voice

[catpiper]

[It's the middle of the night and do you know where your local neighborhood Ren is?

Well, you may not know where she is, but her voice comes across the iStone loud and clear. She's clearly undisturbed by the time and ready to pose an incredibly important question to anyone who might be (unfortunately) listening right now-]

Do you want to hear a story?

[Who's she talking to??? Who knows!! What's the story gonna be about?? A whole ass mystery. Why's she not asleep? Evil never sleeps. Call Kravitz with ur complaints. ]

Comments

[philoxenia]

I'd love to hear a story.

[ Why is Mira awake? Nightmares, man. ]

[catpiper]

[You know who's delighted?? This shitty goblin.]

Okay, I know a good one. It's called 'Mira and the three bears.'

[philoxenia]

[ how dare you. ]

Really? A story about me? How does it start?

[catpiper]

You find a very warm house in the stars and when you go inside, there are three happy bears laying in their beds. They're a family and they say 'Hello, Mira. We wanted to see your face.'

[vagabone]

[He can't sleep anyway, no great loss.]

Bring it on, chiquita.

[catpiper]

[She's going to bring it on!!! Horrible, awful, hang up now.]

Do you know A Very Hungry Hectorpiller?

[vagabone]

Nope! Brand new word to me. What's a Hectorpillar?

[catpiper]

It's a skeleton that changes into a butterfly when it eats a lot. That's what it is.

[That is not what it is!!! But she's had a fun time at the library, so that's what it's gonna be now.]

[vagabone]

Hold up, I have so many questions. [Many many sleepy midnight questions.]

What color butterfly? And where's all the food go when a skeleton eats?

[reflash]

Ren-san, you should be asleep. [It's bedtime??? Nevermind that Yukio is not himself asleep.]

[catpiper]

[Bedtime is never. You're awake too Yukio-chan!!]

I'm not tired, so I'm not asleep. That's how it is.

[reflash]

That isn't... quite how sleep schedules work.

But if you're up, I'll listen to your story.

[catpiper]

[That is how it works. She's an expert. Don't question her degree. Thanks.]

Okay, it's red riding Yukio. Do you know that one?

[reflash]

[Of course, Ren's doing something absurd. Yukio's tail flicks behind him.]

I don't know that one. Why don't you tell me, Ren-san?

[catpiper]

Okay, but if you get too scared, you can say 'Ren, I'm very scared' and I'll stop.

[Because there's big bad wolf in this tale and while it has a happy ending, Yukio may get nervous. Can't have that!!!]

There's a boy named Yukio and he's very nice, so he goes to his aunt's house to give her some spicy food because she likes that and in the woods he finds a horse and the horse says 'there are ghosts here' and Yukio goes anyway, because he's very brave.

[reflash]

All right, I'll tell you if I get too scared. [Not that he's planning on getting "too scared", but you know, Ren might want the confirmation.

And then there's the start of her story. If Yukio wanted to throw a wrench into her storytelling he'd tell her he doesn't have an aunt, but he's not going to do that. He'll just listen and see how this goes.]

[eudaimonikos]

Yeah.

[Michael has literally no idea who this is, but he's game!]

[catpiper]

[It's an incredibly rare occurrence when she doesn't immediately recognize a voice over the iStone. Wild.]

Okay, I'll think of one for you too. Do you have a name?

[eudaimonikos]

You didn't have one in mind already?

[No judgement; it just kinda sounded like she wanted to tell a specific one.]

I'm Michael.

[catpiper]

I have a lot 'in my mind already.'

But yours is special. It's going to be 'Sleeping Michael.' That's what that is.

[eudaimonikos]

...okay.

[He doesn't even sleep all that much, but he's willing to see where this goes. Maybe this is a thing children do, he doesn't know]

[catpiper]

[And you know who doesn't remember the actual plot to any of these stories? Her. Mainly because she can read the titles and has to rely on the Kravitz for the rest and you know, sometimes she gets distracted.

The point is-]

A long time ago, Michael met some elves and they put him to sleep because he was very tired. They gave him treasure, but he wouldn't wake up. And someone made him a shirt, but he didn't like that. So he woke up to say 'I don't like this shirt, it scares me.'

[AMAZING.]

And then the elves told him a secret.

[eudaimonikos]

[This is fascinating. He doesn't really get it.]

What was the secret? [...] And what was the shirt?

[demonpuppy]

Mh...what time 'zit?

[Yeah they definitely only just woke up.]

[catpiper]

The moon's been out for a long time, so it's very late.

[And she doesn't seem even the slightest bit upset she woke them up. S.......orry.]

[demonpuppy]

[Th...anks...]

Oh.

[There's some shuffling around while Chip grabs the iStone and sits up properly, trying to be quiet and not wake Erika up.]

What's your story?

[catpiper]

[There's the slightest of pauses, as she apparently scrambles to remember more stories from Krav's little library and-]

The Magic School Chip.

[demonpuppy]

[The title (and it's unintended relevance) take Chip by surprise, and they can't stop a brief sputter of laughter from escaping them. There's no way she'd know the town they're from, but--!]

Th-that's--tell me? Please?

