13 Riverside Drive

"Just a disaster in the kitchen."

Alden remarks with a wry grin, responding to Moon's question. This of course prompts a chorus of protests from the children. Who are quite insistent that thing went perfectly. The children on the chair enjoyed their snuggles from auntie Moon. Meanwhile the children on the love seat gaze with wide eyes at the key. When the questions is posed it is met with silence. Then after a moment one of them responds. It is Kae or Caleb it was nearly impossible to tell them apart.

"Some kind of monster?"

The other boy brightens at this, with little ooo, oooing noises.

"Like a drider!"

Little Naokie is quite and thoughtful for a minute, then hesitantly.

"A piece of siege weaponry? Like a ballista?"

It wasn't a perfect fit though. You could count the crew as being the legs, and it had arms, but not usually armor or claws really.

At each offered solution, Naoki shakes her head to indicate the negative, grin widening each time. After it seems as if the children have offered as many solutions as they have for the moment, Naoki continues, “I’ll give you a hint- just one for free. More will cost you.”

Her last statement is accompanied by a mischievous sort of smirk before Naoki proceeds to the hint itself, “It’s something that can be seen here in Isra very regularly, traveling in groups. But not by the lazy, and not by vampires.”

Smart little Naok may have been, but she was still a child. The moment the key was offered the little girl scampered over to the chest. Her two companions in tow. It didn't take her long to realize she'd need a second key. This produced a pout until Lady Naoki spoke. Then the girl was back at her larger counterparts side. Then a moment later in her lap.

"You have it! Probably in a pocket!"

The little girl declares as she begins to try and search Naoki. Little hands clumsily patting at the woman. The two boys resumed their place on the couch and Moon Moon had decided to join them. The little girl now very curious as to what was in the box. Juney and Rawr Rawr though seemed content to stay with Moon. Indeed the two quiet children seemed to be drifting off. Alden observed all of these antics with a calm eye.

As her namesake returns and crawls up into her lap, Naoki watches quietly, offering no solution. However, as the little hands begin to explore her body, searching for a pocket that doesn’t exist, Lady Naoki begins to giggle- in a very unladylike and obviously uncontrolled manner. Whether this laughter is born of amusement, joy, or pure ticklishness is hard to say.

Regardless, Little Naoki would find that Lady Naoki’s sweaterdress has no pockets, the neck of it coming up far enough to preclude even an improvised pocket. However, Lady Naoki is quick to put a stop to her shenanigans, grasping Little Naoki under the armpits and hoisting her up in the air, holding her just high enough so that her feet dangle just above Naoki’s thighs.

Holding her there for a moment, Naoki eyes the child with only the lightest touch of sternness layered atop her otherwise quite pleased expression. “Now, you. It’s not in my pocket, and it’s impolite to grope people without first acquiring their consent. You should strive to be more ladylike.”

This, of course, coming from Naoki of all people, who could debatably be labeled as a Professional Groper and who had only moments ago been giggling uncontrollably as if she were the toddler.

With that, Naoki sets the child down in her lap again, and places her right hand atop her head to keep her still for a moment. Finding her fingers in a prime position to do so, Naoki The Larger begins to scratch at the back of Little Naoki’s ears in the manner in which she herself finds it most pleasing to be scratched.

“The key,” Naoki begins, reaching out her left hand over toward the nearest twin (either Kae or Caleb, she can’t quite tell), “Is in here,” she finishes, pointing to one of their ears. Without offering any further explanation, she begins to scratch at that ear. Moments later, a second silver key drops, not from the scratched ear, but rather Naoki’s hand, but that would be somewhat difficult to see due to the sleight of hand involved, especially for he who is being scratched. However, in reality, it was literally up Naoki's sleeve. The key lands on the sofa to Naoki’s left, to the right of the twin and directly before Naoki The Smaller.

The second key is more or less identical to the first, save for the fact that its patterns are considerably varied, enough so to tell them apart easily enough. It would fit in the second lock, and once inserted, both keys would be able to be turned, and chest lid would open. The chest lid, one would find, has two braces that extend as the chest is being opened and slot into grooves to prevent the lid from closing until they are both disengaged. Additionally, some manner of precaution- perhaps in the construction of the hinges, has been taken to ensure that the lid is incapable of closing too quickly or too forcefully, and thus, ought not to pose a danger to any little fingers. And even beyond that, within the chest, a small disengage lever for the locks is present, to prevent anyone getting trapped inside.

