Post by Helia Hawke on May 2, 2005 14:57:09 GMT -5
“Hey, the unicorn said again cheerily, would you like some bread? It’s fresh. I just made it.”
“Perhaps,” Tomoe thought to herself, “my mind isn’t as clear as I thought. Maybe this is just one of those very vivid dreams. Perhaps I am still drunk.” She said this last phrase aloud, but muttered to herself. She doubted the Unicorn could have heard her.
The unicorn pushed the plate of bread toward Tomoe with it’s nose… “Go ahead” it said cheerily, “try some. Its great!”
“How odd” Tomoe thought to herself…not that it was odd to be offered some fresh made bread. She rather liked that prospect anyway. Not even that it was a unicorn who had offered it to her…and this time…it wasn’t even that odd that the unicorn had offered it in Helia’s voice…for after the initial shock, it seemed somehow…well…ok. What was odd, Tomoe thought as she took a big bite of bread, washing it down with a large gulp of coffee, was that the unicorn had been able to bake the bread in the first place. After all, all it had was hooves, a mouth and a horn. Tomoe didn’t think she could manage it all with it’s horn and she didn’t even want to THINK which of the other two appendages the unicorn had managed to somehow bake the bread with.
Tomoe stared at the unicorn intently for awhile. Talking through a large mouth of what turned out to be absolutely delicious bread, she asked, “How did you do that? And by the way. This is the best bread I have ever tasted.”
Tomoe was waiting for an answer, when the unicorn, obviously being distracted by the book it was reading, waved it’s horn…and the page turned…by itself. It laughed again…again in Helia’s voice…and looked up with a chuckle….
“Hmm?” the unicorn said, “how did I do what?”
“Never mind,” Tomoe said, “ I think I have it figured out already.”
“Oh, Ok” the unicorn replied casually and went back to it’s reading.
It was then that Tomoe noticed the rather largish wooden machine occupying a major portion of the kitchen. She wondered for the briefest of moments while she hadn’t noticed it before; then decided not to berate herself for the fact that a talking unicorn had distracted her attention. The unicorn noticed that Tomoe was staring at the machine and spoke again…
“Isn’t it great? It’s a flour mill. I just bought it from Dusti down the road. She made it herself! And…as you can see…and taste…it makes GREAT flour.”
Now Tomoe found herself having to agree with the unicorn, for the proof, as they say, of the pudding is in the eating…or in this case…the proof of the bread. It wasn’t because of the fact that it was a unicorn that had made the statement, but the simple fact that this was INDEED the best bread she had ever eaten in all her life.
“It sure is…” Tomoe said trailing off distractedly.
The unicorn looked back at Tomoe with a puzzled look on its face, if indeed, a unicorn face can be said to have a puzzled look….which Tomoe would have definitely said it was, if she was in any mood for arguing the point which at the moment she wasn’t. But the fact that the unicorn was talking and, obviously worried seemed to make the whole issue moot. Tomoe stood there…her thoughts not just swimming around in her head…but now they seemed to be running amok…
“Are you ok?” the unicorn asked.
Tomoe looked up. The look on her face was somewhat reflective of the shock that would have been expressed had she found feces floating in the punchbowl at last nights party….had there been a punch bowl…which there wasn’t….but instead there had been copious amounts of ale…which Tomoe thought might yet be the cause for all that had transpired in the kitchen…
“NO!” Tomoe yelled, then quieted her voice a level when she realized she was yelling. She repeated herself a bit quieter this time. “No. I am not alright. There is a unicorn in my kitchen…and not just a unicorn…a laughing unicorn…which is not half so bad as the fact that it is laughing in Helia’s voice! … and…by the way….(here Tomoe’s voice trailed off in a sort of matter of fact way)….Helia is not going to be pleased that you are messing about in her kitchen…”
All to which the unicorn laughed all the louder and more disconcertingly.
“…and just WHAT” Tomoe shot back, somewhat recovering her composure, “is so funny?”
“Well, said the unicorn. At first it was the book. Then, of course, your reaction to a unicorn in the kitchen, which…after last night’s party…I am surprised you even noticed; let alone be able to find your way down to the kitchen in the first place.”
“Helia?” Tomoe asked cautiously, as if the wrong answer would result in some terrible misfortune, other than, of course, losing her mind if the answer was positive.
“Yes?”
Tomoe waited for a moment. Does losing your mind have a feeling? A sound? If you have lost your mind how do you even know in the first place because…of course…you have just lost your mind and…having lost it…you have no mind to know that it is gone.
“Nope” said Tomoe aloud.
“Yes” I am, replied the unicorn.
“No, not that, No to the fact that I haven’t lost my mind and you are definitely still here…and…it seems…really are Helia. You are Helia aren’t you?”
“I sure am” replied Helia, now a unicorn. “isn’t it great?”
