2024-03-18: The Birthday I Always Wanted

• Log: The Birthday I Always Wanted
• Cast: Naoko Suzuki, Shari Loom
• Where: Naoko Suzuki's Quarters, Ra Mari II
• OOC - IC Date: 0098-12-24
• Summary: Delivering on last year's promise, it's Naoko's turn to organize her and Shari's shared birthday get-together - and she won't settle for anything less than perfection.

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<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.

Christmas time! A time of double celebration for all Whispered! Maybe. It's not as if there aren't reasons for Whispered to curse the day of their birth. But this is not the case for Naoko Suzuki, who had ceased to care about her birthday one way or another until the most recent one. It took the initiative of another Whispered to rekindle that birthday spark, and she is keen to return the favor.

She's been keen to return the favor since the moment it happened, in fact. Perhaps most wouldn't look forward to something a whole year in advance, but Naoko has been doing just that. Last year was great. This year will be perfect.

With the Ra Mari II conveniently docked Orbside for Christmas, there was no need for anything complicated venue-wise. She could simply suggest the same place as last time. But this time, she insisted, she would take care of all the preparation. Including cake! She clearly had Ideas about what she wanted this to be like... ideas that she wouldn't tell Shari, of course. The surprise is part of the point.

This being the case, the way things start off may be a little disappointing. Naoko isn't even there to pick Shari up when she arrives. Instead, she is greeted by a hangar crew member, casually directing her to go to Naoko's room.

All a ruse, of course. As soon as Shari's out of sight, the crew member sends a quick, previously arranged coded text message to Naoko.

> Warp speed arrival

There's a double meaning here. Loom, warp, weaving joke, get it?? There wasn't even a need for the message to be coded, but as has been established: Naoko is a dork. Her only regret is that Shari won't see that one.

The door to Naoko's quarters is left unlocked, on purpose this time, as a callback. But whether Shari moves to open it or knocks/rings instead, the only difference is in whether Naoko will be waiting, or opens the door herself. What follows after will happen either way. As soon as that door opens...

*POP*

Shari is covered in rose gold, star-shaped foil confetti. Naoko, dressed in the familiar denim and wearing a huge grin, displays the launching tube to its victim, printed on it the same words that she proceeds to cheerfully announce: "Happy birthday~"

But that is only the beginning. Behind Naoko, the entire room has been transformed. A 'Happy Birthday' garland with shooting stars on each end is prominently displayed opposite the entrance. Multiple buntings with a butterfly motif have been strung up all across the room. Colorful helium-filled balloons are scattered around the ceiling. And the table has been moved to the center of the room, with multi-colored streamers draped over the chairs, and the table itself already set up with plates, cutlery, a closed cake box, and are those milkshakes?

Suffice to say, Naoko wasn't kidding when she said that once she commits to something, she gives it everything she's got. Which doesn't mean she won't second-guess herself immediately of course, as the next words out of her mouth are, "...Too much?"

<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.

Christmas Time! For Shari, this time of year has traditionally been hit or miss; when it's nice, it's really nice, but her parents sure don't make much of it. But that doesn't matter these days. There's other people to make a bigger deal of it, other people to celebrate with...

And given how romantic Christmas is in Japan, Gerardo would've been surprised that Shari elected to spend Christmas Eve with someone else--if she hadn't mentioned her birthday plans months ago. She's looking forward to it!

...And she can make that up to him later.

Instead, here she is in Orb, making her way onto the ship via a shuttle and then--in the hangar--

"Oh, hi," Shari says, and is a little disappointed that she doesn't know the hangar crew member but tries not to show it because it's not very nice to get down on someone for not being someone else. "Oh, that way? OK."

Warp speed... She might appreciate that one.

Shari has just enough mischief in her to open the door instead of knock, and then when she does--

POP!

"Wh--"

Shari is abruptly in black and gold, because all the confetti shows up really nicely on her black clothes. She blink blinks. "Naoko!"

Then--the whole room...

"Whoa..."

Butterflies, helium, streamers, cake--

"What the--"

She lights up. If you haven't ever seen a girl in dark lipstick and darker eyeshadow smile, it's something to be seen, and Naoko does see it. "Wow!" she says, and starts forward. Her instinct is to give her friend a hug--

But she doesn't do that, instead stepping past and twirling to look at the whole room. "Wow!"

