02-12-2018, 09:08 PM
“Is’it really okay, mum?” Venturo piped up eagerly as he peered up at his mother from behind the mound of pillows, blankets, and furs he had gathered from his bedroom.
“We’ll make sure we put everything back when we’re done,” Mistral replied from behind her own stack of bedding. She flashed a smile at the young boy, and promptly dropped the mess of pillows and blankets on the large rug in front of the fireplace. “Couple hours and it’ll be like we weren't even here.”
“Sounds good, mum!” said Venturo as he also dropped his pile on the floor. He looked at the collection for a moment. “So… wha’ do we need all the pillows an' stuff fo’?”
“Haven’t you heard of a pillow fort?” Mistral replied as she started moving a plush armchair closer to the center of the room. Almost immediately, the boy’s eyes lit up.
“Really?!” he asked.
“Of course. I can't think of many better ways to stay warm in this weather.”
Mistral couldn't help but grin at Venturo’s response of “Wicked!” as she pushed a secondary armchair several feet away from the first. She paused, adjusted the placement a hair, and stepped back, her hands on her hips as she looked down at her son.
“Right. Ven, I need you to make sure we don't forget where these things were while I move the rest. We don't need to accidentally change the entire arrangement on your aunt.”
Ven nodded eagerly, his shaggy teal hair bouncing as he hurried to place anything he could find where the furniture originally stood so that it could be returned to its proper place.
“Like tha’, mum?” he asked.
Mistral turned as she gave the couch one last nudge with her hip, and laughed when she noticed the small objects her son had placed on the floor: a candlestick, a small throw pillow, and a few pieces of parchment held down with decorative stones or a sealed inkwell.
“Good enough, love,” she replied merrily. “Now grab the other half here. We need to drape it over the top.”
The young boy complied with vigor as he bounced to the other side of the chairs and helped the tall woman drape a heavy blanket seemingly made of thick bear fur over the base that Mistral had fabricated. A large portion of the blanket cascaded down on either side, the weight of it holding the “roof” of the structure taught.
“And now comes the fun part,” the woman said with an almost sing-song lilt as she bent down and scooped up several of the pillows still scattered about and dropped to her knees so she could crawl beneath the manufactured canopy. She dragged the pillows in with her, and poked her head back out from beneath the blanket with wink and a, “Help me make it cozy,” before she disappeared again.
Ven grinned wide before he gathered his own pile and scrambled after his mother.
----
“And that was the first, and last, time Wilson decided to try and out-eat a wyvern. Though, astoundingly, he almost won.”
“Really?! You ‘ave some cool friends, mum!”
Mistral smiled as she watched her son lean forward eagerly, his dark eyes wide as he hung on her every word. The warm light of the fireplace bled through the small gaps and openings in their little fort just enough to not leave them in darkness, and the interior was pleasantly cozy—just as had been intended.
There was a small, amused chuckle from Mistral’s right as Sibyl expressed her own amusement. The blind woman had ultimately found her way into the fort after she had ungracefully bumped into the fort itself, and had thus been invited inside by the pair. Now she sat on her knees, quietly listening as her sister-in-law regaled her son with stories of the past ten years of her life.
“Wait until I tell you about the time-” Mistral stopped herself as she heard the door to the manor close, and two voices became audible conversing back and forth. She flashed her son a playful grin as she grabbed a stack of pillows that had been piled up next to her. “Actually, hold that thought, love,” she said as she crawled out from beneath the fort.
She peered up from over the back of the couch, and she watched as Paris and Corvus strolled out of the entranceway.
With a flash, two pillows were launched in quick succession. Paris, seeing the ambush, quickly ducked out of the way as he swiped the pillow meant for him out of the air and quickly launched it back at the laughing woman, though the second pillow successfully stuck to Corvus’s face with a satisfying fwumph.
“Oh, and with deft agility, Captain Paris Auriga snatches the missile from the sky and launches it back at the source!” Mistral narrated as she ducked out of the way of the return fire. Sibyl, hearing the commotion, had crawled out from beneath the fort to get a better handle of what was now erupting around her. “Unfortunately, it appears to be a miss. How unfortunate, love~ Though it appears General Auriga has been taken by ambush!”
