Autumn had arrived while they were travelling, and now everything on the island had become a delightful mixture of reds, golds, and greens. However, she could not stop to admire the lovely scenery. Lyonovei was mad at her, and she had to fix it. Long legs took immense strides as she galloped back toward the cabin. Her old cabin had been torn apart by the storms, and even though it was drizzling rain here now, she was pelting across the terrain to bring her prizes back to the cabin. She was making the fluffiest bed ever, it was going to be so soft Lyon would have to forgive her. Sheets of moss had been torn from the floors of several wood structures all over the area, and were painstakingly fit into her maw. Meanwhile, the corner of a torn up blanket was barely staying in her grip, and trailed out behind her like the cape of a superhero. Finally, her mismatched optics laid upon their new home base. Sure, they were going to go on adventures that took them away from the island, but it would be nice to have somewhere to return to. Bounding up the rickety steps, which squealed indignantly at the assault of her huge paws. Shouldering through the door, which had swung mostly shut, she laid her mass of soft things onto the ground and looked at the bed she had begun creating. It was quite magnificent already. The only problem that had arisen so far, was that she'd broken a few of the supports again. Clambering atop it to knead it and bounce on it, simply so it returned to a state of acceptable softness, she'd taken out two of the wooden posts. The opposing stilts had buckled, and that had forced her to even out the rickety structure by gnawing a third post until it too collapsed beneath the weight of it's load. Now, she dragged the moss across the floor, and hurled it onto the mattress. Then, she set about arranging it all to her satisfaction. She took one of the fluffy, squishy things that had been sitting at the top of the structure that supported the rest of the comfy slab, and kneaded it to an appropriate fluffiness again. Then she decided to tear into it a little, taking half of it in her jaws and shaking her head violently back and forth, and now a host of feathers littered the expanse of Lyonovei's new bed. Yes, this was good. She dropped the now satisfactorily soft squishy thing onto the mossy expanse of the bed, before hopping down and retrieving the blanket. It was a patchwork of faded colours, but still colourful enough for her liking. She dragged it onto the bed, where it lay in a haphazard pile along one side. Frowning, she started to tug it over the rest of the mattress, until it covered more or less the entire thing. Letting out a huff, she decided to test it out. Curling up in the middle of the bed, a delicious groan left her lips. It was like a cloud, and she'd made the cloud. Rolling over to her other side, she made another languid, delighted noise. It was perfect, and Lyonovei was going to love it so much he'd forget he was mad at her. With a joyous giggle, she bounded off the bed and cantered across the room. He was going to be back soon, right? She was so excited to see the look on his face! It was going to be the best! Charcoal tipped banner wagged at a mile a minute behind her, and her entire frame seemed to wriggle with the force of it. Poking her head out through the gap in the doorway, she looked around for him. No doubt that big grump wouldn't want to be in the rain much longer, and he'd come back soon. When he did, it was going to be awesome. Though she didn't see him, it didn't put a damper on her excitement. "Speech" OMG THESE FEN ARTS ARE HOT STUFF

The hulking man was covered in mud. Not splotched, not sprinkled, but utterly coated in the stuff. His noble auburns, his dark charcoal and soot... Washed away in a sea of brown sludge. Rage simmered under the unpleasant barding, his citrus orbs overflowing with heat. Agreeing to babysit that lackwit commoner had been the mot foolhardy thing he had ever done. He stormed down to the coastline, reveling in his hatred of the ingrate who had checked him into the sludge, the cesspool of filth. Lyon was no maiden he was not afraid of dirt, but it was hardly pleasant. A joke? Oh, he had half a mind to rend her limb from limb and forget entirely that she was family. This is what you get for your sense of duty, he told himself. This is what you get for honor. He would bare his teeth at the wind, growl rumbling inside his chest like the grinding of boulders, storming into the surf as if the crushing tide were non-existent. Submerged he would writhe and twist, surfacing only to gasp for air before plunging himself within once more. It would be some time before the pounding surf washed away the murky cloud that once enshrouded him. He would walk slowly back to the beach, panting, his efforts having worn away the sharpest edges of his fury, but the burning coal remained. So, maybe he wouldn't kill her, but to get away unscathed would take a miracle. He had played nice for long enough, and he was no coward to be made a fool of without retribution. Stalking up towards the ramshackle hovel she had dragged him too, his tongue was ribbed with barbs and lances honed with malice and aimed for the weakest part of her psyche. If the young fae wasn't in tears by the time he was done, he would have to begin again, but the thought didn't exactly put him out. His eyes spoke murder when he walked through the doorway, but he did not find the meek and knowing creature he had hoped for. She was smiling. Excited, even. His fangs flashed ivory and venom, ready to roar out her wrong-doings when he saw the amalgam of fluff she had somehow birthed. "What," he hissed out, "is that?" "Talk" "You" Think

