her_imperial_radiance: (Default)
Author: her_imperial_radiance
Harley is seven, and he and Elspeth are hanging out in the Québec capital (because the rest of the Golden Coven is doing so), and as is usual in capitals with major wolf villages, she, he, and Jacob stay in village quarters during this time.

The capital as a whole moves less often than it once did, now that people can readily teleport to other sites to handle things there; this is the first time in Harley's life that they've been to Québec for anything other than a brief visit, so it's the first time he's seen the Imperial Alpha house in which Jacob, his imprint, and her fosterling are entitled to live.

They have neighbors. One of these is a seven-year-old puppy boy, who is currently making a snowfort.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Oooh, snowfort.

Harley goes to investigate the snowfort.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Hi!" says the puppy. "Are you the Princess's kid?"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"I'm Harley Andrea," says Harley. "Who're you?"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"I'm Zeus Norton!"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Cool," says Harley. "I wanna help with your snowfort!"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Okay!" Zeus runs indoors and gets a spare shovel. He's building on the snowheap created by someone having shoveled the front patio of his house, digging out tunnels in it and turning excavated snow into turrets on top.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley gets to work. Snow architecture is one of his favourite things! He's pretty good at it, too, although sometimes he is not especially careful about making sure his creations can support their own weight.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
Zeus thinks it is okay when stuff falls over, because then, you get to build it again. "Are you a human?" he wants to know.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Yeah, why?"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Well, you could've been a puppy or a hybrid. I'm a puppy. If you're not the Princess's kid how come you came out of her and Jacob's house?"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"I'm not not her kid," he shrugs.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"...Huh?"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
[Elsie, Zeus wants to know if I'm your kid, how do I explain me?]
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
[You can tell him as much or as little as you like. You're my fosterling from another world, would be a succinct description.]
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"I'm her fosterling from another world," he echoes. Elsie is good at explaining stuff.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Oh. Why does she have one of those?"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"She took me away from my parents because they were bad for me. I don't remember them," he says, shrugging again.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Oh. But you're not like a prince or anything?"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
He grins. "Nope!"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Huh. Okay," shrugs Zeus. Snowfort snowfort. "So I am prince of this snowfort. 'Cause I started it."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley giggles.

"What's a prince of a snowfort do?"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"I, um. I sit on top of it, and if a snow dragon shows up you can be the snowfort knight and slay it and bring me its head!"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Cool," Harley opines. "I wonder what a snow dragon looks like."
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"The size of both our houses put together! And made of ice and snow and with big sharp icicle teeth," asserts Zeus.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"I wanna kill one," Harley declares.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"You should get an icicle sword. That's the only way to do it," says Zeus.

There are convenient icicles reaching down from the house roofs.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"I will then!" says Harley, and he studies the icicles to see which one would be the easiest to grab.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
There is a nice one over there!

Zeus continues the structural additions to his fort. It is now a cave with two tunnel exits and a skylight, surrounded by a partial wall.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley climbs up and grabs the icicle.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
Just in time, too! "Sir Harley! Knight of the Snowfort! There is totally a dragon right over there!" hollers Zeus, waving at someone's snow-covered car.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley giggles and runs over to the car, which he climbs up onto and then stabs mightily in its snow-covered windshield. His icicle breaks, and most of the snow slides off the front of the car, taking a giggling Harley with it.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Oh no! Your sword broke!" exclaims Zeus, and he abandons the snowfort, sliding headfirst out of a tunnel, to grab another big icicle - two, one for him and one to replace Harley's.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"But I killed the dragon," snickers Harley.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"There could be more dragons!"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Maybe the houses are dragons," Harley speculates. "They've got the teeth and everything!"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Yeah! They're sleeping dragons! We gotta get them or they'll wake up and wreck the fort!" Zeus begins relatively gently attacking his house, trying not to break his icicle.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley, of course, joins in the battle with more enthusiasm and less restraint.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
He may have to replace his sword more often than Zeus does, but that's okay, there are plenty of icicles.

They are making a bit of a racket. An earmuffed woman sticks her head out the door. "You made a friend!" she observes.

