The Twofold Houses 5: Rebuilding

[Gullara]

[New Friends, New Games, and a Basket of Brownies]

Lapis, likewise, gets a brownie for herself.

But only after she's given one out to her friends!

Her mom has taught her that it is very important to consider the needs of others. It's one way to show you care.

She smells it first, savoring the aroma, then quickly devours it. They're so great, she loves them! They don't make anything like them at VIGIL so it is always a special treat when Mother brings her some. Or even better, gets Lapis' help to make them! Like this batch!

She even managed to not mix up any of the ingredients!

But then?

A revelation!

Lapis gasps! "I LOVE pancakes! They're my big favorite! They always have lots of pancakes at VIGIL's mess hall for breakfast, I like them with banana-ginger chutney the most!"

Then she turns to the other girls, bouncing with excitement, leaning forward with anticipation. "What do you like putting on your pancakes the most?"

With talk of pancakes turtles are (very) briefly forgotten.

[New Friends, New Games, and a Basket of Brownies]

Lucy answers the question, but her mouth is chock right full of brownie. Some kind of berry it sounded like. It's hard to go wrong with fresh fruit.

Laela puts her finger on her chin as she considers her answer more carefully, and with her mouth empty. "In the fall mommy makes some berries into syrup, and we get berry syrup all winter. I love it."

Russell walks over to them, but he doesn't appear to have an answer for Lapis. He just stands next to Lucy, quietly as always.

[Sweet Dreams]

The dragon nods curtly. "Don't worry, I will take charge of the situation if things go out of hand. I've done this before." The dragon attempts to reassure. "Besides, you're in charge here. You can summon and dismiss aspects of yourself here at will. But as I imagine it would be hard knowing what exact feeling to focus on I might need to help you out." It pauses and Sakura might now notice that they appear a bit larger than before. Have they subtly been growing all this time or all at once right now? It's impossible to tell.
"Meaning you would have to entrust your mind to me for a moment, symbolically. This space work through symbolism and concepts which means that some things can be quite peculiar." While Ambrosia's big reptilian eyes have been focused on her for all this time for a moment they look away. "Quite peculiar indeed." A beat. "I... need you to put your head in my maw. I know how strange it sounds but it's to show that you entrust your mind to me. I don't make these things up. Remember, you can't be harmed in this space so you won't be in danger, nor would I put you in it. You have my word as a dragon and as a person on that." Perhaps that's why Ambrosia is suddenly larger. Her jaws could now easily fit the dryad's entire head in-between them.

[Sweet Dreams]

Sakura gives Ambrosia a look like she's crazy. To be fair, it does sound pretty crazy. "Um, I guess..." Sakura looks uncomfortable, but she'll comply with the request.

Playing Around

”The word’s technology, we’ve had it for hundreds of years,” Blanche counters with a playful little poke, fully aware that this only applies to her home setting and not Anika’s. She looks like she has another joke to crack, but any of those ambitions are quickly silenced when Cora makes her appearance.

She stumbles back in surprise, hand briefly moving to her hip, and falls on her rear as she processes Cora’s appearance. “M-my, you really gave my quite a scare, noble warrior!” she nervously attempts to compliment, whispering worriedly to Anika “I-I may have been wrong about the fire thing.”

Playing Around

“It’s not the same thing.” Anika insists. “Technology is stuff like bows, fire and even some rifles, but then you go a step further and enter magical territory-”
But she’s interrupted by Cora, in full gear no less. Looking between the girl and Blanche she knew exactly what to do. She will move in-between Cora and the catgirl while spreading her arms wide. “You got this intruder good. She’s already surrendering.” Anika gestures at Blanche. “Since I'm afraid this catty-gal is a bit like your aunt…” She makes a circular motion with her hand as she attempts to recall the name. “Pink-hair, whoever you had to wear that hat for? Yeah, Blanche here is not OK with fire, not even fake fire.”

[Playing Around]

Cora takes stock of the situation. She looks at Anika and the scaredy cat behind her. Oh, okay. She pulls her hat from the band of her pants, apparently having it ready, and pulls it over her head. Fire and horns give way for cute ears.

"You're an intruder too!" She accuses, pointing her sword at Anika.

