Tifa & Yuffie

[Tifa Lockhart]

Chaud smirked and shook his head. He'd never admit to either twin that he would miss having them around. That just wasn't how he rolled.
"Alright Sai, firstly:"
he reached into the pocket of his cargo pants and tossed a rather stylish pair of goggles at the boy.
"And secondly," he gestured for Luke to step forward, and the blond boy handed the large present to Saito.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Sai caught the pair of goggles effortlessly, having such good reflexes, peering at them with an intrigued look on his face, before he turned to carefully take the larger gift from Luke, with a thanks to both him and Chaud. He then proceeded to carefully unwrap the item, which was wrapped with a couple of protective layers as well to keep it from being damaged. When the item became visible he gently pulled it from the wrappings to get a better look at it, his expression immediately turning surprised. "oh my god! Chaud you SO didn't!" he awed, already knowing precisely what it was. He'd heard -like everyone else- that BlazeQuest was working on these, but they weren't scheduled to be released to the public for some time yet, he'd thought they were still in development but apparently not. "when did you decide on this, exactly?" he asked, looking both thrilled by the gift and completely shocked. "these aren't meant to be out for another couple of months, yet!"

Lan was stunned silent, so he said nothing, just gawking at Chaud with a 'what the hell, I didn't think you were the type for that' look on his face. It was easily recognisable, so everyone knew what it was. It was a hoverboard of sorts, BlazeQuest were calling it an 'Over-board', they were the first of their kind anywhere. It was controlled similar to a snowboard would be, the rider's weight and balance determining the direction, it treated the air beneath it (which was slightly warped by its hovering) as the surface it ran on so it was surprisingly stable despite how awkward previous hover technologies had been. This one Chaud had obviously personalised just for Saito, as it was painted in that same blue he always wore, identical to his navi armour, with some points of interest painted in yellow, and emblazoned on the underside was the Hikari emblem. Once Chaud has made his replies to Sai's initial reaction, the younger boy thanked him repeatedly, a bright smile on his face. "Freedom from public transport!" he exclaimed, seeming quite stoked about NOT having to catch another bus anywhere. "I can't wait to try it out later! It'll be SO MUCH FUN!" he seemed quite excited by the idea, carefully putting the board down where it wouldn't get damaged and grabbing the goggles to see what they were like. They quite suited him, actually, as if he'd been born to be a boarder.
"cool! They look so awesome, Sai! You're gonna make people jealous when you ride that thing to school, 'coz they're gonna wish they looked as awesome!" Lan remarked, grabbing his twin into a half-hug around the shoulder, grinning broadly.
"oh please, this is me we're talking about here!" Sai began, a sly smirk on his face. "I make anything look amazing!" He was clearly just kidding around, and promptly grinned at his twin, who playfully shoved him, telling him he so was not the poster-boy he likes to think he is.
"You have too much of an ego!" the younger twin joked, his brother just poking his tongue out at him in response.
"Hey, I never said I was a poster-boy, I just said I'm awesome. Which I am" As he said it, he put on a clearly joking tone, pulling an rather amusingly confident expression. He then laughed, pulling the goggles off and leaving them around his neck. "okay, okay, I've bragged about my awesomeness enough, we all know Alpha-nii and senpai are so much more awesome than I am" he finally said, turning back to Chaud now that his little joke was over and thanking him yet again, smiling brightly to the young boy. He wouldn't say so, but he was ever hopeful that him being so cheerful might help lift Chaud's spirits a bit too, he didn't like that somewhat dull look in his eyes, despite him acting well enough.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Chaud watched Saito silently as he awed over the gift. It had been a decision long in the making for Chaud. He'd had the navi-gone-human in mind from the very start of the boards development (or at least from the stage where it looked like his whim might become reality).
"I'd meant to do some testing of it myself prior to its release," he explained, his expression unreadable. "For obvious reasons that is no longer possible... and I don't trust hired testers with technology this advanced."
He gave his hair and arrogant flick, sitting back in his chair again.
"So I had a duplicate made from the prototype for you. I expect updates on its performance... if it has an issues I'll need to know... but I highly doubt it'll be any trouble."
Chaud's disappointment showed only briefly... the Over-Board had been his idea from conception and right through. A little known fact (one BlazeQuest hadn't bothered to make public) was that Chaud had built the prototypes completely himself, rather than letting his scientists make his plans reality. He felt a little robbed, no longer able to test them for himself.
"In any case," he continued, putting on a small smirk for Saito's sake. "Enjoy it... but don't kill yourself. That's a dose of compensation I don't think even I can afford."

