Pruned Trees Re-Sprout!! ~ Ragazza Volpe Magica ~

"He said she loves it," Emily read off her tuner as she relaxed in bed.

"She'd better, damn thing weighed a ton," Albarich complained, whittling away at a block of wood at the desk.

"I just hope they don't see the three holes I left in the wall," Ritika said, from the kitchen.

"Toldjya we should have just used Taika's stud finder," Emily teased.

"Sh-shut up! I'm not used to these wooden homes!" the cat barked.

There was a sudden knock at the door which broke up the festivities.

Soot, who had just been enjoying the general ambiance, answered the door. Miro was outside, and the golem quietly let the Natural in.

"Buonasera a tutti!" the little earth element greeted, earning several varied greetings back (and a quick wave from Soot). "I was wanting to see if you were hunting tonight," he said.

"Yeah, we're gonna go after dinner--they're paying triple time tonight everywhere due to the holiday. Can you stay here and make sure the Scherzando don't get too feisty?" requested the vice-guildmaster.

"Si! I was going to be asking that next!" The fox boy beamed. "Have a good--" he paused, furrowing his brow. The Natural flipped out his dictionary. "I wish your desires end," he spoke instead.

"You as well!" beamed the Maestro.

After Miro left, Ritika spoke up. "He's an interesting one," said the cat.

"How so?" asked Albarich.

"I've met a lot of Naturals, and none of them were as open-minded as he is."

Soot had a lot to say about this as he suddenly stacked a couple dozen signs all in a row; both Emily and Ritika focused hard to translate for Albarich.

"Naturals blame Maestros for their decline, so it makes sense that they wouldn't want anything to do with them?" asked Emily for confirmation. The golem nodded in the affirmative.

"Yeah, I remember reading something like some war generals turned Ethereals in the 700s were the cause of that." Ritika snapped her fingers a couple times trying to remember their name. "The Noble Swords! That's them." She nodded, pleased with her own memory.

"The three of them, right?" Albarich chimed in.

Soot immediately shook his head and held up four fingers.

"Huh?" The three non-mute participants in the conversation looked to the golem.

He signed out individual letters, then once again held up for fingers.

"There are four Noble Swords?" wondered Ritika, which was met with another confirmative nod.

Emily, meanwhile, was on her tuner. "Hrmmm… There's something here about a 'trainee' they had, but there's not much about them. Weird."

"Speaking of trainees--wonder how the beansprout is doing?" Albarich mused.

"What do you mean?" asked Emily.

"He's bringing a fairy home to his parents. Girl's nothin' but trouble, " the dragon clarified.

Ritika and Emily shared a concerned realization. "Oh…"

"Here we are," Vince announced.

Zephyr poked her head out of his jacket, adjusting her glasses as if she had just woken up. That couldn't have been further from the truth, however. She had spent the last couple hours of the bus ride in a small panic.

She didn't know what to expect from Vince's parents. It didn't help that he didn't want to introduce her until they could meet in person; something about wanting them to appreciate who she really was in the flesh, instead of just a voice over the phone or something.

Vince did dutifully call his mother every night like a good son. From what the little fairy could overhear, she sounded pretty strict, always making sure they brushed their teeth and ate their vegetables and all that.

Probably not the kind of person that would appreciate Zephyr's brand of humor. That said, as soon as her Maestro knocked on the door, she retreated back into the safety of his coat pocket.

The door swung open to reveal an older woman, probably in her forties, and bearing a resemblance to Vince.

Immediately the woman tried to hug the boy with a cry of "Vincent!" but he stepped back holding out his hands.

"W-wait!"

"My little Vincent is too grown up to hug his own mother?!" the woman asked indignantly.

"No no! I'll hug you in a second, I just didn't want to crush her!" said the son.

And now the mother was confused. "Her? Mila is right there."

The cat chuckled, shooting a sidelong glance to her Maestro as if to say "hurry up!"

Vince took a breath. "Mom, I got a second Resonator," he began.

The poor woman's confusion was compounded by the fact that she could see only Vince and Mila. "Did you leave them at work?" she asked.

