GLoG 94: Good place to grow up

[Deathkeeper]

Fireworks!

Unfortunately for Braon, Khannie has many ways to be loud. Some of them aren’t even from her.
Khannie’s watch begins being loud and annoying.
”HALT EVILDOER! IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE I MUST INSIST YOU CEASE YOUR HARASSING OF CHILDREN AND THEIR FUN SUMMER ACTIVITIES!”
It’s a pretty loud barking voice for what ought to be a pretty small speaker.

[Rebonack]

[Fireworks!]

So.

Cool thing to learn.

Khannie has some pretty impressive reaction times.

As soon as Braon is gesturing at the lake Khannie is already thinking about what this next round is going to look like.

A spray of water, maybe? At her? At her fireworks?

Nope.

The water is just lurching further up the beach.

Now, she has certain limitations on what she can do. She can't move with uncanny speed like she can while she's got her magical girl transformation going. But what she CAN do is use her regular girl magic as much as she wants. In this particular case? Conjuring a purple and black wire-frame of magic and shadow around her BIG box of fireworks. The shadow-illusion wall will keep the water out and prevent the stuff she spent TWO whole allowances on from getting ruined.

It won't stop her from getting soaked though.

When the water level lowers again Khannie is dripping wet and red faced, her little hands balled into fists. She's so so tempted to deck Braon right now. But then a look of horror and panic flits across her face.

"NO! Oh no my phone!" she laments, pulling her phone out of her pocket, the device dripping and dead. "Sirius! Are you okay are you still working?" she desperately pleads at the equally wet smart watch on her wrist.

A look of utter hate is cast Braon's way.

"If you killed my dog I'm going to break your legs."

That sounds serious.

[Ironsmith]

[Fireworks!]

Braon frowns at the digital voice that insists on casting her as the villain here. She's the victim! This inconsiderate little so-and-so is making life difficult for her, not the other way around. Or was Khannie getting special weight because she happens to be a child? Screw that! Braon still has needs, dammit!

It's nice to be able to shut that voice up with a well-timed surge of water.

Ha.

Take that, judgmental jerk!

...

Of course, the schadenfreude of that act is quickly washed away by Khannie's declaration that Braon might have accidentally killed her dog.

That certainly wasn't part of the plan!

"If I k- what the hell are you talking about?" Braon frowns, stepping up the beach as the waters recede. "I didn't see a dog."

[Baby Shower]

"Oh, really? Congratulations!" Miranda smiles and continues to rub at Sekhment's neck. "...In hindsight, I suppose it's really more surprising that didn't happen sooner." She knows Sekhmet had... issues, before, with conceiving, which would be conducive toward adoption. That Sekhmet chose to adopt after getting pregnant was only odd for the order of events, really.

"So... this daughter of yours have a name?"

[Recaiden]

[Baby Shower]

"Hmm? Why did you sort of adopt this girl?"
And why hadn't they heard about this?
Clearly they need more surveillance in GLoG.

[Deathkeeper]

Fireworks!

”Ibbbm noppbpbpbp app dpbpbpg” burbles Khannie’s watch.
Then it goes silent.

Then after about a second and a half it vibrates loudly, sending water dripping out of the speaker slot.
”Fear not, Khannie! Mere water cannot douse the fires of JUSTICE!” it declares.
”If you want to let me out I can growl at this lady.”
Khannie told him he’s not allowed to bite anyone but he wouldn’t have done that anyway because that wouldn’t be JUST.

[Rebonack]

[Fireworks!]

Khannie's expression grows dark when the watch goes silent.

There's a dangerous moment there when she's about to do something she would probably regret later, but then the watch sprays water everywhere like a dog shaking himself off and she heaves of a sigh of relief, her shoulders visibly sagging.

Oof.

That was close.

It takes Khannie a few seconds to get her breathing under control and reduce the feeling of pressure in her face until she's trusting herself to talk again.

"He's a computer dog," Khannie clarifies as she pops open the little port on the watch and RELEASES THE HOUND. "Yeah growl at her until she decide to ruin someone else's day. I need to go inside and get dried off."

