Re: hello, long lost cousin

[Lance]

"Luminous Charmer... I've almost never seen or heard of him back in the day, but..." Lance started to get teary-eyed. Everything he had, was lost to him. His mother, his father, Sky and Shade were the world, to him, his only family. Skylight was dead. both his parents were dead. He thought all that was left was Shadowstrike, and even she was too scarred from the war to be to same filly he knew. He trotted closer to Starlight, and hugged her tightly. "But that explains it. W're cousins, Star." They were all that was left of the Charmer legacy.

[Starlight Charmer]

"Wait, hold up a second. I have family now? I'm not alone anymore!?" Starlight squee'd, and returned the hug jovially. "Omgthisisthebestdayeveromgomgomgomgomgomggomgomgmomgomg" she said in a hurried voice, too enthusiastically. With a big grin on her face, she kissed Lance's forehead.

[Lance]

Star's outburst amused him, but the kiss to the forehead was a bit too much. Scint was uncomfortable with these kinds of hings. that, and his horn was sensitive. And very close to his forehead, relatively speaking. Scint blushed, and pulled away from the hug with an awkward face, "Whoah, calm down there, 'Cuz."

[Starlight Charmer]

"NO! I WILL NOT CALM DOWN! I HAVE BEEN ALONE FOR TEN YEARS OF MY LIFE. AND NOW I'M NOT ALONE. I WILL NOT. CALM. DOWN!" Starlight replies in a slightly menacing tone. She hugs even tighter, and kisses both of Lance's cheeks before letting go.

[Syron]

Shade had long since retreated upwards into the tree again, and was trying not to facehoof at Star's antics. "Ugh, she seems intent on being even worse than Lance!", she silently muttered to herself.

[Scrapper]

Scrapper had also taken his old position back on the tree, but this time he had dived into his bag for a couple, alcoholic beverages. They've been helpful to him recently.

"Noooo!" Came from him in an annoyed groan after Star's crazy moment.
"Don't! Don't share the annoying side of the family! I'll have to bash both your heads together just to stay sane!" He shouted in minor annoyance, how many drinks he had in the time of the whole conversation wasn't told. But by the sound of it, they might be showing off a little.

[Lance]

"Can't change a birthright, Scrappy!" Scint mused to the tree. And en a perceptive pony might notice a short glint in Lance's eye, a quick exhalation of air from his muzzle and a twitch in his smile to a hint of arrogance, as he proudly continued, "Fateful nuisance runs deep in the blood we share, and those who choose to endure the curse find a blessing in it's stead!" It was the poet in him talking. Lance wasn't entirely certain of what he said, but he did pull out a sticky note  and pencil from his vest pocket before writing down those very words, making a mental note of making sense of them later. A bit of inspiration to write his next poem.

[Starlight Charmer]

Starlight shoves her hoof into Lance's mouth. "Don't push your luck." She looked up at the tree. "So... What now?" she asked to no one in particular. Well then. This day gets better and better. I wonder what's next, food falling from the sky? She looked up into the sky as if awaiting her wishes.

[Syron]

Accepting that with those two hyperactive ponies below she wouldn't get much rest, Shade decided that it was breakfast time, and pulled an apple out of her cloak. She was just taking the first bite when Lance decided to share his wisdom. Shade swallowed, and threw the fruit at Lance, aiming for his horn. Being used to throwing weapons, it wasn't very difficult for her when Starlight stuffed his mouth and got him to stay still for a moment. "I haven't found the blessing so far! Care to show it to me, oh wise one?""

[Lance]

Scint calmly removed the fruit from his horn. "Instead of killing a certian looting egotistical earth pony when you had the chance, you talked on passive ground instead. I wonder why.

[Scrapper]

"I'd give him that one, as amazing as it sounds." He said as he tossed an empty bottle to the ground and took out the last one he had. He never bought enough to get him out of it for safety reasons, but it would usually do enough for him.

