[FIN!] Open Fields of Wildflowers [Kari]

[Lucca]

"Ohhh!" The little bat's eyes lit up in comprehension. So this was his brother? They didn't look a lot alike! Though now that she looked closer...the new Cat (Xander?) did have wing patterns on his back...though they were black instead of white. Like a Tulgey. Not that Mirriam had ever seen a Tulgey in person, but she knew what they looked like enough to recognize one if she ever did!

"Nice to meet you, Xander!" she said, giggling a bit at his bow and ducking her head at him in turn. Her face fell slightly at his words though. This meant that her new friend would be leaving...she watched as he slowly walked towards his brother, ears drooping slightly. "Well of course, if you two need to go now and see your Mommy." She smiled a bit, then. "Oh, we were having fun! We were playing that we were superheros invading the enemies secret fortress! And then...then..." She paused, thinking about if she should say anything about the plants. But no, she wasn't sure he'd believe her...so she switched subjects abruptly. "I come here as often as His Highness lets me. See, I live at the Palace of Diamonds," she saw nothing wrong or dangerous about telling this to random people, apparently, "And I don't really have a Mommy right now...but that's okay because His Highness takes good care of me!"

Then, her nose scrunched up a bit, and she flung herself at Othello in a hug, which would probably alarm him except that before she actually touched him she was talking. "It was great meeting you Othello you're a really good friend and I wanted to give you a goodbye hug in case you have to go cause it sounds like you do and I hope we can meet again sometime and play some more!"

[Kari Muffin]

Xander tilted his head as he listened to the girl. No wonder Othello got along with her so well, she seemed to like talking quite a bit. And she said quite a lot in a few words. "Well, we live in the Court of Hearts so maybe you and his Highness can come for a visit sometime? I'm sure Mom would be more than happy to have someone as nice as you around," Xander said with a wide grin.

Othello would have raised an eyebrow at his brother if he had really been focused on him. In all honesty he didn't want to go, they were still in the middle of the game. However, Mom would get pretty upset if they didn't "report back" to the proper people on time.

He's ears panned forward as he listened to the bat, and then suddenly he found himself stumbling backwards. Oh! She was hugging him! That was very nice of her! And he supposed they really should get going. "T-thankth Mirriam! It was fun meeting you too. I'm going to thee if I can come to the capital again thoon. Or if Mom would let you thtay at the palace for a day or two."

Xander choked back an amused snort. He wasn't going to verbally interrupt the moment though.

[Lucca]

Mirriam's brown eyes lit up in wonder as she pulled back from Othello a bit to look at both of them. "Wow, you live at the Court of Hearts? That's so cool! Does that mean your Mommy is actually royalty?" Wow. It wasn't every day you bumped into children of royalty! That would mean they were like her friend Kaeisha back at the Court of Diamonds!

"Oh and do you really think I can come see you there? That would be so awesome I'd love to visit and I heard your palace has this really cool rose garden and roses are pretty and don't worry I wouldn't use my flower there!" She giggled a bit, wiggling excitedly at the thought of visiting. That was probably something that she'd be allowed to go do! The other Court was 'safe' too, right? Like the Capital? Actually probably safer than the Capital unless there were rat-birds there, too.

[Kari Muffin]

"Oh yes, Our Mom is the Queen of Hearts, didn't Othello tell you?" Xander said with a cheerful note. Of course he knew Othello wasn't about to tell everyone he was the son of the Queen of Hearts. Still, the girl seemed nice enough that she wouldn't take the information and abuse it.

Othello's tail wagged slightly at the idea of the bat coming for a visit. In truth Othello didn't have many friends, and his family left him alone more often than not. "I'm thure you can!" He said joyfully, "And yeah, using your flower there would probably be a bad idea."

He wondered if the roses had any sort of personality, and if they did they probably wouldn't be on the friendly side. Pretty things covered in thorns never really seemed to be all that cheerful. But that wasn't here or there.

"Uh, before we go... do you happen to know when you might be coming back here?"

[Lucca]

"No, he didn't," she cried with a gasp. The Queen of Hearts! Just like Her Majesty Sadie (who the bat had never met, though she had seen her out the window a few times) was The Queen of Diamonds. That made them not only princes, but super-princes! It was no wonder that they both had letters on their chests instead of numbers! Not that Mirriam put that much store by Rank, except to know that if there was a letter there (well except for an A) then it meant you were more powerful and had more magic. And magic was definitely something the held a fascination for the young bat. "That's amazing. You must be really happy to have such a strong Mommy. She must always protect you and be there..." Something of an odd tone came over the child. It was safe to say she still missed her own Mom. Still confused as to why she had left her.

