[crow]

"Happy birthday, baby brother!"

Bran blinked in confusion as Lyra popped a cracker right into his face. Bits of confetti and strings of bright paper streamers drifted onto him, draping into his hair and onto the shoulders of his blazer. In front of him, Lyra was grinning at him from across the table, wholly unrepentant. Mischief crinkled at the corners of her eyes.

Clocking his lack of reaction, however, she laughed. "Okay, I guess we're cousins, technically. But let's not sweat the details, right? I've always wanted a little brother."

[crow]

They were at a nice restaurant, which Bran hadn't been invited to so much as he'd been dragged towards. It wasn't that he'd resisted, but rather that he'd been caught entirely off guard. They were at a table for two. Lyra had told him it was her treat, and that she'd had something she wanted to talk to him about.

He'd presumed it was about a case. He hadn't thought--- He had forgotten the occasion himself, as strange as it might have seemed. If she wanted to surprise him, then she'd done it.

[crow]

She'd had, he recalled, a twin brother. What had his name been again? He couldn't remember. He'd read it on a file.

It had been the older twin who died. He remembered that.

"I---" he said. He had to clear his throat to give himself a moment to recover. "This is quite the surprise. I'm... flattered." He knew without needing to clock her reaction that he didn't sound natural, but even so, he tried a smile. It came out looking more awkward than anything.

[crow]

Lyra's smile was still bright, and she stuck her tongue out slightly at him. "I got you good, didn't I?" She seemed pleased with herself, triumphant almost. It was funny--- she was older now, but her smile looked exactly the way he remembered it, even after all these years.

What did he look like, through her eyes?

"I know it hasn't been that long since we got back in touch, but I thought it might be nice to spend some time together," she was saying. "You said you didn't have any plans."

[crow]

"That's true," said Bran, his smile turning rueful. He had managed to forget his own birthday. To her, it must have seemed like such a blunder, the real proof that he had ended his youth too soon.

On the contrary, however, Bran wasn't sure that he was happy for the reminder. Even if he had remembered, he doubted it would have turned out any differently. He had never thought of his birthday as something to celebrate, and for that matter, most people around him didn't seem to think so either.

[crow]

He didn't quite have it in him to begrudge her goodwill, because even after all these years, she was still Lyra... And he knew that she wanted to do this for him because he saw her much the way she saw him. She didn't know how tired he'd been, these past few years.

No, maybe he wasn't giving her enough credit. Maybe she did know. Maybe that was why she was doing this.

"Don't worry about being polite, and just pick what you want," she was saying. "I said I'm getting the bill, but really, it's the President's money, so it's a treat for both of us."

[crow]

The wink she gave him was almost exaggeratedly comical, and yet it looked natural on her. This was one of Lyra's dichotomies, which he had never understood. That hadn't changed either.

"I won't hold back then," Bran said, picking up the menu. It was bound in what may well have been real leather, everything printed in an elegant font. There were no pictures, merely names, and a short description of each dish.

"Oh, they have creme brulee," said Lyra, perking up. Apparently she had flipped to the dessert section immediately.

[crow]

It was this small, trivial detail that finally startled a laugh out of Bran. He figured she'd been trying to break the tension for a while now, but it was just so... She was just so obviously, unabashedly out of place, unconcerned with her image or the couple sitting next to them who were now giving her an odd look. Bran caught their eye and smiled politely at them. They turned away.

He'd been to these types of places dozens of times, with dozens of different people. None of them had skipped straight to the end of the menu to look at the desserts.

[crow]

Bran turned back to Lyra, inclining his head slightly. "Shouldn't you be buying me cake? Since it's my birthday," he said. Lyra glanced up from where she'd been thoroughly absorbed in scrutinizing her sweets option and grinned.

"Don't worry, Bastien has you covered," she said.

Bran's eyes widened, and he looked over his shoulder, half expecting to find the tall, scowling form of Bastien glowering down at him. He didn't. Behind him, Lyra was laughing again.

"No, he's not here, silly. There's going to be a real party after. Everyone's going to be there."

[crow]

"Oh... Is that so?" Bran didn't know what to say in the face of that. He had underestimated the extent of Lyra's enthusiasm for this, it seemed. He really should have expected it. In all honesty, a two-person meal at a nice restaurant was rather... subdued, for Lyra. Bran had chalked it up to the fact that they were both older now, and thought that even Lyra's antics must have something like a limit now.

"Gee, Bran, don't kill me with your eagerness," she said, pulling a face. "It'll be fun! And Bastien makes a wicked cake."

[crow]

Bran didn't doubt that he did. Lyra had waxed poetic often enough about Bastien's culinary skills that Bran had half suspected his cousin of dating the guy just for his food... But then again, she waxed poetic about other things about him too, on occasion.

That wasn't the issue. The issue was more that Bran just didn't know what to do at parties anymore.

And it wasn't that he felt... unwelcome among the people that would be at this one, exactly, but... It felt a little as if he were borrowing someone else's friends.

[Wild Pet Found]