Molly was the first colour in Yasha's life, he is loud and boisterous and she loves him. The rest of the Nein are similar, bright and loud and rowdy. They match Hupperdook's evening atmosphere laugh for laugh and sweep along in the wave of gnomes.
It's like the circus but swept into massive numbers and flooding over Yasha. It's a little too much for her, even with the end of Molly's tail hooked around her wrist as he hops about amusing Jester. She takes babysitting duty eagerly when it is offered, retreating to the room she is renting with a tiny bird child babbling and cooing in her arms.
Kiri reminds her of Toya and the circus as she babbles away in mostly Jester's voice. She strokes the fluffy feathers as they sit by the opened window shutters as they look out at the evening air.
Kiri amuses herself by repeating fragments of conversation from the road. Little bits of Fjord complaining about his tired feet and Beau telling him he should work out more. She parrots Jester extolling the virtues of different pastries and Caleb muttering about spell components.
Yasha says little. It is her way. She prefers to sit and think and form conclusions. Tonight she is listening to laugher filtering in from outside and to the echoed voices of friends she never thought she'd have. Whenever Kiri borrows Molly's voice, she cannot help but smile.
As the sun begins to set outside, Kiri draws her dagger to play with and Yasha sets determinedly to teaching her to use it safely. Kiri listens wide eyed and repeats back instructions, head cocked and curious. The little bird must recognise something in Yasha's face because she stops to chirp 'yes, I am very sweet' in Jester's voice as she fluffs up her feathers.
Eventually the knife is tucked away and Kiri tackles Yasha, attempting to grapple her with little arms. Unresisting, Yasha goes down, carefully putting up a struggle as if she is teaching Toya to spar. Kiri hops gleefully around on top of her to claim her victory before Yasha moves to tickle her and keep the game going.
They chase each other round the room with Kiri giggling in Jester's voice before Yasha scoops her up. Colour fades from the world again as darkness falls outside and Yasha's darkvision takes over. Only flickers of lantern light from the street below make it in through the open window.
Their room shifts to darkness and quiet laughter, accompanied by drunken singing from the street below and the strains of a violin playing down the road. There is laughter and shouting and tavern noise, but muffled. At this point, Yasha finds it comforting, filtering through the sounds of revelry to listen for familiar voices.
Kiri has worn herself out as the darkness has drawn in and she begins to sag in Yasha's arms, although whenever Yasha tries to lay her down to sleep she chirps out that she'll take first watch in the voice of one of the Nein.
Yasha rocks her in her arms -- she's no trouble to hold. She carries Molly far too often for a little bird to cause an issue. They watch out of the window as she waits for Kiri to sleep and she hums a little to herself, carefully picking around the notes of one of the circus performances.
The evening is tranquil, amidst the noise from below and the roar of the crowd at some unfolding spectacle. She is glad to be away from it. Juggling Kiri into one arm, she pulls out her flower book and returns to meadows and roads that she's wandered and town florists that Molly has swirled through in a riot of colour. She hums to herself and rocks Kiri who is beginning to snooze on her shoulder.
And that's when the explosions begin. Kiri wakes as the room is lit by a bright flash of colour. Yasha hurries to the window to see the sky lit by bright lights that streak across the sky with thunderous sounds. After the brief shock, Yasha is mesmerised by the brilliant lights and bright colours. She tucks Kiri closer to her and carefully covers sensitive bird ears as the little bird reaches out towards the bright light.
They watch the bright lights until they finish, watching swirls of colour like trails of magic painting the sky. Kiri giggles as a bloom of gold explodes into bright sunflowers and paints a meadow into the sky. Yasha wishes she could press this moment into a book, turning to smile at the mass of warm feathers in her arms.
After the explosions finish, it begins to quiet down outside and Kiri consents to sleep, curling up in the small bed. Yasha sits with her, trying to lull the little bird to sleep, even though Kiri is still muttering, on and off, in the voices of her friends.
'Yasha, I love you, Yasha'
She thinks Kiri is borrowing Molly's voice again before Molly himself falls through the door, drunk out of his mind and smiling brighter than the fireworks.
He throws himself at her and curls into a drunken ball in her arms, shirt half off one shoulder and hair askew. She strokes his hair and hefts him up to shut the door behind him, carefully locking it for the night.
She pushes the shutters closed against the night and deposits Molly on the bed to try and get his boots off. She's familiar with what he's like when he's too drunk to do anything other than tell her he loves her and bitch about everything else. He does just that as she works on the laces of his stupid boots, running his fingers across the mess of braids in her hair, tail slapping the bed happily as he grins up at her.
Getting Molly ready for bed is not helped by his desire to cuddle her instead of lifting his arms to let her get his shirt off or unhook his glass swords. Like all the other times she's done this, however, she manages it, ending up with arms full of snuggling tiefling and baby kenku.
Molly stares at her, wide eyed, as he latches on. 'Love you,' he says, into her arm.
'I love you too, Mollymauk,' she assures him, rubbing the place behind his horns that he likes best.
'One day I'm going to buy you all the flowers in Zadash,' he tells her, 'all of them'
He flails his tail around her ankle and tucks his head into her armpit. A thought seems to cross his mind suddenly and he sits himself up and grins. 'What a night! Fjord kept at it with the tavernkeep even after you left. That's a lost cause if ever I saw one. We won the hour of honour - drinking thing. Don't worry, I was sick on Fjord so you're safe. I love you.'
He's grinning wildly again as he talks, growing steadily louder, tail waving once more. She hums to him and presses a finger to her lips before pointing to Kiri. He snuggles back down and behaves for a brief moment before talking again.
'Beauregard wanted to know if I was her type tonight. Can you imagine me and Beauregard, I'd rather have that manticore that Nott carted around until it rotted.'
Yasha hums again. 'She asked you that?' she questions, wrapping an arm around Molly in an attempt to stop him wiggling.
'Well she wanted to know if I was coming on to her but like I said, I'd rather fuck a manticore.'
She's following, mostly. 'Were you coming on to her?'
He snorts. 'I've only got eyes for you,' he says, voice tinged with teasing as he messily pats her cheek. 'I wanted to try some blood stuff'
She sighs. 'Go to sleep, Molly, you can tell me about it in the morning'
He flops back down and is silent for a moment, before, 'how can I sleep when I love you so much'
She'd forgotten quite what he is like when he's this drunk as he curls into her. She takes one hand to rub at his horn, trying to lull him either into sleep or silence.
'Yashaaa,' he whines, as her attempt fails.
'No.' She responds, 'sleep'.
He pouts. 'What if we lived in a flower meadow together in a little hut?' She can see his eyes shining in the dark.
Hmm, she says again before giving in to his shining eyes, 'that would be nice'
He smiles wider than she would have thought was possible. 'You're my best friend but if you like I guess the others can come too and have I told you I love you?'
'You have'
'Good. I like you to know'
She smiles and wraps him in her arms and says 'sleep and we'll get to that meadow sooner,' and this time, he does, curling drunkenly in her arms as Kiri snuggles up to her side. In the darkness, Yasha smiles.