“Sooo how long are you going to make u- uh Shibani wait for cake?” Kaili asked, stuttering slightly as she changed her words to pretend she wasn’t asking for herself, only since it was someone else’s party.

“It shouldn’t be too long,” Dan said, frowning.  “Angora’s staff are pretty punctual, and it’s a big cake so we wanted it available fairly early.”

As if on cue, a pair of doors opened and a number of staff entered, clad in the distinctive uniforms of the Wonderland Casino.  A blue haired bun directed a group of others wheeling in a massive cake.

The cake had clearly been inspired by Shibani.  It was decorated with white frosting, and each layer’s sides were wrapped by ropes of red frosting, with floral shaped mochi studding the ropes.  The topmost layer had two small protrusions at the top that seemed designed to look like Sloth horns, and then the tops of each layer were studded with little red balls of dango and berries.

“Oh, it looks delicious,” Shibani said, flinging his arms around Dan in a hug.

If Dan could have looked more proud of himself, he probably would have.

The blue haired bun directed the team of other buns in transferring the cake to a table, before approaching the group.  “Hello,” she said.  “Does everything look to your standards?”

“It looks fantastic, Madeira!” Shibani declared, flinging his arms around her next in a hug.

“Looks fine,” Dan said.  “Is it ready to cut?”

Madeira nodded.  “Did one of you want to start the cutting, or just have us do it?”

“It’s fine if you cut it,” Dan said.

“Sounds good~”

They had to wait a few moments as another bun brought the tools (and while a hired photographer snapped some pictures of the cake), and then Madeira climbed onto a small ladder to begin cutting, with another bun on the other side loading the slices onto plates to pass down to other servers, who arranged them around the cake.

The plates were eagerly snapped up by buns.  Dan and Shibani got first dibs, of course, but Andi and Kaili soon had plates as well.  Kaili was especially pleased, because she had managed to get a slice that included one of the pseudo horns, and had discovered it was mochi.

“Sooooo good,” she mumbled around a mouthful of mochi.

A pretty bun with long white hair slipped up behind Dan and Shibani, giving kisses to each cheek.  “Happy birthday, darling!” she declared to Shibani.

“Oh, thank you Dee!  I didn’t see you arrive.”

“Oh, well, I might have just come down from Angora’s rooms,” Dee said with a laugh and a wink.

“I wouldn’t have thought either of you would bottom…” Dan muttered.

“Oh, we were discussing business, sweetheart, neither of us have ever been interested in each other,”  Dee laughed softly, heading off to scoop up a plate of cake before circling back.  “Did you actually teach one of her employees to make mochi?”

Dan made a face.  “Of course not.  One of the employees designed the cake’s layout with me, and I brought her the mochi for it this morning.”

Dee chuckled softly.  “Oh don’t give me that look, I had to ask,” she said, patting his cheek before beginning to dig into the cake.  “Mmm, it’s delicious…  Who is this employee you mentioned?”

Both Dan and Kaili pointed at the blue haired Madeira, who had already had to get up onto the ladder again to cut more cake.

“Oh, she’s cute,” Dee said, sighing.  “I’ll have to try to make her acquaintance later, this cake tastes positively devilish, and with the career transition I’m making…”

“I don’t think she’s working here much longer,” Dan said, to head her off.  “She was telling me about the restaurant she’s opening soon, it’s a diner styled place.”

“Oh, even better,” Dee said, looking delighted.  “Now, I don’t believe I’ve met you two girls…  I’m Delight, everyone calls me Dee though.”

“The erotica writer?” Kaili asked, eyes widening.

“Formerly, yes,” Dee said, fiddling with the bow of her soft pink dress.  “I’ve recently made a transition to working as a food critic, though, it’s going well.”

“What?  That’s a big change.”

“This is Kaili and Andi,” Shibani offered in a whisper to Dee, realizing the pair weren’t going to think to introduce themselves.  Kaili was too surprised by what Dee had said, and Andi was too busy inhaling a second slice of cake.

“Thank you dear,” Dee murmured.  Louder, she replied to Kaili,  “It is, yes, but at my age, I think a bit of change is a good thing, don’t you?”

