PETALS FOR ME LADY ♡ birthday

[michael t.]

ALL I FOUND THE SPACE BETWEEN THE SPACES
STANDING IN THE NOTHING, AND TIME RECLAIMS YOU

Roxanne's birthday. It seemed almost crazy, how quickly time passed. Michael had only first joined The Typhoon very shortly before Roxie's last birthday, and it felt like ages since then. He could barely remember most of his life before The Typhoon or Roxie, and he found that he didn't particularly want to. Aside from Trevor's company, most of Michael's life before arriving on the seafaring group's land was... negative or hectic. It hadn't exactly been a positive experience all around, so the thief preferred to focus on his current life - the one that he loved, even with all of the recent hardships. It felt insane that he had been within The Typhoon for more than a year, but it also felt crazy that his sister had aged yet another year. She seemed no different than when he had first met her, aside from being a bit more responsible, and obviously having finally found the person who was right for her. Otherwise, though? She was still the same old Roxie, and he was so glad for that. She was his rock in times of stress - along with the rest of his family including Diya, of course - and he didn't want her to change.

Even though Michael had known full well that it was Roxie's birthday, he hadn't wanted to head to the Tempest until he saw someone else doing so. After all, Rox never seemed to appreciate being interrupted while she was working, and he felt as though he would be grumbled at less if he arrived after Diya. Once he spotted the officer heading towards the Tempest, he waited several minutes before heading inside his hut, emerging a few minutes later with a box. The box was simple and brown, with several holes poked into it and a plain pink bow tied carefully around it. Inside, faint squeaks and chittering could be heard, from none other than one of Princess's babies. In fact, it was the baby that looked the most like Princess, considering he knew how much Roxanne loved his one and only female rat pet. He had no doubt that she would be delighted by the gift - even if the captain probably would've preferred to steal Princess herself.

A few minutes after Diya had put her gifts down, Michael slipped inside the doorway to the captain's quarters, his jaws gripping the small box's handle carefully. He offered both his sister and Diya his own broad grin, moving to carefully put the box down on Rox's desk. Once his mouth was free once again, he purred in greeting, small tail twitching behind him, "Hey there, captain Rox. Couldn't help but notice that you were another year older today... I figured you could use a little something... or someone to help you feel as young and spry as you really are." He'd never tease Roxie about her growing age. One, because he'd never risk his life like that, and two, because he was older than her, so that'd be pretty ironic.

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Much like his uncle, Roan had known since he had woken up that morning that it was his mama's birthday. It would've been impossible for him to forget her birthday, considering she was the one who had cared for and raised him his entire life. Unfortunately, unlike his soon to be step-mother and uncle, the soothsayer wasn't exactly great at gift-giving. He never really had been, considering he didn't really like getting gifts. They felt like an obligation to him, and he felt bad when others had to try and pick something out for him. However, he couldn't just not get Roxie a gift. She deserved the entire world, as far as he was concerned. He racked his brain for some sort of idea for what to get her, but ultimately found himself coming up short over and over again. It was frustrating as all hell, and he was fairly sure that Paintbrush could tell that he had been getting annoyed, considering the other had finally eventually dragged him to bed the previous night. Ultimately, though, he came up with a gift. It wasn't exactly a "gift" in the traditional sense, but perhaps it would serve to alleviate some of his mama's common worries.

After doing his usual morning duties within the temple, Roan had stepped out into the fresh air of the outside world, taking a deep breath before stretching his wings out. Normally he would avoid flying given his current pregnancy, but he wanted to get down to the Tempest in some kind of decent time frame, and that was quite the long walk. After a short and thankfully uneventful flight, the siamese landed outside of the temple and headed inside, tail flicking behind him as he eventually made his way to the captain's quarters. When he arrived, he was unsurprised to see that his uncle and Diya were already there. It made sense that they would be the first one's to come with their gifts, after all. He sighed softly before waving his tail in greeting, muttering in a soft and tired voice, "Hey mama... and Diya, and Michael. I wanted to come and say happy birthday to you, mama." He offered both Diya and Michael a nod as well, briefly glancing at what they had brought with them.

After briefly biting down on the inside of his cheek, he eventually continued despite his nervousness, "I, uh... I don't exactly really have a traditional gift for you, I'm sorry. But..." He glanced down briefly, paws shifting in front of him before he continued, "I was thinking that maybe my 'gift' could be us spending the day together? Like... me not doing any work for the day, and just spending time with you. Of course, that could be today, or some other day where you feel like you're free. After all, I'm sure that Diya wants to spend the day with you." He flicked his tail in Diya's direction, no sense of bitterness in his voice. After all, it made sense that Diya would want to spend her fiancee's birthday with her.

— Reggan