[Multi-Chapter] How To Catch a Falling Star: Or Stardust, Tegomass Style, Ch. 2
... I can't believe how fast this is going. WTH. XD; (Not that I'm complaining, mind you.)
Throwing this up here for coldbloodedfire. Still looking it over, though, so there may be a few minor changes as I beta it. DONE! 8D
(Also, I kind of had way too much fun writing the last scene. 8D;)
Somewhere across the wall, unbeknownst to Takahisa or his father or Maki, a King was dying.
Granted, the number of kingdoms and so-called Kings within Faerie numbered somewhere in the hundreds at this time, so this was no great shock. However, of these “kings” it was estimated that only about 27 truly deserved the title (because, as many would point out, being “King of your Castle”, “King of the Road” and “King for a Day” didn’t really denote true royalty at all, even if you did fashion your own crown). It just so happened that this particular king that was dying on this particular day was one of the (undisputed) 27 men who actually deserved their title.
He was, in fact, the 81st King of Stormhold, one of the largest and most powerful kingdoms in all the land.
Gathered around the king’s bed were his seven sons, three who were clearly alive and breathing and four who were, unfortunately, more of a ghostly shadow than their father, having met their untimely fate at various times in years past.
His three living sons and possible future heirs to the kingdom of stronghold-Subaru, Hina and Ryo-- were gathered around the foot of his bed. They were all trying very obviously to look grief-stricken, when in fact they were all silently willing their father to get on with it, name one of them successor and die already, as they were all rather busy men and this whole death process was taking rather longer than they’d planned.
His deceased sons-Yoko, Maru, Yasu, and Ohkura-- who sometimes forgot that they were dead and couldn’t be punished for lack of decorum because they couldn’t be seen, were likewise trying to look sad while stifling their yawns. Unlike their three living brothers they didn’t have anywhere particular to be, but the afterlife is a generally tedious process and they were, unfortunately, stuck lingering until the next King of Stormhold took the throne.
Yoko and Maru had also had a bet going on who would take the throne for the past five years and were equally eager to tell the other ‘I told you so’. Maru insisted that it would be Hina, but Yoko (who favored Subaru), suspected it was because Maru was still sore at Subaru for running him over with a horse.
“Sons… my three sons,” the king finally spoke, his voice dry and brittle as he lifted one skeletal handsfrom the blankets and motioned them forward. “Here it is, the end of my life, and here you are, my three surviving sons.”
“Yes, father,” they all answered him, their most intense looks of filial loyalty plastered across their faces.
“Idiots,” the king groused, giving each of them an annoyed look as he dropped his hand back to the bed. “Layabouts, good-for-nothings, bumblers, all of you! Why, I’ll have you know that I’d murdered all 12 of my own brothers by the time I was twenty so I could be the last surviving male in the Stormhold line and take the throne! One of them was only fifteen at the time I pushed him off a cliff, even. Fifteen, my boys-that takes ambition!”
“Yes father,” the three princes answered, all starting to look a little sullen.
“Well,” said their father around a dry, rheumy cough, the disdain clear in his voice even despite all that. “Since none of you seem able to do anything right then I guess that I shall have to take matters into my own hands once again. You know, I blame your mothers for coddling you so much as boys. It drove the lust for blood clean out of you.”
“Well, Father, we did do our best. We’ve all killed one brother apiece,” Subaru pointed out with a slight frown, feeling like his father wasn’t quite appreciating the full weight of what they’d all done. “And I did run over Maru with his own horse.”
“Idiot thing,” Maru mumbled, crossing ghostly arms over an equally ghostly chest as he gave Subaru his best glare.
“Two,” Ryo spoke up as he gave both his brothers a sidelong glare, the look on his face almost smug. “I killed two.”
“Stop bragging,” Hina mumbled as he reached up to smack Ryo soundly on the back of the head. “You just got lucky that Ohkura was such a pig and ate Yasu’s leftover ham that you’d poisoned.”
Somewhere on the other side of the bed, Ohkura lifted a hand over his eyes and groaned.
“Oh, shut up already. You’re none of you that good or the other two wouldn’t be standing here!” The king cut them off, grumbling to himself as he reached up to grasp the pendant around his neck and pulled it off with a surprising burst of strength for a man about to die. “Help me to the window.”
