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Post by Bee on Apr 27, 2009 13:12:46 GMT -5
 There were usually a few things she liked to do on a daily basis. She crossed things off on her mental checklist as she went. Tea? Successfully brewed and consumed. Berry blend. Delicious. Some morning paperwork? Done. Or pushed off on beleaguered underlings. Weeds? Mercilessly annihilated in every patch of dirt she could shove her hands through. Yelling at the groundskeepers for once again thinking they were doing her a favor by pruning her plants? They'd wet themselves in terror. An accomplished morning, all things considered. Things were officially In Order in her happy little patch of the Court, and she was quite ready to kick back on a blanket in her garden and indulge in a nap. Peace and quiet had been one of the rewards for setting herself off in a far corner of the court--though the garden was technically pretty easy to access, not many people tried. No one came wandering unless they were under duress, new, or very, very dumb. |
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Post by Lucca on Apr 27, 2009 20:01:37 GMT -5
((LOL okay that title is officially awesome. XD))  Mirriam was very new to the Court of Diamonds, having just moved in with the king Khushrenda a month or two before. She was also a fearless and insatiably curious six-year-old. And so, when once in her lengthy and exciting explorations of her new home, she smelled the most WONDERFUL thing as she was flying down a strangely empty corridor, she decided to investigate. " That smells like flowers," she half-sang to herself as she followed her little leaf-shaped nose. " Flowers mean fruit! Though, sometimes the fruit isn't edible. Or there are just seeds." She tilted her head, considering this...and was abruptly distracted as she came upon the source of the smell. Her eyes widened as she flitted into the Garden, seeing so many flowers and plants she'd never even known existed, all RIGHT THERE! She was about to fly closer to one bright pink bloom when she saw and equally colorful person. Her eyes widened even further, and she changed her course to fly towards this HUMAN with pretty hair. Unaware she had anything to fear. " Hi! Do you live here too? Your hair is really pretty colors. My name's Mirriam what's your name? Is this your secret garden? Can I explore it? Do you like strawberries?" All of these questions were spoken in about five seconds, with barely a pause for breath, as the hyperactive child forgot her manners in a rush of excitement. |
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Post by Bee on May 11, 2009 23:18:49 GMT -5
She had managed to drift off into one of the lighter stages of sleep when she was suddenly assaulted by such a cacophony of chirpy child sounds that she was certain she must have fallen straight into a nightmare rather than been startled awake.
But no. She was on her blanket in the garden with--apparently--an Avington bat child. She vaguely recalled some business about new arrivals. A ridiculous name that started with a K. Granted, her own name was the height of tongue-twisting ridiculousness, but Mnem was typically very hypocritical in that regard. She hadn't chosen the damn thing.
She put on her menacing face and answered the questions as brusquely and imperiously as possible.
"I'm a King here. My name is Does Not Take Kindly to Intruders. Strawberries give me a terrible rash, much as small children do." She had forgotten something. Ah. "This is a very secret garden and you most certainly cannot explore it, because it is filled with dangerous plants and wild beasts that would quite happily slurp your entrails right out of the gaping wound they'd make in your midsection."
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Post by Lucca on May 12, 2009 18:29:01 GMT -5
Instead of flapping off screaming at the first sign of Mnem's anger, the child merely flitted back slightly in the air, head tilting to the side curiously, large ears twitching. Her eyes widened at the fact that this pretty lady was a King! And apparently angry, though Mirriam had no idea why. She giggled slightly. Probably not the most intelligent reaction, under the circumstances, but the bat had led a fairly sheltered life so far.
"That's a funny name, Your Highness," she commented, remembering at least some of her Court manners, but then her eyes widened. "So you can never, ever eat them? That must be sad!" Apparently the 'small children' comment didn't seem to click. She glanced around curiously as Mnem finished her explanation.
"Really? Where are they?" She fluttered over to peer behind the woman, as if expecting something to jump out at her. "I think I met one of those beasts once," she commented excitedly. "In Avington. It was large and had sharp looking teeth, but it couldn't fly."
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Post by Bee on May 16, 2009 11:48:22 GMT -5
The only thing worse than a run-of-the-mill ankle-biter was a totally dauntless one; there was some bad wiring or genetic defect in some spawn that made them take rudeness, yelling, throwing things, or attempted dismemberment as signs of affection. Perhaps it was some kind of reverse-psychology method of getting her to be tender and kind. But she was unwilling to attribute that much cunning to them. Mostly she just assumed they were simply thick.
She thought for a moment of the best way to frighten this kid off for good. Yelling that them and sending them off just tended to make them come back later for round two (-thousand). Best to let her experience something. And now that this Mirriam creature had reminded her of allergic reactions...She did have all those briars...and she was willing to bet bat wings wouldn't fare so well in there.
"Well," she said. "I do have one little monster I've been wanting to get rid of...but I can't get to it. The path is much too narrow for an adult."
She pointed to a corner of her garden, with a thicket of nasty-looking briars. About every other year they produced a decent crop of highly-useful flowers. This was not that year. The thorns, though, had just enough natural poison in them for a highly charming and exceedingly painful full-body rash. And the little family of wild banders that like to nest in there would likely not be happy with an intrusion.
"It lives in the middle of that. If you could crawl in there and slay it...I do believe I could be persuaded to make you some cake."
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Post by Lucca on May 17, 2009 21:39:05 GMT -5
Perfectly innocent, naive little Mirriam just hovered, smiling in the air, waiting for Mnem's response. When it came, she turned, peering curiously at the briar patch and trying to peer inside, but the thorny brambles were thick enough that all she could see in the center were shadows and...more thorns, along with some leaves.
