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+--- Thread: Hugs and Kittens (An Ambrosia Homecoming) (/showthread.php?tid=3952)
Hugs and Kittens (An Ambrosia Homecoming) - Gildarts - 03-13-2016
Gildarts calmly walked through the passing portals of the nexus. His magic hadn't had an outburst in what felt like a consistent twelve hours. To him, this simply meant the clock was counting down.
Tick tick. The wind blew. Suddenly the green was all around him. He didn't take to contemplating this, as all too frequently his surroundings would change in a blink of his she.
Suddenly his nose got stuffy, and his eyes grew red and puffy. He blinked more rapidly now, and felt the tickling sensation of the urge to sneeze. He had learned that holding this back made it only worse, so Gildarts chose a more desolate direction, and finally released a gust of wind that rippled about twenty feet forth, through the woods and cracking branches with a the gale of a great storm.
The forest rumbled, as though accepting am omen and hinting at fate.
"Bless you," Piqui squeaked.
"This always happens to me here," Gildarts sniffled a bit.
"That's because you have allergies silly." Piqui giggled a bit and batted his nose with her soft paw.
The calico's eyes were radiant and full of love, Gildarts couldn't help but to feel a little proud, though he was confused, "Allergies? Is that like kryptonite?"
"No silly, allergies are where you're allergic to pollen or something. Pollen is in the trees." It seemed a newborn kitten knew more about such things as 'pollen' than the forty year old prime did. Still, he was thankful for the information. It was helpful to know that his symptoms were not because he was dying, or worse, because of his body's magic imbalance.
It seemed while he was with the exceed, his violent condition had stabilized, or was under control, at least for now.
She was his good luck charm, and while neither of them spoke it, Piqui too had thought it best she never leave the strong prime's side. Meanwhile, through the parting of evergreen trees, the homey village of Ambrosia soon came into view.
RE: Hugs and Kittens (An Ambrosia Homecoming) - Gildarts - 03-13-2016
Piqui had jumped down from his shoulder and was wondering on paw now as they entered the streets. She had a calm, yet oblivious demeanor, much like that of a kitten, and there was a thrill of curiosity in every footstep, and a smile on her furry lips as she pranced along side him.
Suddenly a leaf danced in the light breeze just ahead. The cat bounded forward, unaware that the breeze also had loosened a wobbling flowerpot from upon a ledge high above. Gildarts took but a moment and saw that it would fall on the kitten, so he leapt forward, with a great intensity, and took a stance above the cat while she innocently batted at the lifeless yet twitching leaf.
The darkness of his shadow fell over the kitten, while his cape near covered her completely. The fabric rolled between her ears and she nearly clawed at it herself, until she heard a loud “Crash!” and the clatter of broken ceramic echoed through the more or less uncrowded streets.
The cat looked up, innocently, her eyes wobbled as she stepped out of the darkness he had cast, and the exceed took in the scene. Upon Gildarts head was a cracked flowerpot, soil covered the lines of his face, mixing with the still ingrained grits of sand. That had to have hurt, and a bit of blood bubbled up on his already bruised skull. His eyes had closed in a wince, but on his lips grew a smile. When his amber eyes opened, they met her astonishment with kindness and love. Piqui saw the sacrifice he had made, and even noticed a shard sticking out of his head pretty deeply.
The cat blinked once, as she took in the power of his smile.
“Ouch! Are you okay Gildarts?” Piqui’s wings fluttered and while she attempted to fly straight to his shoulder, she more or less collided into it.
The wince of pain was hidden from his face, and hadn’t dared to cloud his eyes. Piqui could only imagine how much it had hurt though. “Jeez,” Piqui examined his head and pressed her nose to his wound, as though kissing it better.
“I think I’ll be alright,” he took a stable step as he pulled out the fragment that had stuck to him, and another flowerpot fell, this time, right on the Piqui’s little head.
Thankfully, it wasn’t a big one like the one that had fallen on him, but when something hard falls on you from a story above, of course you’ll feel a little sting. Soil cluttered her creamy colored fur, and the sound of another pot breaking radiated through the street. Water bubbled to the kitten’s eyes, and Gildarts grew fearful but relieved when he had seen this, because it at least meant she had survived it.
