Gummadoon Sitting Room

It was the smell of cooking foods that roused the younger boys out of their sleep, Cubbi included. He sat up, stretching slightly. Looking around the room, he found that he'd been covered up with a rich blanket when he had fallen asleep though he found he couldn't remember when exactly that had been. He saw like pallets scattered about the room, some still occupied, and others empty. It looked like Toni and Corvi were already up but Martinni and Flynn were still sleeping. Faint lights were on in the room, just low lit lamps.

Standing, Cubbi rubbed his eyes a moment to attempt to extinguish the sleep still clinging to them. The smells were coming from the nearby kitchen and it sure sounded like that's where the early risers had gathered. Yep, at closer range now, he could hear Plucki and Blastus and what sounded like Corvi. No sound of Gumlittle though if Toni was awake, he must have been nearby.

The boy pushed open the door to the kitchen, emerging into the brilliant lit room with only a faint squint of his eyes in rejection to the change in brightness. His suspicions turned out to be correct. Blastus and Corvi were working at the stove and counters, which was where those alien but oh-so-good scents were originating from. Sir Plucki was seated at a nearby table, sipping some hot tea. The threesome turned at the enty of Cubbi.

Plucki gave a good hearted chuckle "Oh, good morning sleepyhead."

Cubbi blinked but asked "How late is it?" as he took a seat by the Gummadoon Captain, pulling himself up into the chair. Plucki gave the lad a hand up and then smirked as Corvi turned from his position by the counter

"Plucki's teasin'" the teen assured the younger boy. "It's only half after eight."

Blastus smirked "Qui, qui…it is a rare day when the teenager arouses before the little ones."

Corvi gave Blastus a half annoyed look then dodged the hand that reached out to ruffle his hair. He hadn't gotten dressed yet, as was the usual fare with a rest week. Breakfast came first then clean up and dressing before heading out for the day. He hadn't been able to sleep very late, his mind awash with thoughts and fears and guilt. He needed to get back to his brothers soon. Hopefully, today would offer him an opportunity.

In any event, when the three knights had come through the sitting room, he'd been wide awake. Though they had initially asked him if he had been having difficulty sleeping, he had quickly squashed their concerns by asking if he could help Blastus with breakfast. That in itself was enough to rid them of their concerns.

Toni had aroused not long after Corvi and Blastus had begun cooking, about an hour ago. His hands were still unable to grasp. Gumlittle had taken him off into a separate room to tend to him and give him some food before the others awoke. Corvi and Blastus were being careful to prepare some foods that Toni could eat on his own, as well.

Corvi smirked lightly at Cubbi who was sniffing at all the alien smells. It was pretty funny actually, made him look like some kind of pink mouse, trying to sift out bread crumbs. "Smells good, huh, Cubbi?"

Cubbi's ears twitched and he grinned "I dunno what it is but it smells reaaaaalllly good."

The teen gave a light-hearted laugh "that'd be the crepes."

Cubbi blinked "What's a crepe?"

Corvi blinked then he beamed, widely, feeling like laughing for the first time in days "Oh, you're going to love them…"

Gummadoon Towers

Well, one thing was certain.

Cubbi HAD loved the breakfast. It had been rich, sweet, flaky and buttery and oh-so-good! Most of the foods he hadn't recognized at all. Still, you didn't need much instruction on how to eat something. The tongue and belly usually figured that out quickly. Anything his belly had been unable to figure out, Corvi and the other boys had swiftly showed him.

Toni had even managed to eat some of them on his own, though he did it by lifting them to his mouth. Apparentely, that wasn't the proper way to eat them but Toni's hands could not grip just yet. So, he had slipped one palm under the crepe and lifted it up and ate it that way, despite how much sauce that had gotten on his hands. Evidently, the crepes had a good enough flavor that Toni didn't care about decorum or appearance.

Now, Cubbi had never eaten a crepe so he had mimicked Toni.

Martinni had thought that Cubbi was doing it so that Toni didn't feel so bad or embarrassed and thought it was sweet so he had copied Cubbi to cut down on the embarrassment.

Flynn had followed suit.

Blastus had been too busy laughing to really care. The other two knights had seemed to catch on to what Martinni had assumed and had thought it a truly heart-felt gesture, perhaps not appropriate for praise but certainly not in need of criticism.

Cubbi paused at the stairs, waiting. Sir Plucki had said he would meet him here and take him up to use their Gummiscope before they went on their trips for the day. The other knights had split up with their squires, as they had the previous day. Cubbi was ecstatic. Once again, one on one time with Sir Plucki! And on top of that, he maybe would get to find out how Chummi was doing!

"Beat me here, did you, lad?"

Cubbi gave his captain a simple smile as he turned a corner and met up with the smaller gummi. "Yeah, I only got lost once this time!"

