//------------------------------// // Chapter Nine, Exercises In Utility: Kurilian La Perm. // Story: Airship Mauled // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -Maries- It seems we have a challenge. Yes, we do indeed have a challenge. It is not a challenge you two, I want you to stop and think about what we’re going to do before you do something stupid. I’m a full brain to your two halves. Really Marie, how is it not a challenge to earn the affection of two unique and strong beings as they? Well Mara, for one we’re not dealing with another chimera here, two trying to treat them as challenges is belittling them as the thinking beings that they are and three our very nature might be a problem in the pursuit of having multiple mates that are not like the rest our species. They are likely to not be open to the idea of us being with the both of them and there will be friction to it. Friction… two or more objects or surface areas acting against one another while moving? Oh good, you can remember Cheerilee’s science lessons Mara, I thought I was the only one out of the three of us that takes our schooling seriously. I’m talking more figuratively, another definition for friction would be more emotional, as in a clash of wills, temperaments and opinions. I do take our schooling seriously. Physical education with Ms. Sphinx is my favorite part of a school day and I think we have learned a lot from her. Also that kind of friction sounds fun and like something we’d do. That actually wouldn’t be fun for us Mara, we do not want to be at odds with the ones we’re attempting to court. I agree with Marie based on what we want to achieve, it will not be easy. Even if we were all to work together. Look at the both you. Growing brains, more so in Maria’s case anyway, I’m so proud of you my sisters! Also before you say anything Maria, I’m absolutely open to the idea of strengthening our bonds around here. It’s just that we have a lot going against us here, Jade said she might have enough room for us and ‘might’ is a pretty hard word to take as straight truth and a sure thing. She seems to be getting much closer to Fizzle as if they were slowly gravitating towards each other. They have not started courting, but it’s only a matter of time … … Can we stop them? Maria that’s dumb and you should feel bad, we do not interfere in the courting of others. It just wouldn’t be right. Okay now I’m concerned about our mental state when it’s Mara that’s being the reasonable one. Where did our aggressive brain go? I know, I’m scared too Marie. I sometimes dislike the fact that we share a body, but I couldn’t live without either of you. Aww… thanks Mara. No, I meant that literally Marie. From what Jade says, a chimera can’t survive or even regulate their body without at least two live heads. Sounds correct to me Marie, is it any wonder why I’m always the cautious one. Let’s agree that we’re all a bunch of jerks. Agreed. Agreed. So… how do we proceed? We argue mentally for the next hour and eventually agree that we can’t make up our minds about how to proceed with courting either Jade or Fizzle. Then we wake up with our face buried in lunch thanks to the Matriarch Kuril. That certainly sounds like us Mara. So how do we start this argument Marie? Let’s see, oh I know how to start our long internal monologue based argument! Wouldn’t it be a multi-logue argument considering we’re three separate beings in one body? That’s not how I wanted our argument to start! Yes it is and you know it Marie! -Kuril- “Hello… huh, well I guess Maries are in deep thought.” I simply placed Marie’s head on the table and made sure both Mara’s and Maria’s heads were just as comfortable. I continued on my way outside to see Pinkie running around and was almost finished with setting up the celebration. This was going to take a lot of clean up afterwards, she was going all out. “Are you done yet Pinkie?” “Give me five more minutes… this is my biggest set up for a party yet. I really need to learn how to plan ahead for occasions like this. Hmm… maybe emergency stashes all over the place.” The pink blur stopped in front of me giving me the biggest puppy eyes I’ve ever seen on a pony and Fizzle’s were pretty big. “I forgot to ask, can my sister Marble and Limestone come too mayor Jade’s mother ma’am?” “Call me Kuril and of course they can, provided you can get them here in a timely manner while still setting up for the party.” Three… two… one. Cue my words causing both of Pinkie’s eyes to go wonky directions and her mind trying to cope with problem of having to do both at the same time, oh and one of them even started twitching. I really like how adorable ponies