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Sandcastles and Fireworks	By : DarklingWillow & BronxWench Category: +M through R > Neverwinter Nights Views: 1524 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: We do not own Neverwinter Nights, nor the characters from it. We do not make any money from the writing of this story. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

Chapter List
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“They’re so aggressive here,” Yuji said as he watched the traffic through the front windshield, but when Sand asked if they were there yet, Yuji turned to look wide eyed at the raven elf, too stunned to respond.

In the back Kansas began to snigger, his small hand resting on the back of the seat in front of him, and his fingers curling lazily in Satoshi’s pine green hair, revealing the raven black underneath to match the heavy bangs, and the slender rose gold ring on his ring finger winked every time it caught the light.

Satoshi had been staring silently out the window. But now when he heard those four words from the elf’s mouth, the skin on the back of his neck prickled with goosebumps and they spread fast down all of his back, as he turned his head to look wide eyed at Sand.

Satoshi stared up into those dark indigo eyes, which felt so unnervingly familiar and made his heart do all sorts of silly things whenever he looked into them, and the elf seemed to grow a little uncomfortable as he stared back, a look that could only be called innocent on his face. Satoshi gave a small giggle, tried to stop himself, but the tiny movement of Sand’s eyebrow lifting in a silent question was too much, and Satoshi started to laugh. He laughed so hard that he had to gasp for air, and he grabbed his sides as he whined on the inhale, and then allowed his beautiful laughter to fill the car until both Kansas and Yuji were sniggering with him.

“That sounded a lot…” Yuji said, looking at Kansas, and the little imp laughed as he nodded his head.

“Ryuu, Ryuu to mattaku onajidatta,” he agreed in Japanese, and reached out to pat Satoshi’s head. “That was too adorable,” he added in English.

Satoshi waved a hand at the elf, to try and apologize, but he could not find air enough to speak, so he just crumbled into his seat and continued to laugh helplessly.

Sand looked at Vale, puzzled.

Vale looked back at Kansas. “Don’t mind Sand. He thinks anything other than walking should be instantaneous. He’s incredibly impatient, and someone did mention bones, and mummies, and old stuff. He gets all hot and bothered by old stuff.”

“It’s his…” Yuji started, but then bit his lip to stop himself, looking to the two Japanese men for a moment or two, then tried again. “One of his cousins. He’s only a little kid, and he always asks us, ‘are we there yet?’, almost the moment we move the car out of the driveway. Like, we’ve barely started moving, and he starts asking that.”

Satoshi’s laughter slowed, and he hiccuped as he finally caught his breath. “You sounded so much like him,” he managed to stutter between helpless giggles, and from the backseat Kansas agreed.

“You did, it sounded exactly like our cousin,” Kansas said, and twirled his fingers in the back of Satoshi’s hair. “I think Satoshi liked it.”

“Tatsuya, yamerou,” Satoshi cried out, and hiccuped one last time as he got his laughter under control, and he sat up a little straighter, but still leaned back far enough to let Kansas continue to play with his hair. “I’m sorry. You just sounded so much like Ryuu. It was the exact same tone he uses. And it’s just considered a very childish thing to say, in our world. Because adults are supposed to know better, while children don’t really have a concept of travel time, or traffic, or anything like that.”

“Is it still far, Finn-san?” Yuji asked their driver in the front seat, sounding deadly serious, and Kansas started to laugh again in the backseat.

“And then there’s Yuji,” Satoshi said with a tone of defeat and giggled a little as he looked up into the moon elf’s blue eyes.

“It just seemed like the right thing to ask,” Sand said, laughing. “I do not know why, but I always seem to think traveling other than by foot takes so long. I know it takes longer to walk, but I cannot seem to help myself.”

“I suppose it’s easy enough to sound childlike here. Frankly, everything is amazing. Cars, smartphones, this Google thing. I feel like an elfling.” Vale grinned. “And the buildings! Everything is so tall, it’s like being in canyons everywhere. Do you ever see the sky in more than glimpses?”

