Fantasy Cursed Island

[Fangs9090]

Asta nodded and walked over, sitting down on the floor. He remained silent for the moment, nervous about what this would be about.

—————

“Perhaps. I suppose we can ask her later.”

 

[Darkling0096]

Jerry took a moment to organize her thoughts, before starting to speak. "Asta, I appreciate what you said last night," she started, "But I don't think I'm capable of being a parent."

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Veo nodded in agreement, sitting down on a bed and then making a face, "I'll have to wash the sheets."

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta paused for a moment or two before he nodded. “I see.”

—————

Emil gave a nod. “I’m sure we have a lot of things that need to be washed.”

 

[Darkling0096]

"But," Jerry put up a finger, "I'm willing to attempt a trial run. Veo thinks the dragon turtle egg, when it hatches, would be a good way to see if it's within our capabilities to deal with a child. Depending on how that turns out, we'll go from there."

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Veo sighed, "I think we could all do with some clean clothes," she glanced around the room, "I think there was a wash tub in that furniture deck, somewhere, or maybe Nyah can make one."

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta blinked, a bit surprised, before he smiled and nodded again. “As you wish. I will do all I can.”

—————

Emil stood up from the bed. “That’s a good place to start. I believe Jerry might still have the cards, from setting up the tents.”

 

[Darkling0096]

"And that's the other thing," Jerry shook her head, "You can't be completely about me, you need a personality beyond that. Find something besides me that you like, pursue it. It's not healthy to be devoted to one person so completely like that, you're setting us both up for failure." Setting Jerry up to fail to meet expectations, and setting Asta up for disappointment when reality hit.

----------------
"She's chatting with the chimera, I'll ask once she's done." Veo nodded.

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta blinked. “Ah...” He glanced down. “Ah, that’s why they were so set on getting Shuffle to play with me...”

—————

“Or we could ask Nyah, see what she can set up for us if we don’t feel like waiting.”

 

[Darkling0096]

Jerry was confused again, "What did they do?"

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Veo nodded, "I'll go find her, can you figure out how deep the toilet pit goes? We'll need somewhere to dump the water when we're done."

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta shook his head. “Erina told Shuffle that I wanted to play, and from there I did not have the option to refuse.”

—————

Emil nodded. “Will do.” He headed out to find Thoradin, most likely at the forge. He’d rather ask him than try to check it himself.

 

[Darkling0096]

Jerry would have laughed if not for how serious the conversation was. "I'm sorry, what? Erina did... Was Erina controlling Shuffle?"

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Thoradin was still at his forge when the two split, Veo looking for the blue djinn. "What ye want? I'm already makin yer leather chit." The dwarf sounded busy.

"Nyah?", Veo called, when she couldn't immediately find the djinn. One of the gems on Shuffle's cat statue turned into smoke and Nyah reformed.

"Need something?"

"Yes," Veo glanced around, "Can you bring a washbin? I've been thinking to do some laundry."

"I can, do you have somewhere to put it?"

 

[Fangs9090]

“Ah... No. She simply shouted that I wanted to play and Shuffle pounced. That girl has way too much energy.”

—————

Emil dipped his head. “Yes, thank you. I just was wondering how deep the, Ah, toilet pit is.”

Shuffle just looked up at watched the two of them.

 

[Darkling0096]

"Huh," Jerry glanced around, "Well, as long as you're not hurt." She stood up and brushed off her knees. "I, uh, I guess I better go get the turtle egg, huh?"

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"Lad," Thoradin glanced at Emil out of the corner of his eye. "I drilled that pit thirty years ago chasing a vein of soul crystal, and in the last thirty years, it's not even a tenth of the way full." He chuckled, "Ye can drop a stone, and ye'll never hear it hit the bottom." He didn't seem to have an actual measure for how deep the hole was, other than 'very'.

"Up by the toilet hole," Veo nodded, "Gotta pour the water out somewhere when we're done, you know?"

"I can make that happen," Nyah nodded, "Shuffle, would you like to help out?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta nodded. “I will arrange a nest for it.”

—————

Emil blinked. “Ah... Good to know.” He dipped his head and excused himself, heading back to find Veo.


Shuffle gave a nod as she stood up and stored her golden cat. “Yeah!”

 

[Darkling0096]

"Hmm," Jerry didn't question what Asta intended to do that with, considering the lack of materials in the tent. Heading out of the tent, she went to go look for where the egg was last seen, finding it still under the table where she'd been comatose prior, and bringing it back. Joanne raised an eyebrow, but by now knew how to tell that Jerry had a plan for something by the look on her face, and didn't comment. The egg and its contents were heavy, it took Jerry some time to return to the tent.

--------------------
Nyah and Veo led Shuffle towards the toilet pit, clearing a space out of the junk in the area. "Shuffle, we're gonna need..." Veo described the area they'd need to be cleared out of the discarded slag.