"If you think about it in depth, if this so called blessing hadn't taken place you'd have killed me then ended up dead yourself." He said as he opened the last glass bottle.
"Y'know Lance, I'll repay that by not tormenting you for about 5 seconds, also, I'll add a bed for both of us later onto that payment. My way of saying thanks!" He said with a menacing laugh on recalling how badly Lance reacted to information like that, in he presence of family and friends no less. That is, if he reacted the way he'd imagined he would. Even the reaction in his mind was enough for it to be worth it.

[Starlight Charmer]

Starlight saw the fruit fall from the tree, which was good enough for her. Levitating the apple from Lance's grip and took a bite out of it, savoring the taste as she flew into the tree, somewhere close to Scrapper. Whispering audibly enough for the earth pony to hear, she said, "Please tell me you mean that. I already hate his poetry and I just barely met him." Noticing the beer in his hooves, she asked in a honeyed voice, "Mind if I have a sip, sweetie?" as she grinned to the stallion.

[Syron]

((Note: The date of this thread has been changed to dec 8th, pending approval by Scintillance))

"So that's what you did when you got drunk together?" Shade asked casually at Scrapper's idea of a 'thank you' and took a bite of the second apple she had brought with her. She already knew what actually happened during their drinking spree from Scrapper, and though she could actually see the possibility of it happening, it was more a disturbing fantasy than it was anything else. The two stallions doing makeovers on each other was a bit disturbing as well, but a much easier truth to bare. "What a sad way to lose your virginity, Lance", Shade continued with perfect indifference, while she discretely kept an eye on Starlight since she had flown up, her changeling wings suddenly poking out of the unicorn body in quite a curious way. An illusion put over her real body then, Shade thought at the sight of it.

[Lance]

Scint cringed ('bit like this   ) "wh-what!? I-I-NO! I... what!? Scrapper that is not five seconds of not tormenting me!" He barked up the tree.

[Scrapper]

"Hey! You didn't accept my gift yet! Those 5 seconds haven't come into play at all! What, do you think I'd just drag you to bed without permission from you first? Harsh mate, harsh." He said before looking at Star who had just asked for a drink of his miracle cure.

Noooobody, get's a drink from Scrapper's glass. Not even if they ask nicely. Scrapper held the bottle out to Star for a split second, then flipped the bottle upside down and smashed it over his head. Then he threw the broken bottle away so that nothing was actually left in it.
"What kind of stallion would I be if I gave alcohol as strong as the stuff I drink to minors? Tsk tsk!" He said, his former beverage now soaking half of his face and his hoody.

[Starlight Charmer]

Star rolled her eyes as Scrapper smashed the beer bottle against his face, muttering to herself about stallions. Sighing, she levitated the booze off of Scrapper's face, and releases her hold, letting it fall to the ground. "At least be clean about it." she said, a tinge of annoyance in her voice. Staring down at Lance, she giggled. "You're barking up the wrong tree, Lance."

[Syron]

"Strong Stuff?" Shade perked up at the notion. She had assumed Scrapper just had some beer or something on that level, though not actually having thought on it. She didn't mind alcohol - as long as it wasn't overdone. "May I ask how strong?" she asked.

[Lance]

Scint started to feel his neck hurting from looking up, and took a quick look around to make sure no pony or griffon was watching before conjuring his Avian and floating up the tree. "A Tree party, then." he promptly hopped off the Avian to land on a branch, but tripped over it, having to awkwardly position his hind hooves in a quick moment of thought, swinging around the bottom of the branch before regaining his balance in a rather ditzy 360 degree spin. after doing so, proclaimed, "I totally meant to do that." and sat on th branch, checking the scrapes and splinter that found their mark on his hind-legs, and the bit of blood that made him sore, and worried about walking on the ground later. he took a view around the par, inhaling, and exhaling. "The nostalgia is exhilarating... used to sit around in rees all the time back in Canterlot park, often times with..." Lance stopped himself mid-sentence. he'd couldn't bring himself to pull her up right now, not to ruin the rare moment of peace. not to remind Shade of her scarring memory.

Avian:

[Scrapper]

"It's uh... well, it's not... uhm... It's not 'that' strong?" Came from Scrapper as he realised he had slipped up and accidentally let Shade know what he was drinking wasn't actually a simple, weak beer. He was a veteran when it came to drinking, before the war he'd get a lot of practice during his leave, so naturally he went for the stronger stuff.

