Author: her_imperial_radiance	The Golden Coven stays in Québec for one year. When Harley is eight and a half, they start packing. Zeus is inconsolable.
Author: pythbox	Harley attempts to console him anyway. Hugs? Hugs are good, right?
Author: alicornucopia	Hugs are (damply) received. "You're gonna leave! And you can teleport but I can't and I won't be able to knock on your door or leave frogs in your bed or put a scary paper face outside your window for you to see when you wake up or anything!"
Author: pythbox	"That's sad!" he agrees, hugging Zeus some more. "I'm sad! Maybe Elsie can fix it." [Elsie, Zeus doesn't want me to leave and we're sad about it!]
Author: her_imperial_radiance	[Well, we don't have to travel with the capitol, if you'd rather stay.]
Author: pythbox	[Let's stay, then!]
Author: her_imperial_radiance	[All right. I'll tell Jake.]
Author: pythbox	"Elsie fixed it," Harley announces. "We're gonna stay here instead of moving away with the coven."
Author: alicornucopia	"You can just do that?" asks Zeus.
Author: pythbox	"Yeah," shrugs Harley.
Author: alicornucopia	"Wow. Cool," says Zeus, scrubbing tears from his face. "Okay! Now you can just stay here and it's great and we can go see the new Robin Hood movie. We should wear costumes and see if grownups give us free candy for being cute!"
Author: pythbox	Harley giggles. "Yeah!"
Author: alicornucopia	"I'll be Robin Hood," adds Zeus imperiously, "but you can be whoever else you want."
Author: pythbox	"I'll be Marian!"
Author: alicornucopia	"Okay! The trailer shows her costume so you can be her even if we go to the first showing," nods Zeus. "I bet the Princess'll conjure it for you. Mom will make mine, I bet."
Author: pythbox	Harley beams. "Awesome!"
Author: alicornucopia	"I wonder if she'll make me a bow and arrow, though," muses Harley. "Do you think the Princess will make you that dagger thing that Maid Marian has?"
Author: pythbox	"I dunno!" he says. "We'll see, I guess! It'd be fun to have a dagger thing."
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus nods. "And you can be all, hwa! Yargh!" and he gets up and starts flailing around in clumsy imitation of the Maid Marian action scene from the trailer.
Author: pythbox	Harley giggles at this display.
Author: alicornucopia	"And I'll be all," and he shifts posture to mime a bow and arrow instead. "Yeah. It'll be great. I'm so glad you're staying!"
Author: pythbox	"Me too!" says Harley, and he hugs Zeus again.
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus abandons his mime to return the hug. "And you'll be here when I floof and I can give you wolf rides and stuff!"
Author: pythbox	"Floofy snuggles," giggles Harley.
Author: alicornucopia	"Sure!"
Author: pythbox	"I love you," Harley declares, hugging him some more.
Author: alicornucopia	"I love you too," says Zeus comfortably, "and you should live here all the time, next door forever."
Author: pythbox	"That'd be awesome!" says Harley.
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus nods importantly. "Yes. All of the things that I want are awesome, is why I want them."
Author: pythbox	"You know," he says, "I bet Aedyt would make us costumes and stuff!"
Author: alicornucopia	"Ooh, maybe! And then my mom won't drag me to the fabric store. I don't like going to the fabric store."
Author: pythbox	"I'll ask!" he says. [Hey Aedyt, do you wanna make Robin Hood and Marian costumes for me and Zeus?]
Author: pumpkin_pie	[Sure,] says Aedyt. [How involved do you want to be in this process?]
Author: pythbox	"Do you wanna help Aedyt make them? I do! I bet it'll be really fun!"
Author: alicornucopia	"I could try it," allows Zeus. "If it's fun."
Author: pythbox	"So fun," Harley promises. "I love making stuff with Aedyt!"
Author: pumpkin_pie	Aedyt appears. "Will anyone object if I scoop you up and take you to my asteroid?" she inquires.
Author: alicornucopia	"I should tell my mom and dad," says Zeus, and he runs into his house. He's back out a minute later. "Okay!"
