GLoG

[Morty]

[Summer Water Balloon Party]
(Sidelines)

"We just met, actually," Sophie says as she hands Ugi back to his mother. "I saw Anastasia sitting here and thought I'd check on her."

[Earl of Purple]

SWBP Gaming

"I'm taller than my sister! If you upset her first. Besides, I live in Underside. You'd have to duck to get through every door, and crouch inside the houses." If Brinika's not upset, her ears perk up and those make Brinika taller. Cheasadh's only short in GLoG, when she's visiting her human-ish friends. She's average height for a gnome.

SWBP Events

"I think so. I've not tried before, but I've played catch a lot. Just not with water balloons before." Agate grins at Glory, and gets into position. "How about you? Have you played catch before?" Agate's a bit concerned about Glory's forelimbs, but figures it'll be fine. Not like she's alone in having a clawed teammate.

[Arkhosia]

► SHOW SPOILER

[Summer Water Balloon Party]
(Sidelines)

Ambrosia holds out her hands to that Sophie can hand back Ugi. "With Sophie here I very much doubt it, Ana." The scholar remarks with a faint smile. Speaking with confidence in the abilities sees seen in the woman.
Then she looks between the two. "So how do you two know one another exactly?"

[Summer Water Balloon Party]
(Sidelines)

"We just met, actually," Sophie says as she hands Ugi back to his mother. "I saw Anastasia sitting here and thought I'd check on her."

[Summer Water Balloon Party]
(Sidelines)

Ambrosia's assurance seems to ease some of Ana's worries, though after a moment she looks confused. With Sophie here? Wasn't she just like, a therapist? "Yeah, basically. I've, uh, never really been at GLoG before today, actually." She shrugs. "My sister goes here pretty often though."

Speaking of! It sounds like the next event is about to take place. Ana turns to better pay attention now, ready to cheer on her sister best she can.

[quillpleasant]

[SWBP - Gaming]

"Average height?" Asami looks at Cheasadh with disbelief before holding a fist up to her mouth and giggling with her eyes closed. Grinning, she points towards Cheasadh, remarking, "You think you're-?" She then doubles over in belly laughter, holding a hand on her forehead. "Bahaha, average height. That's a good one."

She wipes a tear from her eye, turning back to Darko and looking annoyed for a second. "Same difference," she says. She sighs and shoots an empathetic gaze towards him. "I think you should take time out of your day to self-reflect," she says.

SWBP Gaming

"I'm taller than my sister! If you upset her first. Besides, I live in Underside. You'd have to duck to get through every door, and crouch inside the houses." If Brinika's not upset, her ears perk up and those make Brinika taller. Cheasadh's only short in GLoG, when she's visiting her human-ish friends. She's average height for a gnome.

SWPB - Gaming

"You know, Cheasadh might be average height for her species," says Darko, without taking his eyes off the screen, "But you're pretty short for a human, Asami, even a magical human. I know, because I'm short for my age, and I'm still taller than you." He's not really trying to insult her, but the constant jabs are getting tiresome.

"You're right about self reflecting though," he says with a sigh, hugging his knees to his chest as he takes a break from crashing his character into the wall. "I know I'm... weird, compared to other kids, but I don't really know why."

[[brackets lover]]

SWRB - Gaming]

Asami began to respond to Cheasadh before being completely taken by Darko's comment on her shortness, causing her to gasp and stutter, "I-i'm... That's not-" As tears suddenly form across her eyes, she wipes her forearm across her face. Her mood-corona completely diminishes and her face becomes flush.

Breaking into a full-on crying fit, she turns her back on Cheasadh and Darko, and runs away out the front entrance sobbing. Oddly, she was running at a mundane speed and could easily be caught up with.

[Murkus]

[Summer Water Balloon Party]
Woblins and Dryadeer

Not really recognizing if there's an order, rhyme or reason to anything, Malachi waves his arms at at the rearmed Maltrika. "Here! You can try and get me back!" He looks very stern and serious.

[Earl of Purple]

SWRB Gaming

"Asami, wait! Oh, dear." Cheasadh gets up, failing to pause the game (she doesn't know how), thereby potentially giving Darko a win. She'll hurry after the taller girl, to try and direct her to a sofa and calm her down.

[Shadowcaller]

[Summer Water Balloon Party]
(Sidelines)

"Ah, I got the impression you had known one another for longer. But that makes sense, these sort of events often lead to the influx of new people." As Ugi is handed back to her she turns to see what Ana was looking at. Her sister it turned out.

