"Right, right." He's perfectly happy to let her fuss him into eating breakfast instead of cake, and lifts the cover on the tray with barely even a token face-making of protest.
(Odds are good that whatever's for breakfast, he'll be as happy with that as with cake. Even the simplest of food still delights him, most of the time.)
Some instincts - fussing over people by making them eat - couldn't be ignored.
Ren took a seat. "Oh yeah, your present is on the table too." She mentioned. And sure enough there was a wrapped box with his present inside. "I made it. Well, the forgemaster made it 'nd let me do the heavy work. But, I helped."
There's mostly meat and fruit on the breakfast tray, which suits Edgar just fine. He pauses mid-chew as Ren points out the wrapped box, makes a muffled exclamation, and hastily chews and swallows before saying "You got me a present and a cake?"
"It's your birthday." Ren rolled her eyes in mock-exasperation. Okay, so, she had grown up with a relatively charmed childhood by Garou standards, a little rough around the edges but with two parents who adored her and wanted the best for her. And that involved getting well spoilt on your birthday. "Don't go spouting any stupidity about the cake bein' a present, 'cos it's not. Besides, I didn't get you nothin' for Yule, so, this can count for that too."
"Oh, not complaining, am I?" He takes a few more hasty bites to finish the chop, puts down the bone, hurriedly wipes his greasy fingers on his jeans, and reaches for the little wrapped box.
What's inside actually silences him for several seconds, eyes wide.
The significance of giving a ring to another person was slightly lost on Ren. Probably for the best.
"They're traditional back home. Most lads 'nd lasses from our part of the world get them when they turn adult. You're a few years past that now but I didn't see any harm in givin' you one."
When they turn adult. It isn't the same as hearing that from Curtis, but still, he can't help feeling warmed by it.
"Never saw one like this before," he says softly, lifting it out of the box and turning it in his fingers. "Claddagh, you called it? What's that mean?"
"Claddagh? It's a place in Southern Ireland. S'where they originate from." Ren explained, nodding towards it. "Ireland is a Island next to from where my family hails."
"They represent friendship, love 'nd loyalty. Here--" Ren stood up to lean over his shoulder to point out the elements. "The hands are for friendship, heart f'love obviously, the crown for loyalty. It's for the things y'want to be brought into your life or the things y'already have."
"Buuut, the things people won't tell you from my part of the world is the secret meanin' behind them. Y'wear it on your right hand with the heart in, means nobody has y'heart yet. Heart out, means someone's captured it 'nd you're not looking to share it with anyone else. Left hand with the heart tip point towards y'fingers means you've given your promise to someone. Left hand with the heart pointed in means you're someone's better half." Ren leant over and twisted it the various ways to show him what it meant.
"Nah, fun open secret, nowt serious." She reassured him. "And 'cos there's hardly anyone 'round here that'll know what it means, unless y'fancy tellin' them." But it wouldn't have felt right not to warn him just in case someone did know and he was wearing it the wrong way.
"I guess 'cos they've committed their hearts t'each other--" Ren gave a thoughtful hum. "On the left hand. The heart's point is outward 'cos you ain't tryin' to take in anythin' else. But Rowan don't know nothing about Claddagh-" she laughed. "-they're way to Southern for it."
Ren had been attempting to school her reaction while he figured it out which way he was intending on wearing it because - hey, no need to be weird about it. But she wasn't able to hide her satisfied grin.
"Ah good, it fits proper, grand. I had to try and figure it out off the cuff."
"Yeah, well, like I said--" Ren returned to her original perch so that she wasn't hovering over Edgar's shoulder. "--they're pretty traditional where I'm from. Most of 'em get passed down families but, I dunno, I though you'd be the kinda person who appreciated it."
"I do this one," he assures her, and makes just a little bit of a show of admiring it on his hand.
(Families. Something about that: a bit of warmth, a bit of a pang. He doesn't have any kind of tradition to give her in return, and he's finding himself wishing he did.)
"Anyway, what's your plans then, for today?" Because surely he wasn't planning on hanging about his room all day on his birthday? "Gotta have somethin' nice to do, right?"
"Haven't thought that far ahead?" Ren repeated with an incredulous laugh. "Eddie! C'mon, ain't there anything you'd want t'do that you don't normally get t'do?" What did she normally do on her birthday? Back home way a different matter, but here; "I mean, there's anything y'can set your heart on here. There's fuckin' dragons and shit."
