Double chapter update on my birthday today, because why not?
Disclaimer: Kirby belongs to Nintendo and HAL Laboratory.
Vesa spent the night cuddling with Fecto Elfilis in their room. By morning, when she woke up, Elfilis was still asleep. Vesa spotted Elfilin sleeping on top of his sibling's head. This felt rather different from when she and Elfilis camped out in Kirby's house together back in Waddle Dee Town. She smiled and stroked the small chinchilla's head with her finger. Elfilin started purring before he opened his eyes. Elfilis opened their eyes exactly at the same moment.
"Oh," Vesa blurted, "morning, Elfilis!"
Elfilin rolled off his sibling's head and plopped onto the pillow, yawning and stretching his limbs.
"Good morning," Elfilis blushed shyly and glanced at the ceiling.
Come to think of it, the idea of waking up next to someone they loved and cared about in the morning had some sort of fond feelings. It had them looking forward to such moments from here on out. Vesa and Elfilis sat up on the floor mattress, the human examining the moving clockwork gears in the wall.
"I suppose there's a little bit of touching up on it I still need to do," Elfilis shrugged.
Blinking, Elfilin floated over to his older sibling.
"What kind of touch-ups?" Elfilin chirped.
"Mostly just finishing the painting in a few places. I could enchant it with sound, but," Elfilis paused, "I don't see any of us enjoying the constant sound of clicking and moving of gears. Although, I bet if you stared at the gears on the ceiling and counted their rotations as you went to sleep it would probably help."
Vesa stood from the bed and stretched her arms.
"I am getting hungry, though," Vesa said.
"I suppose I'll come with you," Elfilis nodded.
Elfilin followed Vesa and Elfilis out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, where Elfilis pulled some stuff from the fridge. Vesa found a recipe on French toast and carefully read the directions with Elfilin perching on her shoulder.
"Do you want cinnamon on it or anything extra?" Elfilis asked her.
"I'm fine with just cinnamon and nutmeg," Vesa answered.
"I'll be sure to check."
Elfilis checked the spice rack in the cupboard while Elfilin brought a mixing bowl to the counter. The ultimate life-form found a jar of nutmeg in the back of the cupboard.
"I don't think I tried nutmeg before," Elfilis admitted, "what's it like?"
Vesa scratched her head as she took a moment to think.
"I suppose nutmeg is slightly sweet and savory," Vesa assumed.
Vesa kept studying the recipe before she went on to crack the eggs in the mixing bowl. Elfilis checked the carton of milk before they went on to pour some in a measuring cup. Elfilin handed Vesa the cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla extract, allowing her to measure the ingredients and put them in the mixing bowl. Elfilin grabbed a whisk and began stirring the ingredients. Elfilis heated up the pan while Vesa retrieved a fresh loaf of bread, placing it on a cutting board.
"We'll need to make slices to put this bread to good use," Vesa explained, "not too thick and not too thin."
Vesa reached for a knife and held the loaf of bread steady.
"Though I never sliced bread before," Vesa admitted.
"Oh," Elfilis offered, "then let me help you."
Elfilis held onto Vesa's shoulder in one hand and the loaf of bread in another.
"Thanks!" Vesa smiled.
Vesa began to carefully slice the loaf of bread. Elfilis watched as she slowly sawed into the bread. As she kept making slices, she moved her left hand from the knife as much as possible. The angelic lancer scanned their surroundings to ensure they had all the ingredients. With careful guidance, Vesa finished slicing up the bread.
"Thank you," Vesa repeated.
"Anytime," Elfilis nodded.
Elfilis released Vesa from their grip. She went on to check on Elfilin as soon as he finished mixing the ingredients. The small chinchilla blinked and locked eyes onto the human.
"Does this mixture look ready?" he asked her.
Vesa examined the contents in the mixing bowl before she nodded.
"Now all we have to do is to dip the bread into the mixture and put it on the pan," Vesa answered, her smile brimming with a boost of confidence, "I remember my father made French toast a few times."
"Sounds good to me," Elfilis agreed.
The ultimate life-form took a slice of bread and dipped it into the batter before putting it on the pan.
"Should we start adding seasoning?" they asked.
"The only seasonings we put on it tend to be butter and syrup," Vesa shrugged, "though I've seen my little sister add strawberries and whipped cream to hers."
