The Twofold Houses 6: Multiplying like rabbits

[Arkhosia]

[Calanthe's Room]

"I don't know a whole lot about spirits or essence, but it has something to do with the... Concept? Of winter?" Adir sounds like he really doesn't get it himself.

"I mean, hey, if you can tell me more about it, I'm not going to complain. It was, uh... a bit of a surprise for both of us." The stag smiles awkwardly. "I thought she might not like it at first, but... we've made it work. Still makes some things a little awkward." He laughs.

Calanthe's Room

"Oh! Yes, I do think I understand that. My own background in magic has tended to be of a similar nature, harnessing the essence or concepts tied to an object and manifesting them in some way. It might be of a different system and methodology, but I imagine there is some common ground between them." Adir might get the sense that Calanthe's not really had a chance to talk shop about such arcane practices in quite a while, though it might not be honestly too surprising. After all, magic and the theory behind it doesn't tend to be a central subject when helping others raise a child.

Indeed, the rabbit's interest is enough that she's briefly distracted from holding the shelving steady, and she has to quickly glance back and readjust her position and grip for the Frescot. "But erm, yes, I can imagine. You must have had to replace your entire wardrobe, for one." There's a sparkle of mirth in Calanthe's eyes as she says this.

[Shadowcaller]

[Mithar Sleepover]

It's clear enough to the twins that Lapis is talking about more of the magic she does, Bastion has the urge to ask more about it, but he doesn't want to interrupt the story. Especially since things are starting to pick up! The mouth sounds might not be impressive, but the kids are into it.

"Woah! What happened next? Did they raid your fort? Did they h-" While Cora starts to rattle on, Bastion's ears perk. He's caught a sound.

"Cora. Shh-"

"-ave swords? Did you-"

"Cora!" Bastion hisses. "Garn."

Oh. That's all the warning Cora needs. She looks around wildly and heads towards another door. Bastion pushes Lapis from behind to urge her along. In Cora's fumbling to get the door open she drops a pillow. There's no time to waste, though. They have just a moment to get into what turns out to be a hall closet and close the door behind them before the gargoyle turns the corner.

[Mithar Sleepover]

See Bastion knows you should let someone tell their story then ask questions when they get to a good stopping spot. Otherwise you might break their train of thought!

Thankfully that isn't too much of a problem with Lapis as she was about to employ some EXPERT story telling tricks when suddenly she's getting pushed from behind?

"Garn?" she asks briefly, quickly getting the idea and hurrying along to follow Cora. "Oh, the guardgoyle."

She remembers Garn.

He was the one they had to send away to have their snowball melting contest.

Apparently Garn is strictly opposed to fun in all forms.

Thinking quickly, Lapis gives the fallen pillow a quick kick, sending it flopping into the closet to keep the tell-tale sign of their passing out of sight.

Oh! This is fun! It'll be like a stealth quest! Lapis hasn't tried one of those yet but they seem neat. Once in the closet she does her best to be very quiet. Though she does whisper, "How long do we have to stay in here?"

[Mithar Sleepover]

Soon enough the gargoyle comes around the corner.

He was sure he had heard excited voices, and one of them had been Cora's which usually meant trouble.

But now there was no one here.

Suspicious.

He looks around before deciding to head up the stairs the same way they came from. If they had caused trouble he would find it...

[Gullara]

[Mithar Sleepover]

"Shhhh." Bastion hushes Lapis and listens. They can hear the firm thumps of Garn's footsteps as he walks away. The gargoyle doesn't move very subtly, thankfully.

Cora pushes the door open and vacates the closet. "Okay let's go. He'll be wandering around up here for a while."

"Sometimes Garn thinks we shouldn't be playing our games." Bastion explains. He makes no mention of possible justified reasons for that stance.

They're heading downstairs soon, and they'll head to what appears to be a play area. There's some seating, toy boxes, and shelving. It's all quite tidy and well organized.

[Rebonack]

[Mithar Sleepover]

Lapis falls very still and quiet.

