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juliandev0rak · 4 years ago

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Freebie- Cam’s Birthday 🌈🎂

Fifteen: Freebie! – anything you want! Want to repeat one of the prompts for a different OC? Have a different idea? Go ahead!

It’s Camellia’s birthday! I decided to use the freebie early to celebrate, so have some fun birthday shenanigans with Cam and Asra (and Pumpkin) set just before the arcana!

+ a tiny bit of angst

echoes of the past event

@arcana-echoes

Camellia Giardini, they/ them

Center City, Vesuvia

1 month before the events of The Arcana, Cam is 24 / 25

Words: ~1830

Warnings: this photo

Asra’s been preparing for this day for a week. Normally he spends this time of year travelling, it’s too difficult to be reminded of the past around Cam’s birthday, a day they nearly didn’t get to see again.

This year, he’s determined to make it a special day. Cam has no friends or family aside from him, and he knows that they love holidays and celebrations despite their claims to the contrary. He and Faust have been busy trying to put up decorations, counting on the fact that Cam always sleeps in so they’ll have plenty of time to get things ready.

Asra puts up crepe paper streamers and Faust tells him if they look good. By the time the apartment living area has been decorated Asra can just hear the sounds of Cam stumbling around in their room.

“Good morning!” They say sleepily as they emerge from their room a few minutes later, still clad in pajamas.

“Happy birthday, Cam!” Asra says, shocking Cam out of their morning stupor.

“You remembered!” Cam squeals excitedly, now wide awake as they take in the brightly colored decorations tied to the ceiling and strewn across the tables and chairs.

“Of course.” Asra smiles. Faust pops her head out of his scarf where she’d been taking a decoration break nap and sticks her tongue out in greeting.

“Faust, did you help!” Cam says, reaching out to scritch her under the chin.

“Help friend!”

“I’ve got a full day planned.” Asra smiles, “Get dressed and let's go!”

“What about the shop?” Cam asks.

“We can take a day off, it’s your birthday!” Asra responds, already busy packing his bag to leave. Cam emerges a few minutes later dressed for the day and looking supremely excited.

“I don’t think I’ve celebrated my birthday before!” They smile, “Or at least not one I remember.”

“That’s why it’s extra important to celebrate today.” Asra says, trying to hide his sudden sadness at the thought of Cam’s past birthdays spent in mourning or far away so he wouldn’t have to face them.

“Let’s go!” Cam grabs Asra’s arm to pull him down the stairs.

Cam’s enthusiasm is infectious and Asra finds himself genuinely happy as they go about their day. They stop in the market to get breakfast, and Asra picks up a surprise box from the baker for later. They make a quick stop back at the shop to drop off the box before heading to the next location. Cam has always wanted to see the Floating Market, but they’ve never bothered to venture that far out of Center City.

Asra is their tour guide, showing them places around the city that they’ve never seen before. It’s hard for Asra to keep his spirits up as he shows Cam places that were once familiar to them for the “first time”, but Cam is having too much fun to dampen the mood. They walk arm in arm with him, pointing out fancy buildings and little parks they’d like to visit.

Cam has been close to Asra for as long as they remember, the line between master and apprentice blurring away after so many weeks spent dependent on his help. Cam likes to think of Asra as their best friend, rather than their teacher- though he is that too. They only wish he didn’t go away so much, especially around their birthday. Part of their excitement for the day is having Asra there with them. Everything is more fun with him around.

When they reach the Floating Market Asra promises to get Cam whatever they want as a present, and Cam picks out a royal blue scarf made of soft woven silk. It’s something Asra would’ve picked out for them and he’s glad that despite whatever else has changed, he still knows Cam. They wear the scarf from then on and Faust decides to ride in their scarf for a change, poking her head out to watch the sights as they continue their tour of the city.

Cam is in high spirits, asking Asra about his favorite places in Vesuvia and all of the places he’s visited. They’re very excited to be celebrating their birthday, and although they can’t really remember any others, Cam is pretty sure this is the best one they’ve had. After they stop at a stall for a late lunch Asra suggests they head home for the surprise he’d promised.

When they open the door to the apartment they’re shocked to find the place a mess. The streamers are torn to shreds but only right by the window in the kitchen that they usually leave open a crack. The furniture is all in the same place except for a singular chair that's been knocked over. Asra puts a hand out to stop Cam from taking a step further into the room.

“Someone might have broken in.” He whispers. Faust slithers out from Cam’s scarf to inspect the room and Asra follows close behind. “Ilya if you broke in again I swear-” he mutters. Cam wonders who “Ilya” is but decides to save the questions for later when they’ve figured out whether there’s an intruder in the house. Cam creeps towards the hallway to check the bedrooms and doesn’t see a sign of anyone, or anything missing or out of place.

They wait outside their bedroom door, too afraid to open the door to check. Asra is busy inspecting the kitchen window, so it’s up to them. Cam takes a deep breath and yanks the door open, slipping into a defensive position and yelling “LOOK OUT BURGLAR!”