Author: pumpkin_pie	Aedyt does not physically scoop up the kiddies, but she does take them to her asteroid. They arrive in a large, well-lit room full of stuff. Beads and string, fabric and sewing machines, stained glass, carved wood, pottery - if you can make it, or make something with it, it's probably here. "Welcome to my underground lair! By which I mean my basement," laughs Aedyt.
Author: alicornucopia	"There is a lot of stuff here," says Zeus, eyes big as saucers.
Author: pumpkin_pie	"There is! I like stuff. Do you like stuff?"
Author: alicornucopia	"I like stuff! I don't like the fabric store but just fabric is okay." Zeus pets some fabric.
Author: pumpkin_pie	Aedyt laughs. "What don't you like about the fabric store?"
Author: alicornucopia	"It's full of weird people."
Author: pythbox	"What kind of weird?" says Harley.
Author: alicornucopia	"People who sew," says Zeus. "I don't sew, so they talk about sewing a lot, and they think I should sew, and I'm only ever there because of Mom, and I guess if I sewed it'd be okay."
Author: pythbox	"I like sewing!" says Harley. "It's fun!"
Author: pumpkin_pie	Aedyt ruffles Harley's hair.
Author: alicornucopia	"What's fun about it?" Zeus wants to know.
Author: pythbox	"Dunno," he shrugs. "It just is!"
Author: alicornucopia	"Well, I can try it," shrugs Zeus.
Author: pythbox	"Yay!"
Author: pumpkin_pie	So Aedyt sets them both up with conjured reference material and appropriate fabric and so forth, and she shows Zeus how to sew. (Harley already knows.)
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus keeps pricking his fingers and he makes impatient childish stitches, but he does not give up.
Author: pumpkin_pie	Aedyt is very encouraging! And she has plenty of coins with which to heal small ouches.
Author: alicornucopia	Sewing sewing sewing. Zeus accidentally sews one of his sleeves to his project.
Author: pumpkin_pie	Aedyt giggles. And then she fixes it.
Author: alicornucopia	"Thanks," says Zeus sheepishly. His results are absolutely, unwearably terrible, but this seems okay with him, given how much magic is available to repair the problem.
Author: pumpkin_pie	Aedyt is good at fixing things! She makes little adjustments to Zeus's costume, and soon it is much more Robin Hood.
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus tries it on!
Author: pumpkin_pie	Aedyt makes a few more little adjustments, so it will fit him properly. "There. Perfect," she says. Time to deal with Harley.
Author: pythbox	Harley's Marian costume does not strongly resemble anything worn by Marian in the trailers. It's pretty, though. In its own way. And it definitely has character.
Author: alicornucopia	"That doesn't look like the outfit she had," muses Zeus. "Are you being Marian or just somebody in period costume?" (Zeus's mother says things like "period costume".)
Author: pythbox	"Well, I was being Marian. But look how pretty I am!" he says, twirling.
Author: pumpkin_pie	"You are very pretty," says Aedyt. "I could make it more like Marian's, if you want."
Author: alicornucopia	"It looks fine, it's just not Marian-y right now," shrugs Zeus.
Author: pythbox	"Okay, you can make it more like Marian's," says Harley. "But only if it stays pretty!"
Author: pumpkin_pie	Aedyt edits the dress. The sleeves become slightly puffier, the hem slightly straighter, and the gold trim shifts around until it matches Marian's more closely. "There, how's that?"
Author: pythbox	Harley twirls.
Author: alicornucopia	"More Marian-y," pronounces Zeus approvingly.
Author: pythbox	"And still pretty!" says Harley. He tackle-hugs Aedyt.
Author: pumpkin_pie	Aedyt is untackled, but very hugged.
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus giggles.
Author: pythbox	Harley giggles too.
Author: pumpkin_pie	Aedyt scoops up Harley, snuggles him, and puts him down again. "So is that all for you two?"
Author: alicornucopia	"You have a lot of stuff," observes Zeus. "Can you make bow-and-arrows?"