“It’s called a diversion, dear Mistral. After all, I believe you forgot the pillows in the GUEST ROOM!” Paris called as he dashed off. Meanwhile, his father had removed the pillow from his face, laughing all the while.
“...Time for my favorite tactic. STORM THE BATTLEMENTS!” Corvus called as he charged into the living room and crashed into the pillow fort just as Sibyl had gotten back to her feet and maneuvered her way out of the quickly evolving war zone. In the resulting confusion, the General had managed to get Ven into a headlock and gave him a firm noogie.
“They’ve broken through! Fall back! Fall back! They’re coming from the flank!” Mistral called as she grabbed another pillow. Paris had reappeared in the entranceway just in time to start firing off a barrage of heavily-stuffed missiles in her direction—trying to overwhelm her by sheer number as she ducked and dodged out of the way.
Ven, meanwhile, was wrestling against Corvus, laughing as he tried to squirm out of the firm headlock.
Just as Mistral hurled another pillow after Paris, the door once again opened as Signus slipped into the house only to narrowly avoid walking directly into the path of the pillow as it flew past his face. He blinked, standing in the entranceway as he witnessed Mistral scrambled into view after Paris.
“What did I…?” he started to ask.
“Estate pillow war, love!” Mistral called back. “Ven’s dealing with Corvus, I just need to deal with this deft-footed rascal. Battlements have been stormed. Best pick a side!”
Signus continued standing where he was, somewhat dumbstruck by the chaos he was witnessing. “Uhh…? Oh dear. I’ve found myself in quite a predicament.”
“There are more pillows in the living room. Though if I get one launched at me, you’ll regret it of course. Just so you are aware,” Mistral said as she scooped a pillow up from the ground to launch in Paris’s direction. “Ven!~ Once you finish with the General, do be a dear, I may need more artillery!”
“Got’it, mum!” Ven called as he successfully squirmed out of Corvus’s grip and grabbed a pillow of his own to engage the General. Sibyl, meanwhile, had found a safe corner of the living room where she was now standing with a hand over her mouth to shield the amused smile that had rapidly spread across her face.
“And that’s a mist!” Mistral called as she deflected Paris’s return fire with a sudden gust of wind triggered by a wave of her hand. She smirked, her green eyes twinkling mischievously as she winked in the man’s direction.
“Oh, if we’re doing that, I’m going to have to start shooting off pillow-tipped arrows!” Paris retorted as he continued his assault.
“Please.... Don’t,” Signus piped up.
“This isn’t even your house, Captain,” Paris said.
“Precisely why I am baffled as to why I am the one to remind you not to launch projectiles inside, Captain,” Signus replied.
Mistral was still grinning as she she began to gather up more ammunition.
“Would just be more surface area to catch the wind. Though, if you want to give me an advantage, Paris, who am I to argue? Quite generous to throw the battle on my account.”
Paris ceased his exchange with Signus to once again turn his attention on the dark-skinned woman, the competitive spark in his eye glimmering with a renewed vigor.
“Oh, it’s on, Sergeant,” he said as the battle restarted with a new fury.
The sound of a loud, jolly belly-laugh was audible from the living room as Corvus exchanged pillow-muffled blows with Ven. The young boy was quickly scrambling around the knocked-askew furniture, using cover wherever he could as the General simply stood weathering whatever blows Ven was able to land on him until the young boy managed to tire himself out.
It was a much tamer exchange in contrast to the literal, ongoing war between Mistral and Paris where pillows were thrown and recovered with a focused furocity. Both were smiling, though it was obvious by the glint in their eyes that neither was prepared to let the other come out victorious.
Signus, meanwhile, had hastily taken to ensuring the house did not end up too obliterated as he walked about straightened paintings, shielding delicate decorations, and periodically pausing to toss a wayward pillow back into the fray.
Paris and Misty’s duel had re-entered the living room, and the tall woman happened to catch the dark-haired knight’s eye as she was backed up against a couch. She flashed Signus a wink, before she quickly rolled over the back of the furniture to avoid another pillow that was hurled in her direction by Paris.
