Llyr poked his head out of the pond behind the building, a mischievous grin on his face. Claire had work, so had left him home alone. He could have stayed there. He certainly had plenty of toys and ways to entertain himself. But the gifts he'd recently received had to be shared! He blew out a string of bubbles containing an inviting melody to let the bitties know he was there.
Sun Drop heard the melody, half asleep in his basking spot. Rising up like a mummy he followed the trail. Teddy noticed Sun Drop before he heard the sound too and decided to drag William with him. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes Sun Drop perked up and came as close as he could to the pond stretching his arms out for a hug.
"What a bubbly reception." William commented from Teddy's shoulder. Llyr laughed at William's pun, and heaved himself out of the water. Dripping slightly, he reached towards Sun Drop, before stopping. Would they hurt each other like this? Perhaps an immediate hug wasn't the best idea. Seeing Llyr's hesitation Sun Drop lowered his arms.
Llyr stretched his magic, tail splitting and shifting to allow a pair of legs to separate from it. Llyr yawned and waved a hand to bring out the bubble containing the treasures he'd received. "Gifts." He reached into the bubble and pulled out a pale shell with red flecks on it, pearls woven into the shell with metal wire. He pulled out a water flower crown, carefully preserved red and yellow plants morphed together. The last thing he pulled out was a bright silver pin, three black pearls carefully melted on.
The boys oh'ed and ah'ed as they saw each piece. The black pearls caught Teddy's interest, while Sun Drop stared at the multicolored plant crown. And William already wore the shell crown crooked on his head. Teddy looked at William in ill-concealed surprise. "When did you even get that?"
Llyr's tail swished slowly behind him, a delighted grin on his face. This was the best part. Not finding the treasures, not collecting them. Sharing them out and seeing others like it too. It was best when others could see how great his treasures were and loved them too. He walked up to Sun drop and held the crown out for Sun Drop. The water was mostly drip dried off the top of him now, though his lower half was still slightly damp. "Here." Teddy who was a bit taller than Sun Drop attached the pin to his orange collar. The silver clashed with the orange but he was happy. William was cloud watching.
Not one to miss an opportunity, Sun Drop bowed with one hand over his chest and the other behind his back and he winked at Llry as he did. Teddy and William chuckled as he did.
Llyr chuckled, only to frown as he placed the crown and realized it was a touch too small to actually fit properly. Sizing for others was hard! He growled quietly to himself, before looking over at Teddy to admire the pin. Sun Drop heard the light growl. He hardly noticed the crown being too small.
Llyr really wanted to tell them about where he'd found the treasures, and the wonders of the lake he'd explored, but he wasn't sure it would be worth the effort. Llyr could feel the melody just waiting to break from him. But in the end, he stayed silent.
Teddy tilled his head and whispered to William then they both looked at them. William popped off to who knows where but he came back in the next second. He held a child sized bracelet that could work as a long necklace for him up to Llry. It had four simple beads one purple, orange, blue and orange red.
Llyr perked up upon seeing the offering. He happily took it and wrapped the bracelet twice around one of his wrists. he turned it this way and that, admiring the simple design. "Pretty." He swayed happily and looked back at Sun Drop. He proudly held out his wrist to show off his new treasure. Sun Drop happy Llry was no longer upset, gently took the hand with the bracelet. "Very pretty." Sun Drop then spun and dipped the sai bitty.
Teddy, with a straight face, pulled out an mp3 player and began to play chipmunks and chipettes rock 'n roll.
What. Was. That. Llyr screeched in disagreement at the music, and quickly ran over to stop it. That was not proper music! The chase was on. Teddy seeing what had happened decided that he wanted to play a game of hot potato and after backing up from the angry bitty tossed the mp3 to William who changed the song to cows with guns. A wide smile on his face.
This was terrible. Why would they do this? Llyr shrieked again and changed direction to charge at the rather lazy lamia. Surely, he wouldn't be willing to put enough effort into getting out of the way.
William tossed the mp3 just behind Sun Drop who was frantically waving at the other lamias to stop aggravating the sai. So naturally he did not see were the music box of doom fell.
Llyr twisted around, skidding slightly on the ground. It would take a while before he was as elegant on land as he was in water. He charged right at Sun Drop, fully willing to plow over the other bitty in order to get to the mp3 and stop the terrible music.
Sun Drop seeing the danger of staying in one spot, leaped out of the way. Once he got back up he could hear the music stop. "Good thing Teddy didn't play any of his audio books. Trust me not a lot of good ones." Sun Drop pouted and lightly glared at Teddy accusingly. "Just because you don't like grim dark fiction doesn't mean it's bad." Teddy waved him off.
Llyr sighed. "Music should call to you, move you. That was NOT music." He chucked the mp3 player away carelessly. "Listen." He arched up, and began to sing. He wove slightly as he sang, his voice calling for the others to join him.
Sun Drop, being closest to Llyr, started to move slowly to hug the singing bitty. Teddy and William being farther away backed away from the bitty. He came to him! Llyr smiled, swaying into Sun Drop's grasp. The height difference didn't bother him, just enjoying the closeness of the other.
Teddy sadly was not fast enough and he began to spin closer to the bitty hug pile. William popped off and when he came back he had headphones on his head where his ears would be. "Really hoping you don't have a nut allergy." He shoved a spoon full of peanut butter in Llyr's mouth.
William choked him with peanut butter. He coughed, clearing his throat. It tasted good, but really. He'd been singing! Why did he-. Oh. Right. Llyr's eyes widened, and he quickly twisted around to dive into the pool. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten himself like that. He hoped they weren't too upset by that.
Sun Drop shook his head. "What happened? And where did Llyr go?" Teddy fell to the ground trying to his bearings. "Dizzy." He rubbed his head and looked around. William took off his headphones with a relieved sigh. "He's probably looking for something to get the peanut butter down… And a whole to hide in since he cracked and started to sing. Though to be fair we were messing with him pretty bad."
"How you holding up Teddy?" William gave the downed lamia a once over. "Better now that everything has stopped spinning. Do you need me to get him?" Sun Drop wasn't really listening just looking at the water with a pout. "Na, I think we should send a letter Claire's way, explaining what happened. You going to be ok Sun Drop?" William asked seeing as he had yet to move. "Yeah, could you get me the speaker? The water proof one." Teddy and William looked at each other. "Uh… Sure give me a bit."
Llyr felt guilty about just ditching them like that, but he had just hypnotized them. Perhaps it would be best if he stayed away for a while. He swam away, hoping they'd at least keep the gifts.
While Teddy went off William looked back at Sun Drop. "What's the plan, bud?" "I don't like seeing Llyr be upset with himself so I want to send him a message with one more song." When the speaker was hooked up to the mp3 Sun Drop scrolled through the list till he found one that fit. "Everything's going to be alright, by Bob Marley." He hit play.
What…what was that? The song vibrated through the water, slightly distorted but still cheerful. Llyr slowed down, unable to resist listening to the music. His ears slowly perked up once more as the refrain reached him. Maybe they weren't as upset as he'd thought. Llyr swam up and splashed on the surface briefly before heading home.
Yes, he'd made a mistake, but things would be fine. Just like the song said. Everything would be alright.
