Mischief Unmanageable

[Callie]

Callie giggled and clapped when Tarance used the potato like a pommel horse. She'd never thought to try that before. But then again, she wasn't quite as tiny as he was and it would have to be a much bigger potato for that to work for her. Unknowingly, she pictured how big the potato would have to be in her mind...and seeing as how she had no control over her majik, or even knew she had majik, the potato he had just used got big enough for her to use as a pommel horse, just like it was in her mind. Now Callie had always been able to sense majik, it tickled her insides something fierce...well not fierce, but it did tickle her insides, and that ticklishness translated into giggles on the outside. Even her majik, which she didn't know she had, and had no control over, tickled her. So what did that child do? She began to giggle uncontrollably. so uncontrollably that she fell over and continued to giggle.

When she finally caught her breath, her eyes widened, seeing the huge potato that was now behind Tarance. How did dat getted dere?; she asked, then promptly forgot all about it when Tarance spoke. Awww...yew ish Tawans and Tawans ish imp? Yew ish a cuttie imp Tawans, Callie wikey yew. She skipped and twirled until she was close enough to touch, then gently reached out and stroked Tarance's wing, her dimples deepening in her chubby cheeks. Blue ish a pweddy color, yew is a pweddy color. Fwying ish fun. Yew can fwy wif Callie and Nodwin next time Callie and Nodwin ish inna fwying wace. Wogo ish Callie bestested Twoll fwend, and Snak ish wikey Nodwin, only mush bigger dan dat. Big enoof that Wogo can fwy on Snak bak. Wat yew doing wayyy uppy hewe? Yew wikey being wayyyy upppy hewe? Callie wikey hewe yew sing, dat sound pweddy neet to Callie. Her hand continued to run gently over Tarance's wing, she really liked how it felt, so much different than how her baby hippogriff felt.

[Tarance]

Tarance had to concentrate, the petting of his wing had made him about ready to drool. Consequently, his ears had relaxed and his eyes had closed halfway, the one with the visible pupil rolling up in the socket while the green eye mellowed to a pale pastel green. Tarance nodded and huddles a little closer, all thoughts of mischief gone for the moment as the Callie creature petted his wing.

It got through his haze of pleasure that she'd asked why he was up here. He supposed it wasn't normal to not live on the ground, but Tarance refused to be normal. His words slurred more than his usual, even though he was trying to focus, the child's touch had managed to set him in a trance.

"Taranzzzz likes uppity places, better mmmm place to watch for... mmmmm mmmischiefffzzzz doinnnn."

He just about purred, then his attention finally caught hold of the potato that was almost big enough to house him and he fell right over in surprise.

Clambering to his feet again, he ran around the thing once, twice, three times and poked it much more than that to make sure it was real. Now his mind was buzzing tremendously, thinking of the large pile of mashed taters he could make. Oooo ho ho! Vat of mashey taterz.... trippin sommat fer fallin inta mashey!!!

His eyes glinted playfully as he clapped and fluttered his wings. This one would be useful to him.

"Biggest Tater I ever seen-ed! Yer liken mashey taters Callie?"

Spoken text
Thought text... can't hear this unless you read minds!

[Callie]

Callie's eyes went wide when she saw how Tarance's eyes were moving differently from each other. This little imp was way cooler than she expected, not only were his eyes two different colors...but they could move in two different ways. Which was something the toddler had never seen before (well, one of the things. After all, she's pretty young, so I am sure there are a lot of things she'd not seen before, she just didn't know she hadn't seen them yet. She will learn as she sees even more new things later I bet.). She liked that he moved closer to her as well, it firmed up the belief in her mind that they would be good friends, since he wasn't wary of her and she sure wasn't wary of him. (Yes I know, she doesn't know him well. We have already established that she's a toddler right? So her making decisions about who would and wouldn't be her friend quickly should surprise no one. Along with the fact that she almost never decided someone wasn't a friend to begin with.)

Callie wikey it up hewe too. Callie wikey to fwy too. Yew gotted fwappy wingy fingies wikey Nodwin. Callie no habing dem. Yews fwappy fingies feel good. Callie wikey tooch dat. Callie hope dat be obiekaybie. Ohhhh...Callie know wat missycheef be. Callie aundie and unkie say Callie getted into missycheef all the time. Callie no know why dem worry about dat. Callie justed habing fun yew know. Callie wikey habing fun.


