Bonding (Dar, Bow)

Rico was almost ready for the big night out. She put on a clean t-shirt, dusted off her jeans, and wiped some dirt off of her shoes. Glancing in the mirror, she fixed her slightly messy hair with a brush. She was a bit of a tomboy, and wasn't too concerned with looking 'cute.' That said, she was excited to spend some more time with her daddy. The carnival sounded fun, too. She had never been to one. She had seen one in a movie once, a scary movie. Hopefully, real carnivals wouldn't be like that, with killer clowns that attacked little kids that got separated from their parents.

Just in case, Rico tucked a gun in her little blue purse. It was the handgun that Kyte had bought for her, and she hardly ever let it leave her side. She had bought this purse simply for the purpose of hiding the gun, so she could carry it around in public.

After one last look in the mirror, Rico went and found Kyte. She gave him a bright smile. "I'm ready. I hope it's not too long of a drive. They have food there, don't they?"

The pink haired girl was preparing for the same kind of day with her own daughter! Although there was no blood relation, Rain had taken on the role of motherhood with delight and was proving herself to be what she always thought a mom should be like, even if she had no real standard to go on. However, that didn't matter to her as she got dressed in a light blue flowing shirt and white shorts. She threw her hair up in a ponytail, expecting a day of running around.

She then went down the hall to the room that was dedicated to whenever her little girl wanted to spend the night. As she got to the door, she knocked lightly and smiled. "Sweetie? You almost ready? Need any help with anything!?" The girl was constantly looking for ways to help or spoil her little Jemmy, her little gem.

After they were both done getting ready, Bow had a surprise for Jemmy. When they walked out of the house, she would see a limo parked and a chauffeur waiting for them. Rain looked at Jemmy and smiled, just a tad worried about what she would say. "I know it may be a little much to you... But I don't think there's anything that's too much for my little girl!" She giggled and wrapped her arms around Jemmy and kissed her on her forehead.

As they got to the carnival, Bow blinked at how many people were already there. When they got out of the limo, she took hold of Jemmy's hand and walked to the line, getting behind a tall man with shaggy black hair with a girl that looked around 10 years old holding a little blue purse. Bow thought nothing of it and smiled happily down at Jemmy.

Jemmy smiled as she opened the door. She was wearing a simple blue dress and long white stockings. She held her red balloon by a ribbon. "Nope. I don't need anything...except for a hug."

When the car arrived, Rain made it sound like a big deal. Jemmy blinked. She didn't understand the significance of a limo. A car was a car, wasn't it? But Rain seemed excited, so Jemmy smiled. "It's really nice. Thank you." A short time later, they were in line, waiting eagerly to get into the carnival.

Just a few weeks ago, Jemmy would have sensed the magic coming from both Kyte and Rico. Back then, she would have recognized them immediately. But losing a sense she had relied upon, and the distraction of spending some quality time with Rain, had prevented Jemmy from realizing who stood just in front of her in line. All she saw was a finely dressed man and his young daughter.

Somewhere in the back of Jemmy's mind, she remembered that Rico would be about that old, as old as she herself appeared to be.

Jemmy looked up at Rain. "I think everyone should have a mommy like you. Don't worry, I won't let anyone eat the world." She looked puzzled for a moment. "Did I tell you about that? I fought a big fat guy who wanted to eat earth. I kicked him out, but he'll be back soon. Don't worry, though. He's a pushover. He was even getting beaten up by some humans." Jemmy looked up at her balloon, as if retelling the story to her familiar.

Rico felt some tension in her chest. There was something she wanted to ask her father. She started swinging her purse slowly back and forth. "Hey...Dad? I was wondering about school. I never really liked it. I don't like being around people my age. But, would you be willing to home school me? I know you're busy, but I'd really like that. Maybe you could even show me what you do for..."

She accidentally dropped her purse and panicked. The gun had a safety on it, so she wasn't worried about it going off. It just seemed like an unforgivable mistake to drop the gun her father had bought for her. Jemmy picked up the purse, and Rico resisted the urge to punch the girl in the face.

"Here you go," Jemmy handed Rico the purse, smiling.

"Oh, thank you." Rico's face turned red in embarrassment. "I'm just so excited. I've never been to the carnival before."

"I've been to a lot. They're really fun. I hope you have a good time."

Rico held out her hand for Jemmy to shake. "I'm Rico, by the way."

Jemmy smiled. She suddenly knew exactly who she was talking to: her own daughter, the girl Jemmy had created for the purpose of breaking Kyte's heart. Jemmy shook the hand. "Jemmy. Shivering Jemmy."

Bow held Jemmy's hand happily as they got in line and her heart fluttered when she said that everyone should have a mom like her. A light blush swept across her cheeks and she just about squeezed her little girl, until she started talking about someone eating the world. Her eyes went wide and when Jemmy asked if she had told her about it, Rain just slowly shook her head. When she got done, Bow actually looked angry and hugged her little girl tight as a tear slipped down her cheek. "Silly silly girl! That's what your phone is for! Next time anything like that happens you had better call me right away or else... or else... I-I'll punish you!!... somehow..." What she said was purely out of love and Jemmy would be able to tell right away that she was simply upset that she couldn't help her daughter when she really needed it.

