[PRP] Storytime (Maneki/Akko)

[Magician Arcana]

A normal, safe night. Two mutants decide to share stories
back logged rp: Pre-summer 2k15 Meta

 

[Magician Arcana]

Maneki carefully squirmed out of his hiding spot. The little nook barely fit his body and two or three books, but it was cozy and he wasn't willing to abandon it. If it meant a few scrapes to get in and out of, that was fine by him.

Standing, the mutant brushed off his clothes, a book tucked firmly under his arm. Reading had become a sort of addiction. He loved the stories, the adventures. After a long day of getting lost in fantasy and fun, he was eager to interact with one of the most important trolls in his life - Merm.

"Meeeerm? Where are you?" Maneki padded to the lower area and peeked around, stretching again and yawning. The night was getting long, and soon dawn would approach. Tiredness tugged at his eyes, "Meeerrrmy!"  

[melona-pan]

Byakko had quietly busied herself that night with the new tasks that came along with raising another living creature. She often found herself elbow-deep the entire night doing mundane things around the hive just to keep things in order; and wasting way too much time due to the simple fact she didn't know exactly what she was doing. Run a rebellion? Sure. Set up trials and usher in a new wave of freshly hatched trolls? Why not. Cleaning up after while at the same time supervising a baby mutantblood with a bad case of cabin fever, all while keeping a lookstub on dinner so it didn't burn? A total daymare.

This time, she was literally up to her elbows in muddied water, endlessly scraping an alarming amount of dirt and grime off of Maneki's clothes. Laundry- this was fairly new. Akko didn't make a habit of rolling around in mud. Even then, when her clothes were soiled beyond comfort, (often stained with her mutation), she'd just grab whatever clothing the Initiative had laying around to replace them. So was cooking- it was one thing to throw together scraps for herself, but Maneki was a growing troll and needed things of more sustenance. Or, at least, that's what she wanted for him. That was the correct thing to do, right? Laundry, cooking, cleaning... it was all so foreign to her, and while the tasks weren't entirely new per say, actually having to perform them to an acceptable degree was. And it was oddly exhausting.

Still, even with the gnawing sense of anxious urgency that she needed to spend every waking minute with the Initiative and was failing to do so, it had some upsides.

Perking as Maneki's light voice drawled through the hive, Akko pushed aside the washbasin disdainfully and called over her shoulder. "I'm down here."

Patting off her arms off on a patchy, worn out towel, Akko rounded the corner and stopped as Maneki broke into view. "How may I assist- are you hungry?" She may have been getting the hang of keeping Maneki alive and fed, but expressing her building maternal affection was another game altogether.

Magician Arcana

 

[Magician Arcana]

Breaking into a large, joyous grin, the mutant scampered across the distance and clung himself to Byakko legs, "Merm! You smell like soap," Soap, despite smelling decent, did not taste good. Maneki had learned this the hard way. Pulling back just enough to see his lusus, he continued, "Nope! I'm not hungry. I want to read stories with you.It'd be really really fun." Let alone he loved the sound of her voice, the way she spoke and held herself, and the simple kindness, the smell of her pelt and the warmth of her body.

"Can we, can we? Pleeeease Merm!"

melona-pan

 

[melona-pan]

"Mmm. Do I?" It was an empty question meant to humour him more than anything. Reaching down to weave her fingers through Maneki's tangled hair, she gave his head an affectionate, albeit robotic pat on the head.

Maneki's unabashed eagerness tugged a smile at the corners of Akko's lips. It never fully formed. Shaking her head instead, she let out a weak laugh, ducking down to secure her arms around Maneki's knees and hoist him up onto the nook of her elbows. "Yeah, sure. I don't see why not." Any excuse to put aside her mind numbing chores. Thankfully the high energy youth had taken a shining to such a quiet past time- if Akko wasn't granted these moments of peace, she wasn't sure how she would have kept a grasp on her sanity. She nodded down at the book he was clutching. "Is that the one?" Making her way over to an ancient looking rocking chair on the other side of their stone hive, Akko settled down carefully and placed Maneki in her lap. The chair let out a wooden groan of protest, but held defiantly and began to sway rhythmically. Somehow despite all the apparent wear, it was miraculously still in one piece with all the original hardware.