But the cheerful bat couldn't stay down for long. Not when there might be a chance for her to visit somewhere new! "Yay! I'd love that so much!" She giggled, but then tilted her head in a thoughtful gesture. "Umm, I dunno. I usually get to come to the Capital about once a week, maybe. If you tell me when you'll be here, I can try to come back at the same time and tell them all it's really important because I'm meeting a friend!" She was sure they'd understand. After all, Mr. Birdy-man wanted her to make more friends her own age, she'd heard him say so to another King.

[Kari Muffin]

Othello wasn't sure how to react to that. He was proud of his mother, of course, but now that she was the Queen she had a lot of responsibilities. And he, more often than not, faded into the background or he was just another source of her worries. For a moment the boy drooped at the sudden change of tone.

But things were quickly changed again. Xander had decided to pull the boy closer to him to get ready to the departure as the young bat spoke. Xander also provided the girl with an answer. "Well, two weeks from now we have to come back to the city to buy some things. I'm sure I can drop Othello off here if you'll be around."

Othello blinked. He didn't think Xander was going to take him shopping in the first place, but apparently he was wrong. "Well, that thoundth like a good plan to me."

[Lucca]

Mirriam's smile only brightened more at the Cat's words. "Yeah, yeah! I can be here, definitely! And then we can talk about me visiting you, or you can write me a letter and send it by courtier from one Court to another. And if you write 'important' on the outside, it will get there quicker, I think." She couldn't wait to get home and tell everyone about this! Well...everyone being Mr. Birdy-Man and Kaeisha. But still! They'd be so happy she was making new friends. She wasn't sure how happy they'd be about the flower, but hey, you never knew, and right then she was willing to at least try and get them to believe her. After all, Princess Kaeisha had pricked herself on a magical needle and grown a new pair of wings, so surely this wasn't so far fetched when it came right down to it?

She smiled back at Othello, unable to be sad when she knew she'd be seeing him again before too long. Of course, about this time next week she'd probably be complaining it was too long until she saw him, but the time would go fat enough between lessons and exploring the Palace and other exciting things. And the surprise that Mr. Birdy-Man had told her he was working on. She couldn't wait to find out what it was! "I'll see you then, Othello! Sorry we didn't get a chance to defeat the bad guys once and for all but we'll do it next time okay?"

[Kari Muffin]

The thought of abusing the mail system had never crossed either of the boy's minds. Xander made a thoughtful sound about it, while Othello's tail wagged a bit. He might not be able to write or read because of his condition, but at the very least he could have someone read things and write things for him if it came down to it. Someone would be nice enough to help him.

A friend. He had actually made a friend! The boy's tail continued to wag as he nodded. "Thee you thoon then! I can't wait until then!"

Xander gave a brief bow to the young bat, "It's been nice meeting you. See you soon." With a bright smile he turned around to usher his brother in the right direction. Tea in one hand as he directed his brother with the other. Quite useful even if they were strange.

They paused at the entry way of the garden, Othello gave the girl a brief wave goodbye with the help of his brother's verbal directions.

[Lucca]

Mirriam was fluttering around excitedly, but trying to stay on the ground or at least close to it, since she liked being on the level of the people she was communicating with. The result was that she looked even more hyper, but that was okay! This was, after all, a happy occasion. "Yep! Me neither! It was really great meeting both of you, see you next week!" She darted forward to give him a final nuzzle with her little leaf-shaped nose, and then watched as they walked out, waving with her wing claw. "Bye Othello and Xander!" She continued to wave until they were out of sight, slipping into the crowd. Mirriam flew up a bit higher, then, and though she just might have caught a last glimpse of yellow and white, of purple and black, before they were too far away to distinguish from the crowd.

The bat sank to the ground, feeling oddly...alone, all of a sudden. She glanced around the empty park for a moment, at the replaced trash can, the very still flowers...and then she smiled, gave a wave to the park as well, and flew towards the tea shop. Where had that silly adult gone that was supposed to be watching her? "See you next time!" she said cheerfully to no one in particular as she fluttered into the doorway.

((and...done? :3))

[Kari Muffin]

(( <33 Done ))