Finn kept his eyes on the road, but he wore a slight smile. “It is not far now, Mr. Hayashi. The museum is less than a mile from here, and we are nearly there. I thought we would stop at the Met first, and then go across the park to Natural History afterward. There are cafés at the Met. You have your passes from Miss Bronwen?.”

“We’ll see how hungry the little one is, before we decide where to eat lunch,” Yuji said with a smile for the driver, but then he turned to the backseat again and gave Vale an apologetic smile. “I didn’t get a chance to answer you before, but sadly, there’s nothing magical inside that phone. Just circuit boards and wires and electricity and a bunch of technology. Although, honestly, sometimes it does almost feel like a kind of magic, I guess. But, sadly it’s all just technology.”

“I sound childish all the time,” Kansas said with a sigh, resting his chin on the back of the seat between Satoshi and Sand’s seats, and Satoshi turned as much as he could in his seat to take Kansas’ hand.

“You don’t, not all the time, imps, you really don’t,” Satoshi assured him, pressing a kiss to the small hand, but then he let go and said quietly. “Let me see your hand, please.”

Kansas spread his fingers out and held his hand out, holding it still for a few moments, while Satoshi looked at it intently, then Satoshi nodded with a satisfied look on his face, and grabbed the small, pale hand again and held it tight as he pressed another kiss to the back of the hand.

“Good, you’re not trembling any more,” he said and Kansas hummed softly as he squeezed Satoshi’s hand.

“You’re feeling better too?” he asked and smiled when Satoshi nodded his head. Then the youngster sighed and looked up at Sand with a pout. “I’m bored. It’s not so much fun sitting back here. I don’t like the trunk. Can I move up to sit with you?” Kansas lifted his head to look into the front, trying to catch the driver’s attention, asking in a plaintive tone. “Finn-san, can I move to sit in the back seat? I don’t like the trunk any more.”

Finn looked into the rear view mirror, still smiling. “Yes, Mr. Kansas, you can move into the middle bench. We’ve just stopped for a traffic light, so you can change places with someone.”

“I’ll sit in the trunk,” Vale offered, and he burst out laughing as Kansas tumbled over into the middle bench, landing on Satoshi’s lap with a bright giggle. Vale got into the rear bench, and Sand slid over into Vale’s vacated seat to make room for Kansas.

“Do not forget your safety belt,” Sand said, fastening his own as he looked back at Vale. “You do not escape safety because you are hiding in the rear, you know.”

Vale grinned, and reached for the seat belt. “Such a stickler for the rules, you are,” he teased, but he clicked the belt into place. “Now I have to sit still like an adult. Lean back so I can braid your hair to amuse myself.”

“I think not,” Sand said. “Braid your own hair, wicked thing. I do not even have a ribbon, never mind beads.”

“Tatsuya!” both Satoshi and Yuji cried out in unison when the slender youth slid over the back of the middle seat of the middle bench, right between Sand and Satoshi, and landed on his back in Satoshi’s lap, his heavy shoes only missing Sand’s head by a hair’s breadth, and yet both of the elves made it looked like the entire seat switch was a well practiced dance routine.

Satoshi deposited Kansas in the now vacated middle seat, but instead of putting on his seatbelt Kansas spun around and sat up on his knees to face the back, asking with awe. “You can braid hair? Really? Like for real make girly braids? Can you braid my hair?” Kansas stuck both of his hands into the pockets of his cargo shorts and dug around enthusiastically as he continued. “I’ve got some laces, somewhere. Hang on, I’ve got some leather cords,” he continued, ignoring Satoshi’s protests, and demands that Kansas sit down on his ass.

