[[Happy first birthday, Marie!]]

The Repairman slowly and carefully guided Cat Slime over to Marie, helping him keep the cake balanced. He offered to carry the cake himself, but Cat Slime insisted that he present the cake that he made.

When they finally got to Marie, the Repairman turned to her and smiled.

“Well, Marie, you’ve been my assister for a year now, and–”

“Wait, did you mean assistant or sister…?” Marie asked, head tilted slightly.

“Oh, erm, both. Anyway…”

The Repairman reached behind himself, pulling out a small green toolbox, wrapped in a light red ribbon.

“How about something to help your job out more…?” he asked, as Marie gasped.

“R-Repairman…”

And then Cat Slime wobbled forward, squeaking happily as he brought the cake over.

“Oh, Cat Slime! Thank you!” she exclaimed, being quick to grab the platter from him. She gently set it on top of the tool cart and turned back to the Repairman.

“And thank you, too!”

“Don’t thank me yet!” the Repairman chuckled, holding the toolbox out. “Open it first!”

Marie took it, and after gently unraveling the ribbon, opened the toolbox to reveal…

Bows. Rows and rows of bows. A lot of them were identical to her green one, but there were also plain orange, red, and violet bows. Not only that, there were a few made of wool, and some with white polka dots.

The Repairman beamed, as he saw the stars in her eyes. Of course, she would probably organize them better, but her awe in that moment…

His eyes nearly popped out when Marie gave him that hug.

“Oh, thank you, Repairman! I’m gonna have to try these on!”

N…no problem…” he gasped, before being let go. “…ack…Glad you like ‘em! Be sure to thank Susumu; she helped me pick some out. Anyway, just let me know, and I’ll get you the tools you want in there, too, okay?”

“Oh! I’m gonna have to think about that one…”

Cat Slime squeaked indignantly, holding a large knife in his mouth.

“Heh, but before I do, I guess I should blow that candle out and cut the cake, huh?”

The Repairman’s Birthday Gifts

The Fourth Wall Repairman looked at the two wrapped boxes in front of him. The one Marie gave him was large, and the rectangular shape was oddly familiar, while the one Cat Slime gave him was smaller and cylindrical. Both were perfectly wrapped in purple, with yellow ribbons, and the Repairman could tell Marie meticulously put the paper on both presents.

“So, um” he said, adjusting his red party hat, “which should I open first…?”

“Mi! Mi!” Cat Slime squeaked, quite loudly and enthusiastically as he jumped up and down, flapping his little nubs of arms.

“All right,” the Repairman chuckled, “Cat Slime’s it is!”

His pet cheered as the inkblot tore the wrapping off the cylinder, revealing a premium cookie tin from Sarsaland. There were plenty of the treats in there, and the tin seemed to strain to keep the lid on. The Repairman beamed, petting Cat Slime on the head.

“Hey, thanks, Cat Slime!”

Cat Slime beamed.

“Right, now let’s see about this,” the Repairman grunted, picking up Marie’s gift.

“I hope you like it!” Marie smiled. “I worked pretty hard on this!”

“I’m sure I will,” the Repairman assured her, lifting the wrapping off, “I’m just happy you–”

He blinked, looking down at his own toolbox.

“…Huh?”

“Open it,” Marie said.

“Um, okay…”

The Repairman gawked at his toolbox. Everything inside was neatly sorted. Every single screwdriver, welding torch, hammer, and wrench was put into a nicely organized compartment. Nothing was out of place, and the Repairman saw that Marie even scrubbed the oil and cement stains off every surface, and got rid of an awful lot of the rust.

“…”

Marie’s smile wavered as she waited for a reaction. She had stayed up all night to tidy up his toolbox, and it was quite the feat to sneak off with the thing anyway.

“…Y-you like it…?”

The Repairman slowly looked back up at Marie. Her face fell as she didn’t see a single change in his expression.

And then the Repairman beamed.

“Thank you, Marie!” he said, going over to hug her. “I was getting tired of digging for everything! Never DID have time to fix that…”

Marie breathed a sigh of relief, falling into her brother’s embrace.

“Happy birthday, Repairman!”

Cat Slime clambered into their hug, squeaking “happy birthday” as well.

“Aw, thanks, you two!”

When the hug broke up, the Repairman cleared his throat.

“So, um, Marie, could you tell me how you sorted this…? I’m not used to a clean toolbox.”

“Oh! Well, it’s simple. Compartments 1a through 3b are all different kinds of screws, increasing in size. Then we have bolts, in 3c, 4f, and 9d. Of course, the socket wrenches are in 8s and 14b…”

The Repairman listened patiently, trying to wrap his head around this new system. His head swayed from side to side and his eyes swirled as she kept explaining, and her guide only seemed to get less lucid as it went on. Hopefully she also left labels or instructions in there…

Yes, folks, it’s been one year since the inception of this blog, as well as my 82nd birthday. Yippee. Now if you excuse me, I have some business to attend to.

((Thanks for the good first year, everyone!))