Author: pumpkin_pie	"Yes I can! The question is, will I regret it afterward?"
Author: alicornucopia	"...No?" tries Zeus.
Author: pumpkin_pie	"Then I will make you a bow and arrow."
Author: pythbox	"I want a dagger!" says Harley.
Author: pumpkin_pie	"I'm sure you do," says Aedyt.
Author: alicornucopia	"Maid Marian has one!" defends Zeus. "He's being Maid Marian."
Author: pythbox	"And I won't stab anybody with it," Harley says virtuously.
Author: pumpkin_pie	"All right," says Aedyt. "I will make you guys some weapons. Do you want to watch?"
Author: alicornucopia	"Yeah," says Zeus, grinning.
Author: pumpkin_pie	"Then you can!" She makes Zeus a cute little bow with a cute little foam-headed arrow that he can fire at the walls, and Harley a cute little dagger, also with its sharp parts made of foam.
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus immediately starts shooting at things.
Author: pumpkin_pie	"Careful, please," says Aedyt.
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus only shoots at non-fragile things. On the other hand, his marksmanship is pretty terrible.
Author: pumpkin_pie	The first time the arrow heads for something it probably shouldn't hit, it gets stuck in midair. Aedyt serenely continues using her power to tweak the shape of Harley's Marian dagger.
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus reaches for his arrow. When it won't go, he says, "It's stuck!"
Author: pumpkin_pie	"Yes it is," says Aedyt. "And it's going to stay that way until you can take it somewhere with fewer fragile things it might accidentally break."
Author: alicornucopia	"I can't take it anywhere. It's stuck," objects Zeus.
Author: pumpkin_pie	"I will unstick it when I take you home."
Author: alicornucopia	"Oh."
Author: pumpkin_pie	Back to the dagger!
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus shoots mime-arrows. He shoots them much more indiscriminately than he did with the foam one.
Author: pythbox	Harley giggles.
Author: alicornucopia	Presently Zeus has invented a game according to which he must rescue Maid Marian from the telekinetic witch who has stolen her dagger, and hauls Harley out of the basement of stuff in search of an escape route.
Author: pythbox	Harley cheerfully allows himself to be rescued up to the rest of the house. The rest of the house contains more stuff! And a kitchen and bathrooms and so forth. Also, outside, it is an asteroid.
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus is fascinated by the visible curvature of the asteroid and runs around with wild abandon.
Author: pythbox	Harley runs around right along with him! Running around on Aedyt's asteroid is fun.
Author: alicornucopia	Wheeeee!
Author: pythbox	Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Author: pumpkin_pie	Eventually, Aedyt appears. "If you're done rescuing each other from me, I have your weapons and some snacks," she announces.
Author: alicornucopia	"Snacks!" exclaims Zeus approvingly. "Yes. That's next."
Author: pumpkin_pie	"C'mon inside!" Snacks are served in the kitchen. There are yummy muffins!
Author: pythbox	Harley is enthused about the muffins.
Author: alicornucopia	Om nom nom. Zeus eats like a puppy, which is to say a lot and enthusiastically.
Author: pythbox	Harley cannot keep up in volume, but he can keep up in enthusiasm!
Author: pumpkin_pie	And Aedyt can keep up in quantity of muffins.
Author: alicornucopia	After they have demolished the muffins, Zeus says, "I want my arrow back."
Author: pumpkin_pie	"Please do not fire it inside my house," says Aedyt, and she hands it to him.
Author: pythbox	"I want my dagger!" says Harley.
Author: pumpkin_pie	"Please do not stab anyone or anything that somebody might not want stabbed," says Aedyt, and she gives Harley the dagger.
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus considers his instruction, and then fires the arrow at her house.
Author: pumpkin_pie	It bounces harmlessly off a wall.