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta got up and started going around the tent. By the time Jerry returned, he had basically gathered every blanket and pillow and anything else soft and pulled them into one spot on the floor, stepping into the middle and making circles to give it more a nest shape.

—————

Shuffle nodded and got to work, dutifully shoving and carrying things aside to clear a space.

Emil joined them shortly.

 

[Darkling0096]

Jerry blinked when she came back to see the piled blankets and the stripped mattress. She definitely should have questioned how he intended to pull the nest off. "Asta," she almost laughed as she set the egg down on the mattress so it wouldn't roll around. "Maybe we should re-think that one?", she asked, "We might be able to build something a little better." Hopefully something that didn't take everything that made the bed comfortable in order to work.

----------------
"Hey," Veo smiled at Emil as he appeared, "What did you find out?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta stopped as Jerry said his name, turning to look at her. He looked at the work he’d done so far. “Mm... I suppose it is a bit crude.”

—————

Emil gave a nod. “Thoradin confirmed that the pit is plenty deep enough. There should be no issues there.”

 

[Darkling0096]

"I don't think either of us can sit on it to keep it warm," Jerry giggled. She started folding up the blankets, "I've got an idea. Why don't you pick a pillow that's big enough for the egg to sit on top of, and a large blanket?"

---------------------
"That's good," Veo nodded, "Can you go fold up the bed and the table and the... fabric, and bring it here?" The fabric referring to the bedsheets.

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta nodded and started digging around for the pillow he had in mind. He knew he brought it over. Once he found it, he pulled it away from the rest.

—————

Emil nodded and headed back to their tent to gather up what needed to be washed.

 

[Darkling0096]

With the blankets folded up and space cleared, Jerry unfolded the washbin and pulled a bucket out of the bag of holding, "Can you go find some rocks for me? About... this big?", She showed the size with her hands. A bit larger than a fist, large enough Asta could still push them with his paws if he didn't want to carry one in his mouth.

--------------------
Once Emil was back with the table and the sheets, and sufficient space was cleared, Nyah snapped her finger and stole some poor man's bathtub for their washbin. "If you need anything else, Jerry has the flask." Nyah tried to nudge Shuffle away now that their job was complete.

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta nodded and headed off to look for rocks, hoping Thoradin hadn’t simply cleared them all away when building this place.

—————

Shuffle started to walk along fine, until she passed the bedsheets and a scent caught her attention, drawing her head that way.

Emil coughed before speaking up. “Ah, how about you two go around and ask everyone else if they have anything that needs washing?”

Distracted by having a new task, Shuffle was more willing to walk away.

 

[Darkling0096]

There were more than a few rocks lying around, some looked like bricks that simply hadn't been used. Thoradin didn't seem too keen on cleaning anything that didn't have to do with preparing his mech, whatever he intended for that thing.

-----------------
Nyah shot Veo and Emil a dirty look once Shuffle caught wind of the smell of their 'adventure'. "Sorry," Veo mouthed. "So, we're definitely keeping Shuffle out of anything to do with laundry, aren't we?", Veo asked Emil.

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta gathered what he could, only one or two at a time, and brought them back to Jerry.

—————

Emil nodded as he let out a sigh. “Definitely. She’s too susceptible to instinct.”

Shuffle easily dismissed the incident as she went around asking everyone for their laundry.

 

[Darkling0096]

Four was all Jerry needed. "Thank you Asta," She smiled and fished out her stylus, marking up the stones with Runes. "I've been playing around with this since I figured out I could do it, and... yes." The stone she was marking up started to heat up. she set it in the center of the bottom of the bin and did the same with the others, putting the bucket upside down on top and padding the rest with the blanket, putting the pillow on top of the bucket. "The heat from the rocks will keep the padding warm, and the blanket and pillow keep the egg from rolling around." She smiled at the chimera, "I don't want to jinx it, but if the rest is as easy as this part, we might make it." A dozen mothers out there just laughed, and they didn't know why.

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Veo nodded, going about putting the stuff in the bin to be washed and unfolding the table for a space to fold the washed and dried items.

Nalla didn't have laundry to offer Shuffle, but she wished Shuffle luck in her quest. Joanne, Emfa, and Adran were outside the forge, so that was a useless endeavor to try and ge their laundry. Jerry wore Poli, and wasn't quite willing to remove the little fabric she did wear to have it washed under the circumstances. "Maybe once Erina's finished everyone's clothes, we'll be able to do laundry properly?", Jerry offered Shuffle when she passed by.

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta gave a nod. “We shall see.” He smiled as he looked at the egg.

—————

Emil did what he could to lend a hand, not wanting to make Veo do all of the work.


Shuffle paused at Jerry’s suggestion. “Mm, I guess that makes sense.” She looked up at Nyah. “Let’s go tell Veo and Emil.”