Hello, Everyone!
How have you been? I’m doing great! Christmas is nearing, the weather is cold but I like it, and Mary and her party are finally travelling again. Last time, they had an interesting encounter – a caravan of colourful carts, headed by a couple of artists who turned to be--drumroll!-- Aurum’s parents!
The bard was so reluctant to be recognized by them, that he used a spell to change his appearance to a pretty woman he called ‘Lara’. Mary, however, had a great time talking with Mr. and Mrs. Aurum’s Parents and found them really interesting!
“Di Castillo!” Mary grinned triumphantly. “We finally know your last name!”
“Pfft, I could have just told you as much,” Aurum said, still looking like ‘Lara’. “All you had to do was ask.”
“We HAVE asked!” Mary rolled her eyes. “You always changed the subject!”
“Whatever.”
He prodded his horse’s sides and had it continue their original path.
“Why have you never told us about your parents?” Mary said, catching up with him. “I thought they were dead or something…”
“Because they are the worst!” Aurum said.
“But they didn’t seem…”
“The worst!” he repeated. “They made me wear tights!”
“Wait, what?” Mary almost laughed. “That’s it? That’s the worst?!”
“There was more,” the bard said. “They always treated me like I was just another artist at their caravan. They've made me perform ever since I was able to walk. They didn’t care if I didn’t want to, or if I got hurt in an act. One time I fell and broke my arm while doing acrobatics, and all they told me was to keep going and not ruin the show.”
Mary was listening with an open mouth. She couldn’t imagine any parent behaving like that!
“And when the fairies took me,” Aurum continued, “it might have been just a few hours for me, but for them I was gone for a whole day. And you know the reason they were upset when I came back? You know what they said? They yelled at me for missing a show!”
“I’m sorry,” Mary said. “But they were probably at least a little bit worried, they must have tried to hide it or something…”
“Don’t try to excuse their behaviour, Mary. You don’t know them like I do!”
Mary bit her lips.
“The rest of the people in the caravan weren’t very nice, either,” Aurum said. “You know why my hair is so long?”
“Because it looks nice?”
“Well, yes. But also, did you see the twins?” he pointed back to the caravan in the distance and Mary thought about the two girls doing acrobatics on the flatcar. “Timi and Mimi. All my childhood, they made fun of me!”
“Really?” Bruno said. “For what?”
Aurum pouted and looked away.
“For having big ears,” he mumbled.
Both Mary and Bruno looked at the sides of his head, then raised their eyebrows at each other. Aurum wasn’t himself right now but even in his normal form his ears were just normal-sized.
“You don’t understand!” he said. “They looked bigger when I was young!”
He pressed his hands to his ears.
The three adventurers kept on riding in silence. Mary was thinking how awful Aurum’s childhood sounded, compared to hers. Yes, Lilly and Bramble, being artists themselves, had made her perform on stage, too; but after finding out how much anxiety it gave her, they’d stopped and made sure to start listening to her needs instead of their wants.
She glanced at Aurum with sympathy but realized that he was actually looking up and down at himself and rubbing his chin with a sly smile.
"Damn, Lara’s hot!" he said.
“Is she real?” Bruno asked, obviously just as interested as him. “Can I touch her?”
“Ewww!”
“Not like that, Mary!” the dwarf said, defensively. “It’s purely for scientific reasons!”
“Yeah, right,” Mary said, but… she had to admit that she was a bit curious, too.
“Lara’s entirely real,” Aurum said and patted his new breasts. “And I can turn into anyone. Any humanoid creature you can think of. Human, elf, orc… you name it.”
“Even gnome?” Mary asked.
“Sure.”
“What about me? Can you turn into me?” she said and then, very quickly, regretted it.
Lara’s form morphed and became a bit shorter and a lot less curvy. Her hair turned red and shrank to near-shoulder length, her face became heart-shaped and her eyes changed from black to brown. Aurum’s spell couldn’t modify his clothes or add things like glasses and earrings, but the result was astounding.
“Sooo, how is it?” the bard asked. Even his voice sounded just like Mary’s!
“It’s amazing!” Mary mumbled. “But please don’t touch… me… you… her!”
“Of course not!” the bard said, indignantly.
He smiled and pretended he was holding a book.
“Look at me, I’m Mary. I love to read and I’m a super powerful warlock,” he said. Then, he shot his arms forward and shouted: “Eldritch blast!!!”
“That’s not what I really sound like!” Mary said. “Right? I don’t talk like that!”
“Yeah, no, he’s pretty much spot on,” Bruno shrugged.
They laughed.
Shenanigans :) I love our party’s shenanigans! And I’m so glad I got to record them for the ages! How else is the world going to learn about how real ‘Lara’’s breasts are? XD
Hope you’re having fun :) See you next time!
Take care and be well! <3
(Also, here's a link to the Chapter Guide and the Glossary for the series. You're welcome!)