However, as for the actual contents of the chest, the first items one would see would be six little boxes. Small, square, wooden boxes that seem quite similar to the chest in their construction and style, each being detailed with a similar, but not identical geometric print and hewn of the same wood. On the top of each box, a name has been printed in relief to identify the owner. Six children, six names, six boxes.

Each box opens without a key, and inside, one would find a small collection of items. Along the left side, in a specially designated compartment of the box, quills. Four quills, of varying types. One white and plush, one bright and vibrantly blue, another red tinged with yellow around the edges, and the last simply brown. Next to that, two square bottles filled with ink sit corked, one filled with black ink and the other with a deep blue. Next to those, a small, bluish sort of leather bound book only large enough to fit in one’s hand. The cover of each book is printed similarly, with ‘[Child Name]’s Address Book’. Within the book, a number of pre-lined pages sit prepared to accept addresses. Above the address book, another, similarly constructed but larger crimson tome rests. They are titled, ‘[Child Name]’s Journal’. As one might expect, the interior of each journal is empty. Beneath all of this, resting in the bottom of each box, a sizeable stack of blank parchment sits adjacent to an equal number of envelopes. Lastly, to fill out the small bit of remaining space in the box, a small wrapped chocolate has been included.

Once the boxes of writing supplies are removed, the contents of the chest beneath them would become visible. That is to say, the books. The remainder of the chest, laid three layers thick, is filled with books. A rough estimate would see two hundred or so tomes in there, neatly stacked and all matching, apparently from the same publisher. The color of their covers range from blue to red, through purple. On the spine of the majority of the books, in addition to the title, a single letter is printed. It isn’t immediately apparent what the letters mean. They may not be in order.

Taking one out to examine it, one would find that the title of each book is handwritten in curvy script on the cover, along with the name of the author, and the words ‘Copied by Madame Naoki’. Within each book, one would find, as one might expect, the patterns of ink that literate individuals so often interpret as words and thoughts. Interestingly enough, however, it would seem as if, (as stated) Naoki herself has done the physical writing of each book in lieu of contracting a scribe.

The composition of the books is an interesting one, depending on how one might interpret it. It would seem to be a mixture of introductory books to certain core concepts, high level works in complex fields that ought to be far beyond the understanding of their intended audience, works of fiction, and books that seem only to be there as a means to teach the children skills they might utilise (harmlessly enough) to Alden’s irritation. A small, random sampling of their titles is as follows.

Modern Siege Weaponry: An Engineer’s Guide
Robin Hood
Level Nine Destructive Spells, 4th edition
Capital: Critique of Political Economy
How to See the World on Less Than Thirty Aaedanian Dollars a Day
How To Win Friends and Influence People
On the Genealogy of Morality
Become the Arrow: The Art of Archery
Applied Cryptography

Well Moon Moon had begun scribbling in the journal. Little Naoki had begun to deciphering _How to Make Friends and Influence People_. Still her larger counter part manages to catch her eye. The girl sets down the book and moves back to the loves eat. Resuming her seat in her larger counterparts lap. The little girl looks up expectantly, large brown eyes curious.

Well this is happening Alden gets up silently. Moving over to the chair he shakes Moon awake. Well a nap was in order he couldn't think of a better time for the private conversation. He'd take Raw Raw and Juney into his arms the children stirring only slightly. Once Moon was up he'd lay them back on the chair where they would cuddle up to continue sleeping. Then he'd lead Moon out of the room for a talk.

Watching the children set into their gifts, Naoki’s smile remains in place, she not bothering to hide it. Reflecting, she supposes that in a very roundabout sort of way, this is the sort of thing that she intended to do by climbing the metaphorical ladder as much as she has, and gathering such power. Using it to bring joy to others- small children included, is quite gratifying.

As Alden pokes Miss Moonflower awake and leaves the room with her, Naoki makes little of it, understanding the need to speak without fourteen pointed ears listening in. Her attention is mostly on the children, anyway.

As Little Naoki notices that Lady Naoki is watching her and immediately scampers over, Lady Naoki is somewhat surprised. She had expected the little one to be more fully engrossed in the book, and more unwilling to set it down. Perhaps she had just earned some points with the young one, Naoki muses. Looking down at the child in her lap, Naoki’s inquiry is simply stated. Or rather, whispered, “Well? What do you think?”