Chương 221: (216) 3.81. Surprise!

"Welcome to Terra!" The group of people waiting in the living room shouted, pointing and laughing as Vin sputtered and stared, all the while trying to wipe the confetti out of his face. Just inside their apartment stood a whole host of faces he certainly hadn't expected to see. Alka and Alice were near the front, grinning and pointing at the different bits of confetti that had been blown everywhere from whatever trap Alice had clearly rigged in Vin's absence.

Scule was standing on Theodore's shoulder, whistling at their entrance and nearly losing his balance as Theodore swept into a deep bow directed toward Lumel. Shia and Myers were standing off to the side, each offering Lumel a big smile and waving warmly at her. Even Spur and Phil were here, both of whom nodded politely in Lumel's direction as they clapped. Reginald was currently lying atop Phil's head, oddly enough, and the rat squeaked excitedly alongside everyone else.

"Guys!" Vin barked, finally recovering enough from his complete shock to understand what was going on. Throwing a look at Lumel, whose half-uncovered face was a look of utter surprise and confusion, he turned to glare at everyone in the room still cheering.

"Lumel just wanted a quiet night! This is too much!"

"I'm alright, Vin," she said weakly, squeezing his hand as she came to terms with what everyone had done.

"I can't say I wanted something like this, but honestly, this was an excellent test. The fact that I didn't reflexively use Dimensional Shift to run away means my efforts to improve myself haven't been for naught."

"Okay…" Vin said, looking carefully at her.

"But let me know if this becomes too much. I'm more than happy to kick these idiots out. Even the ones that actually live here."

"That's enough whispering you two, shut up and join the party," Alice grinned, stepping forward and wrapping Lumel up in a big hug that elicited a rather Reginald-esque squeak from the pulmon.

"It's good to see you again, Lumel, it's been too long! Sorry about the confetti trap. That one was Scule's idea."

"And a damn good one it was!" Scule roared, nearly tumbling off Theodore's shoulder again as he thrust a finger at the front door.

"You should have seen the look on your guys' faces! Priceless!"

"Scule might have helped himself to some of the drinks rather than actually wait for the star of the party," Shia called out from the side, rolling her eyes at the wobbling petian.

"Who knew he could get utterly wasted on barely a thimble of wine?" A flash of purple caught Vin's attention, and he watched as Lumel slipped on her gloves, as well as the translation bracelet she'd stolen from the library. Before she could get a chance to say anything though, Spur stepped forward.

"It's good to finally meet you, Lumel," he nodded, reaching out and shaking her hand. Vin was thankful he'd warned Spur about pulmon biology ahead of time, as the Commander didn't even flinch as he smiled at her.

"Vin's told us a lot about you, but seeing your actual dimensional magic in person is rather spectacular. Tell me, what else are you capable of?"

"Not the time, Spur," Myers said, stepping up and steering the indignant Commander off to the side.

"This is a welcome party, not a council meeting. You can talk business later."

"Hmph," Phil grunted, nodding toward Lumel before following Myers and Spur off to the side. Reginald hopped off the man's head and landed on Lumel's shoulder, giving her a welcoming squeak and rubbing his face against her hood.

"Hi, Reginald," Lumel giggled, reaching up and gently petting him on the head.

"…Why were you on that man's head?"

"I bet Phil that he couldn't keep Reginald balanced on his head until the two of you actually arrived," Theodore chimed in, stroking his goatee.

"For some reason, the man seems very receptive to betting. It would seem I am indeed the loser, and for that, I'll have to pay up before the night is done."

"What did you bet?" Vin asked, curious what the stakes could have been. It wasn't like Terra used any actual currency, so trade was pretty much all goods and services.

"One 'leave me alone' coupon, good for twenty-four hours," Theodore grinned.

"They're quite the hot commodity these days."

"Really? That seems a little hurtful," Lumel said, giving Theodore a pitying look.

"Hardly. You know we didn't even invite him to this party?" Scule slurred, holding desperately onto Theodore's ear to keep himself stable.

"Not that we don't love him, because I do, but Shia asked that we keep it small. Small is best, after all!"

"Seriously? You crashed Lumel's surprise welcome party?" Vin asked, raising an eyebrow.

"As your boss, I don't know if I should be praising you or annoyed with you."

"Seeing as I got practically half a level for doing it, I'd say praise would be the wiser of the two," Theodore laughed, his eyes twinkling.

"I do apologize, Lumel, as I know you wanted a quiet night. But I also wanted to thank you for the gift you helped make for me."

"Oh!" Lumel said, her eyes widening in recognition as Theodore tapped the silver ring on his finger. Even if Vin hadn't been close enough to sense the magic coming off of it, thanks to his newest passive, he could easily detect the artifact that Lumel had personally created.

"Of course! And I don't mind you being here, Theodore, Vin's told me a lot about you. It's nice finally getting to put some names to faces. It would be different if it was a room full of strangers that had surprised me, but I practically feel like I know everyone here already." If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"You've got your own lady-friend and you waste all your time talking about us?!" Scule slurred, barely catching himself from falling off Theodore's shoulder again.

"Come on, Vin, I expected more from you!"