He was actually finding it difficult to find an excuse against the obvious, and he normally could make an excuse about something staring the accuser in the face, but this time he had no ideas due to the influence from the drink.
He wasn't in his relaxed position any more, because some part of him knew he was about to be told off like a colt who threw paper plans in class.

[Starlight Charmer]

Starlight stared curiously at Scintillance and his mysterious remark. Seeing his facial reaction, so she decided to keep it to herself. Giggling at how she had accidentally revealed to Shade that Scrapper's drink was quite strong, she threw her voice, While also changing her  to the bottom of the tree. "It could knock a pony out if she simply had a sip, it could," Star articulated. Laying down, Star thought dreamily to herself about various illusions she was practicing, and would practice.

[Syron]

"You know, soaking yourself in the stuff doesn't do much to hide the smell", Shade deadpanned. She glared at her lover, but didn't want to go in an argument right now. Especially not while they had company. "Just promise that you don't drink when we're expecting trouble, okay?"

[Lance]

Scint felt another cold wind send a shiver down his spine, but he didn't sense a hint of malice in the cold. he watched more leaves pry off a branch, and marveled at the one leaf that refused to follow the wind. Inspired, he pulled out the sticky notes once more, and started writing, quietly reciting, 


Mindless Storm a midst the mist
Nature's shredded, shedded tears
green would follow nature's blow
against all hopes and fears


He disconnected himself from his poem for a moment to add onto Shade's statement, however whenever Lance is in the midst of thinking like a poet, he regular speech always is affected, "And a strong scent such as yours might make things a slight bit easier for me to know whether I'm being shadowed or not, mind you. But then again, you wouldn't care if I knew. Nor would I prefer remaining un-alerted to your presence. In fact, continue as you were, I think I'd rather such as this after all." he returned to his writing, scribbling here, erasing there.

[Scrapper]

Ok, so that wasn't as bad as expected, probably because of company and Shade knew he'd throw her off a building if she embarrassed him. (Spoiler: he'd never do that to her.) "Okay, okay. I promise."

He fell back into a comfortable position as Lance started being poetic again. "Y'know what, just for being brave and making fun of me, I'll discard the bed." He said calmly as got up and he quickly climbed to Lance's part of the tree. Landing directly in front of Lance, barely even shaking the branch, Scrapper gave a faked, mischievous grin towards Lance. Made more realistic by the fact that they all knew he was slightly intoxicated. "The tree will do fine instead!"

He never intended to do anything though, Lance still hasn't accepted those 5 seconds.

[Starlight Charmer]

Star watched for everyone's reaction to what she said, and scowled as nobody noticed. An idea suddenly came to her, and a mischievous grin came to her face. She glanced at Shade for a moment, and flew around the tree slowly. When she flew near Shade, she stared at her flank, whistling softly. "That booty is fabulous~." she said in a suggestive voice, smirking at her mischief. Star then flew to Lance and Scrapper's branch. "So, when does the fun get doubled?" she said at the two.

[Syron]

With the promise, Shade had no reason to further pursue the matter, so Star got all the attention she wanted. "That booty already belongs to Scrapper", Shade said warningly after watching her antics with cold curiosity. She got settled down on her branch again and pulled out a book while adding in a casual tone, as she began reading. "But thanks for the compliment."

Upon inspection or inquiry, the book would turn out to be an adventure novel. Scrapper certainly would have found Shade reading before as it was her most prominent hobby besides anything related to her special talent. Scintillance, having spent not nearly as much time with her since their reunion, probably hadn't noticed recently, but might still remember the filly from all those years ago often waiting for him and Skylight with a book before her.

[Lance]

Scint sighed in relief upon hearing Scrapper say he'd let the topic go. although he did feel a shift in he branches' weight, drawing his attention away from his poem and towards the Scrapper that joined his level in height. Lance was completely off-guard (not that he ever is ON guard ether) at Scrapper's second remark, and shifted his own weight off the branch-unintentionally, of course. the result of that action lead him to his falling for a bit, before his mental reflexes triggered alive and conjured the Martyr to latch onto a branch on the way down. unfortunately, though the inner blades of the martyr weren't nearly as sharp, and indeed latched onto he branch and saved a deadly fall. 

