fandomtownies | A Clearing In The Preserve, Thursday Evening

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A Clearing In The Preserve, Thursday Evening

This evening, there was a bit more activity going on in the preserve than the usual scampering and frolicking of the teal deer and the alots. Tonight, there were paper lanterns strung up through the branches and along the trees, there were tables set up in the clearing, and there was music. If it lacked a banner and balloons, they were hoping the glimmer of the lantern lights in the darkness made up for it.

Ino was turning seventeen, and there was only one thing to be done about it. Zack had sent out the e-mail yesterday, and he and Karla had taken care of the food and the cakes and the decorations, and, once Zack managed to get Ino to join them, they were going to celebrate!

[Up a little early for PARTY TIME goodness! Open!]

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As promised, Hannibal was there, looking rather dapper in his mask (http://www.madisonavemall.com/products/product.asp?SKU=M17GLDJWLDMASK&cid=111). It felt good to be back so he was just going to wander around and soak up the island for the short time he was there.

"Hannibal!" Fear. There was a waving puppy coming your way once the birthday girl had been escorted here. "Heya!"

Somebody had to bounce at you over the Swiss-Army everything that you got him for his birthday the other week, yes.

"Hey, man!" Hannibal replied, giving Zack a big grin. "Nice setup you got going here. It's ace, dude!"

"It is pretty neat, isn't it? I like the way the lanterns look, all lit up!"

So, you gave him that knife as a gift to help him prove his masculinity, right?

"Karla helped set it all up, though. A lot of the credit for this goes to her!"

Hannibal snickered, amused at Zack's excitement at how pretty everything looked. He could let Zack lose some masculine points when he was doting on his girlfriend.

"Ino didn't look like she had a clue. I didn't know it was possible to surprise a ninja."

"I'm kind of surprised we managed to pull it off," Zack admitted, scratching at the back of his head. "I mean, after the party that she and Karla put on for me the other week, she really didn't think I was going to let her off easy, did she?"

Well, an evening picnic in the preserve was probably sweet in its own special way too, right?

"Maybe she thought you'd forget?" Hey, guys were kind of notorious for that. It was a bad stereotype they had to overcome.

"Well, that worked in my favor, at least, if she did," decided Zack. "I guess I can be kind of a little forgetful, but her birthday isn't one of those things I'm going to just let pass by without any fanfare. That would be kind of crappy of me."

Kind of!

"You did good, man," Hannibal assured him, looking around. "I'm sure this'll get you a ton of hugs and stuff. I'm just glad I could make it down. The few hours on the bus was worth it, though. I wouldn't miss it."

"She'll be happy to see you here," Zack replied, nodding. "And, hey, I didn't get to say thanks for the gift you got me for my birthday!"

It was awesome! He could open bottles and cans and cut paper and steak (if he ate steak) and stab very, very tiny things with it!

"Yeah, I wasn't sure if you had one of those but I've found they come in handy when you least expect it so I'm glad you liked it."

It had been that or about eighty tubs of ice cream.

Naturally, Zack was going to take that as a cue to pull it out of his pocket.

"There's a little saw on here!"

That was the neatest thing ever!

It was really for the best that Hannibal hadn't sent him that much ice cream. Zack would be even more hyped up right now. Right now, he was running on coffee and that whole 'yaaaay, people' thing that he generally had going for him.

"You gonna chop down some little trees?" Hannibal wondered, snickering.

"Really tiny ones," Zack agreed with a laugh. "I could go into business with this thing, selling holiday trees for mice!"

Well, they didn't have Christmas on Gaia. But they totally had a holiday. With a tree. Which was about the whole point of it. To be a holiday that involved a tree. It was better not to ask.

"You think mice celebrate the holidays?" Hannibal wondered. "What kinds of gifts would they get? Cheese?"

"Cheese and very, very small socks," Zack decided, with a very definitive sort of nod. "And teeny little sweaters that their aunts knit for them and expect them to wear every time they visit, but they somehow end in little mouse thrift stores by the end of January."

At least Zack had managed in the past year and a half to fully comprehend the concept of holiday gifting.

"Have you thought about this?" Hannibal asked, amused.

"Well, I'd have to, if I was planning on starting a multi-million dollar mouse holiday-tree company," reasoned Zack. "Especially if I have to come up with my own advertising."

"Well, if anything, you're gonna have the market cornered because I don't think I know of any company that caters to mice for the holidays," Hannibal said, snickering. "I bet mice celebrate Easter and stuff too. You could really get a business going with this."

Edited 2010-09-24 01:02 (UTC)

And now you've officially earned a headtilt and a blink.

"Easter.... Easter...?"

He'd totally managed to miss the last one, unfortunately. Easter 2010 had not been a good one for him. At all.

"Another religious holiday involving bunny rabbits and candy, really," Hannibal said, shrugging. "The Easter Bunny supposedly shows up at night, hides Easter eggs and drops off baskets of candy for kids."

And right about now, Zack was deciding that Earth holidays were way cooler than Gaian ones.

"... I want one."

An Easter Bunny, yes.

"You want...?" Hannibal asked, trying to figure out what Zack meant. "Candy?"

"The bunny," Zack laughed. "They're way cuter on this world than they are back home. We actually do have attack rabbits where I'm from."

They would beat you up good with a carrot, if ever you decided to sit still and take it.

"Attack rabbits?" Hannibal asked, raising an eyebrow at that. "Why would bunnies wanna attack? Not cute enough?"

Re: Arrive! Mingle!

puppy_fair - 2010-09-24 20:12 (UTC) - Expand

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