Author: alicornucopia	He retrieves it and carries on playing with it. The premier is fun, their costumes are adorable, some adults do appear tempted to give them free candy but none actually do, and - Time passes. Zeus is nine, ten, eleven, twelve and he goes down to the main compound and shakes hands with a secretary vampire. He runs home in full fur, tongue lolling out of his mouth, and pushes the doorbell to Harley's house with his nose and sits back, wagging madly.
Author: pythbox	Harley opens the door. "Fluffy Zeus?!" he exclaims delightedly.
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus barks, and wags harder.
Author: pythbox	Harley tacklehugs him. "Man, you are so floofy," he says, snuggling industriously. "You are my best fluffy buddy. I love you."
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus licks his face with a tongue about the size of the face it's licking. Slurp!
Author: pythbox	Harley cracks up. And hugs him more.
Author: alicornucopia	Wag wag wag wag. Zeus cannot talk, so he cannot suggest anything.
Author: pythbox	Cuddle cuddle cuddle! Zeus is so floofy. It's awesome.
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus has brand new quadrupedal super-speed, and he wants to use it, and there will be all the time in the world for floofy hugs later! He stands up, crouching on the porch, and backs away, wagging more slowly. If Harley wants a ride he can have one.
Author: pythbox	"Hey, you can't talk like this, can you," Harley observes. "I should get Elsie to put you on the brainphone! Want me to?"
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus nods; it's awkward but he can do it. (He can talk to the other wolves in the Imperial pack who are wolfing at this time, but that's not the same thing.)
Author: pythbox	[Elsie, Zeus is floofy and he wants to be on the brainphone so he can talk to me still!]
Author: her_imperial_radiance	[There you are, then,] says Elspeth, to both boys.
Author: alicornucopia	[Thanks! Harley, Harley, I wanna run, running's amazing like this, come with me, come on,] and he crouches low, so Harley could vault up onto him if he wanted.
Author: pythbox	"Okay!" says Harley, and he jumps onto Zeus's back and hangs on tight.
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus bolts at once, like a bullet, legs eating up yards of empty Québec wilderness with every stride. [I'm so fast!]
Author: pythbox	[You aaaare, it's awesome,] giggles Harley.
Author: alicornucopia	[It's better than roller coasters! Aren't I, huh?]
Author: pythbox	[You're a fluffy roller coaster, oh man,] cackles Harley.
Author: alicornucopia	They're approaching forest; Zeus doesn't slow down, although a few times he pushes a paw off a tree instead of the ground to maneuver. [That's meeee!]
Author: pythbox	[This is so awesome, I love you,] says Harley, clinging to Zeus's back.
Author: alicornucopia	[I love you too! And running! And being a grown-up wolf!]
Author: pythbox	Harley giggles happily.
Author: alicornucopia	[It's weird being able to hear what everybody else is thinking. It's not anything too interesting all by itself, just it's strange.]
Author: pythbox	[I bet!] he agrees.
Author: alicornucopia	[My dad's coming,] he adds. [I wanna see if I can outrun him!] And he puts on a burst of speed, runningrunningrunning.
Author: pythbox	Harley giggles and clings.
Author: alicornucopia	Bartholomew does catch up to them eventually and falls into step beside them. [Dad says I have to be careful not to drop you, but, duh, of course I don't wanna drop you,] says Zeus.
Author: pythbox	[Duh!] agrees Harley.
Author: alicornucopia	Running running running running it's the best thing Zeus could run all day long!
Author: pythbox	Running is awesome! Zeus is awesome. Harley loves those things.
Author: alicornucopia	Eventually Bartholomew seems satisfied that his son isn't going to drop Harley and turns back. Zeus goes on and on and on.
Author: pythbox	Harley clings to him and giggles intermittently.
Author: alicornucopia	Soon they come upon a river. [I dunno if I can jump that,] muses Zeus, skidding into a turn and running alongside it. [D'you think I can jump it?]
Author: pythbox	[I bet you can jump it! Try!] he says gleefully.
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus turns again, leaps. He clears the river.
Author: pythbox	But the impact of landing on the other side overwhelms Harley's grip on Zeus, and he goes flying over the wolf's shoulder, directly into a tree. Several things break, and only one of them is a branch. Harley yells.
