“Awww,” Kiel cooed at the imp dragon, using the back of his forefinger to tickle under her chin.
“She's just hungry, man. Like, me too, me too!”
Like, accidentally knocking off a bunch of papers he'd been deliberately not looking through had been the
best non-idea he'd ever had, man. Otherwise, he totally wouldn't know that today was Zeph's birthday (and that the dude was, like, a billion years old, man, for sers!) and he wouldn't have known to pester the guy into going on a picnic with him.
“So, what'd you bring?”
“Wahahahahaha! Dude, I brought, like, everything, man! Like, for sers, you know, I think the kitchen sink's in here too someplace.” He was totally laden, man. Like, he'd refused to let Zeph carry the heavy makeshift picnic basket, 'cause, like, "It's your bday, man, you gotta be all, like, restful and stuff, you know?" (like the guy knew what restful even was), and his pockets were pretty jammed too with whatever wouldn't squish. Hesia had totally been his idea too, you know, 'cause he'd heard from one of his clients that it was kinda pretty — and warm! — this time of year.
Hopping up onto his knees to bend over the picnic basket with his ass in the air, Kiel started unpacking, totally narrating the whole thing even though Zeph had eyes in his head.
“I made, like, steak sandwiches, man, 'cause I know how much you like steak. Like, I got a piece of kraken too, but it's only tiny 'cause the guy wanted, like, a year's wages for one piece!” He was exaggerating, but not by much, so he'd only brought enough for Zeph as the birthday boy.
“And, like, I tried getting some orchid squid too, 'cause my gramps was all, like, "delicacy, delicacy!" but they didn't have any when I went to the Espur market and ooh, ooh, rakeri and phikeia salad, gurell and leek quiche, sausage rolls and, like, a pork pie or something. Hey, hey, dude, look at that, it's all, like, huge!” Pointing out the most recent belfrense catch, he flapped his arms to mimic the size and then continued as if uninterrupted.
“Oh, oh! And I made some soda bread, and fried scorpion tails ” That, thankfully, he didn't have to catch for himself, ew.
“ and, like, a couple of scotch egg and salmon pasties, and, and! We got a tammish torte 'cause my mom says a picnic's not even, like, a picnic without one of those, and ilari berry and lemon traybake for afters. Wahahahaha.”
Like, there was no way even Kiel could help polish off
all of that in one sitting, but they'd finish the leftovers tonight or tomorrow anyway. 'Cause, like, as far as Kiel was concerned, a birthday should totally last as long as possible, you know? Like, actually, he would have invited a bunch of Zeph's friends over or something, but, like... he didn't know any.
Thankfully, despite it being the middle of summer in Hesia, they'd found a nice tree to shade under so, like, Shane was able to come along. And, like, Kiel had said to invite Slythe, too, although he doubted the churlish dragon would bother to show up. Like, he was all, "what's the point of birthdays anyway", but it was his loss, hahahaha!
“You wanna bit of salad first with your kraken, man, or, like, the steak sandwiches before they go cold?” Before he'd even finished asking, he was already pulling out the cloth-wrapped plate of sandwiches and handing them over.
The picnic items above are now in the
Cookbook, woo!