Vesa grabbed a spatula and watched the toast sizzling on the pan. After several minutes, she checked the underside of the toast for a moment. Once she confirmed it was a golden brown, she used the spatula to flip it over. The small chinchilla exchanged glances with his larger fragment.
"Uhh," Elfilin asked, "are you available? I think I could use your supervision as I practice with my powers."
Elfilis placed a finger on their jaw.
"I could help you," Elfilis offered, "anything in particular you want to work on?"
Elfilin took a moment to stare at his paws.
"We could work on internal powers, external powers," Elfilis continued, "manipulation of your own internal and external body, magic, creating life, assimilating life, and more."
The small chinchilla took a few moments to think over the options he was offered. By then, Vesa finished the first slice of French toast, placing it on a plate before she began working on the next slice.
"I guess I could try practicing external powers first," Elfilin answered.
Elfilin perked up his large ears when he heard the dining hall door open. Fransisca walked into the room, giving a light wave. She didn't have her turban on and her eyes had dark circles underneath. Her hair was a frizzled mess.
"Oh!" Elfilin chirped, waving his paw, "morning, Fransisca!"
"Morn…" Fransisca mumbled.
Fransisca didn't say anything further as she entered the kitchen to brew coffee. Elfilis and Elfilin exchanged an awkward stare.
"She's like this in the mornings," Elfilis rubbed the back of their head.
"I guess I'd like to learn about how to make a weapon like yours," Elfilin replied.
"It'll be a bit challenging, so don't expect to get it right away," Elfilis advised.
Vesa flipped over the toast in the pan. Soon enough, Zan and Flamberge entered the dining hall.
"Hey!" Flamberge called over, "morning, Elfilin!"
Elfilin spun around.
"Morning!" he chirped, "how are you doing this morning? Better than Fransisca or Zan, I hope."
Zan gave the small chinchilla a puzzled look. Flamberge sniffed the aroma from the kitchen and shifted her gaze towards Vesa. Fransisca, meanwhile, cooled the coffee in her mug and added ice to it before she slowly sipped at it.
"Hey," Flamberge commented, "something smells good in here!"
Vesa paused and locked eyes onto Flamberge.
"Morning!" Vesa chirped, "are you interested in some French toast?"
"I wouldn't mind at all," Flamberge smiled, "though if you weren't planning on making breakfast for everyone, don't worry about it."
"T-Thanks," Vesa blurted.
After finishing up the next slice of toast, Vesa checked the mixture in the bowl.
"No worries, Vesa," Flamberge replied, "or should I start calling you sis now?"
"Just Vesa will do," Vesa shrugged.
Vesa went on to dip the next slice of bread in the mixture and put it in the pan. As she continued making slices of French toast, Elfilin started placing the pieces of toast on individual plates. Elfilis stood around to help when it was needed. Zan and Fransisca simply sat in silence. Just as Vesa was in the middle of placing her slice of French toast in the pan, Hyness entered the dining hall. Elfilis perked up their feelers.
"Good morning, father," Elfilis nodded.
"How's everyone doing this morning?" Hyness asked.
Elfilin poured some syrup on his French toast.
"Vesa here's learning to make French toast," Elfilin chirped before he started nibbling on his breakfast.
Hyness tilted his head and observed Vesa at the stove.
"Oh, how nice!" Hyness smiled, "it's always great to learn new things."
Vesa made a brief glance at Hyness and nodded at him.
"Thanks," Vesa replied, "there are some pieces of French toast ready to serve."
"I appreciate it," Hyness went to sit at the table with the sisters.
Elfilis cleaned up the mess in the kitchen, taking care of egg shells and so on. Vesa finished her second slice of French toast and placed it onto her plate. She took her plate and a glass of milk to the dining hall table, drizzling it in syrup before she started eating. As soon as they finished cleaning up, Elfilis passed around plates of French toast for everyone else, each plate holding a slice or two of toast. The ultimate life-form sat down next to Vesa with a serving of their own. They didn't drizzle their toast with anything as they gently ate it by hand.
Elfilis led Vesa and Elfilin out into the courtyard after breakfast.
"I suppose I should start with you since you aren't at any risk for causing explosions," Elfilis told their brother, their feelers twitching nervously, "I haven't really had to describe how this works before. This might be harder than I originally thought…"
Elfilin circled around his older sibling nervously.
