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Rhea's birthday was nearing.
and everyone was preparing a present for her. Some were discreet while some just ask her directly of what she wanted for her birthday.
Meanwhile, Fon was preparing her own gift behind her littlest sister's back. Only, she doesn't know what to gift her sister. She even avoided Rhea and everyone else, locking herself up inside her room. Because to her, this present had to be the best, or at least she one that she put her effort into and not one she half-heartedly made.
One day, a week before Rhea's birthday, Fon finally decided to walk out of her room and take a stroll through the corridor.
While she was deep in her thoughts, she accidentally bumped into someone. Fortunately, both her and the other person have a good balance and didn't fall. When Fon look up, she sees her Master, Choi Han.
Choi Han's eyes visibly lit up seeing his apprentice. "Fon, you're out."
Fon flushes in embarassment. "I'm sorry, Master. I didn't mean to slack off my training for a whole week like this.."
Choi Han just shook his head, "It's alright. I'll get you back in shape after this. Besides…" he avoided her eyes.
Fon quickly understand. "Oh…"
Awkward silence came between them. Fon decided to break it, "so.. Did you get it?"
At that question, Choi Han only sighed, "no."
Fon sobbed, "me too."
They both were such a hard thinker.
No wonder they became master and apprentice.
As the saying goes; like master, like apprentice.
"Well, i am looking for ideas, that's why I'm out here." Fon confessed, to which Choi Han nodded in understanding.
"Do you mind if i come along?" Choi Han asked, to which Fon just smiled and nodded.
And so, that's how one trip looking ideas turned into a conversation about swords and other things.
"I'm not getting ideas." Was what Fon said at the end of the conversation. To which Choi Han's dejected look were mirrored by her.
"Ahh…What to do?? The party is next week-" Fon face palmed. "Master-" she stopped mid sentence, her eyes set on something.
Choi Han look at where she was looking and saw their whole family hanging out.
At the same time, both of them got the ideas they wanted.
"Master-""-Fon."
They look at each other and understood.
Fon's face brightens, which was mirrored by her Master.
"Okay, see you later, Master! Good luck on your present." She couldn't keep the grin off her face.
"Yeah, you too, Fon." Choi Han simply smiled.
And they both parted ways to get their presents.
Oh well, seems like we're finally getting ahead.
Lily paced around the room, wracking her brain for any ideas, any ideas at all. Rhea's, her and Fon's little sister, birthday was nearing soon, and Lily? Lily was out of ideas. She was in a large and dusty room in the Henituse Manor, one filled to the brim with paintings and sculptures alike.
At first, Lily had hoped being in here would help her gather ideas, but now, she felt like her head was emptier than ever.
'Maybe a painting? But what would it be of? And can I even paint? Maybe some sweets? Ah, but doesn't that seem a little lazy on my end?'
Step, step, step.
'Would Rhea like a pet? Maybe a kitty or puppy? What about a physical copy of Trash of the Count's Family? That seems like a good idea, but where would I get it?'
Her pacing increased, and Lily ended up bumping into a particularly expensive looking sculpture of a golden turtle. It tipped over, and she barely just caught it before it fell.
A sigh of relief sounded throughout the room.
'..Maybe being in here isn't such a good idea for.. well, ideas.'
About half an hour later, Lily was standing outside, leaning against a tree, squinting against the sunlight, and still out of ideas.
'Ah seriously, this is really hard.'
There was only a week left until Rhea's birthday, and Lily felt doomed. She knew Fon had something planned, noting the fact that the swordmaster had been distancing herself from Rhea for a few weeks now to keep it secret, now the problem was what Lily should do. She buried her head in her hands in despair and sat down at the base of the tree, resting her eyes.
'Mm, maybe I should visit the others to see what they're up to. I'm sure I'll get an idea. Hopefully.'
Lily teleported herself to Rosalyn's magic tower with a teleportation scroll. She thought it was just a bit of a shame that she only had one, so Lily would have to either walk back or ask the fiery-red haired mage to teleport her back.
With a slight spell of dizziness and a stumble, Lily blinked past the blurriness that rose and glanced around her surroundings. The normally white and clean walls were blackened with a few neon color splotches decorating the sides. It was probably the result of another particularly explosive experiment, Raon's trademark.
"Shiny Lily!!"
A black blob with goggles on crashed into Lily's stomach, causing her to cough and stumble back a few steps. Upon looking closer, she realized the cheerful black blob was Raon. Lily patted the dragon's scaly back and greeted him.
"Hi Raon, another experiment ending in a colorful blast I see?"