When nobody comes rushing towards them, Cam lowers their arms and relaxes. Asra stands laughing in the doorway behind them.

“Were you planning to fight an intruder?” He asks, “You wouldn’t do much damage like that.”

“Hey, you’re the one who won’t let me handle any weapons or practice defensive magic.” Cam grumbles, joining Asra back in the living room.

“There’s nobody in here but us, I don’t know what could’ve caused the mess.” Asra sighs, taking a seat at the now upright chair.

“Who’s Ilya?” Cam asks, taking the other chair.

“Nobody you need to worry about.” He mutters, his dark tone takes Cam aback and they decide to drop the subject. Faust breaks the moment as she slithers up the table leg and inspects the box from the bakery that they’d brought up earlier. Cam had completely forgotten about the box from the baker but now they’re excited again, they love surprises.

“Asra can I open the box now!” They grin, already reaching towards it.

“Yes! Open it!.” Asra smiles, remembering that he’d vowed to be in a good mood today.

“You got me a... rat thing?” Cam says as they lift the lid off the box to find some sort of sleeping creature.

“A what?” Asra leans forward to inspect the box and immediately rears back, “That’s an opossum, not a rat.”

The creature, an opossum, opens his eyes and blinks lazily at the two magicians, not seeming startled in the least.

“Uh, Asra? Why did you get me this?” Cam asks, confused.

“I didn’t! I got you a box of pumpkin pastries, which it seems the opossum enjoyed as well.” He sighs, noticing that half of the box is missing and that the opossum has frosting on his face. The opossum suddenly launches itself out of the box and into Cam’s lap who yelps in surprise.

“Ah! I think he likes me!” Cam says, picking the animal up without fear. The opossum goes limp in their arms and looks like he’s about to fall asleep.

“Looks like we found our burglar.” Asra laughs, pointing to the hole that’s been chewed into the side of the box.

“Well aren’t you a scary little intruder.” Cam smiles, giving the animal chin scritches just like they do for Faust.

“Friend?” Faust questions, appearing from inside the box where she’d crawled to inspect.

“I hope so! Asra can we keep him?” Cam says, turning on their begging eyes.

“He seems harmless enough.” Asra grins, tentatively reaching out to pet the opossum who still sits comfortably in Cam’s arms.

“You just wanted a treat didn’t you?” Cam coos, “I love pumpkin pastries, I’d break in through a window and chew through a box to get to them too.”

“You’re perfect for each other.” Asra jokes, leaning into the box to see if any of the pastries are salvageable. “Maybe we’d better get a new box, and give Pumpkin Pastry here a bath.”

“Pumpkin’s a good name for an opossum.” Cam says sagely, nodding their head in agreement.

“You didn’t know what an opossum was five minutes ago.” Asra laughs.

“Yes, but I think it’s a perfect name.” Cam looks down at the now fully passed out animal with a warm smile, “My little pumpkin pastry!”

“You are aware that’s a wild animal that wandered in here, yes?” Asra says, starting to pick up the bits of tattered decorations.

“Yes but he’s our wild animal.” Cam grins, “I’ll do some research in the books we have downstairs, maybe he’s a magical opossum.”

“Maybe so, now help me clean this up so we can go get more pastries, I was really looking forward to those.” Asra pouts and Cam laughs, placing Pumpkin on their chair gently so they can help.

Later that night Asra and Cam sit at the table eating their way through a new box of pumpkin pastries that Selasi had been kind enough to give them free of charge. He’d thought the story was hilarious, but he’d been quite surprised when Cam pulled the sleeping opossum out of their scarf to show him.

“Hey Asra?” Cam says, “This was the best birthday surprise, I’m glad you were here to celebrate with me.”

“I’m glad I was here too.” Asra says sincerely, giving Cam a smile. He can’t remember the last time he’s been so genuinely happy in their presence, he’s not thinking about the past for once. Their dynamic is different now than it was before, but he knows that in any time or place, in any body, Cam would have had the same excited reaction to finding an opossum in their house.

Cam is good, and curious, and always willing to try new things. They trust easily and leap before they look. Asra finds himself, as he often does, so thankful to have them here. If anyone deserves a second chance, it’s Cam.

“Happy birthday, Cam.” Asra says again, reveling in the meaning of those words. They mean another year of life, another year with Cam here, alive and happy.

“Birthday!” Faust adds.

“Aww I love you both, thanks for today! I'll have to figure out a way to top it for your birthday.” Cam smiles, already thinking about magical decorations they can create and what foods Asra likes best.

“Just don't get me an opossum, I already have my familiar.” Asra laughs.

“No promises!”

#arcana eotp #cam's birthday #apprentice cam #im obsessed with this possum it was my phone wallpaper for like 2/3 of 2015 #unrestrained summer fun #this photo has volta energy #me just now learning there is a difference between possums and opossums #pumpkin is an opossum #the creacher in the photo is a possum #personally i think possums are cuter but you know why choose? we don't have to pit two bad bitches against each other for no reason #y'all: oh look a fic me in the tags: so here's the difference between opossums and possums

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