Tense moments pass.

Then the footsteps recede and and it's time to move on! It appears as though they managed to succeed at the stealth section of their mission.

"Why wouldn't Garn want you to play games?" Lapis asks, absolutely baffled by that very concept. She's gotten the impression from the Frescots already that playing games is what children are supposed to do. It's a definitely different from her own existence since she mostly tends to the grounds at VIGIL. And does quests. But quests are sort of like games, right? They're part of the Game itself.

Oh!

Right!

Quests!

"So right then moblin pirates started shooting at our fort with their cannons!" Lapis falls right back into her story as they head down the stairs. "So some of us like my sister were shooting back and some of us were fixing the fort so it wouldn't fall apart and I was looking for a weakness on the moblin pirate ship and I found one! It said that if we could hit the powder battery then the ship would blow up but that would make the boss moblin mad."

Then another important details occurs to Lapis. "The moblins don't die or anything since they're pretend. If you whack them enough then they disappear and just leave a pile of garbage behind. It's some kind of faerie magic I think. And all of them had swords they were pirates."

She wants it to be very clear to the twins that no real people were getting hurt in the course of this quest. And she needed to answer Cora's question since it was very important.

Then play room!

Lapis begins unloading their fort materials and considering good places to set it up. "Should we use the shelf for one of the walls?"

Shelves are very stable AND they would be able to access the toys within from their fort.

[Murkus]

Calanthe's Room

"Oh! Yes, I do think I understand that. My own background in magic has tended to be of a similar nature, harnessing the essence or concepts tied to an object and manifesting them in some way. It might be of a different system and methodology, but I imagine there is some common ground between them." Adir might get the sense that Calanthe's not really had a chance to talk shop about such arcane practices in quite a while, though it might not be honestly too surprising. After all, magic and the theory behind it doesn't tend to be a central subject when helping others raise a child.

Indeed, the rabbit's interest is enough that she's briefly distracted from holding the shelving steady, and she has to quickly glance back and readjust her position and grip for the Frescot. "But erm, yes, I can imagine. You must have had to replace your entire wardrobe, for one." There's a sparkle of mirth in Calanthe's eyes as she says this.

Calanthe's Room

While Adir isn't going to be much of a hand at shop talk when it comes to magic, and he knows it, he doesn't mind hearing about the practice of witchery. Especially when... well, one or two of the kids had showed some strange aptitudes since they were just wee tiny babies.

He's just about to ask if Calanthe was born with something like her powers or if she learned them when the shelf nearly slips. His fault, too. He flashes an apologetic smirk and drives in another screw with a brief electric whine. With a little more work, they're done with the first one, and the pair can set about adjusting the next shelf.

"Oh, god," Adir seems to wince at the memory of something when Calanthe speaks up again. "So-- so get this. The woman I work for gave me some magical tools when I started. She had a pair of short blades made for me that can sort of... produce this suit of armor, right on top of me. Well, I hadn't actually thought about clothes when we got home from Riverside after my 'interview'."

The stag sweeps a free hand briefly before picking up another screw. "Nothing fits, of course. I still have some shirts I refuse to let go of. But... I'm stuck. All I've got from this woman I'm now working for is a damp robe and these swords. The kids wanna be with daddy, so I can't go shopping."

The stag sighs.

"So I walk around for all of a day and most of a night in a suit of... of ******* plate armor, just bare-assed underneath, looking and sounding like the-- like the damn tin man," Adir completes. "The itchy, pinching, chafing tin man. Let me tell you, Calanthe, those things are not kind to the sensitive bits. And then the looks I got when I made it to the store the next day!"

[Arkhosia]

Calanthe's Room

"Oh?" Calanthe turns to look back at Adir curiously as she finishes marking down the points on the wall for them to bore. She's quite a receptive listener as the Frescot goes on, eyebrows raising in surprise and mirth.