Who had a fox tail yet wasn't fey. Curious. "Whose your mother?" She can't help but to wonder. Clearly she didn't know enough about kitsune dynamics yet.

[Morty]

[Summer Water Balloon Party]
(Sidelines)

"Anastasia will be welcome here if she comes again." And she should come again, but Sophie won't say it out loud. "Her sister has been visiting for a while now."

[quillpleasant]

SWBP - Gaming

Darko's eyes widen in alarm as Asami flees the room. All he had meant to do was make her reconsider making fun of Cheasadh, not actually hurt her feelings.

"Hey, wait, I didn't mean-" Darko drops the remote and hurries after the two girls, a look of absolute chagrin on his face. Just because Asami had been mean didn't give him the right to do so.

On the screen, the strange game character flickers out of existence, replaced by Bowser.

[Morty]

[Summer Water Balloon Party]
Woblins and Dryadeer

"Okay!" Maltrika seems to perk up quickly. Moods shift easily in a child as young as she is. "There you go! Think fast!" She promptly throws the balloon to Malachi. Balthuk approaches the boy from the other side, ready to catch the balloon when an opportunity arises.

"Maltrika has picked up something of a competitive streak," Reelshka says to Sakura. "I think from playing with my nieces and nephews' friends in Underside."

[Arkhosia]

[Summer Water Balloon Party]
(Sidelines)

"Hm? Oh mom's, um, a kitsune like me," Ana explains. She rubs her shoulder awkwardly. "I'm not her rea- I mean - she's not my biological mother. I don't think I've ever even had one. My first parents weren't related to me either." Her shyness doesn't stop her from smiling gently. "She's been... good to me, though. Helped me out of a bad place."

[Gullara]

[Birb Babysitting]

Kestrel blinked. That was a new name. There was five of them, not four, and rising! "You're quadruplets!?" She looked back at Valerie. "That must have been quite the introduction to parenting, huh." She visibly beams at Valerie's compliment. "Aw, thanks! But really, it's my pleasure. I've been having fun!" Despite her outwardly downplaying it it's quite clear she's very happy to hear the praise. Though it is slowly starting to dawn on her that there's something she's fairly certain she was supposed to do before she started getting into work. What was it again?

[Birb Babysitting]

"Oh like you wouldn't believe." Valerie laughs. "Thankfully we've got lovely people such as your self here at Glog to help out once in a while."

Valerie turns her attention to the kids. "You two better help me find your sisters. It's time to go home. The protests are immediate.

"But I want to play with Silver more." Eshe leans her head against the wolf.

"We're not done our castle. Kes was helping us." Orlane adds her own complaint.

"I'm sure you'll be able to pick everything back up again soon. Like maybe tomorrow."

The girls turns back around to look at Kes. Orlane speaks up first. "Will you be back tomorrow too?"

"With Silver?"

[Summer Water Balloon Party]
Woblins and Dryadeer

Not really recognizing if there's an order, rhyme or reason to anything, Malachi waves his arms at at the rearmed Maltrika. "Here! You can try and get me back!" He looks very stern and serious.

[Summer Water Balloon Party]
Woblins and Dryadeer

"Okay!" Maltrika seems to perk up quickly. Moods shift easily in a child as young as she is. "There you go! Think fast!" She promptly throws the balloon to Malachi. Balthuk approaches the boy from the other side, ready to catch the balloon when an opportunity arises.

"Maltrika has picked up something of a competitive streak," Reelshka says to Sakura. "I think from playing with my nieces and nephews' friends in Underside."

[Summer Water Balloon Party]
Woblins and Dryadeer

Kissa gets ready for her turn, poised with anticipation. Admittedly she looks a little unsteady in reality. Coordination is a developed skill.

"Ah, maybe." Sakura observes the kids with a glimmer in her eye. "I find they're all a little different like that. It's hard to track down where they get it from. I think Malachi might be a bit more competitive than Kissa. Mostly because Kissa is as likely to help her opposition as she is to try and win."

[Summer Water Balloon Party]

"OKAY LISTEN UP KIDDOS!" Khannie yells, amping her voice to be heard by the children. "The water balloon toss is up next!"

Then she draws forth... a water balloon!

It is FAR less bloated and floppy than the ones that were being used for the relay race. This one is designed to be able to MAYBE survive falling on the ground after being thrown. Maybe. If you're LUCKY.