“Yes, father,” the three living sons all mumbled in tandem, elbowing and jostling each other to be the first to get to their father’s side and help him out of bed. Hina won the honor and helped their father out of bed and over to the chamber’s only window with a look of smug satisfaction while Ryo and Subaru trailed them sullenly.
“Subaru,” the king called, snapping his fingers impatiently as he waited for his son to step forward. “Tell me what you see.”
“Yes, father,” Subaru murmured, stepping up beside the window to scan the land that laid below them. “I see our kingdom, father.”
The king pursed his lips and gave a terse nod before he turned to Hina. “And you… what do you see?”
“The strongest land in all of Faerie,” Hina answered without hesitation (and looking rather proud of himself as he did).
The king sighed heavily and turned to Ryo, trying not to roll his eyes. “And you-I suppose you see the God’s gift to man or some other rubbish, do you?”
Ryo blinked and stepped forward, his eyes gazing out the window and beyond the mountains that made the southernmost border of their kingdom. “No… I see a star.”
“Oh, well… good enough,” the king mumbled, rather disappointed that none of his sons had taken the golden opportunity he'd given them and pushed their brothers out the open window. “Keep that star in mind, boys, because it’s going to hold your destiny.” And with that the king chucked the pendant he was holding into the air and out the open window where is soared higher and higher, until it was little more than a dark speck in the distance.
The three princes were just about to protest since they all knew that that necklace (however gaudy it was) held the power of Stormhold in it and that none of them could ever rule without it, when the star that Ryo had spoken of moments earlier fell swiftly and surely from the sky.
“Find the star and the power of Stormhold and you shall be king,” the king answered with an air of finality and signaled for Hina to help him back to his bed. Once he was settled in he gave them all one last, annoyed look and sighed. “I should have had daughters.”
And with that, he died.
--
Although most people don't know it, there are many more worlds than just the one we live in. So many, in fact, that it would take a thousand lifetimes for us to imagine them all, and by the time we were done doing so even more would have sprung into existence. Because of this human beings learned a long time ago to stop trying to imagine all these worlds and, like the sometimes dull creatures we are, most of us have forgotten that they exist entirely.
However, this doesn’t change the fact that these worlds do still exist and that they are just as (if not more) real than the world we live in and places known as Japan and American and Britain could ever be.
One of these places, which is actually quite accessible if one knows only where and how to look for it, is Faerie. It's a place that many of us have visited in our dreams and yet only dare to think about fleetingly in our waking hours. It is full of magic and most of the “made up” creatures that human beings have spoken of in folktales and myths for thousands of years-- faeries, dragons, unicorns, fox spirits, mermaids, dryads, to name a few-- and it was, consequently, accessible through a small break in an old, stone wall outside a sleepy village which was, oddly enough, named Wall itself.
It was through this wall that Takahisa had wandered off in search of a fallen star and into a land filled with wonders that very few of this world ever see outside of sleep.
Even so, the fact that he was in a new and magical place did not immediately occur to Takahisa. In fact, the meadow that he passed through on the other side of the wall and all the subsequent woods and roads seemed painfully normal. He was almost disappointed.
Until, of course, he woke up to his first morning in this new land.
He was curled up beneath the same ancient-looking oak tree that he’d taken refuge under the night before, and, as far as waking went, it wasn’t completely pleasant. There was a slight crick in his neck and a dent in his cheek where he had spent half the night sleeping unknowingly on a rather large acorn, both of which made Takahisa long for the slightly lumpy straw mattress he and his brother shared at home. The memory of it seemed like a luxury compared to this.
Takahisa was feeling almost grumpy as he rubbed at his stiff neck and thought sadly of the breakfast of ham and eggs that his family was likely sitting down to at this moment. Somehow the sack full of apples and slightly stale bread that his mother had packed for him didn’t seem anywhere near as appealing as it had when he'd still been soaring high with the newness of this adventure the night before.
He had just gotten around to feeling truly sorry for himself (and his poor, empty belly), when he realized that there was a fire going not 10 feet from him and, seated beside it and directly in line with Takahisa’s vision, what looked to be either a really hairy man or some sort of overgrown hamster.