The young Maestro gently tapped his chest. "Come on," he whispered.

Finally, something stirred within his jacket and a head popped out followed by the rest of a tiny fairy body.

"N-nice to meet you m-ma'am, I'm Zephyr," stammered the fairy, hoping she wasn't about to be executed by broomstick.

The older woman stared at the logic defying creature that floated just above her son's shoulder. She rubbed her eyes, then again, and again. "Vince, what is that?" she finally asked.

"A fairy," he replied without missing a beat.

She fainted. Vince darted to his mother's side to stop her from smashing her head against the tile. "DAD!" he shouted.

Mila looked to Zephyr who had taken off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Good job," snarked the cat.

"HOW IS THIS MY FAULT?!" Zephyr barked.

"A fairy, huh?" Vince's dad appraised the tiny Resonator.

Vince's mother was laid to rest in bed, while Vince and his duo faced his father.

Zephyr nodded. "I am… is there a problem?" asked the fairy, clinging to her Maestro's shoulder.

"Not at all. You lot are pretty rare."

"We are."

"Why my son?"

"He was nice."

"Hm, nice guy finishing first. You love to see it."

And that was all there was to the interrogation. The father returned to his newspaper and left the three young adults to their own devices.

"Now what?" asked Zephyr.

"I could show you my room," Vince offered.

"Sure!"

As they walked through the home to Vince's room, she noted all the furniture was well worn, not in disrepair, but tenderly loved and taken care of. Photos of Vince and his parents were hung up on every wall. It really showed how much they cherished their son. Maybe that's where his abundance of care came from.

Before she knew it, they had arrived in his bedroom--their bedroom. Zephyr wasn't sure whether their room back at the guildhall was nicer or not, but it definitely felt-- "Homey," she spoke.

It was about half the size of their motel room turned living space. Vince's mother must have kept it clean in her son's absence, as there was not a speck of dust to be found. A desk with a computer, a small television, a dresser where his spare clothes lived, and a quaint little bed were the furniture offerings.

"Both of you," Vince muttered. "At least there's enough room for all three of us in here," he said with a shrug.

"Are you sure? That bed isn't the biggest," Zephyr pointed out.

"I can get the floor," Mila said with a shrug. "That's what we were doing while I lived here anyways."

"Oh no, this time I'll sleep on the floor, you and Zephyr can take the bed."

"Not this shit again. I grew up sleeping on the ground--I don't need a bed."

While Vince and Mila had a small spat about the sleeping arrangements, the fairy of the group hummed in thought.

Zephyr furrowed her brows. She compared the total sizes of the bodies needing to sleep to the single bed available to them. "Hey… crazy thought." She turned to her two companions. "Let's share the bed."

The other pair gave Zephyr the same look Vince's mother gave her when the fairy introduced herself.

"I'm serious!" The fairy pouted. Her expression hardened. "I… want to try that à deux thing," she admitted.

"Me too."

Vince and Mila looked to one another, then back to Zephyr.

"It's kinda scary," Vince admitted. His face scrunched up with pain. "But…" His hand gripped the white tuner at his waist. "I don't want to have those feelings again. No pain has ever compared to…" he trailed off. His two partners understood the implication.

Mila coughed. "We could try it right now," she offered uneasily.

No one else spoke, but they all quietly moved to the bed. The three stared at the crisp, clean sheets as if they'd rear up and attack at any moment. Mila got over her nerves first and crawled into bed. She rested on her side and faced her Maestro.

Vince gripped the red tuner at his side and crawled onto the bed with his cat. The pair stared each other in the eyes, way too close for either of them to be comfortable.

"I feel like I'm gonna fall," Vince squeaked.

"Then get closer dummy!" Zephyr barked, fluttering between the two. She plopped down in the middle of the much larger bodies.

Mila had enough and just wanted this over with. She reached out and grabbed Vince, pulling him into a tight hug (Zephyr got taken along for the ride, given her position).

For a moment, Vince was wide eyed with shock, but Mila's warmth slowly seeped into him and he relaxed in his cat's embrace.