Khannie moves to scoop up the (thankfully protected) box of fireworks and begins sloshing off toward the main cabin, absolutely dripping wet. Thankfully they always have extra clothes that get dropped off for charity so hopefully she can change into something that isn't completely soaked. If any of the grownups are in the cabin they're going to be getting Khannie's very one-sided story of what Braon just did.

[Ironsmith]

[Fireworks!]

"A computer do-" Braon frowns and shakes her head, running her hand up against her forehead. That didn't even make sense!

...Probably because she's a little hazy on what a computer actually is, for starters.

Well, at least she's getting what she wanted. Khannie's going to go away for a little bit, which means she's not going to be launching fireworks for a little while. Presumably long enough to finish her lesson.

...Though for some reason, it still seems like a hollow victory. That might have something to do with the "nearly killed her dog" part. If word of this ever got back to the staff, they... probably wouldn't be too happy with her.

"...Hey, kid. Wait a second."

Braon walks up to Khannie, stopping short if Sirius gets in the way, but still feeling the need to say her piece.

"Look. I... might have gone a little overboard." She admits. "I'm fine with you setting these off later. In about an hour or so, I can be done with my business and it won't matter how loud you are. If you're willing to wait that long, we won't have any problems."

...She doesn't see Khannie going for that.

"...In fact, I'll tell you what. Hold off for an hour, and not only will I step back and let you have your fun..." She scoops up a rock from the shore of the lake. "...I'll give you some real fireworks." She tosses the stone out to the lake, skipping it over the surface most of the way before it explodes, creating a gigantic column of water, which bathes the shores of the lake in a light drizzle.

"...Do we have a deal?"

[Deathkeeper]

Fireworks!

With a zap of green digits from Khannie’s watch emerges something between a dog and a small dinosaur in gleaming white armor and a red cape.
He proceeds to glare at the lady really hard.
It sounds like she’s kind of apologizing so he shouldn’t get in the way of that. But she’s also an agent of the UNJUST who has gotten in the way of summer festivities!
Sirius waits to see how Khannie will respond to this almost-apology.

[Rebonack]

[Fireworks!]

There he is.

Computer dog.

Now Braon has been schooled in the ways of computers and this will no doubt help her to understand what they are in the future.

When Braon speaks up Khannie stops to listen. Seriously?

If she had lead with 'hey could you not do this for another hour?' Khannie probably would have went for it. It isn't dark enough for real fireworks so she was just messing around with the snappers. She can do something else in the mean time. But no, she had to be a giant jerk about it, didn't she? And Khannie couldn't back down to a jerk and now her phone is ruined AND she's soaking wet.

Also?

She winces at the giant explosion.

That wasn't a firework explosion.

That was like a bomb explosion.

Hopefully the (responsible) adults don't get worried at that.

"Whatever. It's going to take an hour to dry off, anyway," Khannie retorts. "C'mon Sirius lets see if they have any hotdogs at the kitchen."

And then she sets off again!

[Ironsmith]

[Fireworks!]

A very informative object lesson, indeed. After this encounter, Braon could probably consider herself an expert on the subject.

The fiendling looks between the digital dog and the retreating girl and crosses her arms. Well. Mission accomplished. Now she can go back to her cabin and trying to struggle through that joke book Arthfael had bought for her.

Assuming Khannie doesn't feel the need to snitch on her about their encounter. Again, she's fairly certain the staff wouldn't take too kindly to it. She can hear the lectures now, about how she really should be more considerate and she can't treat children this way and she's going to be a mother soon and she has to be a role model and afkfkfkfkfkfkfk.

...And Khannie hadn't actually guaranteed her silence.

Crap. She could still go on to tell on her. Letting Khannie walk away like this is still a risk. She's going to need to do something to make sure she doesn't...

...No, Braon. Get that thought out of your head.

Bribery is much more likely to be looked upon favorably here anyway.

Braon sighs and waves her hand over Khannie, throwing one more quick enchantment onto the girl. Just something to help her dry off faster.

It's amazing the sort of quality-of-life magic you can only learn from practical experience.

[Gullara]

[Daycare]

One would think the high of vanquishing a demon would last longer than a few days. Or at least a day.

But no, Braon finds she's actually somewhat grumpier after the fact. She hasn't been getting a lot of restful sleep these days... she keeps waking up in the middle of the night to bouts of intense nausea, probably having something to do with the fact that she's nearing her due date.

