[ Despite the frosty atmosphere in the loft and Hilda's very palpable absence after her argument with Claude, she at least makes an effort to return to the loft several days leading up to Sylvain's birthday.
When Sylvain leaves his room on the morning of the 5th, he'll be assaulted with an obnoxious bouquet of shimmering, iridescent balloons that shimmer and shine. Any attempt to move them will result in sigils to activate, prompting dark green, blue and gold confetti to blow around inside the balloons and words to spin across the surface of the balloons spelling out, 'Happy birthday, Sylvain!' Eventually, several days later they'll pop like bubbles, leaving no trace of them behind.
Weighing the balloons down is a gigantic wrapped box. The heavy box is wrapped in black, matte paper, tied together with a Faerghus blue ribbon. Instead of a bow however, it's held down by a gold wax seal that reads, 'S.J.G.'
Opening the box will reveal several things: a black envelope with his name written in gold ink, a dark green journal that is clearly intended for recording his tea blends or recipes if the embossed teacup and wooden spoon on its cover are any indication. He might get the impression it's built specifically for observations; it's filled with places to doodle flowers or plants, spaces to list ingredients and graph paper to record temperature and boiling points. Below it sits a thick, black denim apron, decked out with big pockets, adjustable leather straps, a towel loop, and his initials meticulously embroidered in a small corner of one of the top pockets. He can probably guess that she did it herself. There's also a gift certificate tucked into the top of the pocket for a private lesson with one of the top chefs at a critically acclaimed cooking academy in Aquila.
And finally, underneath the apron, is another box. It's a dead giveaway what it is based on the checkboard pattern. The chessboard itself is made of a sturdy, dark walnut, polished, burled, smooth and melded with brass and sliver pieces. Lifting the board will reveal the chess pieces, weighty and made of antique gold and silver. The bottom of the pieces have soft velvet attached to them to avoid scratching the surface of the board. If he's observant enough, he'll notice there are faint runes etched into the base of the pieces. The next time he plays with them, he might be in for a surprise; each one seems to have been slightly enchanted to animate according to their role once they've been moved into place on the board. She may or may not have been working on this for a month or so.
The envelope, if he opens it, will contain a letter that reads, ]
— june 5 | birthday things
When Sylvain leaves his room on the morning of the 5th, he'll be assaulted with an obnoxious bouquet of shimmering, iridescent balloons that shimmer and shine. Any attempt to move them will result in sigils to activate, prompting dark green, blue and gold confetti to blow around inside the balloons and words to spin across the surface of the balloons spelling out, 'Happy birthday, Sylvain!' Eventually, several days later they'll pop like bubbles, leaving no trace of them behind.
Weighing the balloons down is a gigantic wrapped box. The heavy box is wrapped in black, matte paper, tied together with a Faerghus blue ribbon. Instead of a bow however, it's held down by a gold wax seal that reads, 'S.J.G.'
Opening the box will reveal several things: a black envelope with his name written in gold ink, a dark green journal that is clearly intended for recording his tea blends or recipes if the embossed teacup and wooden spoon on its cover are any indication. He might get the impression it's built specifically for observations; it's filled with places to doodle flowers or plants, spaces to list ingredients and graph paper to record temperature and boiling points. Below it sits a thick, black denim apron, decked out with big pockets, adjustable leather straps, a towel loop, and his initials meticulously embroidered in a small corner of one of the top pockets. He can probably guess that she did it herself. There's also a gift certificate tucked into the top of the pocket for a private lesson with one of the top chefs at a critically acclaimed cooking academy in Aquila.
And finally, underneath the apron, is another box. It's a dead giveaway what it is based on the checkboard pattern. The chessboard itself is made of a sturdy, dark walnut, polished, burled, smooth and melded with brass and sliver pieces. Lifting the board will reveal the chess pieces, weighty and made of antique gold and silver. The bottom of the pieces have soft velvet attached to them to avoid scratching the surface of the board. If he's observant enough, he'll notice there are faint runes etched into the base of the pieces. The next time he plays with them, he might be in for a surprise; each one seems to have been slightly enchanted to animate according to their role once they've been moved into place on the board. She may or may not have been working on this for a month or so.
The envelope, if he opens it, will contain a letter that reads, ]