Scint's falling force was enough to break the dry and wilting branch off it's spot. The momentary stop on the gravitational pull gave lance a short swing, twirling his body mid-air. The back of his head hit the ground first, followed by his back and the rest. the Martyr shattered upon impact with the earth, wit Lance's head too distraught to maintain it. "I think," he moaned, "I'm going to lie down here for a little bit..."

[Scrapper]

So as it turns out, Lance was stupid. As it also turns out, that was funny as hell.
Aaaand, as it turns out, the branch he landed on that didn't shake much wasn't as stable as he first assumed. Shortly after he began laughing at Lance's fall, Old Lady Karma had enough of his terrible attitude towards poor little Lance.

The branch he was standing on started to break suddenly, and when it did actually break, there was nothing under him to grab because Lance had already broken it with his face.
Being a casual parkour pony, he instinctively knew to roll on landing to avoid getting hurt to much. Sadly, he didn't preform it so well thanks to drinking. So he just ended up rolling and landing on his stomach right next to Lance.
"I think I'll join you, bud." He groaned.

[Starlight Charmer]

Starlight let herself fly there as the branch the three of them were on fell. Star stifled some giggles as she flexed, showing off her wings. "Clumsy little ponies can't stand up to These " she taunted, flying to a nearby branch. Star then stretched, and laid back against the trunk, as the branch was strong enough to support the petite changeling's weight. She then said in a whisper, that was just barely audible to Scrapper and Lance, "I guess size DOES mean everything, am I right?" Star then busted out laughing, and wiped away tears from her eyes after a while. Yawning, she decided to take a nap, curling up into a little semi-protective ball.

[Syron]

Shade only watched the others with only half an eye, trying to concentrate on her book, but couldn't help but let a small smile grace her lips. "A bunch of foals", she muttered before an unwelcome thought entered her mind. I can't seem to make friends who don't end up fooling around.

Scintillance' almost-mention of Skylight earlier she had practically missed, as she had been focused on Scrapper in that moment, but her own thoughts reminding her of her past friends was something not as easy to ignore. Surely enough, memories of the only recently lost group of friends sprang up, of situations quite similar to the one Shade was in now. She had always been the most withdrawn member of the group, preferring to silently enjoy herself (usually with a good book) and watch as the others goofed off. A comment now and then was usually all Shade said until something really caught her attention.

They were happy memories... but they couldn't become reality anymore, not with the old actors. As most of Shade's happy memories did, it wiped the smile from her face quite effectively. Back to stone-faced until she managed to concentrate on the book again and not think of all those she had lost. How often had she read this paragraph already and still couldn't recall its content?

[Lance]

too winded to move himself, Scint gave Scrapper no signs of denial, simply pulling out his sticky note once more with a telekinetic grip, and continuing to write his poem.

[Scrapper]

"I heard that, Shade!" He said loudly.
"I'm not a foal! Sure they might be, but I'm not!" He said, showing a childish reaction to being called Young and Stupid. Even though he was at least 1 of those things.

"Aaaaand you!" He said as he rolled himself over to point at Star.
"Take your smelly dog face and... Ugh, I can't even be bothered to make something up about you, you're so blank!" He moaned some more as he just stared into the sky.

[Starlight Charmer]

Star opened her eye half-way at Scrapper's remark, sighing in annoyance. An idea came to her that would probably make Shade hate her intensely, but she decided to do it anyway. She fluttered down to Scrapper and landed on his chest as she curled up there. "I'll be sure to make it so you can only think about me, honey-bunches.... And you can make me the color of a blank, white slate while you're at it~." Star cooed barely audibly. Closing her eyes, she decided to take a nap there, because Scrapper was warmer, and his heartbeat was rhythmic and made her sleepy.

[Syron]

Star's assumption about Shade wasn't entirely inaccurate. It usually was a work of effort to make her actually hate somepony, but Star definitely was on the right way. Seeing the disguised changeling lying on Scrapper, Shade quickly left her book behind and touched to the ground a moment later without a sound. Another moment later she had a piece of Mane between her teeth and pulled, using her magic to give the changeling more momentum than Shade could with physical strength alone.

