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[reallyaduck]

Duck has no idea that anything has changed in the bar since the last time she was here.

(. . . she also has no idea how long it's been since the last time she was here. There are benefits to living in a fairy-tale town that works on timeless fairy-tale time.)

All that's on her mind is the fact that she's actually made it to every class on time today, and she didn't even get yelled at for daydreaming once (mostly thanks to Pique poking her just in time, but still) and that's super exciting. She's practically bouncing as she heads in. She will totally get to try toe shoes soon! IT'S GONNA BE AWESOME.

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[gorgonfondness]

Duck is about to find out in a hurry how long it's been since she was last here and just how much has changed. And is changing.

There's another someone bouncing around in the bar. He's playing with a plush toy of a....winged, cat-like something and humming to himself.

He stops before getting into Duck's path and looks at the girl with curiosity. After all, he's never met her before.

Except for the fact that he totally has...

"Hallo," he calls to her.

[reallyaduck]

Duck manages to flail to a stop right before she runs over the small person, wobbling perilously back and forth for a few moments before coming to some kind of balance.

". . . whew! That was close!" she exclaims, closing her eyes, and takes a deep, relieved breath before beaming down at the small person.

"Hello!"

This a category of small person she has no experience with whatsoever! That's not going to stop her being cheerful!

[gorgonfondness]

"Hay," he tells her. "Be carfuh."

The hand holding the plush goes down, the winged whatever sitting on the floor, while he offers his other to Duck.

"Com'on."

Because he totally Knows Whats Best right now.

[reallyaduck]

"I know." Duck nods, her chin bouncing up and down at speed. "Sorry!"

She should know better, after all; she knows what it's like to be kind of low down to the ground and hard to see.

She takes the hand willingly and tilts her head. What's next?

[gorgonfondness]

The child leads her over to a nearby table. The occupant is clearly in work mode, three stacks of papers in front of her. The stack on her right is growing as she works on the contents in the middle.

"Mamaaaaa," the little boy holding Duck's hand calls.

"Cepheus, are you wandering about? I told you to stay close to the ta-"

It's here that Mia looked up and recognized her son's company, her face blossoming with pure joy.

"Duck!"

[reallyaduck]

"Hi, Mia!" Duck says.



Then there's a beat, as she looks at Cepheus, and then at Mia.

Then at Cepheus, then at Mia.



Beat.


Beat.



???????????

[gorgonfondness]

Looking at Mia's just going to get more confusing when she stands up to hug Duck. The table was doing a pretty good job of hiding just how far along she is in her current pregnancy.

"It's been so long since I've seen you!" she says, tossing her arms around the girl and likely running into her with her bulging abdomen.

The baby kicks hi.

[reallyaduck]

"I-i-i-it has been?" flounders Duck.

Not that she objects to hugs! She's totally okay with hugs! But . . . ???????

[gorgonfondness]

"Mama," Cepheus says, not wanting to be left out. "Godda be carfuh."

"I've been saying that a lot around him," Mia explains. "And it has been a long time. Cepheus was still only a few months old when I last saw you and he just turned two this month."

"I two!" Cepheus says proudly.

"It might have been one of those weird time things," she says, waving off the apparent temporal difference. "Like that time I was locked out for three years. It's probably good that you missed some of it; some catastrophe struck the bar not too long a-"

A flicker of fear crosses Mia's features as she realizes something.

"Duck, when was the last time you saw Fakir?"

[reallyaduck]

"C-catastrophe?" stutters Duck, trying her desperate best to catch up.

"I - I saw him, um, a few days ago, but he . . . he got hurt in an accident not that long ago, so he hasn't been in class. But I'm sure he hasn't -- do you think something's happened?"

Surely someone would have told her if something had happened! Mytho would have told her, right . . .?

(Mytho has enough agency to tell her now, right?)

[gorgonfondness]

That's not enough information.

But Mia's likely worried Duck enough without mentioning specifically that she saw Fakir before the allpocalypse and hasn't seen him since. She's not sure she could even get all the information she needs, depending on whether Duck knows about Uzura or not.

"An accident at home?" she guesses.

