Diggy Diggy One-Shots(Yogs and Hatfilms)

Xephmadia (SFW)

TW: SOI, Owl Island

Title: ~Books~

"Lomadia, where is that book on stars?!" Xephos shouted down from the attic, sounding extremely impatient.

“You left it on the balcony in a storm last year, Xeph!” Lomadia yelled back, giggling at the spaceman’s loud groan of annoyance.

A very grumpy, disgruntled Xephos came downstairs to sit at the table. Lomadia smiled; he smelled of old paper and dust. It was what their attic smelled like, what with all of the ancient scripts and texts written in forgotten languages up there.

“Why do we have so many books?” Xephos complained to her as she moved around the kitchen, working on the witchy spells she’d been trying to do.

“Why do you need that particular book?” Lomadia countered, smiling innocently when Xephos scowled at her.

“For your information, there’s a new planet in the sky,” he told her. “I think it might be home.”

Lomadia’s hands hesitated for a moment over the fragile clay jars cooling on the table. “You… don’t want to go back, do you?” She asked, somewhat fearfully.

Xephos glanced out the window, and mumbled, “It would be nice, y’know? To go home.” Shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts, he turned back to Lomadia, and gave her a reassuring smile. “I’m not going anywhere, though. Minecraftia is far more peaceful.”

“Even with Israphel on the loose?” She snorted, her hands skillfully resuming their measuring and pouring and cooking.

“Hey, he disappeared a long time ago,” Xephos protested. “I don’t worry about that anymore.”

Lomadia raised one eyebrow, tugging open a drawer next to her. Her hand felt for the underside, quickly undoing the clasps she found there. Pulling the weighty diamond sword from its hiding place, Lomadia held it steadily in her left hand, pointing it at Xephos.

“Yeah, you don’t worry about it,” she agreed sarcastically, setting the sword down on the counter.

We just so happen to keep at least one sword hidden in every room for decorative purposes.”

Xephos scowled at her playfully, rising from his chair. “Hang on a second, I thought I saw an old book on legends in the attic,” he said teasingly, and Lomadia instantly knew which book he was looking for.

She sighed impatiently as his footsteps went up the stairs, and the ladder that led to the attic groaned under his weight. After a moment and the sound of something heavy hitting the floor, the footsteps made their way back down the stairs.

Xephos appeared in the doorway, a large book in his arms. He staggered over to the table, setting the heavy volume down with a thunk.

Lomadia set down the small bottle she was holding and made her way over to him as he sat down.

He peered over his shoulder as he flipped through the pages.

“See this, Lom?” Xephos jabbed at the page he’d stopped on.

It was titled, “The Legend of Israphel.” The page described the adventures of a spaceman and a dwarf aiding a knight, weary with age, in his battle against the evil forces of the world. It told of men who lived in the sky, who flew the airships Lomadia always envied; it said that the heroes would rise again and again if the threat returned to this land.

On the last page, a beautiful charcoal drawing found in the ashes of a place once called Mistral City was copied in. It showed a man whose eyes glowed brightly, and a dwarf who barely made it into the picture because he was so short. A city burned before them, but two men were helping an old man with a sword in his belt on to an airship.

Xephos, Honeydew, Lysander, Jasper, and the old knight Peculier. Lomadia knew all of them personally; they weren’t legends to her, just friends.

“Yes, yes, rub it in,” she muttered sourly. “You saved the world a hundred years ago, well done”

Xephos laughed. “And thanks to the lab I created, we’re still alive.”

“Well done you,” Lomadia muttered with a roll of her eyes. She’d gotten used to Xephos’ insufferable bragging.

“God, now I have to take the book back upstairs.” Xephos let out a long groan of frustration, scooping up the heavy volume. He stumbled out of the room, and Lomadia once more heard his ascent to the attic.

“Hey Lom, your owl book is still up here!” He called down.

“Really?” She yelled back hopefully, forcing the wispy essence she was holding into a jar. That done, she set it to the side, and followed Xephos to the attic.

When she got there, he was holding up a small book for her to see. It looked ancient, with leather-bound pages that had yellowed over tone.

She grinned, her eyes alight with happiness as she grabbed the book from his hands. She clutched the fragile pages to her chest, making sure not to crush them.

Her owl book was a collection of pictures and stories from when she lived on Owl Island, so long ago. The island had been overrun at least twenty years ago - maybe more, Lomadia had lost count.

She opened the book gently. On the first half of the pages, there was a story called “Girl Among Owls.” Xephos had sat down with the two owls that raised her, and they had told him a story of a young blonde girl that had lived with them.

The other half of the book was filled with sketches Xephos had drawn, and legends and stories that the owls told. It had been a present the spaceman had given to her a long time ago.

She closed the book softly, standing on her toes to plant a kiss on Xephos’ cheek. “Thanks,” she murmured softly before descending back to her spells, a smile on her face.