Ashton shook his head, "He pulled on Ru's feathers, hoping to claim, but Ru was unhappy, so the mark will remain." He whispered back knowing the large fox could hear their every word.
Beloved nodded as she cuddled into Nix's face, "Nix it's all gone, nothing left to see, but do you think… they attempted to repeat… what they did to you, to me?"
Ashton tapped on her snow white beak, "Their goals were the same, though the situation unique, they found a lost tome, with secret techniques. A pity it was missing, all but the result, but even that, was more fictional than goal." Even though the tome had been fake… for the goblins to have amassed such resources... Not his problem so long as the truth was known only to three.
Beloved pecked on his finger, "Well, the damage is done, the lives are all lost, no survivors remain, what a farce."
Ashton grinned, "So what are your plans, to be oh so bad, what will we do, not small little actions, our execution must be grand."
Beloved hopped down, tail feathers kicking up dust. "We must be grand, we must be scary, make the foolish wary! I say we show off our power! Show off our might! Make them remember, two birds in flight!" She announced spreading her wings as she raised her head.
Ashton crossed his arms as he nodded along, "I do agree, I completely concur… but what will we do… what actions of might do you refer?"
Beloved stilled, then folded her wings, "Well, we could burn down the forest… but that seems such a waste, all the nice trees… and homes displaced… we could sing them to madness, but that's a waste of a song, I'd rather it be fun! Delightedly bad under the sun…" She turned to walk around Nix's legs.
Ashton sighed as he continued to nod, "Being bad is hard… I mean, if we mean no harm. To kill, burn or steal, what's the point, it's not food… I'd rather enjoy a good meal. We could kick up a fuss, but who knows about what…"
Caius wanted to collapse… his Little Snack looked so serious… as he tried to find a way to be bad… aiya, it was so adorable… and embarrassing at the same time. Caius confidently trotted over, tails wagging, "I have a though, a suggestion of sorts, perhaps we tease humans, give them false hope?" Both birds turned to him like curious babies, aiya! So cute! He could just eat them up!!
Beloved hopped over, then leapt onto his nose, "You have an idea, how to be bad? Just bad enough, any harm just a tad?" She giggled when the large fox eyes were almost crossed trying to look at her.
"A small little prank, no harm to come, just follow my lead! While we prove dragons are dumb!" Caius coaxed as her feathers draped over his nose. He had to admit… she was pretty, for a bird. Still, he had to know what she was up to… and what his Little Snack's plans were for her.
Beloved raised her head high, "I like that idea, lets go have fun, after being bad birds, time to sing in the sun."
Caius dutifully carried the birds back as he explained his plan. They were… surprisingly innocent so Caius had to tweak his plan. Really, this prank would be similar to a three-year-old child hiding a precious gem in their hand, everyone would be able to see through it… but what could they do?
Beloved nodded as she reconfirmed their plan, then leapt into the trees. Silly humans were still all gathered outside, and her target! She giggled until two of the ember's warriors looked in her direction. She darted down the tree and flew to a closer to her vantage point! See how sneaky was she!
Alexei was so speechless he just stared dumbly at the exposed white feathers…. Umm, should he say anything? He glanced around, several others were trying not to openly stare at the giggling bird. Alexei sighed, then signaled with his eyes for them to look away. He'd been worried for nothing. If this was how the birds were going to be bad… well at least they were amused.
Jaxon heard something from outside the window. To compromise they'd left it open and remained in the sunlight, but Monroe remained jittery. He'd tried asking Monroe to describe what he'd seen but the description had changed three times already… each telling becoming less coherent. Jaxon didn't want to upset Monroe further, so they had been sitting quietly for the last several minutes.
Monroe jolted as something flew overhead, for the briefest moment, casting him in a shadow. Monroe looked up but Jaxon didn't seem to have noticed. Monroe remained tense but… nothing else happened. He slowly relaxed until he heard two screams from down the hall. "Go!" Monroe yelled when Jaxon leapt up, but hesitated. Jaxon nodded, then ran out.