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Saito laughed lightly in response, nodding to show he understood. "No worries, I'll keep you updated, but considering it's BlazeQuest technology I somehow doubt that it'll have any major issues!" he replied, obviously just as confident with BlazeQuest's work as Chaud. "and stop worrying, I won't get myself killed." he insisted, smiling in a reassuring manner. "In case you've forgotten my balance and reflexes are a LOT better than most people, I think I can handle a hoverboard" He added, as if to reinforce his point.

After the thanks were done, Miyu stepped forward next, a soft smile on her face and a neatly wrapped gift in each hand. "I got this in about a month ago and I thought you might like it, so I kept it for you. I hope you like it, Saito" She said, as she handed Sai his present, smiling warmly as he thanked her politely. She then turned to Lan. "and for you, Lan," she began as she handed the boy his gift. "Your mother suggested you needed some, after all you're all grown up now, not like when we first met" she laughed slightly, at Lan's odd expression in response. Obviously he wasn't sure whether that was a compliment or a jibe at his immature personality.
Sai waited for Lan to open his present first, inside was a small box in which was a pair of very beautiful cufflinks. Lan grinned brightly and thanked Miyu for the gift, making a remark that the cufflinks looked a lot like a pair he'd seen his grandfather wearing in a photo that their father had. Sai seemed to think they were quite nice as well and commented that Lan would look very nice come their graduation ball. The elder twin then proceeded to open his present as well, inside was an antique porcelain statuette of a falcon, in surprisingly beautiful condition despite its age. Saito seemed delighted with the gift, especially since raptors were his favourite kinds of birds. He easily identified the falcon as a Peregrine, seeming impressed by the detail in the face and the painting of the statuette. He thanked Miyu once again, calling his mother over and asking if she could put it somewhere where it wouldn't get broken, until later on.

[Tifa Lockhart]

The friends began to move forward faster now, small trinkets of all sorts being presented to the two.

Sai got a small Good Luck bracelet from Shuuko, a rather complicated looking Armor program upgrade from Valeska and a book on the known history of the undernet from Maylu.
He got a fairly new-release video game from Dex that he claimed was the most fun he'd had since Net Battling. A fishing reel was accompanied by one too many calcium related jokes from Maysa and a hearty helping of assorted Netopian sweets was presented to him by Raoul. Luke stepped forward after everyone else was done to present Saito with a small collection of CDs. It was clear from the perfect selection that Luke had been inspecting Sai's music library whenever he wasn't around to see him.

For Lan Shuuko gave a beautiful hand made scarf and Valeska presented him with a custom made battlechip of her own programming, though she refused to spoil what it did for him.
From Maylu he received the latest issue of his favourite comic-book, somehow signed by the artist themselves. Dex presented Lan with a handful of Battlechips, which he claimed were the components to a complex program advance. Luke had bought Lan a nice stack of vintage comic books, while Maysa presented him with a very large number of boxes of fish-crackers.

Higsby had presented a very rare battlechip to both Lan and Saito, the chip being called "Goldfist." From Yai they were given a rather formal looking invite to a cruise on her family's private cruise liner, the fine print informing them they were allowed up to fifty guests. Lan had been surprised when Sai's friends from school, Jan and Helen, came forward and presented them with a disk. They explained that they'd been saving up for ages in order to buy them the new OS that had just barely been released for the PET. Charlie presented to two of them with a coupon for a free scenic flight in his helicopter, while Fyrefox gave them front row tickets to his next fireworks display.
Haruka then handed them an envelope addressed from Jasmine. Inside they'd found a number of recovery and health-protection related battlechips and a long winded letter asking if they had been taking good care of themselves. From Tamako they received a pair of matching carved wooden statuettes and a letter demanding they visit soon for their rematch.

Now it was Miss Mari's turn to step forward and offer matching parcels to each of the twins.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

((lol Maysa ))

Lan and Sai both seemed to be very much enjoying themselves and as Miss Mari stepped forward with gifts in matching wrapping for them, they both offered thanks and equally bright smiles, before opening their gifts, Sai considerably more gently than his twin. As they pulled the items from the wrapping it became clear that they were matching coats, with hoods lined with some high quality faux fur. Both were black, but Lan's had grey-brown fur on the cuffs, collar and hood, whilst Sai's had white. Lan fairly quickly began admiring how soft the fur was and checking out the nifty little pockets inside the coat for an MP3 and a phone or PET, and thanked Miss Mari, whilst Sai on the other hand flipped his around his shoulders to see how it fit, seeming to almost immediately giggle cutely at how soft the fur was.
"it's so fluffy~!" he remarked, earning an odd look from his brother and an adoring laugh from his mother. Unfortunately he did have rather a weakness for sweets and for soft fluffy things...hence he loved furry animals. "thankyou Miss Mari! I love it!" he said then, smiling adorably before he snuggled the furry white collar again. He'd regret it later, but it was too cute to blame him of being childish, he couldn't help it after all. Lan couldn't resist snickering at his brother, but he had to admit that the faux fur was indeed VERY soft and he figured he could quite easily learn to adore his coat as well. Sai pouted at his brother and accused him of teasing him, but the slight pink that coloured his face made it clear he was more than aware that he was acting very childish. Miss Mari thought it was positively adorable, seeing the normally very calm and mature boy acting so much like a child at a theme park. In fact most of the girls in the room thought it was adorable, though the guys found it more amusing than anything else. Sai didn't take the coat off though, afterwards, he seemed rather fond of it and left it on, not particularly warm at the time anyway, surprisingly.