Before she could say anything else, a small child in front of them dropped her purse and Jemmy reached down to get it. A smile emerged on Rain's face as she saw the little Lord of Chaos do something kind for another. Then she looked at her face and noticed how similar they looked. That's odd, but nothing out of the ordinary. It's been said that everyone has at least one other person in the world that looks like them, right? Then the girl said her name and Rain's eyes went wide and her heart almost froze. She looked down at Jemmy wondering what her reaction would be and sighed in relief as she saw the smile and returned handshake.

Then she saw the man standing next to Rico. He seemed familiar to her but she couldn't really place him, though she knew that must be Kyte, Rico's father. This day just got a lot more interesting. And hopefully for the better! Rain's wheels began to turn in her head as well and a bright smile stretched across her face as an idea formed in her mind.

When Kyte got defensive, Bow smiled softly and did the same to Jemmy, pulling her slightly behind and beside her, extending her hand for a shake from him. "Hello there, my name's Rain. It seems our two girls have already met... perhaps you two would like to spend the day with us? I'm sure it would be a lot of fun! The more the merrier, right?" *giggle* She hoped it would work. Maybe she could help them smooth things over. Or at least let the girls talk some more.

Jemmy only had time to nod at Rain's words before Rico dropped her purse. She had previously told Bow that she would call if she was ever in trouble. So why hadn't she called Bow when attacked by The Devourer and The Hat? Had it simply not come to mind? No, in both of those situations, the events had occurred too quickly for Jemmy to think of a good plan. She had stumbled on a good solution for The Devourer, but Hat was still a very real threat.

Rico frowned and tilted her head. Shivering Jemmy? That name sounded familiar. The creepy guy from the diner, the man without a face, had been looking for her. Rico agreed that this girl did look quite similar to herself, but didn't think much about that. It wasn't like they were long-lost identical twins or anything.

Kyte didn't instantly turn violent, which told Jemmy something very important: he had indeed come to love Rico. The little Lord of Chaos grinned a little wider. It had worked. Jemmy's set-up for her master plan had been successful. It felt good. Of course, she no longer wanted to carry out that plan to completion. Oh well, that was part of the territory associated with being a Lord of Chaos. At the very least, Jemmy was glad that her special day with Rain hadn't been interrupted.

Rain introduced herself to Kyte, and suggested that the four of them spend the day together. Jemmy wasn't sure how she felt about spending a day with Kyte, but she decided she wanted to use this opportunity to befriend her daughter, Rico. The girl deserved a friend. She deserved a real mother, too, but there was only so much Jemmy could provide.

And there was also something Jemmy wanted to ask Kyte. Something she would need to ask when neither Rain nor Rico were around.

"That's a great idea," Jemmy said. "I'm just here to have fun, Kyte. I guess that's the only reason I go anywhere, but I heard there were rides and the candy." Jemmy looked at Rico more closely, admiring how well her offspring had turned out. She wished that she could still sense magical energy, just to be able to feel how powerful Rico had become. "Who's this, Kyte? A friend of yours?"

"He's my dad," Rico said. Her eyes suddenly opened wide. She realized that she had been sensing a powerful magical aura this entire time. It had even overshadowed her father's aura. The magic was coming from this little smiling girl in front of her. Rico started to shake a little bit before fumbling for the zipper for her purse. "Dad, she's..."

"Well whoever she is, she's adorable." Jemmy suddenly moved forward and hugged Rico. "Let's be friends, okay?"

Rico held her breath. Jemmy wasn't acting violent at all, but with that much power she was a major threat. Rico looked to Kyte for guidance.

The girl had to bite her tongue when he said it wasn't a good idea. She couldn't tell him what she knew. That the child he was protecting so much was actually Jemmy's as well. With a sigh, she looked back to the crowd that was waiting and apologized quickly before moving up with Jemmy. As they approached their ticket booth, she smiled down to her little one and bent over to kiss her on the forehead. "That was definitely an interesting start to our day, huh? I'm sure he just needs a little more time... It's going to take some time to get used to the idea of his daughter being friends with someone that he considers an enemy, but, with a little patience and lots of smiles, anything is possible!"

With that, she picked her little girl up and set her on her shoulders as they walked into the carnival, laughing happily as she began to point out things they could do together. It was a bit unfortunate that Jemmy wasn't quite tall enough to ride all of the rides, but that wouldn't stop them from having an awesome day nonetheless! Bow saw the spinning tea cups and gasped as if she were the child here, which she technically was. She looked up at Jemmy on her shoulders bright eyes and glowing, literally. "Do you wanna go on those first!? They're my favorite..." Although they were indeed her favorite kiddy ride, she would be happy to do anything with her little girl.