Vale nodded. “I’ve been braiding Sand’s hair for long enough to be decent at it, but he’s the true expert. He and his brother were known for the intricacy and elegance of their braids. But I do know some proper wood elf clan braids. Those would look wonderful on you, I think. Turn around and sit, and I can lean forward and braid for you.” He looked over at the moon elf. “And my wizard can conjure up whatever we need. He’s just being a brat because he doesn’t want to mess up his pretty tail.”

Sand blushed, but he nodded at Kansas. “It is not that I do not want to ‘mess up’ my hair. I just think this style looks better with what I am wearing.”

“You look really good,” Satoshi said, glancing around Kansas at the elf, then blushed pink. “Sit down, Kansas, you’re going to get hurt if we have to stop suddenly.”

“I won’t,” Kansas retorted, the tip of his tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth as he rooted around in his pockets. His left hand shot up and he giggled as he opened his palm and said to the elves, “Dragon.” He then dumped the small metal statue into Sand’s hand and his hand shot back into his pocket. Only a moment later Kansas pulled his right hand free and cawed loudly. “Haha, I said I had it,” he said and thrust at Vale a knotted mess of leather cords, two brightly colored shoelaces, and what looked like a strip of material ripped from a t-shirt, and around the whole thing was an unraveling braid of fake hair, colored the most violently pink that Satoshi had seen in a long while.

“Hang on, is that my braid?” he asked, twisting around in his seat to try to see better. “Where the hell did that come from?”

“I found it,” Kansas answered with a shrug, then leaned on the back of the seat, staring expectantly at the blond elf. “So, you think you can braid my hair?”

Vale looked at Kansas’ hair, and nodded. “I have just the style in mind, but I need to brush your hair first, if I can. It won’t take me long at all. I do this style for one of my battlemages all the time. It’s an elf thing. We help each other with our hair just as a friendly sort of gesture.”

“Which is why you insisted Nathe chop your hair off until you looked like squirrels had nested on your head,” Sand said helpfully, producing a brush seemingly out of the very air itself. “It is quite new, never used before,” he said.

Satoshi grumbled loudly in Japanese and physically turned Kansas around and made him sit down, and buckled the youngster in, and nodded at Finn to let the driver know that the little rascal was secured in his seat again.

“May I?” the blond elf asked. When Kansas nodded, he began to brush out the teasing and hair products with care. Then he wove a central wide braid from Kansas’ forehead to the back of his head, and two smaller braids on each side, all of them meeting just above the nape of the youngster’s neck, at the base of his skull. “Leather or something bright to tie it off?”

“Use the red leather thong, in that mess of a thing that he gave you,” Satoshi said, twisting in the seat to look at the finished braids. “He likes that one, and it’s been used enough to be easy to tie around his hair. I think there’s even a loop on it, to make it easier to tie on. Need help?”

Kansas gave a little grunt as he tried to nod his head in agreement with Satoshi, but when he could not because of Vale’s hold on his hair, he waved an imperious hand and said, “What he said, the red one.”

Vale laughed and untangled the red leather lace from the skein of things. “I think we have it. Thank you, Satoshi.” He began to wind the lace around the joined braids to make a short ponytail.

Sand looked at the small dragon statue in his hand, turning it about. “I have never seen a dragon quite like this one, Kansas. It is adorable. It reminds me of a chubby wyrmling, newly hatched and full of lizards for his supper. Was it a gift, or did you make it yourself?”

Satoshi tried to help the blond elf with untangling the leather thong, a bright smile on his lips as he admired the tight braids.

Kansas twisted his head a little bit to glance down at the small dragon statue. “Oh, that’s my Boo,” he said with a smile, and reached out to poke the yellow belly of the statue. “Satoshi gave him to me, and I painted him. He’s a yellowbelly, like I was.”

“You’re not a yellow belly,” Satoshi said with a sigh, and let his hand fall down on Kansas’ shoulder to rub it tightly.

“I was, maybe, a little bit, once, but not anymore. I didn’t bring a lot of my dragons with me. Some of them had to stay at home, and watch the house, and everyone,” Kansas said with a small shrug. “But, I told you I was a dragon.”