"Wow, that is - well, it sounds like quite a day. You must have been quite red all over when you came back." A thought pops into her head. "Oh, and you probably had to carry those swords in with you as well, huh? I imagine that, er, could have caused some issues." Those swords actually sound quite interesting to the rabbit, considering the amount of material they presumably are capable of conjuring.

After a moment though, she frowns. "I'm actually reminded of my first time shopping for clothes. Most of the attire I had growing up was handmade in some way, and I basically had to puzzle out sizing and such on my own."

[Murkus]

[Calanthe's Room]

Adir nimbly switches between the narrow drill-head and the screwdriver bit for his drill, following along after Calanthe's marks while she helps keep the shelves steady. Every movement with the drill sends little shivering pulses through the tensed muscle along his arms. He seems well used to making minor modifications around the house. She can probably picture him doing this in his kids' rooms many times.

"Well, not as much as you'd think. I don't have to keep them in my hands after I call the armor, at least. And you'd be surprised how many people walk around armed in Inside," the stag explains, eyes on his work. They glitter with amusement and sympathy when Calanthe mentions her own troubles. "Oh, gods, tell me about it! I was used to wearing almost nothing when 'civilization' hit me like a hammer in the head. Some days nothing but two pieces of cloth! About this big!" Adir gesticulates the dimensions with his hands. If he's not exaggerating, it wouldn't have gone past mid-thigh on him, even relative to his current scale. He looks briefly wistful. "To tell you the truth, uh, I kind of miss that sometimes..."

Adir pauses and spreads his hands. "Well, okay, our experiences might not be exactly the same. Where did you grow up? On a farm?"

[Arkhosia]

[Calanthe's Room]

"Oh, yes- I can imagine how that would be odd to adjust to." Calanthe nods a little awkwardly here, trying to breeze past the topic - Adir paints well enough of a mental image that she feels a bit red in the cheeks from it. "But um, no, not quite - I actually grew up in a somewhat isolated coven, a short ways off from Riverside. Lived there for most of my adolescence." The rabbit does seem a little amused. "You know, I think you are the first person who guessed on a farm. I always thought I wasn't entirely too obscure about it."

[Gullara]

[Mithar Sleepover]

Lapis falls very still and quiet.

Tense moments pass.

Then the footsteps recede and and it's time to move on! It appears as though they managed to succeed at the stealth section of their mission.

"Why wouldn't Garn want you to play games?" Lapis asks, absolutely baffled by that very concept. She's gotten the impression from the Frescots already that playing games is what children are supposed to do. It's a definitely different from her own existence since she mostly tends to the grounds at VIGIL. And does quests. But quests are sort of like games, right? They're part of the Game itself.

Oh!

Right!

Quests!

"So right then moblin pirates started shooting at our fort with their cannons!" Lapis falls right back into her story as they head down the stairs. "So some of us like my sister were shooting back and some of us were fixing the fort so it wouldn't fall apart and I was looking for a weakness on the moblin pirate ship and I found one! It said that if we could hit the powder battery then the ship would blow up but that would make the boss moblin mad."

Then another important details occurs to Lapis. "The moblins don't die or anything since they're pretend. If you whack them enough then they disappear and just leave a pile of garbage behind. It's some kind of faerie magic I think. And all of them had swords they were pirates."

She wants it to be very clear to the twins that no real people were getting hurt in the course of this quest. And she needed to answer Cora's question since it was very important.

Then play room!

Lapis begins unloading their fort materials and considering good places to set it up. "Should we use the shelf for one of the walls?"

Shelves are very stable AND they would be able to access the toys within from their fort.

[Mithar Sleepover]

"Garn doesn't like it when we make a mess." Bastion replies. "But we have to make a bit of a mess to build stuff. That's just how it works."

The two listen intently to the story as they unload their cargo, and soon push it over to the shelf Lapis indicated. "That's so cool. So did you blow the ship up?" She asks eagerly. She doesn't seem to concerned about Lapis's reassurances. The violence is too abstract in story form.

Bastion, meanwhile, starts to make the first wall by stacking up pillows.

