It had been a wonderful nineteenth birthday, to say the least.
Namely because Valor had spent the latter half of it gloriously drunk, boozing it up with his friends and eating himself sick--so that he had room to eat more, of course. The earlier part of the day had been spent with his family, where they had had a respectable meal together and given him gifts, family heirlooms and other such garbage he didn't really care about. But he could pretend to be respectable long enough to make it to the real party.
That party had spanned across several taverns and lasted until they got kicked out of the final one for being too rowdy. Finally, as night stretched toward the morning hours, they returned home, and Valor finally trudged up to his quarters and collapsed into bed, still fully clothed, reeking of stale beer, and smeared here and there with some lady's bright red lip paint.
He didn't get much rest at all before a knock sounded at his door, along with muffled laughter. He groaned and lifted up onto his elbows. He really just wanted to sleep now.
"What is it?" he called, and the door cracked open to admit one of his best friends, Pari. Who was wearing a shit-eating grin and shuffling his feet.
"Oh, nothing! I just realized I'd forgotten to give you my gift to you. The time just wasn't right, since I figured you'd want to be alone to enjoy it."
Eh? Valor rubbed his eyes and lifted an eyebrow. "Oh?"
Looking out into the hallway, Pari snapped his fingers at the servants waiting beside him. "Go on, bring him his gift, then! Oh, Valor, you're going to love it, I know! Tell me all about it tomorrow!"
And with a final wink his way, Pari left, leaving the servants behind to bring him...whatever it was they were bringing him.