As if her mood wasn't already unstable enough.

Still... with that day fast approaching, her final decision on how to handle things after she gives birth is, also, coming on quickly. In order to do that properly, she needs to calmly consider her options... or at least, so she's been told.

Which is why she's going to the daycare proper on this particular day. She'll have to see what her future children are in for, if they stay here at GLoG.

[Daycare]

Braon approaches a larger cabin than the typical. There's large bins out front full of outdoor toys, mostly put back in place, but a few balls are settled outside of the bins. Through the windows she can see a variety of crafts on display. Stepping inside there are a bunch of kids' shoes tucked away in cubbies.

Inside there's a fairly open area. To one side a largely rub covered area with bins similar in style, but smaller to the ones outside. Here a few kids are gathered just off the side of the rub. Two goblin children and a dark skinned boy with a mass of flowers for hair. The three of them take turns bouncing a rubber ball hard on the floor so it bounces back fast off the ceiling before one of the kids snatches it and does it again.

On the other side is an area with a few tables. Sitting at one of them is a woman, also with flower hair, feeding an infant goblin. "Open up! Yummy yummy!" She coos.

[Deathkeeper]

Fireworks!

"Okay! Do you think that they'll have the nice yellow stuff too?" Sirius asks Khannie as he follows her. Khannie has explained to him that a hotdog is entirely unrelated from the thing she keeps calling him.
He also gently presses the side of his face against Khannie's side. Having a furry companion like Sirius (but he is definitely not a dog) is supposed to make you feel better. At least that's what the articles said.

[Rebonack]

[Fireworks!]

Depending on how quickly the 'dries off faster' enchantment works Khannie may or may not even notice that it was tossed her way. She was planning on changing her clothes, anyway.

Which means!

She heads off to the main cabin.

Where Braon will possibly get snitched on, depending on how cross Khannie is feeling about the whole thing. Mostly she's mad that her phone got ruined. She's managed to do all sorts of magical girl stuff and her phone has been fine and what finally manages to kill it? The grouchy Hag of GLoG throwing a lake at her. Well anyway, she sloshes her way into the main cabin, still dripping water probably.

There should be a phone in here, right? She should call her dad and let him know her phone got ruined on account of aggressive lakes.

Khannie rubs Sirius' ear.

"You mean mustard? They're probably got mustard."

With talk of food Maridia stirs in the little nook she's been snoozing in. This can only mean trouble.

[Morty]

[Baby Shower]

Sophie blinks and is silent for a moment as she comes back with tea. She has indeed spotted a tiefling girl but she had no idea Sekhmet had adopted her. And she's becoming used to knowing what's going on.

"Really? I had no idea. But that's wonderful."

[Ironsmith]

[Daycare]

Braon approaches a larger cabin than the typical. There's large bins out front full of outdoor toys, mostly put back in place, but a few balls are settled outside of the bins. Through the windows she can see a variety of crafts on display. Stepping inside there are a bunch of kids' shoes tucked away in cubbies.

Inside there's a fairly open area. To one side a largely rub covered area with bins similar in style, but smaller to the ones outside. Here a few kids are gathered just off the side of the rub. Two goblin children and a dark skinned boy with a mass of flowers for hair. The three of them take turns bouncing a rubber ball hard on the floor so it bounces back fast off the ceiling before one of the kids snatches it and does it again.

On the other side is an area with a few tables. Sitting at one of them is a woman, also with flower hair, feeding an infant goblin. "Open up! Yummy yummy!" She coos.

[Daycare]

Well.

The place looks friendly enough. Surprisingly quiet for a cabin full of kids, too. Maybe that was evidence this lady knows what she's doing? Or are kids here just well-behaved in general.

Braon makes her way over to a nearby table, standing just out of the plant-hair-lady's line of sight, and quietly waits for her to take notice. If and when she decides that isn't happening soon enough, she'll tap her fingers against the table loudly, making her presence unmistakable. She's tired and very hormonal, she doesn't have time to sit around and wait for plant-lady to decide a convenient time to talk to her.

Fireworks!