[Rebonack]

[New Friends, New Games, and a Basket of Brownies]

"I don't think we have any berry syrup," Lapis replies thoughtfully. "We just have this stuff called maple syrup but I don't think there's really any maple in it since maple is a tree and that stuff is made of corn not trees. It's SUPER sweet but kind of gross, I don't like it that much."

Some probably needs to introduce Lapis to genuine maple syrup made out of actual maple.

There's a WORLD of difference.

Then she glances back at the house!

"Should we tell your brothers and sisters that there are brownies before we go looking for turtles or do you think your mom is going to do that?"

A valid question!

It would be a shame if the other children didn't know brownies were available.

[Shadowcaller]

[Sweet Dreams]

The scholar bows down with the top half of her slender body. "Thank you for trusting me, Sakura. I know this is difficult and strange but I wouldn't ask it of you if it wasn't needed."

With that Ambrosia opens her maw wide open, fully displaying all those alligator-like teeth. As the dryad puts her head in-between them she can feel the dragons almost unbearably hot breath against her face. With her fear of fire she might just be reminded by its heat while spending those few moments in-between all those teeth.

But then it's over, the dragon quickly pulling away while subtly shrinking back to her former size. "It's done. I'm going to call upon your aspect now and we'll see what happens." She declares softly and with Sakura's act of metaphorical trust she will attempt to summon just that.

[Playing Around]

"Am I now?" Anika inquires with a raised eyebrow. "I thought I had proven myself already!" She puts a hand on her hip. "Just what I'm supposed to do get a free pass to this place? Will I have to fight you again? Since I'm pretty sure I died last time. You stabbed me right in the heart!"

[Arkhosia]

Playing Around

”Fear not, Anika!” Blanche states as she gets back to her feet, hamming it up with only a slight shakiness as she recovers from her anxieties. “If this do-gooder dares harm you queen of bandits, I’ll run her through with my trusty dagger!” The catgirl raises a short little branch that she’s snatched up from the ground, at first holding it in a military grip before getting into character and waving it about like a ruffian with a knife.

[Murkus]

[Evening Vigil]

Adir ducks as Hobbins' arms arc for the light fixture. It's a pretty little thing with brass arms and childish white streamers hanging from the cupped glass on the tips. It wrenches free for the wicked bogey with a crinkle of ripping plaster and popping wire. Adir throws up his arms to shield his face, delaying his next attack a little, but the flying fixture is deflected without more than a few cuts and heavy-duty bruises. Chump stuff. Those cuts from the window might be a little worse, but if he can stand, he can fight.

The girls aren't moving. He needs to end this fast or pull them out. But once again Sarget saves the day, and with a triumphant laugh, Adir springs at Mr. Hobbins again. Not directly at the bogeyman, no. He feints, dips, and makes a pair of crossing slashes at Hobbins' dangling black arms. His knife goes snicker-snack. He figures if he can sever enough of those damn noodly limbs, Hobby will give up... or at least he won't be able to throw things around any more.

[Training Day]

"Page. Gosh, I love all these knightly words and phrases," Adir remarks with a touch of laughter. "I'm mostly kidding, Koshal. Unless you're trying to make some extra money, that is. Maybe if we do take them to VIGIL, you could help watch them. It'd be on my dime, of course. And only if you weren't doing something actually important."

"And Wenomir, I'm only telling it like it is. Laela is, admittedly, pretty incorrigible. I don't know how far we're gonna let her stretch our, uh, good will before it finally snaps. But she did seem to think VIGIL was pretty cool, and I bet most of the rest would too," Adir agrees. He leans on one of the range stands. "Ah, nine. Nine. What a lovely word. Can you run that number by Sakura, Wenomir? Maybe she'll like the sound of it better when you say it."

"Anyway, maybe we better see about getting some actual practice in today, huh? I've got another thing or two I could teach you guys. And Wenomir... if you want to bring one of my little popguns here home with you, like a backup for work, I wouldn't mind it a bit."

((Perhaps after you guys next couple posts we can call Training Day wrapped up and assume they train at the range a while longer.))

[Deathkeeper]

[Training Day]

”Well, I have a lot of duties. But Lady Danir lets me go and spend time with Master Wenomir because it’s training.”
Nine is a lot. It’s a lot. It’s so much.
”Um, yeah. Training. Right.” That’s what they came here to do, right? They must have gotten distracted.