Jaxon saw Lucian crashing out of a room toward Serafin and Natasha's screams. Devlin not far behind, Jaxon threw himself through the doors to see… he wasn't really sure what he was seeing for a moment. Serafin was rolling on the ground covering his head… while Natasha was bawling at the top of her lungs.
Lucian rushed forward, picked Serafin up, then halted… Serafin's once black hair… was now pinker than any dress he'd ever seen. He glanced over to Natasha… nothing seemed wrong at first glance. The longer he looked, the more he was certain… that wasn't a dress he recognized. "What happened in here?" He demanded as Serafin tried to cover his hair with his shirt.
"WAHHH!!! AHHHH!!! WHAAAAAAAA!!!!"
Lucian gritted his teeth as he reached to shake Natasha by the arm as Charmaine finally arrived.
Charmaine rushed forward scooping Natasha into her lap, "Baby, what's wrong? What happened? Why did you both scream? Why are you crying?" She asked hurriedly looking her daughter over, then at her son who had pulled his shirt over his head as if he were going to take it off.
Natasha kept crying as she gripped her dress, sobbing so hard she could barely breathe. "whaaa!!!! Whaaaaaa!!!!"
Lucian's hears were starting to ring from the piercing cries, "NATASHA! WHAT HAPPENED?!" Lucian finally roared after several moments of her continuous crying.
Natasha was so shocked she stopped crying, then started up even louder. "WHAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"
Lucian pulled Serafin up, lifting his shirt looking for wounds. "Serafin, what happened?" He asked in a calmer tone.
Serafin wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear, "That stupid bird! She threw something at us, and now my hair! Emperor Father! Look at what she did!"
Devlin would not laugh. This was not funny… pfft, no! He focused on Natasha… nothing seemed different… her hair was still black… skin same pale but pretty, uhh, he couldn't see her eyes for all the tears. She… looked fine… was she under a crying a spell of some kind?
Lucian gritted his teeth, "What happened to your sister?" he asked as calmly as he could.
"Her dress just changed color, father, I can't be seen… like this." Serafin reiterated pulling on his hair.
Lucian closed his eyes, "Devlin, fix them." Lucian had thought something serious had happened. Just these juvenile pranks.
Devlin stepped forward, biting his cheek to keep from laughing. "Come your highness, I will reverse it." Devlin looked for the threads of the spell… but couldn't find any. Oh well, just a hair changing spell wasn't particularly hard.
Serafin clenched his fist as he waited for the spell. For a moment his hair turned black… then was pink again. "What happened?" He demanded aghast.
Devlin paused, then recast the simple spell… and again… Serafin's hair would only turn black for a moment then the pink would return starting at the roots. Devlin paused, then turned to Natasha. This time he just tried to turn the dark green dress blue. The same thing happened, it would be blue for a moment, then the dark green would spread out.
Charmaine pulled Natasha up, "Let's just change the dress. Help Serafin. Come on honey," She coaxed pulling Natasha along. Her cries had quieted down to hiccups at least.
Devlin revised his spell several times… still the hair kept turning pink. After half an hour, Charmaine returned with Natasha in a different styled dress… but the same color.
Jaxon shook his head with a sigh, "Well, that answers that. Let's go see the bad birds and see how to reverse it." Jaxon added as he relaxed. Really, both were fine, but just to be safe, he'd bring Monroe with him. Hopefully all the pranks will be so benign.
Sebastian choked on his tea seeing prince Serafin… no wonder the girl had been giggling since she'd returned to Ashton's nest. Sebastian wiped his mouth with a handkerchief, it was… an interesting shade of pink. If he asked his granddaughters, he was sure at least one would be able to name the shade and how it was made. He'd heard Natasha for several minutes already… but now that he saw her… he couldn't see anything different… well… she was in a new dress.