Noting how the draft nipped at her toes, Byakko nestled her pelt around Maneki and cleared her throat. "So, what are you going to read to me?"

Magician Arcana

 

[Magician Arcana]

A peel of giggles raced from Maneki as he was lifted up into Byakko's arms. He tucked the book closer to his chest with one arm and wrapped the other around his lusus' neck, revelling in the warmth and closeness, "Yes! This one," He struggled with one arm to shift it enough so she could see the cover. It had a picture of two redbloods with swords, and in the background were zombies, "It's the story of two eggmates fighting tyranny against the zombie queen of Alternia! It's super good and the one girl, her, reminds me of you." He pointed to one redblood, who had short spunky hair and... oddly skimpy clothing. At least from the cover art. These things were never reliable, though.

Excitement raced up his throat once more as they sat in the old rocker. The familiar sensation of back and forth was lulling. It was a comfortable spot and Maneki twisted and turned until he was just so against Byakko's lap and chest. When the pelt came around him, all the muscles in his body seemed to slump harder yet until he appeared to be more noodle than troll, "Do you want me to go first then? Cause I will!" He was eager to go first in fact, perhaps wanting to in the first place, but he'd never swipe the opportunity from his merm. If she wanted to start them off on their storytime adventure then so be it. He would not stand in her way (or sit in this case).

"Hey, but before that, how did we get this chair? It's so great. It makes the best sounds and it's SUPER comfy."

melona-pan

 

[melona-pan]

Byakko's eyebrows slid up her forehead when Maneki cheerfully pointed towards one of the redblood protagonists. She wasn't sure if he referred to the fighting-against-the-Queen thing or the... choice of clothing the artist had rendered, but she wasn't about to prod him to elaborate. Besides- she didn't run around in an armoured bikini. That was ridiculously absurd. What was the practicality in such attire? Her robes offered freedom of movement, not-

She had to stop herself from over analyzing his beaming statement, realizing it probably was meant as an innocent compliment. "That's... good." Yes, tactfully dealt with.

Steadying the rocking movement of the chair with her feet while Maneki squirmed around to get comfortable, Akko gave her adopted child a nod of approval. "Mhm. You can read to me tonight." Byakko preferred it this way. She had never been one for talking. It was more her style to simply sit and observe, when the situation didn't call for her to speak up. Compared to Maneki at this age, his level of articulation was leagues above hers; assumedly books had helped elevate his, while sweeps kept isolated underground only hindered hers. Reading had been Trolldad's way of reintroducing her to their spoken tongue and expanding upon it, but as soon as she grasped enough language to hold an intelligible conversation, they had advanced to just that.

Maneki, however, hadn't lost touch with the world in the way she had. At first reading to him had been an easy past time to fill in the gaps between basic training drills and feeding, if only because she didn't know what else to actually do with him. The little mutant remained enthralled with books in a way that never truly captivated her, and thanks to the other rebel's hauls he was never short on reading material. Byakko had grown fond of their reading time- even looked forward to them to break up the monotony of the nights spent away from the rebel bases. They started as her reading to him, but as Maneki slowly grew, so did the time he spent reading to her instead. It left her with a warm, glowing feeling; was she proud? Something about him asserting his independence? The results weren't as tangible as say, his physical growth when she made him run laps or climb the steep mountain terrain, but it still left her feeling... something.

With the timing of his second question, it was almost as if Maneki had read the trail of thoughts on her thinkpan. She tensed, giving the tiny troll an involuntary squeeze. "It's always been here," that wasn't entirely truthful. She vaguely remembered Trolldad building the chair- she certainly remembered running back and forth lugging big boughs of curved wood until he had approved of her selections. Most of it was a haze, but as far as she was concerned, it had always been a permanent fixture in their hive.

She paused, hesitant. Maneki was certain to ask sooner or later about her own origins, with his ever insatiable curiosity. "My lusus used to read to me like this when I was little, too."

Magician Arcana