[Rebonack]

[Evening Vigil]

Striking the boogie when he's ready for the attack, especially up on the ceiling as he is, proves to be difficult. The awful nightmare moves with insectile speed in deeply distressing stutters and stops. It's like trying to stomp on a blowfly that knows you bear ill will toward it.

It's especially hard since Mister Hobbins had started with a faint all his own.

The tossed light fixture was nothing more than a distraction, buying it a few precious seconds to go slithering up through the new hole in the ceiling and to vanish into the cavity.

Mockingly, the awful thing doffs its pristine top hat at Adir right before it zips away, narrowly avoiding the flurry of knife attacks.

Adir can still hear it.

Crawling.

Clawing.

Like rats in the walls.

There has got to be some way to flush the nightmare out. They can't just leave him in there, can they?

It's likely worth noting that the greasy black fog the horror had emerged from is still billowing and coiling out from under the bed. The threshold it had opened remains, a yawning chasm into the dark unknown.

[Gullara]

[New Friends, New Games, and a Basket of Brownies]

Laela shakes her head. "Nah, mommy will tell them. Let's go find turtles now!" It's time to drive forward. Finding turtles is the clear priority now!

"We gotta go find grampa." Lucy starts, but then Russell immediately starts walking off in the direction indicated earlier. "Hey wait up, Russell."

The boy leads the way away from the house, through a strand of trees and into another small clearing. There they see a tall tree, fully in bloom with cherry blossoms. It's certainly got a weird trunk. Lapis probably hasn't seen much like it. Laela and Lucy exchange a look.

"Grampa Sarget's around here somewhere." Laela explains.

"Mmhm, we gotta find him."

"You should look behind that tree with Russell." Laela suggests to Lapis, pointing toward the odd cherry blossom laden tree.

[Sweet Dreams]

Sakura nods, and waits.

There's no change for a moment, but when it comes Ambrosia notices it before Sakura does. The air feels heavy, like they're under a great pressure. Then all at once the tree bookcases all around then erupt. The clean bookcases become a dense forest surrounding them. The trees might make one feel claustrophobic, but it's nothing compared to the presence Ambrosia just conjured.

"W-what is that?"

[Playing Around]

"Ah hah! Your minion tells the truth, bandit." Cora declares, catching Anika in her lie! "This is your last chance. Surrender, or I'll defeat you!"

[Evening Vigil]

While the threat seems to have left the room, Sarget is taking no chances. As soon as the girls have a firm grip, he pulls his arm out of the room, carrying the two out the window. He puts a protective hand over top of them as they pass through the shattered glass. With the immediate comotion died down for the moment, Sakura's voice from the hall becomes more distinct. "Adir! What's happening!" She sounds terrified. The house is rife with noise. Commotion from the other children, Cassie and Laurana's distress through the window, Kissa and Malachi are bawling in their bedroom.

[Rebonack]

[New Friends, New Games, and a Basket of Brownies]

"Okay, let's go find some turtles!" Lapis agrees before bounding off with the other children. "I've never caught turtles before but I've got other things. Did you know that eating fuzzy caterpillars is a bad idea? It makes your mouth itch."

A beat.

"I'm not gunna eat the turtles though. Mister Meschic from VIGIL told me about how I shouldn't eat just whatever I find outside."

Excellent.

That's very important clarification.

And then?

TREE!

"Woooow!" Lapis gasps. "That tree is so big and pretty, I love it! Not as big and pretty as Mother but she's the biggest."

Without objection she follows Russell off toward the tree.

"What does your grandpa look like? Does he like sitting out here in the clearing? This is a really nice spot to sit, I think, I love it!"

[Shadowcaller]

[Playing Around]

Anika shoots a glare at Blanche. "But I was the villain last time!" She complains but gestures at Cora before the catgirl can protest or change her mind. "Alright then, sword-girl Cora. If I'm the 'queen of the bandits' I'm not going down without a fight. I presumably have a whole army of bandits to do my bidding! AHAHA!" She suddenly steps behind Blanche and pushes her forward towards Cora. "Like this little cowardly lion. Fight for me, my minion!"

