It took a lot longer to make it back to Ms. Yearling’s place than I had anticipated. Between the numerous scrapes and bruises that Dash and I sported, and the fact that the crash wrecked Dash’s cell phone, it was a long and painful walk. In truth, it was more of a hobbling than anything, with my friend limping along with the help of my shoulder to lean upon. As tempting as it may have been to find the nearest ditch and just lay down until the cold embrace of death took away the pain, paranoia kept me moving.
Say what you will about hope, but at that time, fear was what gave me wings. Every time I heard the rumble of an engine, I feared I’d look over my shoulder to see another panel van pulling up alongside us to drag us away.
It was late in the afternoon by the time that Dash and I reached Yearling’s home, much to the surprise of all of our friends. In actuality, we didn’t so much walk through the front door as we fell against it and let gravity do the rest of the work. Our collective ‘thump’ served as the herald for our arrival.
“Oh my goodness! Rainbow Dash! Sunset Shimmer!” Rarity shouted, being the first to react. She and the others raced over to our motionless, groaning forms still prostrated in the front hallway.
“Are you two okay? What happened?” Fluttershy asked.
She and Rarity helped Rainbow Dash to her feet, while Applejack assisted me. We were carried over to the living room where I was set down on the couch and Dash settled into an easy chair. Somehow my back was in even more pain than when I was still sprawled across the trunk of Yearling’s car.
“Gravity is a harsh mistress,” I groaned before rolling onto my stomach to take the pressure off of my lower back. “Also Dr. Caballeron ambushed us at the library; he’s kidnapped Derring Do.”
The news brought a round of gasps from my friends, but it wasn’t until I heard the front door slam shut that I realized there was one voice absent amongst them. Ms. Yearling strolled into the living room, a noted lack of concern upon her expression as she regarded the two of us. If she was surprised at the news, she did an excellent job of hiding her emotions, though it was also possible that she was so used to news like this that it just didn’t disturb her anymore.
“Where’s my car?” she asked.
Also possible that Ms. Yearling just didn’t care.
“It’s back at the library parking lot,” I explained.
“And there might be a few dents in it shaped like our butts,” Dash added. “We kinda crashed into it.”
Ms. Yearling’s normally calm composure cracked for a brief instant, her gaze betraying a sense of utter confusion as her brain tried to wrap around how we managed to accomplish such a feat. Had it not been for the events of the past few months proving that anything was possible when it involved the six of us, including wanton acts of destruction, she never would’ve believed us. She must have eventually decided to just accept the answer as it was, and spare herself the mental anguish of trying to understand the mechanics. In the end, our teacher just walked off towards the kitchen while muttering something under her breath.
“So what exactly happened at the library?” Applejack asked.
Rainbow Dash was eager to regale the others with the tale of our exploits and adventures at the library, or at least a revised version of the events that painted Dash as a sort of Daring Do Junior. She obviously left out bits about what we did inside a particular study room, other than saying that she single-handedly outwitted Caballeron’s minions and flew us to safety. Given that I was in too much pain to care about who got credit for what, I refrained from challenging any part of the story.
“What are we going to do?” Fluttershy, the most worried of my friends, lamented. “We can’t just leave Derring Do with Dr. Caballeron; he’ll be furious once he realizes that Derring’s given you the amulets.”
To absolutely nobody’s surprise, Rainbow Dash was the first to stand up and speak. “Easy—we rescue her—ARGH!” Sadly, trying to get out of a chair was a bit too much for her to handle at the moment, as she went completely rigid. She howled in agony, grasping at her lower back. “Owowowow! Pain. So much pain!”
With Fluttershy’s help, she was eased back into her seat, whereupon she let out a tired groan. It appeared that Dash was in no condition to go anywhere for the moment. As the others continued to ponder our options, Ms. Yearling returned from the kitchen carrying a tray that housed a couple glasses of water and several ice packs.
“Here, take these,” Yearling instructed as she began distributing the ice packs.
With Applejack’s help, we arranged a bunch of ice packs across my lower back, which felt like a godsend.
“You’ve got a lot of ice packs for an English teacher,” I remarked when I noticed that Dash had several to herself as well.
“Yes, well, when your personal life seems to be filled with adrenaline junkies, you start keeping a stockpile for when things inevitably go sideways,” Ms. Yearling answered. Along with the glasses of water, there were a number of pills on the tray as well, of which she handed two to me. “These should help take some of the edge off. Not allergic to ibuprofen, right?”
