Original artwork by Sepi, go give him praise on his post, here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/15933787/ !

For the fifteenth of the month, I'm posting things that I've been given on my birthday. Why? Because I was just at a birthday party for a friend last night, her birthday is today, AND a it's the birthday of a family member today. And, quite simply, because I have a lot of things I have received over the years on my (March) birthday that need to get posted!

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The uber-generous Sepi gave me this picture on my birthday, in 2015! I really really don't deserve this one, after not exactly deserving the prior two in the first place. I owe him so many presents! I know that his birthday is July 12th, but I'd like to think that my posts today are me giving him something back for his day all the same, although the first one with all the potions listed wasn't really directed at him, nor was the 'Potioneer at Work' poem under the potion-list. X__X

It's much more of a surprise to get birthday attention 3 months after your birthday has gone by, right? Hopefully he'll still appreciate the poem on the prior submission (about the four pieces of cake), and this little mini-scene below.

~

"What's that behind your back, Sepi?"

"Oh Ame, ever the observant ophidian, of course you wouldn't wait for me to give it to you. Now you have to guess it before I hand it over."

"Haha! Wait, what? I have to get it right before you..? Dang. Alright, fine, I'll play your little game!"

"And you only get three guesses, then I'm going to keep it for myself."

"No fair!"

"That's what I said the last couple times you slipped me a potion without any warning."

"You loved those, I can tell by that grin you've got on your snout, even now. But okay, I accept your rules."

"Guess away, then, Ame~"

"Shush you, I'm thinking."

"Thank faster, hehe. Actually, why don't you hold the box?"

"Really? Yesss, thank you, that'll make it easier to guess.. and I suppose I don't mind how close you're getting, all your coils mixing in with mine."

"It's a bit chilly otherwise."

"Hmmm.. this is pretty light for the size of the box. Sounds like something glass is knocking around in there against some metal. Is it alcohol? You know I don't drink."

"It's not booze, but you _could_ drink it. One guess down."

"Could? Do you not intend for me to drink your present?"

"Not if you fail my little game, Ame."

"Hmph! Okay, drinkable things. -- You didn't get me a potion, did you? I make them for a living, so I don't know why you would.. then again, maybe it's a type I've not ever thought of or made before. Like, this one is from another alchemist, and you're showing me an idea you think I'd enjoy and should probably produce myself?"

"Two guesses gone now; it's a potion, but not from a competitor. It's not even something you've not made before. But there's something else in there, with the potion too, which you haven't guessed, and I don't think you will~"

"Gah, you're such a tease! And that doesn't make sense, you're giving me a serum I've made before? And if a competitor didn't make it, then who did? _You?_"

"I'll never tell."

"*huff* Alright, last guess, last chance.. is it.. a potion and an injection device? Like, you're showing me that I should sell injectors in the store? But my potions are all drinkable! People prefer drinking something over a needle poking them, right? It's not a ranged projectile injector, is it? Those are outlawed, you know."

"Mm, close, but not quite. Sorry Ame."

"Wait, get your hands off it, I can get this, really!"

"No, I want us to both hold it, like this."

"What, why?"

"Now that we've both got our hands on it, I'll tell you: It's slightly illegal, but I know you won't mind. It's a potion and a little aerosol dispersal device, see?"

Both serpents looked into the box as Sepi opened it. The blue snout was smiling as he looked, while the brown one frowned, a bit confused. Together, they got a faceful of misted potion.

"Ack! Sepi!" Ame tried to cover his mouth, but he had already accidentally inhaled a sizable portion of the cloud. The other naga had done just the same, on purpose.

"Happy birthday to you.. and to me, now, too!" said Sepi cryptically.

A ripple of pleasure washed through both of them and Ame looked down, vaguely sensing the source of the bliss to be all over his coils. Everywhere, his loops appeared looser, less well defined, almost doughy or gooey in places. And so too did Sepi's. In many places, where one body was laying atop the other, and especially when one snake or the other shifted their lengthy forms, their scales smooshed together, the deliniation between the two shapes fading away. Quickly, it was more than the occasional spot brought on by absent-minded nudges; instead, huge swathes of the two serpents became seamless, the joining actively spreading itself like a virus.

Both of them panted with the increasing ophidian overlap. Sepi teasingly rubbed his tail against Ame's upright front, the caressing shape sticking in place after a moment, being subsumed by Ame's scutes. Soon the tail appeared to be a bulge under his belly's surface, and then flattened away entirely.

"We share everything now, you see, Ame?" asked Sepi, referring to the last thing he had said.

The two snakes, who had become conjoined throughout their entirely lengths, so much so that each of them appeared to be the tail end of the other one, spoke in unison, "Twin-Snake Tincture!" One of them said it in realization, the other in smug satisfaction.

"Now you have to make up for the birthdays of mine that you missed," said the blue half of the combo-constrictor. "I know you have a party or two planned for you this year, and I'm going to share in being guest of honour at them."

"No wonder you wanted to give me your gift well in advance of my birthday this year," muttered Amethystine, smirking at Sepi's cleverness despite having been had by the other naga.

"You win, Sepi, well played! And honestly, this is going to be more fun than it would have been normally, I think. I do so enjoy this double-form, especially when the other half isn't just a clone of myself."

"And maybe now you realize that my threat to take my gift back and use it for myself was a pretty empty one. This was always going to be the result."

"Yes, yes, you've finally outdone me," Ame admitted. Although he made sure to emphasize the word 'finally,' reminding Sepi that it had taken him quite some time to best the alchemist.

"Now, don't be a rude host, why don't you show me around this lovely body of yours? I mean.. ours."

"I'm the host? Isn't that you? You're the one who did all this, so it's like YOU invited ME into your body. You should show me around, give me the tour of everything we now share."

"I guess we should explore together!" Sepi concluded, running a hand down Ame's chest.

It was going to be a fun birthday.. for both of them.

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