[Sweet Dreams]

Ambrosia doesn't reply right away, she had been close to a yu-seed during her travels but never like this within the aether itself. As she had suspected, this was the presence miss Mithar had felt when she connected to Sakura, but why was it here now?

She had called upon the yokai, not the seed. Had the two somehow become interchangeable after such a long time? She had never even heard of such a thing.
"It's a part of you like everything else here. A yu-seed, one of the greatest form of fey that exist." She finally replies once she realizes that Sakura had spoken to her. Even to her this was a lot to take in so she couldn't imagine what it was like for the dryad.
"But as I said, she's a part of you. You don't need to fear it."
With that the scholar walks forward and let's her unseen senses guide her. Yu-seeds didn't often communicate by speech so she likely would have to look for some other means to talk to it. The first thing she was going to do was to project an aura of peace. She did not mean any harm here, she only meant to help.

Yokai feared dragons like deer feared wolves, it was something coded into their very being that they couldn't escape from. So whatever had happened to this seed she hoped that fear wasn't as strong as in an actual yokai.

[Arkhosia]

Playing Around

”H-hey, cowardly?” Blanche protests as she’s pushed forward, stumbling slightly before giving a mock-cocky grin and brandishing her “dagger”. “Aha! Prepare to meet your doom!” she swings wide and at an appropriate speed for play combat, aiming to strike Cora’s blade as if they were crossing swords.

[Morty]

[Training Day]

Wenomir nods.

"We should get back to it, yes. I might borrow one of those, but first I should make sure I can shoot them without breaking my arm or something like that."

[Gullara]

[New Friends, New Games, and a Basket of Brownies]

"Okay, let's go find some turtles!" Lapis agrees before bounding off with the other children. "I've never caught turtles before but I've got other things. Did you know that eating fuzzy caterpillars is a bad idea? It makes your mouth itch."

A beat.

"I'm not gunna eat the turtles though. Mister Meschic from VIGIL told me about how I shouldn't eat just whatever I find outside."

Excellent.

That's very important clarification.

And then?

TREE!

"Woooow!" Lapis gasps. "That tree is so big and pretty, I love it! Not as big and pretty as Mother but she's the biggest."

Without objection she follows Russell off toward the tree.

"What does your grandpa look like? Does he like sitting out here in the clearing? This is a really nice spot to sit, I think, I love it!"

[New Friends, New Games, and a Basket of Brownies]

"Yeah, he's out here lots." Laela answers. She's being cagey about answering all the questions. She and Lucy are giggling between themselves for some reason.

When Lapis rounds the other side of the trees, she just sees Russell standing there, looking upward. Weird. If she looks upward as well, she'll see a smiling face in the tree looking down at her. Or no, the tree's face. "Hello there, little one. Are you one of my grandchildren's friends?" His big, low voice rumbles in her chest. With her new perspective, the oddities of this big tree's trunk are revealed to be arms and legs.

Back around the other side of the 'tree', the girls hold their breath as they anticipate Lapis's reaction.

[Playing Around]

Anika shoots a glare at Blanche. "But I was the villain last time!" She complains but gestures at Cora before the catgirl can protest or change her mind. "Alright then, sword-girl Cora. If I'm the 'queen of the bandits' I'm not going down without a fight. I presumably have a whole army of bandits to do my bidding! AHAHA!" She suddenly steps behind Blanche and pushes her forward towards Cora. "Like this little cowardly lion. Fight for me, my minion!"

Playing Around

”H-hey, cowardly?” Blanche protests as she’s pushed forward, stumbling slightly before giving a mock-cocky grin and brandishing her “dagger”. “Aha! Prepare to meet your doom!” she swings wide and at an appropriate speed for play combat, aiming to strike Cora’s blade as if they were crossing swords.

[Playing Around]

Cora assumes a simple stance, more theoretical than practical given she actually studies with a two handed sword. The second time Blanche intends to clank their weapons together, Cora instead feints, she lets Blanche's stick do out wide, and slips a jab by at the catgirl's ribs. "You're dead." Cora declares.

[Sweet Dreams]

Ambrosia doesn't reply right away, she had been close to a yu-seed during her travels but never like this within the aether itself. As she had suspected, this was the presence miss Mithar had felt when she connected to Sakura, but why was it here now?