[Rebonack]

[Mithar Sleepover]

"Have you tried telling Garn that's how building works maybe he just doesn't know?" Lapis asks. Surely Garn must be confused.

Everyone knows that you have to make at least a little bit of a mess to build things!

Like if Lapis wants to use materials to build stuff she has to dig holes first and holes are at least kind of messy.

She can understand how pillows and blankets are in some ways a superior fort building supply since you don't have to dig anything up to use them and you can put them back when you're done, too.

For the most party Lapis is busying herself with unloading her backpack for the twins to supply them with the blankets and pillows since she hasn't ever built this style of fort before. It's important to watch and learn from the actions of others.

This also makes it easier for her to focus on her story.

"Well first we weren't sure where to aim until I told everyone else but then I tried throwing my sword at it since it's also a spear sometimes," Lapis says, throwing a pillow to Bastion as she does while making a pretty passable, "Zzzzzzt!" noise. "But I missed!"

Terrible.

"But that's okay my other friends Arukhael and Mishnehel were helping too! Arukhael dropped this time-bomb thingy on the deck and it tossed the moblins really fast into other moblins! And Mishnehel has this funny gun that makes stuff grow and she used it on some of the pirate cannons and one of them grew shut and when they tried to shoot the cannon it backfried and blew up!"

Lapis does her best mouth-explosion, throwing both of her hands in the air.

"My sister Eao thought maybe she could beat the pirate captain by herself tried shooting at the captain but he ducked and it just ruined his hat instead and I think that made him mad."

[Murkus]

[Calanthe's Room]

"An isolated coven? That's, like, a group of witches right? I mean, how many people does it take to make a coven?" Adir keeps working as he chatters. "Like, what's the minimum size for a coven? Three? Three witches? Was that like having three moms? And... is it okay to say witches? That's not-- do you have a preferred term? I don't mean it in bad sense, you know. I actually have a few sisters and aunts who are witches. But I can see how it might, uh..."

Adir pauses his work and rubs a hand over his face, smiling disarmingly. He seems to realize that sometimes he talks a little too much. "Sorry. I really don't get to chit-chat with people other than Sakura very often, and you're... well, you're interesting."

[Arkhosia]

Calanthe's Room

After a few moments of Adir floundering around, Calanthe can't help but burst into laughter. It's a rather bright and delightful sound. "It's fine, I appreciate it," she answers earnestly, a little pink in the cheeks from the compliment. "I can relate to feeling a little short on new sources of conversation, after all. And I'd describe myself as a witch, yes - I don't think the term is offensive, though I can't speak for all the many cultural or ideological kinds of covens that exist out there. Mine was... hm, maybe somewhere around 30 people?" The rabbit chuckles. "Not exactly three witches, but I guess there were plenty of mothers."

Looking over at the Frescot, Calanthe studies him curiously. "What about you?" She smiles, giving him a cheeky little look. "Were you also around one in fifteen siblings, or have I just found myself a delightful outlier?"

[Murkus]

[Calanthe's Room]

Adir's ears wiggle a bit, and his mouth ticks up at one end. He's glad he didn't offend her... and he's glad he made the rabbit laugh. Even if it wasn't exactly intentional. Of course, he gets some of his best ones that way...

"Thirty? That's bigger than the image that comes to mind, sure. All... women? Were your parents there?" He imagines if there were kids and mothers around, there likely had to be some fathers too. "And did everyone there have a talent for... spellery? Like yours? To be honest, I'm not all clear yet on your specialties, and there's so many different kinds of magic..."

"The kids tell me you know everything about the forest, though," the stag adds with a grin as he mentions his babies. "They started calling you 'mushroom lady' instead of 'bunny lady', so... progress."

"And oh, my siblings..." Adir scratches his head and almost bonks himself with his drill. He seems a little embarrassed. But not about the fact she just called him delightful. Wait, did she just call him delightful? "Would you believe it's more like fifty?"

