16: celebration
Her birthday was in December
It's January by the time he remembers
Abby knew he ought to feel exceptionally stupid, just from the way Lyss was staring at him, blankly. Like he'd gone insane. He could feel the temperature on the little cottage rise, and didn't need to dig into the woman's mind to know he'd done something very, very wrong.
"You mean to tell me that you not only forgot, you didn't even know when it was, or think to ask until now?" Lyss's voice was cold, smooth, as if there was nothing wrong. She was saving her energy up for the burst of rage later in the game.
"Yes, Alyssa, that is what I'm saying."
"You are a rat bastard, Absinthe Revlis, and I ought to have you shot." Reflexively, instincts honed from months on the run for Eternity, a shield of bright, molten broze appeared out of no where, oozing from the man's skin. It was just in time to deflect a shot that probably would have taken his head off.
Instead, the wall behind Lyss burst into flame, and the dry wood of their little safe house was near instantly set ablaze. "Now, you see what you've done!" Lyss was finally in hysterics.
"Right. Well, I'll just be going then..." he muttered, and dashed from the room. There was a stream near by. Lyss wasn't a telekinetic, she wouldn't be able to divert it and cut offf the flames, but he could. Lyss just carried on screeching as the fire spread, taking first a quart, then half, then all of the south wall before it was doused.
"Fuck you, Abby. You're lucky you didn't set fire to one of my gardens!" Her volume was lower, but the poison dripped off her words. The green haired scientist didn't dare tell the younger woman that, in fact, it was she who's started the blaze, settling instead for conjuring up a thin sheet of metal interspersed with thicker columns to serve as a makeshift wall. Alyssa simply left while he was fashioning it, down the little gravel path and to the tiny smartcar that she'd recently acquired, though Abby had no idea how.
He strolled back into the room, lackadaisy as ever, and sat at the little table for two. She'd be back in a few hours, and then he'd try again. He dropped the little black box on the tabletop, and flipped open the lid so that the ring inside glimmered brightly.
"Happy birthday, Lyss-bliss."
He'd known when it was, but it had taken him nearly a month to fashion something perfect to be an engagement ring.