She caught Signus double-take before she disappeared, a small, stoic, yet almost dumb, smile on his face as he realized the woman had, in fact, meant the motion for him.
“We’ll make sure we put everything back when we’re done,” Mistral replied from behind her own stack of bedding. She flashed a smile at the young boy, and promptly dropped the mess of pillows and blankets on the large rug in front of the fireplace. “Couple hours and it’ll be like we weren't even here.”
“Sounds good, mum!” said Venturo as he also dropped his pile on the floor. He looked at the collection for a moment. “So… wha’ do we need all the pillows an' stuff fo’?”
“Haven’t you heard of a pillow fort?” Mistral replied as she started moving a plush armchair closer to the center of the room. Almost immediately, the boy’s eyes lit up.
“Really?!” he asked.
“Of course. I can't think of many better ways to stay warm in this weather.”
Mistral couldn't help but grin at Venturo’s response of “Wicked!” as she pushed a secondary armchair several feet away from the first. She paused, adjusted the placement a hair, and stepped back, her hands on her hips as she looked down at her son.
“Right. Ven, I need you to make sure we don't forget where these things were while I move the rest. We don't need to accidentally change the entire arrangement on your aunt.”
Ven nodded eagerly, his shaggy teal hair bouncing as he hurried to place anything he could find where the furniture originally stood so that it could be returned to its proper place.
“Like tha’, mum?” he asked.
Mistral turned as she gave the couch one last nudge with her hip, and laughed when she noticed the small objects her son had placed on the floor: a candlestick, a small throw pillow, and a few pieces of parchment held down with decorative stones or a sealed inkwell.
“Good enough, love,” she replied merrily. “Now grab the other half here. We need to drape it over the top.”
The young boy complied with vigor as he bounced to the other side of the chairs and helped the tall woman drape a heavy blanket seemingly made of thick bear fur over the base that Mistral had fabricated. A large portion of the blanket cascaded down on either side, the weight of it holding the “roof” of the structure taught.
“And now comes the fun part,” the woman said with an almost sing-song lilt as she bent down and scooped up several of the pillows still scattered about and dropped to her knees so she could crawl beneath the manufactured canopy. She dragged the pillows in with her, and poked her head back out from beneath the blanket with wink and a, “Help me make it cozy,” before she disappeared again.
Ven grinned wide before he gathered his own pile and scrambled after his mother.
----
“And that was the first, and last, time Wilson decided to try and out-eat a wyvern. Though, astoundingly, he almost won.”
“Really?! You ‘ave some cool friends, mum!”
Mistral smiled as she watched her son lean forward eagerly, his dark eyes wide as he hung on her every word. The warm light of the fireplace bled through the small gaps and openings in their little fort just enough to not leave them in darkness, and the interior was pleasantly cozy—just as had been intended.
There was a small, amused chuckle from Mistral’s right as Sibyl expressed her own amusement. The blind woman had ultimately found her way into the fort after she had ungracefully bumped into the fort itself, and had thus been invited inside by the pair. Now she sat on her knees, quietly listening as her sister-in-law regaled her son with stories of the past ten years of her life.
“Wait until I tell you about the time-” Mistral stopped herself as she heard the door to the manor close, and two voices became audible conversing back and forth. She flashed her son a playful grin as she grabbed a stack of pillows that had been piled up next to her. “Actually, hold that thought, love,” she said as she crawled out from beneath the fort.
She peered up from over the back of the couch, and she watched as Paris and Corvus strolled out of the entranceway.
With a flash, two pillows were launched in quick succession. Paris, seeing the ambush, quickly ducked out of the way as he swiped the pillow meant for him out of the air and quickly launched it back at the laughing woman, though the second pillow successfully stuck to Corvus’s face with a satisfying fwumph.
“Oh, and with deft agility, Captain Paris Auriga snatches the missile from the sky and launches it back at the source!” Mistral narrated as she ducked out of the way of the return fire. Sibyl, hearing the commotion, had crawled out from beneath the fort to get a better handle of what was now erupting around her. “Unfortunately, it appears to be a miss. How unfortunate, love~ Though it appears General Auriga has been taken by ambush!”
