Something Pink [Bee]

[Lucca]

"Aww! Well they should at least let her get something to practice with." Mirriam blinked as another thought occurred to her. "Hey, if she's a Heart, she could just make a weapon out of anything! Right?" Obviously, having never actually met a whole lot of Hearts, Mirriam's understanding of their innate abilities was somewhat incorrect. But the little Bat was already imagining what sort of weapons a warrior princess could fashion out of old mops.

Of course, she snapped out of this as soon as Nephy brought her attention back to the situation at hand. "Right!" She nodded. She also didn't want anything weird to happen...like the bird waking up. She fluttered over to the jubjub and hooked her claws into the rope, straining to lift it into the wagon. From there, it would be easy...they'd just need to pull the wagon back to the Court. Or....perhaps they could just go straight to this cousin? "Where does your cousin live?" Though probably not at the Diamonds Court, or she'd already be a princess, and not just aspiring to one.

[Bee]

Nephy nodded. Hearts could indeed make anything into a weapon. Even got one of their own, with the right King talent. Myfanwy would absolutely die for that.

"She could," he said. "But I don't think being a cardboard tube warrior would suit her tastes." Though the mental image did make him smile and let out a short giggle.

Nephy furrowed his brow, then, at the thought of taking the bird to her. He wasn't exactly sure of the location, which was why he had planned to just go home and have Myfanwy come to them. That. and showing up in the--what was probably now--late hours of night edging on wee hours of morning chafed against his sense of politeness.

On the other hand...Continuing adventure had a nice ring to it, and he was sure they could find the place with enough concentration, and maybe Aunt Iphis would be so delighted with the prospect of visitors that he would make them a delicious breakfast immediately.

"She lives, ah..." He tried to piece together his available information. That his aunt and uncle used to live in an apartment in Rainbow something or other...that they were still in the same neighborhood but had to upgrade to a new place after the arrival of seven children and a couple of extras...upscale...Someone else in his family had derisively called it the Rainbow Palace..."I don't remember the name. But I think I can get us there. Follow me!"

[Lucca]

Mirriam giggled at the thought of a paper tube warrior. That would be rather silly! "The evil paper dragons would stand no chance!" she said between laughs, wiggling her eyebrows. "I've had to improvise with less in the past." It was true, though with the little glass flower she always wore, she could call up any plants in the area to do her bidding at least. That was a rather useful ability. And for Mirriam, not being a Heart and not having any hands to hold weapons with, magic seemed much more appealing than weapons for fighting.

A lesser Card may have been worried over Nephy's inability to know where the heck they were going, but Mirriam was steadfast! And, even though it was late, didn't feel tired at all anymore now that such exciting things were going on. Besides, Bats were naturally nocturnal anyway! "Lead on, Nephy!" she cried, and grabbed the handle of the wagon in her claws to pull it along behind them. New friends and a solid victory over her foes. How could this night get any better? Well...besides with some sort of yummy fruit desert!

[Bee]

"You should tell me about the stuff you've fought," he said, brightly. He was quite genuinely curious. Especially about improvising--magic, he thought, was something anyone could learn, but it took resourcefulness to pull from one's environment and make it work. "Or--oh! Wait and tell Myffie. She'd love to hear it too."

Nephy reached full jauntiness levels once they were out of the Outer Bazaar. He felt like some kind of returning hero. Maybe this feeling was why Mirriam wanted to be a superhero?

He steered them through the Capital as best he could, taking them to the neighborhood he thought he remembered--yes, yes, this looked sort of familiar, and so did this, but this alley did not look familiar at all, but this street did, and this one...

And finally, he thought, they reached the right place. The house was large--fitting for eleven occupants, or at least eleven the last time he had checked--and was painted a white that seemed almost to border on lavender. Maybe it was the darkness playing tricks on his eyes.

"I think we've made it!" he said.

[Lucca]

"Okay, I will!" Mirriam eagerly agreed. Though to be honest, most of it wasn't anything, well, real. She'd been in very few real fights except the one against the Jubjub and the the one against the Bander, neither of which had gone very well for her. Still, she would eagerly share these stories, perhaps making them just a bit more exciting in the retelling. And someday...someday she'd get to test her mettle against really dangerous opponents! Like another Jubjub, but this one she wouldn't let take her by surprise! Or a bad guy, like she'd be fighting in her career as a superhero.

Nephy's happiness was catching, and Mirriam found herself humming despite the fact her feet were getting a little tired from dragging the heavy wagon around. She trusted that Nephy knew where he was going, and when they got to the house, she smiled, looking at it. What a pretty color for a house! It reminded her of lilacs. "Oh yay! We're here!" She dropped the handle of the wagon with a -clang- and fluttered to the door to ring the doorbell. It just didn't occur to her how late at night it was, and how much the inhabitants of the house might not enjoy being woken at this hour.

[Bee]

Nephy knocked on the door, with a polite level of noise. He knocked a little louder when he got no response, and said "Aunt Iphis, Uncle Zeev, anyone! It's me!" Finally, he heard his aunt call, "One moment!" and then a couple minutes later he actually answered the door. He had clearly been making an effort to make himself look presentable--brushed the hair, drawn a frilly pink dressing gown over what appeared to be an equally frilly night dress.



He looked rapidly between Mirriam and Nephy. Then he looked at their cargo, perplexed. Then he appeared to dismiss the strangeness of the situation entirely, pulled Nephy into a hug, and said, "Nephele! One of the best things I could see first thing in the--" he glanced at the sky, still mostly dark--"morning?"

"It's good to see you too, Auntie," he replied, returning the affection. Somehow his aunt always smelled preternaturally delightful. It was apparently some side effect of being a faerie beast. "This is my friend Mirriam. And our new friend the Jubjub bird! Can we come in?"

