Baby Express

1: Parting from Home

"You don't have to keep following me around" Void gasped to the air in front of herself, exasperated "I don't need a baby sitter!" She trotted swiftly through the grass, clearly making her way back to the Fourth Wall, which would teleport her to Loonia. Blanche, the little Cursed loon she'd been caring for, bobbled slightly back and forth from her place between the black loon's shoulders. She carefully raised herself, making sure to sway correctly so that she didn't tumble to the ground, and stepped towards Void's tail-end. From there, she peered down at the so-called "baby sitters". A quadruplet of melanoid loonlings around Blanche's age frolicked behind them, giggling and nipping at Void's heels.

"Give us a ride, too!" Bonemaw called up cheerily

"No, take us on an adventure!" Lady, a black and white spotted child, interrupted him by clumsily crashing into him, nearly causing them both to lose pace with the much faster adult 

"You couldn't handle adventure" Void hissed coyly, turning her head back enough to enable her to smirk at the tiny crowd. The loonlings squealed and rushed forwards to try and grab onto her lowered face

"You're taking her!" Glade pointed out Blanche's presence after ensuring she wasn't capable of leaping onto Void's back unassisted

"She's my apprentice." The black loon raised her head proudly. Blanche felt four sets of eyes turn towards her and flushed. Sheepishly, she slunk away from their line of sight, curling up on Void's back. Still, she couldn't help but feel some pride amongst the flattery as the gaggle of loonlings cooed in awe

The procession cleared the hill that let to the portal. Up ahead, the air shimmered ever so slightly if you squinted in the right places. Void hadn't managed to shake the cluster of young children on the way there. They still were underfoot, pleading to play games and explore and such "Get ready" she whispered to Blanche, anticipating the two of them disappearing through the portal to be enough to frighten the admirers away. Blanche tightened her grip in response. Deftly, Void leapt into the air and vanished cleanly into the Fourth Wall, stopping the four kids in their tracks, their mouths agape

"Look at me! I'm a ghost!" Swan suddenly announced and tried to follow Void into what she thought was some sort of invisibility field. The other loonlings cheered, courage restored, and chased after her

2: Forested Area. 392 words

Void and Blanche had approximately one minute of quiet to themselves before the four melanoids tumbled into Loonia behind them, falling in a tangled pile on the sparse grass. Void was forced to stop walking off, as she'd already begun to do. She was technically the adult here. If she went and got a bunch of babies lost in the woods, she'd never hear the end of it

"Come on, come on. This way." She announced after deciding the loonlings were wasting too much time looking around in shock "Haven't you seen a portal before?"

"A what?" Glade peeped, but her question wasn't answered. Void just rolled her eyes

"Get up. We're going somewhere." She motioned with her tail for the little ones to come close, which they eagerly did (only slightly slowed down by still-stunned glances) "If you get lost I'm taking you right back to Venus." All four gasped in response to such a punishment

"Nooo!" Bone wailed "She'll keep us inside and make us take naps!"

"Well, then, you'd better watch yourselves." She replied simply, turning to face the way she had been going before being interrupted. The melanoids carefully got in a line behind her, following along like a row of ducklings

The six of them walked the edge of the treeline, slowly making their way around the wide, grassy clearing in the center. Swan and Lady tried to run off to play amongst the green a couple times, but came scampering back when they received scathing looks from their guardian. Instead of taking her usual path off to the Toulon jungle, Void soon turned deeper into the woods until the only light came as dappling through the pine needles. While the loonlings started to glance among themselves as if they were worried they wouldn't be able to find their way back (even Blanche), the black loon continued to strut onward without so much as a single pause

After a while, the stones that scattered the area started to come together into a thin path of sandy-colored brick. It wound through the trunks until the sky started to become clear again. Short walls cropped up beside the trail, herding in would-be travelers. The forest around them flattened into only the occasional pine or beech. What was more interesting to the little group, though, was the plaza up ahead

3: Populated Area

Loons and their companions walked the series of circular areas, interconnected by small paths and held together with the little walls. Tall poles rose up from the ground, holding strings of lanterns overhead for when night fell. The bricks underfoot took on different colors, making an array of patterns. Strange creatures flew overhead and prowled alongside the strolling crowd of Evoloons. But the most eye-catching part of the scene were the many archways of varying sizes, each holding a wobbling field of light that took on a different texture or color. Every now and again, a loon or creature would duck into one and disappear.

Void formed an indent in herself that allowed Blanche to slide to the ground where the other young loons were looking on in awe. Blanche, not totally ready for the interaction, stumbled shyly, but she didn't have anything to worry about. The melanoids weren't really paying attention to her. Still, she crept close to Void's legs, hoping they would leave the bustling place soon.