Lyon snapped as soon as he walked through the doorway, pearl daggers flashing only briefly in threat of abuse. There was the barest flinch, a pair of lavender and cerulean gems squeezing shut as she jerked backward. She should have seen that coming, but she really hadn't. However, when no blows fell, she peeked through closed lenses to see him staring down the fluffy monstrosity she'd created for him. His question, in her mind, was absurd. What did it look like? She straightened, charcoal dipped plume wagging excitedly at her rump again. "Okay, I know you're mad and stuff, but look-" She began, her voice only showing the slightest edge of nerves. She wasn't really scared of Lyonovei, just wary of his more aggressive side reappearing. Without another second to spare, she whirled about and leaped onto the bed. Bounding up and down on the obscenely soft expanse of the mattress, she ignored the groans of protest from the ancient springs. "it's so soft!" She exclaimed with all the glee and childish obliviousness she could muster. Then, without further ado, she leaped back onto the warped wooden boards of the floor. Massive paws made an overabundance of noise as she came catapulting towards him, and stopped just before she crashed headlong into his massive frame. "It's for you!" She announced jovially, tail arcing over her head as it wagged back and forth at a blindingly fast pace. "It's a bed, so you don't have to sleep on the ground!" She explained, since she couldn't be too careful. Lyon wasn't very on the ball today, it seemed. She watched his expression carefully, waiting for him to react. So far, there hadn't been much variation in his dumbfounded expression. "Talk" "You" Think

Part of him was thrilled to see his sister flinch away from his ire, but perhaps the larger portion was ashamed. A bit of his fire snuffed out. In a rush she would go on to explain the purpose of the fluffy monstrosity, and Lyon could only find it in himself to sigh. Really? A bed? He was a hardened warrior, he would sleep anywhere he had to. Fluff and comfort were not things the mad actively sought. Besides, how on earth did she even manage to collect all these... things. They were like no plant he'd ever come cross, he'd never seen anything of their like. He supposed they must have come from this strange structure, given that there were other such oddities laying around but- Bah! He'd gotten distracted. He was mad, dammit! He wanted to throw around his weight, make his point... But he sighed instead. She thought she could just... concoct some squishy monstrosity and all would be forgiven? Well she was terribly mistaken! Lyonovei Nikolai Xanilov-Volkov was not a creature to be taken lightly. And he would continue to posture and bluster to himself in his mind, all while approaching the bed, sniffing it cautiously, prodding it with a paw. "I'm supposed to be impressed?" he growled out. He prodded once more and rolled his eyes. Still... It didn't look uncomfortable, necessarily. Perhaps he would give it a go (where was the harm, right?) after his half-sister had left. His stubborn pride would not admit that... well, perhaps a bed wouldn't be such a terrible thing to have. "Talk" "You" Think

For some odd reason, Lyon didn't seem nearly as impressed as she'd hoped. And he made it pretty clear, once he'd approached her masterpiece and idly prodded it with one great paw. "Am I supposed to be impressed?" He rumbled tiredly, and she frowned in mild frustration. Didn't he like it? It was so soft, and squishy! He would never have to worry about sore muscles and aching bones, because it wouldn't put any stress on him while he slept! That's why it was so great! She reared up, wrapping her forepaws around his big neck and chewing (as gently as she could in her overexcited state) on his cheek fur, and then his ears, when it proved to be not as fulfilling as she'd hoped. "Just try it Lyon!" She squawked, tail beating lightly against his flank as she rested her chin atop his head and grinned. He was just being a grump, like always. He probably really liked it, but didn't want her to know. "Come on, you know you wanna." She goaded him, like she was a mere child speaking to another youth. He would love it, as soon as he stopped being an ass and just tried it out. She released him, finally, and proceeded to bump his shoulder with her own head. It was at moments like this where she was inconveniently reminded of how much bigger than her Lyonovei was, which meant that she was pretty much just walking in place with her head firmly planted against his shoulder. "Just sit on it, try it ouuuuuuuuut!" She commanded, voice a grunt as she tried to shove him into it. He was being a butt, a really big one. "Talk" "You" Think

His insufferable sister just would not drop the issue. Heaven forbid he had even a day of peace. But... his anger was mostly gone now. He forced himself to release the last of it with a sigh, just in time for her to assault him. He bore he toothy ministrations like a grudging uncle with a gaggle of pups, eyes settling into a glare that had only left him for the sake of sleep (and more extreme anger) since taking Sacha under his wing. "Excuse you, what do you- Sacha knock it of- Would you stop?" He shook his head, trying to dislodge the pest. Gods, she was worse than fleas! "Fine!" she said, tossing his shoulder and hopefully her as well, before stalking forwards. He stepped onto the... thing, turned around twice, and fell down in a graceless gaggle of limbs. He was no small creature, but even so the padding gave him plenty of room. Alright, he admitted to himself. Maybe its not so bad. Of course he would tear out his own throat before he admitted it to the sugar plum faerie here but that was another story. "Are you happy now?" He said it all with a sigh, rolling his eyes, giving every appearance of humoring her... but he did settle himself into the pile a bit deeper. speech