"Morning," it spoke to him, its beady little eyes meeting his own as it waved a bowl in the air and beckoned him towards the fire.
"Uh... morning," Takahisa mumbled back, hesitating only a moment before he rose and took both the seat and the bowl that the creature offered. He couldn’t quite tell what was in the bowl aside from the fact that it was rather oddly colored and steaming, but it smelled delicious and he was hungry enough to brave just about anything (he had, consequently, completely forgotten about his bag of apples and slightly stale bread by this point).
"Not much, I reckon, but good enough at filling the belly as anything," the creature mumbled, sounding almost mournful as it picked up a second bowl and laddled out some of the mysterious substance for itself.
Takahisa used the spoon that was already (quite thoughtfully, in his opinion) sitting in the bowl to take an absent bite. He stared at the creature beside him and tried to make heads or tails of him. He had to assume that the creature was some sort of man--an unfortunately hairy man, maybe, from the look of him, but a man nonetheless. Afterall, everyone knew that giant, talking hamsters just didn't exist. He remembered reading somewhere about a horrible disease that made hair grow all over a person's body, almost like fur, which was as likely an explanation for the person sitting next to him as any.
It didn't explain the tail or the creature-- no, man's, he amended-- paws, but it was enough of an explanation to satisfy him for the moment.
They finished their breakfast (which was, surprisingly, quite delicious) in silence and Takahisa sat his bowl and spoon politely aside, hoping that the strange man had soap with him so that he could wash the dishes properly, as Takahisa had completely forgotten to pack any in his rush to leave. He hoped, silently, that finding his star didn't take too long. He doubted Maki would be very impressed with him if he'd been out in the wilderness without bathing properly for very long-- star or no star. Not to mention the thought of going that long without soap made a small part of him recoil in horror.
"What's yer name?" The creature broke the silence as it took out a long, odd looking pipe and went about the awkward task of filling it with its short, stumpy fingers.
Takahisa, despite himself, couldn't help but stare blankly for a few moments as the creature filled the pipe in a surprisingly efficient manner, for all its awkwardness. "... T-takahisa. Takahisa Masuda."
The creature lifted the pipe to its mouth and took a long drawl off of it as it stared at Takahisa in return. "Not from around here, are you?"
"No. I'm from Wall," Takahisa answered, his tendency for painful honesty making him spill out more information than was altogether necessary. "I'm here to find a falling star for Maki so that she'll kiss me."
"Hm," The creature grunted, an expression of what Takahisa took to be thoughtfulness passing over its features. "A star, you say? And I don't s'pose you've ever found one before-- no, no you wouldn't have. You don't have the look about you. I guess I'll have to make sure you're properly equipped and ready to find this star of yours, then, if my conscience is to give me any rest."
Takahisa smiled politely and nodded, not really understanding much of the creature's grumblings but not wanting to risk rudeness to ask him to clarify. "And you, sir-- what do they call you?"
"I suppose you can call me Ohno. It's as close to my name as anything," the small, furry man answered, blowing a ring of smoke before them in the air as he held out a hand to shake.
"Pleased to meet you," Takahisa answered as he shook the beast's paw, surprised at just how normal this was all starting to seem.
--
Elsewhere in Faerie, approximately 100 miles away from where Ohno and Takahisa were currently enjoying idle after breakfast chatter, a squirrel was peering inquisitively into the edge of a giant crater. It’s eyes were wide as it chattered to itself (as Squirrels are prone to do), its nose wiggling with curiosity.
“I should go get it-no, no, what if it belongs to someone? Jun wouldn’t like that. I mean, what if they come after us? And they could be big-or beavers, even, and everyone knows beavers are scary. Although I’m not quite sure that they eat nuts…,” the squirrel trailed off and started to pace around the edge of the crater, its little, squirrely face scrunching up in thought. “But I could always just say that it was mine… something that big and loud and steamy would have to get us through the winter. No, three winters! Yes, if I find something that big he’ll be too surprised to ask where I got it. Why, he’ll be so grateful I bet he’d even groom my tail for me for a whole month and let me sleep on the softest part of the leaves…”
The squirrel was on the verge of gathering up enough courage to climb down into the crater when another squirrel ran up beside it, a distinct look of disapproval and (although he’d never admit it) concern on its face. “Aiba! What do you think you’re doing playing here? I thought I told you to gather nuts.”