“OWWWWIEEEE,” the tearful kitten cried.
Gildarts did his best to sooth her, by simply letting her know he was taking her to someone who would care for her. In his arms, despite the bitingly sharp pain on her head, she felt at home.
Piqui had fallen into his arms now, and gently, he carried her to where he remembered Guu’s big mansion was. He grew worried and the lines on his face told this emotion well. Gildarts wasn’t one to ask questions, but when the door of the mansion opened, it was none other than Molly who greeted them. “GILDARTS!” Her smile grew wide and excited, but then she saw the mulch on both of their faces, and got a glimpse of the blood, a similar red that had mixed with the hue of his hair. Still, it was quite evident that both he, and the kitten in his arms, had been knocked aside the head.
“Come right in,” she seemed to know what to do, and lead them both straight to the med kit.
A few rolls of gauss later, and the three of them were smiling once more.
“Molly, it’s great to see you,” the two friends embraced, and as they hugged, each of their eyes were closed as the warmth of their reunion grew with the friendship in their hearts.
“Aren’tcha gonna introduce me?” Piqui mumbled, and Gildarts’ and Molly’s eyes both fell on the cat, her rich brown fur and distinctively darker paws almost took away from the giant layer of gauss that had been wrapped around the kitten’s head. Despite it all, the kitten had still stayed conscious, Gildarts had commended her for being so tough, but now, at her current appearance, it was hard not to think of her as a football player, as the gauss had framed into an exceedingly large helmet that hugged her entire head. Her ears poked out, still, but what she was able to hear, and wasn’t muffled by the excess cotton, was that she hadn’t been introduced yet.
And she was missing out on hugs.
The young girl, Molly, quickly loosened the hug and went over to greet the kitten, who had beautiful blue eyes, and adorable features. Molly also noticed the wings hiding below the cape she wore. “She can talk?!”
Gildarts smiled, “Where I’m from, many creatures can speak, this one happens to resemble that of a cat, but magic grants us many things.”
“She is SOOOO CUTE. Can I keep her?” Molly couldn’t help it. But Piqui looked crest-fallen. Would the exceed lose the last connection she had to the world she called home? Both Molly and the kitten’s eyes now went to Gildarts, and both imitated the ‘puppy-dog’ look so well.
Gildarts was never a father, well at least that he had known at the time, so when he encountered situations like this, he usually had an excuse to get out of them. This time there was nothing, an time ticked by while they were waiting.
“WELL?” she said.
“I believe that’s up to Piqui. She’s not a normal kitten, after all. Piqui, I go on dangerous missions a lot, and I wouldn’t want to endanger-”
The kitten was now unraveling the gauss. Her attention span had faltered and her claws tore through confining roll of medicine as though she thought it was a ball of yarn wrapped around her head. Finally, the top of her head was revealed, and the wound that had once been there was miraculously gone!
“I want to stay by Gildarts’ side.” the exceed said adamantly, now it was Molly who was crest-fallen. For she, a young girl growing, a life of danger would not raise the potential to life that Molly had to offer the world. He was in a bit of a dilemma.
He realized it was wrong, as double-standards usually were, “Uh, for now I’m going to keep Piqui by my side, but Molly, only because I found that I have to.”
He felt as though he had let the young girl down, it was especially hard because he had not visited in a while, though for him it had not been or seemed as long. But then Molly revealed her own strength. “That’s okay Gildarts, I’ve made a home here, and well... I’ve never had a stable home. I’ve grown really fond of it. Even if you are a big oaf.”
On the young girl’s lips grew a smile, one that spread to his own.
“So what do you mean you might ‘have to’ keep Piqui with you, what’s the situation with that?” Molly inquired more, and even Piqui tilted her head.
Gildarts set them both down, and Molly looked expectantly at him.
Her expression read, “You haven’t been home for HOW MANY months and you happen to bring a kitten home and I can’t keep her? But I love you and am glad to see you, even if you’re stupid sometimes.” Despite her sass, she was very receptive to what Gildarts had to say next.
