Work Text:
“Elysia, can I ask a favor of you?”
The woman brightened instantly, bouncing on her heels. “Of course! What do you need, Hua?”
“Uhm, despite my prowess in martial arts, I never learned to use a weapon. Could you teach me archery…? Just in case there’s a situation where close-quarters combat isn’t a viable option.” The girl nervously ran a finger over the training bow’s string, hoping that she wasn’t seen through. What she said was genuine, but the sudden request’s motive could easily be questioned.
“Really? Aw, if you wanted to spend time with me, you could’ve just asked~” Elysia giggled.
Hua grumbled a bit, ears turning pink. She could see where her senior got that idea, Hua could learn anything she put the effort to on her own with her unnatural memory. “This is just easier and faster.”
“Mhmm.”
“Discovering the finer tricks could take weeks to months. Learning from you is more efficient.”
“Right, so you wanted to learn from me out of all the people at the base!” Elysia beamed, tugging her along. “On to business, we have to get you the proper training gear! We wouldn’t want you to be hurt after all, the fletchings can be dangerous since you have a barebow there, and there’s also the string that can catch on the forearm, that bruises. I’d show you my hand scars, but I don’t have them anymore. It’s a shame really, I can’t ask Eden to kiss them now! But anyways, there’s a lot of misconceptions about form and technique, so I should clear that up just in case..." The bright woman happily rambled with Hua fondly nodding along. Elysia both genuinely cared about the young soldier and was enthusiastic about the elegant combat form, so it was very easy to get her chattering away.
That happened quite often actually, Elysia would hyperfixate or remember something from her past, and a quieter personality like Eden, Hua or Su would sit down with her infectiously happy self and be regaled. Everyone got that treatment actually, just some more often and willing than others. Kevin acted annoyed whenever she'd go off on a tangent with him, citing that there was important work to be done, but he didn't leave. It was a coin toss in terms of violence whenever she chose to annoy Kalpas, but she definitely wasn't seen for days whenever she invited herself to Mobius’ lab.
But whatever happened behind the closed doors of Mobius’ domain wasn't the Flame-Chasers’ concern today, for it was the night of November 10th, almost the birthday of their annoyingly loving vice-captain.
“Now that we’ve successfully sacrificed Hua, we need to finish getting this place ready right now because the kid picks up stuff fast and Elysia knows it. She'd be delighted if Hua tried to stall to spend time with her, but Elysia knows that's unlikely to happen and it's only a matter of time before she remembers what day it is,” Sakura reported to the group in the war room.
Eden chuckled a bit. “Isn't 'sacrificed’ a bit dramatic?”
“No,” Kevin muttered.
“Well, in any case, she's distracted now and that's what matters.” Su took another glance around. “It, ah, seems we’re missing… quite a lot of people.”
Eden shrugged. “Mei, Mobius, Dystopia, Aponia, Cosmos and Ato are all rather busy I’m afraid. I believe they'll all be able to at least make an appearance at the party itself though, and I know Mobius will be staying for sure.”
“And Kalpas?”
“You know how he is, his only peace is in battle,” she offered an apologetic smile on his behalf. “But, Ely would be thrilled if he were to at least be there for a bit, and in battle lies the solution to that.”
All eyes turned to a moody Kevin. In response, he merely crossed his arms and turned away.
The blue luminescence of the screens flickered ever so slightly with the constantly updating information.
Kevin couldn't see it, but he could feel Eden raising a glass of wine to her lips and he swore there was a smugness to the action, which there shouldn't be because he didn't agree to anything and he wasn't going to.
“Kevin.”
“No.”
“She arranged your birthday party, Kevin.”
“No.”
“She'd act more mature for a while.”
“She wouldn't.”
“She wouldn't, but don't you want to do something nice for her?”
“There's only room in the budget for one per month.”
“Mobius is currently busy because she's expanding on research in her lab that would allow us to liquidate another science department.”
“It’s an unnecessary risk.”
“One you're already partaking in.”
Kevin struggled for a moment to find another plausible reason, other than ‘I don't want to’.
“...Fine, I’ll tell Kalpas that I’ll fight him if he attends.”
Eden clapped her hands, a serene smile on her face. “Excellent! In the meanwhile, decorations are an order. Kevin, be a dear and try to make some nice ice sculptures. Su, you’ll help me put up the banners, Ely likes things fun and colorful. Sakura, this is where you'll put the presents, and you'll set the cake I made here when we bring it in…”
23:58.
Hua’s fingers ached. She’d been in the shooting range with the soon-to-be recipient of the planned surprise for three hours, and she’d drawn the bowstring a total of 627 times.
An issue with her eidetic memory is that it took time for her body to be in sync with her mind. While she knew what to do from Elysia’s examples, there was still the matter of actually following the actions because by all accounts, archery was foreign to her muscles. The open stance it took to shoot did not agree with martial artist at first, and it still didn’t but she was trying.