"This is Harley and he lives with Jacob and the Princess!" exclaims Zeus, prodding the drainpipe with his current sword.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Your house is a dragon and we're killing it," Harley adds, cheerfully.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Oh no! Have I been living in a dragon? All this time?" chuckles Zeus's mother. "Well, please don't kill it too energetically."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley laughs. "You're funny!"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"It's true! I'm Demeter," adds the woman. "I'm Zeus's mother. I didn't think Jacob and the Princess had a kid."

"They don't! He's a human and Princess Elspeth kidnapped him 'cause his parents were bad and now he just lives there," says Zeus, flailing his sword wildly at the bricks and breaking off the tip.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"I love Elsie, she's great," Harley says cheerfully, attacking the wall some more. His icicle snaps in half.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
Zeus throws his broken icicle remains like a lance at a window; Demeter winces, the icicle breaks, the window survives.

"Try not to break the house," she says. "You know that dragons shrug off physical damage like it's nothing; you only have to intimidate them to kill them good and proper, and then I can go on living in this one."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"And then you'll be living in a dead dragon!" says Harley. "Cool. But how do we intimidate it if we can't talk to it?"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Who says you can't talk to it?" says Demeter. "I think you can."

Zeus giggles.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley eyes the house speculatively.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"It won't answer you, most likely. Dragons are arrogant like that," smiles Demeter.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
He giggles again.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Hey dragon!" roars Zeus at the house. "You better roll over and die because we've got - even better swords! We have magic swords, yeah, and we can own you!"

Demeter ducks back into the house.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley is laughing too hard to help intimidate the dragon.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"I'm a Snowfort Prince! Smart dragons don't even let me talk to them, they're already dead when I get there," asserts Zeus.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"It's true!" Harley agrees. "He's already killed, like, a million more dragons!"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"A billion!" corrects Zeus. "And that's not counting the smart ones! This dragon here must be really dumb," Zeus adds to Harley.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Yeah," snorts Harley. "The dumb ones are easiest."

And he runs up to the side of the house and shouts, "BOO!" and then dusts off his hands ceremoniously.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Is it dead?" asks Zeus skeptically.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Yeah, look at it," shrugs Harley. "You see it moving?"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Maybe it's asleep," says Zeus. "Maybe it's in a coma!"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Hey, if we scared it into a coma, I think that's good enough," says Harley.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"It could wake up, and then my mom would be in it," says Zeus suspiciously. "It'd have her hostage!"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Your mom sounds like she knows how to handle dragons," says Harley.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Yeah, maybe. Okay, let's go make a village for around the fort," says Zeus, and he wades off through the snow to start making snow houses around the base of the existing construction.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Snow houses! Harley cheerfully assists him in this noble endeavour.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
Houses houses. "D'you know how long the Coven's going to be here?"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Nah," he shrugs.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"My dad used to move around with the Coven but he stopped after he met Mom."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Did your mom not like it?"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Yeah. We travel plenty, just we always come back to the same place." He gestures at the slain dragon.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Elsie goes around with the Coven," says Harley. "And sometimes she takes me places where they aren't, and then we go back again. I like it, it's fun."
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Mom and Dad met at Burning Man and now we all go every year."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"What's Burning Man?"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"It's a bunch of people and art and stuff in a kind of a dust desert! It's fun and nobody cares if you run around naked."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Cool!" says Harley. "That sounds awesome, I wanna go to it."
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"You should totally come! It's in summertime. You'd have to get Princess Elspeth to take you though."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"She would, I bet! She takes me places a lot!"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"That's really cool," says Zeus. "Does she magic you there?"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Yeah!"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Lucky, we have to go places in cars or buses or planes."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"What are those like?" wonders Harley. "I've never been in them!"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"They're dumb, you just sit in them and you have to be quiet and not kick the seat and sometimes they make me throw up."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"That is dumb," says Harley. "Somebody should fix it!"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Dad says when the Masquerade is fiiiiinally over we can start having magic stuff even to go places like Burning Man where regular humans will see, but it's not quite yet."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley shrugs.

