Happy Birthday Aster

[savedbyasong]

Who: Shion, Aster and anyone! Mingle among yourselves!
What: It's Aster's birthday. Any and all friends are welcome (and if you don't know them you are still welcome, they won't turn anyone away)
Where: The southern beach on Islet four.
Warnings: Hopefully none

Aster's birthday was important. A date she had chosen herself, a date to celebrate her and everything she had achieved so far.

The last time they had celebrated had been in the tower and now they were in a completely different world with different friends and Shion was determined for it to be a nice day.

He had had help. Ignis had helped cook of course. Shion heavily suspected the candied fruits were from Dagger and he had no idea how exactly Connor had managed it (and he wasn't going to ask) but Laurent had provided ice for sea salt ice cream.

There's a fire on the beach and fish on sticks to roast. Guests may have to wrestle off an overexcited Dreaeater but Shion tries to keep Excalibur under control for the most part. Cobweb and Thalassa are a lot more calm, flopping down near friends to demand pets.

Shion keeps an eye on Aster, hoping she is having fun.

Comments

[suspecteverything]

Jules rolls his eyes and holds up his left hand before pointing at his ring.

"I'm married, chizzi, and I'm stralen for my wife. Definitely not dating someone else."

Really, all of that had been humorous and Jules had been willing to play along. At least until Nezumi started to make demands. A fanged smile spreads across his face.

"I would love to see you try that. Go ahead. Give it a whirl. I'm just a pansy-assed piece of shit anyway. You should be able to pull it off."

[jelliclerats]

Suddenly, despite the seriousness of the conversation, Nezumi starts to laugh. It's a soft sound, but it sounds sincere. Then again, Nezumi is an actor.

"You're right, my apologies. I am accusing you of planning some kind of crime, but it would be very disrespectful of me to think you'd cheat on your wife."

The chuckle dies down, but Nezumi's steely eyes never leave his face. He doesn't trust this man. Nezumi won't hesitate to murder him, but he doesn't murder without reason. He doesn't even fight if it's not the best course of action. Survival trumps everything, even pride.

Besides, Shion is here. The scuffle will draw attention.

"While I'm sure your self-depreciation attempts are true, I'll do your wife a favor and hold off unless you decide to try something. Then, I won't have any mercy."

[suspecteverything]

"Humans. You and your pure acceptance of cheating and how often it apparently happens in your culture without any real consequences is baffling."

If he cheated on Ushara she would literally rip his heart out and have every right to. No male cheated on a female. Females cheating on their males is slightly more tolerated, but even so it's incredibly rare.

"She will be so incredibly grateful, I'm sure. As will Shion. He wouldn't want to see you hurt."

Normally Jules would say dead, but he isn't willing to do that to a friend of Shion's no matter how much the guy irritates him.

[jelliclerats]

"I'm sure your wife is flattered that you think it worse you cheat on her than be accused of murder. Everyone else will worry about your priorities, but she'll be fine."

There's no outward reaction to Shion's name. Any change in his expression or verbal response would only make it seem like Shion is a weakness. He isn't. He's a kid that helped him once, and now Nezumi's returning the favor. That really is all.

Or so he tells himself.

"Luckily for him then, I'm not easy to hurt. If he's such a good friend, you wouldn't be creeping along the edges."

[suspecteverything]

"For Andarians it is worse. Murder is a pretty normal thing for us. I racked up a pretty good total just in the weeks before I was dragged off here."

And by pretty good total he means dozens. Plural. He hadn't kept a total count but it had probably neared 50. His mental breakdown had led to a wonderfully productive killing spree.

"Sure I would be. You could ask him. He probably expects me on the edges or to not be here at all. I certainly wouldn't have even considered it if he weren't a friend."