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It was a relatively cold morning in the alleys; fall had started, and the cold was just going to get worse. It's been about a month since William has gone missing, and Willow nearly stopped talking to anyone in TSP, but it wasn't all bad.
The date was September 10th, which was also Rash's birthday. Rash was definitely the backbone of TSP, as he was Willow's oldest friend, Billy's best friend, and Tigery's boyfriend. The three of them made a plan for the occasion: Billy will take Rash out to the mall while Willow and Tigry look for something nice to steal for him and then message Billy when they're done.
Rash woke up on the hard cold concrete floor. He swears that every night his sleep quality is worse and worse, but that didn't matter; he woke up excited for today. Billy invited him to the mall and will pay for him seeing how Billy's the only one with a job.
Rash was worried that he and Billy were growing apart; they haven't hung out since that time Billy tried to get them to be gym buddies, but Rash isn't into fitness, he finds it hell, and he never has the energy with how little he gets to eat. And when William left, TSP grew cold. For the past month, Willow seemed to shut down completely, and Billy has been visiting less... But today everyone seems so happy; maybe things finally changed for the better. As much as Rash hopes to see William again soon, he is happy to see his friends move on. Billy approached him.
Billy: "Rash, Buddy." HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
Rash: "Thank you so much. I can't wait to hang out, but um... Have you seen Willow and Tigry?"
Billy: "They woke up early; don't worry, they'll be busy all morning, but we'll see them when we get back... Oh, but they left you these.
Billy takes two gifts from under the table: a jacket with a little embroidery of Rash and his name on it, perfect for the cold that's coming and handmade; next to the Rash there were 3 embroidered hearts and "ILY" on the opposite side in the middle of them. It was a bit dirty and worn out, as it was just an old jacket of Tigery's that was customized. It was way too big for Rash, but he didn't hesitate to put it on. It gave some much-needed warmth, and it smelled just like Tigery.
Willow's gift was a brand-name crowbar; she definitely stole it. God knows she doesn't have the money, but Rash was overjoyed and couldn't wait to add it to his crowbar collection.
Rash: "Awwww, they shouldn't have. I can't wait for them to come back. I'm going to hug them so hard I'm going to CRUSH their spines."
Billy: "Well then, let's get going; we have a long day ahead."
Billy gives Rash two pats on the head, and they head out. It only took about 16 minutes to get to the mostly empty mall. It was early in the morning, and almost no one except the workers was there, but there was one face that stood out: a brand new security bot, those seem to be all the rage these days. It had a chainsaw attached to its arm and a glowing blue eye. It was definitely just for intimidating it's not like it's going to kill someone in the middle of the store. Billy felt sharp claws in his sides and turned back to see Rash desperately trying to hide behind Billy's bigger frame.
Billy: "Oh, calm down, it's not going to murder anyone; it's just to intimidate you. Plus, you haven't done anything wrong, so why would it attack?"
Rash: "I kinda have been banned from this place after shoplifting... That clanker likely has my face on some list; let's try our best to avoid it, please."
Billy: "Of course, don't worry, I can smash that metal can with one hand, I've got you."
They continued their way through the store. Rash was hiding his face in his new jacket, not being able to see he was just following behind Billy. Billy took out his phone to check on Willow and Tigry, sending them a message.
Billy: "So how are you doing?"
Tigry: "Great, we decided to steal a pie from the bakery again, but Willow looks a bit sour about it. We'll be done in a couple of hours."
Billy: "Good, keep me updated."
They get to a clothes shop full of new fall-themed items, coats, sweaters, hats, and jackets everywhere from floor to ceiling, all in browns, reds, and oranges.
Billy: "You should choose some things from here. Winter is around the corner, and you need some thicker clothes. It's already too cold for your current clothes, plus they're ripped and dirty. Don't worry, I'll pay for everything today."
Rash: "Thanks, let me take a look around."
Rash spins around a bit around the store looking at everything, and then he sees a dark purple sweater and beanie. Rash immediately falls in love with them. Tigry has his purple scarf and Willow her purple shirt, so Rash was happy to finally match them—that's until he sees the price.
