“Welco to Terra!” The group of people waiting in the living room shouted, pointing and laughing as Vin sputtered and stared, all the while trying to wipe the confetti out of his face.
Just inside their apartnt stood a whole host of faces he certainly hadn’t expected to see.
Alka and Alice were near the front, grinning and pointing at the different bits of confetti that had been blown everywhere from whatever trap Alice had clearly rigged in Vin’s absence. Scule was standing on Theodore’s shoulder, whistling at their entrance and nearly losing his balance as Theodore swept into a deep bow directed toward Lul. Shia and Myers were standing off to the side, each offering Lul a big smile and waving warmly at her. Even Spur and Phil were here, both of whom nodded politely in Lul’s direction as they clapped. Reginald was currently lying atop Phil’s head, oddly enough, and the rat squeaked excitedly alongside everyone else.
“Guys!” Vin barked, finally recovering enough from his complete shock to understand what was going on. Throwing a look at Lul, whose half-uncovered face was a look of utter surprise and confusion, he turned to glare at everyone in the room still cheering. “Lul just wanted a quiet night! This is too much!”
“I’m alright, Vin,” she said weakly, squeezing his hand as she ca to terms with what everyone had done. “I can’t say I wanted sothing like this, but honestly, this was an excellent test. The fact that I didn’t reflexively use Dinsional Shift to run away ans my efforts to improve myself haven’t been for naught.”
“Okay…” Vin said, looking carefully at her. “But let know if this becos too much. I’m more than happy to kick these idiots out. Even the ones that actually live here.”
“That’s enough whispering you two, shut up and join the party,” Alice grinned, stepping forward and wrapping Lul up in a big hug that elicited a rather Reginald-esque squeak from the pulmon. “It’s good to see you again, Lul, it’s been too long! Sorry about the confetti trap. That one was Scule’s idea.”
“And a damn good one it was!” Scule roared, nearly tumbling off Theodore’s shoulder again as he thrust a finger at the front door. “You should have seen the look on your guys’ faces! Priceless!”
“Scule might have helped himself to so of the drinks rather than actually wait for the star of the party,” Shia called out from the side, rolling her eyes at the wobbling petian. “Who knew he could get utterly wasted on barely a thimble of wine?”
A flash of purple caught Vin’s attention, and he watched as Lul slipped on her gloves, as well as the translation bracelet she’d stolen from the library. Before she could get a chance to say anything though, Spur stepped forward.
“It’s good to finally et you, Lul,” he nodded, reaching out and shaking her hand. Vin was thankful he'd warned Spur about pulmon biology ahead of ti, as the Commander didn't even flinch as he smiled at her. “Vin’s told us a lot about you, but seeing your actual dinsional magic in person is rather spectacular. Tell , what else are you capable of?”
“Not the ti, Spur,” Myers said, stepping up and steering the indignant Commander off to the side. “This is a welco party, not a council eting. You can talk business later.”
“Hmph,” Phil grunted, nodding toward Lul before following Myers and Spur off to the side. Reginald hopped off the man’s head and landed on Lul’s shoulder, giving her a welcoming squeak and rubbing his face against her hood.
“Hi, Reginald,” Lul giggled, reaching up and gently petting him on the head. “…Why were you on that man’s head?”
“I bet Phil that he couldn’t keep Reginald balanced on his head until the two of you actually arrived,” Theodore chid in, stroking his goatee. “For so reason, the man seems very receptive to betting. It would seem I am indeed the loser, and for that, I’ll have to pay up before the night is done.”
“What did you bet?” Vin asked, curious what the stakes could have been. It wasn’t like Terra used any actual currency, so trade was pretty much all goods and services.
“One ‘leave alone’ coupon, good for twenty-four hours,” Theodore grinned. “They’re quite the hot commodity these days.”
“Really? That seems a little hurtful,” Lul said, giving Theodore a pitying look.
“Hardly. You know we didn’t even invite him to this party?” Scule slurred, holding desperately onto Theodore’s ear to keep himself stable. “Not that we don’t love him, because I do, but Shia asked that we keep it small. Small is best, after all!”
“Seriously? You crashed Lul’s surprise welco party?” Vin asked, raising an eyebrow. “As your boss, I don’t know if I should be praising you or annoyed with you.”
“Seeing as I got practically half a level for doing it, I’d say praise would be the wiser of the two,” Theodore laughed, his eyes twinkling. “I do apologize, Lul, as I know you wanted a quiet night. But I also wanted to thank you for the gift you helped make for .”
“Oh!” Lul said, her eyes widening in recognition as Theodore tapped the silver ring on his finger. Even if Vin hadn’t been close enough to sense the magic coming off of it, thanks to his newest passive, he could easily detect the artifact that Lul had personally created. “Of course! And I don’t mind you being here, Theodore, Vin’s told a lot about you. It’s nice finally getting to put so nas to faces. It would be different if it was a room full of strangers that had surprised , but I practically feel like I know everyone here already.”
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“You’ve got your own lady-friend and you waste all your ti talking about us?!” Scule slurred, barely catching himself from falling off Theodore’s shoulder again. “Co on, Vin, I expected more from you!”