After tossing back the pills and some water, I noticed that Ms. Yearling was not displaying any level of concern for the situation. “You seem remarkably calm for somebody whose sister just got kidnapped,” I pointed out.
“Probably has a lot to do with me not caring,” she answered with an indifferent shrug. “I clean up enough of her messes and mistakes without getting dragged into her work-related buffoonery.”
Suffice to say, everybody was surprised to hear that level of callousness from her, especially considering Ms. Yearling had always been one of those teachers who went the extra mile for her students. I couldn’t even begin to calculate just how much I owed her for taking a chance with me despite having always been one of my harshest critics. Everyone knew her as a compassionate person who helped those around her. She had a three-legged dog, for crying out loud!
How could she be so cold?
“But your sister’s in trouble!” Dash exclaimed, vocalizing our collective disbelief.
“Who’s going to have to learn to grow up and take responsibility. Maybe we’ll get lucky and this will knock her ego down a little,” Yearling snapped back, almost taking a hint of offense at our remarks. “Besides, it’s Caballeron: he can be a bit greedy and underhanded, but it’s not like he’s some murdering psychopath.”
While that was a safe assumption to make, especially since Yearling probably knew the infamous antagonist far better than any of us, that didn’t quell anybody’s unease. If I were reading about all of this in a book, I would have felt completely confident that Daring Do would’ve been able to escape from Caballeron’s clutches with little more than a few trifling remarks. This was the real world, however, and Derring’s fate was very much an unknown factor at this point. It just didn’t sit right with me, and my friends shared in that view.
“You can’t just abandon her! What kind of twin sister are you?” Rainbow Dash continued pushing her case.
“Oh, I can’t abandon her?” Yearling shot back with an amused and incredulous look on her face. “She’s the one who runs off on the slightest whim! Always just another expedition, another jackpot just around the next corner! ‘It’ll be different this time, trust me,’ she’ll go. Every. Single. Time!” Clearly Rainbow Dash had hit a nerve with her last remark, though even in an outburst, Ms. Yearling seemed to maintain some measure of control. It wasn’t like when Luna exploded at me. “I am trying to build myself a life here, and I will not have her sweep through here like a hurricane every time she feels like taking my time, my money, or my girlfriend.”
“Who’s taking me now?” came a woman’s voice all of a sudden from the direction of the front door. I couldn’t see who it was from where I was laying on the couch, but I did see how Yearling’s expression turned fearful for a moment.
“Oh! H-honey, you’re home!” Yearling stammered, desperately trying to straighten her posture as though she could hide her rush of anxiety. “I… um, I thought you’d still be at work.”
“Boss sent me packin’ once I finished up all the paperwork,” the voice replied, followed by some footsteps. Eventually, a blonde Amazonian of a woman strolled into my line of sight, moving to Yearling’s side though repeatedly casting a sideways glance to the rest of us. There was no doubt that it was Blondie, as I recognized her from the picture I saw earlier, plus the way she immediately greeted Ms. Yearling with a quick kiss on the cheek.
“How’s your hand?” Yearling asked, her voice now softer and more concerned.
“Just a couple of cracks. Doc says to just keep it in a splint for a while,” Blondie answered as she held up the aforementioned splinted limb. She looked once again in my direction, then back to Yearling. “So who’re the young’uns? We ain’t adopting now, are we?”
“No, no. Nothing like that,” Yearling replied with a sheepish giggle. “These are just some of my students.”
Blondie took another long look at us, particularly at those of us who happened to be laying down with numerous ice packs. “What the heck kinda English class you teachin’?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Oh. Well, it’s nice to meet y’all. Name’s Blondie,” she greeted, waving at us with her good hand. She then flashed a brilliant grin and threw an arm around Yearling’s hip, pulling her in close. “Hope you girls ain’t givin’ my gal pal here too much trouble.”
Ms. Yearling was cycling through several shades of red during the introduction, though her meek smile suggested that our stoic teacher was unused to public displays of affection. In fact, her face turned almost a complete crimson when Blondie’s hand disappeared behind her backside. I had to fight down an urge to giggle, watching my teacher struggling to keep control alongside a woman who clearly had little sense of restraint.
