Nebula's Premise

"I needed this," Celistar said, looking at the foam on her drink after taking a sip. A little hint of red colored her cheeks.

"Treating you well, is it?" István said. He had his own, a very dark-colored drink compared to the almost blonde color of the Moon Fairy's.

"Mmhmm," she said, nodding. I had opted for a fruity refreshment of some sort. It had tang, it had sweetness, but it had no alcohol. Stuff never quite tasted right, so even though I'd had the opportunity, I wasn't really one to drink.

Viktor had something very similar to his brother's, only twice the size. Made sense though, considering he was twice the size as well. The liquid within was a bit more ruddy, though, which seemed fitting, considering the consumer.

"Here is your food," said Mr. Handsome, coming up to the table balancing an inordinate number of plates, somehow. I was suitably impressed.

The fair had the same blocky simplicity as the furniture, all chunks of meat, potatoes, and large veggies of unknown provenance. I'm sure Celistar knew what they were, but I sure as hell didn't. Not as though that'd stop me from eating them anyway, I was absolutely parched.

"How much longer before this is considered an adventure?" I asked Celistar with a grin. She'd taken few sips and maybe gotten a quarter of the way through her drink, and had taken to staring at the food in thought before I jolted her out of it.

"Oh, umm," she said, seemingly changing her train of thought to a new track while I looked on, "It's plenty enough of an adventure even if we only include the city. But. Still doesn't mean you couldn't use some work on your Nebula." She was spinning something around on one of her fingers while she talked, with her eyes occasionally following it.

"I don't disagree," I said, "I've got the control pretty good when it comes to shaping it, but the problem I keep having is quantity. I wind up using more than I want.

"That's what I'm talking about," she said, before setting her hand on Viktor's arm. "He doesn't have that issue; he's got it very well controlled, so just the exact amount he needs gets used. It's always impressive." She grinned and looked up at him, he took a big slug of his drink.

"Thanks." He said in a quieter tone than he normally did before taking another mouthful.

"Anytime," she said, patting the arm. "That's what you need. To be able to just emit the smallest bit." She held out her arm, and I saw a thin film crawl across it, the same as her usual lunar alignment.

"This… Like this." She said, without me able to determine what she was clarifying the second time. "Now you try."

I brought the circulation layer I used to just above my skin instead of just below it, then tried to smooth it. Instead, it just kind of rose off me like smoke. There was just too much of it to easily contain it.

"Oh hmm, hmm." Celistar started, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Mr. Handsome walking towards our table to check in on us, take one look at me looking like I was wreathed in gentle golden flames, and decide he was needed elsewhere. Made me giggle a little at his expense.

Probably the safer option as well, if there was a lunar spirit testing my Nebula control over in this corner.

"Somehow you need to just not be so… much. Or something." Celistar said, no trace of judgement in her eyes. Her light complexion was pinked up even more now, as the level of her drink slowly dropped in the glass. "We should probably eat anyway, probably not the best idea to drink on an empty stomach."

The food was delicious despite how blunt the preparations had been, and Viktor had asked for seconds before I'd even finished chewing my third bite. It was like a portal in his mouth just teleported the food directly to his stomach without any silly things like 'chewing' or 'swallowing'.

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I had enough trouble not choking on mine on a good day, when I wasn't in a hurry. I'd probably die if I tried emulating what Elder Mountain was doing.

They had one particular veggie, like little fingers, that was particularly good. Purple and white, they populated a decent portion of the landscape of my plate. They'd been cooked to just beyond crisp, and had a bit of a sweet kick to them, but not enough to stand out.

The texture was good; the taste was good. No complaints from my tummy either. Can't beat that with a stick!

I cleaned out my plate, with the meat being great as well - if a little dry - and then Mr. Handsome came back, now that no one was doing anything crazy.

"Did our food meet your needs?" He asked, looking nervously at me in short little bursts, but mostly at his shoes, as though he was afraid I'd take offense to staying.

"That it did," I told him. "It was excellent." He brightened up a bunch, but still seemed a bit nervous and fidgety. Looking closer at him, it was clear he was a bit younger than I myself was. His concern was endearing.

"Great!" he said before starting to resume his rounds. Halfway through, he stopped, turned back and bowed before hastily running off again, probably deciding he'd made some sort of faux pas.

Cute, I thought, before looking back to the table. I was startled to realize that Celistar was staring at me with enough intensity I swore I could feel it on my face like a sunbeam.

"… What?" I asked, not entirely sure what was going on.

She leaned across the table, coming out of her seat and laying across the table, resting her elbows on the midpoint to look affix me with a very passionate gaze. "You like him!" She said, giggling like a kid who think's they've discovered a secret.

"I find him an excellent place to rest my eyes," I countered, "Nothing more." I was not letting her thoughts get to me.

By now it was clear that Celistar couldn't hold her booze for shit. She was very obviously inebriated, her face pink to the point it might as well have been glowing with it.

Well, on closer inspection, it might actually be glowing. That was a little concerning.

What I didn't get though, was why Viktor seemed to be flushed as well. While he'd had three whole beers, he'd shown no real reaction aside from his complexion maybe darkening a little. He was pretty swarthy to begin with, making it hard to tell. So I didn't understand why he was suddenly feeling the effects.

Or rather, I didn't until I realized that he'd been in the middle of reaching across the slab of a table for a plate of appetizers we'd shared but not quite finished. Celistar had pretty much plopped herself down directly on his arm in a way that was fairly awkward for Viktor.

Finally found a situation he couldn't punch his way out of. Such a tragedy.

Taking pity on the big guy, I lifted her gently with my Nebula and set her back in an upright position, where she sat looking quite startled, as though she'd forgotten I could do such a thing. She made a little noise that sounded a lot like 'Eeep', which took a few seconds to register as a cross between surprise and a hiccup.

The second she'd cleared his arm, Viktor took it back at max speed, even abandoning the quest for salty treats in the process. He was still fairly embarrassed-looking.

István was grinning like he was the biggest winner of the whole affair, which I found super confusing. He looked away from his 'little' brother and back at me.

"I suppose we should pay our tab and get on the road again before our Ancient One gets any further out of hand," he said, eyes twinkling.

The subject of the conversation had the side of her head down on her arms on the table, looking with a pout out at Elder Scholar. "I am not a hand!" She exclaimed with a sniff.

Then she promptly started crying.

Somehow, Celistar had wound up in a princess carry in Viktor's arms, her head resting against his shoulder, occasionally making some nonsense words in her sleep. She'd made it barely out the door before declaring she was really really tired and laid down on a crate that was at the corner of the building, then passed out. Well, fell asleep, anyway.

"Well, that definitely counted as an adventure," I said, which made István laugh. Viktor still looked embarrassed, which made me confused why he had picked her up instead of having István do it, or I could probably have just floated her down the road behind us like an awkward trailer.

I felt a lurch in my stomach, something I at first attributed to the density of the food we'd just eaten, before I realized that it was lurching in a particular direction, and it wasn't really my stomach. Which was good, because I didn't want play house with some really weird sort of parasite that had big ideas.

No, I'm pretty sure this was related to my unexpected visitor. The direction of the tug was similar to the route the road was taking.

At least I wouldn't have to look too hard, then.