[Arkhosia]

Calanthe's Room

Calanthe blinks and looks a little amused. "Dear, that's a lot of questions to answer - but generally, yes! I should probably specify that it was much more of an isolated village than something that regularly met, though. Think of it as more of a... community of witches than a monthly gathering."

Hearing about the babs and their reception of her is quite enough to make the rabbit smile too, giggling gently behind a hand. "Well, I'm glad to hear I make a good impression - She blinks. "Wait, did you say fifty? H-how did your parents manage all that??" Adir can definitely see all the math running through her head. Mouths to feed, meals to make, lessons to teach....

[Gullara]

[Mithar Sleepover]

The twins continue their work erecting the main structure of the fort, which will end up being a single rectangle when all is said and done. Bastion grabs the cushions off the couch to make the wall opposite the pillow wall.

The boy also seems a bit perplexed when Lapis mentions her friends' names. He mouths them to himself, but they're quite complex!

"Then what happened?" Cora asks eagerly. "Did you fight the captain?" She hopes so. Pirates have swords, right? So it's the perfect time for a sword fight.

[Rebonack]

[Mithar Sleepover]

They ARE kind of complicated!

Arukhael's name has kind of a funny throaty noise in the middle of it that's hard to say if you aren't used to doing so.

By now Lapis has finished unloading the building materials from her backpack and she hangs said back up wherever happens to be a nice place to put it.

No reason to be wearing a backpack while they're inside a fort.

Which means now she's free to help build! Lapis is actually pretty great at building forts! She's done it plenty of times and even put a few ranks in Craft (Forts). It's a very important skill to have.

"Well my sister tried zapping him again and this time she got the captain! But he was really tough so now he would double mad and I threw my sword again and this time I hit the powder battery and the back of the ship went KABOOOSH!"

Lapis throws her hands up in the air and makes the best mouth explosion sound she can muster.

"And then the pirate captain jumped ALL THE WAY from the ship to our fort!" Lapis says, standing in sort of a hunched over stance while grabbing a pillow under one arm picking up a different, longer pillow and holding it like a sword. "He was so big and ugly and he had this big barrel under one arm and his sword in the other and he goes, um... well he said some bad words but I won't say those he goes-"

And then Lapis does her best pirate voice which is really quite convincing.

"You bad kids scuttled me ship 'n now I'll keelhaul the lot of you!"

A voice as menacing as it is pirate-y.

[Shadowcaller]

[Mithar Sleepover]

By this time Lapis and the twins can hear the sound they all probably expected to hear eventually. The footsteps of Garn as the gargoyle makes his way towards their room.

His heavy footsteps will give them some time to prepare since as usual he doesn't seem to be in any particular hurry. The twins should know that he could actually fly pretty fast but he only seemed to reserve that to moments of actual danger and this pillow-fort situation doesn't seem to count as one.

But later rather than sooner he's standing by the door, staring at the fort expectingly. As if it would somehow dissemble itself underneath his watchful gaze.

[Gullara]

[Mithar Sleepover]

Lapis will surely get a grip on the construction in short order. The fort consists of simple walls at the end of the day.

The twins are both quite distracted by the story, so the building is a tad slow. Cora has no intention of interrupting as things are about to get good, but Bastion just has to know. "What's 'keehaul' mean?" He asks.

He might have just enough time to get his answer before Garn shows up, though. "Oh no!" Cora pushes one corner of the blanket from Cessie's bed into Lapis's hands. "Help me put this on top!" She'll lead the way in pulling the blanket over top of the fort in a simple roof. Once that's done they can bunker down in the fort, staring Garn down.

"Our fort is impenetrable, villain!" Cora taunts.

[Rebonack]

[Mithar Sleepover]

Lapis takes a breath to continue her exciting tale but then Bastion asks a question!

Oh.

Hmm...

The girl looks thoughtful at that. "I'm not sure? It think it's a sort of pirate punishment like walking the plank. Keel is a part of the bottom of the boat and hauling is like pulling something so maybe it's pulling someone under the keel?"

