Tiny

Babbling

The last few days had gone back to normal. Or as normal as it could get.

While Scylla was no longer screaming her head off (aside from when Bittergiggle had to leave for the bi-weekly expedition and left her to the clones), the tiny jester was no longer silent.

After finding out she had a voice, Scylla soon was making noise. Not big, loud, annoying noises. Just small, quiet, barely constant noises.

She made aaahs, ooohs, and sometimes little cooing sounds. Some sounds she made often had Bittergiggle look at her in surprise, wondering if such things were supposed to be coming out of her mouth. The sounds she made weren't exactly words or anything he could understand.

He did figure out that there was an indicator to her small sounds. If she saw something she recognized, she made small noises at it. If it was something new, she'd stay quiet and stare at it.

Of course, most of her noises were directed at him. The sounds Scylla made the most at were always towards Bittergiggle, so he figured she at least recognized his face. Same with Kittysaurus when he took her to visit the giant hybrid. And with the clones.

Though, she gave those two an odd side-eyed look when she saw them.

"Why is she looking at us like that?" Houdini asked, to which Bittergiggle could only shrug. He still wasn't sure what to expect from childcare and very much didn't understand or know what was going on.

At least she was easy to deal with now.

He held her up, listening to her small babbles and sounds as she stared at him with her big eyes. A few times he thought he heard her say a letter or repeat a word he once said, but all her sounds were just the same nonsensical things.

Was she supposed to be saying something? She was still too young to speak, wasn't she? Bittergiggle didn't know.

He knew Syringeon's kids could talk after a few days, maybe Scylla was the same? But those were Syringeon's kids, Scylla was his. Maybe she developed differently.

"Bittergiggle." He said. Scylla babbled at him. "Bittergiggle." He repeated. Scylla made a small coo. "Biiiiiiiitterrrrrrgiiiiiigglllllllllllllleeeeeeeeeee." He stretched out the syllables, hoping that would help. Scylla stared at her for a moment, then slowly stuck out her tongue. "... we'll work on it." He sighed, butting his head against hers.

Scylla made a small noise against his fur as he placed her back into the sling across his chest. Teaching words would have to wait. A new idea for a joke came to his mind, and he had to write it down quickly before he'd forget it!

🧪

Toadster Databook, Log Entry #1:

This is the first entry to what I will refer to as the 'Toadster Databook' where all information I have gathered on a certain criminal will be recorded. Not to be confused with the 'Toadster Archives' as that information is related to other criminals who I am not familiar with.

This databook will focus solely on one criminal, who goes by the name Bittergiggle. A.K.A., The Jester.

This particular criminal was once a fellow member of our proud Kingdom and has now turned to a life of crime and evil. It hurts knowing someone you once thought you knew throw everything away for their own selfish goal to make the queen laugh. But I am determined to make sure that never happens, no matter the cost.

So far, The Jester hasn't been making any moves in an attempt to get to the queen. His sightings had gone cold for a month before reappearing during the bi-weekly expedition. Comforting him has been an ongoing struggle and one that can't be rushed.

I'm suspicious of what he's up to. Knowing him, The Jester likely has something big planned, and I will need to be on guard to stop whatever it may be.

Efforts to try and catch him have been proven to be a failure, but I will not rest until he's locked away for good.

For the safety of the Kingdom and her majesty.

End of entry.