In addition to posting a previous Realmgard Short Scene here every Monday — for example, this one — I post a new scene every Friday exclusively for my followers (including those on the free tier) on my Patreon.
© J.B. Norman — Published by Emona Literary Services™
“This is fun,” Ginger Breadman says, surveying the breadth of their accomplishment.
What was once the living room of Darkstone Manor is now the site of a sprawling fortress of pillows, cushions, and blankets. Usually Ginger’s sleepovers are just her and Dunstana with couple pillows and blankets.
But tonight, since Dunstana’s parents are out of town, it’s her, Dunstana, Kat, their cousin Annie, and Kat’s friends Amara and Scarlet. Kat and Amara are babysitting Ginger, Dunstana, and Annie. Technically, since Scarlet is the oldest —and a self-professed mature, responsible adult — she’s babysitting Kat and Amara.
They have all of Darkstone Manor to themselves. And they’ve been making the most of it. The three young ladies, two slightly less young ladies, and one graduate student of Magicology have raised a fortification the likes of which has not been seen in Realmgard since the days of the ancient Elven Empire.
It took most of the afternoon, but it was worth it. This is the best fort she’s ever built and the best sleepover she’s ever had!
“Wow,” Kat mutters. “If we don’t get this cleaned up, Mom and the Admiral are going to kill us.”
“Aww,” Dunstana moans. “Can’t we keep it this way? It’s just so awesome!”
“I think Mom and the Admiral are going to want their living room back,” Kat says.
“I suppose you couldn’t very well host guests in a giant pillow fort,” Amara muses.
“Not with that attitude,” Dunstana mutters.
“Clean-up shouldn’t be too hard,” Annie offers. “That central column of cushions is load-bearing. If we bring it down, everything else will come with it.”
“One fireball would do it,” Scarlet says.
“Scarlet! You are not tossing around fireballs in my parents’ living room!” Kat protests.
“I’m the adult here, Kitty-Kat,” Scarlet says with a grin. “Doesn’t that mean I’m in charge?”
“It’s my house!” Kat counters.
Dunstana moves around the central chamber of the fort, collecting up the remaining blankets, pillows, and Princess Moonflower dolls, piling them up to build herself a little nest.
“Let’s tell ghost stories!” she exclaims eagerly.
“No!” Ginger exclaims.
“You don’t need ghost stories, Dunstana,” Kat notes. “We met a ghost!”
“We’ve never met Faceless Pete,” Dunstana protests. “And — Ginger, what’s wrong?”
She glances over to where Ginger has hidden herself beneath her blanket, ironically making her appear rather like a ghost.
“No ghost stories, Dunstana,” she pleads.
“Fine,” Dunstana says. “We could sing sea shanties! Or even land shanties. Oh, I know! We could have a pillow fight!”
“Or,” Kat offers. “We could not.”
“That’s boring!” Dunstana declares. “Come on! It’ll be fun.”
“Scarlet, you said you wanted to be in charge, do something!” Kat says.
“Right,” Scarlet says after a long moment of consideration. “I suppose I should. I am supposed to be the responsible one.” She nods resolutely. “Okay. I’ll be the referee!”
“That is not what I meant!” Kat protests. “I am not going to — Mmph!”
Kat is interrupted and her words muffled by the pillow that comes sailing through the air to collide with her face.
“Annie did it!” Dunstana exclaims hastily.
Now I just need to figure out what the Realmgard version of Latvia is…
The full list of my October 2021 Realmgard Short Scenes, where this scene was originally posted, is here.
The master list of all my Short Scenes is here.
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