"Come on." Void reminded Glade, Bone, Lady, and Swan who had all started to slowly drift away from her "We don't need you tripping people." The loonlings regathered themselves, but looked mostly reluctant to do so. They quickly resumed being distracted. Void had to clear her throat loudly to get them to realize she had begun to walk away

Once the little loons were in a more comfortable range and she'd shifted how her shoulders worked so that Blanche could walk beneath her without causing her to stumble, Void made her way effortlessly though the gathering of strangers. Despite all the different colors, upgrades, and creatures present, she seemed fairly disinterested. She shepherded her gaggle of children down what seemed to be random pathways, gradually taking them away from the noise of the main plazas.

Finally, Blanche sighed in relief to herself, they were off by themselves. The loudest thing was the wind sweeping through the leaves in the distance. She raised her head from its down-turned position so see Void stride over head head, strutting through a plaza empty except for them and the melanoids

4: Cold Area

The rounded cobbles were decorated with a variety of archways like those in the busier plazas. They swirled and popped mysteriously "Do we go in?" Lady finally asked after excitedly doing several laps of the area with the other loonlings. Void simply nodded from her place where she'd taken up residence waiting for them to burn off some excess energy. The melanoids shared several looks of wonder

"Which one?" Bone stepped forward to ask, his eyes sparking

"I don't know." Void tossed her hair casually "Why don't you pick?" Bone immediately peeped in response, shocked he had been given such a task. The other young loons looked at him with slacked jaws before they began bouncing around, calling out which archway they thought he should step through. Void resisted rolling her eyes as their energy seemed to have returned in full.

Eventually, the stampede of babies settled in front of a portal still and clear as glass, but much more silver. They whispered among themselves before Glade raised her head above the others and called "He says this one!" Bone looked initially frazzled, but quickly nodded in agreement

"Alright, then." Void swept to her feet, motioning for Blanche to draw closer, which she did. She ensured the smaller loon didn't hesitate too much as the two of them neared the others "Head on through."

"Us first?" Swan squeaked, eyes wide

"Yes." Void said before lowering her head and full-on shoving Swan through with her nose

"Swan!!" Lady cried, as if the other loon had vanished, and valiantly leapt through the pane, which rippled slightly when touched. Void sighed, exasperated, as this process repeated with each loonling. After the procession had made it through, the shadowy loon padded through the pane without hesitation. Startled by this, Blanche quickly hopped to do the same

There was an intimidate shock as snow crunched up between her paws, making her draw in a harsh breath that stung her nose and lungs. Alongside that, the world around her was a white haze compared to the lush environment she'd just stepped from. The snow wasn't as bright as it could be, lingering beneath strange, twisted trees that cast deep-blue shadows, but she still stood there blinking to herself.

Her shock was suspended as her vision blanked out thanks to a snowball being thrown at her face. Blanche nearly tumbled back through the portal she'd stepped through to the ambiance of Glade cackling. Cheeks burning, Blanche meekly pawed the icy crystals from her narrow muzzle. Without looking to see that Swan had playfully leapt at the other loonling, in turn submerging her face in the white fluff, slunk off the the shelter of Void's figure.

"Come on, hobgoblins." Void raised her voice over the growing chatter of the melanoids "We ain't here to put up with winter. Off we go."

5: Watery Area

Travel through the chilly area was swift, as Void clearly intended it to be. The younger loons struggled to keep up with her pace, but she'd keep them scrambling to do their best with meager verbal encouragement. Mainly she just announced that they'd better not get lost in the snow, lest she'd have to pick up a new baby on the way home to replace them.

Eventually, the snow started to thin despite the shade overhead doing its best to keep the stuff in place. It grew lighter and frostier until the ground couldn't support it anymore. Tough, weedy looking grass cropped up from the melted holes between drifts and eventually overtook the whole of the area, pushing the trees back into their own territory. This delighted the melanoids, who quickly made a game of trying to keep up with Void and Blanche by hopping from puddle to puddle. Yet, the method of travel didn't work for very long.

Lady let out a high pitched squeal as the ground became more mud than anything else. The loonlings around her jumped away in shock as she plunked all the way up to her shoulders in dark goop

"Quicksand!!" Bone cried out in distress as Lady struggled in vain to get her paws back up on solid ground

"Hurry!" Glade called, lunging forward to take one of Lady's ears in her mouth and trying to yank her out by it. This, obviously, did not work and only resulted in more squealing and crying from the trapped loon. For some reason, Swan took up Lady's other ear, as if this would better the situation. Bone began looking distressed about the fact that there was nothing for him to bite too

"Stop that!" Void spun and started to stride over, materializing hands that she swished in shooing motions. The 'helping' loonlings shared nervous glances before pointedly digging in their heels, as if they were preforming some heroic action and should not be stopped. Void made a sound in her throat "Blanche, crowd control, please?"