“Silver dragons are guardians,” Sand said. “All the metallic dragons are considered goodly, but silvers are particularly protective. The blue dragons are a bit less cruel than most of the chromatic dragons, though. Sometimes, we call them storm dragons, because they use lightning for their attacks. They prefer deserts, and I would see them sometimes, at a distance, when I was exploring the area’s many ruins.”

Vale finished tying Kansas’ braids with the red lace. “Now you look like a young hunter from a wood elf clan. It suits you, actually. You have perfect features for warrior braids.”

Finn turned a corner, a large park ahead of them. “That’s called Central Park, and it’s quite big. The Met sits right at the edge of it, on what we call Museum Mile, because of all the museums around it. We’ll be able to park the car under the Met, and I’ll wait for you for as long as you need.”

“Wow, that looks gorgeous,” Yuji said and leaned forwards in his seat to look out the front window. “Is it here where they have that big ice skating rink, with the big Christmas tree? The one that is in all the movies?”

“Maybe we could go there for a run,” Satoshi said, leaning forwards too, to look over Finn’s shoulder.

Kansas on the other hand looked into the back, his hand patting his braids. “So, you know dragons? How many dragons do you know? Do you know red dragons? And have you ever met a dragon who is both silver and blue, like my Boo?” he asked, his voice rising a little bit with excitement, but he did not become as hyper excited as he had the night before.

“Oh, I think you mean Rockefeller Center, Mr. Hayashi,” Finn said. “That is further downtown, but very lovely. That’s where they have the tree, and the skating rink is just amazing. The rink here in Central Park is bigger, but there’s just something about skating at Rockefeller Center that makes it worthwhile. We can certainly arrange to do that. And there are some very nice running trails in Central Park, Mr. Mori, some close to the hotel. You would just need to walk about three streets to get to the park from the hotel. I’ll show you later, when we’re going back to the hotel.”

Sand smiled. “I am not acquainted with many dragons, other than the few who tried very hard to kill me. Vale, however, does socialize with at least one dragon from time to time.”

Kansas stared in awe at Vale, his grey and blue eyes so wide that they looked almost round, but then he twisted in his seat to pull one leg under himself, and he leaned over the back a little, as if to exclude Satoshi from their conversation, then he said in a quiet voice. “I’ve met a dragon. Satoshi doesn’t always believe me, but I met a dragon once. A great big red one. He said he was going to eat me, but then decided I was too littler, so it wouldn’t be worth the bother to chase me. And I have dragons on me, all the time. They are my guardians.”

“Red dragons tend to be nasty shits,” Vale said quietly. “One stepped on Sand. She was trying to kill him, but he’s tougher than he looks. Or luckier. But you are the luckiest, to have dragon guardians. There aren’t any better guardians, in my opinion.”

“I am not sure myself, but I will hazard that I am luckier than I have any right to be.” Sand admired Kansas’ hair, his smile growing. “Wooded Glen clan? It is very suitable.”

“Well, my red dragon opened my eyes, so maybe he wasn’t all bad,” Kansas said matter of factly, and shrugged. “But he died a while later. His skull is still in the forest, probably. But I think the braids feel nice. I need to see them.”

“Here, let me take a picture,” Satoshi said, lifting his phone to aim at the impressive braids, then handed Kansas the phone.

“Oh, wow, look at that, they’re awesome,” Kansas cried out and turned the phone to show the elves with a bright smile. “Thank you, Vale-san, it’s gorgeous.”

“I’m glad,” Vale said, his smile lighting up his face.

Finn turned the car into the side entrance for parking, and Sand slipped the little dragon statue in his pocket without thinking. The five visitors got out of the car at the lower entrance, Satoshi handing out the ticket packages he’d gotten at the hotel, and headed upstairs to the first floor.

Kansas wrapped his arms around Satoshi’s arm as they climbed the stairs, and Satoshi smiled as he leaned his head to rest against Kansas’ head.

