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Sasha leaned lazily against the wall with all the air of someone that doesn't care about a single thing in the world, a red plastic cup in one hand, little circular sandwich in the other. She took a sip of her cup and said, "so, I heard today's your birthday or whatever."
Sprig looked at her, unamused.
"You're literally wearing a birthday hat with my face in it," the pink frog pointed to the blonde's hair. Just like he had said, Sasha was wearing a cone-shaped hat with the little amphibian's face on it, plus his name in yellow on top forming a short arc. "Why are you even asking."
"Uh, it's called build-up, squeaky toy," Sasha rolled her eyes, "buzzkill." She took a bite of her little sandwich, munching half of it in one go. "Anyways, happy birthday I guess."
"Thank you," Sprig huffed, folding his arms. "You horrible human being."
"Ha!" Sasha turned to fully face Sprig, revealing the scar that crossed from her forehead (almost touching her hairline) to the line of her lip. The long strand of hair that used to cover part of her face was long gone. As well, her right eye had lost its colour, with no traces of the previous blue left and pure white instead. "Weak!" The seventeen-year-old mocked, "I bet Ivy could properly roast me anytime she wanted to."
"Did somebody call me?" Ivy asked, approaching the human girl and the birthday frog. Instead of her frayed overalls, she was wearing a brand new purple one with a white tee underneath. It read "Rock girl" in bold black letters. A gift Sasha had gotten her a few months before when the yellow frog stepped for the first time in human land. Her turquoise hat forgotten for the day. "You two aren't fighting, are you?"
"No way," Sasha waved her half mini sandwich hand at the frog girl, "Squeaky here doesn't know how to, so it's hardly fair to call it 'fight', y'know?"
Ivy snorted, Sprig sending a betrayed look in her direction.
"Sorry, Moonlight, but she has kind of a point."
Sprig grumbled under his breath, a slight blush on his cheeks. "Still makes her a jerk, tho."
"True that," Sasha conceded as Ivy nodded in agreement. The two girls shared a look, smirking at each other.
"Hey!" Sprig jumped, hands rising in the air, "none of that girl-bonding in front of me! Not on my birthday!"
"What?" Sasha snorted, highly amused, "what are you talking about? You can't expect us to not bond just because it's your birthday?"
"Yeah, Moonlight," Ivy said, "sorry, that's not how it works."
"Fine!" Sprig huffed, "Whatever! I'm thirsty so I'll get some juice. You two talk all day, then!"
"Sprig!" Ivy called.
"Let him go," Sasha prevented Ivy to follow her boyfriend, "he's angry. You two can talk about it when he's cool off."
"Speak from experience," Ivy said.
Sasha looked at Anne and Marcy from across the room, Anne was talking with Grime, the both of them looking very focused, Anne's metal arm shinning as the light reflected on it, and Marcy was nodding along at Yunan's hand movements, completely ignoring the newt's facial expressions as her whole attention was in the general's still imperfect sign language. Sasha smiled, contemplating approaching the last one in order to help. She decided against it.
"Duh," she gave Ivy a Look, "'course, battle daisy."
"It's Ivy!"
"Battle Daisy sounds way better."
"I like my name better."
"Is that so, Crimson shell?" Ivy's face reddened.
"Leave the pet names alone.'
"Sure thing," Sasha took another sip of her cup, "Crimson Daisy," and the remaining mini sandwich disappeared inside her mouth.
"Sasha!" Ivy cried out, freezing in her place as her voice raised more than she had expected, causing all the guests to look at them, Marcy the last one only after Mrs Croaker, noticing a few seconds too late Yunnan's hands had stopped.
Ugh, Sasha thought, barely controlling her expression from darkening. Whatever, she sighed and raised her half-empty cup.
"Ivy here just asked to make a toast for the birthday frog!" She announced, lie rolling out of her tongue with ease. She saw Ivy relaxed as well as Sprig tensed up from the corner of her good eye. Oh, sweet temptation. "Don't ask why, I have no idea either," a few laughs. Her lips twitch in a tiny satisfied smirk, "so here goes nothing," she went on, clearing her throat and directing her body to the pink frog. "The first time I met Sprig Plantar, I already loathed his guts." Silence. Way to start a toast, Sash. "I thought 'so small, so annoying, so ugly." She heard the beginning of a protest in Anne's voice, but she quickly held her free hand up. She wasn't done yet. On the contrary. "Then, I tried to kill him and ended up almost falling to my probable death. He tried to help save me, for some unphantomly reason," she let out a small laugh, short, "he tried to help, as well as the rest of his family... I didn't think much of it until I saw him again, in the third temple, " she snorted, "he looked ridiculous! Of course, so did Hop pop, Polly and even big ol' softy Grimsey over there!" She pointed to the toad, who grumbled in acknowledgement. That caused a few laughs. "Love ya, old toad. Never change.~ Oh, where was I?"