Unfortunately, at least for our teacher, Rainbow Dash did exactly what everybody expected. “Blondie, you gotta help us! Derring Do’s been kidnapped by Dr. Caballeron!”
“No! Don’t listen to her!” Yearling yelped.
“Your sister was in town and you didn’t tell me?” Blondie asked in a rhetorical fashion.
“She… she showed up unannounced. Like always. I told her to leave you out of this, so she took those two with her instead,” our teacher explained while pointing a finger in our direction.
“And now Dr. Caballeron has your sis. Great plan, dear. Why not just handcuff Derring to a lamp post next time—make it real easy for him.” Blondie groaned and rolled her eyes before fishing her car keys out of her pocket. “Welp, guess I better go get her before something silly happens.”
No sooner did she hear the news did Blondie turn for the exit, much to our delight. However, she didn’t get very far as Yearling, in a panic to stop her beau from running out the door, grabbed hold of her belt with both hands. The size difference between the two, though, meant that Blondie managed to make it several feet, dragging Yearling behind her, before finally realizing someone was slowing her down.
“Is something the matter, dear?” Blondie asked, frozen in mid-stride.
“Don’t play dumb! You know I’m not letting you walk out that door,” Yearling snapped back.
Blondie just chuckled quietly to herself. “Dear, you best let go of my pants or I’m going to sling you over my shoulder.”
“Y-you wouldn’t dare!”
The other woman cracked a cocksure grin and feinted a move towards her, which prompted Yearling to quickly relent and jump back before she could get grabbed hold of. Of course, no sooner did she jump did she realize that she had been tricked, which only flustered her further. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or feel a little sorry for her.
With few alternatives available, Yearling changed her approach and went for a softer, more pleading tone. “Blondie, please, you’re already hurt. You need to be resting, not running off to do something even more reckless.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll take it easy,” came the response. Judging by how quickly Blondie appeared to relent, she had little intent on ever carrying out the original plan. Maybe it was her roundabout way of de-escalating the situation, as Yearling was much calmer now. “Dee, why do you always get like this every time your sis is around? You know I hate seein’ the two of you like this.”
“Question!” I interrupted while raising my hand. “Why do people keep calling you Dee? Like, I can understand if it was just your sister trying to be annoying, but Celestia and Blondie here have both called you that as well, and clearly not to piss you off. What gives?”
“‘Cause that’s short for her name,” Blondie answered, sounding surprised by the question. “She’s Daring Dee. She only started calling herself Yearling when she started writing all those Daring Do books.”
“So you’re both Derring’s?” I remarked in disbelief.
“No silly,” Pinkie chimed in. “Hers is spelt D-A-R-I-N-G, like the books.”
“How did she—?”
“Don’t ask,” everyone else chimed in to cut Blondie off.
“Why the name change? Daring Dee sounds so much cooler,” Dash asked.
To me, the answer was obvious now that I had spent enough time around both sisters. Of course, Rainbow Dash would be confused by it, since given the chance she’d probably change part of her name to ‘Daring’ as well. “Because she wants to be her own woman and not just another Daring,” I answered. “Isn’t that right, Ms. Yearling?”
“Didn’t want people thinking I’m something that I’m not,” she sighed, but nodded in agreement. “And I much prefer Yearling.”
“Wasn’t that the name of that riding horse at the county fair?” Blondie remarked.
“I have fond memories of that horse.”
While my friends and I were grateful that the shouting and simmering tempers had finally calmed down, that still left the question of what we were going to do about Derring Do. As awesome as it would’ve been to see what Blondie could do to Dr. Caballeron and his henchmen, I got the impression she wasn’t about to defy Yearling’s wishes. For her part, our teacher remained committed to focusing on what was important to her.
“Why don’t you sit down and relax, Blondie, and I’ll fix you something to eat,” she offered as she gently pushed her special someone towards the couches.
Blondie just shrugged her shoulders and went along, no doubt tempted by the offer of being waited on by her partner. She took a seat next to me, using what space of the couch I hadn’t occupied with my recovery, and let out a weary sigh upon putting her feet up onto the nearby coffee table.
“Excuse me, Ms. Blondie,” I spoke up, a little uncertain how to best address the woman whom I’ve only just met. “Do you mind if I ask a bit of a personal question?”