“I suppose so, replied Tomoe, that is…if you enjoy being a unicorn I suppose….and just how did you manage that in the first place?”
“Oh…it was simple once I found it in the book here” Helia replied, waving her horn. Upon which the book floated across the room and into Tomoe’s hands.
“This book? Said Tomoe, forgetting for a moment that Helia was a unicorn…and more intent on just what this wondrous book was that could change people into a unicorn. You turned yourself into a unicorn with this book?”
“Oh heavens no” came the reply, “I turned myself into a unicorn with a place this book lead me to.”
Tomoe looked at the large book that took both hands to hold steady. She flipped through the pages wordlessly…Helia looked at the book as well and explained…
“That is the accounting that mom wrote of her adventures for me. Long ago, it seemed she found a rune in a castle near Brit in the land we all came from originally. It lead to a place where you could touch a stone, and with a thought, turn yourself into something else….dragons, balrons, fairies…a lot of things…including….obviously…unicorns.”
Tomoe looked up from the book.
“Really?” She asked. “Is the change permanent?”
“Don’t know” Helia replied, “…guess we will find out eh?”
“Yep….” Tomoe said looking at Helia with a grin.
“Yep what?”
“Yep…” Tomoe continued, “You are a chip off the old block….you are crazier than a loon…just like your mother was. You turned yourself into a unicorn and don’t even know if it’s permanent? Did you go out like this?”
“Sure,” Helia replied with a smile, Where do you think the flour mill came from? As strong as I was in my old body, do you think I could have carried it over here on my best day?”
“…and Dusti SAW you like this? You Spoke to her as a unicorn?”
“Sure” Helia replied perkily.
“What did she say?”
“She wanted to know how to do it herself,” Helia said plainly.
Tomoe paused for a moment. Thought. Then looked back at Helia….
“…and just what is so funny about all this in the book?” She asked.
“Oh, replied Helia, it isn’t the whole change yourself into a unicorn thing that is so funny. It was the whole Kermit the Frog thing.”
“Kermit the frog?” Tomoe asked.
“Sure,” came the reply, “Kermit the frog.”
“THE actual Kermit the Frog?”
“Yep. THE actual Kermit the frog. In the flesh…well…in the green flesh.”
Both women, forgetting the whole change yourself into something else for the moment, launched into a conversation about a journey that Tatsumi had once taken to meet Kermit the Frog. Tomoe laughed ranking it right up there with the famous “Troll house cookies” incident. Both women laughed loudly, whiling away the morning, remembering old times and old friends….
“Perhaps,” Tomoe thought to herself, “my mind isn’t as clear as I thought. Maybe this is just one of those very vivid dreams. Perhaps I am still drunk.” She said this last phrase aloud, but muttered to herself. She doubted the Unicorn could have heard her.
The unicorn pushed the plate of bread toward Tomoe with it’s nose… “Go ahead” it said cheerily, “try some. Its great!”
“How odd” Tomoe thought to herself…not that it was odd to be offered some fresh made bread. She rather liked that prospect anyway. Not even that it was a unicorn who had offered it to her…and this time…it wasn’t even that odd that the unicorn had offered it in Helia’s voice…for after the initial shock, it seemed somehow…well…ok. What was odd, Tomoe thought as she took a big bite of bread, washing it down with a large gulp of coffee, was that the unicorn had been able to bake the bread in the first place. After all, all it had was hooves, a mouth and a horn. Tomoe didn’t think she could manage it all with it’s horn and she didn’t even want to THINK which of the other two appendages the unicorn had managed to somehow bake the bread with.
Tomoe stared at the unicorn intently for awhile. Talking through a large mouth of what turned out to be absolutely delicious bread, she asked, “How did you do that? And by the way. This is the best bread I have ever tasted.”
Tomoe was waiting for an answer, when the unicorn, obviously being distracted by the book it was reading, waved it’s horn…and the page turned…by itself. It laughed again…again in Helia’s voice…and looked up with a chuckle….
“Hmm?” the unicorn said, “how did I do what?”
“Never mind,” Tomoe said, “ I think I have it figured out already.”
“Oh, Ok” the unicorn replied casually and went back to it’s reading.
It was then that Tomoe noticed the rather largish wooden machine occupying a major portion of the kitchen. She wondered for the briefest of moments while she hadn’t noticed it before; then decided not to berate herself for the fact that a talking unicorn had distracted her attention. The unicorn noticed that Tomoe was staring at the machine and spoke again…
“Isn’t it great? It’s a flour mill. I just bought it from Dusti down the road. She made it herself! And…as you can see…and taste…it makes GREAT flour.”
Now Tomoe found herself having to agree with the unicorn, for the proof, as they say, of the pudding is in the eating…or in this case…the proof of the bread. It wasn’t because of the fact that it was a unicorn that had made the statement, but the simple fact that this was INDEED the best bread she had ever eaten in all her life.