"Alright, that's enough of that," Shia said, walking over and poking Scule hard enough to knock him off Theodore's shoulder as she cast." Neutralize Poison." Falling for a brief second before faceplanting onto the ground, Scule groaned, shaking a fist up at Shia without even looking.

"Damn it, elf, why did you have to make me sober before I landed on my face?"

"Maybe don't get quite so carried away with the drinks next time," Shia drawled, before turning to Lumel and offering her a warm smile that somehow seemed not quite so predatory as usual.

"I'm glad you decided to join us up here on Edregon proper. Alka didn't have any interest in her room, so it will be nice to have another girl to chat with. Granted, even if she was here, Alka's not really one for girl talk in the first place."

"Why talk about boring stuff when you could be practicing?" Alka's voice rang out from across the room, as she raised her warpick in greeting.

"Enjoy the room, Lumel, do whatever you want with it! Glad to have you!"

"You put all this together, Shia?" Vin asked, watching a cursing Scule get to his feet and clutch his head.

"I'm just assuming it was all you, seeing as God knows Scule and Alka certainly didn't."

"I had the idea, but Alice helped me round everyone up," Shia nodded, giving Lumel a sheepish smile.

"I'm sorry, I know this isn't exactly what you wanted, but I honestly thought it was what you needed. To see there are people here in Terra that are happy to have you, and to know you're not alone anymore. I figured after spending a few weeks down in the Underside, something like this wasn't a bad idea."

"Thank you, I really appreciate it," Lumel said, returning the smile. Vin didn't miss how she was slowly looking more and more comfortable being surrounded by people with each one that officially welcomed her into town, and it warmed his heart to see.

"I'll admit, the Underside was certainly lonely. If it weren't for Vin's visits, I'm not sure if I would have retained my sanity down there." Reginald gave a comforting squeak and rubbed against Lumel one more time before hopping down and helping Scule over to somewhere he could sit down without risking being stepped on.

"It certainly doesn't help that this room contains about ninety percent of the governing power behind Terra," Shia laughed.

"If anyone in the entire town gives you any trouble, now you'll know who you need to go to in order to get them a thorough tongue lashing."

"Witherson couldn't make it?" Vin asked, looking around the room and realizing she was the only councilor missing.

"Said she didn't have time to waste on 'frivolous parties,'" Shia shrugged.

"Phil tried to play the same card, but Spur and Myers all but dragged him over here." That didn't surprise Vin in the slightest, as even now Phil stood at the side of the room, frowning at everything with his arms crossed. Though Vin couldn't quite tell if it was the party in general he was annoyed with, or the fact that Spur was continuously poking him in the side while waving a plate of hors d'oeuvres in front of his face and mouthing what looked like 'hungry hungry hippo.'

"I'm blown away that even this many people showed up," Lumel admitted with a smile. Taking her hood in her hands, Lumel went to fully pull it back and reveal her face in its entirety, before hesitating. She stood like that, frozen for a few seconds as she struggled with her own worries and desires. Gently, Vin took her hands and helped her let go of the edge of her hood, leaving it in place for the moment as he squeezed them and smiled at her.

"No need to rush things if you're not ready. You're already doing an amazing job."

"Thank you," she blushed, letting out a sigh of relief that she didn't have to fully step out of her comfort zone just yet. Clearing her throat, she turned toward the table in the middle of the room.

"Oh, are those snacks?" With a flash of purple, Lumel vanished and reappeared beside the snack table, startling Scule and nearly making him fall off the table as he flinched back from her sudden teleportation.

"Oh, it's that kind of party, is it?" Theodore called out, jumping up onto one of the couches and waving a hand in front of himself, suddenly transforming into an elf.

"All hail the trees! Down with the man of steel! Praise be to-eep!" Out of nowhere, Blossom formed and lunged up, knocking the Spy off the couch and tackling him to the ground before playfully batting him around under Shia's orders.

"Watch what you say about the elves," Shia laughed, making Blossom curl up and lie on top of Theodore like a giant wooden house cat, completely pinning him in place.

"Perhaps we shouldn't get too-" Myers began before Spur jumped onto her shoulders and lifted his sword high above him.

"Quiet you! This is a party!" That was the beginning of the end. After that, Lumel's calm welcoming party quickly devolved into pure chaos. Spur somehow managed to convince Myers to act as his steed as he rode into 'battle' and rescued the trapped Theodore from the claws of the wooden beast holding him captive. Alice immediately began throwing small, pressure-activated confetti bombs all over the room, causing explosions of confetti to go off every few seconds and blinding everyone in the vicinity.

Alka began chasing after Scule, determined to throw the petian onto the roof after he tried to pour some wine down the cracks in her visor, and Vin had to activate his gravity boots and retreat to the ceiling in order to escape from Phil who was determined to engage his golem arm in an arm-wrestling competition. It was loud. It was hectic. And it was far from the peaceful, quiet night that Lumel had originally asked for.

Though just like Shia suspected, based on the wide grin and boisterous laughter coming from the still-hooded pulmon as she started a game of tag with half the people in the room and proceeded to evade them all with ease with repeated casts of Dimensional Shift, it was exactly what Lumel needed.