Author: alicornucopia	[Harley! Harley Harley Harley are you okay call the princess tell her to fix you Harley Harley,] whines Zeus, digging his claws into the earth to arrest his movement and doubling back. [Or I can, I'll do it, PRINCESS - did that do it - how does it work -]
Author: pythbox	Harley yells some more. He's a bit beyond coherent requests for wishes, but he does manage, [Elsiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiie!]
Author: her_imperial_radiance	[What's the matter?]
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus sits hard on the ground, tail between his legs, and howls.
Author: pythbox	[I hit a tree and Zeus is sad!]
Author: her_imperial_radiance	Elspeth tries a healing pentagon. [Did that do it?] she asks.
Author: pythbox	Harley stops yelling. [Kinda sorta,] he says, and aloud (somewhat shakily), "I'm fine! Elsie fixed me!"
Author: her_imperial_radiance	She spends another. She doesn't bother admonishing him to be careful.
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus makes another whining noise and noses at him. [Are you sure? All better, honest? You could've died! I shouldn't've jumped it.]
Author: pythbox	"I'm fine," he promises, hugging Zeus around the neck and kissing his wolfy nose. "And no I couldn't, I'm immortal! It was fun."
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus flops onto the ground. [But you could've died if you weren't immortal!]
Author: pythbox	"But I am immortal," he says, "and I didn't die anyway, I just broke some bones, Elsie fixed me up fine, it was fun, I'm fine, it's fine!"
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus can make some very impressively whiny noises in wolf form.
Author: pythbox	Harley gives him scritches. It just seems like the thing to do.
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus lays his massive head down on the ground and accepts scritches, making dismayed whuffly sounds.
Author: pythbox	"Awwwwwwww," says Harley. "I'm sorry you got scared."
Author: alicornucopia	[How was it fun?]
Author: pythbox	"I liked the jumping over the river part! And I've never been hurt that bad before, it was really - itself. I think I wanna do it again," he says consideringly. "But not with you if you're gonna get scared." Snuggle-hug!
Author: alicornucopia	[You wanna do it again?] asks Zeus incredulously.
Author: pythbox	Harley giggles. "Yeah."
Author: alicornucopia	[You are a weirdo. I know I'd heal with or without magic if I got beat up like that and I still don't wanna try it.]
Author: pythbox	"I am a weirdo!" he agrees happily.
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus whuffs out wolf-warm air in Harley's direction. After a moment, he unfloofs and he's just himself, maybe a little taller already, lounging naked on the forest floor.
Author: pythbox	Harley giggles. "Aww, no more floof," he says. "Can I still hug you?"
Author: alicornucopia	"Yeah," sighs Zeus, sitting up. Wolves are, of necessity, pretty casual about nudity.
Author: pythbox	Hugs!
Author: alicornucopia	Hugs! "So uh," says Zeus, "I don't really know how to change on purpose yet? So if I don't figure it out at about when we wanna go home we need to call Dad, or the Princess, to come get us."
Author: pythbox	"Okay," shrugs Harley.
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus sets about Trying To Floof On Purpose. He does not get anywhere, although he makes some entertaining faces while he fails at it.
Author: pythbox	Harley laughs at him. In a friendly, affectionate sort of way.
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus shoves him in the shoulder, not hard. "You don't have to figure it out," he snorts.
Author: pythbox	"Nope! I get to watch you do it. And it's hilarious," he says, grinning.
Author: alicornucopia	"Right now I'm trying to be floofy, not hilarious," snorts Zeus. He chews on his lip, trying to replicate the mental state he occupied right before he floofed the first time. "...This is hard."
Author: pythbox	"Yeah, I bet!" says Harley.
Author: alicornucopia	"Mrrr. Hmm. Can you, like, pinch me or something?" Zeus holds out his arm.
Author: pythbox	Harley pinches him.
Author: alicornucopia	"Ow-" The exclamation is cut off by abrupt refloofing. [Okay cool let's go home! And HOLD ON this time!]
