It was kind of an odd homework assignment Mr. Geist gave him. He wanted to know three of Daisy and Elvis's favorite things. Which got that song going through Desdenova's mind over and over and over... Ugh!
Daisy lazed about in the only legal horse stable left in that area of Hollywood, a smug testament to the grandfathering clauses, and made sure she fully annoyed any new resident that complained about her. The pretty little black mare, as she appeared to be, made no bones of the fact that she was indeed a nightmare in disguise. Yet, there was plenty of trouble to make as a pretty little black mare.
?Daisy,? Desdenova called as he climbed up the side of the stable and onto her back. Though they were unseen, he could feel the gaunts wings lift and fold around him to keep him steady. She opened the stable door herself and ambled from the old coach house towards the immaculately kept and elderly cemetery.
?What are your three most favorite things?? Desdenova asked curiously.
?Yew don' know?? Daisy asked, amused, tipping her head and ear back as she eyed him. Desdenova frowned, thinking.
?Yeeahhh, I think, but I don't want to be selfish an' stuff.?
?What do's yew think?? she prompted. Desdenova leaned on the arch of her neck, his brow knit.
?Uhm... You like... Getting In 'N' Out burgers with me. Going through the drive through. At Bob's Big Boy, you like getting chocolate malts with Dad. You like eating sketti with Alice. ...Food and family.?
?Ya think??
?Welll... I mean it's not like when we have dinner at the table, it's something special, so it's being someplace and sharing with your family, each member is special.? Desdenova decided. He perked up as the nightmare trotted briskly from the cemetery grounds, heading down the road that would lead to the fast food joint so revered by the west coast.
?Dat's one thing,? Daisy noted. There was a certain glee in watching the faces of drivers and pedestrians alike as the little black mare seemingly came out of the mists of time to clippety clop down the modern streets and get in line with the rest of the cars, waiting to order. Most of the community had long ago gotten used to the random specter of the past, but many hadn't.
?You like teasing and surprising people,? Desdenova added, much later as they shared cheeseburgers and fries on a strip of grass behind the restaurant, ?But you're a nightmare, I guess that's part of being a nightmare.?
?Mm,? Daisy responded absently, munching down a burger as a girl gawked at her.
?Nightmares aren't just for scaring. They're to make you move. Make you look at what you're doing. Understand that something is wrong,? Desdenova mulled, ?But then you take care of me and make sure I don't get hurt or nothing.?
Daisy whickered amiably as the girl got up the nerve to come closer and stare at her. In the nightmare's experience, most little girls who professed to love ponies were actually terrified by them when confronted with the real thing.
?But that's your job,? Desdenova mused, leaning against the mare. ?You like to help people.?
Once more, Daisy's response was horsey, she stretched out her neck to whiffle at the girl, and seemed pleased that the child patted her nose before retreating. Desdenova snickered as he threw away the trash before scrambling to Daisy's back.
?And,? Desdenova added as the nightmare trotted back down the street, ?You like the dawn the best.?
Daisy's ears quirked a bit at that, she glanced at the boy humorously in her neat footed trot.
?You do. You're always up and ready to go in the morning. You'll come home before dawn and watch how the sky goes from black to purple to red to violet and golden and blue, the way the stars fade away and sun comes up shining,? Desdenova told her in a warm sing-song.
?Yesyes,? Daisy finally giggled, ?Is the end of workin' nightmares and beginnin' of bein' Daisy.?
?Yeah.? Desdenova smiled, hugging around the gaunt's neck.

Homework: part 2


?Family and ...communion with family, is the basis for everything,? Desdenova noted, staring up at the stars, holding his iPhone up at arms length to record himself laying on the grass, ?It's like a net. A web. Connections on connections, and you keep those strong by sharing with them. Then it becomes a platform. It's springy but that can lift you a lot more and sometimes dump you out. So you know, you can't let it get broken.?

?What are you doing, punk-kin?? Jackie asked as she loomed over her little brother, ?You're totally off on your camera.?

Desdenova rolled his eyes and made nattery faces as his older sister corrected his aim, then just took the phone from in to film him herself.

?So, mister family is the basis, what if you don't have a family?? Jackie inquired.

?You make one,? Desdenova retorted, ?People are crazy without contacts with people. You find the people you love and share with them.?

?Friends are fluid. Rocky just told me if I wasn't doping with him, I obviously wasn't his friend,? Jackie challenged, snarling under her breath.

?Rocky's a dick, congratulations on him finally proving it to you.?

?Rocky was a good friend.?