“Hey, ain’t no need to be so formal around me,” Blondie reassured me with a friendly grin. “What’s on your mind, bacon-head?”
“I’m… sorry? Bacon?”
“Your hair reminds of me bacon,” she answered, pointing to the aforementioned locks. “Which reminds me—hey sweet-cheeks! Could you make me a BLT?”
“Already doing that,” responded the voice from the kitchen.
“That girl spoils me,” Blondie chuckled to herself. “Um, anyways, what was your question again?”
I was a bit wary of pursuing my line of questioning, but I had a hunch that I wanted to explore, even if it meant asking something that really wasn’t my business to know. “You and Derring used to be together long ago, right? The two of you seem to be cut from the same cloth, so why did you decide to be with Ms. Yearling instead?”
At first, Blondie just raised an eyebrow at me, but the brief spell of anxiety was subsided when she donned another smile and stifled a quiet chortle. “Tryin’ to figure them out, too, huh?” she remarked, to which I nodded. “Derring and I get along plenty fine now, and I’d like to think we’re good friends, but we made a lousy couple when we tried.”
“Why’s that?” Dash asked the obvious follow-up.
“Because sometimes what you want in a friend ain’t the same as what you want in a partner,” she answered. She folded her arms up behind her head, sinking deeper into her seat. “Sure, Derring’s fun and all, but that’s all there ever was; eventually I reached a point in my life where I wanted somebody who I could settle down with. I just couldn’t get that with Derring. Those adventures we had were great—some of the best times of my life—but what I have with Yearling is a million times better.” Her eyes drifted in the direction of the kitchen, a contented smile crossing her face. “This is a far better adventure for me.”
It was the answer that I had hoped for, though it still sounded strange coming from somebody whose literary counterpart was known for their foul language and surly attitude. Maybe living with Yearling had tamed the once wild girl.
“Does Yearling know this?” Rarity chimed in. She had since strolled over to the couch and was now leaning over from behind it.
“Beg yer pardon?”
“Well, it just seems to me that Yearling has some… confidence issues when it comes to personal relationships,” my friend continued to explain. “Issues that seem to worsen when her sister is around.”
Her mouth opened in anticipation of a response, but whatever Blondie had in mind seemed to turn into little more than hot air. Certainty degraded into doubt as she pondered Rarity’s words, occasionally trying to muster an answer but falling silent each time.
Eventually, she had to concede in part, remarking, “She’s doesn’t actually think I somehow prefer Derring over her, does she?”
“I think it’s less of a matter of what she thinks, and more about how she feels,” I replied. “And I’m sure you know Derring Do well enough to understand that she does possess a rather… dominating persona.”
Blondie didn’t have an immediate response. Judging by the way she pursed her lips and stared at the ceiling, she was wading neck-deep in thought. And she held that pose for the next few minutes, only finally breaking from it when Yearling returned with another tray, this time carrying one delicious-looking BLT sandwich.
“Here ya go; nice and crispy, just the way you like it,” Yearling said as she set the plate down. However, when she noticed her partner’s contemplative stare, her cheerfulness subsided. “Is… is something wrong?”
“Are you seriously still jealous of your sister?” Blondie asked in a blunt and straight-forward tone.
“Wh-what? No! Why would you think something so ridiculous?” Yearling stammered back. I don’t think anybody in the room believed a word of that, least of all her girlfriend.
Thankfully, Blondie wasn’t upset by the half-hearted denial. She reached out and took Yearling’s hand, pulling her over until her girlfriend was perched upon her lap. Despite her unease with yet another display of affection in front of others, our teacher was held down by her beau’s embrace.
“Yearling, sweetheart, you know I love you, right?” Blondie said in an almost playful manner.
“... yes,” came the mumbled response. Yearling must’ve realized where the conversation was going because her expression and gaze dropped to the ground, looking rather meek and defeated.
“So why do you keep thinking that Derring is going to steal me away?” Blondie carried on. “We’ve been together for quite a few years now. I left your sister for a darn good reason.”
“Because she’s a selfish jerk?”
“Well that too,” she chuckled. “Your sister is just out for a laugh and a thrill, which is all fine and good on a Friday evening after you’ve had a few ciders, but it ain’t something you can take to the bank.” Her hands shifted down to wrap around Yearling’s waist, linking fingers at the small of her back. “You are hands-down the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and everything that I wish I were better at being. You’re smart, well-spoken, thoughtful and considerate, compassionate and generous, and most importantly you are patient enough to put up with all of my shenanigans.”
