The Deck of Destiny - A Caraval Oneshot Collection

Birthdays On The Beach

Setting: pre-Caraval (this is a part of a small Scarlett and Felipe collection I'm doing)
Inspiration: I really wanted to do something with Tella, Scarlett and Felipe the minute I read the first few chapters of Legendary.

"The Best Friends' Failure"
2/5

"Where are we going?" Tella questioned, her eyes covered by the hands of her sister.

"If I wanted you to know, I wouldn't be covering your eyes," Scarlett said plainly, pushing her newly turned twelve-year-old sister. Scarlett knew Tella wasn't complaining, though; her sister was always up for an adventure.

"I can hear waves crashing so that means we're near the docks," Tella stated, her feet having a new bounce to them.

"We're almost there, birthday girl." Scarlett guided her sister a little more before she removed her hands from Tella's eyes so she could finally see. "Ta-da!"

Tella's mouth parted as she took in the festively decorated boat that rocked gently in the waves. There were balloons and streamers tied and hanging from the boat, with a mock red carpet that led to the boarding area.

"Scar, you did this for me?" Tella marvelled, her excitement growing by the second.

"Felipe even helped me convince Father to let a guard drive us around the island later. We can go on a little birthday adventure."

"You are the best sister ever! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Tella hugged her sister tightly before grabbing her hand and dragging her onto the small boat.

Different board games were set out on the floor of the vessel, along with a pair of binoculars and a large, paper-wrapped box.

"Is this for me?" Tella pointed at the blue box as her face lit up even more.

"You can go ahead and open it if you want," Scarlett encouraged, waving her hand at her sister.

Tella unravelled the ribbons and tore through the wrapping paper, finding three things inside: a gorgeous light blue dress, a modest swimwear piece, and a strange tube.

"Oh, this is just dazzling," Tella sighed as she picked up the dress, holding it in front of her body while spinning around. "Are we going swimming later?"

Scarlett nodded, "I thought you would like to find some rocks or seashells to add to your room."

"What's this?" Tella picked up the small tube, rolling it around in her hands hearing a quiet hiss when she moved it.

"It's a kaleidoscope, I picked it up from a pawn shop. You hold it up to your eye while keeping the other closed, and when you turn it you see cool patterns and shapes."

Tella followed her sister's instructions, twisting the kaleidoscope up to her eye. The sight was dizzying yet wonderfully strange.

"This is so cool, I love it!" Tella wrapped her arms around her sister, pulling her into a hug.

"Did someone order a birthday cake? I've been walking around the island for hours and it doesn't seem to be anybody else's birthday..." Felipe trotted into the boat holding a medium-sized box that Tella presumed was her cake.

"Depends which flavour the cake is," Tella said playfully, peeking into the box to see a beautiful cake with white icing and blue flowers swirled around it.

"Vanilla buttercream," Felipe answered proudly, setting the cake down on a small table.

"Then yes, it is my birthday."

"Thank you," Scarlett whispered in Felipe's ear as they both removed the plates and silverware, "It means a lot to Tella and me. I wouldn't have been able to get this boat on my own."

"Even if we hadn't done something this extravagant for Tella's birthday, she would've loved it just the same," Felipe replied.

"I know, but... look at how happy she is. I know she loves her adventures, and this is the perfect way to take her on one. Really, thank you."

"Anytime, Scar. You have put in countless good words about my father to your father, I can't thank you enough for that. I'm ninety-nine percent sure he wouldn't have gotten that promotion if it wasn't for you."

"Your family deserves it," Scarlett said quietly.

"The cake is going to melt," Tella joked, taking a seat on one of the floor cushions.

"Patience, grasshopper," Scarlett laughed, helping Felipe bring the slices of cake to the circle of cushions.

Tella began to dive into her cake, but Felipe quickly batted her hand away, "Not yet. Me and Scar have to sing happy birthday first!"

🖤❤️🌟🎩🌟❤️🖤

"Cannonball!" Tella yelled as she jumped off of the boat into the water.

"Next time, wait until the boat stops completely, Tella. You could get hurt!" Scarlett sighed as she waited for Felipe's father to stop the boat so she could jump in too.

"But I didn't get hurt." Tella treaded water keeping herself afloat, looking up at her older sister with innocent eyes.

"Okay, Scarlett and Felipe. Go ahead." Felipe's father motioned for Scarlett to jump, and she wasted no time hopping into the cool water with her sister.

Tella giggled when Scarlett splashed her, Felipe following suit not long after Scarlett.

"I'm going under!" Tella plunged beneath the surface of the ocean, the water making a gloop when her whole body submerged.

"Should we follow her?" Felipe asked, peering in the water trying to find Tella's blonde hair.

"I'm in the mood for diving, so I don't see why not," Scarlett shrugged, flipping herself so that she swam headfirst into the water.

"What did I get myself into?" Felipe mumbled as he dove after Scarlett.

Scarlett waved her arms at Felipe when he found her, leading him to Tella. The younger sister did summersaults and pointed at different fish before the trio swam back to the surface to catch their breaths.

"Did you guys see that rainbow fish? It looked like it belonged in my kaleidoscope," Tella said between deep breaths.

"It was very pretty," Scarlett agreed, gripping onto the side of the boat to regain her strength.

"You okay, Scar?" Felipe asked.

"Hm? Oh yeah, I'm fine." Scarlett took another deep breath that stung her chest. She pulled up the neckline of her swimsuit to cover the purple and pink that bruised her chest; Tella may not have noticed, but Felipe did.

Neither of the two said anything, not wanting to ruin the happy mood. But Scarlett knew that Felipe would talk to her about it later.

"Wanna go back under?" Tella asked when she finally caught her breath.

"Of course!" Scarlett painted a grin across her face, releasing her grip from the boat to go back under.

"Best day ever," Tella whispered.

A/N
I think I might begin doing some mini-series that are five oneshots long. This mini-series (as you may have guessed from the previous sentence) will be five parts. That means three to go! I hope you guys enjoy reading Scarlett and Felipe's series. I think I'll call this series "The Best Friends' Failure", what do you guys think? (Take a sip of chocolate milk every time I wrote 'series')