[PRP] Presents for Daddy (Zar & Hollandaise)

[The Semblance of Unity]

Hollandaise rode her vinepony to Zar's place, absently patting its head. The arms that sprouted from it had actually taken to holding her in place as it galloped. This was fine by her standards; she was not an accomplished rider. In fact, the only time she had not ridden her current mount, it had been Zar and that hardly counted. Nevertheless, she rode out, an appropriate selection of minipets secured in a basket behind her. Of course, none of them were plant-based.

It had begun to sprinkle on the way and by the time she arrived, Hollandaise was thoroughly damp. And shivering. She did not take well to cooler temperatures. She leaned against her pony, whose name was a series of creaks and whistles (but, more commonly, the pony was known as Fred), and waited. The minipets still rested on Fred's back - she would collect them once the door opened and send Fred back to his stable. Sighing creakily, she rung the bell and tried to wring water out of her damp braid. Surely, the pumpkin sun would be out soon.

baneful

 

[Baneful]

Zar answered the door when the doorbell went because they had no staff to do it for him and promised himself that one day they would have. The castle itself was fairly dilapidated and though there were evidently plenty of works in progress it was certainly no grand edifice, it was fortunate that even the doorbell worked frankly.

The damp got into everything, but at least when the door swung open, the space within was warm and relatively dry, Zar was dressed in his usual outfit and had a small bird like creature perched on his horns fast asleep.

"Oh Holly!" he said, not really expecting the ghoul to come and visit, normally uncertain of everything when it came to her. "Come in, come in."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Hello," she said amicably, pleased that the interior looked lovely and warm. Hollandaise was always mildly surprised when Zar actually let her into his house or his spaces. Part of her was always half-convinced he would shut the door in her face; he didn't like her very much at all. She gave a low whistle and Fred bent his forelegs. The arms and vines securing her package let go and it slid easily into Hollandaise's arms. It was clearly quite weighty. She bent forward and whispered something into Fred's ear and he galloped off.

Turning to Zar, she smiled nicely and shifted the package in her arms. It appeared to be a cloth-wrapped cage. "I brought things, for you, Daddy - where should I put them?"

baneful

 

[Baneful]

Zar eyed the package, flicking his tongue without even realizing he was doing it in an attempt to taste what was in there.

"Oh erm, just in here." he gestured to the living room where a fire was burning in the hearth and a large pen had been set up. He closed the door behind her and made his way in, sitting down on one of the very comfortable chairs - evidently comfort at least was important in this household. The sleeping bird on his horns did not seem even slightly phased by his movement, its snake-like tail wrapped around the ridges to steady itself.

"Are those things edible?" he asked with a grin, the prospect of food seeming to have him refrain from outright asking if Holly gave gifts to all of her clearly many many friends.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Hollandaise, as always, watched his tongue as it curled out. He really did have fantastic teeth and if she had ever read Little Red Riding Hood, she might have felt a kinship with the girl. "Yes, daddy," she said and followed him into the living room. She shied away from the fire, even though it provided warmth, and set the cage down near Zar's feet. Then she proceeded to creakily drag a chair over close to him and sit down, legs tucked underneath her body.

"Of course they are edible, even you-edible." She had remembered that he could not stomach things like spookies and thus, she had not brought any. "I suppose they are me-edible, as well. I do not do so often; I cannot swallow as you do and it becomes... messy. It is easier in my other form." She dismissed her sentence with a wave of her hand. Her natural form was not something she had assumed since coming to Amity and she doubted her conviction would change. And both in her natural and pinned form, devouring minipets (she ate the small things, the ones like rabbits that ran through the woods) meant a process eaten in pieces and bits with fear-rich blood staining everything. It was not neat.

Shaking her head, she looked up and caught glimpse of the tiny creature in Zar's horns. "You... you have a bit of something in your horns, there."

baneful

 

[Baneful]

Zar eyed the cage with a new hungry edge. "Nothing wrong with a little mess, its nothing that can't be cleaned up. Sometimes I have to deal with it also. Sometimes things er.. pop." and he made a dramatic gesture with his hands. "Eating is good for you, I didn't used to and I was positively wasting away."

He paused in confusion for a moment when Holly pointed out the chicken on his horns, quite forgetting he was even there since he was out of his peripheral vision. "Oh?.... Ohhhhh. Yes. That is er. One of my scarelings. He doesn't have a name yet. And I er, only think its a he, I have no idea what gender it is. It cries all the time when I move it away from me."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"There are other ways for me to eat that do not ruin clothing." Pop was such an accurate, but disgusting term.

But as soon as he spoke about the scareling in his horns, he attention was fully diverted. "Does it ever fall off? Do yoru have any name ideas? May I see, daddy?" And without waiting for an answer, Hollandaise slid out of her seat and went to perch on the arm of Zar's chair. She braced herself against his shoulder and peered at the sleeping scareling. With her free hand, she reached to to stroke the tiny feathers.

baneful

 

[Baneful]

"But where's the fun in that?" he asked with a smirk.

He immediately tensed up as Holly turned her attention to the chick, his protective instincts kicking in and immediately finding themselves held back so he didn't take a bite out of the ghoul. Instead he held still and let her pet the tiny bird which woke up at the contact and gave her a bleary stare before waking up properly and giving her a many-eyed and critical look.

"Peep." it said.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

After a moment, Hollandaise tentatively peeped back.  

[Baneful]

This for whatever reason seemed to make the tiny creature both perturbed and curious, giving Holly a strange look as it stopped peeping to stare wide eyed at her.

Zar shrugged his shoulders. "He's always very noisy."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

She peeped back again, utterly pleased with the small scareling's response. Hollandaise had decided she liked the scareling very much, even if he was only a very, very small bird.

Slowly, she slid back down to a more manageable height. Zar was really obscenely tall. Instead of going back to her own car, she perched on the arm of Zar's and continued to gaze up at his horns and the chicken nesting withing. "Why did you used to not eat? That does not seem wise."

baneful

 

[Baneful]

"I didn't eat because I didn't want to." he said. "It was not efficient, I did not need to sleep or eat so I did neither, it was not what did the damage to me really, what harmed me was going against my fear and nature."

He smirked. "Good thing I'm mostly better now, though I admit I'm slightly worn out from creating the little brats."

The feathery little scareling seemed to decide to leap from Zar's horns onto Holly's head instead with a flap of tiny useless wings. He set about crafting a nest for himself there too.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Going against your fear does not seem a possible thing. I am a warder, I must be a warder and be suitable, there is no other option." This was said with something akin to a naive look on her face, as though she were discussing how the pumpkin sun inevitably rose in the east and settled in the west. It just was. And if she did not fit into her given role, she failed.

Hollandaise frowned at Zar, and looked at him carefully, trying to ascertain any noticeable thinness. "You should remember to feed adequately. Have you been doing so?" Her attention was immediately diverted by the arrival of a small bird on her head.

"Oh! Oh my!" Hollandaise held very, very still. "Does the scareling do this.... often?" Her hair was going to be a tangled mess.

baneful