It's a birthday!

[bylight]

Who: Lightning bylight and Serah failnought Farron and guests!
(Basically anyone who knows one of the sisters and is in Cerulean)
Where: Cerulean City (waterpark during the till the afternoon, then the aquarium for the rest of the day)
When: July 6th
Summary: It's Serah's birthday! And Lightning wants her to have a good one
one, so off to the waterpark and aquarium they go!
Rating: G
Log:

[Lightning worked hard to make sure her sister had no idea what she was planning. Her excuse to getting some many cupcakes? Family party in the apartment they were renting. Serah would instead wake up to no sister, cupcakes, or Pokémon. Just a note that tells her where and when to be somewhere.

Where?

The waterpark.

This is just the start of five hundred years of missing family events.]

Comments

Waterpark!

[bylight]

[Drop off gifts here with the two friendliest Liepards you'll ever meet, Maqui and Selima. They accept petting for their good job.]

Aquarium!

[bylight]

[If you come later in the day, the Pokémon at the stand are Lorelei the shiny Swablu and Clary the Clefairy. They also accept petting.]

To Serah Only

[bylight]

[Lightning waited patiently at the spot she had told Serah to meet her. It had been an anxiety inducing morning trying to sneak everyone out quietly without waking Serah. They had somehow managed.

In her hand was a small box with two matching sister bracelets with their initials. Light had even used C instead of L, though no one would ever see that.]

Serah....

[failnought]

[ Serah's definitely surprised, to say the least. Lightning planned this huge thing all by herself, and Serah's not been able to celebrate her birthday with Lightning for a while. That's made it all the more special. When Serah shows up, Lightning gets a tight hug and a brilliant smile. ]

This is amazing, Lightning! Thank you so much!

[bylight]

[Serah definitely gets a tight hug in return. She smiles and hands the box to Serah. She'll put her own on when Serah unpacks it.]

You're welcome. It's been a long time since we've been able to do this.

[failnought]

It has! [ The hug gets a little tighter before Serah pulls away. ]

You seriously surprised me, Lightning.

[bylight]

[Light still appreciates every hug she gets from Serah.]

I wasn't the only one planning it. Phoenix helped.

[failnought]

Well, you two did great! I'm glad he could make it, too. He's a great guy.

[bylight]

That he is. My first travel companion other than Naminé. Though I didn't think much of him at first. He wasn't exactly the most impressive type.

[It's said with a teasing tone.]

He's loyal, and... someone I can confide in.

[failnought]

[ That tone gets a laugh from her, and a wide smile. ]

I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but I'm really happy you have people like that here.

[presentyourbadge]

[Oh, you know Phoenix is going to be in on this. He owes a lot to these two sisters, and he isn't going to miss Serah's special day, even if he isn't so enthusiastic about water parks.

So, Phoenix will be around to accompany the party for almost all of the day. Butch is having a blast, being the Water Pokemon on his team, and Phoenix is content to watch him and the girls have fun.

He has a gift for Serah, too, but figures he'll wait until later in the day to give it to her himself.]

[bylight]

[Lightning isn't too fond of public places, but she and her sister grew up on an island. A birthday without swimming wasn't much of a birthday.

Lorelei and Cerys, Swablu and Dragonair respectively, love the water just as much as Butch. But neither wants to get to close to him.... even they have no idea what Butch is really supposed to be.

Light walks over to Phoenix, hands on her hips.]

Not a fan of swimming?

[presentyourbadge]

[Butch seems unaware of the other Pokemon being unnerved by him. He happily splashes towards them, making happy water amphibian noises as he does.

Phoenix looks up when Light approaches, chuckles a bit.] Sort of. I think I'm just more used to beaches -- and even then, I've only been a handful of times.

[bylight]

[Cerys eventually relents and gets in the water, slithering around like it was second nature. Lorelei watches Butch before chirping and joining in on the splashing.

She looks around and nods.] It's a lot different than how I grew up. It's not bad... Serah might want to come back here to settle down eventually.

[presentyourbadge]

[Butch seems very happy to have the company! He flounders around and attempts to catch Cerys in his large flubbery paws.]

I take it you grew up around beaches too, then?

[bylight]

[Cerys isn't that easy to catch, always a step ahead of Butch.]

Yes. On an island.

[presentyourbadge]

[But Butch isn't going to give up anytime soon, no sir! He continues to wade around, happy as can be.]

An island, huh? We don't have many of those where I'm from. Well, I mean, in other parts of the world, sure...but not in California. I just happen to live near the coast.

[bylight]

[Okay, Cerys thinks this is kind of fun now.]

California? That's as strange of a name as Bodhum would be to you.

[failnought]

[ Serah and Phoenix haven't talked much, but she likes him a lot. Besides, he's Lightning's friend, and from what Serah can tell, she's confided in him. That's a pretty big deal. ]

Hey, Phoenix! Not in the mood to swim?

[presentyourbadge]

Sadly, no. Lawyers aren't really aquatic creatures, sorry to say.

[He's mostly joking.]

Besides, the last time I was at a water park, it was because I had to defend an orca whale in court. Not really an experience I'm going to forget.

[failnought]

[ That gives her pause, and she raises an eyebrow. ]

Seriously? What was that like?

[presentyourbadge]

It went about as well as you can expect. But, hey! I won. [ :D ]

After seven years out of practice, too. What a way to make a comeback...

[failnought]

Well, congratulations! [ Still... ] Do things like that happen a lot where you're from?

[presentyourbadge]

Sort of. I guess weird cases tend to be pretty common, but it could just be because I'm some kind of weirdness magnet. [It's a terrible curse.]

[failnought]

Maybe that's why you, Lightning, and me get along so well. We're kind of like that, too. [ Pause. ] And danger magnets, but not so much here, at least.