The first squirrel froze and gave the second squirrel a sheepish look, its tail drooping a little at the reprimand. “I am! I mean… I saw the steam and so I came to investigate and I found this hole, so I thought I’d search for nuts here.” It blinked, made brave by the fact that the second squirrel actually seemed to be listening. “Just look at how big it is, Jun! Whatever nut made this hole has to be at least three, no… four times the size of a normal nut!!”
Jun sighed and reached out to smack the other squirrel (which was by this time jumping around and chattering happily about never having to search for another nut again) upside the head. He waited for Aiba to stop moving around and calm himself a little before he spoke, his voice taking on a familiar, slow tone, as if he was talking to a particularly small child. “This hole wasn’t made by a nut, you idiot. Nuts don’t get that big and they obviously don’t steam and swear quite as dreadfully as whatever is in that hole is doing right now.”
“But… I thought it had to be a nut. Only nuts and leaves and twigs and pinecones fall in the forrest, and none of those other things could have made this hole,” Aiba pointed out, his tail drooping and his bottom lip trembling ever so slightly.
Jun sighed again, his tone a little kinder. “This time it’s not, though. It’s a star, I saw it fall last night when you were sleeping.”
“Really?” Aiba blinked and turned away from Jun to edge toward the crater again, hoping to get a better look. He’d never seen a real live star up close before.
Jun groaned and moved forward to block Aiba’s way, steering him back towards the woods. “No no… you don’t want to look at it. Anything that swears that much can’t be pleasant.”
Aiba looked thoughtful for a moment as he listened to the steady stream of curses coming from the crater-some which he was sure even Nino didn’t know-before he nodded and let Jun lead him away. “I guess not. They always look so pretty up in the sky, though.”
“Only because they’re up so high,” Jun assured him, his tail reaching out to wrap around the other’s (in what was most definitely not a gesture of affection, whatever anyone else said) as they disappeared among the trees.
Meanwhile, there was one more particularly loud obscenity from the crater before the woods went silent.
Throwing this up here for coldbloodedfire. Still looking it over, though, so there may be a few minor changes as I beta it. DONE! 8D
(Also, I kind of had way too much fun writing the last scene. 8D;)
Somewhere across the wall, unbeknownst to Takahisa or his father or Maki, a King was dying.
Granted, the number of kingdoms and so-called Kings within Faerie numbered somewhere in the hundreds at this time, so this was no great shock. However, of these “kings” it was estimated that only about 27 truly deserved the title (because, as many would point out, being “King of your Castle”, “King of the Road” and “King for a Day” didn’t really denote true royalty at all, even if you did fashion your own crown). It just so happened that this particular king that was dying on this particular day was one of the (undisputed) 27 men who actually deserved their title.
He was, in fact, the 81st King of Stormhold, one of the largest and most powerful kingdoms in all the land.
Gathered around the king’s bed were his seven sons, three who were clearly alive and breathing and four who were, unfortunately, more of a ghostly shadow than their father, having met their untimely fate at various times in years past.
His three living sons and possible future heirs to the kingdom of stronghold-Subaru, Hina and Ryo-- were gathered around the foot of his bed. They were all trying very obviously to look grief-stricken, when in fact they were all silently willing their father to get on with it, name one of them successor and die already, as they were all rather busy men and this whole death process was taking rather longer than they’d planned.
His deceased sons-Yoko, Maru, Yasu, and Ohkura-- who sometimes forgot that they were dead and couldn’t be punished for lack of decorum because they couldn’t be seen, were likewise trying to look sad while stifling their yawns. Unlike their three living brothers they didn’t have anywhere particular to be, but the afterlife is a generally tedious process and they were, unfortunately, stuck lingering until the next King of Stormhold took the throne.
Yoko and Maru had also had a bet going on who would take the throne for the past five years and were equally eager to tell the other ‘I told you so’. Maru insisted that it would be Hina, but Yoko (who favored Subaru), suspected it was because Maru was still sore at Subaru for running him over with a horse.
