guppy_sandhu | Guppy's 30th Birthday Party

Having collected everyone from the bar, Guppy leads them back through to the house, where they enter through the kitchen.

The living room furniture has been mostly moved out of the way, and that's where the most of the party has been set up. The sofa and some chairs are around the edge of the room, and there's music playing. The kitchen is a bit small so the food is being taken through into the dining room. Also a little on the small side, but enough for purpose. All of the baby gates are open on the ground floor, but not on the stairs.

Upstairs, the spare bedroom has been set aside for any little people at the party. It's a bit quieter, with baby-sized food, some toys, and a DVD of Pingu playing.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

theflyingsquirl

Of course it worked! The universe is all a plot to get Ev snacks.

Why, if Enzo were in on the telepathic squirrel-link, Ev would tell him so himself.

He giggles as he takes the banana slice he is offered. It all makes it into his mouth, though it doesn't all stay there.

From:

a1enzo

Enzo laughs. "I wonder how old you have to be to learn not to make a mess with your food?"

From:

theflyingsquirl

Judging by his father? At least mid-thirties, if not older.

But bananas are so good! He attempts to push the escaped part back into his mouth, which just makes more of a mess.

From:

a1enzo

Enzo laughs harder and grabs a napkin from the table. "C'mon..." he says, squatting down to wipe Evan's face.

He can always lick the banana off the napkin if he must.

From:

theflyingsquirl

He's managed to get smeared banana in the fur outside his ears, too. It's like magic, only... not very impressive.

But he likes the attention of having the banana wiped off. Any attention to him is good attention.

From:

a1enzo

"Code, you're a mess."

Before he fully realizes he's doing it, Enzo spits on the napkin to wipe at the worst of it.

"Oh, man, I'm turning into my sister."

From:

theflyingsquirl

Ev doesn't seem to mind. (He's used to it. Both his parents do it too, and his squirrels aren't above just licking the extra food off him.)

If anything, he seems very pleased with himself.

Squirrel has an eyebrow raised when he returns from downstairs with a small plate of cake, though.

"Ev, you know the food's supposed to go in. Not come back out."

From:

a1enzo

Enzo twists around in place and looks up. "Oh, hey!"

From:

theflyingsquirl

"Hiya," Squirrel says, not recognizing him, but not all that worried. Any friend of Guppy's is okay, in his book.

"I hope Ev's not giving you too much trouble."

From:

a1enzo

"Nah, he's fine. You should see where Mairi gets her food."

From:

theflyingsquirl

He squints at him.

"...Enzo? You look different."

From:

a1enzo

"Oh, yeah! I forgot you haven't seen me human before. What do you think?"

From:

theflyingsquirl

"You look good," he says. "Not what I would've expected, but I guess if you look close enough--it's the lack of green that's throwing me off the most. But you probably hear that from people a lot."

From:

a1enzo

"Yeah, that's the obvious part," Enzo agrees wryly. "But it's not the part you notice most when it's you, trust me."

From:

theflyingsquirl

"I know how that goes," he says with a rueful chuckle. "Spent Cubefall as a robot. Everything felt different. Never doing that again."

From:

a1enzo

"Oh, I've been robots and stuff. In Games. Being organic feels more different than anything I've rebooted as."

From:

theflyingsquirl

"And I'm always organic," he says. "The Other-Mes may not have the tail and all, but they're still organic. Being a machine felt weird--you don't really think about all the ways you sense the world around you until all your sensory inputs are changed, you know?"

From:

a1enzo

"I hear ya. The hardest thing to get used to for me being human was not having a format, but the weirdest things to get used to were all the little things, like the heartbeat and the body hair."

From:

theflyingsquirl

"Exactly. Or... well, in my case, just the opposite. It was nice not shedding all over everything, but you don't realize how sensitive hair is, how much it helps you to feel what's touching you, until it's gone. And being with Coreen--go to kiss her on the cheek, but I don't have any temperature of my own, I just feel hers. And I don't smell her shampoo, I sense it in terms of the chemicals involved. It's not feeling things, it's more detached. If that makes sense."

From:

a1enzo

Enzo nods. "For me, the hair tickles. Even after I got used to it. And I feel temperatures a lot more, but cold's uncomfortable. And," he lowers his voice confidentially, "the eyelashes make me feel kinda girly."

From:

theflyingsquirl

"Guys tend to have thicker eyelashes than girls," Squirrel says, "which is a little weird. But I wind up feeling lost and kinda naked without all the hair... kinda institutional, maybe? Definitely felt inorganic."

From:

a1enzo

"That is weird. Guy sprites don't even have eyelashes."

From:

theflyingsquirl

"I had them when I was a robot," he says, "but I was supposed to look and feel really human at the time, so... Just weird all around. If I change for Cubefall again it won't be that, next time."