[Tifa Lockhart]

The sound of a loud beeping interrupted the celebrations then, and everyone shot an accusing glance in Chaud's direction. The young man didn't seem at all perturbed by their disapproval though, because he produced his PET and proceded to open it to check whatever message he'd just received. A small smirk crossed his face before he put it away.
"While we're on the topic of 'fluffy'..." he began. "A rather important guest has just arrived for you, Saito."
He'd point towards the large loungeroom window, that opened out into the back yard. It had been closed to keep the sun from overheating them all while they were in there.
"Why don't you open those curtains?"

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Sai seemed a little confused at first, but he then stood up to follow the other boy's instructions. When he did, his expression almost immediately turned both shocked and positively elated. His twin also moved over to peer around his brother at the sight, laughing quite animatedly when he saw what he'd seen. "oh, of course! THAT'S what you meant by "on the topic of fluffy"!" the younger twin laughed, as his brother bolted for the door to the back yard, nearly bowling over the person waiting there for him with a full force tackle-hug around the shoulders. Of course there was only one person he would ever greet so lovingly and -despite him having not told anyone- everyone there had been expecting that reaction anyway, so of course Charlie was collecting his winnings from Fyrefox on how he'd react (yes, they'd made a bet on whether he'd tackle him with a hug before of after getting a good look at whom he'd brought with him) whilst Sai tightly hugged his senpai, positively elated to see him there and also see his gift for him. He looked so happy he was nearly crying, laughing joyously and finally letting the man go to greet him properly and get a proper look at the furry little friend he had with him.

((I'll let you respond first before I go moving on ))

[Tifa Lockhart]

Blues had been standing at the window with Sai's new furry friend in his arms. He'd put the creature down though when he saw Sai make a break for the back door. It had been a good call, because seconds later the boy slammed into him. If he'd been anyone else, he might have fallen from his feet.
"Easy there pipsqueak," he teased softly, smoothing Sai's hair before releasing the boy from the hug. He then stooped to pick the tiny puppy up again, offering it over to Saito.
"Say hello," he chuckled.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Sai laughed delightedly and gently took the tiny puppy from his love, the most adorable smile on his face. He'd already determined the puppy to be a girl and she immediately took a liking to him, yapping happily and licking his face, prompting the boy to gently cuddle the puppy happily. "she's adorable, senpai!" he said, actually crying now for sheer joy. "Thankyou, thankyou!" he carefully moved to hug his love again, with one arm, making sure he still had a good hold on the puppy with his free arm and being careful she didn't get hurt. "you're the best boyfriend EVER!" he said, half not really computing what he just said, but it was adorable all the same, he figured no-one could hear them anyway since the windows were that thick, not that everyone there didn't already know. After a moment, he let his love go again, snuggling the little puppy again lovingly and rubbing tears from his face. "I guess I'll have to think of a name for her, huh?" he remarked, laughing cheerfully. He then urged his love to follow him inside, still cuddling the puppy gently but making sure he had a secure hold on her so he wouldn't drop her.
The puppy was, as to be expected, a young female German Shepherd, with huge brown eyes and sleek black fur, as was typical of young dogs of her kind. When she grew up, she would grow to have the typical golden fur and pointed, upright ears her kind were known and loved for, but no-one could deny that those tiny, floppy ears of hers were still damn cute. When he brought her indoors, he immediately showed her to everyone, still cooing over how adorable and soft she was. He then sat down again, urging his senpai to sit with him and snuggling the tiny dog, who gave a happy little bark, tail wagging excitedly.
"man, she's so cute! she looks really smart, too!" Lan remarked, petting the puppy softly before he moved back out of the way so that others could see her.
"Yeah! I'm not sure what I'll name her, though, I'll need to think on it" Sai replied, still sounding a little teary, though he was calming down again. He'd already seemed to have been won over by the little Shepherd completely, and the puppy in turn seemed to have recognised he was her owner and seemed just as happy about it as he did.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Blues was rather pleased with himself. He'd gotten exactly the reaction he wanted out of Saito. So he followed the boy inside, settling himself down beside him. He'd ruffle Sai's hair affectionately, before turning back to look as Sal stepped forward.