The precocious precious child giggled and clapped when Tarance began running around the potato. She giggled even more when she saw the potato, she had no idea where it came from, let alone that she had made it, but it sure looked great to her. Of course, she had no idea what was running through her newest friend's mind, only what was going through hers. And they were not thinking of the same thing at all. While the imp was drooling, Callie was imagining both of them twirling and dancing around the potato and having a grand old time. Well, maybe not an old time, she was pretty young and she had no idea how old the imp was...probably not old though. Her thoughts were interrupted by his question, something she hadn't even considered.

Dat tader ish reawwy big. Yew wite aboot dat. Callie wikey mashy taders, wif wots and wots and wots of budder on dem. Dat tasded reawwy good to Callie. Callie no know how to makey mashy taders. Yew know how to do dat? Yew wan show Callie how? Callie know how to bakeded taders and muddy pies and stoofs wikey dat. Yew know Callie wikey yew Tawans, yew ish fun, fun, funnnnn.

[Tarance]

Tarance sniggered at the girlchild's reply and nodded, making his big ears flop almost as rapidly as he flapped his wings. He grinned and siddled up to the Callie and looked up with BIG eyes full of excitement.

"Tarance lurves mashy taters. I kan showin yers how makes em. First parts is makin tater boxes."

By 'tater boxes', Tarance meant cubes, which he demonstrated with his butcher knife, dented and knicked from his training with it. He enjoyed attacking the wooden dummy. The sound of a satisfying *THUNK* into the wood made him tingle to his wingtips, a sure sign of enjoyment. He was by no means an expert, but he hacked at the giant potato happily and threw is *almost* square cubes into his bucket to the side.

Tarance stopped attacking the potato and looked at the little creature from the half cave he'd dug into the side.

"Yer wanna cutty blade? Gots ta chopper tha tater then makey it aaaaall mushy in hot waters."

Before waiting for an answer, he yelled down to his steward - or really, the woman who lived in the house he'd invaded.

"AYA! BRINGING ME A CHOPPY BLADES!"

The dumpy old woman brought him another butcher blade, swearing about having to climb the strangest ladder imaginable while she did so. She looked Callie up and down and uttered one thing, "I'm not caring for children who fall off the roof, not in the job description!" After this she unceremoniously turned and grumped her way down the contraption that Tarance called stairs. Tarance took a swing at Aya's backside as she left, "Gerroff my gerdans, grumpy ol' crone!"

He brought the new butcher blade to Callie, "Here. Choppy blade fer makin tater boxes."

[Callie]

Callie knelt down and rubbed Tarances floppity ears as his big eyes peered up at her. Her face showing a grin almost twice the size of his (probably because she was almost twice his size), her dimples dimpling in her chubby cheeks. Tader boxes? Wat dat? Callie watched the imp curiously, eyes widening even further if at all possible (not sure its possible, but she felt like they were wider), when he showed her how to cut them in little square cuby pieces with a very sharp knife. The thunk reminded her of when her daddy used to chop wood, the same thunk sound was heard when the axe hit the tree. She moved a little closer to peer into the bucket, then into the potato cave to see how much of the potato now rested in the bucket. Her giggles were heard between words; Yew know....dat buket no be bigg enoof for all dem tader boxes. Dat be a reawwy cool opening yew makey in dat tader too. Ohhh...yew gotted a cutty bwade for Callie to hewp yew? Callie can do dat. Callie no fink Callie can cutty dem as good as yew Tawans, but Callie can twy hawd to hewp.

Callie looked at the woman who came up to the roof, her head tilted to one side, as if studying a different species. Her ish gwumpy, she whispered overly loud to her new friend. Why her say chillen fall offy this roof? Callie no going to fall. Callie fwend Nodwin catchy Callie iffy Callie eben wooky wikey Callie might fall and go boom. Ohhh...her a cwone? Wat a cwone? Dat be a gwumpy wady? Callie too the blade carefully, then approached the potato cave and began to try to carve a tater box just like Tarance did, but just as she said, she was not nearly as fast, nor as good with the blade, she was too afraid she might cut herself, or worse, cut Tarance if she wasn't extremely careful. Fank yew for ledding Callie hewp yew Tawans. We habing mashy taders soon, yayyyy.

