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(( booker and Aaralyn and Harmony :: Feb 17 2008 ))

Eggs. It seemed that, one way or another, he was always called back to the dragon's home with another egg showed up on her doorstep. She really, truly was a terrible parent... Then again, he wasn't entirely sure why she thought that he'd be any better at looking after a little one.

He had sighed and, of course, he had agreed. After the egg had hatched (this one seeming to favor Callista as well) he had agreed to show it where the Center was... And that was where they were now.

She tilted her head to the side as she eyed the couch that the large, blue Jivvin was stretched out on. It was pretty high up and she wanted to be there too... But she just couldn't manage it. Nose wrinkling she wriggled her backside, taking a few steps back before leaping in the direction of the couch again.

Booker was in the den on the lower floor.... and he was jumping on the sofa. Every bounce was engineered to get the little guy more and more height, and it seemed to be working. He laughed everytime his reached the top of the jump and as he fell back towards the cushions he emitted a tennor 'wooooaaaahhhhhh' until his feet connected... then the force of the impact knocked the breath out of him for a split second until he was able to laugh again.

It was a pure science of fun... and Booker was getting an A+.


Hearing a noise she glanced up from the heap she'd fallen onto on the floor, nose wrinkling as she scrambled away from the not-so-watchful gaze of the blue Jivvin. He wasn't any fun anyways... At least, not when he was lying down. His tail was fun to pounce at when he was walking...

She skidded around the corner, paws barely keeping her from running into the door frame as she peeked into the room that the noise was coming from. Her head followed the bouncing form. Up... Down... Up... Down...

How did that one get up there?

Booker leapt a few more times before missing a step, causing him to crash to the floor in a heap of giggles. It was a matter of seconds before the small white and green sprite was back on his feet, racing over to the coffee table on the far end of the room. He leapt up onto the wooden top, from there turned to the arm chair, bounding off that onto the endtable for the sofa and then he was back on the springs ready to jump...

but he saw the jivvin in the doorway and grinned at her before waving a paw and giving a quick hop. "Hiya. You jumping?"

She tilted her head to the side as she watched him, eyes wide at just how brilliant that bit of jumping seemed to be. So that was how she was supposed to get up... She would have to remember that... And practice sometime when no one was watching. Maybe.

She shook her head slowly. As fun as it looked she wasn't quite sure she was ready for something like that...

He laughed, hopped a few more times, and then crashed to the floor on purpose. Picking himself up out of his 'pile of Booker' he trotted over to her and sat down in front of her. He looked her up and down, and saw that she wasn't a sprite, so he figured that she was a very small jivvin... in his head, however, her age didn't appear to click. His little wings flickered briefly with the happiness of having met someone new.

"Ahm Booker. You have a name?"

"Boo-ger?" No. That didn't sound like what he'd just said. Her nose wrinkled as she thought for a moment before trying again. "Book." That would have to do for now. It sounded closer, at least. She knew that she had been called something before but she'd yet to pay much attention to it. There were nice, soft voices and then the louder onces and it didn't matter what they said... Not when tone said a lot more.

"Moni." That was close to what they'd called her, she was pretty sure, not certain why others would pick such long things to spout at each other.

Already being in a goofy mood, once the word Booger was thrown out there, Booker laughed twice through his nose trying not to laugh at all, and then he let himself go collapsing into a heap of giggles. "You called me booger." Having grown up with Gus, the little sprite was unused to being called names, intentionally or no.

Finally he pulled himself to his senses and his feet and he came back up to her level. "So. Booger and Money on an adventure." He grinned at her. "Where will we go?"

Laughter was generally a good thing so when the other little one began to laugh she smiled, tail swishing slowly behind her. He seemed friendly enough. Friendly was just as good as laughter... As long as it was happy laughter.

"Um..." She looked at him for a moment before glancing back in the direction she'd come from. "Big Bloo." He might be worried that she'd wandered off. The pretty girl always told her not to go wandering too far without making sure someone knew where she was.