"This one's easy. You line up with your partner and when I say GO! you toss your balloon to them! If you catch it and it doesn't pop then you take a step back and and wait for me to say GO! again! Whichever team still has a balloon last WINS!"

That sounds pretty simple, right?

GILDA answers Annie's question. "You mean can I make them sharper? Or if someone with sausage fingers can make them sharp?" she asks while padding off toward the next round of games which she and Annie are obviously going to win.

GABE trots along energetically. "Don't worry, we can still win the next one. It isn't about being fast it's about being careful. I'm good at that!"

GLORY grins when the rescued dragonfly goes whizzing away. "Are you any good at catching balloons?" she asks.

[Summer Water Balloon Party]
Games

Annie nods. "My mom can turn her hands into pointy claws. I wanna do that too." She explains with keen enthusiasm.

She can't linger on the topic long, though. She'll line up in place opposite Gilda. This game sounds easy. They're sure to win it too.

[[brackets lover]]

[SWBP - Gaming]

Asami was in no condition to try to outpace Cheasadh, having frozen up in surprise as the latter chases her. Still weeping, she makes no resistence to being led to the sofa. However, she showed no signs of calming down.

On the sofa, she'd immediately lie down in the fetal position and bury her face in her knees, muffling her high-pitched and loud sobbing.

[Shadowcaller]

[Summer Water Balloon Party]
(Sidelines)

That was at least consistent with what she knew about fey. Anything else would have made Ana a changeling.
"Ah, so what has she told you about kitsunes? Since from what I understand, you don't really know a lot about yourself when you're born."

[Earl of Purple]

SWBP Sofa

"People don't like being called short, Asami. I know that." Although it doesn't hurt so much when humans do it, since Cheasadh thinks humans look unnaturally tall and all stretched out. "Darko didn't mean harm, and... I don't think you did, either." Cheasadh hops onto the sofa next to Asami and reaches out to try and rub the star-girl's shoulder- though if Asami flinches, or increases her temperature, she won't do it.

[quillpleasant]

SWBP - Sofa

Darko stands awkwardly by. It seems like no matter what he says or does, it ends up being taken the wrong way- and frankly, Asami said much more hurtful things to him than simply being called short. He hesitates, struggling with himself, before walking over to kneel on the floor next to the couch.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I'm short too, that's not a bad thing. Listen, you're cool, and I didn't mean to make you feel bad."

Darko waves his hands in front of him, then with a quick flourish, he's suddenly holding a small plush rabbit. "Ta-da!" It's old and floppy, but not too worn out. He offers it to Asami. "I know it's not much, but take this as an apology, maybe?"

[[brackets lover]]

[SWBP - Sofa]

Cheasadh's last comment caused Asami to try and utter something, but any sound she made now would be incoherent and distorted by her sobbing. The shoulder-rub, however, elicited no response from her. It was almost as if she expected it.

As for Darko, Asami quickly reaches out and grabs the plushie without responding vocally. She tightly wraps her arms around it, keeping it close to her chest. Naturally, she'd stay like this for at least a few minutes.

[Meowmai]

[Birb Babysitting]

"Oh like you wouldn't believe." Valerie laughs. "Thankfully we've got lovely people such as your self here at Glog to help out once in a while."

Valerie turns her attention to the kids. "You two better help me find your sisters. It's time to go home. The protests are immediate.

"But I want to play with Silver more." Eshe leans her head against the wolf.

"We're not done our castle. Kes was helping us." Orlane adds her own complaint.

"I'm sure you'll be able to pick everything back up again soon. Like maybe tomorrow."

The girls turns back around to look at Kes. Orlane speaks up first. "Will you be back tomorrow too?"

"With Silver?"

[Birb Babysitting]

Truth be told, Kestrel seemed almost as disappointed to hear that the sisters were heading home as they here. Though her smile grew wider at the barrage of complaints that followed.

"Hey, no worries! I'll be here tomorrow! And of course Silver will be too! I wouldn't ever leave him behind." She nods emphatically. "I couldn't possibly miss the chance to see your castle finished, and Silver would be so upset with me if he doesn't get to see you again." Silver emphasized the point by happily nuzzling his muddy face against Eshe's.

[Artemis]

[Summer Water Balloon Party]

"Yeah!" Landon agrees with Gabe. "Just think soft thoughts." He says, getting into position.

"We can do this!"