"I can give you my gift now," she said, placing a large basket down in front of Saito. It was filled with just about everything he would need to care for his new puppy.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Sai laughed when his love ruffled his hair, also turning when Sal approached to offer him her present, smiling happily and thanking her, saying that he really appreciated it and promising he'd take good care of her. The puppy jumped out of his arms then, slightly surprising him, to snuffle around the basket. He'd immediately thought she was probably smelling some food of some kind and went to try and pull her out of the basket laughing lightly, but she pushed all the treats aside and pulled out a collar from the bottom of the basket, yapping playfully and prancing around in circles, making Sai laugh in amusement. "you really are a smart girl, aren't you?" he said, as she hop-skipped over to him, nearly tripping on a piece of stray ribbon, wagging her tail excitedly. He took the collar from her gently and pulled it from the cardboard back that it was looped through, to check the fit of it and re-size it as was necessary, before carefully clipping it around her scruffy neck. She then jumped up to start licking the boy's face, yapping in between licks. "hey, hey! not the face!" he laughed, unable, despite his efforts, to get away from the puppy's affections. Once she had let up the licking, he wiped his face with the back of one hand and gently picked her up again. "thankyou so much everyone! This is definitely the best day ever!" he laughed, smiling brightly to everyone in the room, before he then turned to Blues. "and of course a special thanks for you, senpai!" he added, cuddling the puppy his love had given him close to him. It was absolutely obvious that Blues' gift was definitely his favourite, but he loved all his gifts and it most certainly showed on his face.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Blues waved Saito's thanks off casually, his face tinged the slightest shade of pink - which was certainly an amusing sight to see.
"Chaud helped me organise it," he explained casually.

In the background, Sal was presenting Lan with a wood tower battlechip, and informing him that he needed to mix his elements up a little.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Saito smiled at that, turning around to see Sal giving Lan his gift from her and informing him he needed to have more elemental chips in his set, to which both boys laughed lightly. Sai wouldn't say so, certainly not in front of everyone else, but he rather liked it when Blues blushed like that. It was the same for any significant display of emotion from the man, it was just somehow heart-warming for Sai...he still liked it best of all when the man smiled though. He loved his smile.

Lan thanked Sal for the gift and added the chip to his pack that he had with him, saying that he did need a few more element chips and that she'd made a good call with wood tower. After that the group enjoyed some more conversation before Fyrefox broke out the dance game he'd brought along, sheepishly admitting that yes it was one of his hobbies in his spare time, though Lan and Sai (much to his surprise) didn't laugh at him for it, so most of those there who wanted to joined him for some dance-offs, though no-one could beat him (of course). Sai however spent the time watching them and tapping out a rhythm with his fingertips on the coffee table to some of the songs on occasion, though when Maylu told him he should join in singing with everyone else since they all were, (rather loudly and for some off key) he nervously insisted that he was quite happy just to listen, saying he didn't think he'd be terribly good at it, despite her arguing that he couldn't possibly be worse than Charlie. Sai wouldn't admit it, but in truth he wasn't sure he was capable of singing, since he never had really. Though even Roll and some of his other navi friends were singing and dancing along, so it wasn't impossible for a navi, he just never had learned or taken the time to try, and was a little nervous about trying for the first time when everyone else was present.
He took the opportunity to sit with Chaud and talk to the older boy, knowing he couldn't join in on the fun, given his current physical state. He hadn't purposefully done so simply to get out of joining in, but he was certainly grateful for the excuse. They played all manner of games and such throughout the day and the evening, and as long as they weren't doing something Sai didn't feel nervous about joining in on, he quite happily got in on the fun, as did Chaud once or twice when Sai insisted he did. In fact he even seemed to be quite enjoying himself when they played some racing games and was the only one who got even close to beating Sai and Blues, who were both just too good at racing. Once or twice Sai had skittered off to the edge of the room to play with his new puppy, whom quite loved the attention, but he never went off for long and usually was snuggling the tiny canine when he came back, contemplating on what he should name her. Of course, as things got later on, Haruka cooked up a huge dinner for everyone, Luke and Maylu helping with the serving and the cooking since there was so much work to do.

((aaaand, I'll stop now XD let you have some fun))

[Tifa Lockhart]

The party continued on for quite some time. Haruka had organized it with a number of the kids' parents for them to stay over the night. She wanted Sai's first birthday to be one he never forgot. So as it drew later, everyone began to nod off. Maylu had been the first to go, nodding off after curling up in the armchair. Dex was the next to start snoring, soon followed by Tory and Lan.

Blues had settled down on the couch not far from Chaud, talking softly with his netop. Sai had made his way over, still clutching his puppy, and curled up with his head on Blues' lap.

Zero stood in the far corner of the room, where he had been all night, just observing.