He glanced down the hall, and nodded in agreement. "We adventure then!" and he turned tail towards the direction she had pointed. Marching down the hall, he found hinself searching for the creature known as 'big bloo'... sounded like the name of a dragon to him....

As they rounded the corner he saw Aara's feet streched out in front of the sofa, and at first Booker thought it was Gus... but no, his mind suplied Gus's information and he realized that other than being a two legged jivvin, this guy was nothing like Gus.

So booker climbed up onto the sofa beside Aara, and glanced back at Harmony. "Is this the Big Bloo, evil dragon of the west, keeper of the keys of the caves of wonder?"

She trotted along after him, trying not to giggle as she skidded to a stop, listening to him talk. "Big Bloo not... Eeevil. Big Bloo good." She nodded slowly as she scrambled towards the couch, pouncing at Aaralyn's tail as it swished down against the floor.

His brow lofted slightly as he shifted, ear tilting towards the sound of little voices. A slight smirk curved his lips as golden eyes found the sprite that had made its way up onto the sofa with him. "It is as the little lady says, I am afraid. No evil dragon here... But a keeper of keys I might be should you be the seeker of them."

Booker's eyes went wide as he listened to them both talk... then he narrowed his little eyes at Aara, and stalked a half circle on the sofa next to the man. "you know that's what evil always says." He jumped into a deep mocking voice. "I'm not evil, I swear." And then back into his own voice, "And then they pounce on you and tie you to a chair... I know, it happened to Shade." He nodded knowingly twice before leaping up into Aara's lap, and putting himself into a potision to ransack Aara's person and potential pockets for the keys... which he did.

"Where you keeping these keys, mister dragon? I ain't got all day! Me and the lady fair have some adenturing to do and you're keeping us from the cave you rapscallion!" Rapscallion, just happened to be one of Gus's favourite words to use in reference to Booker... so nartually it was one that Booker loved to use on other people.

"You'll never find them that way, you know." He held perfectly still as he was searched. "No key keeper ever keeps the keys where they're easy to find, you know. Finding keys is supposed to be an adventure of its own."

Her brow furrowed slightly as she glanced up from the little nest she'd made of Aara's tail, head tilting slightly as she watched the two. "Wha'sa... Kee?"

Booker frowned at the man while answering Moni's question. "A key is the only thing keeping us from adventuring through the caves of wonders." His brain pondered quickly what kind of cave had a key, but he was sure that it was possible some way... he just wasn't sure yet.

So he climbed right up into Aara's face, perching comically and akwardly like a shoulder ride only backwards. His little feet braced against the top of the back of the sofa, and his front feet gripping Aara's face on either side. "You are being difficult enough that now I KNOW you're evil. Only evil is this... evil."

He cleared his throat softly as he reached up to take hold of the little creature, meaning to pluck it from its position as he shifted with every intention of standing. "If I was evil don't you think I would have done something wretched like make you disappear? Or eaten you or something?" His brow lofted slightly, golden eyes gleaming with amusement as his tail swished back and forth. "I suppose I -could- find something to feed you to that actually -was- evil..." Not that he would, of course. That would be terrible.

Her eyes went wide as she glanced up at the other two. Aara wouldn't... He was nice.

Booker leaned back, more fascinated than scared. "You can do that?" That would be awesome. "If you could dissapear me, where would you send me?" He was too hyper right now to even wait for a proper answer, and he turned to Moni. "Has he ever dissapeared you?"

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he set the sprite back down on the couch. "I've never tried it before... But I've heard it isn't all that hard... All you have to do is close your eyes and go 'lalala' and poof. They're gone." He nodded slowly. "Now, if you'll excuse me... I'll leave the two of you to your adventure." He nodded, reaching into his pocket to drop a small, plastic toy key onto the couch.

"I'll send Maeve to come walk you home, Harmony."