?No he wasn't,? Desdenova snorted, ?You think he was, but you weren't looking at him like you should. You were all 'ohmigawd, he's so cool, he's so edgy, he's so hawt'. You didn't see he was stealing from stores and you, you'd make excuses for him. You didn't say anything when he lied to your face. When he got into fist fights with anyone that looked at him funny. And now because you're not putting poison in your body, you're not his friend.?

?Yeah, because we're totally angels and Mom and Dad aren't psycho killers and we never lie...? Jackie scoffed, but she shifted uncomfortably. Did she really want to record this conversation?

?You never lie to family about what matters,? Desdenova pointed out, ?Mom and Dad are psycho to protect us and those they love. They would never hurt us. If you decided to be a cop, they'd support you all the way. If you decided to turn them in, they'd be mad, sure, but not because you turned them in but because you did it the easy way.?

?Okay, fine, so I let what looked cool get past my radar,? Jackie snorted, tossing her pigtails.

?People change, too. Someone that was real close to you might move on. That hurts. But you just gotta deal with it,? Desdenova added uncomfortably as Jackie had been just moments before. That one was hard to work with.

?But real family, blood, won't,? Jackie put in. Desdenova frowned, shaking his head.

?I think it just happens. The bonds are still there, blood or not, but... they've gone far away,? he mulled. Jackie shrugged and agreed with that.

?The higher you stand, the closer you are to the sky,? Desdenova murred, stretching in effort to reach them. Jackie snorted and toed the boy.

?When we help each other,? she prompted.

?Yeah, exactly. Helping others climb brings us upwards.?

?As long as they're not trying to pull us down.?

?That's there the truly knowing comes in.? Desdenova nodded. Jackie considered, walking a circle around him.

?And what if they're hiding themselves from you?? Jackie asked, ?People who are using you but first get your trust? The guy that wants in your pants but plays the total sweet guy to get there? The girl that knows you'll give her expensive gifts if she gains your trust??

?The mage that wants to use you as a cats-paw to take down a rival for power, and makes a big deal of you and pretends to be your best friend and manipulates you all the way till when he's throwing you to the dragons to get rid of the evidence and witness,? Desdenova added. Jackie paused and peered at him, mouth open.

?It that why Daddy hates mages and dragons so much??

?Yeah. You don't just get over being bitten in half by a dragon.?

?Okay, so point one is proved, Daddy's okay-ish with you being a mage,? Jackie nodded, ?But how would you know you were being used like that??

?If they're good, you won't. You just have to keep your eyes open. See, Dad's problem was he saw all those people as rustic yokels. He didn't realize they were just as slick as a modern gangster. That was his fail,? Desdenova explained, ?If it was a mob boss with dogs, see, he'd have been listening and watching a lot closer. You don't get to be a mob boss because you're Mr. Helpful. Everyone you have around you is there for a reason. Even if that reason is because you love them.?

?Okay, yeah, and a mob boss isn't going to pick up someone like Daddy because he's cuddly and loving. He's going to want Daddy around because he's loyal to a friend, a master assassin, and all that,? Jackie nodded thoughtfully, ?But Daddy would know that and be suspicious because it's a mob boss, and what this guy really wants is free hits. Or he'd hear from others if the guy was tweaking, a sicko, bucking for power, whatever.?

?Right. Daddy knew the mage dude was bucking for power, but didn't think he could have anything to do with it. Even though he'd heard around that this guy would use his own grandmother if he could. He just shrugged it off because he didn't see this guy was just a mob boss in fancy robes,? Desdenova agreed.

?So trust but watch. Ever paranoid,? Jackie grinned. It was their house motto.

?Ever paranoid,? Desdenova echoed, hand lifting to bro-fist his sister. ?And that's who we are.?

?Ever paranoid??

?Yeah. We love and trust and are loyal and crap, but we watch always. So like when stupid Rachel was all whining about how she trusted me and how could I call the cops because she's running away to meet her magic internet boyfriend, I said suck it up because I am loyal to her, not her stupid ideas.?

?That was epic,? Jackie snorted ironic laughter, ?But she hates you now.?

?So what? I did what I had to do,? Desdenova grumped, irritable to be reminded of it anyhow, ?I can't be her friend now anyhow. Not until she gets her stuff together.?

?One day, she'll realize what you really did for her, and be on you like a half cooked pancake flipped out of the pan.?

?Probably. Meh.?

?So what does all this do? Just having a lovely angsty pre-adolescent examination of self, family, and friends?? Jackie wondered, zooming the camera in on Desdenova's left nostril.

?It makes a basis for you. It's where you stand and bring your power up from, whether it's magic or whatever. Like when you touch the earth for grounding.?