That was enough to prompt a quiet round of chuckling from everyone in the room.
“But darlin’, you need to get it through that thick, pretty head of yours that your sister is still my friend. Full stop. And I’m allowed to spend time with my friends, even if it does sometimes mean doing stupid things. Otherwise she’d get into even more trouble, as so clearly demonstrated by today. I know you care about her too; you just have trouble saying it in a way that doesn’t sound like you’re criticizing her or putting her down. I can’t just abandon her, and I ain’t gonna let you do the same either because you only got one sister. Take it from somebody who doesn't have any family: you ruin this, and you’ll wind up regretting it for the rest of your life.”
“Blondie, I…” Yearling tried to muster a response but it seemed shame weighed down what words she had available. “I’m so sorry. God, you must think I’m being awful right now…”
“Don’t fret about it. We all have our faults,” Blondie reassured her. “The important thing is we watch out for one another and aren’t afraid to tell the other when they’re being a bit silly.” She leaned in to plant a quick kiss on Yearling’s forehead, which helped to alleviate her gloominess. “Now, if you won’t let me bail your sister out of trouble, then you’ll have to go do it yourself.”
“What? Me?” Yearling squeaked in disbelief.
“Well unless you want to send those kids to do it.”
Not that Rainbow Dash wouldn’t have given both legs for the opportunity to do so. Even I wanted to help despite the numerous bruises I now sported as a result of my last venture to help. How often did somebody get a chance to see the real-life adventures that went into the Daring Do novels?
Then came the expected wail of protest. “But… I’m no adventurer! I teach high school English! I have papers to grade!”
I, however, had just the answer to that concern. “Except you’ve spent years writing about Daring Do and Dr. Caballeron,” I pointed out. “You’ve probably read your sister’s notes about him a dozen times over. You know how he thinks, and you’ve always been the brains of Daring Do.”
“Yeah, teach, you could totally run rings around Caballeron,” Rainbow Dash said as she threw in her support. “We’ll even help you. I mean, we’ve all read most of the Daring Do books because of your classes.”
“And it’s not like you’ve never done this before—you and Derring did ‘Quest for the Sapphire Stone’ together,” Rarity added in. “Surely if we all put our heads together, we can figure out a way to outwit Dr. Caballeron.”
“Guess I don’t have much of a choice,” Yearling acquiesced with a resigned sigh. She pivoted atop of Blondie, swinging her legs up and aligning herself such that she was using her girlfriend for a chair. “Just need to figure out what we can use to gain the upper hand on him.”
A question for the ages, that was certain, especially considering how many unknown variables we still had to contend with. The biggest one, which I voiced right away, was also the most crucial. “Do we even have a way for figuring out where your sister is?”
“Try her phone’s GPS,” Blondie suggested, apparently content to serve as impromptu furniture for the moment. “She’s got one of those ‘find my phone’ tracking services.”
“You really think Caballeron would just let Derring keep her phone active and on her?” Applejack voiced a shared skepticism amongst us.
However, it wasn’t that much of a stretch once I thought about it. “Except as far as Dr. Caballeron knows, Derring’s on her own. He doesn’t know that any of us are aware that he has her, or that we’ll attempt a rescue.”
“And he’s definitely the type to be that over-confident,” Yearling nodded in agreement. She pulled out her cell phone and with her girlfriend’s assistance, they were able to look up where Derring’s cell phone was located. “Huh, looks like her phone is located in the trainyard district.”
Despite having lived in the city for my entire human life, the name ‘trainyard district’ was unfamiliar to me. Granted, giving what the name suggested, there was little reason for a teenager such as myself to venture near such a place. As Blondie was prompt to explain, it was an industrial park, rife with old, unattended buildings that would be ideal for holding somebody captive. It sounded almost too clichéd to be true, but then again there was a reason such tropes existed in the first place.
Rarity pulled up the approximate location on her own phone and then passed it over to me so I could get a look. “Do you know the area well?” I inquired.
“Sorta,” Blondie answered with a quick shrug. “I used to work around there back when I was doing odd-jobs. I think I remember this building, too; used to be an old warehouse for some shipping company.”