"Ahahaha, this is amazing." A smile, again. "...Happy birthday to you, too. You put all this together yourself?"

<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.

It's the reaction she was hoping for, but hadn't been expecting. Not that Naoko's never seen Shari smile before. She's gotten to see enough of that that she may have an entirely different first impression of people who are into the whole goth style than most people would.

Still, famous second-guesser Naoko wouldn't be who she is if she didn't do the very best she could think of, and then still think it was not enough. Or too much! It only took one second for her to get worried about that, thankfully it doesn't take Shari much longer to make it obvious how much she likes it. Naoko inwardly breathes a sigh of relief. Mission success!

"Hehe, thanks, glad you approve!" she answers with a bright smile of her own. "Sure did, if you want something done right and all that! And this is..."

She looks about the room, smile unwavering, but a bit of sadness creeping into her eyes. "...This is the kind of birthday I always wanted." And never had, by the looks of things.

The moment passes quickly with a shake of her head. "So, don't worry about a thing, this is a party for you AND me. I know what I like, but I'm glad that I didn't completely miss on what you like! Now then!"

Not wasting any time, Naoko hops on over to the table, lifting the cover off the cake box to unveil... well, a cake, of course. And it's... completely covered in rainbow sprinkles! This should line up with expectations. Makes it a bit hard to see what the cake actually is at a glance, but it sure is colorful. And it's about to get even more so, because next to the cake box is a pile of multi-colored candles. Exactly nineteen of them, which Naoko gets started on placing on the cake.

"It's uh, maybe a little big for just the two of us, but it had to be big enough to fit all of these on. You get it, right?" Of course Naoko's ideal birthday wouldn't be complete without that little touch.

"So, while we're setting up... what's the latest? Anything cool happen? Exciting projects you're working on? Apartment shenanigans?" She knows Shari has one through the texting they've been doing, but not much aside from the living situation. Which sounded like it might lean itself to shenanigans, not that she has any idea what it's like to live with other people.

<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.

Shari's smiles are too powerful!! They're going to ruin the whole image!

...No, really, Shari isn't surprised that Naoko second-guesses herself a bit--but she does love it. "I do!" she says. "Heheh. That's true, huh? Do it yourself..."

She sees that sadness--and her smile turns a little smaller for a moment. Smaller, but no less felt. "Well, now you have it."

For both of them. "Yeah! I mean, I'm gonna be picking glitter out of this top for days, but it's fun! I like the stars."

To the table! It's... it's very colorful. Shari doesn't mind colors but it does make her curious what the cake is, and then there's--

"Ooh, candles. I wasn't sure they'd like candles on a ship like this but then it does have gravity..."

She obviously thinks about the technical details. "Haha. Well, we can save some for other people maybe," Shari says, "After. It totally had to be big enough." Shari knows some people just put numbers on but that's for old people!

But setting up, and...

"Oh, there's always cool stuff at the PPL," Shari says. "I've got a design I've been tinkering on and off at... It's kind of--like, this big knight? I got inspired by the Mazins, a little. With Fold hardening I can make the alloy for the armor even stronger than the top mixtures these days--and I can even harden it against Void energy. That might be handy. I've been able to reproduce a lot of what I used to work on..."

"Oh, and I cut our power bill by installing an energy amplifier in the apartment. Heheheh."

A beat, "But apartment shenanigans--fewer than you'd think? Our roommate's really chill. But let me tell you--living with Gerardo's awesome. Like..." She decides not to say the immediate thing she was about to say, and instead, "It's just nice. Being alone was OK, but having people around is fun. It just... makes me happy waking up with him, you know?"

"If you can visit sometime that'd be awesome. But I'm happy to be here, too. I marked it on my calendar with a countdown and everything, right?"

A laugh. "Anyway how about you? How's the secret project going? Anything exciting going on otherwise? ...Getting out of your room any?"

<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.

Naoko is a big believer in doing things herself! Which has its good and bad sides. She's getting better about it though. But this, this absolutely had to be all her.