She had called upon the yokai, not the seed. Had the two somehow become interchangeable after such a long time? She had never even heard of such a thing.
"It's a part of you like everything else here. A yu-seed, one of the greatest form of fey that exist." She finally replies once she realizes that Sakura had spoken to her. Even to her this was a lot to take in so she couldn't imagine what it was like for the dryad.
"But as I said, she's a part of you. You don't need to fear it."
With that the scholar walks forward and let's her unseen senses guide her. Yu-seeds didn't often communicate by speech so she likely would have to look for some other means to talk to it. The first thing she was going to do was to project an aura of peace. She did not mean any harm here, she only meant to help.

Yokai feared dragons like deer feared wolves, it was something coded into their very being that they couldn't escape from. So whatever had happened to this seed she hoped that fear wasn't as strong as in an actual yokai.

[Sweet Dreams]

Sakura looks around like she's seen a ghost. She's spooked. The presence is overwhelming, and the feeling is only mounting.

The yu-seed appears to be rousing slowly to Ambrosia's senses, but gradually there's the distinct sense that attention is being focused in on the two of them. Sakura hugs herself, her shoulders hunched over.

[Rebonack]

[New Friends, New Games, and a Basket of Brownies]

Out here lots because he doesn't fit in houses.

Lapis peers up at the tree that's talking to her.

She eyes the flowers that fill the tree's branches.

Then she leans off to the side a bit to stare at the sisters and all the flowers in their hair.

HMMMMM!

An epiphany dawns as Lapis gives a little gasp and points upward!

"YOU'RE their grandpa Sarget!" Lapis declares, half surprised and half triumphant. "Their mom must have gotten her flowers from you!"

Lapis is very perceptive.

"You're pretty big, but Mother's still bigger. Your flowers are super-pink, though, I love them!"

Then she smiles with her best small child smile.

"I'm Lapis Lazuli! I met your grand kids at VIGIL and we're friends! I brought everyone brownies and we're going to go find turtles in the ponds. Are you going to come, too?"

She's already considering ways that an ambulatory tree might be useful for a turtle-hunting expedition.

[Gullara]

[New Friends, New Games, and a Basket of Brownies]

Darnit! Lapis never jumped or shrieked or anything. Usually suddenly a talking tree is more startling than that. Oh well, the girls just join the other two in front of Sarget. The disappointment isn't too obvious.

Sarget chuckles. "Why thank you, Lapis. You're quite observant." He praises. "I've love dearly to join you four to find turtles. An old tree like me can't always move as fast as you young ones, though. You'll make sure you stay near enough that you don't lose me, won't you?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Playing Around]

"Already? Aw man, my minions suck." Anika 'the queen of the pirates' Sunfletcher declares as soon as Blanche is poked. "How're you so good at swording, sword girl Cora? My mom would be seriously impressed."

[Sweet Dreams]

Ambrosia gently puts a hand on Sakura's shoulder and she lets her own presence wash over the dryad which hopefully would bring some comfort as to show that she is not alone nor completely exposed to the being before them. "You okay, Sakura? You want to step out?" She inquires while projecting calm and peace both to the dryad and her fey counterpart.
Perhaps it was not a good idea to have two so radically different versions of the same person meet.

[Arkhosia]

Playing Around

”Agh! I have been slain! Quickly your majesty, run while you still have a chance!” Blanche clutches the point of impact dramatically and stumbles back, wavering around before finally collapsing on her back and reaching a hand up to the sky.

[Rebonack]

[New Friends, New Games, and a Basket of Brownies]

Probably has something to do with being an empyrean and working at VIGIL. Lapis' tolerance level for weird things is pretty darn high. It probably helps that her Mother is literally a mountain-sized dragon. Or maybe a tree. Or a blazing star. Really it depends on who you ask.

"That's okay, most trees don't move much at all so you're already SUPER fast for a tree!" Lapis replies. She doesn't want Sarget to feel bad about being slow so some encouragement is always welcome. Or at least that's what she thinks. "You're like two sorts of trees at the same time! That's really neat, Mother's only one kind of tree at a time but she's pretty good at it."

Then Lapis turns on her heel toward the nearest pond that she had seen on the way in!

But she doesn't run off very quickly.

