lili.｡*♡

Weapon:

The jade staff, originally a sacred monk’s staff, is an inherited tool from… well, a family member—trying to specify who exactly would be far too complicated. It can store the light magic Lili accumulates over time, allowing her to release a large amount of essence for effective healing. Once used, this essence must be reaccumulated.

The medicine gourd releases buffing essence smoke, providing enhancements for teammates during fights.

The hairpins are retractable needles used as surgical and alchemical tools. In desperate situations, they can be also used to gouge out someone's eyes.

Blindness:

Her eyes were permanently damaged a few years ago during a mission where a monster capable of using light magic blinded her with intense beams. A year later, Lili returned with a different team, had the monster restrained, and squeezed juice from a citrus fruit into its eyes, permanently blinding it in return...

— ✧ —

The plan was to prepare a surprise party for Lili before she’d return home.

“...We didn’t forget the candles, right?”

That, however, didn't work out due to a string of sudden inconveniences one after another.

“They have to be somewhere. I bought them yesterday.”

Cameron was stuck in traffic as a colony of wedding cars passed by honking, someone stole Elio's shoes that he briefly left outside and ran after the thief, Percy somehow forgot his own gift and had to run back home, and Jamie… Well, he was held back by his roommates. You'll never catch Porter lacking.

“I found them— ACK—!”

Thankfully, everyone made it to the apartment in time. The door had already been left unlocked by Deja, as they were racing against time. Yes, it was common sense to plan a preparation like this way ahead so it wouldn’t end up in a last-minute rush like this, but there were just far too many things going on and the schedules didn’t align. Being a college student is rough.

“Ow, ow, owww…” Cameron caught themselves from stumbling forward, hunching over to grip their foot that they'd hit against the corner of the fridge.

Jamie appeared from behind them, a white paper box in one hand as the other reached down to pick up one of the fallen candles from Cameron's hold. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, just—” Cameron grunted in pain with shut eyes, supporting themselves against the refrigerator like a muse from a tragic Renaissance painting. “Argh… I can’t feel my toes.”

“Wait, where’d Percy go?” The two turned to Elio seated on the sofa, who’s been speed-pumping pink balloons ever since he set foot inside the apartment. “I can’t find where he put the white balloons.”

He seemed to have completely missed Percy leaving despite the two of them sitting next to each other just a minute ago. And he swore Deja was with them too.

A muffled voice from the toilet responded to him. “Sorry! It’s an emergency!”

“Dude, seriously? Now?”

“When Mother Nature calls, you gotta go!”

“Keep it down, you two, or else Mace will come knocking on the door.” Deja emerged from Lili’s bedroom, having borrowed her roommate’s pack of mounting putty to put up the remaining wall decor. “And they're under your feet.”

Elio bent down, fishing out a plastic bag of white rubber balloons from under the couch. The top of his beanie brushed against the coffee table in front of him. “Oh, sweet! How’d they end up there?”

“I’d say we should be more worried about Lili arriving any second.” Jamie, calm as ever, crouched down in front of the opposite side of the table, setting the box down among all kinds of assortments.

Cameron joined his side and was hit by a sweet scent of vanilla when Jamie lifted the lid of the box. Inside sat a cake covered in light pink frosting, decorated with white piping and marzipan bows. It was smaller than the average cake, but large enough to be shared between six friends.

“Woaah!” Their eyes sparkled, seeming to have forgotten about the numbing pain in their foot. “That looks amazing, Jamie! Lili's going to love it!”

“You bet it tastes awesome, too.” Percy joined the rest of the group, wiping his wet hands off his pants even though Deja swore she put a new hand towel in the toilet room this morning. “...If Jamie didn’t use three pounds of sugar, that is.”

“As much as Lili would love it, I can assure you I didn’t…” Jamie trailed off, his ears picking up on a sound that he— no, everyone in the room was hoping to not hear right now.

The room fell into a dead silence as the faint clicking of heels began to approach the apartment from outside. Sure, it could’ve been anyone and not just her who happened to be wearing heels, but as they continued to listen, there was a faint thud of something falling on the ground, followed by loud rustling of paper bags, then someone offering help and lastly… a very familiar voice assuring the other person that they’re fine…

“...Oh no.” Deja was the first to speak up, muttering under her breath in dismay.

Elio turned to the others, his eyes widened as he half-whispered, “Wh— What do we do? We literally just got here!”

“I got this.” Determined, Percy was already heading down the hall. “You guys finish whatever you’re doing—I’ll distract her!”

As everyone frantically sped up their work, the lock on the front door turned and the handle pushed down. As the door creaked open, Percy threw a hand over Lili’s eyes before she could even see who was standing in front of her.

She flinched at the light slap, the items in her bags bounced and rattled with her jump. There was a pause before she asked calmly, “...Am I being held hostage?”

“Yeah, put your hands behind your back and don't make a sound.”

“Oh, hi Percy! Isn’t it supposed to be hands up?”

It didn’t matter, because Lili’s arms didn’t budge in the first place. They were held down by mounds of all kinds of bags hanging on her limbs like she was a coat rack—it looked like they were about to fall off any second from how slouched her posture was.