If the cursed loon hadn't already have stopped, she would have frozen. Void could easily deal with the situation by herself via conjuring up more limbs, but she'd given her the chance to do so instead...! At the same time, getting too near the rowdy children made her nervous... Gulping (or doing her best approximation without a mouth), she riled up her courage and lowered her head into butting position

6: Arid Area

Five loonlings in various states of being caked in mud lie on a "tail" Void had fashioned them out of herself so that they didn't have to walk anymore. They were drug along the ground and subject to various rocks and bumps, but the mud situation just over an hour prior had been so woefully disastrous that it'd left even the melanoids sapped. As it was, Glade and Bone had managed to fall asleep. Lady, Swan, and Blanche were left panting under the now-blazing sun and trying to clean what remained of their mud husks off themselves.

The trek out of the puddle area, which had quickly become 'swamp area' instead, transformed the ground into a dry, gritty desert. All moisture had dwindled out of it before abruptly stopping at a strange border, enforced by a fence in a state of intense disrepair. Initially, the procession had been quite pleased to escape the murk, but the constant heat quickly changed their minds. Huge pillars of rock jutted up into the sky, towering hundreds of feet overhead. They offered some meager shade, but Void didn't seem too interested in deterring her path just to walk beneath them. She marched on, fairly silent for herself

They were at no risk of dehydration or real overheating, as Void could very easily conjure up enough water for the whole of them. However, the (still awake) loons were pretty sure she could be making better use of her magic... Instead of keeping cool, her primary concern seemed to be simply speed-walking over the whole craggy plane in front of them, which seemed to have no beginning and no end.

"Do you know where we're going?" Lady finally whispered to Blanche after chucking a large clump of dried mud off into the moving sea of orange-yellow. Blanche realized that she'd have to shake her head. She'd simply been traveling along with the adult loon. There was nothing saying their journey would take them to the Fourth Wall -and at that- Loonia and...whatever this place was.

"Bummer." The black-and-white loonling sighed wistfully, taking up a longing stare at the sky "This is kind of boring now."

7: Ending
Predictably, the loonlings hitching a ride on Void's tail had begun to get a bit stir-crazy (except for Blanche). Glade and Bone had woken from their naps and seemed to have nothing better to do than roll around boredly. Swan had started to bite ears and toes in hopes of provoking a reaction out of someone, but her peers seemed somewhat grumpy in response. Lady had already pushed her away a few times and was starting to get snappy, which Swan figured was better than nothing. Blanche began to worry that they'd get into a fight that would have them rolling off their platform, but everyone's attention was suddenly drawn by a voice from their chaperone

"A-hah!" It was a short, simple sound, but it immediately had five pairs of eyes peeking around her long legs, looking eagerly for what provoked such a reaction. Up ahead, the young loons had neglected to notice, was a lush oasis. However, where one would expect bright greens, there were only pinks. Void quickly altered her path, making for the strange, coral-colored grass that seemed to sway in an invisible wind.

"A-hah?" Glade piped up after hopping from Void's tail and starting to sprint ahead

"Yes." Void said, arcing her head proudly "Nobody's been here before."

"How can you tell?" Bone peeped from her other side, also walking on his own again

"I can." She said simply before withdrawing her tail back into herself, dumping the loons still sitting on it to the ground. Her next steps took her into the pinpoint of pink jungle where she quickly disappeared into the foliage.

Started, Blanche, Swan, and Lady scrambled to their feet and tried not to get lost in the desert behind them, which quickly was becoming eerie with just them there. Thankfully, the world around them was so quiet it took no effort at all to hear the other three disturbing the animated blades of grass.

Blanche was all too eager to return to the safety of Void's side. She took up an uncharacteristic run, but wasn't really able to see where she was going. As it was, the grass reached over her head in most places. It was no surprise that she caught her leg on something and was sent flying forwards. She hit the ground with a muffled 'oomph' and, to her dismay, realized the others were looking at her. The probability of all five of them seeing her land on her face was very low, but somehow it'd happened. Before she could hide her face in shame, Void stopped her by announcing "Perfect, Blanche!"

This was, of course, very confusing. The cursed loon lay still for a moment, baffled, as Void strode closer. Spawning a hand, she gently picked Blanche up and set her on her paws as if she weighed nothing, while at the same time walking past her. Spinning her head, Blanche caught sight of what she'd tripped on. A large egg, pattered with the texture of tree bark, lay peacefully in the grass. Stunned, she watched as Void made more hands and scooped up the thing before turning to her, beaming, and announcing "That's my girl!" Behind her, the melanoids cooed in awe. Blanche wasn't sure if she felt honored or flustered, but either way, she felt a smile forming on her face. Well...sort of.