Happy, Happy Birthday (Open)

[Lani Hunter]

Lani simply raised a brow at Sparky's explanation. Well, he couldn't say he blamed him, hadn't he done much of the same thing to Cassie, well without all of the manhandling and fighting. Sage was obviously very embarrassed by the whole situation. Lani felt his pain, now that the problem came to light he wasn't sure whether to laugh or frown. He did neither and kept his face indifferent despite the glare he periodically tossed at the boy. He was kind of glad he didn't rise to Lani's challenge. Lani kept wisely silent as the guy and Cassie yelled at each other. He had to side with Cassie on this one, not just because she was his little sister but rather because he could see her point better than he could the boys. If he had been Caroline's birthday he would have tried to get her out but if she wanted to stay alone, he would certainly be upset, but he would let her.

Lani's hackles rose as Sparky teased Cassie about having rabies. That was crossing the line. No one said things like that to her. "Watch your mouth," Lani said harshly, both about the rabies and about swearing. Cassie was still young and even though she might know very well what all of the swear words were he didn't think it was right to use them around her. He turned back to Cassie shocked by her return. "Cassie," he said in a scolding tone. This was not the way to resolve situations. Well, then again what did Lani know? He certainly didn't solve most matters in a diplomatic way. He then raised a brow at the other boy. What was he thinking? Telling a little Cassie that boys fought all the time? He rolled his eyes and watched him fix the bandage. Honestly if he were hurt on his arm he would have taken Cassie's help, just by the pure fact that bandages in general were just a challenge one handed, especially those large one.

Personally Lani felt he was overreacting. It wasn't all that bad, sure she had drawn blood but it wasn't a deep or mortal wound. He might have more sympathy if say it had been a dog, but until Cassie grew canines and barked Lani was more than willing to believe that Sparky was just whining. He gave Sage an apologetic look feeling like he should slink out of the situation but he was not about to leave Cassie with someone who could and probably would hurt her. He smiled a little and nodded in agreement as Sage suggested no more fighting and no more biting. It seemed Sage and Lani were now on the same page but Cassie and Sparky seemed to be ready to go at each other's throats again. Lani gave a little grin when Sage asked what he should do. Lani knew what he would do, walk right out Hammel's front doors and never look back. Well perhaps not never, he couldn't leave Cassie. He reminded himself it was only a few months away, he might as well wait and see if he could graduate.

Keeping one eye on Sparking an a hand on Cassie's shoulder and smiled at Sage. "What like buy a lottery ticket or cigarettes?" Lani asked with a raised brow. Sage was thinking too small. Perhaps he had never gone to a club before, he didn't really seem like the type to have a fake ID. Eighteen was a rather blah yeah compared to the benefits of sixteen and twenty one. The biggest thing was registering to vote. Lani himself was excited to vote in the upcoming presidential election. He personally didn't like what the candidates were saying about metas. He shrugged. "It's your birthday, do what you want to do," he said making a subtle jab at Sparky.

[Sage Ersilia]

Thyme did not really care that he was behaving so immaturely. He was so riled up at the whole situation, since what he felt he had done was not as grievous an offense as Cassie made it out to be. However, her words did shine some light on what he had done, and he did feel a pang of guilt. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been trying to force Sage to do something he didn’t want to on his birthday, but he wasn’t going to make him do anything he didn’t like. It would all be pending on his approval, but Cassie clearly had not seen it that way at all. She saw it as forced peer pressure and was just trying to defend Sage.

Ty sighed, his angry expression diminishing, although he was still incredibly frustrated. His blue-green eyes glanced over in his cousin’s direction, and he held his arm, unable to keep eye contact.

“…Sorry…it’s your birthday…you should do what you want…”

That was all he could say, and he tried to ignore any further comments from the girl. Sage smiled at Ty and nodded in thanks.

“Thanks Ty. I know you were only trying to make my birthday special”

Sage turned to Lani, who threw out a few random ideas, though they were all things he couldn’t really see himself doing. He had no interest in gambling or smoking really, but as he pondered, a thought came to mind. It was simple and agreeably a good start to the day.

“How about we all go out to breakfast…my treat?”

