Little Miss Starshine: Gratitude

He knew The Architects had gotten ahold of something better forgotten. A fragment of The First Lord that he had rejected. He'd been watching it. The way the pitch black had been lightened into purple. Red eyes had faded to orange. It was *different* from The First Lord, somehow, and yet bore no true soul. How could it? It only knew the confinement of a glass prison and pain as they studied it intrusively. He saw it trying to flee the pain. He saw it trying to form a humanoid body and struggling to hold it. Nothing deserved this torture.

This thing in his arms, as terrible as it looked, was alive. The fragment of soul was evolving in his very arms. It manages two yellow eyes and looks up at him, babbling like an infant. Tentacles reach out and wrap around his arm. He can't help the little smile on his face that the little one in his arms then mimics. He sits with it and allows it to feel him and know him as an infant would, but then it speaks in deep speech using only it's mind to his.

"Nahal kurat a izzerozi." (You have my gratitude.)

He smiles, and speaks back "Nahal irit temeire" (You are welcome.)

"Temeire?" (welcome?)

"Ke maewa, le ti biika nae kurat hiine izzerozi." (It means, I am glad to have your gratitude.)

"Oro izzerozi! Oro'oro izzerozi!" (Much gratitude! Very much gratitude!)

He can't help the little laugh that escapes him. The little blob has begun firming up into a brighter purple little humanoid. A child, as befitting such a young mind. Yellow eyes glow as they stare up at him.

"Izzerozi! Lurhi izzerozi!" (Gratitude! Repay gratitude!)

"Tos tos, tos lurhi. le ti biika nae kurat nahal." (No no, no repay. I am glad to have you)

"Aya? Le ko tos ke maewi nahal!" (Me? I do not even know you!)

"Le ti Philosopher. Philo maewa vass'ti. Sopher maewa wesdam." (I am Philosopher. Philo means love. Sopher means wisdom.)

"Le ti.. tos vaeti." (I am.. no name.)

"Le vaeti nahal Izzerozi." (I name you Gratitude.)

Her eyes flicker with an understanding. There is a power in names. "Le ti Izzerozi! Izzerozi e Philosopher!" (I am Gratitude! Gratitude for Philosopher!)

He pulls a book for the little one in his arms. A book meant for those of the elemental languages to learn common. It would have to do. "Teru nahal vass nae maewi'ti nae koros i ayasi do?" (Would you like to learn to speak as others do?)

"Le ko! Rozi!" (I do! Please!)

He takes a seat with little Izzerozi, they in one arm, and the book in his free hand. He reads to her, his mind a constant translation for her to pick apart. She is so curious and quick to understand. To his surprise, they don't grow drowsy by the sound of his voice or the subject. Little Izzerozi is too ravenous for knowledge, and before he knows it they have gone cover to cover.

He looks down at Izzerozi who idly musses his hair with a tentacle while her hands are pressed to her face in both curiosity and wonder. She looks up at him wide-eyed with wonder, studying his face.

Some part of his feelings he thought long dead breaks free. He knows in this moment more than any other that he is now a parent. Her parent. He isn’t immune to the feelings such a role will give him. He barely knows her and yet, he still loves her. Just a little bit. A feeling he cannot quite nurture but, he can hold onto it. Treasure it as it is, for as long as it lasts.

He picks another book with mage hand, watching his daughter ooos and aaas at the display of magic. Yes... This is his daughter, Izzerozi, and he’ll read until she begins to fall asleep…

Little Miss Starshine: Lullaby

"Comn now, time for bed, your book will be waiting for you tomorrow."

"No want sleep! Want read!"

He chuckled to himself as he went to pick up the pouting, arms-crossed little aberrant, when Izzie suddenly let off a surge of psionic might, toppling herself out of her chair and winding the Philosopher.

"Well now, that wasn't very nice, was it?"

"Aaaaahh want read! No sleep! No sleep!" A clumsy mage hand raked the book off the table to her, but he intercepted it and bookmarked her spot.

"No, Izzie. Don't you want me to read you a bedtime story?"

Izzie looked conflicted as the book floated away from her. "...No want sleep. NO. WANT. SLEEP."

Another surge fired off, though the power slid off of him as he scooped her up into her arms. She thrashed wildly and tried to become slimier to slip away, but his grip held regardless.

"Aaaaahh! No want! No want!"

"My my, you haven't been sleeping well have you?"

She growled and snarled as her thrashing proved useless.

"That's alright. I'll sing you something to chase your nightmares away..."The sleepy little slime in his arms stopped thrashing, but continued to protest "Tos! Tos regi!" (No! No sleep!)He began to rock his arms, singing softly. Her protests stopped as she looked at him with pure curiosity.

"La la lu, la la lu

Oh, my little star sweeper

I'll sweep the stardust for you

La la lu, la la lu

Little soft fluffy sleeper

Here comes a pink cloud for you

La la lu, la la lu

Little wandering angel

Fold up your wings, close your eyes

La la lu, la la lu

And may love be your keeper

La la lu, la la lu, la la lu

There now, little star sweeper

Dream on"

The little one struggled to hold her big glowing eyes open, and drifted to sleep.

Little Miss Starshine: Princess

Izzie liked the library. Not for the reasons one usually likes a library for. There’s high places to climb, and the entire place smells like vanilla. She likes the food smell and the taste of the wood in her slime. She isn’t sure why Lover-Of-Wisdom keeps removing her from the library, but she always finds her way back.