"Okay! Do you think that they'll have the nice yellow stuff too?" Sirius asks Khannie as he follows her. Khannie has explained to him that a hotdog is entirely unrelated from the thing she keeps calling him.
He also gently presses the side of his face against Khannie's side. Having a furry companion like Sirius (but he is definitely not a dog) is supposed to make you feel better. At least that's what the articles said.

[Fireworks!]

Depending on how quickly the 'dries off faster' enchantment works Khannie may or may not even notice that it was tossed her way. She was planning on changing her clothes, anyway.

Which means!

She heads off to the main cabin.

Where Braon will possibly get snitched on, depending on how cross Khannie is feeling about the whole thing. Mostly she's mad that her phone got ruined. She's managed to do all sorts of magical girl stuff and her phone has been fine and what finally manages to kill it? The grouchy Hag of GLoG throwing a lake at her. Well anyway, she sloshes her way into the main cabin, still dripping water probably.

There should be a phone in here, right? She should call her dad and let him know her phone got ruined on account of aggressive lakes.

Khannie rubs Sirius' ear.

"You mean mustard? They're probably got mustard."

With talk of food Maridia stirs in the little nook she's been snoozing in. This can only mean trouble.

[Fireworks! ...Maybe]

As it turns out, that enchantment works pretty quickly; Khannie will be down to the level of "got caught out at the start of storm", and she's likely to be completely dry before she has a chance to change clothes. What's the point of a quick-dry spell if it still makes you sit around in sopping wet clothes for hours on end?

Of course, Braon's ability to continue to influence things after Khannie leaves is... limited. Mostly by the fact that she isn't there. Once its job is done, the enchantment placed on her will push various strokes of good luck her way, in an ongoing attempt to lighten Khannie's mood... unless she actually does snitch on Braon, in which case it'll start turning things sour instead.

Regardless, Braon herself won't be able to do anything to her unless/until she comes back.

[Gullara]

[Daycare]

Well.

The place looks friendly enough. Surprisingly quiet for a cabin full of kids, too. Maybe that was evidence this lady knows what she's doing? Or are kids here just well-behaved in general.

Braon makes her way over to a nearby table, standing just out of the plant-hair-lady's line of sight, and quietly waits for her to take notice. If and when she decides that isn't happening soon enough, she'll tap her fingers against the table loudly, making her presence unmistakable. She's tired and very hormonal, she doesn't have time to sit around and wait for plant-lady to decide a convenient time to talk to her.

[Daycare]

Sakura was quite focused on her task. Baby feeding is very important after all. She didn't assume the person who came in was looking to talk to her. Now though she looks up and turns to Braon. She gives the other woman one up and down look and her eyes light up. "Oh, hello!" She replies, quite chipper. "Do you need something?"

[Ironsmith]

[Daycare]

"No. I just happen to really like the feeling of wood on my knuckles. Pay no attention to the pregnant lady standing in the middle of the daycare." Braon snarks. Does she need something? Of course she needs something. What an inane, pointless, time-wasting question, the sort she'd find tedious at the best of times.

"You the lady in charge here? I need to talk with her. Take a guess what about." She adds, arms crossed over her engorged belly. "If not, do me a favor and fetch her. I haven't got the whole day for this."

[Deathkeeper]

Fireworks!

Sirius' ears are very large and rub-able.
"Yes! Mustard! The kind that makes your tongue tingly!" he insists.
Given that Sirius can literally spit fireballs it's probably not surprising that he likes spicy condiments.

[Rebonack]

[Fireworks!]

Huh.

How did her clothes get dry so fast?

It doesn't take long for Khannie to conclude that the Glog Hag probably magicked them dry.

Probably trying to convince her not to tell on her without ACTUALLY asking her not to tell on her.

Whatever.

"Yeah they've got the mustard up here," Khannie says as she gathers some hot-dogs from the fridge along with buns and condiments. "We can roast some hot-dogs while we wait for whatsherface to finish with whatever she was doing. Then we can start the fireworks."

Sirius can use his pepper breath to light them!

That probably won't result in any fireworks exploding in his face.

Khannie carries her armful of treats (including marshmallows, gram crackers, and chocolate spread) over to the firepit. The snacks are set down on one of the benches and she focuses on the circle of stones at the center.

