15th Screw - backdated to August 7th

[all_wound_up]

[Action]

[Today is Nano's birthday, but she hasn't told anyone.  She's not really the type to call that much attention to herself over something like this, and it seems sort of insignificant to her compared to all of the problems in Hinoto-Ri.  But two years is a long time - at least, to her it is - and the past year especially has been full of so many chances to learn new things and meet new people, so she feels that she at least owes a little bit of celebration to herself.

And that's why she's at the bakery today, picking out a cupcake to enjoy while she wishes herself well for the next year.  Once she's got the tasty treat in hand, she takes it outside to one of the small tables set up near the street for customers to enjoy their snacks, pulling two small candles out and lighting them with a small fire spell that she learned from Namine.  After she hums a short little birthday song, she closes her eyes to send up a silent wish, smiles, and blows the candles out.]

Comments

[tyrantball]

Okay so this is an important day for Miss Nano, therefore Desco has to get this just right.

Which is why she's standing on top of a nearby streetlamp, tentacles absorbed.

Glancing over her shoulder, she looks down at her tail, which splits open into a mouth and makes several biting motions before gently closing over the metal pole. Desco steps off the lamp and is quickly hanging from it by her tail directly over Miss Nano's table.

And then her tail starts to slowly lengthen, lowering her down to head level with Miss Nano. Desco grins toothily.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

[all_wound_up]

[Well, that was completely unexpected. Just as she's done blowing out her candles, Nano screams, flailing and falling backwards and out of her chair.]

Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

[tyrantball]

Surprise completed, Desco opens her tail-maw and drops down onto the table, taking care to not crush the cupcake before pouncing on Nano and hugging her. A slight purring sound comes from her tail.

"How old is Miss Nano now, huh? Huh?"

[all_wound_up]

O-oh, Desco-chan...

[Once Nano sees who it is, she calms down, taking a deep breath as she hugs back.]

Um... two years old today.

[She seems a little sheepish about admitting that out loud.]

[tyrantball]

...wait what.

"...bzuh? But you're so much bigger than Desco! How can you be half Desco's age?!"

[otakuro]

[Of course, secret birthdays are not allowed to pass without at least five of your friends stumbling upon you entirely by accident, and so Atsuro unknowingly becomes number two as he walks down the street with his attention focused entirely on his COMP.

...No wait this was a real handheld video game system not a demon summoning one.]

C'mon...

[His attention is diverted, though, by the sight of someone up ahead. And as he watches...]

...Nano?

Since when do you shoot fire?

[all_wound_up]

A-Atsuro-san...!

[Nano hadn't expected Atsuro of all people to be wandering by right at that moment. And it isn't even the fire spell that she's worried about here, but rather the number of candles in the cupcake. She spends a moment or two awkwardly flailing about in her seat before plucking them out of the cake and hiding them behind her back.

Once he mentions the fire, though, she does seem to calm down just a little. Maybe she can steer the direction away from the embarrassing fact that she's only two years old. She managed to talk her way around it when they talked before at the inn, but a scene like this is a dead giveaway.]

...I've been practicing. I still have a little of Xion-san's memories, and Namine-san has been teaching me how to use the magic from their world.

[all_wound_up]

W-well... that's how long ago Hakase built me, so...

[tyrantball]

Desco's red eyes widen.

"Miss Nano is a robot?!"

Probably a good thing the two of them never fought robots together, then. Desco rolls off of Nano and hops to her feet.

"Anyway! Desco got a present for Miss Nano! She saved up alllll her money!"

With that, Desco's back splits open and discharges Usatako, a brightly-wrapped present gently clutched in one of the primary tentacles.

[otakuro]

[Atsuro pretends to be blind while Nano flails in place and also pretends that hiding still hot candles behind your back is a perfectly normal thing to do. He assumes she is embarrassed about it being a special occasion of some sort...]

Really...? Can you do that?

[He hadn't thought <>that much would carry over.]

Hey, maybe that means I can learn to su...mmon...... Perso -- never mind.

...So what's the special occasion, Nano? Is it an important day for you?

[Atsuro smiles softly while purposefully steering the subject back around to exactly what Nano didn't want to discuss.]

[resipiscent]

That's "Fire", right?

[frequent_flyer]

[Hinata was on his way to the park to meet Otonashi when he saw her. He figured there was no harm in stopping for a moment to catch up, right?]

Nano..! [It was about then that he noticed the cupcake and candles, but it didn't occur to him that it was her birthday. To him, birthdays were always something loud and extravagant! Why keep it to yourself quietly like this?] What's the occasion?