Yuji gave the elves a small smile as if to say that the pair of imps looked quite pretty like that, but then he looked down at the small packet that Satoshi had given him, and realized that there was a ticket as well as a map of the museum and halfway up the stairs, Yuji cried out in Japanese, “We’re going to be here all week.”

Satoshi and Kansas stopped and turned around with looks of surprise, and then the three of them began speaking together in fast Japanese, while they looked at their maps, obviously comparing the maps to figure out where they wanted to go, and what they wanted to see the most.

After a couple of minutes Satoshi looked up and blushed crimson as he waved a hand to turn Yuji and Kansas’ attention to the elves as well. Yuji turned around and switched over to English again. “Sorry, we didn’t realize how big this museum is. What do you two want to see the most? We want to see the Egyptian Art, the Medieval Art, the European sculptures, and the Arts of Oceania and that, and Satoshi wants to see the Armor and Arms. Then we’d like to see the Asian Art, the European stuff and the Middle Eastern and that, on the second floor. And I’d love to see the instruments if we have the time. I’m afraid that none of us are all that knowledgeable about American Art, but it would be fun to look at that too. We just didn’t realize this place was so big, we’re not sure we’ll have time to look at everything. Not if we’re going to the Natural History Museum too.”

Vale looked at Sand, the elves coming to a silent agreement. “We both would love to see the Arms and Armor, and I think the musical instruments would be amazing.” Vale looked at Sand again, just a quick glance. “And sculptures. I love sculptures.”

Sand nodded. “I would also like to see the Egyptian art, and the small temple they have here, and perhaps the Medieval Art as well. I do enjoy things from the past.” He smiled. “It is my passion, antiquities.” He moved a bit closer to look at the map Vale held, his own still neatly folded. “But of course, I am happy to see almost anything here. Art is something we treasure, a gift for our soul.”

“Perfect, then we’ll all go together, and then we can have lunch when we are finished here, and before we explore the Natural History place,” Kansas said, and reached out to grab Vale’s hand, tugging the blond elf to follow him up the stairs. “Do you think they’ll have dragon skulls there? Hurry, I want to see the naked statues.”

Yuji laughed and Satoshi shrugged a shoulder at the moon elf, falling in step beside Sand as they followed Yuji up the stairs. “Sorry about him. He’s excited, even with the medication. Also, he said this morning, while we were showering that he thinks you should have brought an elf for him too,” Satoshi said with an apologetic smile, and tried his best to suppress the shiver of delight that ran through him when the back of his hand accidentally brushed, feather light, against the back of Sand’s hand.

“This is an exciting place to visit, I think.” Sand looked around, his eyes a bit wide. “There is so much to see, all in one place. At home, we would not have it all in one place, I think. For example, in our gardens, you might happen across a statue, or a fountain, or perhaps someone playing an instrument. It seems like a feast, to have it all here for the enjoying, so I can understand his excitement. Kansas likes art?”

Vale laughed as he ran up the stairs lightly, Kansas’ small hand warm in his. “I’m pretty sure dragon skulls will be scarce here, but maybe we’ll see sculptures of dragons. Or paintings. We might have better luck with skulls at the other museum, don’t you think?”

“Ryuu wants Satoshi to bring home a dinosaur,” Kansas said, coughing a little when they reached the top of the stairs. “I don’t think he accepts that all the dinosaurs are just dead and bones now. But Satoshi’s going to buy some dinosaur bones to bring home for him, and hope that he’ll accept that there are no more dinosaurs. He’s dinosaur crazy, Ryuu is, honestly.”

Yuji laughed as he joined them at the top of the stairs and nodded. “That is right. Ryuu is utterly dinosaur crazy. Which is odd, because he only has that one dinosaur toy. The rest is all books, and trucks, and cars.”

