#loversquiver

"Hmm..." He hums busy chewing and swallowing buttercream. "Surprised? Even though you planned the whole event?"

He chews another bite thoughtfully before finally swallowing. Fork balancing on his fingers still finding it weird to use with how little interaction he had with them despite his travels having made him grow accustomed to it in the past. There was just something so normal about using chopsticks that other utensils lacked for him but cake required a more...delectable method.

"I find it hard to believe you forgot when you've been keeping track of my birthdays for the past fifteen years." His eyes glance over at the children happily enjoying their own, admittedly smaller slices of cake.

✞  ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ Have you ever smelled human skin burning?

He has. In the past, when some child's persona went berserk-- not all used physical means, some resorted to magic to attack their owner. The charcoal outline, the burnt remains-- he wandered if that's what he looked like right now...

Anyone less used to this would be dead-- dead or screaming-- but Takaya was an uncanny sight. Skinny as he already was, he looked half decayed, his long hair like burnt candle wicks, shriveled and fried, his skin either red or ashen. But he moved. Deliberately so, he laid himself out in a cross-like pose, as if offering himself to the sky. And with a smile he took a shivering breath in and... sighed. Defeated.

Too weak to fight-- too weak to even move, at first he simply slowly closed his eyes and... welcomed fate. He was no hypocrite. He was going to sleep. That thing his bones craved for years on end anyhow, a constant temptation, a state that seemed so natural to him. Sleep. Where nothing hurts and all is weightless and the dark is endlessly and deep. And yet...

Fuuka was a bit relieved that Yukari answered almost immediately. Granted, the note that was in her pocket felt like it weighed a ton, and talking about it would really make Fuuka feel better about this.

“Well, I know you are very popular amongst the students at school--which is good thing,” Fuuka quickly added, “and I found this in my shoe locker yesterday afternoon.” Fuuka pulled the note out of her pocket, trying her best to hide the smallest smile on her lips, and handed it to Yukari. “I read it, but it’s just...a few sentences and the handwriting is very clean.”

if this is a prompt, I can’t find it I’m sorry // @loversquiver​ asked: ❛  are you sure you’re gonna be okay on your own?  ❜

❝Of course I'll be alright,❞ the response is brusque and firm. The barest of scoffs accompany the statement, as if doubting Yukari's concern, or even worse, dismissing it. No single hint of appreciation is showcased. Karin's childish and churlish attitude puts itself on full display, appearing as standoffish while maintaining calm, practically casual in the face of someone's concern and in the face of an unknown danger. Nonetheless, she insists, ❝I know what I'm doing.❞

Despite the darkness of these halls in the depths of the night, she shows no fear. Her confidence lies in very few things (though even fewer are aware), but combat happens to be the biggest basket of eggs to put in. In truth, she feels borderline offended that Yukari would dare question her readiness, her capabilities! Of all the members, the first year truly feels as though she ought to be the least worried about -- but arrogance masks itself as confidence. The safety blanket provided by her Evoker supplements this haughtiness, having placed an exorbitant amount of faith in the object for protection. Of course, that isn't the only aspect she has utmost faith in, risking her wellbeing on her actual skill in fighting, though as she's learned, that can do so much when it comes to these shadow creatures.

Were his pride not on the line, Akihiko would had preferred shielding his eyes from the scene and fleeing with a figurative tail between the legs.

But that wasn’t an option in Sanada Akihiko’s book. Instead, while boiling red in embarrassment, he let irrational rage from his Small Conglomerate of Expressions Allowed to Manifest in Front of His Kouhai overwhelm him instead. His bewildered hands shoved a girl away.

“What are you doing?????!!”

Aimed directly towards Takeba -- who wore only a towel. He, too, wore only a towel. 

hey yukarichaaaaan

guess who got her blog working! 

@loversquiver​

This year he had felt so oddly hands-off. After so many years of carrying this tradition of nothing but a practice of love and devotion, he no longer had to participate much in the decoration. Instead of guiding or instructing he simply leaned against the counter eyeing Seiya’s face, hardened with total concentration as he delicately squeezed the piping bag full of whipped cream. While it was by no means perfect, he was able to carefully pipe a circle of rings around the cake on its top and bottom layers.

“Oh, you’ve gotten pretty good at this. Thinking about becoming a baker?”

“No way I- Ooh!” Seiya had only begun to answer before losing his concentration and squeezing out just a little too much whipped cream creating and bigger bulb of cream. “Ughh! I messed up!” He whined.

A smile pulled on Minato’s lips. “I don’t know about that; I think it looks like a flower.”

“Really?” His son asked before examining it more closely. “I guess it kind of does.”

“See? No big deal, say why don’t you just do the whole thing by yourself next year.”

“That won’t work. We’re supposed to do this together.” The child answered readily.

But it was that readiness that caught Minato off-guard. The answer spoke with wisdom that seemed beyond the child’s years, or at least he had assumed so. But Seiya was able to detect right to the point of the matter, to understand the value behind each of them partaking in his Mother’s Birthday cake. And in that realization, he felt a sense of pride in the child.

“Right you are, Seiya.”

“Moou! Want!” The whining sound of desire coming from the other room took away Minato’s attention from the cake and Seiya to the twins sitting on the floor of the other room gazing up at them both. Serena’s hands held high as she spoke her mind.

“Your Mama will be home soon, but I can give you just a taste, okay?” He reached into a nearby drawer and took out a pair of chopsticks and then placed them on the counter. “Seiya can you put a little bit of the whipped cream on them?”

Seiya turned his attention away from the cake then and did as asked piping just a little bit of the cream onto the ends of each of the sticks and once that had been done Minato took them over to the other room and crouched down holding each out to one of the twins.

Tiny hands gripped onto the utensils as they began to bite onto them. Minato sighed forgetting that they were still teething but at least they seemed to enjoy the sweet taste. He held them steady, only letting them get all the fluffy cream off before pulling them away which of course would create some fussing. “Don’t be like that you two. Your mother will be here soon then you can have all the cake you want.

“Where’s the strawberries?” Seiya called out in question.

“In the fridge, I already cut them up for you.” Minato answered still tending to the little ones. He had offered for Seiya to do the cake by himself, but he still wasn’t comfortable in letting him use a sharp knife to cut different shapes into the fruit on his own quite yet.

After a few more moments trying to calm the situation down he heard the front door swinging open and a voice call out. “I’m home!”

“And there we go! Let’s go say hi to Mama, no more fussing, okay?” He said before grabbing each of them with an arm and hoisting them up with a grunt. “Oof You two are getting heavy.” Each of the twins clung to him, Serena on the left, Sakuya on the right. As Seiya hopped down from a chair pulled up to the counter. He hurriedly ran to the table and fetched his card and then ran quickly down the hallway with Minato and the twins following close behind.

“Happy Birthday!” Seiya shouted in glee as he reached the entrance way holding up the card with a hop.