"A rollercoaster made me throw up once, but at least rollercoasters are fun."
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Yeah! I like them. Planes are even faster, so it should be funner, but you're all boxed up."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Maybe somebody'll make better planes," Harley says optimistically.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"They're faster than they used to be, anyway, it used to be it would take like all day to get from here to Black Rock City but now it's just a couple hours once you're on the plane."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"That's a start!"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Yeah." They're starting to run out of snow to make the village; Zeus starts patting down the spaces between them into roads.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley busies himself scuplting further details onto the houses. They can have little roofs! With tiny, tiny icicles!
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
Zeus approves! "I like playing in the snow. Once I'm twelve I can floof and then I don't even have to wear a coat anymore!"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Awesome," says Harley. "Plus you'll be floofy!"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Yeah! I dunno what color I'm gonna be. I hope it's a good color."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Elsie could find out, I bet!" says Harley.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Would she bother?"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"...Yeah, why not?"

[Elsie, can you tell what colour Zeus is going to be when he floofs?]
her_imperial_radiance: (Default)
Author: her_imperial_radiance
Elspeth pokes her head out of her window, and spends a square for an illusion of Zeus's forthcoming wolf form near where they're playing. He is going to be cinnamon-brown with black feet and a black muzzle, apparently.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"...Hi Your Highness thank you!" says Zeus after a moment's stunned pause.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley beams and waves. "Thanks, Elsie! I love you, Elsie!"

Then he turns his grin on Zeus. "You're going to be a pretty wolf! I wanna hug floofy-you."
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Well, you have to wait five years," shrugs Zeus, "or so, and then I have to find a vampire to trigger me. But then you can!"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley beams. And hugs the non-floofy Zeus, preemptively.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
Zeus laughs and hugs him back.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Hugs!
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"You should stay here a while and we can play all the time," Zeus says.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Yeah! That'll be fun!"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
Zeus grins at him, then disengages from hug and runs off to grab some snow, form a snowball, and hurl it directly at Harley's face.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley beams.

A snowball fight begins!
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
Zeus is a fierce snowball fighter!
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley is too! Also a giggly one.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
Zeus has soon invented an elaborate backstory for their two-person war; apparently they are a marooned pirate (Harley) and a shipwrecked navy captain (Zeus) who are fighting for the limited supply of food on their desert island, with coconut projectiles.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley adopts this fiction with enthusiasm. And snowballs.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
Zeus has a colorful arsenal of suitable insults for naval captains to aim at pirates, and employs them all gleefully once Harley has adopted piraticality as a character trait.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley-the-pirate finds this endlessly amusing!
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
Eventually Zeus's father comes home.

Zeus's father does this in wolf form (white with some faint gray markings), so it's a little more notable than it might otherwise be. In perfect accord with wolf village social norms, he unfloofs in the front yard to greet his son.

"Hi, Dad! This is Harley! He lives with the Princess! He's not her kid though! But she takes care of him and she does magic when he asks her and stuff! He's a human!"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley waves.

"Hi, Zeus's dad!"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Bartholomew," says Zeus's dad. "Or Barry if that's too much of a mouthful." He picks up Zeus. "You kids having fun?"

"He's a low-down filthy pirate and I have to throw coconuts at him, put me down!"

Bartholomew snorts, kisses his son's scalp, and sets him down to make and throw more snowballs. "You have a good time." And in he goes to the deceased dragon that is his house.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"You live in a dead dragon!" Harley yells after him, and goes back to merrily pelting Zeus with snowballs.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"We killed it for you you're welcome!" Zeus adds at the top of his lungs. Snowballs! An apocalypse of snowballs! Zeus eventually has the clever idea of seeking cover in his fort, where he manufactures a small stockpile and then peeps his head out of the skylight to throw from high ground.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley, who has climbed the snowfort in the interim, dumps an armload of snow over his head the moment it is visible.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Pah!" Zeus is distracted by brushing snow out of his face, but then he escapes through one of the tunnels, his arsenal rolling out after him.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley triumphantly smashes the top of the fort so that parts of it crumble onto Zeus as he emerges.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"My KINGDOOOOM," howls Zeus theatrically, and he pelts Harley with his accumulated snowballs ever more fiercely.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley pelts him with bits of fort!
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
Eventually the fort is snowy rubble, the snow houses have been trampled, and Zeus is exhausted.

