Glass or Diamond: Fairy's Wish

Episode 17: Heading North

They say drunken fairies are good luck. With a drunken fairy, magic or no magic, a party can survive anything.

Or, so one human warrior not normally known for mischief would have a much younger fairy believe.

Maerin fits the role, of course. The mature fairy has one solid belief of her own; not to die sober. So, while she did prove reliable by making improvised explosives well before, she put herself unconscious when the situation took a turn for the precarious and dangerous.

The young fairy Lykha is skeptical. Murtoa isn't humorless, but he also has absolutely no hard feelings about Maerin being drunk during the harrowing flight across the trail of a great snail and providing minimal active assistance.

The lizardman spellshot says gently to Coco, "Fiery One; Coco, I am sorry for striking you. Old disciplines kicked in, but it is no excuse. I will accept your retaliation."

The teen stares at him in surprise. She crosses her arms and puffs her cheeks with attitude, but it ends up making the scruffy teen girl look cuter than anything. "Didn'e hur' so much. I le' it be bu' a jack's tail fluff this go. Bu', nex' go, you gettin' a full-juice shocka."

The reptilian giant chuckles. "I shall control myself better. I am grateful for your mercy, dear Coco."

He then adds warmly, "Let us not ignore our lady Maerin's work ethic to make so many of those improvised explosives. As well as you, Gentle One. You learned a rather advanced spell with ease."

Lykha looks down, whimpering, "Mury... a-about that spell..."

"I know."

She looks up. Did he feel it too? Are they still bound?

"Ah, yes, I did leave out... Communing with spirits is rather unpleasant."

Lykha snaps, "Unpleasant! They tried to... to..." She sniffles, "They touched me... a-and tried to get me to... 'join them'."

"Interesting," replies the big lizardman as he strokes his nose. "They are indeed quite hostile to me. But, you ignored them no less."

"Ignored them!? They-... I'm... I'm too young to be pregnant!"

There's an awkward silence, and even Coco looks at her. The young fairy whimpers with tears, "I don't want a baby right now... I'm... I barely know how to survive..."

Murtoa asks, confused, "What are you talking about?"

She murmurs, nearly too embarrassed to speak, "The-... the spirits... they touched my tummy a-and it felt like... one of them ki-ki-kissed me!" She blurts it out, covering her face. "I'm not ready to be a mom!"

Again, an awkward silence fills the cab.

The silence is bluntly and belligerently broken when Coco bursts into laughter. The teen starts gasping as she laughs, leaning precariously on the door. She heaves her lungs, laughing hysterically as Lykha snaps, "THIS ISN'T FUNNY!"

The teen doesn't relent, and the vehicle begins to slow as she leans almost entirely on the door, choking on laughter. The door clicks open, and only a human warrior's lightning-fast reaction saves her from falling out of the cab as he snatches her belt. His lunge startles Maerin awake, and she asks, "WHA-!? Wha's goin' on? We alive already?"

Lykha whimpers, "It's not funny..."

Mury pulls Coco back into the cab, with the teen still laughing as she giggles out, "Than's Love." She looks at Lykha once and bursts into full guffaws again, more deliberately laying down on her seat to laugh.

Murtoa says in his assuring tone, "I'm no expert on spirits, but... you're... not..." He grunts uneasily, unsure how to word it.

Coco explains more bluntly as she continues to chuckle, "Ta'es more 'an a couple ticks and licks, Bae." She wipes tears from her eyes, breathing heavily. "Ta'es just a li'le more work to mix a crier."