[video]

[dogsanddaughters]

[Miriam waves. She's currently hanging out in Delight's bar, surrounded by brightly colored bottles and a mess of playing cards spread across the table. The arrival of Hadriel's newest scaly residents has gotten Miriam thinking that this right here? Is a prime opportunity to play the card shark.]

Hey people! Hope nobody's dead yet.

Also there's a bunch of dragons and they're probably gonna eat you if you get too close. So watch out for that, 'cause getting eaten would suck.

[She bats her eyelashes at the camera. Barnaby the dog just grunts, laying his head on her lap.]

Also you all should totally come and play cards with me if you're not fighting dragons. It's poker time, baby.

Oooooor if you're fighting dragons and don't die nasty, can somebody get me a bit of dragon steak?

[She fluffs Barnaby's ears.]

Baby boy's never had dragon.

And somebody should totally kill those things. I believe in you!

[Go forth and slay! Just don't do it by the bar.]

Comments

[dogsanddaughters]

Oh, you've got a princess and everything? That's...uh, cool?

[Miriam's world had a royal family for a while. It didn't end well.]

Baby's boy's real important. He's my main man, see.

[purpleknee]

It's very cool. Our princess is wonderful. Confusing sometimes, and under some sort of sleeping spell, but wonderful!

[Always love Ozma.]

Main dog. Which is better than most men.

[dogsanddaughters]

How's she do princess things if she's asleep the whole time?

[Something does not compute there.]

Haha! Yeah! I can always count on my dude.

[purpleknee]

Well, the sleeping spell is new. She's been taking care of Oz and its people for thousands of years.

[dogsanddaughters]

Oh. Guess that sucks. Do your folks usually live that long?

[purpleknee]

They...used to. Ozma's spell made it so no one would die in Oz, or even get sick. Except the Dorothies, since they were from Earth. With her asleep, things have changed. That's...one reason why it was so important to save her.

[dogsanddaughters]

Huh.

[That's...different. Probably good?]

Must've been nice not to have anyone get sick or stuff.

[purpleknee]

...Yeah.

[Would have been nicer still if his mother hadn't been the first to go. Then Grandma, and Grandpa soon after.]

It did mean I was a little out of practice with my mending when people did start getting sick. There wasn't a lot I could do right then.

[dogsanddaughters]

Oh. [She hadn't thought of that.] Yeah, that's rough.

[purpleknee]

[He sighs breezily and shakes his head.]

I'd rather go back to talking about dogs. Where'd you get him?

[dogsanddaughters]

[Miriam brightens instantly. MOVING ON.]

My mom got him for me. He was really little. I could carry him around. That was fun.

[purpleknee]

Babies are so strange.

[HE DIDN'T REALLY GET TO SEE A LOT OF THEM IN OZ. Calliope's headquarters had a few rugrats around, though. So tiny. Hard to think of Barnaby being little like that.]

Is he an Earth dog?

[dogsanddaughters]

They are, aren't they?

[Barnaby grunted a lot. It was adorable.]

Kinda? I mean, they had dogs like him on earth one time. But they made him on a ship, and then my mom gave him to me. We lived on a space station.

[purpleknee]

Space station? Like in the stars?

[Miriam why is your life SO COOL]

[dogsanddaughters]

Yep! I'm gonna learn how to fly and then I'll go everywhere.

[purpleknee]

Amazing...

[He wants to go, too...]

It isn't anything like being in space, but I can fly. I could take you if you let me play with Barnaby.

[dogsanddaughters]

What, really? Hell yeah I'll let you play with Barnaby! You can really fly?

[purpleknee]

[YESSSSS DOGS]

I can! Well, I can float, but my coat is enchanted. Makes flying really simple.

[dogsanddaughters]

Whoooooa. That's so cool!

[She wants an enchanted coat.]

How'd you know about Earth, anyway?

[purpleknee]

[Yes, he's very impressive. Hee.]

The Dorothies have been visiting Oz since before I was born, and there was the first wizard before them. I was able to read about it in the books. I've even been there.

[dogsanddaughters]

[None of those words mean anything to Miriam, but she's just gonna roll with it.] What's it like on Earth?

[purpleknee]

It's fine. It's a lot more rain than I'd like, but I'm with people that aren't making it total hell. I like getting to learn more about it -- and my magic, too! If only this world wasn't as stingy with its useful books...

[dogsanddaughters]

Man, I wish my world had magic. We've just got weird shit. No magic, though.

[purpleknee]

You never know. A lot of people on Earth think there isn't any magic, but magic's just good at hiding there. Some of that weird shit could be magical and you just haven't realized it.

[dogsanddaughters]

Huh. Miriam thinks about that.] Well, we do have the Tar. It kills people and makes their corpses walk around. But I think that's just nanites, or something. But maybe it's magic.