“Sons… my three sons,” the king finally spoke, his voice dry and brittle as he lifted one skeletal handsfrom the blankets and motioned them forward. “Here it is, the end of my life, and here you are, my three surviving sons.”
“Yes, father,” they all answered him, their most intense looks of filial loyalty plastered across their faces.
“Idiots,” the king groused, giving each of them an annoyed look as he dropped his hand back to the bed. “Layabouts, good-for-nothings, bumblers, all of you! Why, I’ll have you know that I’d murdered all 12 of my own brothers by the time I was twenty so I could be the last surviving male in the Stormhold line and take the throne! One of them was only fifteen at the time I pushed him off a cliff, even. Fifteen, my boys-that takes ambition!”
“Yes father,” the three princes answered, all starting to look a little sullen.
“Well,” said their father around a dry, rheumy cough, the disdain clear in his voice even despite all that. “Since none of you seem able to do anything right then I guess that I shall have to take matters into my own hands once again. You know, I blame your mothers for coddling you so much as boys. It drove the lust for blood clean out of you.”
“Well, Father, we did do our best. We’ve all killed one brother apiece,” Subaru pointed out with a slight frown, feeling like his father wasn’t quite appreciating the full weight of what they’d all done. “And I did run over Maru with his own horse.”
“Idiot thing,” Maru mumbled, crossing ghostly arms over an equally ghostly chest as he gave Subaru his best glare.
“Two,” Ryo spoke up as he gave both his brothers a sidelong glare, the look on his face almost smug. “I killed two.”
“Stop bragging,” Hina mumbled as he reached up to smack Ryo soundly on the back of the head. “You just got lucky that Ohkura was such a pig and ate Yasu’s leftover ham that you’d poisoned.”
Somewhere on the other side of the bed, Ohkura lifted a hand over his eyes and groaned.
“Oh, shut up already. You’re none of you that good or the other two wouldn’t be standing here!” The king cut them off, grumbling to himself as he reached up to grasp the pendant around his neck and pulled it off with a surprising burst of strength for a man about to die. “Help me to the window.”
“Yes, father,” the three living sons all mumbled in tandem, elbowing and jostling each other to be the first to get to their father’s side and help him out of bed. Hina won the honor and helped their father out of bed and over to the chamber’s only window with a look of smug satisfaction while Ryo and Subaru trailed them sullenly.
“Subaru,” the king called, snapping his fingers impatiently as he waited for his son to step forward. “Tell me what you see.”
“Yes, father,” Subaru murmured, stepping up beside the window to scan the land that laid below them. “I see our kingdom, father.”
The king pursed his lips and gave a terse nod before he turned to Hina. “And you… what do you see?”
“The strongest land in all of Faerie,” Hina answered without hesitation (and looking rather proud of himself as he did).
The king sighed heavily and turned to Ryo, trying not to roll his eyes. “And you-I suppose you see the God’s gift to man or some other rubbish, do you?”
Ryo blinked and stepped forward, his eyes gazing out the window and beyond the mountains that made the southernmost border of their kingdom. “No… I see a star.”
“Oh, well… good enough,” the king mumbled, rather disappointed that none of his sons had taken the golden opportunity he'd given them and pushed their brothers out the open window. “Keep that star in mind, boys, because it’s going to hold your destiny.” And with that the king chucked the pendant he was holding into the air and out the open window where is soared higher and higher, until it was little more than a dark speck in the distance.
The three princes were just about to protest since they all knew that that necklace (however gaudy it was) held the power of Stormhold in it and that none of them could ever rule without it, when the star that Ryo had spoken of moments earlier fell swiftly and surely from the sky.
“Find the star and the power of Stormhold and you shall be king,” the king answered with an air of finality and signaled for Hina to help him back to his bed. Once he was settled in he gave them all one last, annoyed look and sighed. “I should have had daughters.”
And with that, he died.
--
Although most people don't know it, there are many more worlds than just the one we live in. So many, in fact, that it would take a thousand lifetimes for us to imagine them all, and by the time we were done doing so even more would have sprung into existence. Because of this human beings learned a long time ago to stop trying to imagine all these worlds and, like the sometimes dull creatures we are, most of us have forgotten that they exist entirely.