are. Now to go talk to my embarrassed daughter about her cutely singing her declaration of love, I wonder if Fizzle will actually take her up on it and ask my sweet little tom cat out on a date to Ponyville. I figure dating here would be kind of a drag, because they’d be dating in front of their mother if they chose to eat at The Witch’s Fare. At least I know to avoid whistling if I ever have to sustain my hat for any reason. I made my way up to my daughter’s room to see how she was feeling. “Are you okay my little tom cat?” I looked into her room to see her face in a pillow. “You heard the song and dance number right?” Jade mumbled into the pillow. “Yes, I thought it was kind of nice. At least Fizzle knows how you feel and I guess you don’t mind the Maries liking you either.” Though the chances of me ever getting grandchildren is looking quite slim, I was okay with my daughter’s choices. “I take it you’re very embarrassed about it?” “Yes…” She said in a muffled slightly upset tone. “Why is it wherever ponies’ live there’s magical music?” “I wouldn’t be able to tell you, I’ve only been here for about a year and it’s still very weird how spontaneous the musical numbers are.” It truly was a miracle of life to watch a bunch of ponies or my daughter randomly break out into song. “I think Fizzle reacted positively to the song, so I really don’t understand why you’re moping. Also you’re right, her hair is quite soft and yet it looks so stiff with the way she has it styled.” “It’s not that she reacted positively that I’m worried about. It’s that Maries might have reacted negatively.” Yeah, that could put a damper Jade’s day. “Negatively how?” I was crouching next to my daughter’s bed and she lifted up her head to stare at me. “I might have drawn Maries attention to Fizzle and I don’t want her to have to deal with Maries advances like I do.” So Jade had a slight issue with the idea of a multiple partner romance and admittedly I don’t know how Fizzle would react to Maries suddenly showing her affection. “Has Maries overstepped her boundaries?” If you needed help, you could just ask me for advice Jade. “Not really, but I’m afraid of that eventually happening. The ball is in both their and Fizzle’s court now, whatever they decide to do is what will happen.” Jade was silent for a moment and I was about to say something until I saw her ears twitch in a particular way. She was about to say something else, so I held my tongue. “Do you think Fizzle will ask me on a date? I really wouldn’t know what being on one would be like, but I know for a fact that I’m still not ever wearing a dress.” “I think she will eventually, you just have to be patient kitten. As for what to do while on a date, just be yourself and don’t do anything too horribly bizarre or different from what you would actually do.” I had to ask just to get a feel for the situation. “What do you think a date entails?” “I think it’s all about spending quality time with someone you like. Usually by going to the movies, eating at a restaurant and or going to a nice place to relax.” She sat up and gave me a flat look. “The chances of doing that normally in Equestria without anything interrupting the date in an over the top explosive manner are really quite low. That’s a factor on top of friends trying to interfere with or even following the two that are on said date around. Said friends will cause wacky hijinks while trying to hide the fact that they are attempting to eavesdrop on what should be a private party for two.” “Well then, I’ve got nothing else to tell you. You apparently know everything about dating already, it’s only that you’ve never been on one or experienced it personally.” It turned to leave the room, but not without one last word to my daughter. “Also yes, having people mess with you on a date is a time honored tradition in all nations. I wonder what Jacky, Arizona or even Maries will get up to when you go on one with Fizzle?” “You’re just making me dread it even more mom.” She looked a little tweaked, was she tweaked? Yeah, that look in Jade's eyes was tweaked. “Just do what makes you happy Jade, I know it’s why I can smile as much as I do.” I smiled and left her to her thoughts, I had to go pick up the dented shield I’ve become quite fond of using for unusual things. I made my way downstairs and into the kitchen to start cooking lunch, I started wielding the shields magical sustain to grab the ingredients and move things around the kitchen. It required that I move the shield and concentrate on what I wanted the energy to do. The utility of the shield was really quite wonderful, I wonder why my Jaded didn’t want one that weighs a less than this one did. A