“It’s called a diversion, dear Mistral. After all, I believe you forgot the pillows in the GUEST ROOM!” Paris called as he dashed off. Meanwhile, his father had removed the pillow from his face, laughing all the while.
“...Time for my favorite tactic. STORM THE BATTLEMENTS!” Corvus called as he charged into the living room and crashed into the pillow fort just as Sibyl had gotten back to her feet and maneuvered her way out of the quickly evolving war zone. In the resulting confusion, the General had managed to get Ven into a headlock and gave him a firm noogie.
“They’ve broken through! Fall back! Fall back! They’re coming from the flank!” Mistral called as she grabbed another pillow. Paris had reappeared in the entranceway just in time to start firing off a barrage of heavily-stuffed missiles in her direction—trying to overwhelm her by sheer number as she ducked and dodged out of the way.
Ven, meanwhile, was wrestling against Corvus, laughing as he tried to squirm out of the firm headlock.
Just as Mistral hurled another pillow after Paris, the door once again opened as Signus slipped into the house only to narrowly avoid walking directly into the path of the pillow as it flew past his face. He blinked, standing in the entranceway as he witnessed Mistral scrambled into view after Paris.
“What did I…?” he started to ask.
“Estate pillow war, love!” Mistral called back. “Ven’s dealing with Corvus, I just need to deal with this deft-footed rascal. Battlements have been stormed. Best pick a side!”
Signus continued standing where he was, somewhat dumbstruck by the chaos he was witnessing. “Uhh…? Oh dear. I’ve found myself in quite a predicament.”
“There are more pillows in the living room. Though if I get one launched at me, you’ll regret it of course. Just so you are aware,” Mistral said as she scooped a pillow up from the ground to launch in Paris’s direction. “Ven!~ Once you finish with the General, do be a dear, I may need more artillery!”
“Got’it, mum!” Ven called as he successfully squirmed out of Corvus’s grip and grabbed a pillow of his own to engage the General. Sibyl, meanwhile, had found a safe corner of the living room where she was now standing with a hand over her mouth to shield the amused smile that had rapidly spread across her face.
“And that’s a mist!” Mistral called as she deflected Paris’s return fire with a sudden gust of wind triggered by a wave of her hand. She smirked, her green eyes twinkling mischievously as she winked in the man’s direction.
“Oh, if we’re doing that, I’m going to have to start shooting off pillow-tipped arrows!” Paris retorted as he continued his assault.
“Please.... Don’t,” Signus piped up.
“This isn’t even your house, Captain,” Paris said.
“Precisely why I am baffled as to why I am the one to remind you not to launch projectiles inside, Captain,” Signus replied.
Mistral was still grinning as she she began to gather up more ammunition.
“Would just be more surface area to catch the wind. Though, if you want to give me an advantage, Paris, who am I to argue? Quite generous to throw the battle on my account.”
Paris ceased his exchange with Signus to once again turn his attention on the dark-skinned woman, the competitive spark in his eye glimmering with a renewed vigor.
“Oh, it’s on, Sergeant,” he said as the battle restarted with a new fury.
The sound of a loud, jolly belly-laugh was audible from the living room as Corvus exchanged pillow-muffled blows with Ven. The young boy was quickly scrambling around the knocked-askew furniture, using cover wherever he could as the General simply stood weathering whatever blows Ven was able to land on him until the young boy managed to tire himself out.
It was a much tamer exchange in contrast to the literal, ongoing war between Mistral and Paris where pillows were thrown and recovered with a focused furocity. Both were smiling, though it was obvious by the glint in their eyes that neither was prepared to let the other come out victorious.
Signus, meanwhile, had hastily taken to ensuring the house did not end up too obliterated as he walked about straightened paintings, shielding delicate decorations, and periodically pausing to toss a wayward pillow back into the fray.
Paris and Misty’s duel had re-entered the living room, and the tall woman happened to catch the dark-haired knight’s eye as she was backed up against a couch. She flashed Signus a wink, before she quickly rolled over the back of the furniture to avoid another pillow that was hurled in her direction by Paris.
She caught Signus double-take before she disappeared, a small, stoic, yet almost dumb, smile on his face as he realized the woman had, in fact, meant the motion for him.