“Woah— they made you carry all of that by yourself?” Percy eyed the various bags.

“Can you believe that? Making a poor girl like me suffer.” Lili huffed. “I can’t even feel my hands anymore… Where's Elio when I need him?”

Percy nervously glanced behind him, where Elio was carrying Cameron on his shoulders to hang up balloons. “Oh, you know him—he's a busy man. Always running around somewhere.”

One of the bags began to slip off Lili’s arm and she jerked it back up. “Lam and the others are actually running late to some kind of convention where they’re giving a speech. They forgot to pay attention to the time, so they quickly dropped me off at the parking lot and… drove away.”

She attempted to lift her left arm, where a slightly torn paper bag somehow ripped even further, revealing tall plastic cups of various colors. “I got everyone boba tea and snacks, though! Which is perfect, since I'm assuming everyone is here.”

…Since her arrival, it was clear to her what her friends were plotting. The footsteps and rustling in the background only confirmed her suspicion further.

A drop of sweat rolled down Percy's cheek. “Really? For all of us?”

“Of course! I had to—it was offered to me for free.”

“Wow— Thanks a lot, Lili! I can't wait to…” There was a sudden tap on Percy's shoulder and he whipped his head around.

Cameron was keeping a distance from him and especially from Lili. Their hand moved from Percy's shoulder to point at Lili (who still had her eyes covered), then behind them at a door in the hallway, while mouthing exaggeratedly, ‘BATHROOM—’

“Hi, Cam.”

“Oh— Uh, hi Leelums? Wait, how'd you know?”

“I can still smell your hair dye from yesterday.”

“...Okay, I don't think there's any point in hiding it anymore.” Percy glanced at Cameron, who nodded back. “But you can’t look yet. We’re not finished.”

“I figured,” Lili hummed. “Should I wait here, then?”

“Lili, we're not going to make you stand outside of your own apartment.” With a chuckle, Cameron reached for Lili's bags to help her. “We'll just put you somewhere for the time being— Oh GOD—”

They stumbled forward (for the second time), almost dropping the bags to the ground. The handles were digging into their skin from the weight, even through the two layers of sweaters they were wearing… How on earth did Lili manage to make it all the way here by herself?

"...What do you even have in there???”

“I actually haven't opened any of my gifts yet, so I don't know—”

“Aaalright,” Percy went up to her side while still keeping his hand over her eyes. He gave her a nudge to move forward. “Let’s get you inside, then.”

“Waait, let me take off my shoes first.”

— ✧ —

“Hey,” Deja poked her head through the door after knocking. Pushing the door further open, she leaned sideways against the doorframe with her arms crossed. “Are you ready to see the surprise?”

Lili had been (not literally) locked in the bathroom for another five minutes until all preparations were finished. She turned away from the mirror to face her roommate, closing the mascara tube in her hands with a snap.

“Well, are you ready?”

“We finally are. Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“You know there’s no need to apologize. It was only a few minutes anyway.”

“It’s still wrong to make the birthday girl wait. Now, come on.”

Deja motioned for Lili to come out of the room, but Lili could only take one step forward before being stopped; Deja hadn’t budged one bit and was blocking the way. Lili looked up, sending her roommate a questioning look.

Smack.

“...Again?” Lili reached for Deja's hand covering her eyes.

Deja moved around so that Lili was in front of her and began to carefully guide her out of the bathroom. “I wanted to use a ribbon, but it seems like it got lost somewhere.”

“That's okay. I like your hand more—it’s warm.”

“......Did Lam make you drink something?”

“Um, water?”

“Nevermind. Just keep walking.”

…

…

“Keep your eyes closed for a second.”

“Okay.”

Deja's hand withdrew after a while and she stepped away from Lili. She tried to tiptoe quietly, but the light creaks of the floor gave her movements away.

…

…

“You can look now.” Deja’s voice sounded from a little further away.

The moment Lili opened her eyes, she was met with… her reflection on the TV? Well, that didn’t seem right.

But— surprises are surprises, right? They can be anything, and with a friend group like this one, it wouldn’t be too surprising if they prepared something absurd—like hiring an Irish tap dancer to come into her room in the morning and wake her up at the crack of dawn.

No, wait, scratch that before it gets jinxed.

When Lili turned around—

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!”

There was the sound of something popping loudly as everyone cheered at once, followed by rainbow confetti raining all over Lili.

All of her friends stood in front of her, some wearing party hats, some fun-shaped sunglasses, some holding party poppers—it was like a scene straight out of a cartoon show for children where the main character’s birthday was being celebrated…. if the characters were unhinged college students.

Cameron was the first to rush to her side, embracing her so tightly that Lili let out a squeak like a toy. Deja immediately followed, wrapping her arms around Lili from behind. Then Percy— then Elio? And Jamie??? Oh god, they’re all coming!!!

“Guys…? Guys???” Lili’s eyes darted in all directions as she was squeezed into a sudden group hug. She met Jamie’s gaze for a second, who instead of joining the others extended his long arm out… and patted her on the head?

“...Jamie???”

“Say cheese.”

“Wait, is that my camera—”

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