Raon nodded with vigor, excitement sparkling in his eyes. "Yes!! It was conducted by this great and mighty dragon!"
A chuckle came from the other side of the room, and Rosalyn, in a now blackened lab coat, added in, "It was indeed very colorful. Welcome Lily, what brings you here?"
"Oh Rosalyn! Ah yes, I actually came to pick up a.."
…
Now in the Super Rock Villa, Lily searched for a certain grey cat, only to trip over.. a pile of thread spools neatly stacked on the floor. Well, they were neatly stacked before she fell over them, anyway.
"Ack.."
"Lily-nya," a familiar voice spoke its owner staring at Lily as if disappointed, "you'd be the last person to trip over a stack of thread as big as that."
On shook her head, and Lily started to frantically restack the pile as fast as she could to make up for the mess. "Ahaha," Lily laughed awkwardly, "sorry about that, there's just something on my mind."
Quirking up an eyebrow, On listened in interest while helping clean up the spool jumble. She listened as Lily explained her current situation, pausing at times to stare a few different needles and thread colors.
"..And that's how I ended up here."
"You're kinda hopeless, nya."
"Okay, no need to be that blunt - but yeah, I kinda am. Actually, think you can help me out a little?"
Lily pointed to the colors and needles she was eyeing earlier. "This, this, this.. and that. Could you lend me those?"
On blinked once. Then twice. Then twice. "Hey, didn't you just buy a huge amount last we--"
"I'll teach you how I embroidered those shooting stars the other day," Lily blurted out, wanting to avoid the embarrassing reason why she lost all her sewing and embroidery supplies.
On opened her mouth. Then she closed it and opened it again after a minute of silence. "Deal. Pleasure doing business with you, Lily-nya."
—
–
·
The party was in full force now.
It was started with Raon, Hong, and On waking up the birthday girl. And then them dragging her to get ready.
Meanwhile, the other family members were preparing the table and other decorations and started to bring in their presents into the room.
Interestingly, some were much bigger or smaller than your average presents. But none judge the other and they waited for Rhea to finally get down stairs.
Once the birthday girl arrived, everyone celebrated her birthday.
Rhea seemed teary before she laughed. It seems like she was happy.
Everyone was glad that was the case. She deserves to be happy. She deserves this party and every gift.
Rhea searched for someone in particular that she noticed was missing. A pang of disappointment was felt, but her spirits were quickly lifted with the next event. Plus, maybe the person she was looking for was just a little late.
And then, it was time to give presents.
Everyone gave every kind of presents. Some Rhea seems to like, some Rhea seems unsure about. And then it was her sisters turn.
"Well, happy birthday, littlest sister." Fon smiled at Rhea as she dragged the 3 meters tall thin box with her. Clearly, her strength were one of a kind, one that she learned from her Master. (Normally, it take 2 grown men to lift that box).
"Fon Unnie!" Rhea hugged her oldest sister, who hugged her back.
It was clear the 2 weeks separation were affecting Rhea a little, and that make Fon feel a little guilty. Well, they have time to make up for it after today.
"Sorry about that. But i finally got your present finished! It took a long time to finish this since the paint need to dry." Fon looked rather smug. (She did ask Rosalyn to help her dry the paint. And maybe there was some burnt, but nothing she couldn't fix).
Rhea look up at her oldest sister, curious about what she brings. "O-oh-kay then.." They let go of the hug, but their hands were still in each other. Fon took out a small knife out of nowhere and tear the box apart.
The work was precise and skillfull, showing how Beacrox had taught her to be a skilled cutter.
When she was done, the box wear down, showing the present inside it.
Rhea's eyes widened in awe. Not only her, the other children also got excited at what she gifted Rhea.
"This is…" "Our whole family." Fon's smug smile turned softer.
The present she choose were a painting of their bunch. Everyone was included, even the prince, who couldn't attend today, clopeh as well(though rather unwelcome), Bud, Mary, the Sun Twin, everyone present here this day and not. And that included Rhea, Lily and Fon.
They were all spread in a field that everyone recognize as the Black Dragon Castle.
"U-unnie…" Rhea's eyes became teary before she hugged the oldest again. "Thank y-you!"
Fon patted Rhea's back, "My pleasure. You're my beloved imoutou, after all. This is the least i can gift you."
Bam!
The door burst open, and everyone, including the birthday girl, stared at the new arrival. it was Lily, leaning on the doorway and wheezing from having seemingly ran to the party. She was holding a neatly wrapped gift in one hand.
"Unnie!! You're here!!"
"Wouldn't miss this for the world."