However, this doesn’t change the fact that these worlds do still exist and that they are just as (if not more) real than the world we live in and places known as Japan and American and Britain could ever be.
One of these places, which is actually quite accessible if one knows only where and how to look for it, is Faerie. It's a place that many of us have visited in our dreams and yet only dare to think about fleetingly in our waking hours. It is full of magic and most of the “made up” creatures that human beings have spoken of in folktales and myths for thousands of years-- faeries, dragons, unicorns, fox spirits, mermaids, dryads, to name a few-- and it was, consequently, accessible through a small break in an old, stone wall outside a sleepy village which was, oddly enough, named Wall itself.
It was through this wall that Takahisa had wandered off in search of a fallen star and into a land filled with wonders that very few of this world ever see outside of sleep.
Even so, the fact that he was in a new and magical place did not immediately occur to Takahisa. In fact, the meadow that he passed through on the other side of the wall and all the subsequent woods and roads seemed painfully normal. He was almost disappointed.
Until, of course, he woke up to his first morning in this new land.
He was curled up beneath the same ancient-looking oak tree that he’d taken refuge under the night before, and, as far as waking went, it wasn’t completely pleasant. There was a slight crick in his neck and a dent in his cheek where he had spent half the night sleeping unknowingly on a rather large acorn, both of which made Takahisa long for the slightly lumpy straw mattress he and his brother shared at home. The memory of it seemed like a luxury compared to this.
Takahisa was feeling almost grumpy as he rubbed at his stiff neck and thought sadly of the breakfast of ham and eggs that his family was likely sitting down to at this moment. Somehow the sack full of apples and slightly stale bread that his mother had packed for him didn’t seem anywhere near as appealing as it had when he'd still been soaring high with the newness of this adventure the night before.
He had just gotten around to feeling truly sorry for himself (and his poor, empty belly), when he realized that there was a fire going not 10 feet from him and, seated beside it and directly in line with Takahisa’s vision, what looked to be either a really hairy man or some sort of overgrown hamster.
"Morning," it spoke to him, its beady little eyes meeting his own as it waved a bowl in the air and beckoned him towards the fire.
"Uh... morning," Takahisa mumbled back, hesitating only a moment before he rose and took both the seat and the bowl that the creature offered. He couldn’t quite tell what was in the bowl aside from the fact that it was rather oddly colored and steaming, but it smelled delicious and he was hungry enough to brave just about anything (he had, consequently, completely forgotten about his bag of apples and slightly stale bread by this point).
"Not much, I reckon, but good enough at filling the belly as anything," the creature mumbled, sounding almost mournful as it picked up a second bowl and laddled out some of the mysterious substance for itself.
Takahisa used the spoon that was already (quite thoughtfully, in his opinion) sitting in the bowl to take an absent bite. He stared at the creature beside him and tried to make heads or tails of him. He had to assume that the creature was some sort of man--an unfortunately hairy man, maybe, from the look of him, but a man nonetheless. Afterall, everyone knew that giant, talking hamsters just didn't exist. He remembered reading somewhere about a horrible disease that made hair grow all over a person's body, almost like fur, which was as likely an explanation for the person sitting next to him as any.
It didn't explain the tail or the creature-- no, man's, he amended-- paws, but it was enough of an explanation to satisfy him for the moment.
They finished their breakfast (which was, surprisingly, quite delicious) in silence and Takahisa sat his bowl and spoon politely aside, hoping that the strange man had soap with him so that he could wash the dishes properly, as Takahisa had completely forgotten to pack any in his rush to leave. He hoped, silently, that finding his star didn't take too long. He doubted Maki would be very impressed with him if he'd been out in the wilderness without bathing properly for very long-- star or no star. Not to mention the thought of going that long without soap made a small part of him recoil in horror.
"What's yer name?" The creature broke the silence as it took out a long, odd looking pipe and went about the awkward task of filling it with its short, stumpy fingers.
Takahisa, despite himself, couldn't help but stare blankly for a few moments as the creature filled the pipe in a surprisingly efficient manner, for all its awkwardness. "... T-takahisa. Takahisa Masuda."
