**The Nanny**

[WritingWithLove]

Briar held her arm steady as Peter made his way towards her shoulder. Once he was perched, she smiled even wider and genuinely laughed. "Wow! This is so amazing!" she said with joy. She looked at Peter and asked, "How long've you known Fenny?"  

[Fenrir Shade]

Peter began to laugh hysterically, "Fenny? He has a pet name! That's priceless!" he shouts, continuing to laugh. Upon realizing their serious looks, he stops laughing abruptly and coughs. "Sorry. I didn't mean to insult. But I've known him since after the fire."  

[WritingWithLove]

She pet Peter softly and said, "I like his pet name. I think it's very cute, like he is!" She blushed and winked at Fenrir, not afraid to get a little flirting in around one of his friends.  

[Fenrir Shade]

"Oohoo! You hear that Fenny? She thinks you're cute..."

"Ah, shut up Peter." responds Fenrir, giving him a death glare.  

[WritingWithLove]

Briar laughed loudly, amused by Fenrir's irritance. "Boys, play nice!" she said, "There's a lady in the room!" She moved a bit closer to Fenrir, for no reason other than the fact that she wanted to be at his side.  

[Fenrir Shade]

"But he started it!" yells Fenrir childishly, smiling and laughing.  

[Fadedepic]

"That coming from an expert assassin." Dust said, walking by the Atrium and just happened to eavesdrop on the conversation.  

[WritingWithLove]

"Yeah, really!" she laughed, "But I can't be one to talk about maturity!" She noticed the new face and said, "Have we met before?"  

[Fadedepic]

"Nope." Dust said, stopping and walking back to the Atrium. "Name's Dust. Ventriloquist. Very fancy word that means I can make things talk."

"Like this tree." The tree whispered, almost ghostlike, to Briar.

"Or maybe this rock." The rock groaned in a gravelly voice.

"Or maybe your own heart as it beats faster." A feminine muffled voice coming from inside of Briar's chest  

[WritingWithLove]

Briar gasped with amazement. "Wow, that's so... awesome!" she said, knowing that "awesome" was an understatement. "How do you do it?"  

[Fadedepic]

Dust chuckled. "It happens to be my specialty. Fenrir can meld with shadows, I can talk with my mouth closed. Useless, I know."  

[WritingWithLove]

"I think it's super useful!" she said, "I bet you can pull tons of pranks!" She chuckled, feeling slightly excluded; she had no powers, she couldn't do any fancy tricks, and hell, she couldn't even lick her own elbow. She wondered if she was the useless one, but she masked her worry with a smile.  

[Fenrir Shade]

"And he does that a lot. You have no idea how many times he's scared the crap out of me, or convinced me someone was talking to me." complains Fenrir.  

[WritingWithLove]

She laughed. "Don't be so sore about it!" she said as she nudged him. She laughed again, thinking of him holding a conversation with someone who was asleep, or him thinking that, oh, a plant was speaking to him.  

[Fadedepic]

Dust wiggled his eyebrows at Briar. "It does give me some enjoyment from time to time."