It took a few seconds, but Lyon finally relented under her assault. Of course, he barked at her in absolute exhaustion first, and she had to suppress a giggle when he finally let out a sigh. With a shrug of his shoulder, she ceased her attack and rocked back onto her haunches to watch him try out the cool new bed she'd made for him. He settled slowly, after a few rotations and a loud sigh, his massive frame flopped tactlessly onto the fluffy creation of hers. His query was answered with a vigorous amalgamation of nods and a flurry of noise from her charcoal plume battering itself against the warped wood of the floor beneath her oversized paws. "More or less, yeah." She laughed, features crinkling in a huge grin. She hauled herself to her paws, and her mismatched forepaws found themselves propped against the edge of the frame soon enough. Cranium would fall to one side, and her dark audits flopped to the same side ever so slightly. "What about you, are you happy now?" She inquired in turn, tail whipping back and forth behind her as she watched her older half brother with sparkling mismatched optics. Slowly, she clambered up onto the bed as well, curling up right beside her big brother and resting her head on his shoulder. Lyon better be happy, she'd tried really friggin' hard to make this cool bed for him, and made sure it would hold him just fine. He was a big guy, and would need a little extra cushion so he didn't feel the floorboards under him. She understood this quite well. "Talk" "You" Think

He was forced to let some of his anger fall away. With a great exhalation of fatigue, he sank into the bed beneath. Alright, so it was quite comfortable. The memory of falling headlong into that mire resurfaced and he flashed his sister with one last dull glare. "This pranking business will have to stop," he intoned. Part of him, a very small and insignificant part that he would not admit to possessing, felt guilt at attempting to crush the buoyant young fae's spirit. "And happiness is a vice." It was hard to believe that they came from the same stock. They were polar opposites, she a practical antithesis of his own dour being. He suffered no fools, no jests, and his temper could flare up in an instant. Yet there she sat, a silly little creature with all the sense of a chipmunk. Even so, she was endearing. With every passing day Lyonovei found himself growing subtly more attached to her. In fact, had it been a passing rogue who had sent him down the slope it certainly would have come to blows. But Sacha was Sacha. Perhaps... He would need to adapt. He decided a change of subject was in order. "How did you construct this monstrosity anyways?" "Talk" "You" Think

With one last glare just for the sake of glaring, Lyon finally settled down. She nibbled his cheek fluff just because, making sure he wouldn't forget she was there. Sometimes she worried that he would forget she was there and roll over her or step on her, which probably wouldn't be very much fun. Of course, she would probably be able to deal with that, since she liked being around Lyon. Having a brother who didn't always want to wrestle and chew on her ears was nice. His rumbling demand that she needed to stop with the pranks earned a grumpy huff from the woman, who would very much rather he would just get over it. She had been joking around, it wasn't like she'd pushed him into a bear cave or something. Mud wasn't that bad, not since it was still pretty rainy. "Fine, but I'm not making promises." She grumbled, crown flopping back onto her brothers great shoulder in defeat. How much fun could she possibly have without being able to poke fun at Lyonovei? Her brows knit together as she stared at the wall just over his shoulder. Well this was a harrowing turn of events indeed. The dusky male's comment about happiness earned a dramatic eye roll from the steel babe. You're a vice. She thought sarcastically, but decided to save herself a possible cuff to the head by leaving that comment in her head. Her charcoal tail tip twitched, a thoughtless sign of her derisive thought. Her long, fluffy plume would be the death of her one day. After a few moments of silence, simply enjoying each others presence to the best of their abilities in their somewhat grumpy moods. Oh crap, I'm turning into Lyon now. She groaned internally. This was not good either. So lost in her musings over this realization, the silver dame nearly missed her brother's question. Her head jerked upward, hearing mostly the rise in tone as he ended his query. She blinked at him for a moment. Then the question reentered her head, and she chuckled. Sticking her tongue out to tease her brother, she let her banner thump against the masterpiece she'd created. She mimicked the expression her brother so often wore, not nearly as well as he did it, for a moment. "It's not a monstrosity, Lyon." She scolded him, acting offended. Then a taunting grin plastered itself onto her dark lips in it's place. "It looks nothing like your face!" She giggled. It was a clever diversion from the original query, as a magician never revealed her secrets. "Talk" "You" Think