“We should be able to find plenty of satellite pictures of the building on the internet,” Yearling mused before handing her phone back to Blondie. “Take Pinkie and Fluttershy and see what you can find out about the building online.”
“What about the amulets?” Dash asked.
To be honest, I had almost forgotten that I still had the aforementioned ancient relics. Thankfully, crashing into Yearling’s car didn’t smash them into pieces, though I suspect that I have a few beetle-shaped bruises on me now.
“Derring was trying to figure out what the symbols on them mean,” I explained as I dug them out from my pocket and held them out for Yearling to see. “You got any insight on them?”
“Let me take a look,” Yearling replied before reaching over and plucking the amulets from my grasp. She leaned back in her ‘seat,’ prompting a few uncomfortable groans from her girlfriend, as she examined the amulets in closer detail. There was a fair amount of humming and hawing, much like when she passed judgment on the grammar in your latest essay. “It looks familiar,” she concluded after a couple of minutes, “I’m pretty sure I’ve seen symbols like these in some of Derring’s notes.”
“But Derring didn’t recognize them,” I replied.
“She probably forgot—surprise, surprise. I read over her notes a hundred times when writing a book, which is about ninety-nine times more than my sister.”
Yearling excused herself for a moment and retreated to another part of the house, returning several minutes later with an armful of books of various shapes and sizes. It seemed that Derring Do made notes on whatever sources of paper she had available, including one ‘book’ that appeared to just be a bunch of loose sheets clipped together. She returned to her ‘seat,’ dropping into it with enough force to knock the wind out of her girlfriend. Whether this was intentional or just a result of Yearling being too preoccupied with her her pile of notes would forever remain a mystery. She tossed a few over in my direction with the orders to ‘make myself useful.’
Reading Derring’s notes was oddly as interesting as the Daring Do novels themselves. It felt more raw and visceral seeing the unfiltered descriptions of events and people. Even some of the people who eventually became allies of Daring’s had rather colourful descriptions, some of which were enough to make even Princess Celestia flustered. Some of them didn’t even sound anatomically possible.
“Wow, your sister is a real potty mouth,” Pinkie remarked, having apparently read the same passages over my shoulder.
“You should’ve heard some of the stuff that she didn’t write down,” Blondie chuckled.
After a short while and several dozen pages later, I came across a charcoal tracing consisting of bizarre glyphs. “Hey Ms. Yearling, is this one of the symbols on the amulets?” I handed the notebook back to her.
She took a closer look, then compared it to the amulets along with some notes in a book she had been looking over. “It definitely shares some of the same characteristics, likely derived from the same proto-language that we’re looking for. Reminds me of an old far east numeric system.”
“Wait, we went through all this nonsense just for a bunch of numbers?” Dash asked incredulously.
“Were you expecting more of a eureka moment?” Yearling quipped back. “It could still be crucial, though we’ll need the chest to be sure what these numbers might mean. Not every discovery is ground-breaking, unfortunately; I remember back in college I had a classmate who spent a week translating an ancient stone tablet only to find out that it’s just some guy complaining about an order of bricks.”
While I thought the information was interesting, if still perplexing, Rainbow Dash was clearly disappointed by it. She sank into her seat with a heavy sigh, looking all the more bored while the rest of us toiled away on our plans for saving Derring Do.
“So what kind of numbers are we talking about?” I asked.
Ms. Yearling pursed her lips in thought once more as she gave the three amulets one more look-over. “If I had to wager a guess: one, two, and three.”
There was a part of me that did share in Dash’s disappointment, though I knew it was a foolish thing to do. Still, I wound up muttering to myself, “Well… that’s somewhat anti-climactic.”
“Just remember that the good part comes when we save Derring Do,” Blondie reassured us.
“Speaking of which, we still haven’t a clue how we’ll accomplish that,” Yearling pointed out. “I can’t exactly just walk up and ask him to let my sister go.”
Or could we? This was Dr. Caballeron, after all; a man who was once fooled by Daring Do wearing a cheap beard. In fact, thinking along those lines gave me an idea. “Say, Ms. Yearling, does Dr. Caballeron even know that you exist?”
“I don’t think so,” Yearling replied, uncertain of where I was going with my question. “Usually not much room in the conversations for family with all the menacing monologues and vows for revenge. Why do you ask?”
“Because I have an idea: do you still have that costume from the convention?”