i might as well be the man on the moon

[truthwright]

Their Isabella having just gone to welcome a new Bell into the peal, Kas and Petaal snuggle up together and take a nap. They'll want to be well rested for the party.

When they wake up, she still isn't back.

[Jane?]

No response.

Kas teleports down to the Janepoint, Petaal wrapped snake-shaped around his shoulders.

The display reads: error 7788: lycanthropy

"...So that's new," he says.

"No shit," says Petaal. "Now what?"

He shrugs. She coils tighter.

"Hang around and wait, I guess."

Comments

[truthwright]

"Because I wanted to have a kid."

[alicornucopia]

"How come she's a witch?" Shura asks.

[truthwright]

He shrugs, and suggests, "Magic?"

[alicornucopia]

"Can you just make anybody a witch? Can you make my daddy a witch?"

[truthwright]

"I didn't make her a witch on purpose," he says, ruffling Helen's hair. "She just came out that way."

[alicornucopia]

"Why not on purpose?"

[truthwright]

"I didn't really think about it one way or the other," he says, very truthfully.

[alicornucopia]

"Are there going to be more witches with spinaches instead of witch mommies?"

[truthwright]

"I have no idea," Kas says cheerfully.

[alicornucopia]

"Are you going to make more ones?"

[truthwright]

"I'm pretty happy with the one I've got," he says. "I think I'll wait for her to grow up first."

[alicornucopia]

"That will take a long time," observes Shura solemnly.

[truthwright]

"Not that long," says Kas. "Another ten years or so."

[carillons]

"In ten years I'll be... fifteen," says Helen, frowning arithmetically. "Is that grown up?"

[alicornucopia]

"Mommy says I will be most of the way grown up when Nicoa picks something and we separate," says Shura. (Nicoa becomes a polecat and slithers from her head into her arms.) "And the rest of the way grown up when I like to eat vegetables - so -" She points at Kas. "Watch out!"

[carillons]

"What are you going to be when we grow up, Kalavar?" says Helen.

Kalavar becomes a snake and coils around her shoulders. "I'm gonna be like Petaal and never ever settle," she announces.

[alicornucopia]

"You have to be a bird," opines Nicoa. "Mommy says." He illustratively turns into a tawny frogmouth.

[carillons]

"Only if I be something," says Kalavar, turning into a tiny dragon with gold-edged green scales and green-streaked gold wings.

[alicornucopia]

"If you don't be anything how will you know when to separate?" asks Shura. (Nicoa becomes a crow, and a bluejay, and a chickadee.)

[carillons]

"I dunno!" says Kalavar. "Maybe we won't. Maybe we'll just never grow up." She giggles, curling around Helen's neck as a fuzzy little red panda.

[alicornucopia]

"I guess then you won't eat your spinachdaddy," allows Shura.

[carillons]

"I wouldn't eat him anyway! He's nice," Helen asserts. She hugs her mommydaddyspinach.

[alicornucopia]

Shura giggles.

"I'm going to be a pretty bird," asserts Nicoa, experimenting with finches now.

[carillons]

"I'm going to be a scary bird," says Kalavar. She turns into a vulture.

[alicornucopia]

Shura giggles.