The Roof | Saturday Afternoon

[bookbeltof_love]

It was a nice enough day out that Nina, after a few detours, dragged herself, a picnic basket full of food, a few books, and a soft, thick and fluffy blanket up onto the roof.

Dahanain was there too, since it had seemed... like a bad idea to not bring him with. He'd agreed with her, like he knew something she didn't, which drove her a little bit mad but, like, from what he'd said that was just how it was supposed to be.

So Nina, and her daemon danger noodle (aka a blue Malayan coral snake) were hanging out on the roof.

"If you, like, get eaten by a plant I'm not helping you," she warned when Dahanain made to slither off the blanket in the direction of the greenhouse.

"You're just salty I'm not spilling all of my secrets," Dahanain said with a flick of his tail.

"Too right," Nina said, turning back to her book.

"You wouldn't either."

"Also true!!!!!!!!" Nina conceded.

After all, she liked doing her best to keep secrets from herself.

[Open as a roof is, naturally!]

Comments

[white_oleander]

Astrid was having...mixed feelings about the fact that she had a dove with her at the moment, even after Bodil had tried to explain things to her, and then Astrid decided, if anything, a dove shouldn't stay cooped up in a room all day, even when that dove was apparently a daemon, and so they headed up to the roof.

"Oh. Hey, Nina. I...didn't think anyone would be up here..."

[bookbeltof_love]

"Foomy and Miss Dozy weren't impressed with my visitor," Nina explained, though part of the reason she was up here was just... because she'd wanted to be. "Want to sit????????"

The blanket was large!

"I wouldn't eat them," Dahanain called, poking his red head around a planter and sounding a little injured at the thought. "They're ours."

[white_oleander]

"If you don't mind," Astrid said, lifting a hand so that Bodil could move to it from her shoulder as Astrid herself moved over to Nina and carefully sat down. She set the bird down on the blanket, too, whose head tilted and shifted a little as if inspecting Nina and her friend from all angles.

"This is Bodil," she then offered. "I thought she would like to get some fresh air."

"Hello," said the mourning dove, bobbing her head, then flapping her wings a little, ruffling her feathers. "I was feeling a little cooped up inside."

[bookbeltof_love]

Dahanain came slithering around the planter and twined himself around Nina's shoulders, leaning over to peer at the dove, his tongue flickering out.

He was a big boy, nearly two meters long, but very skinny. His tail was the same bright, screaming red as his head while the rest of him was covered in electric blue stripes.

"I let us out," he proclaimed.

Nina just sighed.

"This is Dahanain," she explained. "Sorry if, like, I woke you up this morning????????"

Nina had had a shrieking fit at the giant snake in bed with her.

[white_oleander]

"It's nice to meet you, Dahanain," Astrid said, tucking her hair behind her ear and keeping a close eye on the snake. She was pretty sure that, whatever was happening, it wasn't something where natural instincts might take over, but that snake could probably make pretty short work out of Bodil.

Unless she could apparently live up to her name.

She gave Nina a faint smile. "I should have figured that was you."

It shouldn't be a stretch to have someone relate anything loud to Nina, right?

[bookbeltof_love]

Yeaaaaah, Nina just wasn't going to mention how obscenely venomous her danger noodle was.

"Can you believe her?" Dahanain said to Bodil, ignoring Astrid. "She was surprised to see me?"

"Sorry," Nina said, rolling her eyes at her snake. "I mean, like, I didn't mean to????????? He's just a bit........ much?????????"

But so was she. SO.

[white_oleander]

That was exactly what Astrid was thinking (and the little flicker of Bodil's eyes may have suggested the bird was thinking something very similar), but of course Astrid wouldn't say as much.

"Well," she offered instead, "you do make for a very imposing figure. I love your colors, though."

And it wasn't just a comment meant to placate the snake; she really found them very catching and interesting.

[bookbeltof_love]

Dahanain preened, coiling so that she could get a better look at him in all of his majesty.

"You're only going to encourage him," Nina complained, with a laugh. "He's already taken over my mirror!!!!!!!!!!"