Rhea gave a smile to Fon before running over to Lily, arms outstretched for a hug. Lily indulged her and hugged back, ruffling her little sister's hair with a smile. Lily sent a glance to Fon, nodding to her. After recieving a nod back, Lily took a deep breath and straightened her back.
"Happy birthday, dongsaeng," Lily passed the wrapped box over to her sister, watching as her eyes lit up with pure delight.
Lily took Rhea's hand and led her to the others, letting her open her gift to reveal a cloth wrapped disk with embroidered designs. The cloth was a light purple color, and in the middle was Rhea's name with a dotted border surrounding it.
Across the entire disk were embroidered yellow, blue, purple(a deeper purple than the cloth) sparkles as well as blue and white lines running across the edges of the disk. On the bottom was a wish for a happy birthday and a line beneath it saying, 'From Lily-unnie.'
"This," Lily rushed to explain to avoid any confusion, "is kind of like a nightlight. You can choose from different designs on the back with the different heart and sparkle designs. Um it's hard to explain.. here, lemme.."
Cale turned off the light, as he was the closest to the switch. The Super Rock Villa wasn't a modern house, not by any means, but it wasn't medieval either, with a few adjustments taken from Earth.
The disk stayed dark, and Rhea tilted her head to the left in confusion. "Uh.. unnie?"
"Okay, press on your name."
The room's ceiling was soon illuminated with shooting stars, sparkles, and names of people close to Rhea along with little chibi doodles of them. In the middle of the light-up design was a message.
"Sleep well, Rhea." she read aloud, gasping in awe.
"And," Lily made sure to add, "you can change the message with the heart-sparkle designs, like I said earlier."
Rhea went through the designs, all of which had wholesome and positive messages of encouragement, wishes for a happy birthday, and a final one that said, 'We love you Rhea! You deserve this, so happy birthday!!'
Rhea caught Lily in a hug before dragging Fon over too.
"Thank you!! Thank you, Fon and Lily-unnie!!!"
The rest of the party went smoothly, was filled with fun, and happy little accidents that left many in tears from laughter. Beacrox had baked a cake, which everyone had enjoyed. Other pastries had been served as well as a hearty dinner filled with more gift giving and laughs.
Sometime during a few games the others were playing, Lily excused herself to the sidelines, greeting Fon who was already there.
"Hey Fon, nice to see you."
"Hi Lily, enjoying the party?"
"Yeah, but I think my social battery's drained by now.."
That earned a chuckle and an earnest smile. Lily leaned back.
Cra-crack!
Fon look at Lily, a little bit impressed by the loud crack, "You sure have it rough, Lyl." She patted Lily's head.
Sighing, Lily nodded.
"I don't think beinding over in that shrimp position for the present was very good for my back.. what about you? Did you have any problems with the painting?"
"A few burnt here and there, nothing i could turn into something better. Though-" Fon smirked, "That night light was an awesome idea yu came up with. Good job." She gave a thumbs up.
Laughing, Lily gave a thumbs up back. "Hey, your's was impressive too, you know? A painting is insane dedication. Good work on your end too, yeah?"
Fon scractched the back of her neck, "It was nothing." You could tell she was embarrassed and flustered by the compliment with how red her ear turned.
Lily smirked and decided to push this further. "I seriously don't know how you did that, I mean, it looks so high quality!" None of the compliments were false, not at all, but Lily did kind of want to see how embarassed she could get Fon. Just for fun.
Fon slap her cheeks, "Shut it," she was bad at it, her grin couldn't be wiped off.
"Sure, sure, master painter," Lily threw her head back and cackled.
Fon sighed, "Yeah, yeah, you're no different, master inventor." Fo shrugged, looking back to nonchalant, even though her face was still flushed.
"Yeah, okay, sure I'll let you take the win here." Lily's cackles were now quiet giggles and she took a pastry out to take a quick bite.
Fon hummed, satisfied while taking a cookie. Chocolate, her favorite.
…
After the party was over, nearly everyone had left, the skies had darkened, and only the trio consisting of Fon, Rhea, and Lily were left. Fon patted the youngest's hair.
"Rhea, did you have fun?"
"Yes!!" Rhea nodded, still brimming with energy.
"That's good." Fon commented shortly.
Lily smiled knowingly and added, "Are you ready for more?"
"More? There's more? Do I deserve it? It's already been a happy day.."
"Kid, you deserve the world," Fon stated firmly.
"Plus you're still young! You're allowed to have fun, and be a kid." Lily added, hugged Rhea.
Rhea was rendered speechless for a moment before returning the hug and dragging Fon into it. "Thank you.."
"It's the least we can do."
They stayed there for several minutes, basking in the comfortable silence.
