Blessed by Night

When Malachi emerged from his bedroom with Nadine kind of trailing behind him, Sei and the others were understandably surprised. Malachi still had everything that had happened with Nadine fresh on his mind, but he tried his best to push everything to the back of his mind for now. These people had dropped everything to come here and celebrate him. He would be an unbelievable jerk if he didn't at least pretend to be thrilled to see them. 'We're going to talk about this later, you know?' Malachi said telepathically. Nadine didn't say anything back in response. She just tightened her grip on Mal's hand. 'I'm sorry, I'm ruining your..' 'No. You aren't ruining anything.' Mal comforted. 'We're going to figure out how to help you no matter the time or place. That's what family is for.' Nadine smiled bitterly. It had been over two years now, and she still wasn't used to some of the softer points of this life. "Happy birthday." Keres appeared in front of Malachi silently, and too quick for him to react. Malachi blinked a couple of times as he stared at his elder sister. He didn't know if he'd ever seen her be so... excited before. He guessed it had something to do with the large box in her grasp. "Thanks, Keres... Is that supposed to be for me?" Keres nodded with no lack of enthusiasm evident on her face. "Open it." Malachi smiled wryly. "You sure you don't wanna wait till after we cut the ca-" Keres smushed Malachi in the face with the box. "Opennn..." Malachi was already finding it rather hard not to crack a smile. "Well since you're feeling so persistent.." He chuckled as he took the box from her. The gift was completely pitch black with a short violet bow that also seemed to come with its own tiger stripes... Smiling, Malachi gently pulled apart the bow and opened the lid of the box. Surprise immediately showed on his face when the first thing that greeted his vision was a metal helmet. And not only that, there was a full suit of armor inside that was somehow the edgiest thing Malachi had ever seen in his entire life. If he concentrated for just a couple of seconds, he could have sworn that he heard it whispering to him... As he leaned in closer to listen better, the armor suddenly leaped out of the box and towards him. In a surprising twist, the armor dropped inside of his very shadow and disappeared out of sight. He didn't notice it, but there was a small black card taped to the inside of the chest plate. Containing some surprisingly thoughtful words from a goddess of violent death. Malachi's eyes involuntarily sparkled. "So cool..." "You like it then..?" Keres asked with a hitch of hope in her otherwise stoic voice. "I do indeed. Thanks, sis, you're the best." Malachi hugged Keres tightly, despite her lengthy frame. Keres turned her head towards Aubrey and Nemesis. On that day, they saw a glimpse of what it would look like if her sister smiled out of a sense of superiority. Both instantly decided that they would let her have this moment for as long as she wanted. "I thought we would be doing the gift-giving a little bit later, but doing so right now doesn't seem like such a poor change of pace." Sei shrugged. "Oh, oh! I must go next then!" Morgan practically skipped to the front of the crowd where he handed Malachi a paper gift bag. Reaching inside, Malachi pulled out a gift that actually made him laugh aloud. Staring back at him was a beginner grill-master kit, complete with a set of tongs, two spatulas, a two-pronged fork, a thermometer- and most importantly, an apron that said 'Grill-Master in Training'. Malachi looked at the quartet of older men at the back of the room with a knowing expression. "Be honest... How many of you got me some grilling stuff?" Uncle Trevor, Rowan, Ali, and Malachi's father Marcus all raised their hands weakly. Trevor: "It's time, kid. There's just certain things a man's gotta know how to do." Rowan: "All these superpowers at your beck and call and you barely know how to cook a perfect mid-rare steak. Shameful." Ali: "I got you some basic seasoning blends to get you started. Nothing fancy since we working on building up your technique first. Remember: Low and slow like a 64." Marcus: "I shoulda had you around me watching when you were a kid, but remember you used to get on my nerves complaining about the bugs and-" "Alright, alright, I get it!" Malachi held up his hands in surrender. "No need to rehash all that old history now, I'm already good and grown." Laughter filled the dining room at Malachi's expense. Though in all honesty, he was finding it difficult to be upset about it. Somehow it was one of the sweeter sounds he'd ever heard. There was something special about having this many well-meaning people come to celebrate something as simple as your birth. Many times in his life, Malachi had felt truly lucky. But it was very difficult to name a moment greater than this. Even if everything still wasn't perfect, and he had some aspects of his life that still needed fixing, he was grateful for every moment. "We actually wanted to get you a little something together... And make it a group gift while we were at it." While Malachi was still basking in the joy of the moment, Nyx and Felicia both dropped a very large booklet on the counter. At first, Malachi thought it might've been some sort of ancient tome. 'I'm going to learn magic finally..? I knew Aubrey couldn't keep me away from the mystic arts forever!' Malachi was silently hoping that his beginner magic kit came with a sentient cloak and a cool amulet. Interestingly enough, Bianca was hoping the same- only her wish was that her fiancé would let her borrow it. But judging by the grin on Nyx's face, this was nothing so dreadfully ordinary. "I think you all have kept everyone here waiting long enough, don't you? Isn't it time that you all take wedding planning a bit more seriously?"