[Lance]

Lance pried his eyes open after feeling the earth shake slightly from Shadow's landing, and was startled to see that one of the angriest ponies he's ever met was provoked into violence. With a groan, he forced himself up, and cast a blinding burst of light, not to end the fight, but to disorientate the two fillies enough for him to try and nudge them apart  in telekinesis and conjure an Aegis between them. "Starlight stop making Shade want to murder you. Shade stop trying to murder Starlight. This is supposed to be one of our few non-violent days. and I'd rather not lose my cousin just a tad bit after I found her." Scint actually carefully positioned the prior flash so that Scrapper would be shielded from it by the mare's body. Of course there was no way for him to be 100% certain he was shielded, he still gave Scrapper a look, something of a wordless request of "Help me out here, will you?"

[Scrapper]

Scrapper was shielded from the light, but didn't react to much anyway. He was still in the process of his brain crashing with the error code "whatjusthappened?2847"

When he was finally able to sit up, he just kinda looked around at each of them.
He looked at Star first, "Never ever say something like that to me when I'm drunk ever again."
He looked at Shade, "Please don't get the wrong idea from all this, I think I'm just being hit on by a really weird changeling."
He looked at Lance, "If you blinded my marefriend I'll kill you."

"Everybody happy now? No more killing cousins and hitting on Scrappy?" He finished.

[Starlight Charmer]

Star gasps as Shade grabbed her by the mane, tears welling in her eyes from the pain. She landed with a thud when she hit the ground, landing on one of her wings weirdly. Shaking her head as she got up, she saw Lightbulb's Aegis fly up between Shade and herself, letting her sigh in relief. When Star tried to bring her wings back to her body, she winced, as her wing was broken in half. "Ooooow. How am I supposed to fly now?" she asked.

[Syron]

"I wasn't going to do anything more. I just wanted to get her off. You can turn off the light", Shade stated in annoyance as she was blinded by Scintillance (again!), shielding her eyes with a hoof but not casting her spell. Not in the presence of the changeling.

She couldn't see said changeling through the Aegis, but what Star said was enough information. I throw her by her mane and she injures her wing while disguised as a unicorn... worst changeling ever, she thought, but didn't want to pursue the road of further conflict. She wasn't too proud to admit when something was her fault. Or... partly her fault in this case. Accordingly, an appology was in order. "Sorry for the wing. I didn't intend to injure you", she said calmly. "But should you try something like that again, I'll change my mind."

[Lance]

Lance sighed, believing that at least for now, the conflict was over. to Shape, he apologized and dimmed the lights, Aegis included. to Scrapper, he tried to choose his words wisely, "She's survived brighter light, and she's no permanently blinded, don't worry." and to Star, he trotted over and asked her if changeling wings wold patch up on their own in time, or if they're somehow more delicate and more fragile than a Pegasus'.

[Scrapper]

"If it make's you feel any better about being grounded and far less annoying, me and Lancey here got drunk together and did pretty makeovers on each other like fillies." He said in an amused tone, knowing that even though it sounded weird, he actually came out of it looking better! Who'd have thought something so awesome could be made awesome-er by being a mare for a bit.

"And the secret of Lance actually knowing how to do makeovers like a real mare, died horribly now that I've openly said it." he said a second later. Standing up and brushing dirt off of himself.
"That's right ladies, If you want to look nice, just go to this guy right here! I'm sure he knows how to be a mare in other situations as well."

[Starlight Charmer]

Starlight sighed, as she folded her other wing around her body. "Give it a month, it'll heal just fine.." Star said with a twinge of annoyance. She then went to the base of the tree, and curled up, attempting to rest. Well, Being a unicorn who can't use most spells for a month'll be fun... the little voice in her head told her. She covered her head, and fell into a semi-conscious nap.

[Syron]

Shade frowned at Star's answer and walked near Scintillance to speak unheard of the changeling. "Lance, does Silvern have anything to help with healing magic? I'd rather not ground her for a month, even though she was acting out of bounds."


((The answer is "yes". Though the bone healing one has been sold in RP.))