Satoshi looked up at the three where they were huddled at the top of the stairs and nodded. “He is an artist, actually. He’ll howl and claim that he’s useless and can’t draw for shit if you ask him. But just wait. I am certain that within five minutes his sketchbook is going to be out of his bag, and by the time we sit down to eat, his fingers will be all black with coal stains. Or acrylic dust if he brought his crayons,” Satoshi said, keeping his voice low so Kansas would not hear him. “He draws wonderful still lifes, actually, and his portraits are getting better and better.”

There was a man waiting at the top of the stairs, and he took their tickets with a polite smile. “We’re always happy to welcome guests of Miss McHugh. Please enjoy your time at the Met, and don’t hesitate to ask any member of the staff if you need assistance. Just show them your ticket stubs, and they’ll be more than happy to help.”

Vale grinned, and leaned over to whisper to Yuji. “Why do I get the feeling Bronwen donates a lot to this place?”

Yuji, Satoshi and Kansas all bowed deeply to the ticket collector, and Yuji asked if they were allowed to take photographs, and whether Kansas was allowed to draw and sketch within the exhibition halls. The ticket collector told them that photography without flash was allowed in most of the galleries, but where it was forbidden it would be clearly marked. The same went for drawing and sketching, and the man gave Kansas a bright smile when he politely reminded Kansas to watch out for fingermarks, if he used coals or other media which would stain his fingers. Kansas answered with a sweet giggle that the man sounded like his teachers, who had always been complaining about Kansas’ stained uniform shirts. Satoshi promised they would be careful, and then the man pointed them in the direction of the Egyptian exhibit.

Yuji and Satoshi both pulled cameras out of their shoulder bags, and Kansas planted himself firmly between the two elves with his arms hooked around each of theirs as they entered the Egyptian exhibit.

Before long Yuji and Vale were ambling between dusty Egyptian mummies, chatting about Yuji’s Nikon camera, and Vale chuckled like a teenager when he was allowed to try the camera. He admitted that it did look a lot like magic, and he was growing increasingly curious about how it worked on the inside.

Sand and Satoshi wandered between the exhibit pieces with scrutinizing eyes, with Kansas alternatively trailing behind them, or jumping out from behind display pieces to startle them, making scary mummy noises, which seemed to entertain Sand a little.

In the European wing Kansas became entranced by Monet’s “Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies”, and both the elves stood behind him and peeked over his shoulder, as the little imp pulled out a sketch pad and some coals, and drew a hasty sketch, which he then embellished with neat drawings of large water lilies.

Both Satoshi and Yuji were enchanted as they explored the instruments exhibition, and then Sand and Satoshi stood around for what felt like forever and discussed armors, as they found a Japanese Samurai’s armor in the Arms and Armor wing. They were so deep in their discussion that Kansas gave up and lay down on the floor, whining to Vale that he was going to grow old and die from hunger before those two would be done. Vale laughed brightly, and that seemed to catch the attention of the other two, and got them moving again.

The medieval paintings got a quick look through, although the elves found it curious that Kansas would frown and stick his tongue out at almost all of the religious works of art there, and some of them even made the little youngster shiver and hurry past.

The sculptures were treated to a much more respectful viewing, and Kansas plopped himself down on the floor a number of times, to scratch up sketches of a number of the pieces.

As the five of them made a quick run through the modern works of art, the three Japanese men muttered that they did not understand much of it, although Yuji snapped a few pictures of pieces that he knew Willow adored. Jackson Pollock’s “Autumn Rhythm: Number 30” caused such a massive bout of the giggles, when Kansas claimed, “Aika could do so much better, to be honest,” that the elves grabbed their companions by the arms and tugged them out of the gallery before too many patrons started to stare.

By the time they reached the Asian Art on the second floor, Satoshi was struggling to hide the way his stomach was gurgling, and Kansas was yawning in every other step, and when he stumbled over his own two feet, he slid up next to Vale and gently eased himself under the elf’s arm for support.
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Sandcastles and Fireworks