Home 23

[Morty]

[Isaac's Home]

"Oh, I'm fine. I just wanted to see where you live, and you said I could come." She looks around. "You've got a lot of stuff in here."

[Deathkeeper]

Isaac's Room

Isaac slooooooowly covers what he's doing with a large hardcover.
"Yeah well, when you draw for a hobby on top of magic school you make a lot of things over the years. And my parents don't object to it so.... he trails off, before remembering himself and standing up and giving Iknika an awkward little hug.
"I'm glad you came. Can I uh, get you anything?" he offers.

[Morty]

[Isaac's Room]

"Thanks, but I'm fine," Iknika says, hugging back. It's a pretty powerful hug for someone her size. "You still have that drawing of me?"

[Deathkeeper]

Isaac's Room

The nice thing about a healing factor is that bruises don't last long.
"Well after I gave you the original I couldn't think of a better pose so I just drew it again. It wasn't hard." he says. Though since he did it from home with all the time in the world it's cleaner and more detailed. It's also very accurate considering he was drawing her face from memory.

[Morty]

[Isaac's Room]

"Well, I like it. You've got a lot of art here. Is that you?" She points at the elephant.

[Deathkeeper]

[Isaac's Room]

Isaac flinches, hands drifting to his belly.
"No, that's the Grandmaster of the temple who chose me. I don't...I don't look that fat do I?" he asks her quietly, clearly bothered by the comparison.

[Murkus]

Cloudy Palace

"Well, I could park the palace close to the ground and just open up the floors. I'm fine, Azren. Just...not used to the stares is all." so many manly men around! What is a girl to do?

[Cloudy Palace]

"Drastic, and we'd lose all our new things. We'll keep it as a last resort," Azren decides. And smiles. "I'll never cease to be surprised by that. You should be stared at longingly wherever it is you go." He leans forward and smooches her forehead. In a lovey-dovey whisper, he adds, "Now help me get rid of these idiots before they ruin everything and live here forever."

[Morty]

[Isaac's Room]

Iknika's eyes go wide, and she shakes her head.

"Of course not!" she reassures him quickly. "I just... don't see many elephant people. Sorry."

[Deathkeeper]

Isaac's Room

Isaac glances over to his door and shuts it with a wave of his hand.
"So anyway, don't let my parents hear about the elephant thing. They don't know and they'll think something is wrong with me. But anyway, I have been told by the villagers that I look like the Grandmaster when he was younger. And thinner. Except pale. So I guess. He stops by to help out sometimes and he usually has good advice. He treats me like I'm his kid sometimes, but I guess that's just part of the job of haunting your chosen one." Isaac explains with a shrug.

Cloudy Palace

"Well I am, that's the problem. But what can we do?
I really wouldn't mind having family around but if you say they're bad...and no sisters. Oh dear."
She can only imagine a home like that. How was his mother so serene after all that?

[Morty]

[Isaac's Room]

Iknika puts her hands on her hips.

"You've told me about your parents before. I won't tell them, don't worry. Your mom said I'm adorable. I decided not to argue."

[Deathkeeper]

Isaac's Room

Isaac laughs.
"Yeah she does that to all my friends. Especially Lucas. I think she'd die if he ever stopped by in his real shape. Gods he's fluffy." Isaac says, gesturing at the sketch of the boy and the not-sheep.

[Morty]

[Isaac's Room]

Iknika turns to the drawing.

"Is that Lucas? He looks like a sheep. Does your mother see him in a different shape?"

[Deathkeeper]

Isaac's Room

"They're both Lucas. It's an artistic license thing. He's a hedleykow but don't tell anyone ok? Super secret. But yes he is adorable. Kinda looks more like a sheep than a cow but he does have a long tail." Isaac explains wistfully. He feels bad that Lucas still can't get his confidence.

[Morty]

[Isaac's Room]

"What is a... hedylcow?" Iknika asks, mispronouncing the name. "Is he a shapeshifter?"

[Deathkeeper]

[Isaac's room]

Isaac smiles.
"They're fluffy shapeshifting fae that look like that. Their big boss is Maph'Tey, a big-shot sidhe. He's basically the Sandman if you ever heard that folktale. Does funny stuff with dreams and time and all sorts of things. He's nice, but never trust a true fae. Never ever. Lucas is a fetch so he's fine. Mostly. Isaac grimaces. Ok by all accounts I shouldn't trust Lucas but he's my friend so I do." he insists.

[Gullara]

[Underside]

Iknika considers it briefly.

"I think I know a place. It's... I guess you could call it a park. Under a big, glowing mushroom."

[Underside]

"Sure, let's go." Claire stuffs her supplies back in her bag and slings it over her shoulder. "It shouldn't take too long. I'll have to actually finish the picture later. I just need to get a good sketch to work from."

[Morty]

[Isaac's room]

Iknika's ears dip. Fae are bad news, but then, Brinika's apparently friends with some. A dryad, and some of her cousin's friends. Who, to hear her tell it, are half-dryad and half-deer. Iknika is never sure how much of it is true.

