Author: self_composed | The eighteenth birthday is the best one. Bella is no longer A Minor. She no longer needs Charlie's or Renée's permission to do random things that real people are allowed to do. She still can't drink, but she doesn't feel like throwing her cognitive edge out a window anyway.
Also, she is going to get a cake. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | It turns out that a cake Tegu would have to be insufficiently delicious. So the cake is only inspired by Tegu. It is the black of strong chocolate, with a glossy black chocolate shell in lieu of frosting, and eighteen golden candles chasing one another along its top surface trailing Tegu-like golden streaks. And since the tiered circles design was vetoed, it is rectangular, made in two layers with bright golden frosting between.
Alice carries it through the door in an enormous plain white cardboard box, reinforced on the bottom with two extra layers of thicker cardboard. Instead of de-invisibling in the stairs, he sneaks all the way outside to visibly come back inside and take the elevator. Helpful strangers push the buttons for him. |
Author: self_composed | Bella grins when she sees him and the cake box. "I bet this is going to be the best cake of all time," she says. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "You are so right," says Alice, cheerfully. "Got somewhere to put it?" |
Author: self_composed | Bella moves some books that are on her desk onto her bed, then thinks of a better idea. "There's a dorm kitchen. It's not suitable for actually cooking in, but it has a big table and some plates and stuff." |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Good plan!" |
Author: self_composed | And lo they proceed to the kitchen with Bella's cake, and the candles are set alight with the lighter that Alice either remembered to bring or "remembered to bring", and they acquire six other dorm residents who lurk around attentively. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Happy birthday," says Alice, and kisses her on the cheek. "Make a wish." |
Author: self_composed | Bella laughs, and decides to actually do that. She picks the hex-power of variable cognitive speedup that she's been turning over in her head for a while now. "Do you think it'll come true?" she asks Alice in her corniest voice, after blowing out the candles. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "If you wished for delicious cake, then definitely," he says, and looks for a knife to cut the cake with. |
Author: self_composed | There is a selection of terrible knives in the kitchen. A couple of them look like they could successfully go through cake! |
Author: edgeofyourseat | He grabs the biggest of those, because it is a big cake. |
Author: self_composed | Other dorm residents have begun to accumulate (a few initial witnesses went and fetched friends). Bella knows everyone there, and as long as she gets a nice big corner piece and Alice gets a taste too she is perfectly willing to share. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Which part you want?" he asks, gesturing with the knife to the various available parts of cake anatomy. Corner, edge, middle, lots of candles, no candles... |
Author: self_composed | "A corner with lots of frosting," Bella says.
Others start putting in their own requests with various amounts of timidity.
"I wonder where Janine is," Bella says. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Okay, hold up," says Alice, laughing. "Birthday girl first."
He cuts Bella her desired slice; it takes a little work to get the knife through the chocolatey shell in some places, but he manages it in the end. Then he moves on to the next nearest person, and so on until everyone in the room has been served, at which point he finally hacks himself off a corner. |
Author: self_composed | "This cake," Bella says, "is the chocolatiest and best cake." |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Fckn rght," Alice mumbles around a mouthful. |
Author: self_composed | Other cake-eaters also seem impressed! |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Janine sidles in and observes the cake from afar. |
Author: self_composed | "Hi, Janine!" says Bella. "Want some of my birthday cake?" |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Yes please!" says Janine. "Happy birthday!"
"Comin' right up," says Alice. Janine gets a piece with a single guttered candle, which she carefully extracts from its chocolatey surroundings before beginning to eat. |
Author: self_composed | "Thanks!" says Bella. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "And thank you for the cake!" says Janine. "Where did it come from?"
"I had it made special," says Alice.
"It is delicious." |
Author: self_composed | "Death by chocolate," remarks Bella, pretending to keel over. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Don't drop your cake," Alice advises. Janine giggles. |
Author: self_composed | Bella's cake is nearly gone anyway. She polishes it off, thinks, and then cuts herself another sliver. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Alice beams. It is clearly successful cake! |
Author: self_composed | Bella gives him a chocolatey kiss. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | He loves her. He loves her a lot.
He also kisses back very cheerfully and with a complete disregard for their audience. |
Author: self_composed | Bella cuts it out before it descends into unreasonable PDA, though.
"What'd you get for your birthday besides cake?" asks one of the random hall residents.
"Besides this lovely cake? My mom sent me a make-your-own-candle kit and a batch of homemade crackers, and my dad got me some books I wanted," Bella says. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Alice hugs her briefly and then goes to grab himself another piece of cake. Mmm, chocolatey. |