One Butterfly Spies a Glint in His Eye
Characters: Pandora, Gawain, Nimue Summary: What are grandmums good for? Babysitting, of course!
When Pandora was last alive, her daughter was all of nine years old and grandchildren were a nebulous, distant possibility. Now, in what seemed to her like the span of time between sleeping and waking, Luna had gone through school, had children, and got married. It was far too much to catch up on, so Pandora decided not to even try. She'd simply go on from here. Part of that included getting to know her grandchildren as she should have from their births. Luna had hovered for a while, though Pandora thought it had more to do with her than concern for the children, but had finally been convinced to take the afternoon for herself, leaving Pandora sitting in the middle of the nursery floor surrounded by a spread of toys, books, and grandchildren.
Nimue paid rapt attention so long as Pandora was doing something she deemed exciting, be it telling a story or making amusing faces or juggling plushies, but her interest waned quickly otherwise. Pandora felt that on the whole she was too old to give a second Luna the same level of attention as she'd given the first (perhaps Laurence had found a fountain of youth on one of his expeditions, if he could keep up with Nimue), so she sent a silver globe floating around the room at a speed to keep it just out of the reach of a crawling baby. As she'd predicted, Nimue found this great fun, and Pandora turned her focus to Gawain.
He was still playing with his shape toy, turning a square block this way and that over the circular hole. She'd seen him fit all three of the blocks into their respective holes as soon as he went to the toy, so she was certain he knew how they worked. After watching him for a few moments, his face screwed up in concentration but without a trace of frustration, she tapped the hole with her new wand and squared the edges. As the block slid through, she said, "There's always a way to make something work, as long as you're willing to think beyond the normal solutions."
Gawain picked up his block again and looked at the changed hole, studying both carefully. "Nana?" he questioned, turning the block over in his hands and regarding the other hole that wouldn't normally allow this particular block through. Nana had changed the hole so he could push his block through, and if Nana could do it... Screwing his face up in concentration once more, he leaned forward, applied the square block to the triangular hole, and pushed.
It wasn't so much that the hole changed shape - as it was still triangular by the finish - and it wasn't so much that the block had altered - as that was still square - but somewhere in the middle of things the air got a little electric, the universe went a little mad, and the end result was the square block passing through the triangular hole and Gawain's triumphant shout, "Nana, Nana, Nana!"
Pandora blinked rapidly, her eyes refusing to process the inbetween of Gawain's pressing the block to the hole and the block coming out the other side. "I wasn't expecting you to take that advice quite so quickly," she said, more to herself than to Gawain. Then realizing that she had likely been the one to witness her grandson's first foray into magic, she swept him into her lap and smothered his face in kisses. "Very good, that was very good," she told him. She briefly considered going to get Luna, but if Gawain were to make a habit of pushing his blocks through the wrong holes, Luna would see soon enough, and otherwise, it wasn't as if he would repeat the trick now for his mother. Besides, if she kept quiet about it, either Luna or Neville would get to see his "first" magic, a moment any parent looked forward to.
Gawain burbled happily through the kisses, well pleased with himself. If pushing blocks through the wrong hole meant he got kisses, then he would have to show Mumum, too. He patted Nana's face and then bussed his own against her cheek to give her a kiss back. When she cuddled him close he patted at her hair which was like his and Moo's and Mumum's. He wondered if now he could fit the wrong blocks through the holes whether Swash would fit, too.
Pandora felt a small tug on her sleeve and looked over. "Nana?" Nimue asked, staring up with wide eyes. Apparently her outburst with Gawain was interesting enough to draw Nimue's attention. "Your brother just did magic," Pandora informed her. "I'm sure you'll be turning things into butterflies just like your mum soon enough." She tapped her chin. "I wonder if I can teach you to. It was terribly annoying whenever whatever I was holding would erupt in a spray of insects. I'm sure Luna's life as a mother wouldn't be complete without the experience." She leaned over and kissed Nimue's forehead, so she wouldn't feel left out.
Gawain watched Nana give Nimue a kiss. Determined not to be left out he wriggled off Nana's lap. For a moment he stood on the carpet, leaning against Nana's legs, then he bumped to earth on his bottom and crawled rapidly to the holes and blocks. "Moo, Moo," he called to his sister urgently, banging the circular block against the stand with the holes to get her attention. "Moo!" Turning to the triangular hole once again, he scrunched up his nose and mouth and eyes, and pushed.
Just as before, there was an electric moment where neither block nor hole seemed to know what to do with themselves, resolving itself with the block passing through and falling onto the carpet. "Moo!" he shouted gleefully, and turned around, waiting for his kiss.
Nimue cocked her head one way then the other in the aftermath of Gawain's show. She didn't think that was the hole that block usually went through. She crawled over and picked up the block to try it for herself. After banging it against the triangular hole a few times, she let out an exasperated huff, pushed it through the circular hole, and stared at Gawain.
Annoyed that his sister had not delivered his deserved kiss, Gawain was comforted by the fact that Nimue wasn't as clever as he was. He picked up the block again, and with slightly more ease due to the practice he was getting, shoved it through the square hole this time. He looked at Nimue in triumph and then leaned over, offering his cheek to her like Mumum did for Dada sometimes. It never failed to earn Mumum a kiss, so he couldn't see why it wouldn't work for him.
This time when he finished pushing the block through the wrong hole, Gawain turned his cheek toward her. Dada always kissed Mum when she did that, so Nimue supposed Gawain wanted a kiss. That wasn't really much of a surprise, since Gawain always wanted kisses, even from strangers. Nimue couldn't understand why, they were just wet and icky unless they were from Mum or Dada or Nana or Daddad. Still, Gawain was her brother and she loved him. Heaving a tiny, exasperated sigh, she leaned over and smacked her lips against Gawain's cheek.
Gawain laughed in delight at having got his kiss, and he bussed Nimue back in thanks. He knew that his sister didn't appreciate kisses the way she should, but he enjoyed given them as much as he enjoyed receiving them. With that in mind, he held his arms in the air and offered, "Nana." Nana's kisses were currently the best as they were the newest, although Mumum and Dada's kisses were always nice.
Pandora chuckled as Nimue made a face and rubbed her cheek where Gawain had kissed her back. She hoisted Gawain back into her lap and turned her cheek when he puckered his lips. "I get one too, hmm? I would say I feel special, but all things considered, not so much." She rubbed her nose against his, then gave him a long look. "You're going to be quite a heart breaker someday," she said finally, with all the certainty of one who knows.
Gawain didn't know what Nana was saying to him, but he knew that she had to be saying something good, so he laughed and patted her hair again. Nana was fun!
Pandora laughed along with Gawain and then, with a mischevious grin, pointed her wand at the block toy that Nimue had taken over, presumably finding it more fascinating now that her brother had made it do something different. The toy exploded into a spray of multi-colored wings. Nimue startled, then clapped her hands in delight as she tried to watch all of the butterflies at once. Pandora allowed the butterflies to coalesce back into the toy. "You liked that, didn't you? Now I'm sure you can figure out how to do it too...."