"I guess this is a good time to practice, right?" Khannie says eyes the firepit. "We'll need some wood first, though. You want to help me gather it?"


[Baby Shower]

Geneva does one of those little edges of her beak smiles that she does. When you've got a beak facial expressions are tricky. They mostly involve her eyes and ears.

And how poofy she is.

"That's wonderful, Sekhmet. Why don't you tell us about her?"

Geneva hasn't spotted any other teiflings around the camp, but then again she doesn't spend very much time here.

[bc56]

Baby Shower
"Oh, she's..."
The door opens and a tiefling girl enters, roughly twelve, dressed casually, and carrying a bag over her shoulder. Even to the casual eye, she looks a lot like Sekhmet. She has the same colors of hair and skin, and a similar face. Sekhmet said she was adopted, but she could certainly pass as her biological daughter. "Mum, I'm home!" She seems surprised by all the people here. "What's going on?" "I, uh, was just having some friends over to talk about the baby. Mary, meet Miss Cortez, Mrs. Mouchabiere, Mrs. Richards, and Spike." Does Spike have a last name? Sekhmet doesn't know it. "Everyone, my daughter Mary." The introductions are now out of the way.

[Ironsmith]

Baby Shower
"Oh, she's..."
The door opens and a tiefling girl enters, roughly twelve, dressed casually, and carrying a bag over her shoulder. Even to the casual eye, she looks a lot like Sekhmet. She has the same colors of hair and skin, and a similar face. Sekhmet said she was adopted, but she could certainly pass as her biological daughter. "Mum, I'm home!" She seems surprised by all the people here. "What's going on?" "I, uh, was just having some friends over to talk about the baby. Mary, meet Miss Cortez, Mrs. Mouchabiere, Mrs. Richards, and Spike." Does Spike have a last name? Sekhmet doesn't know it. "Everyone, my daughter Mary." The introductions are now out of the way.

[Baby Shower]

Miranda smiles and gives the tween a little wave, before returning her hands to the mother's neck. Is it all right to mention she thinks the young tiefling looks adorable? She might be just old enough to take offense at that. Better to just stick with standard introductions.

"Hello!" She greets enthusiastically. "We were just talking about you." Obviously.

...It occurs to her now, with Sekhmet lining up all their names like that, with the possible exception of Spike and the obvious exception of Mary, she's the only Miss in the room.

...Huh.

Well, it's not that bizarre, is it? She has some very high standards. And she knows better than to settle for anything less.

...

God, she misses Quire.

[Gullara]

[Daycare]

"No. I just happen to really like the feeling of wood on my knuckles. Pay no attention to the pregnant lady standing in the middle of the daycare." Braon snarks. Does she need something? Of course she needs something. What an inane, pointless, time-wasting question, the sort she'd find tedious at the best of times.

"You the lady in charge here? I need to talk with her. Take a guess what about." She adds, arms crossed over her engorged belly. "If not, do me a favor and fetch her. I haven't got the whole day for this."

[Daycare]

A younger Sakura might have let herself be pushed around by Braon, as eager to please as she always was. Things haven't changed so much, but she's not about to be treated so rudely. Her expression shifts from a friendly smile to a frown pretty quickly. "Yes, I am the person in charge around here. I'll be with you as soon as you're ready to be more kind." With that she turns her attention back to the baby and speaks like she hadn't just been rudely interrupted. "Just two more bites. Open wide." She opens her mouth in hopes the baby will imitate her. No luck.

[Deathkeeper]

Fireworks!

Sirius is certainly enthusiastic to help Khannie prepare snacks.
There is, however, a problem. Sirius holds up his paws with those massive claws on them.
"Uh. I can help you cut. But I can't really carry any." That's the problem with not having hands. Carrying stuff is limited to your mouth and anything to help you carry stuff on your back like a bag.

[Ironsmith]

[Daycare]

Braon rolls her eyes at that. Ugh. Of course she was going to be difficult about this. "Look, Floral Print." She begins, pressing her fingers against the bridge of her nose. "This isn't any more fun for me than it is for you. I'm not going to like you and you are definitely not going to like me. So how about you suck it up and get this over with so we can both get on with never having to see each other again?"