“Alright, that’s enough of that,” Shia said, walking over and poking Scule hard enough to knock him off Theodore’s shoulder as she cast. “Neutralize Poison.”
Falling for a brief second before faceplanting onto the ground, Scule groaned, shaking a fist up at Shia without even looking. “Damn it, elf, why did you have to make sober before I landed on my face?”
“Maybe don’t get quite so carried away with the drinks next ti,” Shia drawled, before turning to Lul and offering her a warm smile that sohow seed not quite so predatory as usual. “I’m glad you decided to join us up here on Edregon proper. Alka didn’t have any interest in her room, so it will be nice to have another girl to chat with. Granted, even if she was here, Alka’s not really one for girl talk in the first place.”
“Why talk about boring stuff when you could be practicing?” Alka’s voice rang out from across the room, as she raised her warpick in greeting. “Enjoy the room, Lul, do whatever you want with it! Glad to have you!”
“You put all this together, Shia?” Vin asked, watching a cursing Scule get to his feet and clutch his head. “I’m just assuming it was all you, seeing as God knows Scule and Alka certainly didn’t.”
“I had the idea, but Alice helped round everyone up,” Shia nodded, giving Lul a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry, I know this isn’t exactly what you wanted, but I honestly thought it was what you needed. To see there are people here in Terra that are happy to have you, and to know you’re not alone anymore. I figured after spending a few weeks down in the Underside, sothing like this wasn’t a bad idea.”
“Thank you, I really appreciate it,” Lul said, returning the smile. Vin didn't miss how she was slowly looking more and more comfortable being surrounded by people with each one that officially welcod her into town, and it ward his heart to see. “I’ll admit, the Underside was certainly lonely. If it weren’t for Vin’s visits, I’m not sure if I would have retained my sanity down there.”
Reginald gave a comforting squeak and rubbed against Lul one more ti before hopping down and helping Scule over to sowhere he could sit down without risking being stepped on.
“It certainly doesn’t help that this room contains about ninety percent of the governing power behind Terra,” Shia laughed. “If anyone in the entire town gives you any trouble, now you’ll know who you need to go to in order to get them a thorough tongue lashing.”
“Witherson couldn’t make it?” Vin asked, looking around the room and realizing she was the only councilor missing.
“Said she didn’t have ti to waste on ‘frivolous parties,’” Shia shrugged. “Phil tried to play the sa card, but Spur and Myers all but dragged him over here.”
That didn’t surprise Vin in the slightest, as even now Phil stood at the side of the room, frowning at everything with his arms crossed. Though Vin couldn’t quite tell if it was the party in general he was annoyed with, or the fact that Spur was continuously poking him in the side while waving a plate of hors d’oeuvres in front of his face and mouthing what looked like ‘hungry hungry hippo.’
“I’m blown away that even this many people showed up,” Lul admitted with a smile. Taking her hood in her hands, Lul went to fully pull it back and reveal her face in its entirety, before hesitating. She stood like that, frozen for a few seconds as she struggled with her own worries and desires.
Gently, Vin took her hands and helped her let go of the edge of her hood, leaving it in place for the mont as he squeezed them and smiled at her.
“No need to rush things if you're not ready. You’re already doing an amazing job.”
“Thank you,” she blushed, letting out a sigh of relief that she didn’t have to fully step out of her comfort zone just yet. Clearing her throat, she turned toward the table in the middle of the room. “Oh, are those snacks?”
With a flash of purple, Lul vanished and reappeared beside the snack table, startling Scule and nearly making him fall off the table as he flinched back from her sudden teleportation.
“Oh, it’s that kind of party, is it?” Theodore called out, jumping up onto one of the couches and waving a hand in front of himself, suddenly transforming into an elf. “All hail the trees! Down with the man of steel! Praise be to-eep!”
Out of nowhere, Blossom ford and lunged up, knocking the Spy off the couch and tackling him to the ground before playfully batting him around under Shia’s orders.
“Watch what you say about the elves,” Shia laughed, making Blossom curl up and lie on top of Theodore like a giant wooden house cat, completely pinning him in place.
“Perhaps we shouldn’t get too-” Myers began before Spur jumped onto her shoulders and lifted his sword high above him.
“Quiet you! This is a party!”
That was the beginning of the end. After that, Lul’s calm welcoming party quickly devolved into pure chaos. Spur sohow managed to convince Myers to act as his steed as he rode into ‘battle’ and rescued the trapped Theodore from the claws of the wooden beast holding him captive. Alice imdiately began throwing small, pressure-activated confetti bombs all over the room, causing explosions of confetti to go off every few seconds and blinding everyone in the vicinity. Alka began chasing after Scule, determined to throw the petian onto the roof after he tried to pour so wine down the cracks in her visor, and Vin had to activate his gravity boots and retreat to the ceiling in order to escape from Phil who was determined to engage his golem arm in an arm-wrestling competition.
It was loud. It was hectic. And it was far from the peaceful, quiet night that Lul had originally asked for.
Though just like Shia suspected, based on the wide grin and boisterous laughter coming from the still-hooded pulmon as she started a ga of tag with half the people in the room and proceeded to evade them all with ease with repeated casts of Dinsional Shift, it was exactly what Lul needed.
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