The Child of Ravens

Chapter Twenty-Two: Symbols

Warning: Cursing, Violence, mention of suicide

Often associated with death, illness, or a bad omen, ravens have been featured in ancient stories from around the world and in almost every culture. For example, Swedish folklore has it that ravens are the spirits of murdered people who weren't given Christian burials. Irish folklore sees ravens as symbols of warfare, and the Hindu deity Shani is often visualized as mounted on the back of a giant raven.

Cai's eye twitched as another echoing hiccup caused their sketchbook to move, making the line they were drawing crooked, letting out a deep sigh as they erased the line and started again, only for it to go askew once again with another rumbling hiccup. His wings twitched in irritation, the pencil snapping in the corvid's claws out of pure irritation, themself looking up at the root cause of the noise, glaring green daggers towards a sheepish MK.

Finally resigning themselves to the fact that until the hiccups were solved, she wouldn't be able to draw, the painter put away xier tools into xier messenger bag that was decorated with a multitude of varying patches, before addressing the current issue.

"This is the worst case of hiccups I've ever seen!" Pigsy grumbled out, as he picked himself up off the floor, MK's own stool having hopped to the center of the room over time, watching as his father looked towards Mei for an explanation. "How'd it happen?!"

"So, you remember that beef ball eating contest that was being advertised in the marketplace?" The Dragon girl asked, as she pulled out her phone, scrolling through it's images before finishing the one she was looking for, and showing the pig, who'd nodded at the young girl's question. "Well, apparently it was being run by demons, and apparently the female demon that was running it was trying to lure out her ex, so she could curse him, but she accidentally gave them to MK."

"You're kidding," Tang gaped, looking at the image as well, showing a very proud monkey boy, who'd just won the contest.

"She apologized, said they'd probably wear off eventually, but she wasn't sure when," Laughing nervously at the incredulous looked the trio of adults was giving her, and avoiding eye contact, another string of hiccups making Cai's chair hop around the shop, as he, Rumble and Savage clung to the stool for dear life. "We've tried everything!! I tried rubbing his belly, giving him a good scare, and hitting all his pressure points,  but nothing worked!!"

"That's because they're cursed hiccups Mei, cursed, which means they're magic," Deadpanning, as they watched the male teen get launched into the ceiling by another loud hiccup, the corvid explained why their 'solutions' hadn't worked. "Normal, human methods won't work. It's just like when one of my cousin's coworkers added Fey flower pollen into his coffee as an April Fool's day prank, you need a magical solution for a magical problem."

"What do you suggest?" Tang asked with a humm, the scholar only familiar with Chinese mythos, European culture being fairly new to him.

"Well, what exactly was in the Beef Balls?" 

Looking over at the adolescent duo, Mei seemed to think for a bit, before answering, "The normal ingredients, plus a few 'Echoing Habanero Peppers.' At least, that's what the she-demon said, were in them."

"Alright, so we'll probably need a plant-based solution," Thinking for a moment, the raven snapped xier claws together and pulled out xier phone, dialing a number before smiling when the person on the other end answered. "Hello Grammy,  I need your help with something, seeing as you grew up in China, what would the best solution be for Echoing Habanero hiccups?"

The others waited, whilst the person on the other end answered, before a humm left their flying friend, who nodded and smiled, "Thank you so much Grammy, love you too, bye!~"