The prime recounted the moment in Camelot, but so-as not to scare the young girl, did not mention the casualties of his magic. Then, he mentioned the dunes. He thought he had been safe there, no one to harm, and there was a battle with many men, and a strange creature, one which he lost and was left in the sand. The magic fought inside him and threatened to erupt, and Piqui emerged out of the blue, and here they were, both safe and sound.
“Are you... Trying to say, that you’re magically unstable, because you’re HOMESICK?”
Molly thought this confirmed it. Wizards were officially CRAZY.
RE: Hugs and Kittens (An Ambrosia Homecoming) - Gildarts - 03-13-2016
As he looked outside the window, he noticed speckles of little patches of ice gluing itself to the windowpane.
Molly saw it too, for her eyes glowed brightly and a huge smile erupted on her face. "IT'SSSS SNOWING!!!" She shouted and bounced up and down on her bed, because that's where they had ended up. In Molly's very girly purple-pink themed room.
The three talked for some time, until Piqui nuzzled up next to a pillow on the bed and began to take a cat nap.
"Say Molly, where's Guu?" Gildarts asked.
"Hm? She must still be battling Berry Blitzkreg." Molly replied simply.
Gildarts blinked, quizzically.
"Well, if you ever checked your emails, you'd know for yourself and wouldn't need me to explain it to you." Her arms crossed.
This reminded him, "Oh hey, Molly my phone's broken."
"Knowing you that's no surprise, give it here," Molly beckoned with her hands as Gildarts pulled it out of his sack. He handed her the phone, which had only a black screen. She rolled it around in her hands, looking for signs of scratching. "So what'd you do, drop it in water or something? You know there's a remedy for that, it's as simple as rice."
This "remedy" went over the mage's head. "I didn't drop it, nor did I get it wet. The screen just suddenly went black."
Molly pressed a little button on the phone's side, which prompted a luminous icon from its screen. It was an empty battery symbol. Molly's expression turned to that of an unamused mother, "Gildarts, you mean to tell me you've had a phone, and you don't know how to charge it?"
"Charge?" Gildarts wondered what summoning his energy had to do with the little piece of technology that allowed him to contact people across the Omniverse.
Molly procured a little white wire and plugged it into an outlet, and demonstrated this to the clueless prime. As she plugged the phone in, it's screen lit up, and so did Gildarts' face, "Whoa you fixed it!" Gildarts rose out his his chair to hold the functioning phone.
"No Gildarts, I charged it. Let me explain, this plug goes in this outlet, and the end of this cord goes here. Just like that, right into the phone." She had to repeat it several times for him to really get the picture, but Molly had a feeling that wherever Gildarts went, there weren't any outlets. Sighed and gave him her pocket charger.
"So this one doesn't need a wall?"
"No Gildarts, this one simply gets plugged in, there, violà!" Molly gave it back to him with a smile and Gildarts politely excused himself and went to wait for Guu outside the house. As someone who constantly caused destruction, Gildarts got a tad twitchy when he was enclosed in spaces. Even huge mansions. He preferred, quite simply, the open air.
RE: Hugs and Kittens (An Ambrosia Homecoming) - Guu - 03-18-2016
Quote:Continued from “Waiting for Pirate Man”
The large group made their way through the dense forests and jungles of the greens, until the city was in sight. Desco gasped.
“Guu! You rule over this? Desco is impressed!”
The Pink Princess was surprised herself. It looked bigger than she remembered it. She could have sworn she hadn’t been gone this long.
Now she knew how Gildarts must feel.
The large crowd started to part as they made their way into the stone streets of Ambrosia. Nyeseth escorted Guu, Desco, Adam, and Carn to the palace before leaving himself.
“I’ve got business to attend to around town. We’ll definitely talk later!” He said before running off.
The four made their way through the jungle as she explained about recall stations.
“Right now, because I put you all on a list, the recall station by the palace gate should be syncing with your phones, adding an app to your devices.” She shows the three the app on her phone. “All you have to do is tap that app, stay still for 10 minutes and you’ll be warped back to Ambrosia.”