“It sure is…” Tomoe said trailing off distractedly.
The unicorn looked back at Tomoe with a puzzled look on its face, if indeed, a unicorn face can be said to have a puzzled look….which Tomoe would have definitely said it was, if she was in any mood for arguing the point which at the moment she wasn’t. But the fact that the unicorn was talking and, obviously worried seemed to make the whole issue moot. Tomoe stood there…her thoughts not just swimming around in her head…but now they seemed to be running amok…
“Are you ok?” the unicorn asked.
Tomoe looked up. The look on her face was somewhat reflective of the shock that would have been expressed had she found feces floating in the punchbowl at last nights party….had there been a punch bowl…which there wasn’t….but instead there had been copious amounts of ale…which Tomoe thought might yet be the cause for all that had transpired in the kitchen…
“NO!” Tomoe yelled, then quieted her voice a level when she realized she was yelling. She repeated herself a bit quieter this time. “No. I am not alright. There is a unicorn in my kitchen…and not just a unicorn…a laughing unicorn…which is not half so bad as the fact that it is laughing in Helia’s voice! … and…by the way….(here Tomoe’s voice trailed off in a sort of matter of fact way)….Helia is not going to be pleased that you are messing about in her kitchen…”
All to which the unicorn laughed all the louder and more disconcertingly.
“…and just WHAT” Tomoe shot back, somewhat recovering her composure, “is so funny?”
“Well, said the unicorn. At first it was the book. Then, of course, your reaction to a unicorn in the kitchen, which…after last night’s party…I am surprised you even noticed; let alone be able to find your way down to the kitchen in the first place.”
“Helia?” Tomoe asked cautiously, as if the wrong answer would result in some terrible misfortune, other than, of course, losing her mind if the answer was positive.
“Yes?”
Tomoe waited for a moment. Does losing your mind have a feeling? A sound? If you have lost your mind how do you even know in the first place because…of course…you have just lost your mind and…having lost it…you have no mind to know that it is gone.
“Nope” said Tomoe aloud.
“Yes” I am, replied the unicorn.
“No, not that, No to the fact that I haven’t lost my mind and you are definitely still here…and…it seems…really are Helia. You are Helia aren’t you?”
“I sure am” replied Helia, now a unicorn. “isn’t it great?”
“I suppose so, replied Tomoe, that is…if you enjoy being a unicorn I suppose….and just how did you manage that in the first place?”
“Oh…it was simple once I found it in the book here” Helia replied, waving her horn. Upon which the book floated across the room and into Tomoe’s hands.
“This book? Said Tomoe, forgetting for a moment that Helia was a unicorn…and more intent on just what this wondrous book was that could change people into a unicorn. You turned yourself into a unicorn with this book?”
“Oh heavens no” came the reply, “I turned myself into a unicorn with a place this book lead me to.”
Tomoe looked at the large book that took both hands to hold steady. She flipped through the pages wordlessly…Helia looked at the book as well and explained…
“That is the accounting that mom wrote of her adventures for me. Long ago, it seemed she found a rune in a castle near Brit in the land we all came from originally. It lead to a place where you could touch a stone, and with a thought, turn yourself into something else….dragons, balrons, fairies…a lot of things…including….obviously…unicorns.”
Tomoe looked up from the book.
“Really?” She asked. “Is the change permanent?”
“Don’t know” Helia replied, “…guess we will find out eh?”
“Yep….” Tomoe said looking at Helia with a grin.
“Yep what?”
“Yep…” Tomoe continued, “You are a chip off the old block….you are crazier than a loon…just like your mother was. You turned yourself into a unicorn and don’t even know if it’s permanent? Did you go out like this?”
“Sure,” Helia replied with a smile, Where do you think the flour mill came from? As strong as I was in my old body, do you think I could have carried it over here on my best day?”
“…and Dusti SAW you like this? You Spoke to her as a unicorn?”
“Sure” Helia replied perkily.
“What did she say?”
“She wanted to know how to do it herself,” Helia said plainly.
Tomoe paused for a moment. Thought. Then looked back at Helia….
“…and just what is so funny about all this in the book?” She asked.
“Oh, replied Helia, it isn’t the whole change yourself into a unicorn thing that is so funny. It was the whole Kermit the Frog thing.”
“Kermit the frog?” Tomoe asked.
“Sure,” came the reply, “Kermit the frog.”
“THE actual Kermit the Frog?”
“Yep. THE actual Kermit the frog. In the flesh…well…in the green flesh.”
Both women, forgetting the whole change yourself into something else for the moment, launched into a conversation about a journey that Tatsumi had once taken to meet Kermit the Frog. Tomoe laughed ranking it right up there with the famous “Troll house cookies” incident. Both women laughed loudly, whiling away the morning, remembering old times and old friends….