Happy Birthday Bebop - Tumblr Posts

"What... what..." Jet's mouth continued to move although his brain had given up on providing words to properly articulate his confusion at the scene spread before his eyes.

"It is Bebop's birthday, Jet-person! Ed has decorated! Celebrations shall commence at 0800!" Edward cried jubilantly, grabbing Jet's hands and swinging them violently up and down.

The train yard in his mind was home to a few different trains now moving smoothly out along their tracks, or trying to at least. Rumbling along like a hearty chuckle, an engine built of dark amusement at how cranky their other shipmates would be if Ed truly did plan to wake Spike and Faye at 8 in the morning Ganymede time. The notion of the ship having a birthday was a small, quiet train engine chugging along without many train cars of additional questions, though he felt strongly that it was the safest inquisition to proceed with. And then there was the currently derailed train that represented his bafflement at what had happened to his ship.

Oblong balloons in a variety of colors were clumsily tied off or taped up to anything that would host the... er... repurposed condoms that Ed had scavenged from who knew where. The fact that each was slightly buoyant against the subtle breeze indicated the fact that she must have found a helium tank to fill the latex rubbers with. It was a small comfort to him that she hadn't blown them up using her own oxygen and mouth. Never mind that she wouldn't have known their true purpose, though at least they were obviously unused.

She had shredded the wrappers and turned them into confetti which she had blown out of a funnel when Jet had first stepped onto the deck with the simple relaxing idea of watching the sun rise on his home world. The funnel had not been unused - it had left a ring of black on Ed's lips from the oil that had been poured through it most recently.

His first task, before even getting any answers, would have to be to wipe that crud off her face.

There were chalk drawings EVERYWHERE. He could identify a collection of box shapes for hop scotch and a few different tic-tac-toe boards awaiting the X's and O's, and drawings of Ein and the rest of the crew. It looked like she had tried to sketch out some of their bounties. All the zipcraft were parked on the deck along the edges of the flight deck and each one was liberally covered in tassels made of whatever clothing Ed had been able to procure from within the ship or elsewhere for all he knew.

She had set up a table as well, he recognized it as the one they'd used on Io when camping outside of the ship while repairs were underway. It was loaded with Piyoko and eggs (raw? boiled? no way to know) and with every ashtray from inside, still loaded with remnants of cigarettes and stogies and even a few cannabis joints. Dozens of open beer cans were set out also, fallen soldiers from whenever they'd been able to afford a case of beer and, rather embarrassingly, passed out before finishing the goods. There were also a handful of grimy glass bottles, which she dragged him over to, and gestured proudly at her findings.

"The bottles are dusty but the liquor is clean!" She gleefully proclaimed. "Bebop was absatively posilutely full of treasures for the crew! Ed saved treats from our last Earth visit and dug through all the storage rooms for the rest! No hiding place was left undisturbed!"

A click-clack sound reached their ears as Ein emerged from the interior of the ship and made his way on puppy paws in need of a nail trim over to the pair by the "refreshments." Jet looked down at the new arrival and noticed that the dog had been outfitted with one of Spike's thin ties, dragging along the dirty deck under Ein's belly, and had Faye's headband perched in front of his ears. Judging by the way he kept flicking his ears, it wasn't something he was a fan of.

Of course, Faye and Spike wouldn't appreciate the costume either.

"Edward will wake the others now! Party time, woo woo!" She announced. Releasing Jet's hands, she bounded over to the RedTail and leapt into the cockpit, activating the stereo system with a screech of delight.

The sudden blast of music made Jet wince at the unexpected volume - he hadn't realized Faye's ship could even produce sounds that loud. Once he acclimated though he realized it wasn't terribly overpowering as long as you were standing in the open air.

Ed was cackling madly as she dove from the ship, landing in a somersault and then vaulting to her feet so she could rub her hands together like a maniacal villain.

"What even is all this, Ed? How'd you get all this stuff up here?" Jet asked, stepping over to her and taking Spike's jacket down from the gun of Faye's ship so he could use the sleeve to finally address the issue of the oil on Ed's face.

"Easy peasy! Spike-person leaves his key in the ignition for quick escapes. Faye-Faye was snoring so she didn't notice Ed taking the bracelet to activate her ship. All the stuff was, well, all over! The laundry room, the bridge, the work shop... clutter clutter everywhere but Ed has made it into artful decorations! Oh! The balloons came from Spike-person's room but he never sleeps in there so Ed was able to loot the place while he was on the couch." She nodded in self satisfaction. "While researching everyone's birthdays, Ed realized even the ship has a day of celebration! Today is the day that the Bebop was first commissioned for fishing! What a long strange trip it's been, eh?"

"Huh. Well... that, uh, that makes sense." Logical indeed.

"Ed thinks that the Bebop deserves a present. A new baby!"

And just like that she'd lost him again.

"Sorry, what?"

Grinning wildly, Ed pointed at the Hammerhead and then the Swordfish II and then the RedTail. "These are the babies, of course! Ed would like one too, please!"

"I... uh... huh..." Jet couldn't deny the usefulness of Ed having her own craft but the idea of finding one in decent shape that was also affordable was daunting.

"Ed discovered many interesting things while finding when everyone's welcome to the world day." Ed said then, adopting an air of casualness that immediately made Jet nervous. She hummed briefly and then gave him a wicked look. "Ed is not entirely sure how to blackmail but... well..." She paused and cleared her throat before beginning to sing.

When you're falling awake And you take stock of the new day And you hear your voice croak As you choke on what you need to say Well, don't you fret, don't you fear I will give you good cheer

Life's a long song -

Jet's jaw dropped. His chin literally hit his chest. No!

Ed stooped down to scoop Ein into her arms and smirked at Jet.

"As Edward suspected... Jet-person's parents must have had a nostalgic draw to more than just blues and jazz, eh, Jethro?" She snickered.

"Ed, if you breathe a WORD of this to the others..." He trailed off, no threat springing to mind in the wake of the shock of having someone notice and realize who he'd been named for. Despite having written Jethro on the birth certificate, no one in his family had ever actually called him by his full name. As a baby, it must have seemed too big to attach to someone so small and so he'd been just Jet since he could remember.

"A baby for the Bebop?" Ed said again, changing her expression to one of pure innocence as she snuggled Ein up under her chin to further impress upon him the cuteness of the duo.

"What the fuck is going on out here?" Faye's voice, raised in a holler, came to them from the open hangar. "Why is my ship parked out here? What the fuck music are you desecrating my speakers with?!"

Jet ground his teeth together. Time was running out.

"Okay, Ed. Just hold your horses and sit tight, all right? I can't say when we can make it happen but I promise we will." He hurriedly assured her.

Ed dropped Ein to the deck, a move that merely startled the corgi who dashed off once he'd gotten his legs under him, so she could spit on her palm and hold it out towards him. Jet grimaced.

"A dry handshake would have done fine." He muttered.

"The spit is tied to the words of the promise!" Ed informed him.

Sighing, Jet spat on his own hand and shook.

"Was he wearing one of my ties?" Spike's voice reached them now as well. "ED! What did you do to my ship?!"

Cartwheeling off towards the newcomers, Ed shrieked with happiness.

"Happy birthday, Bebop! Come, friends! It is a time of celebration! Let the rejoicing begin!"