"Let's go have cocoa!" he suggests brightly.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Yeah!"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
Into the dead dragon they go. "Dad, Dad," says Zeus, wrestling his boots off, "Dad we want cocoa!"

"Do you really!"

"Please!"

"All right. Cocoa coming right up," says Bartholomew.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley beams and follows him inside, getting snow all over the entryway as he divests himself of his winter gear but mostly managing not to spread it through the rest of the house.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
When they are in the kitchen they are presented with large mugs of cocoa, each with large marshmallows slowly dissolving.

Zeus drinks his too fast at first and says "ow" and then sips more slowly.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley drinks his too fast and giggles over it.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
Bartholomew supplies seconds without having to be asked.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Thank yooooou," Harley sings. Slurp!
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Do you want to stay for dinner, Harley?" Bartholomew asks. "If that's all right with Her Highness, that is."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Yeah, sure!"

[Hey, Zeus's dad wants to know if it's all right with you if I stay for dinner.]
her_imperial_radiance: (princess)
Author: her_imperial_radiance
That's fine, Elspeth broadcasts to Harley and also to Bartholmew and Zeus.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Wonderful," says Bartholomew.

"Awesome!" says Zeus.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley beams.

"What's for dinner?"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Green beans, baked chicken, and baked potatoes," says Bartholomew.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Yum," says Harley.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"You like green beans?" asks Zeus skeptically.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
He shrugs. "Yeah?"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Ew," says Zeus.

"Well, they're for dinner regardless," says Bartholomew.

Zeus sighs a long-suffering sigh.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley giggles.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
Eventually Bartholomew serves dinner, Demeter appears from elsewhere in the house with sawdust in her hair and paint on her apron, and they all eat dinner. Zeus even eats three green beans when sternly obliged to do so.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"You've got stuff on you," Harley observes to Demeter around a mouthful of green beans. "What were you doing?"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Making a go-cart," says Demeter. "Can't go anywhere in it till summertime, but I have a jump on the competition this way."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"What's a go-cart? Is it a cart that goes?"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"It is a cart that goes!" agrees Demeter.

"It's a kinda car only it's homemade," says Zeus. "The village does a race with them in the spring once the snow melts."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Fun!" says Harley.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Yeah! I help Mom sometimes."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Cool," he says. "Is it fun? Sometimes I go to Aedyt's asteroid and she lets me help her make stuff and it's really fun."
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Who's Aedyt and why does she have an asteroid?" Demeter asks.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Aedyt is the Joker's daughter and she has an asteroid because he gave her one!" he says reasonably.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Why do you go there?" asks Zeus.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Because it's fun!"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"But I mean how do you know her, isn't the Joker, like, the - I dunno, the something," says Zeus.

"Imperial something-or-other," agrees Bartholomew. "But the Princess presumably knows everyone."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"The Joker's my alt," Harley explains serenely.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Oh!" says Demeter. "I see."

"What imperial thing is he?" asks Zeus. "I can't keep all the funny titles straight."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"I forget," says Harley.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"How do alts even work?" Zeus asks.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
[Elsie, Zeus wants to know how alts work and I dunno how to explain!]
her_imperial_radiance: (uhh)
Author: her_imperial_radiance
[No one understands why alts happen, at least not yet, but your alts are versions of your personality and basic traits - and, in most cases, appearance - from other worlds and circumstances.]
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Alts are people from different worlds who are like the same person!" says Harley, approximating this explanation as best he can without copying it verbatim.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"So the imperial something is from another world but he's - like you sort of?" fumbles Zeus. "But what if you grow up to be different? He's a grownup, you could be anything you wanted when you grow up, right?"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"I can be anything I wanna be when I grow up, but I'm still gonna be me," he says. "And I'll be one of the Jokers. There's lots and they're all the same but different and I'm gonna get to meet them when I grow up!"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"You haven't met them yet?" asks Zeus.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
He shakes his head.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Why not?"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Because grown-up Jokers have sex with each other and it'd be weird when I grow up if I knew them all now!" he says, secure in the knowledge that this is an Elsie-splanation and is therefore absolutely true.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
Zeus blinks at him.