The majority of the three hours were spent simply shooting different targets and allowing Hua to practice as Elysia just talked about whatever her mind wandered to. It was quite nice actually, a pleasant change of pace from all of MOTHs experiments and assignments for the both of them.
23:59.
The day was drawing to a close and they were heading back to the Golden Courtyard, the Flame-Chasers’ convention hall and unspoken private territory.
For practicality, the place wasn't necessarily restricted, but there weren't many who had any real desire to maintain extended contact with regular MANTIS, let alone the dangerous personalities that made up their most elite squad. Some of them were very possessive of what was theirs.
Which meant that the Flame-Chasers had total privacy and with Hua having distracted her, Elysia didn't know of the last few hours’ preparation.
“Elysia-”
“I’ve told you, you can call me Ely, Hua!”
“-you’re not too tired, are you?”
The woman gave her a quizzical look. “No. Why?” The answer became apparent as noise grew noticable the closer they got to their destination. “Wait…” Giddy and glowing with anticipation, she skipped the last few steps and threw open the doors.
24:00.
“Happy birthday, Elysia!”
The Golden Courtyard was alight with pinks and blues, contributed to by streamers, flower arrangements, decorative gems of all sorts, and of course the requested ice sculptures.
More importantly, all of her favorite people to annoy were there.
“Eden! You did this all for me?” Miss pink elf bounded up, taking the singer’s hands in hers.
“Don’t go giving me all the credit now, everyone pitched in. But yes, this is all for little ole you,” Eden smiled, raising their entwined fingers to her lips. Hua slipped past them with a roll of her eyes to sit down with Su.
The birthday girl’s radiant smile quickly turned into a mock pout as she shifted her arms to wrap around the other woman’s waist, dropping her head on Eden’s shoulder to look at the room behind her. “You started the festivities without me,” she whined, dragging out the last syllable.
“Well, yes. It wasn't exactly on purpose, Kalpas was getting rowdy and Mobius got drunk. It’s more enjoyable like this anyways, no?” Elysia huffed, nuzzling into her neck. Eden chuckled in response, patting her back. “Oh, don't be like that. At most we wanted to catch you off guard, you can't honestly have been surprised that we did something like this.”
“Well naturally if there was anything the Flame-Chasers would celebrate, it would be my birthday,” she agreed, “but I could've at least acted surprised! Also, it’s not nice to exclude the girl of the day you know.”
“You couldn't even follow your own plan for Kevin’s birthday.”
“I told you, someone must have switched out the final script! I’m an excellent actress!”
Eden pressed her cheek to silky rose locks. “Of course you are. But think about it this way, Mobius would’ve been watching her drink the entire time once you arrived.”
“That’s true… Hold on, I’ve got to go dance with her~”
The night passed with photos taken, drinks knocked back, lively singing and general joy. Miraculously enough, Kevin didn't spend the whole time in the corner with instant noodles (attributed to Su and Mei), Kalpas didn't antagonize anyone too much, and a plastered Mobius refrained from stripping.
Of course, the party wouldn't be complete without a cake. Nor would the Flame-Chasers be without friendly squabbling. Around the room, people had drifted off into pairs if they hadn't already left.
“Why does Kalpas get a slice? He didn't do anything!” Sakura complained.
“I don't want your damned cake! And I tried to help decorate, you were the one that stopped me!”
“Mutilated Honkai beasts aren't decorations!”
“You said pink and blue, I fuckin’ got pink and blue! What more do you want?!”
“Not a half dead Assaka!”
As the odd pair of friends bickered over whether corpses or almost-corpses counted as ornamental pieces, Su and Eden were talking about her music, and Mobius was poking fun about how Hua always got the sacrificial lamb role, leaving Kevin to Elysia’s endless demand of attention.
“Hey~ Finally melted, have you?”
“This is good for morale, that's all.”
“Hm, about the boring answer I was expecting. But, while we’re here, I do have a question for you.” A curious expression was shown on her face, a familiar sight for all who’ve caught her interest.
“Which is?”
“You trust me. Why?” There were millions of reasons for people not to, whether they were out of context or true or not. For the ever stoic soldier to do so was nothing short of astounding.
He didn't even have to think. “Because you love all of humanity more than anyone.” Unlike me, went unsaid.
Elysia blinked. The smallest, most withdrawn smile she ever showed bloomed. “Heh, so sweet Eden talks about me too, huh?” Thank you.
“I’m capable of seeing this kind of stuff on my own.” Had he been anyone else, his tone might've been described as defensive.
“Uhuh,” she joked.
“Why do you think I’m not?”
“Ehhh, who knows? Hey, Su! C’mere, we need a third opinion on something…”
In the back of their minds, everyone knew the battle against Honkai was a losing one. They fought anyways, each for their own reasons. This was Elysia’s, this momentary merriment, this illusion of peace.
One day, it wouldn't be an illusion, even if she wasn't there to see it.