"This is nice…" breathed Vince, his eyelids starting to droop.

"Yeah… Warm…" Mila cooed.

"Very warm… a girl could get used to this…" Zephyr sighed with bliss.

Peace on planet Riterra.

Then the door opened and a mother's wrath descended upon Corhiasela.

"She didn't have to hit us with the fucking broom," Mila groused, as they made their way up to the hunting ground registration.

"I'm glad she accepted the excuse that we were cold," Zephyr added, poking her head out of Vince's jacket.

"I have a feeling we'd be grounded for life if she found out what we were up to," Vince sighed.

"We're lucky she didn't snap your neck on the spot when she found out we got arrested," Mila scoffed.

Zephyr raised a brow. "When you stopped the Feroce guy?" She recalled something to that effect being brushed over when Shouri explained Vince's history to her.

"Yeah. Turns out, parents get a little worried when they get a call that their young adult son was arrested for illegal spellcasting--who knew?" Mila shrugged.

"God, I hope we don't find a way to get arrested again--I don't think mom's heart can handle another call like that." Vince slumped over in a Shouri-like fashion.

"What did you even do?" Zephyr questioned, only having received the very truncated version of the events of the September arrest.

"We might have watched a guy breathe his last," Mila replied, with an arm beckoning to an invisible audience.

"They never found any bodies, or any blood for that matter," Vince countered, gently shoving his fire cat at playing up the dramatics.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"You killed someone?!" Zephyr hissed.

"Okay look, we didn't kill them--!" Mila and Vince looked to one another.

The cat continued. "They launched the lighting ultimate at us, and the other chick with us managed to re-direct it towards her. While they were still recovering from launching that, we hit 'em and ended it."

"So you did kill someone?" questioned the fairy, still not seeing how they weren't guilty of ending a life.

"Nah, chick was a robot. A uhhh, sprite. Yeah, sprite. I just destroyed her body," Mila paused. "Okay, it sounds like we killed her, but we didn't. The, uhhh, investigator guy told us they only found the body parts. They uhh…" The cat snapped her finger a couple times trying to recall what they were told. "He said they didn't have any residual rhythm, so they must have escaped."

Vince nodded in agreement, though his expression clouded. "I do wonder what happened to them…" mumbled the Maestro.

"I hope you two like them! Mom and Dad said I wouldn't get any gifts, but that's okay!"

"A mirror! A mirror! Let me see!"

"Oh, it's perfect! Thank you, Amber!"

Vail spun around in her new body. While it was nowhere near what she had grown accustomed to under the employ of a certain scientist, there was some appeal to being in such a small body.

"Speak for yourself," Whistler grumbled. Despite her snarky tone, she stole a peek at herself in the mirror. "At least everything looks the same as before."

The two sprites were in the same style bodies as they had as enforcers, with the same clothes and everything, right down to their horns. The most striking and obvious difference was in their stature, now standing at a seventh of the size they used to be.

"It's so embarrassing being a toy," Whistler grumbled.

"Lighten up Whissy," Vail snorted at the nickname.

"Do NOT call me that," hissed the toy.

"What's wrong Whissy, do you not like it?" the little girl, Amber, whimpered. "I don't get any allowance money for two years. I'd get a job but no one would want me; I'm sorry…" Her bottom lip trembled, as her own gaze drifted away from the tiny Resonator.

Whistler immediately regretted everything. "No! I just--" She looked to Vail for support, who just glared back as if to say "way to go".

"No! It's lovely! I love it! Thank you very much!" The sprite quickly shouted, though straining to do so. "I'm just--" Whistler wanted to qualify that statement so she wasn't lying, but Amber's big pouty expression snuffed out that resistance immediately.

"Just overjoyed… definitely ended my desire…" the lightning element reluctantly conceded.

Amber smiled and gently scooped up her two, toy-sized Resonators. "You two are my angels!" The little girl scooped up her two toy-sized Resonators and hugged them tightly. A pair of yellow tuners sat by her side; the registration screen opened.