The creature lifted the pipe to its mouth and took a long drawl off of it as it stared at Takahisa in return. "Not from around here, are you?"
"No. I'm from Wall," Takahisa answered, his tendency for painful honesty making him spill out more information than was altogether necessary. "I'm here to find a falling star for Maki so that she'll kiss me."
"Hm," The creature grunted, an expression of what Takahisa took to be thoughtfulness passing over its features. "A star, you say? And I don't s'pose you've ever found one before-- no, no you wouldn't have. You don't have the look about you. I guess I'll have to make sure you're properly equipped and ready to find this star of yours, then, if my conscience is to give me any rest."
Takahisa smiled politely and nodded, not really understanding much of the creature's grumblings but not wanting to risk rudeness to ask him to clarify. "And you, sir-- what do they call you?"
"I suppose you can call me Ohno. It's as close to my name as anything," the small, furry man answered, blowing a ring of smoke before them in the air as he held out a hand to shake.
"Pleased to meet you," Takahisa answered as he shook the beast's paw, surprised at just how normal this was all starting to seem.
--
Elsewhere in Faerie, approximately 100 miles away from where Ohno and Takahisa were currently enjoying idle after breakfast chatter, a squirrel was peering inquisitively into the edge of a giant crater. It’s eyes were wide as it chattered to itself (as Squirrels are prone to do), its nose wiggling with curiosity.
“I should go get it-no, no, what if it belongs to someone? Jun wouldn’t like that. I mean, what if they come after us? And they could be big-or beavers, even, and everyone knows beavers are scary. Although I’m not quite sure that they eat nuts…,” the squirrel trailed off and started to pace around the edge of the crater, its little, squirrely face scrunching up in thought. “But I could always just say that it was mine… something that big and loud and steamy would have to get us through the winter. No, three winters! Yes, if I find something that big he’ll be too surprised to ask where I got it. Why, he’ll be so grateful I bet he’d even groom my tail for me for a whole month and let me sleep on the softest part of the leaves…”
The squirrel was on the verge of gathering up enough courage to climb down into the crater when another squirrel ran up beside it, a distinct look of disapproval and (although he’d never admit it) concern on its face. “Aiba! What do you think you’re doing playing here? I thought I told you to gather nuts.”
The first squirrel froze and gave the second squirrel a sheepish look, its tail drooping a little at the reprimand. “I am! I mean… I saw the steam and so I came to investigate and I found this hole, so I thought I’d search for nuts here.” It blinked, made brave by the fact that the second squirrel actually seemed to be listening. “Just look at how big it is, Jun! Whatever nut made this hole has to be at least three, no… four times the size of a normal nut!!”
Jun sighed and reached out to smack the other squirrel (which was by this time jumping around and chattering happily about never having to search for another nut again) upside the head. He waited for Aiba to stop moving around and calm himself a little before he spoke, his voice taking on a familiar, slow tone, as if he was talking to a particularly small child. “This hole wasn’t made by a nut, you idiot. Nuts don’t get that big and they obviously don’t steam and swear quite as dreadfully as whatever is in that hole is doing right now.”
“But… I thought it had to be a nut. Only nuts and leaves and twigs and pinecones fall in the forrest, and none of those other things could have made this hole,” Aiba pointed out, his tail drooping and his bottom lip trembling ever so slightly.
Jun sighed again, his tone a little kinder. “This time it’s not, though. It’s a star, I saw it fall last night when you were sleeping.”
“Really?” Aiba blinked and turned away from Jun to edge toward the crater again, hoping to get a better look. He’d never seen a real live star up close before.
Jun groaned and moved forward to block Aiba’s way, steering him back towards the woods. “No no… you don’t want to look at it. Anything that swears that much can’t be pleasant.”
Aiba looked thoughtful for a moment as he listened to the steady stream of curses coming from the crater-some which he was sure even Nino didn’t know-before he nodded and let Jun lead him away. “I guess not. They always look so pretty up in the sky, though.”
“Only because they’re up so high,” Jun assured him, his tail reaching out to wrap around the other’s (in what was most definitely not a gesture of affection, whatever anyone else said) as they disappeared among the trees.
Meanwhile, there was one more particularly loud obscenity from the crater before the woods went silent.