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“In honour of my birthday, I would like to humbly request the most stunning, spectacular custom cake yet! Even better than the one from last year, and the year before that, and the year before that…”
“Elysia, how exactly are we going to make this cake even more extravagant than last year’s?” Eden asked. “I dunno if we can outdo that one.”
“No need to worry,” Elysia exclaimed, flipping a conveniently placed whiteboard around to reveal a diagram for this year’s birthday cake.
“Five tiers, pink icing, pink inside, more pink icing between layers, loooots of flower petals everywhere, and most importantly of all, a cake topper in the shape of meee !” She pointed at different parts of the diagram as she explained her plan.
“ And , I’ll need all your help with it!” She finished by pointing at the rest of the Flame-Chasers gathered around the whiteboard with a flourish.
“Kalpas, you’ll be in charge of baking, as usual. Mobius, I’m counting on you to create the pinkest flavour for the cake yet!”
“But that’s not my area of expertise,” Mobius complained.
“No one ever said you can’t try new things! And the rest of you, you’re all in charge of throwing the party! Griseo can do the decorations, Elysia can be in charge of music, and everyone else… just find something to do, okay? Okay!”
Elysia scampered off to do god knows what, leaving everyone else just standing there in silence, wondering how the hell this was all going to work out.
The big day had finally arrived. It was Elysia’s birthday, and there was still so much to be done. The Elysian Realm’s party room (don’t ask why they have one, I’m honestly not sure either) was in total chaos, twelve people and one ELF running around, trying to get everything set up before the hour of celebration was upon them. The room looked like the colour pink was very violently killed and then had its remains scattered everywhere, streamers hung from the walls, balloons floated in corners, a disco ball was suspended from the center of the ceiling.
In what would’ve been an extraordinary feat of strength for pretty much anyone else, Kalpas carried in the massive tiered cake on a tray, fully complete and fully pink, miniature Elysia-shaped cake topper and all. His arms and hands had fresh burn marks from where the icing had gotten on them, it was somehow sweet and pink enough that it was actually caustic. The maker of said icing followed behind him with a bowl of equally pink punch that probably violated the Geneva Convention.
They set down the food and drink on a table in one of the corners, and Mobius got out the stack of pink plastic cups. Close behind them, Vill-V wheeled in some odd-looking contraption, painted- you guessed it- pink. It looked an awful lot like a cannon, and probably wasn’t safe in any way, but such were the birthday celebrations here. In another corner, Pardofelis, in classic Pardofelis fashion, had somehow managed to set up both a party supply shop and a small photobooth.
In other words, the preparations were actually going pretty smoothly. Within a half hour, Elysia was set to arrive, and the party room (again, I have no idea why they have one) was pretty and pink and not a complete mess. When Elysia did enter the room, she was taken aback, mostly by how pink it was, but also by the efforts of her comrades.
“Wow, this is so pretty! Kalpas, Mobius, how did the cake turn out?” She strode over to the corner with the desserts, and spent a second inspecting the absolute masterpiece (or abomination. depends on who you ask) that was the birthday cake. “I can’t wait to see how this tastes,” she exclaimed, blissfully unaware of its caustic properties.
She made her way around the room, inspecting everything that was set up for her. “Ah, I see the Confetti Blaster Mark III (now with 50% more pink) is ready for action. I hope it's safer than last year's,” she remarked when she got to Vill-V’s creation.
“Ohh, so that’s what that was,” Pardofelis muttered to herself from her booth.
Once she was satisfied with the level of pink in the party room, Elysia made her way back to the dessert table. “So, who’s ready to eat?”
Everyone cheered, except for Kalpas. He did not want a slice of the cake, not after how badly it’d burned him. Mobius probably didn’t want any either since she knew what was in the icing, but she cheered anyway. Elysia took out a pretty pink bedazzled knife, and cut the first slice. She then took out a pretty pink bedazzled fork, and took the first bite.
Time seemed to stand still for a second as the other Flame-Chasers watched her expression. Her face went from neutral to surprised, then eventually to a smile.
“This is the best cake I’ve ever tasted!”
Mobius breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that her icing recipe hadn’t caused Elysia to drop dead right then and there. The crowd erupted in cheers once again, and the party truly began.
(That night, several of them would end up passing out due to the punch, but that’s another story.)