[catpiper]

Okay!

[Thank everything that she has a surprisingly willing audience here. Incredible. Amazing.]

One day, Chip went on a bus that looked like a skateboard and there was a 'teacher' who was driving it. She took them into the sun and even though it was very hot, the skateboard protected them.

[The story literally has Bus in the title and yet, here we are.]

And when they got there, all the phoenixes came out to say 'Hello, we want to have dinner with you.'

voice

[postictal]

[He's not awake, shockingly enough. 'Course he wouldn't be.]

What's up, kiddo? Can't sleep?

[catpiper]

No, my eyes aren't tired yet, so I can't.

[None of y'all are without sleep sin.]

So I wanted to talk to people.

[postictal]

All right.

[Fair enough. Hey, he's not sleeping either.]

What's your story, then?

[catpiper]

Tim and the Beanstalk.

[Amazing. Incredible. She still isn't sure what a beanstalk is.]

[postictal]

Uh-huh.

[There is the driest kernel of amusement in that grunt of a response as he draws it out.]

And what's the story of Tim and the Beanstalk?

[catpiper]

One day, Tim climbs up a very big beanstalk that goes all the way into the stars and there are giant elves up there who say 'Hello, we want to be friends.'

[There's a shuffle and a pause as she tries to remember this fake story. Something, something goose.]

So they looted the stars together until the goose said 'You can't take my egg. It's my special treasure.' So they all hid the egg in the moon until it hatched. But when it hatched, it looked very weird.

[postictal]

Yeah?

[Sounds like she heard the story of Jack and the Beanstalk exactly once and is now laboring to retell it with only a vague idea of what actually transpired.]

Why'd it look weird?

[littlemhigan]

Ren...

[The sound is definitely that of someone adjusting their position in whatever counts as a bed. Castor's voice is thick and muzzy with sleep.]

Lass, it's the middle've the night. What're ye doin' awake?

[catpiper]

[Whoops, poor Castor. Too bad no part of her nocturnal ass feels bad about waking people up. Well, maybe a little bad.

The point is she's awake now!! Time to make it count.]

I'm awake because I'm not asleep yet.

[That's how that works gosh!!!]

Do you want to hear stories too?

[littlemhigan]

I've noticed! Not tired, or is sommat amiss?

[It's probably not the latter but Chronic Hero Syndrome demands the question nevertheless]

What sort've stories do ye know?

[catpiper]

It's okay. I'm not tired. Nothing's scary.

[This is just an average night for her and yall should pray for Kravitz, who is now the sole person she gets to annoy after she's done on the iStone.]

I know lots of stories. I don't like the scary ones, but the 'library' has a lot of books. I know some of those.

[She Does Not.]

[littlemhigan]

[What's the worst she could do, annoy him to death?] Well that's good to hear. Come find me if that changes aye?

[There's a pause and more rustling before Castor's voice comes back a bit stronger and less sleep-laden]

Do ye now? All the stories I learned, I learned from hearin' other people tell 'em. What stories do ye know?

[yallstupid]

[Oh...he didn’t miss this. It’s barely been a week? Ish?? Since he was back, and Guzma is already cursing the tiny child that he adores so much to stuff her head in the sand. He will not lie, Havenwell had its pros and cons for sure, but the pros were pretty darn great. His own, royalty free housing, a bed, and a spare room for his Pokémon? Amazing. He also didn’t get woken up at stupid times of night and/or morning by anyone. The tablets could be turned off, or placed on mute, and honestly?

Best feature ever.

He groans, loudly, and buries his face into his pillow, voice muffled and definitely irritated. Sweet, wonderful, darling, lovable little sister...go to bed.]

No. Go to bed.

[catpiper]

[Oh boy, she forgot Guzma doesn't like this and recalls being scolded for it on more than one occasion. Many times, actually. W H O O P S. ]

I can't sleep until I'm tired.

[And she's awake forever, honestly.]

I'll wait until the sun's out to tell you your story.

[Everyone else is unfortunately cursed to remain, but she'll free him this one time.]

[yallstupid]

Thank you.

[The words are forced, a bit grumbly, but regardless...they’re sincere. Ren is a numskull of the highest caliber, certainly on par with the rest of his brothers and sisters, but at least she’s learning that maybe waking people up in the middle of the night or early hours of the morning may not be a great idea. He lays his head down and closes his eyes, breathing out slowly.]

Y’know...if you’re not tired when you go to bed, you can drink tea that’ll put you to sleep...dunno if any flowers grow here that y’all can brew, but chamomile’s good at putting you to sleep. [Perhaps the few things he learned from Lillie. She loved her weird ‘moss water’ as he used to call it, and even got him into drinking it a few times in lieu of his favored brew – Tapu Cocoa. Alas, his stash is gone as well... He’ll need to burn so many favors to get back all the things he had before...ugh. He’ll deal with that another time.]

voice

[salutosinedelectat]

[ Well, good thing it's one of those nights where the angel doesn't have to sleep! Though the sudden voice in the hut startles him a bit. He forgets he even has this thing. ]

Ren? Isn't it a tad late? [ He's quiet, as not to wake his company. ]