Lily then whispered something into Fon's ear, and Rhea caught a few words. 'Looting, outing, and lollipops'.
Fon nodded quickly and then turn to Rhea along with Lily, "there's some place we planned to go as an outing. To remember the old times." Fon nudged Lily.
Lily grinned and took Rhea and Fon by the hand. "Let's go." She took them both outside willing the wind to support the three of them, past the Forest of Darkness, past the Henituse Manor, past Rain City, and into Spoon City, a city nearby.
Eventually, they landed on the roof of a noble, one known for being corrupt. It was one that the Henituses were going to take care of, but couldn't due to the territorial restrictions and conflict between a few of the lesser vassals.
Usually Taylor and Cage would have removed them pretty quickly or at least let the Henituses take care of them, but because they were out for at least a few weeks to the Eastern Continent for some political business, and the nobles left in charge were also coincidentally on a trip to Puzzle City, the ones left behind were the ultimately the corrupt ones.
"Uh, unnie.. why are we here?"
"The party may be over, but you know, the night's still young."
"Actually, I would even say that it's perfect for looting.."
Mischief made its way onto all three's faces.
Which is why Lily and Fon brought Rhea here. To both get rid of some pests and have some fun. Because, why not? After whispering a quick plan between the three of them, Fon materialized a dagger and pried one of the windows open while Lily used the wind to widen the gap.
Rhea slipped in and willed a big sack to appear in her hands. She then snuck around, mapping the area out while drawing messages in the dirt of a potted plant. After about 5 minutes, the soil drawn on was lifted up and carried to Lily, who then gave instructions to Fon.
A silent heist was in action.
Fon knocked out guards and broke magic surveilance devices at the front and sides of the mansion, while Lily pointed out their locations. Rhea, in the meanwhile, was sneaking around, looting the house.
Step.
Lily was about to alert Fon of another enemy, before taking a closer look at the myterious arrival. A small red cat widened its golden eyes before slipping into a gap between the fence and wall of the manor.
Fon had just arrived at Lily's location, noticing the lack of signals, and had caught the last of the bizzare scene.
"…"
"..That was Hong."
"Yep"
"He followed us."
"He did. And if he is, that means the other two are near."
Lily stared at Fon. Then at the place where Hong disappeared at. "..Well. I.. uhm, is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
"Depends." Fon shrugged, her tenseness disappearing in a matter of seconds, "will they join us or not." An evil grin spread across her face, she was having an idea.
Lily shrugged before catching a glance at Fon. "Oh.. yes.." she soon mirrored the grin, "will they join us indeed.."
A pause.
"Hey Fon, should we tell Rhea?"
Fon didn't answer, she already disappeared without a trace.
"..Oh. Okay then, I'll just.. " Lily trailed off.
Back inside, while Rhea was stuffing entire safes and coin pouches into her bag, a trio of 2 cats and one dragon were keeping an eye on her and snatching a few coins for themselves.
Rhea noticed the disappearing coins and glared at empty air. "Who's there?"
No one spoke for a few minutes. Then, a fog filled the halls outside of the room and a red cat appeared. "Rhea-nya! Hi!"
"Hong! What are you doing here?" Rhea asked.
A girl with grey hair soon appeared after, face palming and looking every bit disappointed. "Hong.. dongsaeng, I love you, but come on.. we aren't supposed to reveal outselves.."
Hong blinked in reply. "It's Rhea though?"
"Hi On-unnie!! You're also here? What about Rao-"
Raon flew into the room, looking transparent. "HYUNG!! NOONA!! I PUT UP THE SOUND BARRIER!!"
Well, that answered Rhea's question.
On face palmed yet again. "You guys are so hopeless-nya.. so hopeless.."
Rhea sort of had an idea of what had happened, but she didn't see it as a bad thing. More people to help loot, right? From the shadows, 2 figures appeared.
"Hey guys, want to join the fun? I saw a treasury on my way here." Fon quirked her eyebrows up and down, her eyes full of mischieves.
"Okay but like.. shouldn't we check if anyone else has followed?" Lily stumbled out of the fog, clearly surprised at actually find her way here. "Also On, your fog is seriously hard to navigate in. Good job, but at the same time.. come on."
"Really? It was pretty easy going through the vent." Fon looked at Lily 'innocently'.
Lily inhaled sharply and looked at Fon with the brightest smile she could muster up. "Well then Fon, the youngest swordmaster in history, the greatest painter I know and the-"
"Stop."
"Shiny Lily and Fon! You two look like Cale and the Cookie Prince!"
"They do," Rhea murmured, comparing the 2.