"... Kay." Maeve was pretty and a very nice color. She also talked a lot and had a big fluffy tail that was also fun to chase. Of course her attention quickly drifted from that to the key that had fallen onto the couch. "Oooooo."

Booker pounced on the key with new found intent. Then he watched as Aara walked away. He's said something about Maeve... that must be some other kind of evil dragon. Or maybe not evil at all... maybe not even a dragon.

He filed that away for further thought, and turned to Moni. "This is a key. And it's just what we were looking for. Would you like to be the key keeper?"

"..." Her brow furrowed slightly as she thought for a moment. Would holding on to the key make her evil? She wasn't sure she wanted to be that... She'd rather still be good. "Book hold key." She nodded slowly, muzzle curving into a smile.

Booker nodded knowinly down at her and scooped the key up in his little teeth. Then he launched himself off the sofa, giving his wings a flap or to to slow his decent, and landed ungracefully in front of her.

"Hookay, we kin go onna advennchure now." The key in his teeth impeded his speech, but it was an honor he wasn't ready to give up yet. And on top of that he knew exactly the place to adventure.

He waved his tail in the direction of the hallway, leading them both towards the kitchen. Once they made it there he dropped the key under the table and crouched down under a chair... "We have to be brave and quiet in here... "

As long as he had the key she could follow along happily, smile becoming even brighter as they entered the kitchen. She might not have been in this particular kitchen before but she had been in the dragons and the one thing she had learned quickly was that food usually meant numnums of some sort. Just thinking about it made her tummy grumble. "Kay."

He scooped the key back up in his little teeth and crawled comicaly across the floor on his stomach. His little ears pressed back against his head, and he tail as flat against the groud behind him. In that position it took him two minutes and 37 seconds just to get across the kitchen to in front of the sink. Then with a double take around the room *presumably looking for enemies* he kicked open the cupboard under the sink and used the towel rack inside to climb to the countertop. Next he padded across to an empty fishtank and hopped in.

Peering out through the glass he narrowed his eyes at the room. "Are you keeping an eye out for ememies?"

Her head tilted to the side as she watched him, shaking her head in a negative when he spoke before nodding quickly after glancing around. Someone had to keep an eye out, after all... And if he was doing, well, whatever it was that he was doing... She would look out.

Huffing softly she made her way into the Center, muttering several things as she padded down the hall. Since when was she the baby sitter? Oh, that's right... Since Beryl was preoccupied and Aaralyn decided that he was too whatever to be watching out after little ones. Somehow this was all his fault.

There was something terribly interesting about the inside of the fishtank and the way that the world looked from inside of it. Kind of wavy and fluid... with little spots of green fleck in it... His brain noted that someone was probably in the process of cleaning the tank. It also noted that there was probably just enough room in the tank for the both of them.

He tapped on the glass and peered over at Moni. "This is super awesome. You should come in here." And then he found himself enjoying the way his little tennor voice bounced around the glass.

Her tail swished for a moment before she followed the path he had taken up to the fish tank, hind feet scrambling for a moment as she climbed up onto the counter before deciding she was safe. She glanced around from this knew height before trotting over to the fish tank, falling in on top of the other with a soft 'oof'.

Her brow furrowed as she checked the room with the couch and found... Nothing. "Great." She grumbled to herself, sniffing around for a moment. "Harmonyyy... Where aaaaare yoooou?" She didn't have all day...

With the two of them sitting side by side in the tank the sound was even better... it bounced around even quicker, and just the rustling sounds of fur and such delighted his little ears. Then a new sound reached his ears and he repeated it... "Harmonnnyyyy" He liked the sound of that... and then it ocoured to him that it sounded like Money... he turned to the jivvin stuffed in the fish tank beside him... "Harmonnnyyyy? Is that your whole name?"

She nodded slowly as she peeked up over the edge of the fish tank. "Mae!" She wriggled, tail swishing around as she tried to see the other Jivvin that she could hear calling her.

