[Mithar Sleepover!]

"How come you can't tell me about all of them are they a secret?" Lapis asks curiously. "There are some secret things at VIGIL too like I'm not supposed to go into the Battered Shield 'cuz it's only for grownups."

What secrets could it contain?

What fantastic mysteries could that small building hold?

It certainly smells nice in there.

Lapis carefully and respectfully takes the sword, admiring it for what it is. It kind of reminds her of the practice swords at VIGIL, but those swords aren't so obviously loved. That's an important thing about swords, Lapis thinks. They have to be important. If a sword isn't important to you then it must not be an important sword, right? And all the best swords are important ones! Like Mister Wenomir's sword that kind of reminds Lapis of Mother. With her other hand Lapis reaches into her bag and withdraws a leaf. She'll show it to her friends because-

"See? It's just a normal leaf, right?" she says before closing her fingers around it.

Then she holds out her hand and raises the sword above her head.

There's a... shimmer.

A slight distortion around Cora's sword.

When viewing the room through it everything is offset vertically by a few inches, as though all the world had been divided asunder.

Then Lapis brings the sword down on her hand with all of her might!

Swift and decisive, without hesitation or doubt.

A pure motion.

The sword passes through her hand without touching it.

Her fingers unfurl.

In her palm is the leaf.

Neatly cut in two.

"Isn't that SO COOL!? I love it, it's the best," Lapis says, grinning like a fool.


[Midsummer's Eve]

"It really happened! I've got the duck and everything," Lapis insists, once more holding the duck aloft to prove her point. "You can ask Miss Cessie I brought the bird to her after I caught it 'cuz that's where Anika told me to bring it."

Though at the mention of adventures Lapis doesn't look anywhere near as wistful as Cora. "There aren't THAT many adventures I mostly just pull weeds and trim bushes so it looks nice. But I did get to go on this adventure one time with Makuro and Quin (he's a robot I think?) to this spooky forest that a bad faerie did a bad thing to and we made it normal again and saved a village!"

Most of a village.

Lapis doesn't mention the not-saved parts because it was gross and sad.

"Also there was a river that had been turned into a snake and it wanted to just be a river again I guess? But Mister Wenomir and Miss Cessie haven't let me go on an adventure since then and I'm so bored."

It's just the worst.

"Can I ride the turtle?" she asks as she draws near.