[Zephyr]

Zephyr had been working exceptionally hard these past months. It was easier to do now, though, what with Kiel manning the front of the shop and all. If Zephyr had to, say, go on a weeks-long journey to Kyriake in order to beat some sense into some gem merchants, he didn't have to shut the shop down for all of that time. Unfortunately that meant that his stocks were running low, and special order were running high, by the time he'd returned, and thus he'd had to work double time to catch up. Finally things were leveling out and, some how, Kiel had discovered that Today was Zephyr's birthday.

That would teach Zephyr to not leave official paperwork from Nirim just laying around. You'd have thought he would have learned that lesson, what with Derry being to troublesome and all.

Once Kiel had that information, though, the boy had insisted they do something to celebrate. As such they were now in Hesia... picnicking. It wasn't exactly a typical activity for Zephyr, but it was making Kiel happy (and more importantly, making him stop complaining about being neglected or ignored), so Zeph was going along with it.

“Derina! Stop that!” the 'Vari said as he swatted the little imp away from his ear which was now bleeding from the tiny nibble marks she'd left on it. “Damned creature,” he grumbled in annoyance. Kiel had done most, okay, well, all of the cooking and planning for this outing, and they were just setting up their oddly cliche'd red and white flannel blanket on the ground in order to watch the belfrense catch for the day while they ate. Kiel had insisted it would be "Like, reallyreally awesome, man! Ahahahahaha" or something.

“So, what'd you bring?”

• Piper's Boutique · DaFont · Mutsie · Aethereality · Kevin sorbo •

[Kiel]

“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!

[Zephyr]

Zephyr was a bit overwhelmed be the sheer variety of food Kiel had prepared, let alone the amount. “Uh...” he mumbled something softly about Kiel getting ahead of himself, as always, before sitting down. “You know you could have just made sandwiches or something...” he said, not sure what to grab first. The kraken wasn't all too appealing. Zephyr had encountered the beast before, and in general he didn't like to eat things that in nature are designed to eat him.

Also, it was pretty gross.

But he wouldn't tell Kiel that. He'd just try and get around that portion of the meal. After all, it was considered a delicacy to many people, but those people were usually also the ones who had no idea what a Kraken actually looked like when it was trying to kill you. Zephyr took the plate of sandwiches and unwrapped it, taking one and setting it down on the blanket where Derina imediately appeard on top of it ad sttarted poking her snout through the bread to get to the steak.

“Dammit, Derry,” Zephyr grumbled as he swatted her away. The little imp was a bit older now, and he scales were starting to darken to reflect that. Her disposition had not changed in the slightest, however, and after interacting with Faroah.... well, Zephyr was fairly sure this was as intelligent as she would ever be. “You should eat, too, before the blasted little snake steals it all.”

Oh well. At least Kiel would grow up eventually. Right?

As Zephyr bit into the steak sandwich, which was surprisingly better than he'd expected, Zephyr realized the similarities between Derry, Faroah, and Kiel. Maybe he wouldn't grow up.

...

No, no, he had to. It was just a matter of time... Right?

• Piper's Boutique · DaFont · Mutsie · Aethereality · Kevin sorbo •

[Kiel]

Kiel stared at Zephyr blankly. “Jus... sandwiches...?” The very idea of not going all out for his boyfriend's birthday just didn't compute, man, for sers.

Well, but he had to admit, there probably was way too much food. In his house, birthdays tended to attract most of the family tree, so cooking enough to feed a small army was pretty much the norm. He'd done his best to keep things simple, but, like. He was a Taskel, you know? At least Derry and Shane would help them out, though.

“Dammit, Derry.” Glancing at first Zeph, then the dragonoid he was swatting away, Kiel giggled. The dude would be better off giving up on that particular sandwich, and he probably knew it, but Kiel was kinda convinced the guy just liked to grumble.

“Wahahaha, here, here.” Shoving another sandwich at the big hairball, Kiel set about arranging plates around his sprawled figure, taking time out to tap Shane's nose and tell her to “Like, behave, man,” when she took a leaf out of Derry's book and tried to, like, steal the kraken. “That's Zeph's, it's Zeph's!” He'd probably be kinda peeved if he found out the dude didn't even like the stuff, but he'd get over it. His wallet, on the other hand...

“Hey, hey, shift over, man, okay?” Settling as close to Zeph as he could possibly get without crawling into the dude's skin, Kiel shuffled around and fidgeted, tugging the hairball's burly arm around his shoulder and snuggling up close with a plate in his lap and a huge grin on his face. “Dude, this is awesome, you know?”