On birthdays, people were supposed to eat their favorite foods, right? And Sage had a craving for pancakes. He knew Ty would be for it, but he hoped Cassie and Lani would join them. The day was young, after all.

[Cassidy Mitro]

Cassidy nearly flinched when she heard Lani come to her defence. His booming voice made her both feel at easy and make her feel on edge with the whole situation. She wondered if Thyme would bite back because that could envoke a whole new fight. She expected things to be sorta sorted out by now. Calmed down and relaxed. Lani was relaxed and it seemed Thyme was starting to get there as well. She hoped. Cassidy felt awkward about the whole thing at least. It was Sage's birthday after all.

Cassidy was scolded too and her lips pressed together in a firm line to keep herself from speaking anymore, despite what Thyme said. She knew it would be hard especially with the idiot in front of her. She shot Thyme a glare before folding her arms across her chest and turning her eyes to Sage instead. Cassidy was held back even more by the hand on her shoulder and she relented to dropping her eyes to the ground instead of trying to glare a hole through Thyme.

Cassidy watched the two boys talk to one another making peace with the situation. Finally Sage was getting respect and it took a little bit of fight from Cassidy to get Sage that respect. At Sage's suggestion Cassidy frowned.
"Aren't we supposed to treat you? It is your birthday? Isn't that how it works?"
Her eyes lifted to Lani for some guidance and she waited for him to agree. Her crush needed a bit of TLC after what had happened really, right?

[Lani Hunter]

Lani raised his chin a little bit at Sparky’s apology to Sage. Well at least things were calming down. He really didn’t want to have to fight again. He wasn’t going to apologize, he didn’t regret his actions and he would do it again in a heartbeat. An apology with that kind of attitude would just be empty. Things seemed to be calming down. Ruffled feathers were being smoothed and pride broke away giving way to logic. He was still uncomfortable with the whole situation. He didn’t trust Sparky not to come after Cassie again. Sage was calm and it radiated through the room.

He frowned down at Cassie feeling bad about scolding her but there were better ways to handle the situation. Granted Lani probably wasn’t a good example having come in guns blazing, but that was beside the point. She seemed to calm, or at least force herself not to voice her opinion, well that was an improvement. He smiled, proud that she was taking the higher path and being the bigger person. That kind of put Sparky to shame, but then just based on Lani’s bias he thought Cassie was more mature than Sparky.

He raised a brow when Sage offered to pay for his own birthday breakfast. That wasn’t how it was supposed to work. Cassie voiced his thoughts and he glanced down and gave her an approving nod. “Cassie’s right, we can’t let you pay for your own breakfast, much less treat anyone else.” He smiled a little, he wasn’t sure he would go, he kind of felt that he should drift out of the situation before things got heated with Sparky again. Then again if Cassie was going he didn’t trust Sparky not to be mean to her again. He smiled proudly, Cassie had again shown a greater courtesy for other people.

[Thyme Ersilia]

Thyme relaxed himself finally. Although he still had a lot he wanted to say to Cassidy about her behavior, now was not the time or place. Besides, if he continued, he might have really ruined Sage’s birthday and even gotten another punch from Lani. Ty’s most major flaw was his temper, and although he was often gentle and would never hurt anyone, he was very easy to upset and rile up.

He noticed Cassidy glaring at him, and he smirked at her, ignoring her otherwise. She wouldn’t touch him anymore with Sage and Lani around, and that was enough for him to drop his guard. Glaring was something he could handle, and the boy looked to his cousin, who seemed to receive many frowns for his offer. It was not that they didn’t want to go with him to breakfast, but the fact that he offered to pay for all of them on his birthday. Sage appeared a bit embarrassed, and he shook his head at the questions.

“I couldn’t ask you guys to do that…it’s fine. Really. I just thought it might be nice…I want to treat you”

Lani then agreed with Cassie, and Sage shuffled in place awkwardly. Ty could sense that Lani still did not trust him, and he rolled his eyes a bit while no one was looking. He might tease the girl, but he was not about to throw any punches at her; he knew not to hit a girl, and he hated being seen as a menace for pinning her down after she attacked him. Oh well. He couldn’t win with a girl involved, so he would back off. Ty moved up to stand in front of Sage, his expression holding a bit of irritation.

“No choice now. That’s what we’re doing. Now, where are we going?”