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How Howl had been convinced to babysit was beyond him; Aunt Risa had merely come by and asked--and she had done something quite unexpected. Still, there was no doubt about it. His aunt had flirted with him. Perhaps that was why a toddler stood before him. A toddler who was currently holding Howl's favorite spider; Justin.

"Oooh," Loki was saying; he had tantrumed until Risa had hurried out of the house. Naturally, the toddler stopped the instant she was gone. Howl knew the boy's secret. Loki was really quite nice, when his mother wasn't around. He was really quite well behaved when he wanted to be, and extremely intelligent. If he hadn't been a fae, he would have made a fairly decent wizard, Howl had decided.

"He likes you," Howl told him.

"All 'nimals like me," Loki bragged. It was true, too. All animals liked him.

Howl was not pleased. Now it looked like he would be babysitting two children instead of just one; and one of them was one he really didn't trust. Last time he had seen Aesica, she had tried to eat him. He remembered falling asleep after greeting her; and he wasn't looking forward to touching her again. He decided not to voice this. "Sure, mom," he said with a nod. "I'll watch her. Don't worry about paying me, either." He winked, and hoped his mother would teach him some of her tricks later.

"Hi Ae!" came Loki's voice. "Hi Auntie!" He was thrilled, he got to spend time with Aesica, and with Howl! And with his new friend, Justin the spider. "I got a spider, see?"

Howl was in agreement with his mother's statement, but really, was ruffling his hair necessary? He looked down at Aesica and frowned slightly. "If you're nice to me, I'll let you play with one of my spiders too," he promised. He hoped that was a good enough bribe--and that she wouldn't end up eating the spider like she had tried to eat him. He wouldn't be able to forgive her if she did.

"Jussin. He's Howl's," he explained with a smile. "Howl says he's gonna give me some spiders!" his smile broadened. "So I can scare Mommy," he added in undertone. "Mommy hate spiders."

"I can't imagine hating spiders," Howl muttered. "Come on guys, color or something."

Howl sighed. He should have guessed that his younger sister wouldn't be content with a mere spider. He was silently grateful that his aunt had asked him to babysit a well behaved child. Loki was nice; he liked spiders and he was gentle with animals. Aesica on the other hand... She frightened Howl. The way she spoke, acted, even the way she looked at him, it was frightening.

"Okay!" Loki said cheerfully. Finally, someone who understood his need to frighten his mother. He knew his father never would, though he did seem to understand everything else. Maybe all Dads were like that though; they just couldn't understand a child's need to frighten Mommy. "I might get trouble," he confessed in a whisper. "Daddy might not like me scaring Mommy. But I do it 'nyways. Mommy hate spiders. Dunno why, they so pretty."

"...I like coloring," Howl said, realizing after a moment that he'd given his sister a reason to tease him. He pulled out several coloring books from under the couch. Some of them featured monsters from Greek mythology; the hydra, keres, various dragons, Enchida. "I thought you might like this one, Aesica," he said, offering the book to her. "Saw it in a book sale." He handed one to Loki, as well. Animals of the World, the title read. "Here. Not as good as the real thing, but--"

Loki looked vaguely doubtful. "I survive," he assured Aesica. Oh, he knew his father wouldn't kill him--but he didn't think he'd come out of it unscratched. He opened his color book, and took out an orange, black, green and a brown. He knew exactly what he wanted to color. A picture of a tiger. He flipped through the pages until he landed on one. A smile lit his features for a moment. "I gonna color," he told Aesica, in a tone that suggested he was mildly ashamed of this fact.

Howl rolled his eyes, handing Aesica a box of colored pencils. "Color in the lines," he suggested with a shrug. "Then it'll still look good."

He was allowed to color, really? Even after Aesica had said it was juvenile? Loki smiled, and began to color. "I gonna color tiger for you," he told Ae. He'd do the best job ever! "You really no wanna color? Coloring fun!"

Though he didn't show it, Howl was alarmed at the change in his younger sister. He was positive she was up to something. "You're welcome, I suppose..." Why did he get the feeling he would be in trouble later? Why couldn't he have babysat Devin instead?

"Tigers so cool!" Loki said excitedly. "Tigers do lots of stuff! But Mommy no let me have one..." Only a few days ago, the idea of getting a tiger for a pet had come into his head. "Mommy say they dang-er-ous. But I tell her everything dang-er-ous. She no listen."

Howl was watching his younger sister warily. He knew something was up; he could tell by the innocent looks his sister kept giving him. Pity they weren't genuine. "Hey Ae," he said, "I can bring out some toys for you guys to play with if you want. Ellie's got some dolls you might like."

"Colored pencils dang-er-ous?" Loki looked slightly doubtful. "How?" He had never thought of pencils as dangerous. "I gonna tell Mommy I want a tiger 'gain. Maybe we play with it. Maybe we go to zoo and get one!" He could probably lure one out of it's cage, if he really wanted.

Howl sighed. "Fine..." He shivered when he heard his younger sister's giggle. "Is there anything you guys'd like to do, though?"