Lapis hasn't really thought much about what the bottoms of boats are like so the sheer brutality of this act is largely lost on her.

But then a new foe approaches! Lapis lets out a stifled giggle as she grabs the blanket and helps Cora drag it into place, careful not to knock down any of their dubiously impenetrable walls. Once the hurried finishing touch is done she'll scamper inside with her friends.

This is really a pretty great fort! It's a lot like the ones she makes at VIGIL except instead of being made of branches and things it's made of pillows and blankets. The pillows and blankets are definitely nice since they don't poke as much as twigs. Since our heroes had quite a surplus of building supplies from their cushion raids left over Lapis grabs one of the smaller pillows and tosses it with deft accuracy at Garn.

It'll probably just bounce off him and flop impotently to the floor.

"Ha! Take that Pirate King!" Lapis crows.

[Murkus]

Calanthe's Room

Calanthe blinks and looks a little amused. "Dear, that's a lot of questions to answer - but generally, yes! I should probably specify that it was much more of an isolated village than something that regularly met, though. Think of it as more of a... community of witches than a monthly gathering."

Hearing about the babs and their reception of her is quite enough to make the rabbit smile too, giggling gently behind a hand. "Well, I'm glad to hear I make a good impression - She blinks. "Wait, did you say fifty? H-how did your parents manage all that??" Adir can definitely see all the math running through her head. Mouths to feed, meals to make, lessons to teach....

[Calanthe's Room]

"Oh, yeah, no, that's what I was picturing. Not like, a bi-weekly occult book club," says Adir. "I'm familiar with that sort of community. I mean, I've never lived with one, but heard of people bound by a common interest wanting to live together before. Together-but-apart, in regards to the rest of civilization. It's something religious sometimes... or magical, I guess."

Adir wants to ask a little more about that... but he decides to focus on Calanthe's question first. Now it's his turn to laugh. "They're immortals. And they, uh, have a lot of help. Some of which they also made," explains the buck. "I come from a big family. My dad is... not like most people. And my mom is pretty magical herself. She talks to trees." And on that note, a rather amusing thought provides a segue... "Can you talk to mushrooms?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Mithar Sleepover]

That's exactly what happens to the pillow Lapis is throwing at the gargoyle as he's standing there staring at her and Cora.

Somehow, this causes his frown only to get deeper which is something of an achievement.

Garn reaches out and gives the front pillow a light shove as if trying out the sturdiness of the fort.
Then after a moment he finally replies. "...I'm going to tell your mother."

[Arkhosia]

Calanthe's Room

Spoiler

Show

[Calanthe's Room]

"Oh, yeah, no, that's what I was picturing. Not like, a bi-weekly occult book club," says Adir. "I'm familiar with that sort of community. I mean, I've never lived with one, but heard of people bound by a common interest wanting to live together before. Together-but-apart, in regards to the rest of civilization. It's something religious sometimes... or magical, I guess."

Adir wants to ask a little more about that... but he decides to focus on Calanthe's question first. Now it's his turn to laugh. "They're immortals. And they, uh, have a lot of help. Some of which they also made," explains the buck. "I come from a big family. My dad is... not like most people. And my mom is pretty magical herself. She talks to trees." And on that note, a rather amusing thought provides a segue... "Can you talk to mushrooms?"

"Oh! Well, that does make it sound a lot less... complicated," the witch muses, a little entertained. Magic seems to touch the Frescots in some way or another relatively often. Of course, its presence in the Nexus as a whole does seem to make encountering it an inevitability.

Calanthe smiles. "Not exactly, no, but I can get them to give up some of their secrets." Her eyes seem to have a slight energy to them now as she leans in, like she's sharing something special just between them. "If I take a sample of one I can use it to... perceive just how fair their mycelium network reaches. See what kind of decay it's caused, and sense what sources of life and nourishment may have moved around it."