Lily simply smiled in response. "Why thank you Raon. Hey, do you have any compliments for Fon?"
"No need for compliments, i know i'm awesome." Everyone look at her with deadpan look. Someone sighed. Someone face palmed.
"No no no, I insist, I insist," Lily pushed further with a shit-eating grin, "everyone just has to know more of your greatness."
Fon's smile turn colder, "Let's stop here." And then it brighten again. "I wanna go to the treasury!"
"More looting!" Rhea gasped, creating more bags in preparation for the grand heist.
Lily shrugged and held out her hand as a sign of peace and a truce. Fon shook her hand.
On sighed and muttered something about finally letting the banter end, Rhea looked on with curiousity, and both Hong and Raon remembered times from the Cookie Prince's and Cale's conversation.
She turned back to Rhea. "Are you done looting here?"
Rhea shoved one more cash pile into the oversized bag ripping at the seams and nodded. Raon casted a spell to turn the bag into a dimensional storage bag, shrinking the bag and earning a pat of approval from everyone there.
Lily, Fon, and Rhea shared a look. Then they all grinned. Raon knew the look and began making a few magic bombs while Hong gathered some poison in his paws. On stayed silent, reflecting on her life's decisions.
"You two are the oldest.. and you still want to blow up a house for fun.." she muttered to Lily and Fon, clearly not impressed.
"Eh, it's fun, and its good to enjoy your youth, right?" Lily shrugged and blew On's fog outside the manor, obscuring its view.
"Try it, On! Also, explosions!" Rhea popped into the conversation, helping Raon make the bombs. She got a meow from a grey cat as a reply.
…
From afar, there just seemed to be some fog and a gentle breeze around the area. Of course, Cale, Choi Han, Ron, Beacrox, and others who had come along to supervise the young children knew better.
This? This seemed almost like a set up for pure chaos.
"Cale-nim.." Choi Han started, unsure of how to phrase these next words. Everyone heard them anyway, and they all turned to look at Cale.
'Cale, you're a bad influence on the children.'
Cale felt shivers up his spine and wondered why everyone was staring at him. Or maybe they were just staring at the mansion? Cale was at the front, so he could have misinterpreted the gaze..
'Yeah, that must be it,' the oblivious idiot red head thought. You could almost hear everyone's exasperated sigh.
…
KA-BOOM!!
The explosion was only heard by those inside of the sound barrier, but the light was bright as ever. Of course, since the mansion was separated from the rest of the town, no one was particularly very affected by the light.
6 figures came flying out of the explosion, all laughing and being carried by the wind. Even On, who was more reluctant, was full of evil giggles and cackles.
Cale, still watching from a ledge, shivered. 'Vicious..'
Rhea, Fon, and Lily all came out holding seemingly small sacks filled to the brim with riches and jewelry alike. On and Hong held onto more important documents, and Raon carefully controlled the blast's radius, minimizing its impact and getting rid of the light and sound completely after a minute or two.
"That was fun!"
"Looting as a family activity.. guys, we need to take notes.."
"So why did we take literally everything but the important documents?"
"Don't worry noona! That's why you're here!"
"Nya!"
"Hahaha! Best birthday ever!!"
…
A stand still open in Rain City caught Lily's eye. On, Hong, and Raon had already headed back with the adults, so only the slums trio were left.
"Eh, looks like there's still a stand open. Hm. Fon, can you lend me some money?"
"Oi, you already got some from our loot1" She said that but still give the money Lily asked.
Lily gave her pouch to Rhea, whispering another happy birthday. Rhea hugged Lily back. She then turned to Fon, took the money, and grinned. "Why, whatever are you talking about?"
Fon sighed and shook her head, she was too tired to argue.
Using the money, Lily bought 3 lollipops in the shape of hearts and passed them out to all three of them. "Here's to Rhea's birthday, and many more to come!"
Lily then stuck the lollipop in her mouth and ruffled Rhea's hair.
Fon gave her lollipop to rhea, "not my flavour" She said, which was a lie, she eats anything in sights, including dirt.
"Are you sure unnie?" Rhea asked, hesistantly taking the lollipop.
Fon nodded and smiled at Rhea. Lily looked on knowingly, but didn't say a word. She sort of felt like she should've given Rhea her lollipop actually…
Lily thought that it was a little too late though, the strawberry flavour filling her mouth.
Rhea took both lollipops and hugged Fon. "Thank you!! Both of you!! I really don't know what else to say except thank you.."
"Just your smile and happiness is enough, you know."
They all exchanged stories, both from this world and their previous one, and the night ended with cheerful laughs and group hugs.