She starts at a slow, measured pace, glancing back over her shoulder to make sure that Sarget is keeping up.

Why?

Because she was just given a rule (stay within sight of Sarget) and the last thing Lapis wants to do is break the rules.

[Gullara]

[Playing Around]

Cora grins from ear to ear. "I learned from the best." She boasts. "Now you're my prisoner, bandit queen, and you gotta answer my questions. Why'd you invade my tower?" She points her sword at Anika, the threat very real!

[Sweet Dreams]

The hand on her shoulder does steady Sakura a bit. She shakes her head at the dragon. She really does need to know what's going on here.

As the trees grow to their full height around them, the undergrowth comes into being. Plants of all kind, fruiting and flowering, erupt around them. It's chaotic and wild, but after the eyes adjust there';s enough order to bring out a sense of designed beauty amidst it all. In a lot of ways it's very much like Sakura's own garden, which they sat in just moments earlier. The dryad looks around with wide eyes. The familiarity is not lost on her.

[New Friends, New Games, and a Basket of Brownies]

"Thank you, Lapis." Sarget says with a warm smile.

The two girls hurry over now that there scheme is over and start walking alongside Lapis. Not before waving hi to their grandpa, of course. "Did you say your mom can turn into a tree?" Laela asks. She thought she heard that. This raises even more questions.

While they walk Sarget walks along behind them. He keeps up fine with his slow, long paces. His legs may be relatively short compared to his body, but his sheer height makes each step qhich long compared to the kids.

[Rebonack]

[New Friends, New Games, and a Basket of Brownies]

"You're welcome! Mother says that kind words are a nice gift anyone can give," Lapis replies as she pushes a few branches out of the way on her trek toward the ponds.

But then the girls ask a really important question!

Lapis looks vaguely confused at it.

"No? Mother doesn't turn into a tree."

Turning into a tree would be weird.

That's like... druid stuff.

"Mother doesn't turn into different things, there are just lots of different things that are like her. Sometimes she's more like one thing than another thing. I do that too! Like right now I'm being most like a little girl! Some people think it looks kind of scary when I'm like too many things at once and I don't like scaring people."

Lapis is very considerate.

"Does your mom turn into a tree?"

Maybe that's just something moms do?

[Murkus]

[Evening Vigil]

"Sakura!" Adir booms without missing a beat, staring down the ragged hole in the ceiling. Just daring the thing to pop back out again. Sweat races on his temples. "Get Kissa and Malachi! Right now!"

He doesn't answer her question. He backs out of the room, leaning on the bannister. He's bleeding from a big, dark gash in his side and trace cuts on the backs of his arms. He has that huge knife in his hand. He thunders, "Kids! Cern, Gwyd, Laela, Lucy, Russell, everybody out of your rooms! Come to me!" He looks around at them as they come, eyes searching, continuously tracking back to the glaring hole Cassie and Laurie's room. The kids can tell their dad is scared. And furious.

The space is lit now only by the light from the hall and the moon outside, but that hole under Laurie's bed is blacker than black, a night unto itself. Much like that... thing. What was that thing? What could move like that? Not even a spider or a fly could move like that. So completely weightless. As though some huge, invisible hand were swinging the bogey around the room, smooshing him up against the walls and sliding him across the ceiling. A doll made from rags and black string.

Provided Hobbins doesn't reemerge in the time it takes for the kids to exit their rooms, Adir ushers them to Kissa and Malachi's bedroom, where Sakura is hopefully getting the babies ready to go. "It's okay," Adir says. "I'm okay. You need to do everything I say, okay? We need to go."

It occurs to Adir that it might be safer to have Sarget take the kids out via he and Sakura's bedroom balcony than it would be to usher them down the stairs. They're just one big, silly line that way. At least in the master bedroom he can keep them huddled up while he gets them to Sarget. He will try to get things moving in that direction if Hobbins decides to take his time starting up again.

[Rebonack]

[Evening Vigil]

Have you ever tried yelling in a dream before?

And it feels like you're shouting under water?

Everything muffled. Muttered. Muted.

That sense of heavy, unnatural stillness hangs over the house...

...which makes every other sound that much more unsettling.

The creak of the house's beams.

The scratching in the walls.

The slithering of sooty fabric against wood.