"I deserve it more than you," he said loftily. "And you can buy another."

[scoffs_at_tradition]

Shuri came outside, an enormous black panther shadowing her. "Hello, everyone."

[bookbeltof_love]

"Hello, minion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Nina. Nina, Shuri was a senior. Technically she out-ranked you in StuCo.

"We have minions now?" Dahanain asked, rising up to flick his tongue at the visitors. "Oh, hello, minions!"

[scoffs_at_tradition]

"You do not have minions," Fundiswa growled, padding in and finding a high spot to curl up in. "You have people far too busy to want to do work in high school."

"Be polite," Shuri scolded, but lightly.

[bookbeltof_love]

“I’m, like, just as busy as Shuri,” Nina protested, grinning at Shuri. “ I wear many hats!!!!!!!!!!!”

A beat.

“Cutely!!!!!!!”

“So very cutely,” her snake agreed. “Besides, how boring would things be if we didn’t give them our all, no matter how small and mundane they might be?”

[scoffs_at_tradition]

"That's an excellent point, but it can also lean to burning out," Shuri said.

[white_oleander]

Between a snake and now a panther, Bodil was definitely taking flight for a moment to find somewhere a bit higher and out-of-easy-reach to perch on, letting out a little coo as she settled in to watch.

And Astrid turned from watching her fly with a small smile. "Hey, Shuri." A nod, toward the panther, and feeling maybe a little envious it wouldn't be so easy for her to just flutter away like the mourning dove. "Shuri's friend."

[scoffs_at_tradition]

"Fundiswa," Shuri said, smiling at the panther. "She's not my father, checking up on me from where the ancestor go when they die. I checked."

[white_oleander]

A perspective like that had never even crossed Astrid's mind, and now she was throwing an almost startled look up toward Bodil, who laughed softly.

"No, Astrid," she said softly, kindly, "don't worry. Nothing like that with me, either."

Astrid nodded, letting out a small breath, unnerved all over again over it having to be a dove, and smiled at the panther.

"Nice to meet you, Fundiswa. That's Bodil up there. She's mine. I guess."

[scoffs_at_tradition]

"Hello, Bodil," Shuri said, waving. "This is a very odd day, isn't it?"

[legionqueen]

Honestly, it had taken Juillenne a while to notice something was weird because she always had an animal companion with whom she shared a connection.

The talking, however, was new.

"I don't see why we have to go up to the roof right no-," she was saying to Camden as they made their way onto the roof. "Oh. Hello, Nina."

[bookbeltof_love]

"And no greeting for me?" Dahanain demanded, raising his head off of, well, Nina's head, where he'd been reading with her. "Rude!"

Nina rolled her eyes, smiling at Jules.

"Hey, Jules, hey, Camden," Nina said, even as her snake complained about how unloved he was. "This is Dahanain--and, like, stop whining, ohmygosh, you know you've never been introduced!!!!!!!!!!"

[legionqueen]

"Have you always been here?" Cam demanded. "Because we would have noticed if you had."

[bookbeltof_love]

"I'm always here," Dahanain retorted loftily.

"Ah-hem??????????"

The snake (which was quite large, at nearly two meters long) heaved a put-upon sigh. "Well, it's true," he grumbled, before adding, "My physical manifestation is new."

[legionqueen]

"Your... 'physical manifestation'?" It was Jules who spoke this time, a little puzzled as she echoed the words.

[bookbeltof_love]

"Apparently he's, like, part of my soul???????" Nina offered. "My spirit animal??????"

She was still a bit doubtful about all of that.

"And a finer one you'll never find," he cooed.

[legionqueen]

"Where I'm from, we're just called familiars," Cam said loftily.

"So does that mean everyone's got one of these 'spirit animals', now?" Jules asked. Honestly, talking thing aside, she kind of liked the idea. Reminded her a little of what living in Wolf Spring had been like.

[bookbeltof_love]

"From the number of them I've seen around town today," Nina said, as Dahanain turned his back pointedly on Cam. "The answer is yes???????"