She laughs when Shari points out the down sides of a glitter shower. "Sorry about that. Just felt like the thing to do! At least I picked out the right kind." She pauses, then looks back to Shari. "I think it wouldn't look bad if you stuck some stars on that top permanently. If, uh, that doesn't ruin what you're going for. Don't mind me, I don't know what I'm talking about." She embarrassed herself with her own suggestion, but it should be obvious that she's a believer in modifying clothes to suit your tastes, just going by that hoodie she used to wear all the time with all the patches on it.

"Ehe, well, I didn't exactly ask anybody if candles were okay, buuut... my room, my rules, right?" She pauses to take a box of matches out of her pocket, placing it down on the table. "Going for the classic experience here." She leans over to whisper, even though it's not like she believes anybody but the two of them can hear what's being said in the room. "Normally we'd probably have alarms going off if we lit this many candles in here. Just in case, I turned off all the fire safety measures in the room - which you're not supposed to be able to do, shhh - so as long as we're careful about this, we're all good."

>"You don't have to sound so proud of yourself..."<

Shoot, that slipped her mind. That's right, nobody but the four of them can hear. "Shhh. I'm trying to sound cool, don't ruin it for me," she says to Ariel, aloud. ...She's so used to speak her mind freely to her Friends that now she forgot Shari could hear. This is one reason why Uriel and Ariel usually keep quiet when she's in the middle of a conversation unless she needs help, it just doesn't improve the situation. Let's... let's just totally gloss over that and focus on more important things...

"Oh, a knight robot, for real? I wanna see that happen, hope you don't stick to just a design." She recalls Shari saying she didn't want to fight anymore, though... making it difficult for her to continue that thought on the most logical route her mind would take. And once she start to second-guess the best approach to take in her words, well, no more words on it end up happening.

The apartment question too, leads somewhere she somehow failed to predict, and it becomes all the more obvious from her sudden blush that her mind is filling in all sorts of blanks. "I-I wouldn't know about that..." That's all it takes, huh? See, this is why she usually avoids small talk, somehow she always ends up failing to build much on her own conversation starters, if they're not in her limited wheelhouse. Obviously, after that, the most that comes out is a non-committal, "Maybe sometime..." to the notion of visiting.

It doesn't help her discomfort that, once the candles are set up, she immediately breaks the first match she tries to light. And the second. Girl's never lit a match in her life. "Hang on, I'll get it..." she mutters, and thankfully she does on the third try. But this too will take a while with her extinguishing each match well before it's necessary. Very worried about burning her fingers.

Finally then, questions that she can handle. Although she makes a face at that last one. "Hey, that's mean, I leave my room plenty." To go to the hangar, mostly. But also, "For example, I went to Rena and Anita's housewarming party a couple months back. It was... fine? I didn't really know what I was getting into, but yeah, that went fine." Parties with more than a single other person present are not usually her preference, but she's making an effort.

"But, as for the other thing... it's actually going really great. Practical tests are giving me all green. All I have to do now is finish putting it all together. And make it look cool, of course. Then... I think I might actually have it. The means to be a real Miracle Worker." The way she says that, it's like it's only fully hitting her right now. How close she is to actually accomplishing the dream she's had for so long.

<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.

Shari's not totally dissimilar; she likes to be hands-on when it comes to things that matter. She looks thoughtful at Naoko's laughing suggestion. "You know," she says, "That could work." She notices how Naoko psyches herself out, so, "I like that thought. Look forward to it! I'll send you a photo if I do it, OK?"

She didn't ask... That sounds like her. "Oh. Well, that's cool. It'll be fine, right?" Shari says. "If anything goes wrong we're super smart."

She laughs a little at Naoko's friend's helping though. "It's fine, it's fine," she says.

But, "Yeah," Shari says. "It could be really good... but I'm having trouble designing the OS to be something a normal person could use well, right?" Naoko probably understands that problem; the Sukeban is pretty custom, too. "But maybe..."

When Naoko blushes, Shari suppresses a laugh--it just turns into a smile instead. "I know," she says. "It's cool. But even without, you know, that stuff, I like living with people. It makes things livelier."

Maybe sometime.

"Hmmmm," Shari says. "You know, if we take an extra candle to light the others, we won't have to use as many matches."

She laughs a little at the face. "Just checking!" she says. "Oh, really? That sounds nice. I'm glad you went. And that it went OK." She doesn't need Naoko to turn into a social butterfly or anything (doh ho ho), but...