[all_wound_up]

You didn't know?

[Wow, that makes Desco pretty much the first person not to have realized that about Nano immediately. She's clearly pretty surprised about it, enough so that she can't think of anything to say in response until the present comes out.]

Aww, you didn't have to get me anything!

[Plus, those tentacles still weird her out. What kind of weird demon slime was this present sitting in before she took it out? Nano regards the package curiously but a little cautiously.]

[all_wound_up]

It's taken a lot of training, but yes. I'm even learning to use a keyblade!

[Nano nods, smiling proudly. She's come a long way from that cowering girl panicking in the streets that Atsuro first met.]

O-oh... you mean the cupcake! Um... it's sort of a special day, yes.

[And all of a sudden she's looking sheepish again, scraping the bottom of her shoe back and forth against the sidewalk as she stares down at her lap.]

[all_wound_up]

Riku-san!

[She didn't see him standing there, so she's a little surprised.]

Yes, that's right. Namine-san has been teaching me.

[all_wound_up]

[And this storefront was so quiet when Nano had originally come out here, too!]

Oh! Ah... it's nothing special, really!

[tyrantball]

No slime, just whatever bizarre non-Euclidean pocket dimension she keeps Usatako in.

...maybe there was slime, Desco doesn't really bother examining her internal structure that often. Anyway.

"Open it open it!"

Desco is grinning happily, her tail swishing from side to side as she eagerly waits to see Nano's reaction to the contents.

[selematpagi]

[ Yukko has just lost her job! As she slowly shambles down the street, with her arms dangling in front of her, she wonders how the heck they could just make her work the entire day before getting rid of her! That's so stupid! She's also wondering what the heck she was supposed to tell Nano. Nano's her friend, but as much as Yukko is inclined to slouch around, she really wants to work! She totally needs money, and she doesn't want to rely on her friend so much considering she's been... Relying on her the entire time she's been here.

Yukko staggers further down the street, passing as she passes a nearby bakery. She turns her head and spots Nano, sitting all alone at a table. She has a cupcake with candles. Yukko cocks her head. Candles...? Maybe Nano is celebrating something? Yukko throws caution to the wind and shuffled over quickly! ]

... Oh, hey Nano!

[ Sssssslips into the seat across from her. Gravitating towards all the sweets. ]

[all_wound_up]

[Nano wouldn't mind, and wouldn't fault Yukko at all for losing her job - even if it was clearly her fault. Which it almost always is in situations like this. As it is, the little robot has more money than she knows what to do with most of the time, between her savings from the cosplay cafe job, the salary she draws as a consultant for the market, and the money she makes as a co-owner of the Amagi Inn. And friends help each other, right?]

Yukko-san!

[She's been embarrassed or flustered to see everyone else, but Yukko is her best friend. There will always be a special place in Nano's heart for the very first person ever to recognize her for who she was and accept her without a second thought. So as she slides down into the seat, Nano is nothing but smiles as she takes the candles out of the cupcake.]

Would you like to share?

[resipiscent]

You know me?

[Durr. Who are you, Nano?]

Heh... she's getting good, then, if that's so.

[At the Facility, Naminé was good, but not yet enough to teach others.]

[all_wound_up]

O-oh... no, I must have been mistaken.

[Different Riku. She'd met the one that was here before - or one of the ones who was, anyway.]

Yes, she's helped me out so much.

[resipiscent]

Well, that is my name, so... it's okay if you do. There was a Riku before me at the place I was before, too.

That's good. What's your name, miss?

[otakuro]

Well. ...I'm thinking a weapon would probably be easier to learn than, uh, making fireballs out of mid-air. That's impressive, for sure!

[Atsuro gives a small shrug although hey, it isn't as if he can't make fireballs out of midair with the aid of a handy dandy video game system, so.]

I thought it must be...! You looked like you were enjoying yourself before I came along. Is it... some sort of anniversary? The start of your second year here?

Although... there's still a few months left to that, I think.

[frequent_flyer]

No? But there's candles... [Damn Hinata and his lack of nosiness, backing off on the assumption that it's personal and she doesn't want to talk about it.]

[Of course, that doesn't stop him from asking other nosy questions.] ...Do you need to eat? [She was a robot, after all... He had to wonder.]

[all_wound_up]

[Nano gingerly reaches out for the package, opening it slowly and carefully before taking out the present inside, holding it up and blinking curiously.]

It's kind of cute...!

[A little weird, but cute!]