I felt you in my life before I ever thought to

[neither_a_nor_b]

When she’d woken up on the morning of the 22nd and found herself still in one place, Bay had breathed a sigh of relief. The last couple birthdays had been kind of a crapshoot for her and Daphne, ending up in a new dimension every other year so it was nice to actually make it a year in one place.

Sure, it was almost Halloween and sure something was probably doomed to go to hell before the end of the month, but not today. Today Daphne had made a cake and some mexican rice and was planning a shrimp taco spread. Bay was cooking up some ground beef with spices while the contents of the alcohol cabinet waited for her to do some mixing later. They’d sent out invitations to their friends via text, and both were looking forward to a chill, low-key birthday party for their 19th.

Daphne had made sure not to book any catering jobs for today, but she still had her daily orders for some of the local coffee shops and service stations in the city. She’d gotten those taken care of, then come home and baked and frosted the cake and helped Bay clean and decorate. If she wanted to last more than 20 minutes at her own party, though, she’d decided a nap was a good idea.

She woke feeling much more refreshed and coherent and wandered out to find Bay cooking up ground beef for the red meat eaters that would be attending. “Hey,” she greeted her sister, peering over Bay’s shoulder into the pan before stepping back. “I’m going to get changed while you finish that up, then I’ll get the shrimp cooking while you get ready. Sound good?”

“Yeah, sounds good. I just got a slew of ‘on my way’ texts but the taco filling is ready.” Proving her point, she took the beef off the stove and tipped all of it into a serving bowl. “I’m gonna stick it in the microwave, so we can nuke it if we need.”

“Actually, I’ve got a better idea.” Daphne grinned and ducked into her room, coming back out with a large box. “I bought myself a birthday present, sort of,” she explained, opening one end of the box and starting to pull out the pieces to the new electronic warmer she’d picked up yesterday. “Just give the dishes a quick wash and we should be good to go. This should keep the food warm through the whole party. Beef in one, shrimp in one, and rice in the third?” She shoved the packing materials back into the box, ready to tuck into her closet just in case something went wrong and she needed to return it.

“That is so fancy,” Bay said, genuinely impressed as she scraped the beef into the first dish. “Okay, you change, I’ll clean.”

“Okay.” Daphne went back into her room, stashed the box and quickly changed, then stopped in the bathroom to pull her hair back and put a little makeup on before taking over in the kitchen so Bay could get ready, getting her shrimp cooking as she made sure all of the food and mixers were ready for people’s arrival.

It didn’t take much time for her to get ready. Bay took a quick shower to get the smell of food out of her hair and off her skin. By the time she was finished blow-drying, Bay heard the first knock on the door. The party had started.

Comments

[neither_a_nor_b]

Bay pretended solemnity and put a hand over her heart, breathing in a deep and long-suffering sigh. "The things I do for my friends."

[arrowette]

Cissie elbowed her affectionately, loving how they could tease each other. "Come talk to me while I get tacos. How have you been asides from party planning?"

[neither_a_nor_b]

"Oh, you know, covered in cats, rats, and boyfriends," Bay said, laughing a little. "How about you?"

[arrowette]

"Pretty much the same except substitute cats and rats for fabrics," Cissie answered. "I have to admit that nothing too exciting is going on right now. Which, you know, is probably for the best."

[neither_a_nor_b]

Bay raised her eyebrows, curious and happy that Cissie was keeping busy. "What's keeping you so busy? Oh! And have you met the rats yet?"

[arrowette]

"The tambourines," Cissie answered, deadpan. "It's hard work, being an international tambourine sensation, don't you know?"

The less people who knew about her nighttime activities the better even if she was sure that Bay would keep this secret close. It was just safer this way.

She blinked. "Rats? No, I don't think so."

[neither_a_nor_b]

"Tambourines, huh?" Bay asked, eyebrows raised and trying to figure out if she'd missed some hot new euphemism.

"And yeah, c'mon. They're in my room!"

[arrowette]

"Tambourines," Cissie confirmed. "Did I not tell you about that? Show me the rats and I will tell you the epic story of me and the tambourine store and why I know have about five tamborines."

[neither_a_nor_b]

"Sounds good," Bay said, heading over to her room. As they entered, the sounds of scuttling emanated from her opened closet door. Inside, she'd put a three-tiered rat cage, but all three Siamese-marked rats were curled up in a hanging felt hammock and crawling over themselves to see who was there.

"Allow me to introduce Georgia O'Squeaks, Frida Pawlo, and Lee Ratsner."

[arrowette]

It took Cissie a moment but she got the reference in the rats' names but when she did, she grinned appreciatively. "Very nice, I like it!"

She bent down to look at them more closely and couldn't help but coo at them. "And aww, you guys are so cute! Yes, yes, you are!"

[neither_a_nor_b]

Pleased with the attention, the rats started to levitate, floating toward the front of the cage, trying to scramble out of the top.

"Did I mention I...may have stolen them. From Kirin's trash."

[arrowette]

They were levitating rats. They were actually honest to god levitating and she wasn't dreaming or even at all smashed.

"That's...wow. I mean - wait, what? Did you say you stole them?" Cissie gaped at Bay. The worst part was that she wasn't surprised, not really. It was so a Bay thing to do.

[neither_a_nor_b]

"Stolen, liberated..." Bay glanced sideways, trying not to look guilty.

"They had their paws on the window and they were looking at me..."

[arrowette]

Cissie couldn't blame Bay at all - truth be told, she probably would have done the same thing. There was just something about Kirin that rubbed her the wrong way and she'd take any chance to liberate someone, but it person or animal, to liberate someone from their clutches.

"You don't think they'll come looking for them, though?"

[neither_a_nor_b]

Bay shook her head, confident about that at least. "The security cameras were all turned away and well...I have a lot of practice avoiding them. It's part of my illegal street art mystique."

[arrowette]

Cissie couldn't help but smile at that even as she still worried. Maybe the visible cameras were turned away but what if they had invisible ones? Well, she would just have to keep an eye out on them and on Bay when she did her patrolling.

"They look so happy to be here, though. I bet they're loving life here!"

[neither_a_nor_b]

"I like to think so." Bay opened the top tier's hatch and held out a hand, letting Frida waddle right into her palm.

"Want to hold her?"

[arrowette]

"I would love to!" Cissie grinned and held out her hands for the rat. "Oh, you are such a cutie!"

[neither_a_nor_b]

"They're all super sweet," Bay agreed. They'd clearly been domestic prior to their experimentation, maybe plucked off the store shelf and taken to Kirin.