Topic: Soul Siblings

Lirssa Sarengrave

Date: 2011-07-03 11:30 EST
Lirssa held Raza's hands look up at his giggling face. Little rivulets of drool slicked each side of his mouth to his chin. His standing on her stomach was a little wobbly, but the standing was not so much the point. "Ready' One, two, three!" Lirssa relaxed her arms, Raza relaxed his legs, and he went plop on her tummy. With the required grunt of her breath being expelled, Raza peeled out in gurgling laughter again.

It was one of his favorite games when they played on the floor. He bounced and Lirssa pulled him back up to his feet where he wobbled to the countdown and then dropped to sit on her belly again. "Oof. Gonna get to a time you can't do that anymore. My belly's sore." She patted her tummy and looked to the clock. It was inching towards bedtime.

Both Ali and Fionna were out that evening. From the gear she saw on them when they came into the bathroom to give a soapy and splashy Raza goodnights, Lirssa guessed they were on some sort of mission. Or maybe just being prepared for the waywardness of Rhydin. In this city, sometimes going around the corner was a challenge.

Lirssa was in charge. At least that was what they said. But Lirssa and Raza were never really alone. Dante lay on the floor beside them, his tail wagging at the fun they were having. Siva was in one of her own playful moods, finding Dante's tail an appropriate toy to slap, claw, and snap at. She never seemed to catch it, and Dante rarely gave the queenly cat a glance.

But play time was over. "Okay, Raza. Time for stories and bottle. Shall we hear more adventures of The King Cat and The Lady?" It was not as if Raza was able to deny the choice, but he babbled a cheerful arrangement of noises all the way to the kitchen. Lirssa took that as a 'Yes, please, Wirssa, very much want to know what happens next to the King Cat and the Lady. It is my favoritist of stories.'

The bottle was removed from the fridge and set into a warm pot of water. Being old fashioned, Lirssa preferred to warm the bottle just slightly even if he did not require it to be warmed as much as when he was little. Time was going by so fast. Soon enough, she would be away and he would be in school. She wondered if they would grow apart, maybe even lose track of each other. Looking over his black hair and into those green eyes, she could not help but wonder if Ali and Fionna would ever have any other children again and if she would ever know them at all.

Shaking her head out of that thinking, she grinned. "I'm glad I'm big enough that I can help take care of you and they can go out. See, this way we can have our sibling secrets. Right' Of course, right."

Bottle check to the arm, and a nod with satisfaction to its heat, she made sure everything was off in the kitchen before leaving. It was not that she was careless, but twice checked was best rested.

When she entered Raza's room, she saw Siva and Dante were prepared for the bedtime ritual. Siva, as always, had to be asked to vacate the rocking chair. Shooing her out was absolutely unthinkable. Besides, Lirssa liked to think that Siva was actually being nice and warming the chair for her. The twitch of tail when the cat finally left the chair might have said otherwise, but Lirssa always said, "Thank you," just the same.

"Now then," she lowered her voice to set the mood of the story. Raza was cradled down in her arm with bottle to eager mouth. "Where were we?" The last time they'd had stories had been a few weeks ago. "Oh, yes, the Lady had wrapped her long brown hair around a post and the length of it dangling just out of reach of the prisoner they were trying to free. King Cat was keeping the zombie drones at bay with his fierce claws and gnashing long teeth. But, he was wearying — time was running out."

Dante thumped his tail twice and then set his head on his paws, looking up at her. "Well, there was nothing for it. The Lady climbed down into the dank, pity with its slimy algae and scurrying shadows. The prisoner was so weak, but the Lady was strong. King Cat called over his shoulder 'The bodies are starting to block the exit!' — he had killed that many, heads rolling and everything, because everyone knows you have to burn or behead a zombie." It was important Raza know these things, she felt. "Best to do both." She added. Again, Dante's tail thumped in agreement.

"So, the Lady picks up the prisoner, and puts her over her shoulder. Looking up at the edge of the pit to the low lit circle of where the King Cat was battling, she crouched and she leapt with all her strength. She's got super strength remember? And she just makes it to catch the lip of the tunnel. Her fingers are straining. The slimy floor is making them slip. She tries to catch her toes for foot holds, but no! More slime. Just as she's about to lose her grip, a strong, furnace warm hand wraps around her wrist to hold her, and the weight of the prisoner is taken from her shoulder. Climbing up, she smiles to the King Cat. But this is no time for celebration. The Zombie Overlord is coming. They can smell his approach. It's like twenty of your soiled old diapers on summer days coming at them. The prisoner, unconscious but senses aware, throws up down King Cat's back. That makes him killer unhappy. He hands the prisoner back to the Lady, and all that rage about having puke down his back and zombie slime in his claws he aims at the Zombie Overlord."

Lirssa paused and smiled at the slumbering Raza. Part of her was a little put out that her stories were sleep inducing. She found them rather thrilling, but she did not want to finish the story without Raza. It had been a long day anyway, she reasoned. She still had homework to do. Adventures of King Cat and the Lady would just have to wait until another night.