[Lance]

Scint groaned as Scrapper told the world that not only had he managed to convince him to get drunk, but also that he had enough a feminine side to be stylish. "Scrapper, please, just... don't." Then hearing a Whisper from Shade, he replied as best as he could without alerting the changeling, "Of course she would, and if she doesn't there's still the library I could check for any helpful spells, but Silve's already upset enough at me for my... well let's leave it at antics. I'm trying to be a bit more careful, and I'm fairly certain estranged customers, especially this one, isn't being careful. I'd hate to leave her as she is, but... actually, I wouldn't mind checking her spell-books for any healing spells first. Always wanted to learn healing magic, and it just might come in handy in the future too, in case you or Scrapper run into... problems."

[Scrapper]

After Lance was done talking to Shade, he put a front-leg around Lance and leaned against him. "Aw, I'm sorry for giving away your secret. I was looking forward to the day we put pretty pink butterflies in our mane's."

"Besides, swinging both ways would probably get more attention than you simply wanting to look nice. No need to ask Shade never speak of it anyway, I'd be more worried about your own family spreading it about!" He said after a few seconds, he knew they were talking about something Star wasn't supposed to hear. He didn't catch it but if they wanted to keep a secret he felt that by continuing his fun with Lance, Star wouldn't suspect a thing. Considering he was closer to Shade and Lance than she was, and he still barely heard anything.

[Syron]

"You're right, leading Star to Sil's shop would be careless", Shade agreed to Lance, glad that he was learning, though slowly. He completely failed to see that Star didn't need to be in Sil's shop at all. "I'll simply ask her if I can borrow an artifact and come back. If she doesn't agree to borrowing something, I'll ask if I can bring Star there."

[Lance]

"That... is actually a much better plan." Lance replied to Shade with little enthusiasm, not because he resented the idea, but rather because he was upset at himself of not thinking of something simpler. But even with that plan, "Just bear in mind that some artifacts aren't so easily just "borrowed." I mean, there's a ton out there that are limited to their usage, and as for what kinds exactly she's got in stock, I can't say that I know for certain; their purpose I might know, but I've yet to "read" an artifact like she can." he kept Silvern's name cryptic, just in case he wasn't being as quiet as he hoped he was, and he then raised his voice to reply to Scrapper, though not quite "in" on the ruse-plan, but still affected by it. "Well I'm not swinging both ways, and hopefully my own family is as oblivious as I am." he whined, turning to Starlight, "Right, Star?"

[Starlight Charmer]

Starlight was only partially listening to the other ponies, lost in thought about her childhood at The Hive and, more importantly, about her mother. So Lance broke her out of her trance, causing her to do a funny little dance, and she gave them all a glance, unsure of what was unfolding. "Um. I. Um. Ah. Wha-sure. Um. I um. Yep." She stuttered,  blushing lightly from embarrassment.

[Syron]

"I'll give her a visit then", Shade said and levitated her book down to put it away again. "Can I rely on you being here for the next hour without drawing the attention of the whole city?"

[Lance]

Scint chuckled, suddenly, as if Shade accidentally mad a punny joke. "Shade, I have accomplished many great deeds, but frankly drawing the attention of a whole city is still a little out of my capabilities. baby steps. He then shook his head, "but I will try to avoid doing anything unnecessary, and keep my crazy cousin here under reins 'till you get back."

[Scrapper]

"Now who you should really worry about getting the whole cities attention, is not just one of us, but all three of us! Mainly those two though." Scrapper said once Scintillance decided to stop being Scintillance.

He went up to Shade and gave her a quick kiss, still under the assumption that they were doing something for Star they didn't want her to know, he made up something random for her departure. "Hurry along las, getting more books to read is important, because they stop me from having to do fight practice in the morning, sometimes."

[Starlight Charmer]

Starlight started to jump around Lance, speaking extremely fast so her words were garbled nonesense. "Ofcoursewecandothatwhycouldntwedothatcouldwedothatlanceithinkwecoulddontworryshadeyoucancountonusrightlancerightscrapper?"
Taking a breather, she jumped onto Lance's back, then doing a backflip off of the Lightbulb.

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