She takes her hands back, one moving to idly rest on her belly and the other going to drum her fingers on her cheek.

"Goodness but all of you kids are going to be the death of me. I'll be sure to get gray hairs soon from worry."

Cepheus, not sure what's got Mama and her friend all up in a dander, decides to go back to playing with his weird toy. Though he's switched to sitting down this time.

[reallyaduck]

"Oh, he's --"

Duck hesitates; she doesn't want to say anything that's not true, and to be honest, she was pretty worried about Fakir. But she doesn't want to make Mia worried either. Conundrum!

"I'm gonna make sure he doesn't get in trouble like that again," she announces staunchly, instead.

That shouldn't be so hard, right? Now that Mytho's got the heartshard of love and the raven (Rue - no, she'll be okay!) was defeated and everything. The hard part is all over!

[gorgonfondness]

"I'm sure he'll like that," Mia replies dryly.

And when did Duck switch gears from thinking Fakir was a jerk anyway? Granted, he was certainly not-jerky when Mia last saw him but she doesn't know how much of that Duck gets to see.

"In any case, worrying while up on my feet isn't doing me or the baby any good for the moment. Care to sit and have some tea, Duck?"

[friend_of_lucy]

Tumnus is enjoying a book he found in the library full of stories about Spring festivals in various worlds and smiles when Duck enters.

She reminds him of Lucy when she was younger, "Hello."

[reallyaduck]

"Hello!"

Duck bounces over, completely willing, as always, to be deflected from her purpose by NEW FRIENDS.

She tilts her head to squint at the title of the book. Maybe it's a story she knows!

(Hopefully it's not a story she knows too well.)

[friend_of_lucy]

The title is Maypoles to Spring Cleaning: Spring Festivals through the Multiverse and he helpfully marks his place and shows her cover,

"It's quite a good book as Spring is one of my favorite times of year."

[reallyaduck]

"Spring's great!" chirps Duck.


. . . so she hears, at least. Duck's actual knowledge of seasons is fairly hazy; they don't really seem to have them in Gold Crown Town (although they should, shouldn't they? . . . well, never mind) and her experience from before then is significantly limited.

Still, people generally seem in favor of spring, from what she's gathered from stories and songs and so forth!

"Is it spring, um, here . . .?"

[friend_of_lucy]

"Not quite yet, but it will be soon. You can feel it in the air. I find it to be my favorite season. Would you like to join me for some tea?"

There's an open chair at his table and tea with scones.

[reallyaduck]

Duck's eyes grow to approximately twice their usual size as she sees the scones.

(Don't worry! That's normal for an anime character.)

"That looks really good!" she exclaims, with obvious enthusiasm; then, remembering the previous conversation: "Um . . . what does it feel like? I guess . . . flowers grow and, and, and, and birds lay eggs and stuff, right?"

This: the sum total of what Duck knows about spring!

[friend_of_lucy]

"Feel like? That is a rather tricky question. It is always warmer and the days grow longer as the world seems to bloom and grow,"

As he considers, he pours her a cup of tea and puts a scone on a plate. For him Spring feels like hope and everything will be well again.

[reallyaduck]

The next sentence Duck says is with her mouth full. "It's usually pretty warm where I come from . . ."

Except when the narrative demands a blustery wind or a sinister chill, of course.

"I guess if the days get longer you have more time to do stuff, too!"

[friend_of_lucy]

Tumnus doesn't mind, that's a sign that she likes the scone,

"Where are you from? Yes, it does, much more time."

[reallyaduck]

"Gold Crown Town! It's where I go to school," Duck volunteers, and downs a gulp of tea to go along with her scone.

"Mmmf! S'really good." She waves the scone enthusiastically, just in case he's not clear what she's talking about.

[friend_of_lucy]

"That's a charming name. Is there a king or queen who goes with the gold crown? Scones have always been one of my favorites to have for tea,"

There are quite a few on the plate as well so she can have seconds. She seems as if she needs them as she has such energy.

[reallyaduck]

"No, a pri-"




"I mean there's a prince in a story!" says Duck, brightly. "That's a story that everybody knows in our town!"