HtH87 – Mistrál Gives Minara A Gift
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Minara is staying at Mistrál's Fun Place.
With all that is happening upstairs, we now turn to the basement, where a certain blue-haired girl is curled up like a worm on the sofa.
Ever since the girls came home, she has not streamed, nor posted anything more than a short message for her three-view count of concurrent viewers.
Whirring drone rotors leave the sofaside once more, headed for the mini-bar that makes up 'Mistrál's Fun Place'. The mini-bar is lit up brightly amidst the darkness of the basement, like the faint glow of a lighthouse.
When the flying drone 'Rover' extends a mechanical gripper to ask for more, it is met with the wagging of a robotic finger on the countertop!
Monsiour Beaucoup! [16]
Wearing his finest top hat and leaning on a miniature cane not taller than a toothpick, the many-fingered robotic hand motions to the fridge behind him, then at the pile of Mxnster energy drinks discarded near the sofa. Finally, it crosses its extra thumb and little finger in an 'X'!
"That will be the fourteenth drink that friend Minara has taken this morning. As both a friend and establishment-keeper, Mistrál must unfortunately give notice of our bar's last call."
Behind the counter-top, our blue-haired tinkerer shrugs her shoulders at the disappointed 'Rover', rotors whirring a little slower now.
"Goo... good sister-in-law... Just one more can..."
The lump that had been covered in a blanketed darkness stirs, having felt a disturbance at being denied some small relief!
She makes a clumsy, groggy attempt to prop herself up, feet clattering apart the sea of discarded cans. Her disheveled hair, the product of many sleepless nights. Despite all that downed energy coursing through her veins, she remains still, not wishing to do anything at all.
A charred photo-frame lies amidst the sea of aluminum, having been knocked off the sofa during her tossing and turning.
She picks it up once again, and sighs in the dark.
"What troubles you so, friend Minara?"
Mistrál had asked that question casually, while polishing a glass cup.
Without knowing it, that question struck deep at the heart of her friend's inertia.
A lot.
If the blue-haired girl could spill out her heart, there would be endless questions that would get no answer. Her mind feels like it had been stretched thin by the obscene amount of energy drinks she had taken, so instead of a sea of questions, she simply asked one,
...
... ...
"... ... I don't think I am good enough."
Less a question, and more of a statement, it too cut to the heart of her woes.
She said this not to anyone in particular, believing it safe here with two robot clankers and her good sister-in-law.
Ever since the girls started the first floor's reconstruction in earnest, Minara had kept herself holed up here, marinating in flaws that only she can see.
The Mxnster energy drink can was her only friend, punctured by Mistrál occasionally coming back down to accompany her.
What exactly is 'good enough'?
Good enough for what?
For everything, perhaps.
For so long, the girl had been beset with misfortune at every turn that even if fortune passes her by, she would scarcely notice it, assuming it was misfortune wearing a foreign cloak. So now, on the dawn of change, she falters; unsure whether to take the next step.
For the next step would mean embracing something scary, something real.
It was as though she was standing at the foot of a starry staircase that led somewhere into vast expanses beyond.
But for her, even the beginning step felt hard, taking an extraordinary amount of effort just to lift her foot.
Before she can wallow once more however...
(a small bright echoing chime, echoing through pipes)
"Oh... Mistrál, can you hear me?"
Hearing the echo of Lumi's voice, Mistrál passes the girl still sitting upright, patting the back of the sofa.
She gives a tiny upwards hop, and pulls down a brass piping that extends upwards through the ceiling. This too, is one of the girl's strange inventions, a way for the girls to talk to each other while inside the house! The brass pipes extend through the house, passing messages to each other! It too, had another function...
"Lumi, Mistrál can hear you! How was your trip to the train station?"
(a soft giggle, radiating both excitement and thoughtfulness)
"Oh...! It was both exciting... To see what our senior has been building... And... curious! While I was collecting your package... someone stole my bike!"
Upon hearing this, Monsiour Beaucoup, who had been happily chatting away with 'Rover' in robotic languages unknown tilts his top hat up, spinning his toothpick cane on his thumb, ready to take up a gentlemanly duel for anyone who would bully Lumi!
(worried chime-like noise, sensing a small disturbance before returning to normal)
"... but it is alright! The person gave it back in the end... And... And... She is currently chatting with Eclair on the second floor!"
"What a curious person. Mistrál wonders what kind of person she is."
(a thoughtful pause, before clapping her hands together with a small hopeful tone)
"We might... be able to see her at lunch! Wouldn't you join us for lunch, Mistrál? And... Miss Minara too?"
"We will, Lumi---"
Just like that, Mistrál had decided for her good friend who now turns her head backwards, eyes widened!
(happy chime-like noises, followed by whirring of brass)
"That's wonderful! I hope... I hope Miss Minara is doing well. Oh...! The package! I am sending it down now, see you soon, Mistrál, Miss Minara!"
Following Lumi's last message, there is some clanging within the brass pipes, as something tumbles down the brass tubes!
Without even intending to, our local tinkerer had invented a way to pass items around the house too!
Clang!
Clang!!
Clang clang clang!
The small, square package flies out of the bell-shaped voice receiver, caught in mid-air by 'Rover's' mechanical arm!
"A most brilliant receive maneuver, Rover!" Mistrál shows a thumbs up to 'Rover', who passes the package back to her with whirring approval.
"... ... What's in the package, good sister-in-law?"
"It's a gift, from Mistrál---"
The girl on the couch is joined by our tinkerer, who passes the package into her hands. The girl does not make a habit of receiving gifts or kindness of the physical kind from anybody at all, so it sits in her hands, staring at it for a long moment. Then, cautiously she shakes it, trying to deduce its contents,
"You can simply open it, friend Minara!" The other blue-haired girl makes a great laugh, helping her untie the knot around the package.
The wrapping parts ways...
To reveal...
A pair of knee-high boots.
The kind that appealed more to our tinkerer's sensibilities than anyone else.
Sturdy, durable, yet high heeled and classily smart too.
The kind that a researcher would wear in dangerous research areas, and look good while doing so!
In all, something quite unfit for our local couch potato!
And yet...
The girl runs a finger down the finely crafted leather, along the little golden buckles and laces.
A foreign feeling washes over her heart.
Words wish to form in her throat, but never quite escape her mouth, like a trap door opening below them before they are fully formed.
The girl took a tremendous effort, looking towards her new boots, then to her 'good sister-in-law', then to the gift once more.
At last, after much delay,
the words came out,
not late, not wandering,
but at exactly the right moment when her heart aligned with her words.
"Th-thanks, Mistral."
Glossary
[16] Monsiour Beaucoup - A disembodied robotic hand that can stand on two fingers. Has seven fingers, and they can all bend in inhuman ways.
We are trying something different! This is a simul-posting at the same time as the Scribblehub release! Go check out the entire series at this link!
