Birthday

"Breeze, practice glomping someone's face."

"But I'm already good at it!" the fairy protests. "Fedler, you'll teach me how to bake, right? Right?"

She makes puppy eyes at the hunter.

"Uh, yeah, sure," Fedler hesitantly says.

"Yippee!"

Amused by this, Zelk shakes her head. As for Yen and Velstar, they seem happy for her (and probably looking forward to the results).

"Happy birthday." - he teases Fedler

Fedler stares at Mihai, discouraged, and then at Breeze who's started a silly dance to commemorate the event. The hunter sighs.

And... seeing her like that is all it takes - "Hey... i'll help." - he encourages soothingly, then to Yen - "We'll help, right?"

"There, I've got someone on that detail." He starts plucking strings on Fedler's harp with telekinesis.

To Konrad's plucking Steve says, "All right, all right, that's enough of that. I'm ready." After waiting for everyone to quiet down, he continues. "This first song is something I've been working on for a while now. It started as a way to practice my fingering, but its a nice tune I think. I hope you'll see you haven't been wasting your time on me, Fedler."

When Steve starts to play he makes a few mistakes, but as he goes along he slowly becomes more confident in his playing. He still makes a few mistakes here and there, but here is the song he plays. The fingering is pretty hard for anyone who knows, he's clearly been practicing.

Yen barely has time to nod at Mihai before Steve announces that he is ready to start. Initially confused by what's causing the instrument to play on its own, Fedler looks at Konrad and then swiftly puts a hand on the strings of her lyre to stop him from plucking them with magic before she turns her attention to her student, curious to see what he'll play.

Everyone settles down and listens attentively to the melody Steve has selected for this evening. They appear to find it quite relaxing as even Breeze is cradling herself to the rhythm of the music. Velstar has closed her eyes and joined her hands together, keeping very still. Zelk and Yen are visibly enjoying themselves by the way they are tapping their feet. As for Fedler, she seems very focused on the movements of Steve's hands and his overall performance.

She's nevertheless the first one to clap once the performance is over.

"You've made a lot of progress," she tells him, quite pleased. "More than I thought you could in such a short time."

"It was very pretty!" Yen adds.

Steve blushes at the praise and flashes his teacher a wide grin. "Thank you, it's kind of you to say. I really enjoy practicing. It gives me something to do with my hands when I'm thinking. Zelk, maybe not so much." He laughs.

While clapping, Konrad pours himself a glass of rum and wafts it over to himself. "Nice song." He drinks the rum.

Mihai just listens quietly, and stays quiet. At the end he seems temped to try and say something witty, but he merely looks on with a bit of melancholic admiration.

Zelk cannot pass up this opportunity; she has to tease Steve. With a sincere tone (and a smirk), she says, "Oh, I do enjoy listening to you when you practice."

Mihai can't help but conjure up that image in his head.

Steve registers the smirk but asks anyway. "Oh? And why is that?"

"Because these are the only times you sound smart," she replies.

Breeze and Yen giggle at the jab.

Steve thinks for a bit, smiles, and begins retuning the guitar a bit. "This next one is dedicated to Zelk. I love you."



While performing this one, he acts as though he were singing a love song to his special lady, walking up to her and looking her right in the eyes, and other "romantic" things he's seen in plays or at bars where bards were performing.

Mihai listens to the song.

He looks at Steve. Looks at Zelk. Looks at Steve again. Back to Zelk - "So... what happened to the duck after that?"

Smirking to himself, Konrad adds, "I would love to see, or hear, what happens next."

It becomes obvious to everyone present that Zelk is absolutely embarrassed to be the focus of Steve's display of affection. Her cheeks turn bright bright and she even hides her face behind her hands when Steve is at his most silly. Once it's over, she lets out a sigh of relief, but her reprieve is soon cut short by Mihai and Konrad.

She looks at both of them, opens her mouth, and then closes it. A few seconds pass, and she opens her mouth again, only to say,

"I need to go to the bathroom."

She then flees the living room. The other ladies can't help but laugh.

"We'll wait for you!" Yen says.

"...didn't see that coming."

Steve watches her go, a worried expression on his face. "Me neither. Maybe I overdid it again?"

"What are you still doing here then?"

"Oh, duh! You're right!" He slaps his forehead and stands up before announcing, "I will now take a short break." He then shuffles off after her, guitar and all.

When he reaches the bathroom door, he knocks. "Zelk, it's me. Are you okay?"

Konrad rolls his eyes. "Well I hope they come back in under five minutes, at least. Sometimes I speak before I think..."

Fortunately, Yen doesn't grasp the meaning behind this insinuation. She asks Konrad, "You don't think she's angry, right?"

Breeze hovers in the air and looks down the hallway, tempted to go listen to the crazy couple, but Fedler swiftly catches the fairy and puts her down on the table. Breeze is a little miffed, but she soon turns her attention towards some of the dessert that remains.
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It takes a few seconds before Zelk answers him. Her voice is both calm and flustered. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just give me a moment."

There's the sound of running water and then splashing. She must be washing her face.