Billy: "You like those? "Yeah, those are very cool. I always thought purple looked good on Willow, and you two are similar in color; you'd look fantastic in these."
Rash: "I don't know... We could get a brown sweater and hat for half the price of one of these."
Billy: "Rash, what did I tell you? It's all on me; you deserve these for being such a precious friend."
Rash wanted to insist on getting something else, but the damn clanker entered, and he'd much rather get out as fast as possible.
Billy: "Awesome, now let's get you some winter boots."
Exiting the store, that weird robot was following them up the escalator, its light blue eye turning red, and Billy's phone buzzed.
Tigry: "Bad news, the police are chasing us now. We should be fine; we have the pie. See you at home."
Entering the shoe shop, there was no one working the counter; it was only some stupid robot. Rash hated seeing all these AI taking over people's jobs, as if it wasn't hard enough already getting a job in his situation. Billy and Rash separated to look around the shop. The shop wasn't that big, but it had two rooms. Rash entered the second room to look around. The second room was a lot less finished, dusty, and with concrete floors. He picked up a pair of shoes he liked and started heading back to Billy when he started hearing loud metal feet on concrete ground behind him.
Billy was in the first room looking for shoes for himself, as he also needed a pair; his phone buzzed in his back pocket.
Tigry: "Bad news, we were caught. I'm at the station right now and might not be back when you get there. I know money is tight and you are already paying so much, a thing I can't thank you enough for, but please, if we end up in jail, can you buy him a cake and make sure he's going to be fine? I don't want him to be completely alone."
Billy looks at the message; his stomach hurts at the thought that Willow and Tigry may be in jail. Tigry never did anything criminal before, so he can't get more than a week, but Willow... Billy was already thinking of the worst, months, maybe years; with how long her criminal record is, things are looking bad. But Billy doesn't get a lot of time to think about it before he hears a loud scream and crash from the back.
Billy sprints towards the back to find Rash on the floor next to a destroyed shelf. The security robot's chainsaw was on, and it was approaching Rash. The robot gets about five steps away from Rash before Billy jumps on it, knocking it off its feet. Billy is way bigger and stronger than the damn clanker, but he doesn't manage to pin the arm with the chainsaw down, and so he has to get off it to avoid getting cut. The robot takes a swing at Billy, but it gets a crowbar to the back of the head from Rash. Not wasting a second, Rash gets on the machine and reputedly beats the robot with Willow's gift crowbar until the chainsaw stops moving. Billy helped Rash up, who was huffing and puffing after that near-death experience.
Rash: "...oh...god, that..." That's why I hate those security robots... Let's go back."
Billy started to head back with Rash, not knowing how to tell him Tigry and Willow might have been put in jail, pressing the doorknob and praying to every god he could think of that Willow and Tigry will be there.
"SURPRISE!!!!"
To Billy and Rash's shock, the whole place was decorated in balloons and ribbons, the table was stocked up with soda and cake, and most importantly, Willow and Tigry were not alone; four cops were also there. The polar bear, dog, and weird-looking one Rash recognized, but the lion was new.
Rash: "What is going on?"
Weird-looking cop: "We heard that it's someone's birthday, and we couldn't let them get no cake."
The dog cop comes up to Rash with a box of donuts.
Dog: "Happy birthday."
Rash looks towards Willow and Tigry, who were as confused with the situation as him, but once the shock wore off, Rash jumped on Willow, nearly tipping her over.
Rash: "AHHHG THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!, and the gift crowbar came in handy today."
Willow: "No worries; actually, I should be thanking you. Thank you, Rash, for always sticking with me! :D"
Rash then jumps on Tigery; he barely budges from the impact and immediately hugs Rash back. Rash aggressively pummels Tigery's face with kisses.
Rash: "And thank you, I love you soooo much, I love your gift, I'll never take it off, you are the best, you're so cool and beautiful and pretty and soooo!... I don't even have words to describe you, I LOVE YOU!!!!"
The eight of them have an amazing rest of their days, and the cake was delicious...