"Of course, of course. Nice to meet you, Mirriam!" He put Nephy down, shuffled aside, and ushered them in. "Maybe I should wake the girls to meet you...Oh! I should let them sleep a little more and make breakfast. How do waffles sound," he said, in a tone that suggested he had already made up his mind to make them. "Fresh berries to put on top, whipped cream...Have a seat and relax, dears, how long have you been up?"

[Lucca]

Since no one seemed to hear the doorbell, Mirriam settled back to wait as Nephy tried knocking and calling out to his relatives. When a voice answered, Mirriam grinned and her ears perked forward, tail wiggling excitedly in the anticipation of making new friends. As the door opened, Mirriam's eyes bulged and she caught her breath. The woman at the door looked like something out of a fairy tail. Fluffy antennae, flowers all over her body, and were those little gossamer wings she could see poking out from the frilly dressing gown?

She grinned up at who she assumed was Nephy's Aunt Iphis and waited for her to take stock of what they had brought. "It's a gift! A pet for one of Nephy's cousins!" the Bat exclaimed, fluttering in and giving a mid-air dip of her head to Iphis. "It's really nice to meet you too, Miss Iphis!" She, of course, was assuming the very pink and pretty Horse was female. Her leaf-shaped nose gave a wiggle. "You smell really nice! Are you really a fairy? How did you get all those flowers to grow on you? I have one but it's made of glass, see? And..."

Mirriam suddenly gasped as her brain caught up with her mouth and did a mid air loop. "Waffles with berries? Oh that sounds really, really yummy! I love berries! They're pretty much the best things ever except for peaches and oh yeah we haven't really slept at all!" she added quite cheerfully, fluttering in and taking the proffered seat.

[Bee]

Nephy was a little afraid to sit down; the couch looked so inviting and comfortable that he might be lulled to sleep the moment he reclined in it, and he really wanted to eat and give their conquest to Myfanwy before he drifted off. His aunt chattered happily back at Mirriam while he began making waffles. Nephy cautiously sat down, and got himself involved in the conversation to ward off sleepiness. He was a kid, after all, and even if he didn't have a Club ability, he could still go 24 hours!

"Your flower is adorable," his aunt told Mirriam. "And I wasn't born this way. I got some wings by drinking something funny and then some time later, poof, must have been a delayed effect. There were a lot of funny things to drink lying around where I grew up," he said, reflectively. He glanced at Nephy. "Does your mom take after Auntie Minh?"

"No," said Nephy, sadly. He wouldn't drink anything without having some idea of what it did, but the chance to investigate something, or even catalogue some of the concoctions Corvies came up with, would have been immensely fun. Nephy liked cataloguing. Organizing information gave him nearly unparalelled satisfaction.

"It's probably for the best." He turned back to Mirriam, absently tossing a couple of finished waffles onto a plate. "There's peach nectar in the fridge if you want it, sweetheart. Help Nephy set the table and then we can wake the girls."

[Lucca]

"Aw, thank you! Would you believe I found it in the trash? The things that some Cards just throw away! It's unbelievable," Mirriam said, chattering happily back at Iphis. She didn't feel tired at all, oddly enough, although that could certainly be attributed to her breed. She listened to Iphis's story with wide brown eyes. "Ooooh, that sounds cool! But you should be careful drinking weird things! Sometimes it's poison." Mirriam thought it would be cool if drinking strange Corvie concoctions could give her a pretty pair of butterfly wings!

Then again, she already had wings, so maybe she wouldn't need them. Unless she was trying to infiltrate the secret society of butterflies! Oooh, that sounded like a lot of fun! She'd have to mention that to Joel next time she saw him. He loved butterflies and all kinds of other insects. Though...the pink antennae might be a little girly for him. Mirriam giggled at the thought. That would look cute!

"Peach nectar?" Mirriam's ears perked and her nose wiggled in delight. That sounded amazing! She loved peaches. The Fruit Bat moved to the fridge to find the nectar, and carried it back over to the table. "Okay!" She started to move the plates around, setting one at each place on the table. "How many cousins do you have?" she asked, wondering how many settings they would need.

[Bee]

"Seven," Nephy said. His cousins were nice girls, but this typically sounded awful to him because all he could imagine was being in a litter of seven, and having six Medeas as sisters. He loved his sister, but he was quite content loving one of his sister. He helped Mirriam place things on the table while his aunt continued preparing food. Moving around was good for him. Blood flowing would shove away the creep of sleepiness. He suddenly wished he were a Corvie solely to invent, on the spot, some way to siphon some of Mirriam's energy. Maybe just being near enough would allow him to absorb some of it.

"All right," his aunt announced. "See if you can rouse the girls."

Nephy flashed a grin at Mirriam, and took off to wake them up. They only managed to wake half of them--a majority, by virtue of the odd number. The first room, with Kielo and Ianthe, ended in total failure, but in the next, they managed to get Eulalie and Ffion, though Shirin slumbered on. The last room was successful, however. Liadan was already awake and reading quietly in bed, and looked surprised to see him.



"Cousin," she said. She looked over him and Mirriam, appraising. She frowned. "Has something enormous happened?"

"No," Nephy assured her. "Just exciting." He gestured to his new friend. "This is Mirriam," he announced, cheerfully. "She was a big part of the event."

Liadan failed to look suitably excited. She did offer Mirriam a small wave, and crawled out of bed, sniffing the air, apparently having smelled breakfast, which she found much more interesting.

Nephy glanced at Myfanwy. "Coz," he said. "I know you'll want to see it."

(I'll let Dark and Myffie in to pawn off the Jub after you post, Lucca-darling, if that's cool with you. <3)