"You're ironically at less risk than Vesa for things going wrong so I'll try to explain this," Elfilis continued, "it's hard to put it into words that don't require a degree in biology and magical science."
"I'll try to follow along," Elfilin nodded.
"Now to start with," Elfilis asked, "have you ever experimented with your powers before?"
Elfilin took a few moments to process the question.
"I made a stick yesterday," Elfilin chirped.
"So you know the feeling you get from that?" Elfilis clarified, "you should be able to dig deeper, and find an entire mental archive of almost everything I've ever assimilated."
Elfilin closed his eyes and began to focus. His older sibling locked eyes onto Vesa.
"This could take him a while to do," Elfilis told her, "but once he manages it, he should be able to do it mostly instinctively."
Vesa kept her eyes locked onto Elfilin as she sat down on the bench.
"I'll bet Kirby would be proud of him," she agreed.
"True," Elfilis mentioned, "though I'd suspect he'd be proud of just about any accomplishment."
All Vesa and Elfilis could do was watch as the small chinchilla clasped his front paws together, still deep in concentration.
"So how about you?" Elfilis asked.
Vesa took a moment to examine her palms.
"I'm still practicing the spells I learned," Vesa answered, "sometimes."
Vesa locked eyes onto Elfilis as they placed their hand on her head. Soon enough, Elfilin wiggled a little, fur bristling as he focused hard on something.
"He seems to have the right idea," Elfilis commented, "or at least he found the mental block that is stopping him."
"So that means…" Vesa said.
Elfilin began to glow as he opened his eyes.
"There," Elfilin chirped, "that should do it. Now what?"
Elfilin and Elfilis exchanged glances.
"Now you should be able to access the DNA of a large number of creatures I assimilated before we split," Elfilis told him, "I lost a good number of the ones I had access to, so you'll likely have the other half."
Elfilin blinked twice.
"Ok," the small chinchilla nodded, "here goes."
Before long, his paw shifted and green virulent slime began leaking out of his arm, landing on the ground in front of him with a wet 'plop'.
"Ugh," Elfilin grunted, sounding disoriented, "this is tiring."
While Elfilin slumped his limbs, Elfilis examined their smaller fragment's creation.
"It's because your magical reserves are still quite small," they told him.
Elfilin gave Elfilis an embarrassed look as they scooped him into their hand, lifting the small chinchilla onto their shoulder.
"So a slime, huh?" Elfilis continued, "I'm pretty sure these did get wiped out in some kind of calamity."
Elfilis watched as the slime slowly hopped across the ground and started wrapping itself around their leg.
"Hehe," Elfilis poked at the slime, "it's trying to eat me."
Vesa grimaced as the slime tried to dissolve Elfilis's leg with a weak acid.
"Uhh, Elfilis?" she stammered.
"It's not too dangerous," Elfilis assured her, "just don't let it jump at your face or it'll dissolve your eyes and eventually your brain if you can't get it off your head. The most it can really do other than that is give you the equivalent of a nasty sunburn with prolonged contact."
"That doesn't make me feel any better, though," Vesa muttered, hugging her arms to her stomach.
"Well," Elfilis sighed, "it could've been worse."
Vesa stood up and approached Elfilis, keeping a suspicious eye on the slime.
"They are extremely flammable, however," Elfilis continued.
Vesa didn't say anything as she observed Elfilin fidgeting nervously.
"What habitat suits this little guy the most?" she asked, gesturing to the slime.
"Mostly large grassy plains," Elfilis continued to poke at the slime, "but with time, they can thrive in any environment."
Vesa and Elfilin stiffened as the slime gave up and withdrew. Elfilis produced some raw meat from their own biological manipulation and dropped it onto the ground. The slime happily devoured it.
"This should keep it occupied for a while," they added.
Elfilin watched curiously as his tail swayed from side to side.
"They reproduce by splitting after they acquire enough matter. Places like grasslands that have easily killed prey animals are ideal, but they can live just about anywhere. We're probably going to need to kill this one. Otherwise, this planet will get a new species, and a dangerous pest. This is its basic form, but its other forms are far more dangerous and deadly. We shouldn't give it the chance to reproduce. Not here anyway. Maybe on a planet without sentient life."
"Oh, that reminds me!" Vesa blurted, "there's gotta be a book in the library about ecosystems or something."
Feel free to make some fanart related to this fanfic!
And leave a review so Kirby can use them to buy snacks for him and Elfilin.