Of course, she doesn't expect Sakura to actually bite on that. If she's going to accomplish that, she'll need to make herself impossible to ignore, by disrupting what Sakura was doing instead of talking to her. To that end, she makes a forceful gesture at the mush being fed to the baby, which animates as a tiny feline that pointedly refuses to be corralled onto a spoon. Baby might have more luck grabbing it by hand, though.

[Rebonack]

[Fireworks!]

"That's okay I can carry lots of stuff," Khannie replies. The process isn't too hard, really. Find some dry wood, Sirius chops it into manageable pieces, and Khannie carries an armload of it back to the fire pit.

Upon returning they'll find Maridia fighting with the bag of marshmallows.

"Hey! Get out of there! You can have some smores too but we can't make any if you eat all the marshmallows now," Khannie scolds the fairy dragon, making shooing motions with one hand somewhat awkwardly on account of the armful of wood.

Maridia, sulking, slinks over to one of the benches.

Which is, of course, silly.

She'll be getting treats in just a few minutes she can wait that long.

Khannie dumps the wood into the fire pit and raises one hand toward it, palm forward.

"Okay. On three we start blasting it until it catches on fire," Khannie commands. "One. Two... THREE!"

And then Khannie casts FIRE BOLT!

It's pretty weak and sputtery but she's been improving quite a bit since she started practicing the spell.

[Recaiden]

[Baby Shower]

Spike waves a wing at Mary, since they're still holding little Æthelred in their arms.
"Hello Mary. Good to meet you."

Spike does not have any additional names. What would be the use? There's only one Spike, after all. Maybe someday they'll run out of names, but not anytime soon. And where would they have gotten it?

[Morty]

[Fireworks!]

The wood-pile appears to have attracted the attention of Tuskfang, with Brinika following closely behind him. She's not wearing her Official GLoG Hat™, so she must be looking after him on her own time. The little woblin has no idea what Khannie is doing, but that just stokes his boundless curiosity.

[Baby Shower]

Mary's resemblance to Sekhmet does not escape Sophie's superhuman attention to detail. Curious. But likely none of her concern. If Sekhmet says she's her adoptive daughter, that's just what it is.

"Nice to meet you, Mary. We're all your mother's friends. Here to meet your little brother."

[Earl of Purple]

Fireworks!

Keeping Brinika company, as she is wont to do, is Cheasadh. The gnome girl is wearing a pink summer dress and flipflops, and she's also missing her GLoG hat. Pookie also isn't following; he's sure to be around, probably napping somewhere with a pot of honey.

[Deathkeeper]

Fireworks!

By now Khannie is definitely aware that unsurprisingly, Hackmon are good at hacking things into pieces. Like firewood!

They're also good at spitting adorably small fireballs as a backup plan.
Pah! One little fireball. It is undoubtedly enough to set some dry wood ablaze if Khannie's bolt is not. Sirius doesn't yell the name of that move though because it isn't his signature move.
"Hiiiii Khannie's friends!" he calls to the approaching children.
Sirius isn't very good with names.

[Rebonack]

[Fireworks!]

See, Khannie had initially assumed it was supposed to be hack like hacking because computer or...

Something like that?

But hack like chopping makes sense, too.

Anyway!

Sadly Khannie's firebolt isn't quite potent enough to set the wood on fire. Thus far it can only really ignite tinder and maybe kindling. She's still got to do a whole bunch of work on it. And the heat from firebolt is so transient that it really isn't that great at actually setting things on fire. But she doesn't mind so much. She LIKES practicing and trying to figure out how to improve her spellwork. The math involved in it is fun.

"Hey Brinika! Hi Cheas!" Khannie calls out to her friends. "We were just going to roast some hot dogs and smores. Then once it gets dark in a bit we're going to set some fireworks off down by the lake; I got 'em from these booths inside."

She really isn't sure what they were meant to celebrate and honestly that doesn't matter to her. Setting off fireworks is a celebration worthy of itself.

"Oh, hey Tuskfang. Are you leading your cousin around?"

A wild and rambling adventure no doubt.


[Baby Shower]

"Hello Mary, you can call me Geneva. There's no need to be formal," the hippogriff says.

That's about right.

She really isn't big on titles and formality.

She IS big on kindness, though.