"Oh, good! Yeah, obviously it has to look cool." She smiles. "...I'm proud of you, then. You're almost there."

"I'll get to see it, right?"

<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.

Well, that one surprises Naoko. To actually agree to a dumb suggestion like that... well, obviously she doesn't think it was dumb, but other people are supposed to think that! But, the initial surprise fades into a smile. "I guess... you would think that." As she realizes that oh yeah, Shari actually shares a lot of her dumb interests. Sometimes you forget obvious things like big reasons for why you enjoy hanging out with someone. But, that established, "You've said it now, I will look forward to it, I'm gonna expect that photo!"

Oh yes, super smart. Not about fire safety, but this isn't about that. Except in the way that it totally is about that. Shari also makes a sensible suggestion regarding the candles, but... "No no, we don't need to do that, I've got it!" She actually seems... excited about getting to light candles with matches, even if it takes a while. Must be an important part of the ideal birthday experience, in her mind.

"Ah, yeah... the OS. That's a whole thing. Best to just do it the way that feels right, I think. Just a matter of finding the right pilot who can handle it. A Coordinator maybe, they tend to be better at figuring that stuff out, from what I've seen." Rena sure surprised her with the speed at which she was able to interpret her analysis results, as well as make sense of her suggested OS improvements for the Gaia Gear Alpha. Of course, this is assuming there aren't any other barriers involved... Sukeban's so specifically tailor-made, she's sure its design is not going to make any sense except to a select few, and even they might not be able to actually get it to work the way she designed it.

Naoko doesn't comment on liveliness. Her two constant companions are generally enough liveliness for her. But, there are things you can't do with them... like share a birthday cake, for example.

And then, finally... the last candle is lit. Naoko puts down the matchbox with hardly any matches left, smiling at her handiwork. It really is perfect. She'll take Shari's expression of pride to also apply to this, while she's at it. "...Thanks. Of course, I'll absolutely show you once I'm done. And, if I can get serious for a moment, I just want to say..." With the serious expression to match, almost solemn as she promises, "If your aunts try anything, I'll be there to stop them. So... you don't have to feel obligated to fight again. I'll support you, no matter what you decide."

She takes a breath, afterwards, then smiles again. "Okay! Almost a shame after all that work lighting them, but we gotta blow out the candles now. Don't forget, you have to make a wish and then get all of them in one go. I don't know if I have the lung capacity to do it on my own, so good thing there's two of us, huh? That still counts as one go, I'm sure."

<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.

DIY clothes are an important part of goth fashion! Shari would say so! ...Of course, she also wants to encourage Naoko, but she wouldn't be thinking about it if she didn't think she could make it look good.

"Haha," Shari says. "Cool. It'll be a good one!"

"Oh, OK!" Naoko's got it, even with the slow. That's fine; Shari can be patient. There's milkshakes but they're not gonna get too warm, and there's cake to eat but she's not starving exactly, and, there's talking!

"Hmm, that might be it. The right pilot..." Shari can't help but think about how she'd approach it--but, she didn't want to fight. ...So maybe finding the right pilot is the answer. "I'll keep that in mind. The PPL knows a lot of good pilots, so."

Shari is pretty sociable, as it happens; she thrives on people. Of course she'd like that.

But with the last candle lit, Shari smiles. It definitely applies, too. "You better," Shari says, and then--Serious? Shari listens. And she looks--and she looks touched, for a moment. Her mouth opens slightly; her eyes widen. "Naoko..."

"....Thank you," she says quietly. "I hope I can do my part, somehow. But I..."

"I really..."

Naoko's smiling again, and Shari lets it go. Instead, she says, "Yeah! Okay. Hmmm..."

"OK. I've got my wish," she says, looking right at Naoko for a long few moments. "Super counts."

"Ready?"

"One, two--"

<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.

Naoko nods firmly to the promise of a good picture. She has no idea what to expect from Shari's DIY-ing, but considering the jewelry-making talent, her expectations are set pretty high. Don't disappoint her now!

Speaking of disappointment, she is trying her level best not to show any of that, speaking of possible other pilots for Shari's unit. She'll definitely do as she said and support Shari's decision either way, but... wouldn't it be so cool to team up with their sweet newly designed super awesome robots? But no, she won't say it, no way, not even a little bit of subtle influencing. Maybe one day she can tell Shari how exceptionally hard that was for her to manage.