The trio was impressed. But the moment of Guu’s superiority in technological knowledge quickly was interrupted as she heard someone call out. It was Gildarts who was standing by the front door.
“Hey, princess!”
“Gildarts? My aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.”
Before she could get within 30 feet of the rugged man, Molly came darting out the door and glomped Guu into a hug.
“Guuuu!!!” She said excited.
“Easy, still have injuries.” Guu said, wincing a bit. Molly pulled back, but still retained her glee.
“I’m so glad you’re okay! Did Berry Blitzkrieg give you hell?” Molly said, curious about the fight.
“Yep, they eventually retreated.” Guu said casually. She pointed a stubby arm towards the demon child. “This is my best friend, Desco. Desco, meet Molly.”
“Wow! You’re Desco? Guu has said a lot about you!” She said excited.
“Hey! Guu told Desco of you!”
“Also with me is Adam Gaite, and you know Carn.”
“Wow, you have so many friends Guu!” She said. She bows down respectfully to the three. “Thank you all for helping her with Berry Blitzkrieg.”
“It’s no problem!” Said Carn jovially, glad to have such a friendly greeting.
The moment was interrupted when someone walked through the door. Holding the cat in her arm was a green skinned girl with long pointy ears and antennae protruding from her forehead. She was running her free hand over the feline’s wounds, which were healing at a rapid rate.
“What’s all the ruckus?” Asked the girl.
Guu and Desco looked in shock at the girl.
“Naturae?” Said Guu, baffled at the girl, who, just hours ago, was a baby.
“Mom?” Replied the green-skinned girl in a casual tone. “You should really get some rest if you want your wounds to heal”
Molly skipped over to Gildarts, who was standing next to Naturae, not sure how to feel at Guu having a daughter.
“Gildarts! Meet Naturae! She lives here too!” She said excited. “She has healing powers! I would have gotten her earlier, but it’s next to impossible to wake her.”
“Thank you for helping my friend.” Gildarts said, bowing respectfully
Guu however walked up close to Naturae to get a good look.
“Something wrong mother?” She said. Guu wasn’t used to being referred to by that.
“It’s nothing.” She turned to Gildarts. “They grow up so fast.”
“Well, you better get to bed, like I said. You still have injuries to worry about. So do you Auntie Desco.”
“Right.” Agreed Guu. She turned towards the group. “Carn, Adam, you’re good to go. You two should have houses now, so get rested up. Carn, I’ll let you know when we do the thing in the Ashens. As for Gildarts… it’s great to see you again.”
She took Desco by the hand and pulled her into the palace. Under Guu’s insistence, the pair would share a bed and take a long nap as their wounds healed.
It had been a long day.
Quote:Guu's Adventures continue in "A Demon Child in Pokute Palace"
RE: Hugs and Kittens (An Ambrosia Homecoming) - Gildarts - 05-05-2016
Molly remembered the scene of Gildarts and Piqui’s swift departure it like it was playing in slow motion, the thought reeled in her mind while the images flickered from behind her eyelids.
Gildarts had greeted Naturae with the utmost respect, however, there was a fragment of a glimpse that Molly thought she could see truth behind Gildarts’ own eyes. Something had, perhaps happened, for Gildarts, since he had entered town, had seemed hesitant, tense even, as though something were looming over him, holding him hostage, or at gunpoint. Molly was glad to have him here, and even served him the finest of hot chocolates, with whipped cream, of course.
Gildarts had liked it, she thought with a smile, and she remembered the fluffy white mustache made out of froth it had given the Prime when he had taken his lips away from the hot drink. The three of them had laughed. It felt good. Really good. Molly hadn’t realized how much she had missed the old man, until he had once again gone. When the two left, Piqui was hanging off of the Prime’s shoulder, Molly, a part of her at least, longed to go. But, the road was not her home, as it seemed it was Gildarts. Instead, Molly had slipped a small pink envelope into Gildarts’ bag, though, she had no clue when he would have the time to open it.
Gildarts beamed when they stepped out the door, and had even given Molly a great hug, though gentle, compared to what the young girl was sure his gigantic muscles were capable of. He had lifted her up in the air, and given her a parting present of strawberry mochi. Molly’s favorite.