Author: pythbox	"I will!" he promises, climbing back onto Zeus's floofy back.
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus makes a much gentler lope over the river, and trots, fast but not blindingly so, back towards the village. [I can smell everything,] he remarks. [It's pretty amazing.]
Author: pythbox	"Ooh, what stuff can you smell?"
Author: alicornucopia	[Everything! You and the trees and myself and the water and all the other plants and even some village stuff even way out here. I think someone's making something with pineapple in it.]
Author: pythbox	[I like pineapple!]
Author: alicornucopia	[Me too! We can have some when we go home, I'm hungry.]
Author: pythbox	[Awesome.]
Author: alicornucopia	They arrive home. Zeus hangs out in the front yard for a while, trying to figure out how to defloof, and even when he manages it, his mother doesn't want him near the knicknacks till he has himself under better control; this means picnic. It involves pineapple.
Author: pythbox	It also involves hug! Lots of hug.
Author: alicornucopia	Hug. Zeus's father presents him with a magnetic uniform, in Imperial pack brown. It hangs loose on him, but he'll grow. (He's eating a ridiculous amount, more than when he was just a puppy.)
Author: pythbox	Harley noms on pineapple and giggles at Zeus in his uniform.
Author: alicornucopia	"I'll get bigger!" says Zeus, fiddling with one of the magnets.
Author: pythbox	"Yeah, and then you won't look as funny, so I better enjoy it while I can!"
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus sticks out his tongue at Harley.
Author: pythbox	Harley giggles.
Author: alicornucopia	Om nom nom nom nom picnic, oops, floof, wait wait wait, unfloof, snap uniform back on, om nom nom nom.
Author: pythbox	This description misses a vital step! The step is 'be hugged'. It goes between floof and unfloof.
Author: alicornucopia	Very well; amendment accepted. [You are super huggy,] Zeus remarks fondly while hugging is ongoing.
Author: pythbox	"I am!" Harley agrees, hugging him. "I like hugs. Hugs are nice."
Author: alicornucopia	[They are,] agrees Zeus, and this is when he unfloofs.
Author: pythbox	Mid-hug! Okay, back to nomming.
Author: alicornucopia	Om nom nom. Zeus was a hungry puppy. Now he is a ravenous wolf. He will turn it all into floof and an extra two feet of height and lots of muscle over the next couple months. (His mother is taking a lot of pictures of this picnic; wolves' parents do this in the time between first floof and the cessation of growth.)
Author: pythbox	Nomty nom! "Okay, I'm done," Harley announces. He curls up next to the picnic blanket.
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus isn't done. He finishes the pineapple, and the whipped cream Demeter put on it, and the leftover hamburgers she warmed up for them, and the green beans. He doesn't even like green beans.
Author: pythbox	"You don't even like green beans," observes curled-up Harley.
Author: alicornucopia	"I'm really hungry," says Zeus. "I want pizza. Let's go get pizza."
Author: pythbox	"Sure!"
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus manages to floof on purpose, to be transportation to the village cafeteria. (The village doesn't have many of its own establishments, when they can just travel to the capital compound or farther to town, but it's full of wolves: it has a cafeteria.)
Author: pythbox	Pizza is obtained! Harley does not eat it, but he derives great joy from watching Zeus do that.
Author: alicornucopia	Zeus eats six slices of pizza. Then he is done. With pizza. He gets a bowl of ice cream after that.
Author: pythbox	Harley giggles at him.
Author: alicornucopia	"Now," says Zeus, when he finishes his ice cream, "I am not hungry anymore."
Author: pythbox	"Are you sure?"
Author: alicornucopia	"Well, I'll be hungry in an hour, but now, yeah."
Author: pythbox	Harley laughs.
Author: alicornucopia	"Come on, let's go see how much floofing sometimes messes up one on one basketball," suggests Zeus, "while I'm still not that much taller than you."
Author: pythbox	"Okay!" he agrees, giggling.
Author: alicornucopia	And off they go.