The Good Tidings Start Early. Stroke Of Midnight, Willow Is Up - Of Course She's Up - And Already Composing

The good tidings start early. Stroke of midnight, Willow is up - of course she's up - and already composing a message to Allie to wish her happy birthday. Eager to be the very first to do so, she had the message pre-typed at 11:50 to be sure it would send exactly on time.

[ TO :  alliebean     ✉️        willow is typing . . . ]    

txt: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANGEL GIRL <3 i love you so so so so so soooo much. i bet you're gonna be super busy today so i've actually got a few things due to arrive when the sun comes up so you can open all your prezzies and then go have fun!!! i hope you love them as much as i loved hunting them down for you!!

This text is followed by a selfie of Willow pulling a dorky face at the camera, lips pursed as if blowing a kiss to Allie through the photograph. Ser hair splayed across the pillow around her, shoulders bare and collarbones peeking into frame. There's a smile in her eyes.

As promised, the gifts arrive early in the morning. All wrapped in brown paper and purple string, Allie is gifted with a series of small things:

A floral letter set; parchment with dried flowers and melting wax and twine all secured nicely in a little box decorated with watercolour pictures of spring flowers.

A set of gel pens. These, Willow is particularly pleased with herself about, because they are not just gel pens, but fancy, glittery refillable gel pens. Sustainability is sexy!

Some little propagation jars, multicoloured and delicate and complete with cuttings from Willow's own houseplants! Plant babies!

The final gift is a little hand-bound I-O-U book, filled with things that Willow would probably do for Allie if she asked her enough times anyway, but this way Allie doesn't have to ask twice for anything! Little tokens of love, for whenever Allie needs them.

(belated) allie birfday 🥳🥳🥳, accepting always.

        when allie finds willow's message, she's sad to have missed it, but the feeling is swept away, a new one fluttering in its place as she continues to read the message, her initial impulse to reply subsiding as the anticipation and excitement about finding willow's presents.

        her door is the last place she checks, strangely closed and painting the rest of the home a few shades darker than usual, without the light flowing in from the open doorway that the fairy girl is used to. curiously, she peeks through the small window on the door, grinning brightly when she spots the four little boxes. after the careful extraction of string and paper, because it's willow and she couldn't bear to rip it, she's left with her four little pretty, sparkly treasures, and then she cannot decide what excites her more. she moves the plants to be with their new friends and gets them situated before she does anything else.

        it turns into the stretch and swell of time, and allie realizes that she's forgotten to text willow after a long conversation with their plant babies.

( sms 一 lolo!!!! 💜🌚🌧🌿 )   lo lo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 ( sms 一 lolo!!!! 💜🌚🌧🌿 )   youre so beautiful!!!!!!!!!!! ( sms 一 lolo!!!! 💜🌚🌧🌿 )   thank you so sosososoosos much i love youuuuuuuuuu ( sms 一 lolo!!!! 💜🌚🌧🌿 )   but im not busy pls pslslseaseeeeee eplease pleaseeeee come overrrrrrrrr i miss you sosososoos much :(((((((((((( ( sms 一 lolo!!!! 💜🌚🌧🌿 )   come help me write letters!!! you can like teach me cause youre so good at it!!!!!!! and then im totes gonna write you one cause i love you ( sms 一 lolo!!!! 💜🌚🌧🌿 )   please dont make me use a coupon im the birthday girl 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

allie loves her birthday bc people are nice to her (there is def sadness but it's Quiet today it gets sad when she's alone at the end of the night but those are internal issues and insecurities) but she'd still rather go out and party than have a birthday party for herself

Ben had prepared a special little gift for her, delivered under the cover of night. It appears a long, thin box wrapped delicately with pink tissue paper and shimmering ribbons has been left on her doorstep. In chicken scratch handwriting a heart felt note from Ben: A, happy birthday. Love, B. Upon unwrapping the present she will be presented with a long, thin-tipped knife, gleaming in tones of rose gold. The handle appears to be made up of smoothed Lapis Lazuli, held together with a golden band. And if she looks closely enough at the blade, she will see the initials BG engraved by the hilt. One of a kind, made only for her.

allie birfday 🥳🥳🥳, accepting always.

        she nearly trips over the box when she opens the door that morning, basking in the first morning full of spring light before she finds her little gift. doe eyes light up, her smile just as bright and pinching her cheeks a blooming pink. she's already found little things, from the birds and her friends in the forest, somehow just knowing as they always do. but this doesn't feel like any of them. even though the ribbons and the tissue paper are so very her, it feels like ben. the sort of tender roughness that he brings, that she finds when she hugs him and in his small, hesitant smiles. the fairy girl takes his gift into her arms like she might do to him if he were here, before she sits down on the step of the small porch to open it. his note washes over her with affection, and it feels like tiny bunches of love stored in little scratchy letters. beats of her heart in time with he thought of me! but she can't help but wish he was here to hug and thank, and her thoughts fill with fluffy, cloud like daydreams of the moment. at least, until she found the knife, buried within equally as fluffy decorations and wrapping. it's cold, in a startling way, she finds as she holds it in her hands, like she doesn't quite know what to do with it. it's beautiful, and she loves it, in some way. she has to, it's from him. allie lets out a breath, and decides that she will love it and it can be beautiful and she won't worry about what it's used for. she'll call and ask him and he'll say something silly and clever and delightfully grumpy and she'll laugh and everything will be just fine.

what was it like to love? // oh, it was like burning. // where did it burn? // everywhere. it burned everywhere. — salma deera, icarus in interview part 2, "the burning ones" ; for @haloedcrown ♡ ( give rora edit permission with the 🖼️ emoji )

stranger things rpc