?I have Daddy's powers. I don't ? well, wait, I guess I do,? Jackie frowned, touching the camera to reverse it to record her face, ?It's knowing I can. Because I can feel it from ...everything I am, and that's us. If I was alone, like Daddy was when he was given that, I'd probably be bad-crazy and reaching for the wrong things to control it, just like he did.?

?Yeah?? Desdenova encouraged. He had little of their father's powers of necromancy. His elder sister had inherited the bulk of that.

?Yeah. It was like he was the puppet and convincing himself he wasn't until he got the base of family and took over, cut the strings, and became himself,? Jackie explained.

?Oh, yeah. I never thought of it like that. Mom, too.?

?Yeah. So not only were they stronger together, they became independent together because they helped the other stand up.?

?And had us,? Desdenova snorkled. Jackie grinned and flipped the camera back to her brother.

?Yup. More minions. What else??

?I guess it's where you reach to after you have your base,? Desdenova mulled...

?Got to know the con. That's good advice,? Jackie mused, ?Especially for high school, it's all games.?

?Ugh. You girls get boobs and get weird. Guys get ball hair and get weirder. Pass,? Desdenova scoffed.

?Yeah, good luck with that, Peter Pan,? Jackie laughed, shaking her head.

?I can try,? he scoffed, putting his hands behind his head.

?Then what?? Jackie prodded, leaning low over him with the camera. He reached up at it and grabbed fingers over it before letting it go when Jackie jumped up.

?Herbs, herbals, medicines, alchemy... combining and making new things from other stuff,? Desdenova yawned.

?All the pieces of your life and making a you??

?Yeah. I guess. Yeah. Everything around here makes up a me and you put it into a little ball of me and it's me.?

?Mom and Dad having sexors,? Jackie chortled evilly.

?Euuuuwww.? Desdenova made a face, ?After I'm born, dimwit.?

?The alchemy's in the sexing,? she giggled, ?All the magic of reproduction.?

?See? Boobs and you turn weird.?

?Boobies make me what I am,? Jackie beamed smugly.

?And everything you need to make you. Always trying new things. Drawing from family. Reaching past yourself,? Desdenova rattled off. Jackie nodded, amused.

?Story of your life, punk-kin. When we realized you were that sick, we all kept looking and searching and reaching to find ways to make you well,? she nodded, ?You are a mostly successful crucible of hope and faith and magic and technology.?

?I am a crucible,? Desdenova chortled, stretching out, ?All the things I like, I make everything from those. I make a flower from what love of flowers. But I have to shape it and form it and know it if I want a rose.?

?That's a cool trick.? Jackie agreed, glancing back to the house, ?Mom's got Dad in a lip lock, she's going to be hollering for us to come in for bed soon.?

?The stars,? Desdenova announced, rolling to his feet and grabbing Jackie's wrist to peer into the camera.

?What about them??

?That's it. The stars. That's where we reach. What we reach for. Catch some in our hands and make up what we are with it. Create stronger and better, stand higher, and we reach more.?

?This is all very deep and cool, but how's it going to help you?? Jackie asked, brushing grass from her brother and swatting his tiny heinie to get to the house. He swatted back at her and snagged his phone once more.

?Because I know how to make the power be in me, and make more power, and learn to shape it and reach higher, better, every time. So you'll be a cute frog when I turn you into one.?

?You better not,? Jackie warned, narrow eyed. Desdenova grinned, wide eyed, and waggling his fingers.

?Know the con,? Desdenova beamed, quickly rattling off a spell. Jackie managed a squawk before she was squatting before him, a huge blue frog. Her eyes narrowed and she lunged at her brother, half engulfing him in her slimy mouth before he could realize his error and run.

Gloating froggy noises, Jackie amused herself with seeing how much of Desdenova she could shove into her maw, ignoring him while he flailed and screeched laughter. Maybe she missed the con, but she managed to use Desdenova's miscalculation to her advantage.

?Oh spirits. Jackie! Spit your brother out right now! Desdenova, turn your sister back!? Pharlen yelled when she spotted a big blue frog sporting a pair of kicking white legs from its mouth. Jack just cackled hysterically while taking photos of his darling children.

Moments later, Desdenova was on the grass, thoroughly slimed, his sister beside him in much the same state, only grinning smugly.

?Do I even want to know?? Pharlen asked asperically.

?Just doing homework,? Desdenova explained with an idiotic grin, ?Yuck.?

?In today's lesson, Desdenova learns that his awesome older sister is better at using everything to her best effect, even when she's been conned,? Jackie beamed.

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Happy as a lark, Desdenova left a small Marvin the Martian flash drive on Mr. Geist's desk with the recording of his conversation. He waited for his next assignment with a wide smile.