Demeter makes a soft disgruntled noise.

"Er," says Bartholomew, "who told you that?"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Elsie did!"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"I'm not sure that's such a - how old are you?" Demeter says.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Seven!" he chirps.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"And Her Highness just - told you that?" Bartholomew says.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"She's Elsie," he says. "She says true stuff!"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Yes, but," says Bartholomew, "that?"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Why not?" he shrugs.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"It doesn't seem age appropriate," says Demeter.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley shrugs.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"...I mean, I guess the princess knows what she's doing?" says Bartholomew uncertainly.

"He's seven - I know wolves have no filters and you pick up all kinds of things at twelve, but seven?" says Demeter.

"What if you don't want to have sex with them?" Zeus asks Harley.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Then I guess it'll have been silly to wait all that time to see 'em," Harley says philosophically. "But it's not like I could meet them all now anyway; the other worlds have been cut off since I was a baby."
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Do you think you will want to, though?" asks Zeus.

"Zeus," says Demeter.

"What? He doesn't look uncomfy talking about it or anything!"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"I dunno," says Harley. "Probably. They all do, and I'm another one, right? So I'm probably gonna like all the stuff they like. I already know I like to cook!"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Isn't that weird knowing all that stuff now when you're just my age though?" says Zeus.

"Do you suppose you can ask Jacob," Demeter murmurs to Bartholomew, "about what his imprint is doing?"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Nah, it's not weird," says Harley. "If you wanna talk to Elsie about it, you can do that! She's right next door!"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"We don't personally know the Princess," Bartholomew tells Harley. "I know Jacob, because I'm in his pack, but I've not spoken directly to her."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"She's really friendly," Harley says earnestly.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"I don't know," muses Bartholomew.

"Why isn't it weird? If I knew something like that I would think it was weird," says Zeus.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Why would it be weird? It's just not," Harley says with a shrug.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Like if somebody showed me a picture and was like 'this is the person you will marry when you grow up, for sure' I would think that was weird," explains Zeus, not particularly eloquently.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Well, that might be a little weird," says Harley. "But just knowing stuff about what kind of person I'm going to be and what kind of stuff I'll like is fine!"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Why don't we talk about something else," suggests Demeter.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Okay," Harley says cheerfully. "Like what?"
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"After you defeated the dragon what happened next?" Demeter suggests.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Then I was a pirate and we threw snowball coconuts at each other because we were shipwrecked on a desert island! And I smashed his fort," Harley says gleefully.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"I am a prince without a fort," says Zeus solemnly. "He is a wicked destroyer and one day I will have revenge."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley giggles.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
"Tomorrow we should make two forts, one for both of us," says Zeus, "and - and booby trap them and play capture the flag with them! There are some other puppies around, we can get them to play too."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Awesome!" says Harley.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
Zeus beams at him.

Demeter smiles, and Bartholomew does too as soon as she does.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Harley giggles.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
After dinner, Bartholomew goes next door to talk to Jacob.

He comes back somewhat reassured a minute later and murmurs in Demeter's ear about it.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
[Hey, was Zeus's dad just there?] wonders Harley to Elspeth.
her_imperial_radiance: (Default)
Author: her_imperial_radiance
[Yes, he was talking to Jacob about you and me because he doesn't feel comfortable talking to me directly.]
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
[What'd he say?]
her_imperial_radiance: (sigh)
Author: her_imperial_radiance
[He wanted to know if I knew what I was doing, telling you things about Jokers and how you're going to be when you grew up, and Jacob assured him that I did and that you were fine.]
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
[Well, you do and I am!] he says cheerfully.
her_imperial_radiance: (snerk)
Author: her_imperial_radiance
[Yep.]
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
[Love you, Elsie.]
her_imperial_radiance: (happy)
Author: her_imperial_radiance
[I love you too.]