Lucera's tea almost went down the wrong pipe, she covered her face looking at the imperial children. Had… Nix's Beloved done that??? Just… why? That hair color… Fuchsia pink and a perfectly good dress reduced to dirty gold green… was the color name also part of the prank? Or just a subtle insult?
Jantje sipped her tea as Nix's Beloved burst into another fit of giggles. At least the foxes looked embarrassed by the prank. Many using their tails to cover their faces. Well, if this is all bad amounted to, she would be fine with any dress color.
Beloved covered her face as she looked over her fingers, then burst into more giggles. They were so funny looking!!! Furless, featherless, strange colors!
Ashton shook his head as he settled his Beloved securely in his lap. She was rocking hard enough that she might just fall.
Jaxon followed Lucian out, but… even after they were standing in front of the nest the only sound were Natasha's sobs, and bird giggles.
Sebastian sipped on his cooling tea as the girl made a great effort to look anywhere, but at the children.
Ashton raised a brow as the imperials stood motionlessly in front of his nest. "You came for a reason?" He prompted as his Beloved tried to smother her smile as she looked up at the sky.
Charmaine stepped forward with a head bob, "Lord Reece, I understand it's a harmless prank, but, please have your Beloved remove her spells from the children. They are unsightly."
Beloved frowned as hard as she could at the empress mother, "I didn't do it, you have no proof, why blame me, that's just rude!" Beloved scolded putting her hands in her lap as she put on her fiercest scowl.
Sebastian held his breath, not from fear… but so his laughter couldn't escape. She looked… so adorable, pretending to be all prim and proper as she scolded back. Even her eyes widened by two sizes as she stared everyone down. Unfortunately, she was more like a fluffy chick than a fearsome eagle.
Charmaine's solemn expression almost cracked… even Ashton had turned his face to cover his mouth. "Lady Beloved…" She didn't even know how to continue the conversation… both children had seen her. It was just a prank…
Beloved huffed, "I said I didn't do it, I know you can't prove it. Don't blame me for your troubles, better find the culprit before it doubles!"
Neolani's lips twitched as Ashton stifled a laugh. She might as well be screaming she didn't steal the bell… while covering her ears.
Serafin glared, "I saw you! You threw something at us and suddenly we looked like this!"
Ashton stopped smiling as he turned to the young prince. "Which eye saw her do it? Think twice before you whine, lie if you dare, your eyes and tongue on the line."
Serafin stamped down his indignation, "I did see her. Then a flash of light, and I had pink hair. She's lying." He did his best to keep the accusation from his voice, but he glared up in defiance.
Beloved's face crumbled as she turned to hide her face in Nix's neck, "Nix they are blaming me, Nix they are lying. I just flew by, I really did nothing!"
Ashton patted her soothingly, "It's enough that I believe, no matter why they think, no matter what they say, I say you didn't do it." Ashton stared down the group.
Sebastian set his tea down, if Lord Reece was this stanch, then she really hadn't done it. Sebastian glanced over the foxes, most pawing at the ground in obvious embarrassment. Lord Reece had landed in his nest, so… who did it… and how had they remained unseen? Sebastian glanced around, meeting Jaxon's also unsure glance.
Jaxon stepped forward before Serafin could say anything else, "We will look into the matter, it must have been a coincidence." He rested his hand on Serafin's shoulder, relieved when Ashton leaned back, still soothing the petite female.
Charmaine forced herself to take a deep breath as she pulled on Natasha's hand, "Yes, we will check the room again. There must be something we missed."
Beloved peeked at the dragonkin, then stuck her tongue out at them, "Dragons are dumb, deaf and blind, how else could they miss the culprit behind?"
Lucian gritted his teeth, "We would like the spells removed, then there will be no need to look into the matter." The girl was clearly taunting them.
Ashton narrowed his eyes, "The concern is your own, the spell is not mine, whoever cast it, should be who you entwine."
Caius glanced at the birds… either his Little Snack was unreasonably biased, or she didn't do it… but Caius was leaning toward biased. Biased worked in his favor.