The young girl had scratched his kitten, Piqui, behind the ears before seeing them off down the street, and her feet halting at the end of the town, where the path lead into the forest, which seemed to be growing more green by the minute.
A grin had erupted on the Prime’s stubbly face, and she remembered he had raised his hand high into the air as he waved goodbye. He headed into the forest, in search of a long and distant creature a few members of Ambrosia had told him about. Gildarts had a new mission, and he would see it through.
“Good luck!” she had shouted into the forest, her small palms cupping around her mouth, and just like that, Gildarts was gone.
An empty sound of solitude filled the air she breathed next. A pout formed on the young girl’s rosy cheeks as she thought about the image of the back of Gildarts’ cape, flickering with the coming wind. The starkly black edges of his cape began to mesh with the blurring shade of her dark eyelids, which soon faded from her mind.
A smile crept back up on Molly’s lips as she opened her eyes up to her desk, and held a pen, perched and ready in her hand. The cursive soon flowed easily from it’s angle, and poured ink upon the page. It was a general invitation, rather informative, Molly thought, and she wrote out all of the need-to-knows, some of which, she hadn’t yet confirmed with Guu.
“You’re invited to Molly’s 11th, and Naturae’s *surprise* Birthday Party!”
Please come and join us in wishing Molly a happy birthday on her special day: Friday, June 13th at 1:00 PM!
WHERE? The giant bouncy house in Ambrosia, you can’t miss it!
Don’t miss out on the fun-filled festivities, there will be a bouncy house, a pinata, and of course, mochi and cake! And don’t be late! Please RSVP with Molly’s personal cell phone # @ 855-5555-5555. We look forward to hearing from you, and hope you can attend!”
Molly heaved a sigh, and wiped her brow of the accumulation of effort that had dampened it. “WHEW! That was the last one... Now to pass them out...”
Molly licked the edges of the envelope to seal it, wrote the final name due on the outside of the last pink casing and then looked at her rather tall stack of invitations. She grabbed her purse and placed each singularly addressed letter inside and stood up, suddenly, the young ten-year-old felt her knees wobble with trepidation. She had never actually had a birthday party, and while Molly was social, with just the right amount of sass, it did not mean that the girl had no fears about planning her upcoming party.
Of course, the girl had never actually been to a birthday party either, so she could only expect what she had seen in the movies. There were usual festivities of pinning the tail on the donkey, bashing a confetti and candy filled pinata with a bat, and of course, a cake lit with -this time- eleven candles. Just the thought of the warm glow of the candle light on her chin made the girl’s stomach swoon with joy. She absolutely had to follow through.
Plus, there was also the very special fact that Molly had also placed Naturae’s name on the party, it was not, obviously, her birthday, however, namekians had a strange lifecycle, and Naturae, Molly was sure, had never had a birthday party either. That part, was a surprise, so in fact, there would be two cakes! Molly giggled out loud at the thought of Naturae’s surprised and jubilant face when the girl also got presents. Molly knew what it was like to be left out, and never wanted one of her friends to feel that way.
Soon the young girl collected her list of people she had invited, it was rather long, but there were two columns next to their name, the first was “handed-out” and the second was marked “R.S.V.P” and Gildarts had his first column checked off. She grinned, but thought it would do well to give him a reminder phone call later, that was indeed why he was at the top of the list, so she wouldn’t forget.
The thing about organizing events like this in the Omniverse, was the special matter of the time it took to travel between verses. It would have been most convenient to have her party in the nexus, at least in theory, to maximize her overall outlook of projected attendees. However, there was also the matter that Molly didn’t know many primes, but even still, every member and inhabitant of Ambrosia would be invited. But Gildarts of all Primes, (aside from the princess) just simply HAD to attend, that was why Molly had enclosed a special surprise gift in the envelope with her invitation to Gildarts, it was to assure his safe and immediate travel back. The lord knows that man got lost easily, and with his luck, he’d probably get trapped in prison or held hostage or something just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Gildarts, while maybe he didn’t look for trouble consciously, almost always found it.