"...And in that quark, there was the Microverse! The rare Microverse, the rattlin' Microverse, Microverse in the quark, quark in the proton, proton in the nucleus, nucleus in the atom, atom in the molecule, molecule in the gene, gene in the DNA, DNA in the virus, virus in the amoeba, amoeba in the germ, germ in the speck, speck in the eye, eye of the mite, mite on the hair, hair in the feather, feather on the wing, wing on the chick, chick in the yolk, yolk in the egg, egg in the bird, bird in the nest, nest on the leaf, leaf on the twig, twig on the branch, branch on the limb, limb on the bough, bough on the trunk, trunk of the tree, tree in the hole, hole in the bog and the bog down in the valley oh!"
Ashley finished with a jump and a clap. "Thirty-one verses, no stopping to breathe in the middle of a verse." She held out a hand. "Pay up!"
"I refuse to accept the Microverse as a thing that exists," Shadow Stalker dismissed.
"Uh-huh!" Ashley insisted. "It totally exists. It's not my fault your universe never discovered Pym Particles so you can't shrink down to visit."
"I swear to god you're making shit up," the vigilante mumbled.
"Now Shadow Stalker," Browbeat interrupted. I'd forgotten he was there. "The wager didn't say anything about the verses having to involve real thing." I wasn't sure where he'd kept his wallet, but he pulled it out and took out a dollar. "We all accepted the bet." Well, I hadn't.
Everyone else had produced their money. Seriously, we were all in costume. Where were they keeping their wallets?
"I mean, it's only a dollar," Gallant said when Shadow Stalker was still reluctant. Eventually, she coughed up, however, and Ashley was seven dollars richer.
"So, uh, what does 'Ratlin' mean?" Vista asked.
"I have no idea," Ashley admitted as she pocketed her winnings.
"You know she doesn't have to breathe, right?" Part of being a big sister was sometimes teaching the little sister hard lessons. Like not to scam your teammates.
Shadow Stalker was next to Ashley in an instant. I had to sit up just to make sure that she didn't do anything stupid. "You have three seconds to give me my money back."
"Hey," Ashley deflected calmly, "I said that I didn't need to stop and breathe when I was singing. Vista's the one who didn't believe me and started the bet."
For a second I thought Shadow Stalker was having a stroke, but eventually, she stomped off to her room. I have to admit, it brought a smile to my face to see my tormentor so frustrated.
"So," Ashley changed the subject, "who knows Drunken Sailor?"
Right now this is just Apocrypha but I reserve the right to go back and make it canon later.