"Stupid pup..." She muttered beneath her breath, perking up slightly as she heard her name. "Harmony? Where are you?"

Booker jumped up so he too was hanging up over the edge. "We're sleeping with the fishes!" He'd heard that in a story once, and didn't know what it meant, but it seemed apropriate for this situation to him. "Booger and Money in the ocean." He dropped back into the tank "swimming swimming swimming swimming... I like swimming. But it's too cold outside to swim now." And then he laughed to himself, obviously lost in his own thoughts.

"Sleeping with the..." Her eyes went wide as she quickly took off towards the sound of the voices. That definitely wasn't good. Harmony didn't know how to swim!

She skidded to a halt, brow furrowing as she gazed up at the fish tank that was empty save for a little Jivvin and a sprite. "... You shouldn't be up there, you know."

"Maeee." She grinned, tail swishing for another moment before she glanced back down at Booker. "Cave in ocean?" Her brow lofted. Weren't they supposed to be looking for a cave of wonders?

Booker frowned at the statement. "There's not a no swimming sign anywhere in this kitchen." And then he nodded and began to search around the bottom of the fishtank for the key. "Besides... We're looking for the cave of wonders, like Money said."

"You aren't going to find any caves in the kitchen." She snorted softly as she sat back, eying the other two from where she sat. "Aaralyn sent me to come walk you home so that you didn't get lost, Harmony."

"... Hoome." She pouted, sinking back down into the fish tank for a moment. But... She was having fun. She didn't want to go home just yet... Even if she was starting to get a little bit sleepy.

Booker jumped up again so that his front feet and head were above the lip of the tank again. "You have no faith." And he shook his head over at Mave.

Then he sunk back into the tank and smiled at Harmony. "Harmony's a pretty name. And you can go home now if you really want, cause we can search for the cave another day." Nod nod "There's always another day."

She tilted her head towards the other, managing to stifle a yawn as she leaned her head against the sprite for a moment. "Pwomise, Book?"

Shaking her head slowly she got up, making her way over to the counter so that she could hop up, sticking her muzzle into the tank. "I'll bring you back here even if Aara doesn't... And you can play with your little friend again, okay?" She nosed the little one before carefully picking her up by the scruff of her neck.

Booker nodded his head as seriously as was possible for him. "I promise." And a promise was something not to be taken lightly... that's what Gus said.

"Til we meet again fair maiden." He didn't really know what that meant either, but that's the kind of thing that they were always saying in stories, whenever someone left.

"Byyyeee." She called softly out to Booker as Maeve hopped down off of the counter, carrying her off towards home. It wasn't so bad being toted around like this... She could sleep and make more plans for another day.

Booker smiled to himself before hunkering down into the fishtank again, ready to pounce and stalk any new threats to his situation.... out of the corner of his eye he noticed the key at the base of the tank, and he pulled it over under him with his tail... there was always another day.

(( Gus and Booker :: Oct 30 2006 ))

Gus turned back to the computer screen with a sigh. He hated computers. The light hurt his eyes, and he always felt stupid sitting in front of them. His fingers poked at the keyboard slowly, one letter at a time, until he was able to form a sentance that made sense. He wouldn't even be doing this if he hadn't been trying to get ahold of certain people and jivvins.

Sooner than later, Gus turned off the computer and leaned back in the chair, mission unaccomplished.

"Gus?"

He turned and looked down at the small Jivvin sprite beside him and smiled kindly with one side of his mouth. "What's up?"

"will you read me a story?" Booker loved to be read to. Gus was sure that Booker would read to himself if he could, but the poor kid just didn't seem smart enough....

"Yeah sure." He tipped the chair forward again and climbed out of it. "What shall we read?"

"Mickey McGuffin's Ear." Booker leapt up into Gus's Loft and started to settle himself down in the covers. Gus climbed up the ladder after him, book in hand, smile on his face.... but he also took the phone with him in case anybody called.