Stepping back, the rabbit woman grins at him conspiratorially. "Why, you'd be amazed at just how much some mushrooms can sense of their environment.

[Gullara]

[Mithar Sleepover]

Cora giggles and gives Garn a good whap with another pillow. "We're safe in our fort!" She proclaims. No gargoyle nor mother can break down its walls!

On the other hand, Garn finds the fort wall quite malleable under his hand. Though where it starts to cave in slightly, Bastion moves to push from the other direction, supporting the structure against Garn's mild pressure. It won't be that easy!

[Rebonack]

[Mithar Sleepover]

Oh no!

Garn is trying to push the walls in!

Also threatening that he'll tell Miss Cessie that...?

Something?

Lapis really isn't sure on the nature of this threat. Normally when she tells Miss Cessie things it has to do with the safety of VIGIL members or the security of the base.

But making a pillow fort couldn't possible be a threat to the safety of the house, could it?

Lapis can't think of any plausible scenario where a pillow fort would be a danger to the house or anyone within, so she's deeply confused by the gargoyle's threat.

Somewhat at a loss, she opts to help Bastion hold the line! It's definitely way different from defending a fort made from materia. With those forts you replace the substance that gets destroyed or displaced. With this for you just have to make sure the walls don't fall in since pillows aren't very good at sticking to each other.

"We'll never give up!" Lapis adds to Cora's boast. Then she whispers to Bastion, "We didn't do anything wrong, did we? Will Miss Cessie be mad?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Mithar Sleepover]

In truth, Garn wouldn't want to damage the fort as that might also hurt its occupants and if there was anything ingrained into the very core of Garn's being it was to not hurt any children.
So as soon as there's resistance the gargoyle backs off as he's wacked by another pillow. "I will return." He declares and there's even a hint of theatricality as he seem to shake his fist at them. Or perhaps that was just protecting himself from Cora's pillow.

[Gullara]

[Mithar Sleepover]

"Um, probably not." Bastion whispers back. The threat is registered regardless, though. He looks contemplative.

Cora, meanwhile, cheers. "We drove him off!" But then she whirls towards the other two. "But we need to be ready. His master won't let us live in peace!"

[Rebonack]

[Mithar Sleepover]

Oh good!

Lapis is encouraged.

She was worried that they had done something wrong or broken some rule and she really doesn't want to do that.

But!

They still have a problem.

A big, Garn shaped problem!

That will be back!

"What do we have to do to get ready?" Lapis asks, not hesitating for a moment. She's going to do her part!

[Murkus]

[Calanthe's Room]

"Okay, I grew up in the forest with my bumpkin family, remember? We didn't even know the word 'school', and I definitely don't know the word 'mycelium'. Though I've sure eaten a lot of mushrooms. I hope I didn't upset anyone you know," he says. He wouldn't like the idea of a mushroom actually being able to talk; then he couldn't eat them at all!

"That's pretty neat, though. I'd bet you make a pretty good detective," Adir raises his eyebrows, working on putting up one of the last shelves. That's some potentially very useful information, and if he knows anything, it's that fungi like dead things. Since Calanthe seems so interested, he adds... "Just, uh, how much can they sense?" It wasn't like they had eyes or ears... what was 'sensation' like, to them?

[Gullara]

[Mithar Sleepover]

"Um..." Cora frowns and looks around.

"We need guards." Bastion suggests. "To protect the fort. Maybe I can build some with lego." He starts to muse. Though if Lapis looks around, she might see a stuffed octopus sitting atop a toy chest. More of Jillian's toys? Perhaps...

[Rebonack]

[Mithar Sleepover]

"What if Garn the Pirate King comes back really fast though then we'll be building when he gets here and not have any guards AND we won't be in the fort!"

That could be doubly disastrous!

But!

Wait!

What's this?

She hurries over to the chest and snatches up the funny purple octopus effigy!

"This can be our giant attack octopus it can get the pirate's ship when they come close!"

She tosses the octopus toward Cora before opening the chest to see if there are any other fearsome minions within.