[Tarance]

Tarance sat down in the 'cave' and watched the Callie working with the knife. He could tell she wasn't used to it. He huffed a little and got up "Tarance shows yer how ta doin its." He took her hand and fixed it onto the handle, moving her hand in the correct motions. "Liken dats." He let go and backed off. He dragged the bucket between them so she could dump her cubes in.

"Makin em boxy like not so importants, but not wantin bloody taters, so keeps yer blade off yer fingerzes." It was as close to concern as the little imp could manage.

He considered Callie's words about Aya, "Frump grump lady lives underneath Tarance's attic. She takin care of mine vegerbuls an corny when Tarance goes wanderin."

He tossed a bit more potato in his bucket before thinking about it. "Callie iz right. Bucket nat big 'nough." He flitted out of the cave and looked over the edge, yelling down, "AYA! PUT BARRELS OUT fer MEH!"

He chuckled and watched the grumpy old woman rolled several large barrels out for him.

[Callie]

Callie was cutting away, with way more enthusiasm than skill, not surprising since most adults did not trust the child with sharp objects. She was having fun though, even if she wasn't cutting properly. It was even better when Tarance moved over to show her how to hold the blade properly, all of the sudden she went from barely making any potato boxes, to making twice as many. They weren't at all boxy shaped, not that Callie or Tarance seemed to care, but they were beginning to fill up the bucket beside her. Fank yew for showing Callie how. Dat be bedder now wite? Callie no wanning bwoody taders, ewww...dat be icky. Callie no eaded bwood wikey dat. Callie know some peepwes wat wikey bwood, just no Callie.

She turned to beam at the little imp, her dimples deepening in her chubby cheeks, delight evident in the sparkling eyes, flushed cheeks, and of course the giggling that continued unabated. Dat be nice dat her wach yew fings when yew go pwaces. Callie gotted Awice to wach Callie fings when Callie come hewe, and go oder pwaces. Awice no gwumpy wikey dat though. Yew fink her be gwumpy cuz her needed huggwes? Callie can go gibing her huggwes lader, no now. Now Callie hewping wif mashy taders. Wow, dat be a whole wots of tader boxys, yew see dat buket be full now. Good gwumpy wady bwinging yew barrel for more taders. Wat yew doing wif so many mashy taders? Yew fink yew and Callie can eaded dem all?

[Tarance]

The imp sniggered wheezily and grinned at Callie, "Nah. Not eatin ems all. Mebbe eater somma der taters, but somma da mashy taters mebbe Aya wanna swims in. She be funny liken dat."

Tarance dragged the bucket to the edge of the roof and held on as it fell. He laughed when it yanked him over the edge. He knew exactly what he was doing, but to the unknowing, it could very well look like those scenes in cartoons (if cartoons existed in this realm) of people who walk off the edge of something and then realize they weren't on solid footing. He zoomed down and flapped his wings as he went, yelling like Tarzan and scaring the dickens out of Aya. He halted his decent just beside her head and pecked her cheek before dumping the potato chunks into one of the barrels.

"Thankers fer da barrels Aya. We haz a great rudy tater on der roofs, so ken yer buyin milks an butters?" He flashed his eyes all doe-like at her and flapped back up to Callie, leaving a bewildered Aya below shaking her head. Confusion was sometimes the funnest form of mischief and Tarance liked to confused the grumpy old thing... maybe that's what made her grumpy.

Setting the bucket back down on the roof, Tarance looked at the tater. "Needs ta cuttin anoder part." He got behind Callie and shoved her over several inches to a clear patch so neither of them would get squashed by the listing potato.

[Tarance]

Tarance had been chopping and chopping and chopping in the woods of Cork. It was a great time he'd had, and he was about to go back, but he flew his way home in time to drop off some crates he'd found and nibble on the sweet corn his grumpy old steward lady, Aya, had written him about. He also planted two beans in the backyard, hoping for a giant beanstalk he could either climb or chop down.

He patted the pigeon he kept, noting that Feliu looked well kept and he reminded himself to buy Aya a new piggy to look after - since she was doing such a nice job with the pigeon mount.