That thing is still in the house. It's moving. And it sounds like it's moving everywhere at once.

Could it be silent, if it wanted to?

Probably.

But it wants them to know that it's there.

It wants them to be afraid.

Have you ever awoken in the dead of night, still half dreaming, certain that some unholy thing is the crouching in the shadows watching you?

In every dark cranny, out of the corner of the eye, the boogie's pallid mask seems to leer.

[Gullara]

[Evening Vigil]

Sakura hesitates only a moment before rushing toward the bedroom of the youngest two Frescots. In the other direction down the hall the other children pour out of their rooms. Five terrified looking children cluster in the hall, struggling to muster the courage to move past that. Then something spooks Lucy. She shrieks and runs to her dad's side. The twin boys scamper after her, and Laela grabs Russell's hand before joining them. Their frightened babbling washes over Adir, but undoubtedly he'll have no time to try to assuage their fears.

In the next moments Sakura steps outside of the other bedroom, one baby tucked against each shoulder. She meets Adir's eyes and then says in an urgent whisper. "Come on, come to me!" The kids stream across the short distance between Adir and Sakura, leaving Adir as a buffer between the monster and the rest of the family. Sakura waits there until Adir backs his way over to them and they can all get into the master bedroom together.

[New Friends, New Games, and a Basket of Brownies]

Sarget can't follow behind the kids on a totally direct route due to his size and the presence of over trees. That said, he doesn't slow them down too much. He may not be the fastest traveler, but the sheer size of him makes each step substantial.

Lapis gets some puzzled looks after her explanation. It takes a second for that silence to get broken. "No, mommy just looks like mommy." Lucy clarifies.

"How's that work?" Laela asks, after she gives up trying to ask a more specific question. There's too much she doesn't understand.

Russell, meanwhile, cares not for this confusing conversation. He pushes head of the group and takes the lead. He stoops over a couple times to pick a dandelion as he goes, before bounding off ahead again.

[Rebonack]

[New Friends, New Games, and a Basket of Brownies]

Is it kind of weird that Russell likes picking flowers when he's got a giant flower on his head?

Regardless!

Lapis nods at Lucy's reply. "That makes sense. Most people at VIGIL only look like one thing, too. But Anika can look like lots of different things. Just not at the same time. She can turn into a bear!"

Lapis is, like, 100% sure that being able to turn into a bear is awesome.

That isn't something she can do. Or at least she's pretty sure it isn't something she can do. She hasn't ever tried before since she hasn't been to 'turning into a bear school' like Anika has.

Next up, she carefully considers Laela's question.

How DOES that work?

Hmm...

She looks down at the grass. It's so pretty and glistening. A little katydid is singing loudly in the tall grass nearby. Somewhere a mouse scampers about unseen, gathering seeds. But nothing in the grass is like what she's thinking about.

She looks around at the trees. All big and tall and swaying in the breeze. Some of them are in bloom, covered in flowers. Others have little fuzzy buds. A squirrel scampers up a nearby trunk and squeaks at them.

She looks up at the sky. Endless blue stretching off as far as the eye can see, getting deeper and deeper the further her eyes rise from the horizon. Up her gaze goes until it settles on-

"Oh! It's like a cloud!" Lapis concludes, pointing heavenward at a big, puffy cloud slowly scooting through the sky. "What does that cloud look like?"

It could look like a truck. Or maybe a duck. Or a face. Or a rabbit. Or a great big dragon. Or a castle. Or a million other things an active imagination might impose on it. A thousand thousand possibilities reflecting the thoughts of whoever is contemplating its shape.

[Gullara]

[New Friends, New Games, and a Basket of Brownies]

The girls look up at the indicates cloud. It's a picturesque, sunny day, with big, puffy clouds in the sky. One of these puffy clouds is the object of their attention.

"Ummm, it's like a..." Laela speaks too soon, lacking an answer yet. That's a tricky one.

Lucy comes up with a conclusion first. "It's like one of those digging machines! With the big arm." She moves her arm in a scooping motion to illustrate her point.

Laela wrinkles her nose and shakes her head. "No, it's like a lizard. With spines on its back."