"I've been told not to trust fae. So how'd you meet him?"

[Underside]

Iknika leads Claire through some more underground passages. The bunny-girl might be getting a bit turned around, although her ancestors were subterranean too, so who knows. Iknika seems to have a perfect sense of direction down herer, either way. Eventually, they both reach a circular cavern, with a bowl-shaped floor. The middle is occupied by a mushroom, easily as tall as an old oak, glowing bright blue. There's some sort of strands linking its head with the surrounding walls and ceiling. There are some benches and tables spread out around the mushroom.

"Well, what do you think?"

[Deathkeeper]

Isaac's Room

"He goes to my school, trying to live a normal life. We met when he helped me out when I was stuck in the Dreamlands, to give me some advice in full regalia. He sang a song. It was real cute." Isaac says, smiling at the memory. He whistles a few notes. Hey, mister sandman...

[Morty]

[Isaac's room]

"Stuck in the Drealmands?" Iknika turns around and looks at Isaac, tilting her head. "You seem to get into a lot of adventures."

[Deathkeeper]

Isaac's Room

Isaac puffs out his chest proudly.
"Yep! I'm a bonafide protagonist!" he declares. Though he deflated pretty quickly.
"They almost never go well because I'm always in over my head, but I always made it so far." he admits.

[Gullara]

[Underside]

Claire has a pretty good sense of direction, and better underground than she would have expected. She still wouldn't want to find her way back on her own, though.

"Oh wow, that's so pretty." Claire looks around with wide eyed wonder. "Did this just grow here on its own? I never knew mushrooms could even get so huge."

[Morty]

[Isaac's room]

"Getting in over your head and pulling through seems to be what protagonists do," Iknika points out. "So you're doing well on that front." She tosses her hair and looks at Isaac with tilted head. "If you're the protagonist, though, who am I?"

[Underside]

"I'm not sure," Iknika admits. "It's been here for as long as I remember. Someone might have planted it here, I guess. But mushrooms like that grow underground on their own."

[Deathkeeper]

Isaac's Room

Isaac blinks.
"The newcomer second main character, obviously. The one who makes things look easy to show up the first one. Not quite a rival, but maybe more of a love interest-" Isaac's tongue slips, and he immediately turns crimson.

[Morty]

[Isaac's room]

Iknika grins broadly, but her ears dip slightly, since she feels a bit embarrassed to. She's hiding it and hoping that Isaac isn't up to date on goblin ear expressions.

"Awww. Well, I like the sound of that. Would my cousin serve as the comedic sidekick?"

[Murkus]

Cloudy Palace

"Well I am, that's the problem. But what can we do?
I really wouldn't mind having family around but if you say they're bad...and no sisters. Oh dear."
She can only imagine a home like that. How was his mother so serene after all that?

[Cloudy Palace]

"Well... not bad per say..." says Azren, waffling. He bites his lip, not a typical expression for him. Then he flinches as he watches one of his brothers drop a bottle, a little ways behind Artie... and it lands on the ground with a harmless little 'poff'. "I guess they can't really hurt anything, can they?" The only thing to hurt was the palace, and the palace was made of muteable magic it seemed.

[Gullara]

[Underside]

"I'm not sure," Iknika admits. "It's been here for as long as I remember. Someone might have planted it here, I guess. But mushrooms like that grow underground on their own."

[Underside]

"I had no idea. I guess I might have underestimated what it's like down here. It's been really interesting so far." Claire's really only heard stories of what life was like living underground, and those were second hand.

[Morty]

[Underside]

"I'm glad. It's kind of what it was like for me when I went to the surface properly, for the first time," Iknika says. "The open sky, the sun, the trees everywhere... I had to wear a robe for a while. But those robes are really ugly, so I started carrying an umbrella. Now I'm used to the sun. Mostly. As much as a goblin can be."

[Deathkeeper]

Isaac's Room

Isaac tries to stumble his way back into composure.
"Well I would probably call her the moe mascot since she's more cute than funny. " is his suggestion.

Cloudy Palace

Artie gives him a peck on the cheek.
"Let me try something." she whispers into his ear, before wandering over to the brothers, using her powers to turn into the greatest desire of the one who dropped the bottle. She puts on her cutest, poutiest face.
"Please be respectful of my house. You wouldn't want me to slave all night cleaning up after you, would you?" she asks them. Or she should; if she finds herself something quite strange she might have trouble acting.

[Morty]

[Isaac's Room]

Iknika has to admit that Brinika is pretty cute. Especially for the big folk, for whom she's really tiny. She's also loud, though.

"I think she'd like being a mascot. She's very good at music, too. She's offered to be my official knightly herald at lest five times by now. But I don't have any deeds to sing about yet."

[Deathkeeper]

Isaac's Room

"Sure you do! You're one of the only goblin squires in the Nexus and you knocked a nine foot tall elephant flat on his face." Isaac says cheerily, clapping Iknika on the shoulder. That's got to be worth something, hasn't it?