slightly lighter shield wouldn’t be that much trouble for her to wield right? It’s not just the weight or the size, it seems like she’s avoiding shields as much as she does staffs. I was thinking something along the lines of fudge brownies today for a snack, it’d certainly be something Pinkie wouldn’t think of for the party. So I started making some from scratch, this would require that I make some chocolate mix with oil for a chewier chocolatey goodness. I knew my daughter would appreciate it, even if she didn’t like chocolate nearly as much as she liked fruit based baked goods. What should I make for a meal, what haven’t I made recently for lunch? Oh… I had an idea! I gathered lettuce, cheese, tomato, corn flour and beans. I turned the projection from the shield into a comb of knives and brought it down on the lettuce roughly slicing into chunks all at once with the dull energy blades. It’s too bad I couldn’t make the blades sharper and that was just another limitation of the shield’s magical sustain. I was going to make some tacos for lunch. I’d leave the grilled fish, guacamole, sour cream and hot sauce I’d make off to the side. Jade doesn’t like guacamole or hot sauce at all, but she loved sour cream and a good fish taco. In a similar vein Fizzle loved fish and sour cream, but guacamole also wasn’t to her taste. Jacky like them all so no complaints there. Maries would eat anything. Arizona would like most of this stuff too. Actually I could do a quicker solution to a meal today and make it something everyone can enjoy, a make your own taco bar! I just need to prepare all the fixings and let everyone else handle what they wanted. Maybe an option for nachos too, did we have jalapenos? I don’t know why my daughter despised spicy things, I loved spicy foods personally. Maybe my Jaded just had too sensitive a palate for it. As I grated the cheese using the barrier energy as a multipurpose kitchen tool by generating a flat barrier with a cheese grater style surface. I just made simple up and down movements of the shield while holding the cheese to the grating barrier. I eventually came to a conclusion about why Jade doesn’t want to use a shield. It concerns the fact that the shields sustain require more focus than usual to wield correctly, it would be hard to use it while moving and Jade was more about evasion than deflection. She preferred the use of her knifes sustain effect almost exclusively, she still trains and exercises while using it when going through physical education with Sekhet. Having to wield more than one sustain that requires some form of prolonged usage would be counterproductive and Jade already carried a griffon feather and fish scales on her at all times. The knife doesn’t require much more than a tap to get the magical sustain going and you didn’t need to focus on what you actually wanted that sustain to do, unlike this shield I’ve taken a shine to. Jade always used her maneuverability to its fullest while mock fighting against Jacky, Fizzle or Maries. Arizona and Jade haven’t exactly fought yet, but it’s only a matter of time before Sekhet puts them up against one another. Sekhet is exercising them like warriors, but at least she’s not pushing them too hard and is letting them move at their own pace. The choice is up to them whether they pursue combat training after the exercise regimen Sekhet puts them through. Arizona was already a really remarkable cow for having so much muscle for someone so young, she’s younger than everyone else and she could keep up with the kind of pace that Maries is known for setting. With that thought. I just continued on to scaling, fileting and preparing the fish myself. I’d let Jade get a nap in today. Her problems were entirely based in her social life and she needed to work that out. “Um… Kuril.” I had just gotten the pan onto the stove, when I turned to see Jacky coming into the kitchen looking disturbed. “What’s the matter Jacky?” I always had time for my girls even when I was preparing food. I hadn’t put the fish to the pan yet, so I didn’t have to focus on that. “You know you can call me mom if you want to.” “Well… Sekhet told me a really disturbing story about something called the Misfortune Malachite.” My poor little Jacky, I gave her a comforting hug. Did Sekhet really have to give one of my girls a nightmare story about that thing? “Is it true?” “Is what true Jacky?” There were many tales about the Misfortune Malachite. What did she hear? "That the Misfortune Malachite traps the souls of those who died wielding it?" She was clearly upset, I gave her a wan smile. "It actually does far worse than that." I guess she should know the truth about it.