"I see," Mirriam said sagely, eyes narrowed as she looked for an entrance into the mass of dangerous vegetation. She did have a bit of experience flying through somewhat dense brush back in Avington, but those briars were awfully close...and thorns, she knew from experience, HURT, expecially if one got caught in your foot.
"Slay it?" She turned back to the King, distress and confusion plastered on her young face. "Is it really that dangerous that we need to kill it?" Mirriam didn't really like killing things. She knew and understood about killing to eat, since some Cards and animals preferred meat (Mirriam was vegetarian, for the most part, as had her mother been) but killing things for sport or because you didn't like them living near you was something else entirely. But maybe Mnem was going to eat it? Or maybe it had been attacking her in her sleep, or tearing up her flower bushes or something.
"Well...I guess if it's that dangerous..." The little bat flitted a bit closer to the briars, seeing what she thought might be a good entrance into the patch. "Ooh, I do like cake...especially shortcake! Or cheesecake with fruit on it!" She landed, crawing awkwardly forward, since flying through the brambles would be really difficult...large ears perked forward to see if she could hear the monster. Maybe, once she got in there, she could ask it if it wanted to be friends instead.
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Post by Bee on May 18, 2009 22:11:01 GMT -5
Well, this child certainly gave her girliest son a run for his money in pure gullibility. She felt a small swell of joy in her heart as the naive little thing crawled forward into the mess. She wondered if she had ever been that young and dumb; for some reason she couldn't imagine herself before the age of twelve or so.
"Just keep moving forward, sweetie," she called, and sat back down on her blanket, wishing she had something fruity and alcoholic in her hands. The kid would either get tangled in the brambles and yell for help, or happen upon the happy, fangy little family of bandersnatches and call for help.
Either way, Mnem would come to the rescue. Eventually. After an acceptable period of wailing and terror. And with a little bit of luck, she would taking one traumatized child to the infirmary, and never have to see her again.
A dangerous place, this garden.
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Post by Lucca on May 19, 2009 19:46:30 GMT -5
As Mirriam weaved through the brambles, she was doing a surprisingly good job of not getting too tangled...though she was getting a few nasty scratches on her side. But she ignored them, her curiousity stronger than the pain, for now. Her wings were instinctively pressed tight against her sides, so they weren't what was taking damage, luckily. She squinted into the dim shadows. Was that movement slightly in front of her? She wriggled a bit farther forward.
"Hello?" she called loudly, in what she hoped was a friendly voice. "Is there a monster in here? Goes by the name of..." She blinked. The king hadn't told her what the monster's name was. But it would be horribly rude to leave it hanging, so she figured she'd make up a name instead. That would work. "...Fangyteeth." That was a good monster name! She smiled, proud of herself, and wiggled between two very narrow branches, wincing slightly as her cheek got scratched. But then, she came upon a clearing and...her eyes widened.
"YOUR HIGHNESS," she called loudly. "THERE'S A WHOLE BUNCHA MONSTERS IN HERE, AND THEY LOOK LIKE BANDERSNATCHES." At least, she thought they did. She'd never seen one before, but she'd seen a picture. The largest one seemed to be glaring at her, and she smiled toothily at it. "Hi! Are you really as grumpy as they say? Do you want some cake? Her highness Intruders is going to make some."
In response, the creature sneezed, causing the bat to flick her ears curiously. She leaned a bit closer to see it better...
((OOC: Dunno how much control you want me to take of the banders, haha. XP))
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Post by Bee on Jun 2, 2009 0:52:55 GMT -5
(X3 Do as thou wilt!)
"Press on, honey," Mnem called helpfully. She was listening quite intently for sounds of imminent face-mauling. She must not have irritated the wild creatures enough. She wished suddenly that she had Monty on hand. Monty was a glorious paragon of ill-tempered feral caprice, and wouldn't have thought twice (or once, even) about introducing hir sharp little claws to an unsuspecting nose. She suspected Theo may not react kindly to that little terror being unleashed on the Court, though.
Oh well. It wouldn't take much to get the banders in the bush properly riled. Wild banders were notoriously disagreeable creatures. Even the most unflappably cheerful child would quail. Unless Mirriam were as dense as her youngest daughter. Mnem cringed. Sweet goddess, anything but that.
"Those must be the beasts. Perhaps if you grabbed a little branch in there and batted it at them?"
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Post by Lucca on Jun 2, 2009 5:17:34 GMT -5
"A branch?" the child called back doubtfully, not really sure what good THAT would do...after all, if she wanted to be its friend, poking Fangyteeth with branches seemed a little mean. And if the King wanted the monsters killed, a branch wouldn't that either...still, she moved to take a branch in her mouth despite that, figuring the woman knew more about monsters than she did.
The Bander was watching her carefully...until that little head poked a bit too close, moving a bit too fast...and then, with barely a sniffle of warning, the mother Bander charged. Teeth and claws flashed out, aiming not to kill, but just to drive this large creature away from her nest.
Mirriam's eyes winded as she turned around, branch in mouth, to see the creature lunging at her. With a small, muffled squeal, she tried to block with the branch, but it snapped in half with one bite from the enraged Bander, while claws tore at her face, her neck, her back...only some of the damage being blocked by her fur.
She dropped the remains of the stick. "Please, Mr. Monster, stop! I'm not here to hurt you I just wanted to make friends!" she cried, tears springing to her eyes at the pain as she rapidly tried to back up. The Bander, sneezing angrily now, followed, its smaller size making it more agile in the dense vegetation.
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