The beach, Wednesday morning

[betterthanaplan]

Duke was doing his best not to let his mood from yesterday affect him today. He wasn't doing a great job at it, but Rey had seemed pretty excited to do a little birthday thing for him this week, and he didn't want to bring her down with his shit.

He brought along the leftover pirate buns from Nina. He figured they'd go reasonably well with donuts.

[open!]

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[thatwaslucky]

Rey arrived on time, carrying a box of donuts and a plastic bag, greeting him with, "Happy Day After Birthday."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke gave her a small smile in return. "Thank you." He gave her a little bowing nod. "Seems like word got around a little. Nina sent me something yesterday." He held up the box of buns. "So if you like, we can have two courses this morning."

[thatwaslucky]

"Sure," she agreed, taking a seat to put stuff down. "How was yesterday?"

Because hopefully her stuff would help if it was bad.

[betterthanaplan]

"It was. . . ." Duke looked a way towards the water. The look on his face probably said the things he was figuring out how to word, anyway. ". . . Not the best birthday I've had. Yet oddly, probably not the worst."

[thatwaslucky]

"I'm sorry," she said, and would have said she was glad it wasn't the worst, then paused. "I'm also sorry for those worse birthdays."

[betterthanaplan]

"Thanks. I'm sure you've had a few nasty ones too, though."

Assuming she had one to begin with.

[thatwaslucky]

Rey shrugged. "It's just another day for me. I forget about it till a week later most of the time."

It'd been very important when she was little and sure her family would be back for it, and then it wasn't important at all anymore.

[betterthanaplan]

"You mind I ask when it is?" Duke asked. "Maybe I can return the 'day after' favor."

[thatwaslucky]

"July. The 21st." That was probably the first time she'd ever told anyone when it was. "I will probably forget about it."

[betterthanaplan]

"July 21st." Duke pulled out his phone. "That's a Tuesday this year. I'll be sure to bring the day-after donuts."

[thatwaslucky]

"Speaking of which," she said, opening the donut box to reveal an assortment of his favorites and a couple others in case he got sick of that. "I don't know how much the other would get into."

[betterthanaplan]

"Mahalo," Duke said. Hanging out with Danny had put Hawaii on his mind. He picked out one of the donuts and passed her the box of sticky buns. "I gather Nina made those herself, so I'm pretty sure they're made from, like, steak and cinnamon or something."

[thatwaslucky]

"I've heard about that class," Rey said, taking one anyway because she was the least picky ever. "Thank you. I also have presents of a sort."

He didn't want to make a big deal about it, but she had to do something a little ridiculous.

[betterthanaplan]

"Seriously?" Duke shook his head. "You didn't need to do that."

But he wasn't going to turn them down.

[thatwaslucky]

"They're small," Rey said, and she'd really just been trying to make sure today didn't suck if yesterday did. "And this one actually is for the porgs."

She reached into the bag, pulling out a little handmade paper party hat.

"If they get donuts, they really should be part of the party."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke couldn’t help but grin at that. “An excellent point.” He wiggles his fingers at Polly. “C’mere, strikon. Come get your hat.”

[thatwaslucky]

"I was hoping you wouldn't be tired of birds in hats but it seemed like tradition," she said.

[betterthanaplan]

"This isn't 'birds in hats'," Duke said. "It's Polly celebrating my day-after-birthday."

[thatwaslucky]

"Well, there are hats for the others, and that might make you tired of birds in hats."

Rey had no idea how many porgs there were. She'd overdone it.

[betterthanaplan]

“If I am, I’ll deal,” Duke assures her. “It’s the nicest thing I’ve had to deal with in ages.”

[thatwaslucky]

"Which brings me to dealing with not nice things, here's the rest of your present."

She handed over the rest of the bag, which was filled with different kinds of hangover cures, be it something found over the counter, or just home remedies she'd found on the internet and wrote out.

Had she instantly though of this after last week when this all came up? Yes.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke took a look at it and laughed. “Most useful present ever.”

[thatwaslucky]

That was the reaction she'd been going for!

"It might be trial and error so I included several options. When needed you can just go down the list."

[betterthanaplan]

"I'll be sure to report back, let you know how it goes."

[thatwaslucky]

"Oh! And there's a candle in there for your birthday donut."

She still didn't understand that practice.

[betterthanaplan]

"Well. We've got to do this up proper." Duke reached in for the candle. "Are you going to wear a hat, too?"

[thatwaslucky]

"If it's a Day After Birthday tradition then I will wear a hat," she said.

[betterthanaplan]

"Wow, that's giving me a lot of power." Duke chuckled. "Hats for all." He stuck his candle into his donut and dug into his pocket for his lighter.

[thatwaslucky]

"Know that I'll remember this in a month," she said lightly.

[betterthanaplan]

"That . . . is a very good point." Duke tilted his head, considering, then lifted his hand in a decree. "Only the porgs shall wear hats!"

[thatwaslucky]

"It is now tradition," Rey agreed, laughing.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke lit the candle and held it up. "Now, do you know how this part works?"

[thatwaslucky]

"The candle's lit and then you blow it out."

For some reason.

[betterthanaplan]

“Yes,” Duke said. “But between those two steps, the honoree makes a wish.”

[thatwaslucky]

"A wish," she repeated, looking dubious.

...Outwardly, anyway. She'd love the idea.

[betterthanaplan]

"That's right. And blowing out the candle makes the wish come true." Duke shrugged. "Theoretically."

He closed his eyes for a moment, thought, and then blew the candle out.

[thatwaslucky]

"How long does it take?" Rey asked.

[betterthanaplan]

“There’s no specific timeline. It’s not an exact science.”

Or rooted in any science at all.