“I can’t imagine doing any sort of big change like that,” Kaili said, with her usual frankness.  “Too much effort.”

Dee laughed softly.  “I suppose that’s fair, darling,” she said, pausing to chew some of her cake.  “It probably wouldn’t have been my first choice to change things up, but…  Well, sometimes you decide you can’t keep pursuing the same path, even though you might still want to.  Hopefully I’ll return to it eventually, but for now, I’m quite happy to explore new things and have an excuse to try a new restaurant for every meal.”

“Well, that part might make the effort worth it,” Kaili said, head tilting as she contemplated the possibilities…

“Mmm, it’s more than worth it to me.”  Dee smiled.  She’d finished her cake now.  “Oh, what do we do with these when we’re done?” she asked.

Another casino employee circled by as she said that, holding a tray loaded with plates, and paused to let Dee add hers to the pile.

“Thank you, dear,” she said, beaming at them.

“No problem, ma’am,” the employee said, heading onward again, probably bound for the kitchens.

“I don’t suppose I could entice you to play a round in honor of the event?”  Angora’s voice was clear, even though she spoke quietly.

Kaili hadn’t heard her arrive, and jumped.

“I think I’ve had my fill of that for a while,” Dan said, a smirk obvious on his lips.

Andi had to assume, seeing Angora’s slightly annoyed look, that maybe the rumors were true and this party was the result of Dan beating her in a very high stakes game.

“I suppose I can content myself with that answer,” Angora replied.  “Any takers among the rest of you?”

Kaili really wanted to, but it was too near the end of the month for her, so she managed to refrain from volunteering.

“I suppose we could give it a whirl,” Dee said, tapping her lower lip with a sly smile.

“Well then, let’s choose our table carefully,” Angora said, drawing in close to Dee.  The pair scrutinized the gambling tables available, before eventually Angora noticed two of the buns at a table that conveniently had a pair of buns leaving it now.  “Oh, Tsubaki and Inferna are both at that table,” she said, sounding delighted.  “We should have quite a fierce competition with them.  Does that sound good to you?”

“Sounds perfect,” Dee agreed, heading to the table with Angora.  They easily grabbed seats at the table to be dealt into the next hand.

“How many pieces of cake do you think is too many pieces of cake?” Shibani whispered to Andi.

Andi turned to look at him, and then they both began to laugh as they realized they carried the same amount of excess plates under their current plate of cake, five, that they had each forgotten to hand off to an employee.

“I don’t think,” Andi declared to him.  If there had been an end to that sentence, she sure didn’t say it, just continuing to smile and eat her sixth piece of cake.

“Fair enough!”  Shibani said.  He could probably eat a seventh piece after this, right?

They watched Angora’s table for a while.  Tsubaki seemed to be winning for several rounds, if the exuberance of her wife’s reactions were anything to go by, but then it was clear when Angora, Dee, or Inferna took a round too.

“You know, I beat Angora once in a round,” Andi said, through a mouthful of cake.

“Really?” Shibani asked.

“Dunno what I did, but she looked mad,” Andi said, smiling blissfully.

“I somehow imagine your cluelessness was the reason for that look,” Dan murmured.

Tsubaki’s wife seemed to have been delegated by the group to go fetch a round of drinks, as she stood up and came towards the group.  “Happy birthday again, Shibani, I hope you enjoy the gift I got you!” she said as she passed by.

“I’m sure I will, Eve,” he said, smiling.

“Only her and not her wife?” Kaili asked, knowing her gift was joint with Andi’s.  Not that she’d really done the work of picking it or anything, but Andi had written her name on it too.

“Her wife’s a Greed type,” Shibani said.  “I don’t mind it, Tsubaki is really nice too, and she gives the gift of her time and presence.”

“Not that we’re ever going to phrase it like that to her,” Dan said, drawing a giggle from Shibani.

Eve soon danced by them, carrying a tray of drinks back to the table.  As Tsubaki and Inferna turned to greet her, they both spotted Shibania and Dan watching, and waved to them as well, though they were too busy with their game to come over yet.

The night wore on, and eventually, Andi left, carrying Kaili and their four imps home through the dark streets of Burrowgatory - along with a nice box full of cake slices that she had managed to snag.