[Gullara]

[Birb Babysitting]

Both the girls' eyes light up and their dismay transforms. Yay, their new friends will be back! Before their exuberance can take over, though, Val cuts in. "See? Now, you two say goodbye and go find your sisters."

"Bye Kes, see you tomorrow!"

"Yeah, see you!" Eshe gives Silver one last hug before they both get up and run off toward the lake.

That leaves their mother behind with Kes for a moment. "And I'll see you later as well." She smiles with a little glint in her eye, then gives a little wave with her fingers before she heads off in the wake of her children.

[Arkhosia]

[Summer Water Balloon Party]
(Sidelines)

That was at least consistent with what she knew about fey. Anything else would have made Ana a changeling.
"Ah, so what has she told you about kitsunes? Since from what I understand, you don't really know a lot about yourself when you're born."

[Summer Water Balloon Party]
(Sidelines)

"Just the basics, I guess - same with my first parents. We've both learned a couple things about how we work, though. Like how our tails represent concepts in the fey world and stuff." Ana gives a rather noncommittal shrug that suggests its not a topic she's very eager to discuss. Her answer isn't the full story at all, considering the myriad of things she's learned about the way she works - but so much of that sounds like it only applies to her version of kitsune specifically, so she's reticent to bring any of it up.

[Earl of Purple]

SWBP Sofa, So Unpleasant

"Why don't you go talk to Natalie, Darko? Let Asami calm down on her own. I'll stay here, so she's got someone to listen to if she wants it." And also ensure she doesn't do anything too dangerous, at least hopefully. Mostly she's thinking that Asami probably doesn't want an audience right now, and Cheasadh's got some experience with calming things down. Mostly with younger children, who are often smaller even than she is,

[Murkus]

[Summer Water Balloon Party]
Woblins and Dryadeer

Malachi manages to catch the bloated balloon underhand, shoving out both of his arms, and he still nearly loses it. He wobbles, giggling, and straightens before tossing it end-over-end at Balthuk. At least it's not a totally sloppy throw.

...He also seems to have forgotten if there's an order to this game, or if he's on Kissa's 'team'. Clearly he can't splash his sister!

[quillpleasant]

SWBP - Sofa

Darko was half expecting Asami to toss the bunny aside, so he's glad it seemed to help a little bit. Still, this is all just a little overwhelming.

Going from being alone for months at a time to being around crowds of people, and then girls who seem to be experiencing emotions at a speed he can barely comprehend, is a bit of an adjustment for the poor boy. Plus, he's feeling guilty for ruining their hang out, and wants to be anywhere else but here.

So when Cheasadh suggests he leave, he nods a little too quickly, standing up and backing up to the door. "Yeah, talk to Natalie. Will do." He has absolutely no intention of doing so.

"Bye, it was nice meeting you, and, uh... feel better soon." Darko smiles nervously, then throws his hand downward, creating a small cloud of mist that obscures him entirely. When it dissipates after a few moments, he's nowhere to be seen.

[[brackets lover]]

[SWBP - Sofa]

After Darko leaves, Asami seems to calm down from loud and constant sobbing to a steady stream of passive tears. She rubs her sleeve against her upper lip, catching a lot of snot on her jacket. Through teary eyes, she looks at Cheasadh expectantly.

[Earl of Purple]

SWBP- Sofa

"I'm... not great at calming down teenagers. Mostly when someone gets upset I distract them with a lollipop. Do you want a lollipop?" Cheasadh is better at dealing with younger children than she is, as she's now old enough to babysit occasionally.

SWBP- Snack Table

Natalie is still here, if Darko's done as Cheasadh suggested.

[[brackets lover]]

[SWBP - Sofa]

Asami looks halfways towards Cheasadh, sheepishly answering, "M-maybe." The emotionality has mostly faded, Asami's crying being mainly a physical reaction now.

[Earl of Purple]

SWBP

Cheasadh smiles, and goes to fetch a lollipop. It's a cherry-flavoured orb of hard-yet-sticky candy on a stiffened cardboard stick, so if Asami was expecting an ice lolly she's going to be regrettably disappointed. "Here you are, one lollipop." Cheasadh's a little muffled, as she's got one of her own, and it's in her mouth right now.

[[brackets lover]]

[SWBP - Sofa]

By the time Cheasadh returned, Asami wasn't really crying at all. Maybe sniffling a little, but she seems fine now. The lollipop is accepted, Asami pausing to say, "Thanks," before she immediately puts it in her own mouth and starts licking.