The author gives some account of herself and family.

[lurkingkobold]

So, that was a party. It was nice, right up until it wasn't - almost like having a tribe again, if she didn't think too closely about it. But then it wasn't, and it really wasn't, and now here we are.

Here, in this case, is the floor of the closet of the room she's been sleeping in, in Miles' house, wrapped up as tight as she can manage in the blanket she took from the bed, waiting for her heart to calm enough that she can go back to sleep after a familiar and expected nightmare. The blanket is wrong - it's missing the smell and stiffness and most importantly the weight of the leather blanket she wishes she had - and the floor is wrong and the acoustics are wrong and being alone, with no other kobolds, is so wrong, and she wishes she could go home, just for a day, just for an hour, just for long enough to let everything be right again for a little while.

She can't, of course. In the light of day, with her new strange almost-tribe, she doesn't even want to, wouldn't want to even if she could. But here, now, in the dark, in this space that is right only in that it's less wrong than her other options, that it's small enough and closed enough that when she wakes, shaking, she can be sure that she is alone, that no one has snuck up on her - here and now, she would trade it all for the smell of cookfire smoke and the sound of a hundred sleeping bodies.

Remembering helps, a little. Even if she can't be there now, tribe is something she had, something she knows like breathing, like heartbeat. She can't be there, but, if she was.... it would sound like this, and it would look like this, and it would feel like this...

Eventually, her breathing slows, and she drifts back to sleep.

Comments

[lurkingkobold]

When she's done, the kobold approaches Cordelia and nudges her arm again, smiling, calm and a little pleased. "Gate?", she asks, quietly.

[greatcomposure]

Cordelia nods, and stands a little ways away from the pile, and casts the gate back to her demiplane.

[lurkingkobold]

And through they go.

"Lunch?"

[greatcomposure]

"Lunch," agrees Cordelia.

[lurkingkobold]

Lunch!

The kobold heads to the kitchen, where she drops her vines off on an out-of-the-way section of the counter, tucks her backpack away against the wall, shrugs out of the poncho, and drops it next to the backpack.

[greatcomposure]

Meanwhile, Cordelia goes to get her jacket put away, then finds Miles to see how he's doing.

[thisvorlunatic]

Grumpily catching up on the forum, that's how.

[lurkingkobold]

Traipsing through the forest is hungry-making even if one doesn't skip breakfast; the kobold is not going to spend much time putting lunch together. How about some leftovers, leftovers are nice and quick. She sets up a tray with a variety of things, makes an educated guess about where Cordelia has disappeared to, and goes to see if she's right.

Got it in one, there they are. Why is Miles grumpy, will getting first pick of the lunch tray help?

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles is grumpy because the party was stressful. Getting first pick of the lunch tray cheers him up a little; seeing his kobold friend all cheerful about the outcome of her homeworld expedition cheers him up some more.

[lurkingkobold]

Oh, good.

She passes the tray over to Cordelia, next; she'll take whatever's left. (There's nothing there she doesn't like, after all.)

She's intending to wait until after Miles is done eating to share her magic news, but it's really pretty obvious that she has something exciting to talk about.

[thisvorlunatic]

And indeed: "Somebody's got good news," he observes.

[greatcomposure]

Cordelia smiles and picks out some food to nibble on.

[lurkingkobold]

This gets a giggling nod. "Magic!"

She disappears for a moment, by way of demonstration, taking her lunch with her.

[thisvorlunatic]

"...Yeah," says Miles. "That's magic, all right."

[lurkingkobold]

A big grin, and a nod. "Am mage, am do of magic of thing." She picks up a grape from her plate, holds it carefully between two fingers, and applies a simple invisibility effect to it, then offers it to Miles.

[thisvorlunatic]

...Miles cautiously accepts the invisible grape.

It is invisible, and a grape.

He giggles.

[lurkingkobold]

Giggling is happening, yes.

She's also keeping an eye on that grape; when he's done with it, she takes it back, squishes it into visibility, and eats it.

"More: MP is of many, is of big of hand of hand of hand, am do of cast of Gate. Am need of do of thank you of rainbow god, rainbow god do of good of help."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Esthfora is very helpful," he agrees. "What did she do?"

[lurkingkobold]

"Am do of look of plant," she explains, "no do of find, place no of do of plant, place do of trouble, Cordelia do of ask of rainbow god of find of plant, rainbow god do of say - go of cave, magic of cave, do of touch, magic do of make of happy, do of teach. Am do of, magic do of teach, nice of magic, am do of look of MP, MP is of more, do of learn of gate, do of cast of gate, go of plant, take of plant."

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles giggles. "Yes. That sounds like exactly what happens when somebody asks Esthfora for advice."

[lurkingkobold]

The kobold giggles too. "Rainbow god is of nice."

While she's speaking, her mirror flashes white - there's a new PM, from someone other than Miles.

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles is familiar enough with the mirror's signals to glance curiously at it.

[lurkingkobold]

She sets the mirror to reading the message.

I assume Cordelia passed on our apology for upsetting you yesterday. We would like to apologize again. It was probably unfair to dump our problems on you in that kind of detail in the first place, and also unwise because of the communication problems. It's understandable that it was alarming for somebody that doesn't have the whole story. In my own universe I can usually gauge more clearly how to explain something to somebody without confusing or upsetting them because I usually have other things besides body language to go on for that kind of information, but it doesn't work on different kinds of people from outside my world. And Linsa tends to rely on me for that kind of information as well. We are going to have to rethink social interactions a bit it seems.

When the message is done, she makes a confused and slightly dismayed noise.

[greatcomposure]

"Hmm?" says Cordelia.

[lurkingkobold]

"Is elf, of party." She blinks at the mirror, still trying to work out what just happened and how she's meant to respond to it. She makes the noise again: what the hell?