“Izzie, no. Bookshelves and books aren’t food.” he says, plucking the ornery slime off the side of a shelf before her pseudopods can wrap around a book. He wasn’t sure how to get her to settle down just yet. With such small interactions, the ripple effect wasn’t as obvious to his grand sight. Perhaps a story would work? Her understanding of common had expanded by leaps and bounds thanks to her telepathy, though she didn’t speak it quite yet. With a mage hand, he pulled a book from his library and brought to his actual hands, little Izzie in his arms settling in as he found them a seat.

A book about a princess and a knight.. trite, but the contents didn't really matter as long as she calmed down. She was asleep right as he finished, glowing eyes dimming as she fought and lost to the need for sleep. He had no idea how much it'd influence her future.

Little Izzie slept dreaming of being a princess that could help the knight. Of being in a strong knight's arms, swept away from a danger that went over her head. Of beautiful gowns and a tower of her own. Of being wanted by someone other than her father. And of course, of using her powers to be both strong and pretty beside her knight.

Little Miss Starshine: Legends

Izzie glared at the massive bookcase. She wanted a story, and she wanted a story NOW! Love and princesses! And she knew exactly where to look, but it was too high!

She glared more, she could feel her power wrapping around a book-

And then her power burst outwards, making the bookcase wobble dangerously despite its massive size. She squeaked in surprise as she was scooped up into her father’s arms.

“Now Izzie, I believe I’ve told you to ask for books instead of trying to get them yourself.”

“Talas nori! Decii nori!” (Story now! Want now!)

“Alright, alright.” The bookcase stopped its wobble and the books righted themselves under his magic. He plucked a book without needing to look at it. “How about I tell you of the Cardinal Legends?”

“Cahdnal Lehgehnds?”

“Yes, the very ones I trained a long time ago. Why don’t we start with the stories of Alden tonight?”

He sat with Izzie in the oversized chair, letting her snuggle tightly into the crook of his arm as he opened the book. ‘Tales of the Blood-cursed Knight.’

Little Miss Starshine: Fox

Izzie was in the garden tending to all the beautiful herbs and flowers when magic began to flash behind her. She turned around in alarm as the light died down, seeing a black fox person standing where the teleport magic died.

"H-hello?" Izzie said quietly. She had never heard of animal people before. Her studies were still as young as herself.

Minoru, who had previously been trying to look cool, freezes. "Well, hello there little miss. What are you doing way out here with the Legendmaker?"

Izzie picks herself up and dusts off her pinafore. "I'm Izzie, and I'm his daughter and best apprentice!"

Minoru smiles wide. Cute cute cute. To think this girl he only passingly met before was the Legendmaker’s daughter. Concerning though, he did nothing without purpose. Little Izzie doesn’t need to know that, though. "Well I'm Minoru, and I've been trying to make him take me as an apprentice for years!" he says with cheer.

Izzie gasps "Oooh! But if it's not your destiny then it's not! He's really stubborn about fate stuff! Like I'm not allowed to leave the tower until it's the proper time, and I have to come back by the proper time! And I can't leave the wastes until it's time!"

He nods "Ah, so you haven't gotten to see much of the world, then?"

She shakes her head "None at all! I've only ever known the tower and some of the desert!"

He clicks his tongue as he shakes his head "Well that's not good at all. I'll have to bring my wife next time. She'd love you to bits. How about when I finish up with the Legendmaker, I tell you some of my adventures and where I'm from, hmm?"

Izzie gasps again "And tell me about your wife! And your species! And your skills! Nobody can just casually bother The Philosopher after all!"

He laughs "Alright, alright, after I talk to him. You finish your gardening, hm?"

Little Miss Starshine: Hatred

Izzie had been reading in the study. She loved being tucked up under the false starry sky surrounded by the very Legends she loved to read about. This area of the tower felt very much like another world entirely, one where fantasies came alive.

“Izzie, I need you to read in another room for a while please.”

“Oh? Whatever for?” Izzie said as she marked her place in her book and got up, shuffling with haste to the elevator. “Are we having another visitor?”

“Indeed we are, make sure you stay put until I say so, okay?”

“Okay, father!” Izzie chirps as she hustles into her room, catching a glimpse of red hair, and then their eyes meeting hers for a single moment as she shuts her door.

Izzie presses her body to her door as she takes in who she saw. Alden. THE bloody gate of the west. The bloodcursed prince. She hears the elevator moving away, but the look Alden gave her. That scorn, that disgust, made her feel weak.

Izzie isn’t sure what to make of this. She’s an aberration, she knows. She knows very well she isn’t like the other races of the Planescape and will never be normal. The Legends though, beacons of virtue, rejecting her without knowing her due to a glance... Just what is she? Is it so wrong to be a created thing? Or is she something far worse than that?

She hears footsteps, and the Philosopher calls her name. She peeks from her room, only to see Alden turning back from the door to meet her gaze again. She nervously shrinks from his glare. The Philosopher calls out “It’s okay, Izzie. You have nothing to be afraid of here.” and she removes herself from her hiding place behind the door to take the Philosopher’s hand and shyly hide behind him.

Alden’s face softens at the display. He has spoken curses about a child. Aberrant she may be, born of darkness she may be, she is still young. There is no malice or hatred in her eyes, only a curiosity that begs to know if he hates her.

Alden shakes his head and leaves the tower.