Kyte said that he wasn't interested in sharing a day of play with his immortal nemesis. Jemmy snorted a laugh. Nemesis? Was a blade of grass the nemesis to a cow that ate it? She looked up at her balloon, a demon itself. Was this the face of something that could be called her nemesis?

Oh well, enough of her pride. It was time to have fun with Rain.

Rain was excited to ride on the tea-cups. Jemmy raised an eyebrow, surprised. "Sure. I don't think I've been on those before." In reality, she probably had been on such a ride hundreds of times. She just didn't remember any of those times.

Jemmy had felt a new emotion lately, melancholy. What was the point of having new experiences or doing fun things if she wasn't going to remember them? None of this would matter after a hundred years or so. Jemmy shook her head. Every time she started to think, she got sad. It was better to surround herself with distractions, to drown out all the things that didn't make sense.

The tea cups were fun. Jemmy laughed and cheered and screamed. She held on to Rain tightly. It was always much more fun to do things like this with a friend.

When they got off the teacups, Jemmy pointed at a roller coaster. "Can we do that? You're not afraid of heights, are you?" Jemmy flashed a teasing smile. She started running over to the line, which was astonishingly short. Maybe it had something to do with the green-faced people getting off of the ride, remarking how it was 'too much.' When Jemmy arrived at the infamous 'You must be this tall' sign, Rain would notice something strange. Jemmy was now tall enough to ride it. In fact, Jemmy looked like she was the same age as Rain. Her clothes had stretched to fit her new teenage body. Her orange eyes looked back at her mother, a sly grin still on her face. "Last chance to turn back."

Meanwhile, Rico and Kyte were enjoying the carnival as well. There were plenty of fun things to do around here, but there was one sign that drew Rico's eye: 'Test your Strength.' She started towards it, handed the man a ticket, and picked up the mallet. Gathering her inhuman might, she raised the mallet above her head and brought it crashing down...on the back of the target. The slider went up to the '2' mark, "Wimpy."

Rico frowned. She could lift a car. Why couldn't she do this? She had one more shot at this with her ticket, and she wanted to make it count. She wound up again.

The ticket-taker coughed something under his breath. "Hit the front." Rico looked over at him, confused. "Hit the front of the target. Cough." Revelation showed on Rico's face. She had hit the wrong part. Winding up again, she hit the very front of the target, sending the slider all the way up to hit the bell. "We have a winner, folks!" The man reached into a bucket and tossed Rico a caramel. Rico bit it in half and offered the other half to Kyte.

"Appetizer?" Rico caught a glimpse of Jemmy running towards the roller coaster. The girl had acted kind, but her father had still reacted so strongly against her. Rico wondered how this Shivering Jemmy knew her father. "You said that girl was your nemesis? But you're thousands of years old. She's like...ten. How can she be so strong? It's like feeling the heat from a volcano, and getting a sunburn from it. What did she do to you?"

Bow was about to tell Jemmy that she wasn't tall enough for the ride, but was pulled along into the line before she could say anything. And then she got distracted by all of the people coming off the rides that looked as if they about to puke and she bit her lip. But when she looked down at Jemmy, the grin on her child's face was too cute to crush and she just giggled. "This is gonna be great, huh!?" She was trying to quickly figure out a way to "stretch" the truth to get her baby on the ride with her. Bow was positive that Jemmy could handle it, the people running that park just didn't realize that.

As soon as she thought of something clever, she looked back at the girl standing next to her and blinked to see in her eyes without moving her head. It took her a second to realize that it was Jemmy, but when she did she went wide eyed, and had a grin to match. "Perfect!! Now we look like sisters~" She giggled and wrapped her arms around her Jemmy before seeing that it was their turn to get on. She flashed Jemmy a bright smile and held her hand. "You ready~??"

The pink haired girl had a green face to clash when walking off the ride. How did that thing even get in here?? It was obviously the most dangerous in the entire park. Bow shook her head and slapped her cheeks a bit to get her color back to normal before spinning around and smiling at her daughter once more with her hands on her hips happily. "Well now that you're tall enough for everything! What do you wanna ride next??" She had completely forgotten about Kyte and Rico.

Jemmy laughed as she got off the roller coaster. She noticed Rain's face turning green for a bit, and wondered why that was happening. A few moments later, though, Rain seemed fine. When asked what she wanted to ride next, Jemmy spun around and pointed at the roller coaster they had just gotten off of.

"Let's do this one again!"

Rico listened quietly as Kyte told her all these things. It was uncomfortable to look her father in the eyes when he got this serious, so she looked down at the ground. He asked if she understood, and Rico nodded. "Don't worry, Dad. I'll stay away from her." She grinned wide, for a brief moment looking a lot like Shivering Jemmy herself. "But we can still have fun here right now, can't we?"

Rico did indeed enjoy the rest of her day, though that short moment might have remained in Kyte's mind. It could not be ignored that his daughter and the woman he hated more than anything shared certain similarities...


The End.