It's all worth it, in exchange for Shari's gratitude. That is, after all, also an important part of which this party's happening. It's her own perfect image of a birthday celebration, yes. But it wouldn't mean anything without someone to share it with. And not just anyone would do.

She can't manage to hold on the serious moment though, way too embarrassing to respond in any way except with a nod. Then, to the other matter, important in its own way. Blowing out the candles!!

When Shari says she's got her wish, she immediately interjects, just in case, "Ah ah ah, don't tell me or it won't come true!" She doesn't presume Shari won't know the rules, but you can't be too sure. "Got mine, too," she says with a grin. "No guessing!" She looks so happy about all this. Childishly so, but then that stands to reason, she is very much catching up on her childhood here.

On the prompt of the unspoken 'three' of Shari's countdown, she commences the candle massacre on her end on the table. Shari may notice that she has to pick up on Naoko's slack a little, the difference with someone who has never done a sport when she didn't have to. But, together, inevitably...

"We did it!" Naoko actually starts to clap, before she gets self-conscious about it and does the logical thing. Pull a knife!! To cut the cake with, obviously. "Let's dig in!" Cutting the cake finally reveals it's true nature: it's chocolate, and the sprinkles-covered frosting is vanilla buttercream.

<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.

Shari's pretty good at pictures! She's had a lot of practice. Her phone is a gallery!

Shari doesn't pick up on--probably--that subtle pressure. If there's even a hint of it, then she isn't acknowledging it for now. Maybe when Naoko can say that, it'll be something she appreciates. Maybe she'll have the chance. For now...

Well. There's someone important to share a birthday with; Shari feels the same way. She could spend any day with her boyfriend or her roommate; her time with Naoko is rarer. It's special.

Even if she'd like to make it a little more common...

But suddenly, Naoko interjects and--Shari laughs happily. "Don't worry," she says. "I won't." Shari doesn't mind a little taste of childhood--she missed out on some of these things, too. She can be an Adult in other parts of her life, being nineteen and all. Here...

Three! Shari picks up the slack; she has a lot of hot air to help with. She has done many sports. And there--

"Yay!" Shari agrees, and leans over to nudge Naoko. "We did!"

"Mmm," she says. "This looks really good! Have I mentioned I love chocolate recently?"

<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.

Perhaps in the future, such get-togethers may get to be a little more common. It's self-evident how much Naoko enjoys herself in Shari's company, a far cry from how reserved she was at first (when not yelling from the safe distance a cockpit provides). There is progress there, even if it's slow going. Especially with this project she's working on, which she's referred to as fulfilling a dream. If she can accomplish that, it might just be the push she needs to start showing a little more confidence, without needing to put on an act for it.

For right now though, it's anyone's guess what'll happen. And Naoko is still perfectly content living in the moment, especially moments such as this one.

Gleefully cutting the cake, she of course makes both their slices absolutely huge, because it's their freaking birthday and they don't need to share. She's fine sharing the leftovers, but whoever wants will just have to fight over it. They might, it's a quality cake.

"How do you like it?" Naoko prompts with a strange urging when Shari takes the first bite. "Oh, try the milkshake too, it's strawberry!" She's probably made it obvious by the way she's acting... yes, she also made the cake, and the milkshakes. That's what she said, wasn't it? That she'd take care of everything?

<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.

It's night and day from how it was at first; Shari didn't want anything to do with her. But now... Shari's holding out her hand, too. So to speak.

She'd like to see Naoko more confident. But she likes the 'moment' too.

Huge!! Shari laughs a little at the sheer size of the slice, but she accepts it, and takes the plate and the fork and--"Mm!"

That prompt doesn't seem so strange to her. "Mm, shec--

She reaches out for the shake, too, and rudely does both at once before--

Chew, chew.

"Oh wow!" she says, "That's great! I had no idea you baked!"

"C'mon, you've gotta try this. I love it!"

A beat, before, "...Happy birthday, Naoko. This is..."

Someone who really wants to spend it with her.

Shari keeps her composure, but Naoko might notice that even she is stuck on words for a moment. "...More cake!" she settles on instead, and takes another bite.