Plucki gave one of his deep hearty chuckles. Cubbi loved to hear those laughs. He really didn't know why but he loved it. Same reason he liked to hear anyone laugh, told him they were happy. He wanted Plucki happy. He wanted Plucki safe. Maybe it was a little weird, considering that the Gummadoon Captain had probably fought in more wars and battles than Cubbi could even hope to imagine but all the same, he wanted him safe. It was the same kind of fear he had felt for Zummi when they had gone after Zorlock. The same desire as when he had seen Thornberry in the cage when they first met Lady Bane.

"This way, lad."

Forcing those thoughts from his head, the cub turned, trotting after Plucki as he led the way up a set of spiraled stairs. Cubbi's feet made a small faint echo as he took three fast strides for each of his mentor's. It wasn't that high up and before too long, they emerged onto the top of the tower. Not much up here. It was primarily set aside for the Gummiscope.

Cubbi, despite having seen two other Gummiscopes already, was always cast into awe when he saw it loom over his head. He followed Plucki but stared over the vastness that was one of the Great Gummies' greatest accomplishments. This one was a little different though. The ones near the Glen and Ursalia had grown rusted and aged over the centuries but this one was still sparkling, like it was brand new.

"Now, lad." Plcuk itold the tiny child as they walked to the operation manel, "Do you have any ideas where he may had tried to land?"

Cubbi paused, thinking. "Well, when he came along, we had just lost our Gummiscope."

Plucki raised a brow at that. He recalled the boy speaking of that briefly though he never went into deep detail on it. It baffled the Captain. How could a Gummiscope had been lost? They were great marvels of engineering and usually quite well concealed. Still, it was a topic to be addressed at a later point. Perhaps it was a tale the boy could relish them with that eve but for the moment, he listened to the boy's response.

"But before we did, we'd found out that there were still gummies in New Gumbrea." He eyed Plucki "So, that's where he had headed. But ,didn't they come over here when the other war broke out?" he asked, his ears perked.

Plucki smiled "A great many of them did, yes, lad. Perhaps your Chummi remained behind or he may have moved onto nearby cities. At any event, it is worth asking, isn't it?" He gave the boy a small wink. "If he was as bubbly as you make him out to be, then someone ought to have an idea of where he had ended up, yes?"

Cubbi nodded, his eyes wide. Oh, so much he wanted to tell Chummi. Like…like…he was training under THE Great Sir Plucki! Like he was finally making his dream come true! Like…like…so many million-bajillion-trillion things had happened since he last saw him!

Cubbi stood on his tiptoes as Sir Plucki adjusted the scope to locate New Gumbrea. There were lots more cities on this scope, maybe they had a bigger range or had known of where the other ships were going or somethin' like that. In any event, Plucki sent an initial message out and sure enough, they got a response back.

Turning to his small squire, Plucki gently lifted the boy up so he could see the panel. "What do you want to ask Cubbi? I want you to send it."

"Me?"

Plucki chuckled "You're the only other one up here, aren't you?"

The boy nodded, staring at the panel. The symbols were alien to him but even the codes to the symbols were alien to him. He wasn't a really good reader…

"Well…I…you know I can't read really good Plucki." He reminded his captain again.

The knight nodded, responding "And there is no better cure for that than to practice every chance that presents itself. I'll help you Cubbi but I want you to do it."

Nervously, the boy read over the codes and slowly recited to Plucki what he wanted to ask. Three times the knight had to correct his spelling but it was never with malice, just the gentle patience that Cubbi had learned was reminiscent of Plucki. The message itself turned out quite long; as Cubbi wanted to be sure he got the right gummi so he was insistent on giving as much information as he could. Plucki let the boy tap the code out himself though Cubbi would always turn to him right after he had sent a word, saying "That's right, right?"

Thus, it was a lengthy message and time consuming, about an hour in fact passed before Cubbi ended his message. He slid down from Plucki's grip and the two of them just waited for the message to received and responded to.

The standing and waiting made Cubbi think. What would Chummi think of everything that had transpired? Had he done well since they parted? Had he made a life for himself in New Gumbrea?

A life…was that at risk now too? A nasty little voice inside his head asked him. What with the threat of Emi?

A bit unnerved, the cub was silent a long moment, pondering as he watched the Gummiscope shimmering in the light. Remembering how his clan's scope had ended up, he turned to Plucki "Sir Plucki?"

"Hmm?"

"Why did they make this thing a weapon?"

Plucki paused, stunned and baffled then turned and looked at the cub "A weapon?"

The cub met the elder gummi's eyes and repeated the rhyme from his old book: "It can harness the sunlight and send out a stream that can send off a message or burn with its beam." Suddenly, the boy looked almost desperate "Why did we make something so…" he tried to think of a word that described it best but what came out was "..cruel?"