"The third temple!" Polly supplied, Frobo, next to her, nodding at her best friends words. "Keep going!"
"Of course, Polls!" Sasha winked at the younger of the Plantars, nobody but Frobo and Marcy noticing the blush that crept onto the purple frog's cheeks afterwards. Sasha kept talking. "So there they were. There he was. Looking so dry and miserable and hilarious. Well, the third temple is more like my girls and my spotlight so let's jump back at Wartwood, shall we?"
"Yes, please and thank you," Anne said. Everybody laughed. Sasha cocked an eyebrow at her, Anne grinning mischievously in return.
"The battle of the bands, everybody! His performance was- well, to be honest, I barely paid attention to him. Y'know, too busy being bitter about self-excluding me of my two best friends because of the past need of total control. Talk about control-freak issues, am I right?"
"Amen!" Toady answered, Sasha pointing at him with her index as she shot a finger gun at the tiny toad.
"Anyway, I'm sure he did fine. He does have talent with the violin, as much as it pains me to admit it." Sprig scoffed, a genuine albeit very small smile tugging at his lips. "The winner of that battle doesn't really matter in this context."
"Hey!" Grime complained. Mr Boonchuy snorted way too loud, which caused Mrs Boonchuy to follow her husband's and somehow everybody was laughing a few seconds later. Sasha directed a cat-like smile towards Sprig, who puffed his cheeks. But Sasha hadn't been born yesterday. It was clear as water for her that he wanted her to continue her speech. She gloated internally. You've still got it, Sash.
"King Andrias." She said flatly, silence once again spreading in an instant. "Geez... So many things went down that day... But, this is about Sprig, let's not forget that!" Anne and Marcy shared a concerned look. Sasha looked perfectly fine, but they knew better. However, she still had her hand up. "Should we wait some more?" signed Marcy. Anne nodded once. They returned their gazes at the blonde. "He singled handed kicked Grimes' ass. Do you have any idea how hard is that? Sure he had the unexpected help of a Warhammer," Grime growled, eliciting some chuckles, "but who counts such meaningless details?"
"Me!" Marcy signed, waving her free hand wildly in the air. Sasha laughed, the sudden movement sending a few drops of her soda flying and ending up on the floor at Ivy's feet. Sasha stared at them for a heartbeat.
"Mar Mar, ladies, boys and non-binary h-folks!" Sasha bowed at her, Marcy blushing furiously, hand scratching the back of her messy black hair. "Such a treasure. Seriously, don't even think of trying to rob her, Anne and I will follow you 'till the end of the world and whatever others are necessary and kick your butt. For real." Silence. Anne nodding. "Well! Moving on!" She pointed to the pink frog, "An embarrassing lose afterwards and some other things, ugly newt king is letting go of Sprig." She took a deep breath, "He's so precious to Anne that she went ballistic on Stinky King, kicked his butt and that's what, basically, got the two of them plus Hop pop and Polly to go back here to Earth. Besides, he's the reason Anne got a somewhat comfortable place to stay and grow so much." She smiled at Anne, who smiled back, a slight blush on her face. "To sum things up," Sasha took a single step forward, cup raising once again, "I'm grateful you were born, Sprig Plantar, and I'm, a little, honour to be able to share your special day with you and all the people that love and care for you, even though I don't."
The scream that was about to leave Anne's lips got stuck, Sprig's laughter beating it for a fraction of a second. The birthday frog doubled down on himself, hugging his belly, tears forming in his eyes.
Good, Sasha thought.
"For Sprig," she chanted, solemnly.
"For sprig!" All the attendants said in unison.
"May the frog bless his path and give him many years to come to annoy us all! Cheers!"
"Cheers! Hop pop said the first. And so the rest follow.
"Now all of you go and hug him or something!" Sasha prompted. As soon as the attention was out of her, she leaned against the solid wall once again.
"Thanks for that," Ivy said. "I owe you one."
"Nah," Sasha drank the rest of her soda and crunched the cup between her fingers. The sound it made helped ground her. "'tis okay. We're good."
"Lies," Anne said, Ivy, turning to look at the Thai and Chinese young woman's.
"Hey, Ivy," March signed, Ivy making her best efforts to respond to the greeting the same way. Marcy smiled brightly at her giving a thumbs up.
"Thanks for taking care of her in the meantime, Ivy," Anne said, "we'll take it from here."
Ivy thought about protesting but decided against it upon feeling the change in atmosphere. She nodded slowly. "Okay. I'll be near."
"Go to that pink boyfriend of yours already," Sasha urged, "have fun."
Ivy smiled at the blonde.
"Yeah. I will. You too!"
Sasha looked at Anne and Marcy by turns, the soft expressions in their eyes grounding her even more.
"Yeah," Sasha answered. "I'll do my best."