He's about to protest that there isn't anything here that he doesn't normally get to do -- which is to say, anything he doesn't normally get to do here. And everything here is stuff he didn't normally get to do back home; dragons are special, yes, but so is cake, so is meat and bread and fruit, so is sunlight.
"Dragons," he repeats instead, and smiles. "Yeah, haven't been back there in a while. Want to go look in on em with me?"
"I can try." Ren shrugged. "Animals don't normally like me. They can sense I'm--" She see-sawed her hand to denote her very not-humanness. "--freaks 'em out a lil. Don't know about dragons, I've always kept me distance before."
But it was worthwhile having a try. "Couple of the pets here aren't bothered by me though, so, worth a shot?"
Ren shrugged. "If they get too flappy 'nd pissed off, I know how to make myself scarce before it becomes an issue." It seemed to come on a case by case basis with how they reacted to her.
She snorted a laugh. "Alright, fair 'nough. You're worse then Robin on her birthday." There had never been any getting between her baby sister and her cake on her birthday.
He grins at her, picks up a table knife, and starts slicing generous slabs of cake for both of them.
However misshapen the design, the cake is completely delicious. Later, there'll be a walk in the dragon sanctuary, where all but the biggest and bravest few dragonets scatter at Ren's presence. The two of them wind up sitting mostly out of the way, feeding scraps to the few willing to approach; one of those tries to climb into the relative safety of Edgar's shirt to eye her over his shoulder, and it's worth a good deal of laughter.
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(Odds are good that whatever's for breakfast, he'll be as happy with that as with cake. Even the simplest of food still delights him, most of the time.)
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Ren took a seat. "Oh yeah, your present is on the table too." She mentioned. And sure enough there was a wrapped box with his present inside. "I made it. Well, the forgemaster made it 'nd let me do the heavy work. But, I helped."
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What's inside actually silences him for several seconds, eyes wide.
"It's a ... a ring?"
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The significance of giving a ring to another person was slightly lost on Ren. Probably for the best.
"They're traditional back home. Most lads 'nd lasses from our part of the world get them when they turn adult. You're a few years past that now but I didn't see any harm in givin' you one."
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"Never saw one like this before," he says softly, lifting it out of the box and turning it in his fingers. "Claddagh, you called it? What's that mean?"
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"They represent friendship, love 'nd loyalty. Here--" Ren stood up to lean over his shoulder to point out the elements. "The hands are for friendship, heart f'love obviously, the crown for loyalty. It's for the things y'want to be brought into your life or the things y'already have."
"Buuut, the things people won't tell you from my part of the world is the secret meanin' behind them. Y'wear it on your right hand with the heart in, means nobody has y'heart yet. Heart out, means someone's captured it 'nd you're not looking to share it with anyone else. Left hand with the heart tip point towards y'fingers means you've given your promise to someone. Left hand with the heart pointed in means you're someone's better half." Ren leant over and twisted it the various ways to show him what it meant.
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"Is that secret like nobody's supposed to know, or ...?"
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A pause. "How d'you wear it if it's, like ... you're with someone but not exclusive? Like Max and Lucas and Rowan?"
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And despite every effort not to, he can't help glancing up at Ren to see how she reacts.
manipulation botch to not seem overly pleased
"Ah good, it fits proper, grand. I had to try and figure it out off the cuff."
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"Fits just right," he assures her. "Never had a ring before."
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(Families. Something about that: a bit of warmth, a bit of a pang. He doesn't have any kind of tradition to give her in return, and he's finding himself wishing he did.)
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"Dragons," he repeats instead, and smiles. "Yeah, haven't been back there in a while. Want to go look in on em with me?"
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But it was worthwhile having a try. "Couple of the pets here aren't bothered by me though, so, worth a shot?"
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A pause, and he glances at the sad chocolate hedgehog. "Cake first, maybe?"
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She snorted a laugh. "Alright, fair 'nough. You're worse then Robin on her birthday." There had never been any getting between her baby sister and her cake on her birthday.
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However misshapen the design, the cake is completely delicious. Later, there'll be a walk in the dragon sanctuary, where all but the biggest and bravest few dragonets scatter at Ren's presence. The two of them wind up sitting mostly out of the way, feeding scraps to the few willing to approach; one of those tries to climb into the relative safety of Edgar's shirt to eye her over his shoulder, and it's worth a good deal of laughter.
It's a good day.