[Shadowcaller]

[Playing Around]

Anika crosses her arms over her chest. "Am I now? Well, I won't make a secret of why I came here." The 'pirate bandit queen' looks up to the top of the keep. "To make it the centerpiece of my queendom of course. To have my flag fly from its tallest spire so everyone will know my might." She looks down again at Cora. "Looks like you are standing in my way though, sword girl and I can't have that!" She goes down into an actual fighting stance while gesturing at Cora. "Have at you! Now you're fighting a true bandit queen!" Seems like the stance was just dramatics though as she is enveloped in a green cloud of swirling energy the very next moment.

But this time it isn't a large cuddly bear that emerges from it. No, this is a form not even Blanche have seen Anika take before.
A huge anaconda.
It's of course still recognizable as Anika with amber eyes and a patch of orange scales at the top of its head, but its also a big scary snake.
Nonetheless the snake won't do anything for a little bit. Waiting for what she expect is the initial shock to be gone before she makes any moves. Cora would know that while in her animal forms Anika can easily take whacks from her training sword.

[Sweet Dreams]

It takes a bit longer for Ambrosia to realize the similarity as she hadn't the same initiate familiarity with the garden as the dryad herself. A good sign as it signaled a connection, a desire to show familiarity and connect to them.

Now they just needed to try the same thing though it shot a hole in her whole plan to have Sakura communicating with it. Looked like she might be more suited for the task after all.

"Sakura, with your permission I'm going to try to use a metaphor to get our intended meaning across. You won't have to worry about this one but just so you're understanding what I'm doing."

The dragon then moves just outside of the garden that's emerging all around them. Creating her own little artificial space in all this greenery as the grass around her is replaced by a worked stone which comes to surround the garden like a city around a park.
Then stone pillars start to raise from the street like a fence separating the blooming garden from the rest of the mind space they're in. But once erected these pillars are reshaped into the likeness of people. Becoming statues of men and women, some which Sakura will even be able to recognize such as Cessie and Adir.

But if the presence and the garden keeps mounting it will start to overtake and blur the line Ambrosia just made. The plants of the garden starting to sprout in-between the laid stones of the street and start to envelop the statues that the dragon had just created. "Look at these people. You're overtaking them." She comments as she watches this unfold. "You're, intentionally or not, trying to make them into you against their will." Ambrosia further comments as the statues will likely eventually be absorbed by the garden. "And beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I believe elves say that a lot don't they? You must have come across the concept before. While you and many others would find this beautiful others will not. We all have our own definition of beauty."

[Rebonack]

[New Friends, New Games, and a Basket of Brownies]

"I think it looks like a fancy hat with a feather in it, like the one papa wears!" Lapis offers. "But like other things, too. I see the digging machine AND the lizard."

She turns her head sideways a bit.

"And maybe a crab with a great big pincer and a little one? Clouds look like lots of things, just like how angels looks like lots of things."

There!

Now everything is explained and there aren't any more questions.

"Hey there's one of the pools!" Lapis calls out before ducking through some underbrush to approach the small, still pond.

When she gets close several large frogs leap into the water.

Plop!

[Gullara]

[New Friends, New Games, and a Basket of Brownies]

The girls are left to contemplate that analogy. They look like they're thinking very hard about it when Lapis bounds ahead. She slips past Russell, who's right behind her when she stops in front of the pond. The boy only pauses for a moment, though. He walks right over to the edge of the pond and crouches in front of it.

"So how do we find turtles?" Laela asks, focused on the task at hand. "Are they in the water?" Laela doesn't know a lot about turtles in particular.

[Arkhosia]

Playing Around

Blanche can't help but be fairly startled by Anika's new animal form she's never seen before. Snakes are scary up close, especially that big! She still plays dead though.

[Rebonack]

[New Friends, New Games, and a Basket of Brownies]

"Sometimes they're in the water and sometimes they're laying on things to sun themselves," Lapis explains. "Turtles are like lizards. They really like sunshine."

Speaking of!

With all the trees nearby, this pond is pretty shaded. No good spots for a turtle to bask.

Hmm...

"I don't think there are any turtles in this one, it isn't sunny enough. We need to find a really sunny pond. This one is probably just full of frogs and newts."

Have the girls ever caught a newt before?

Catching newts is pretty great, too.

Lapis moves closer so she can peer over the edge of the pond and into the water.