Room 414, Tuesday Afternoon

[solarhippie]

There was no party for Karolina's birthday. Even the all-important paperwork declaring her a legal adult and a free person hadn't come in yet, which was a bit of an anticlimax, but what could you do? She still knew it was coming. It was about the only thing that was. The other paperwork concerning her parents' money had already shown up, and she

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[fewerexplosions]

There was a tiny knock on the door - because Liara still wasn't over that.

She had a plate of cupcakes in one hand. "Karolina."

[solarhippie]

"Come on, Liara, you don't have to knock!"

Karolina was going to keep saying that for as long as it took for Liara to get over that.

But, she was also pretty quickly distracted.

"Are those cupcakes?"

[fewerexplosions]

"I believe a celebration was in order," Liara said. There was a smile on her face and a little skip in her step. "So I went to JGOBs and asked them for something appropriate."

They were rainbow cupcakes.

[solarhippie]

Well of course. Karolina waved her in, smiling.

"You didn't have to." Yeah, that was basically Karolina's catchphrase today. "But thank you."

[fewerexplosions]

"Of course I did," Liara said. She set the cupcakes down on Karolina's night stand. "It is your birthday, isn't it?"

[solarhippie]

"It is." As much that was kind of weirding Karolina out a little bit, it remained a fact. She put her phone aside, with the latest clip paused, and patted on the space next to her. "Thank you."

[fewerexplosions]

"You are welcome," Liara said. She quickly took the offered spot. "Have you had many well-wishes already?"

[solarhippie]

At that, Karolina picked up Victor's stuffed dolphin and gave her a little wave with it. "Victor came by earlier. And the people in LA texted me. That's about it."

[fewerexplosions]

"I... did not get you a present," Liara admitted. "This is all I could afford-- I will make it up to you."

[solarhippie]

"Oh, no, that's fine!" Karolina was quick to say, because, well, she hadn't expected presents in the first place. "Cupcakes are a really good present. There's nothing you need to make up to me, Liara."

[fewerexplosions]

"If you are sure," Liara said cautiously. "I... looked up human birthday rituals."

[solarhippie]

"We don't really call them rituals, but... I know what you mean." And she reached for Liara's hand. "It's fine. You came by, that's all I want."

[fewerexplosions]

Liara glanced down at their hands. She took it - cautiously - as an invitation to lean into Karolina, dropping her chin on Karolina's shoulder. "What do you call it?" she asked.

[solarhippie]

"Well, tradition, I guess," Karolina replied after taking a second to think about it. Smiling down at her. "I mean, ritual is kind of right too? But it sounds a little too scientific."

[fewerexplosions]

"I am the only scientist of my species currently in contact with this species," Liara pointed out with a tiny smile.

[solarhippie]

"That's true," Karolina agreed with a little chuckle. "And now you're learning this species doesn't really use scientific language to talk about personal milestones."

A beat.

"And neither do its Majesdanian... friends."

Or whatever she was. Y'know, to humanity.