Kneeling down on one knee (and thankful that his uniform would be clean of sweat and dirt stains the next time he powered up), the Moon Knight trimmed down an overgrown bush with a pair of small pruning shears. He wasn't trying to practice bonsai or topiary, but it did seem like it would be nice to have the bushes trimmed into pleasing roundish shapes, with no stray branches or twigs sticking out. A soft snorted laugh escaped him. He was so much more his Japanese mother's son than he was his American dad's.
As he brushed some of the trimmings from around the base of the bush, his gloved fingers felt something else besides leaves and snippings, something small and solid and fairly roundish. An eyebrow went up. What could it be? Focusing on what he was doing, he sifted through the debris until he found the object he'd felt, then straightened so he could get a better look at it. The eyebrow went up again, followed by the other, and he blinked. In his fingers was what looked for all the world like a netsuke carved in the shape of a rabbit. Spei had seen netsuke before, knew what they were for – his mother had a small collection of inrō, little boxes held closed with cords that served to hold stuff while in kimono, since kimono don't have pockets. The netsuke were attached to the cords to hold the inrō in place around the obi. But what was a netsuke doing in a random garden on the Moon?
Spei smoothed his fingers over the small figure, gently rubbing some of the dirt off of it, then took a better look at it. There didn't seem to be any holes in it for a cord to pass through, so it couldn't really be a netsuke. The closer he looked at the intricate, detailed carving, the more he realized that it wasn't so much a rabbit as a hare, folded in a running position, with its large ears and long legs and feet. It was beautifully crafted, conveying the essence of a hare running full tilt, even down to the wild look in its eyes and the fur. As he held it, he got the sense that there was something… special about it, something magical and powerful. It was somehow deeply connected to his Wonder, to his magic.
The Moon Knight stood, still studying the hare figurine. Maybe his code piece could help figure out what it was.
He stepped out of the patch of garden he'd been puttering in and strode up the steps leading to the entrance of the building. Climbing one of the interior staircases to the second floor, he went to a blank section of wall and pressed his signet ring into a spot only he knew. With a quiet whoosh, a door opened and he entered the chamber where his code piece resided. In the center of the small chamber, the connection between the Knight and the Cornerstone Code Piece in the Moon Palace pulsed gently atop a pillar. It was quiet, but he could still feel the power it held.
"Do you know what this is?" Spei asked the code piece softly, placing the small artefact into the glowing ball of light, then stepping back, unsure what was going to happen.
The code piece began to pulse brighter, gradually flaring up until the entire chamber was filled with light. Raising his arm over his eyes, Spei couldn't see what was going on – the brightness was just too overwhelming. And the power… it roiled around him like nothing he'd ever felt before. Then something punched him in the chest, knocking him flat onto his back on the floor with a yelp. And just that quickly, the blazing light in the chamber faded back to normal.
Except there was a weight on his chest. Slowly opening his eyes, Spei's vision began to focus. Both eyebrows went up in disbelief as he found himself looking into the amber-gold eyes of a very large hare, about the size of a large dog, like a German Shepherd. Its nose twitched as it gazed expectantly at him – expectantly and with the faintest hint of amusement. The hare was the same ivory-cream color as the figurine had been; it sat on its haunches on the floor, its forepaws on his chest, its large ears upright and alert.
"Um…hello." Spei didn't know what else to say. This had to be a magical creature; was it like a familiar of some kind, something that his Wonder was gifting him with? The code piece pulsed brighter at the thought, and Spei nodded. The huge hare was part and parcel with his magic, with his power as a Moon Knight, a manifestation of the essence of his Wonder. As if it understood, the hair tipped its head like a dog and made a tiny thrum in its throat, like a purr.
Spei allowed himself a small chuckle. Reaching up to pet the Summon's shoulder, he instead found the hare's head as it pushed its face into his hand. This only made the Moon Knight laugh more. "Okay, okay. I like you too," he said, petting the soft fur on the hare's neck and cheek. He moved to sit up, and the hare dutifully removed its paws from him and sat next to him on the floor. He looked the creature over, studying it closely. "I suppose you need a name, don't you?" He thought of the Japanese story of the Moon Hare, pounding rice into mochi in its mortar and pestle; it seemed hilariously appropriate that the Summon of a Moon Knight who was half Japanese was a hare. "How about Mochi? Does that sound like a good name for you?"
With a contented grunting noise, the hare – Mochi – rubbed his face against Spei's and licked him lightly with his tongue.
(wc = 1126)
