March 11, 2013; Leena's B&B

[damncompass]

Joshua had thought long and hard about what to do for his sister's birthday. He had to do something awesome, that he knew for certain, but he wasn't exactly sure what that awesome would be. After some thought, and a lot of pacing around his lab, he finally came up with an idea, a couple weeks before the day in question.

So when Claudia woke up on the morning of her birthday, she would smell omlettes cooking merrily downstairs. It's only the beginning.

Comments

[claudiometer]

She smells 'em, all right. And then she goes back to sleep.
For a few minutes, anyway. These days she's used to being the one cooking the omelets, so sooner or later she just has to investigate (still in her PJs, of course).
"Awww, you shouldn't have."

[damncompass]

"Of course I should have." Joshua grins and plunks an omelete with her favourite things down on the already-set table. "Happy Birthday, baby sister."

There's a bit of a shit-eating grin on his face.

[claudiometer]

Naturally she's moving in for the hug before sitting down.
"Thanks, brother dear."

[damncompass]

He hugs her back. "Of course."

Plunking down, he grabs the ketchup bottle and starts paying attention to his own breakfast. There's definitely a 'plotting something' look on his face.

[claudiometer]

Up goes an eyebrow. "And what are you plotting?"

[damncompass]

"Things, baby sister. Things." He grins, diving into his omelette.

"First, you are out today on Regent business, and no one is allowed to claim you, no matter what sort of ping happens."

Maybe if the Warehouse is exploding. Maybe.

[claudiometer]

"If things are exploding, I think I can be persuaded to sacrifice my birthday."
Her eyebrow's still up. "Regent business, huh? Is that what they're calling 'birthday brother time' these days?"
(Why yes she's already plotting out his birthday card why do you ask?)

[damncompass]

"Well, alright. I guess that if things explode we can go assist the Warehouse."

He's grinning, bouncing in his chair in a way that he hasn't in quite a while. "But yes. It is Regent business. This Regent wants time with a specific Agent."

[claudiometer]

"Do you really? I can't imagine why." PERHAPS IT HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE DAY OF HER BIRTH.
...Nah, that's just crazy talk.
Claudia grins. "And what part of this has you all bouncypants?"

[damncompass]

"Oh, just because I have a few things up my sleeve." Other than his arms.

"You'll have to wait and see, though, because I rather like making you wait."

[claudiometer]

"Do you now. You realise you could just tell me."
Om nom nom nom nom.

[damncompass]

"Nope. Not yet."

He grins. "I have a few things in mind, and they must come in order."

[claudiometer]

"Must they. Get on with Thing 1, in that case."

[damncompass]

"Thing one is for you to finish your breakfast, baby sister." He smirks, and finishes his own omelette. "We can go to the Warehouse from there."

[claudiometer]

"No, I think I can put on clothes from there and then we can go to the Warehouse. But I thought work was waiting today?"
Hey, if he's gonna make a big deal about ~Regent business,~ she reserves the right to point out the discrepancies.

[damncompass]

"Oh, right. Clothes. And no. It's not work. What I have is in my office, so we need to go to my office."

[claudiometer]

"Ahhhh."

After they finish breakfast, Claudia goes and puts some proper clothes on, and then comes back down. "'k. Shall we?"

[damncompass]

"Yeah. Let's." They pile into the car, and Joshua puts the top down, and blasts some music.

Once they get to the Warehouse, he leads Claudia in, past a protesting Artie, and down into his lab. It smells a bit funkier than it usually does, and there are a couple dubious purple stains on the floor that probably weren't there before.

"Alright, have a seat, baby sister, and I'll start on Thing One."

[claudiometer]

She does. "The hell have you been doing, and why didn't you use the vent fan?"

[damncompass]

"I have a vent fan? Huh. Maybe that's my problem. Anyway."

He goes over to one of his tables and comes back with a wrapped box. "Happy birthday, little sister."

Inside the box when she unwraps it is a bright purple hair stripe.

[claudiometer]

"Yes, you have a vent fan. Remember when you were complaining about the lack of circulation? Thought that'd be a good idea too."
She grins when she gets the box open. "Oh, good, a longer one. And it's neutralizer purple, too! You know me well... or have you been monkeying around with the goo?"
It'd explain the stains. This is too much for the problem to be the Warehouse messing with the goo hose.

[damncompass]

"I haven't changed the formula, but I have been fussing with it. If my fussing is correct, and I have no reason to think it isn't, that should create a foot-wide neutralizing radius. It's a fairly soft neutralization, so something can still grab you, and it won't completely neutralize something like a static bag or a goo bath, but it should protect you fairly well."

[claudiometer]

"Still handy. Proactive neutralizing. I like it. So what's Thing 2?"

[damncompass]

"Thing two is over here." He goes to his desk and returns with a white envelope which he presents, commentless, with a grin.

[claudiometer]

"...Seriously?"

[damncompass]

He beams.

"Seriously."

[claudiometer]

That calls for glompage.
"And how the hell did you get your hands on a VIP pass? I couldn't even get a regular one."
Well, that and she decided it wasn't worth the hassle to plan that far out in advance. The second she does that, there'll be a ping that takes up all of Comicon weekend...

[damncompass]

"They, uh, might've invited me, and I might've said that I wanted an extra pass." He hugs her right back. "I'll make sure there aren't any pings that weekend."

[claudiometer]

"Good. Have I mentioned lately that you're the greatest? Because you're the greatest."

[damncompass]

"Thanks. I have a lot of birthdays to make up for, you know. I have to be awesome to make up for what I missed." He grins.

[claudiometer]

Claudia waves a hand. "Being back in this dimension pretty well covers it, in my books. But if you insist on getting me awesome shit you won't find me arguing."

[damncompass]

"I know, but still." He beams at her, and fusses with some papers. "Alright. I have one more thing." He holds out a hand. "Take my hand, baby sister."

[claudiometer]

"Okay..."
She does, though, because she trusts Joshua with her life.

[damncompass]

He takes her hand, there's a momentary swirling of light, and in the blink of an eye, they're on a street in Sioux Falls. A very familiar street near where they grew up.

Joshua's face has a huge shit-eating grin.

[claudiometer]

"...Okay, so that's pretty damn cool."
And that's even before Claudia takes in their surroundings. "And what did you have in mind out here?"

[damncompass]

"Well, there's a few places that we haven't been together in quite a while." He grins. "I thought that we could just have some sibling time like we used to."

[claudiometer]

Claudia's pretty much beaming. "Sounds like a plan."