Snickerberry Season

Gertrude has been organizing the spice rack in the kitchen when she overhears the conversation between Moon Prince and Hey Kid. As soon as the devilish child begins to drag the lunar royal out into the backyard, she knows that the Prince is about to get in over their head. She quickly grabs a wicker basket of her own and followes the pair out towards the snickerberry bushes.

Spotting Muckelby oozing about nearby, Gertrude smiles behind her mask and gives the grimy girl a wave. "Hey, we're going snickerberry picking if you want to come," she says.

Once she catches up to Hey Kid and Moon Prince, she looks at the various bushes apprehensively. Where to start? What's the best choice? She doesn't know, but she knows she wants to stay close to Moon Prince and help them navigate this still unfamiliar world. So she lingers near the Prince and waits for them to make the first move.

The moon prince leans over towards the closest bush, plucking a "snickerberry" from it's branches. "oh, it's soft and squishy and so very lush in colour, like sun as it dies over the horizon mixed with the blood of a mammalian creature." they squeeze it slightly and gasp as it bursts, juices flowing across their hand.

"Oh my, I think I've made quite the mess here," they examine their hand carefully. "And these are for a pie... that's food, yes?" they reach their hand up to their mouth and give the juice a dainty lick, then tilt their head back as they consider, "that is quite delicious, sweet with just the right hint of sour." they extract a handkerchief from their sleeve and start to gather more. "I think I would like to taste this 'pie'".

"Oh, my! You’ve never tasted pie before? You’re in for a treat!" Robin says as he stomps up alongside the Moon Prince. The 7-foot-tall lava elemental beams down at the smaller royal. "I’m something of a baker myself, you know. Hi, I’m Robin."

He holds out a volcanic hand for the Prince to shake. "I’ve never met somebody from the Moon before. What’s it like there? What kinds of food are you used to eating? Maybe I can whip up some lunar treats for you later. Oh, excuse me!"

As delicately as he can, the lumbering elemental reaches out and plucks a juicy snickerberry from the closest bush.

Hey Kid is taking their post-morning-pre-midnight run, but shoes to a halt when they see a prince. "Aw, wow! Not ANOTHER prince!" Without elaborating, they take a quick inventory of the goings-on and blurt a little too loudly, "We have berries?! Why, I and the other six or seven of me could make the best pancakes since ever!"

They seem way too into the berry-picking even though everyone present picked one, and Hey Kid looks about to dive into a bush and do who knows what—

—but they pause. "This bush looks is full of broken glass! Jumping into that bush is only fun if someone jumps in with me, so instead I’ll—OOH!" Their attention flits from the closest bush to a passing fly to another bush that makes Hey Kid laugh "’cause it looks like Yazeba, haha!

"Got yer nose, Yazeba!" Hey Kid plucks a berry from the part of the bush that looks like Yazeba’s nose.Despite Hey Kid’s loudness, they very subtly yoink a berry from the Prince by saying dibs in Pig Latin—"Ibsday!"—and then cleverly making like that wasn’t Pig Latin. "I meant ‘Thursday.’"

The Moon Prince takes Robin's hand and does a little bow/curtsy, kissing it lightly. "I am... the Moon Prince, and it is my utmost pleasure to meet you Robin"

The Moon Prince looks around as Hey Kid shouts something largely incomprehensible and realisation dawns that their berries are gone... "Is this part of the game?" they ask Robin, a concerned frown across their face.

Robin's cheeks redden with molten lava when the Moon Prince kisses his hand. "Oh! Such panache!"

He chuckles when Hey Kid snatches the berry. "Oh, yeah. 'Dibs' is a time-honored Earth tradition. You can't get distracted or somebody else will take your berries. But if you catch somebody else off-guard, you shout 'Dibs' and take their berries! All in good fun, of course!"

Spying Muckelby across the way, Robin waves to the oozy lady. "Hello, Muckelby! Fine day for berry picking, isn't it?"

"Di—"

Before Hey Kid can say ‘-bs,’ they notice "Mucky! You’re hurt!" They bolt to the Hey Kid hotel, and come back immediately with "a med kit! I’ll save you!" Hey Kid starts putting band-aid after band-aid on the slime’s slippery boo-boo!

But the band-aids sink into the slime-lady and Hey Kid isn’t sure how to deal with that.

"If the band-aids go inside you like that, should I just leave them be, or get them out, or call a real doctor or.. stuff?"Hey Kid snacks on some berries.

"Well I seem to be falling quite behind," the Moon Prince looks around and plucks another berry from the closest bush while Hey Kid is occupied with Muckleby.

They then walk over the bush with broken glass, It shouldn't be too difficult to retrieve a berry, maybe I should pick from this one so the others don't hurt themselves, earth-folk are clearly more clumsy than we of the Moon...

Robin is relieved that Hey Kid is helping Muckleby. He delicately reaches out and plucks another berry from the bush closest to the B&B, leaving just one left on it. He breathes in the delicious scent and exhales a steamy sigh. "Mmm! I can already taste that snickerberry pie!"

Dog Dog N' Dog whimps and go to comfort Muckleby by bumping their heads on her main body.

Satisfied that the broken glass is indeed navigable the Moon Prince darts a nimble hand to the bush with broken glass, wait - is that berry leaking? Oh... no that's blood. Hmm.
The Moon prince sways a little and steadies themself with their cane, they clear their throat "I don't suppose you have another adhesive wound dressing in that box of supplies do you m'dear? I seem to have a slight problem."

Hey Kid scruffs the fur atop each of Dog, Dog and Dog’s heads. "Who’re good dogs?" they ask their pet rhetorically!

They deem their patient "Good as new!" and pick a berry from the closest bush!

…buuuut seeing the Prince leaving a berry unguarded, Hey Kid tries to teach his Dog, Dog and Dog a new trick.

"Speak! Say ‘dibs,’ like this: ribf! Ribf!" They encourage their dog(s) in a dog-voice, "Roo can roo it, Rog, Rog and Rog!"

Dog Dog n Dog bark playfully and follow Hey Kid commands. They jump all over the place while doing so.

Robin moves over to assist the Moon Prince. "You all ought to be more careful! This bush is bad for you!" he says as he gently touches the Prince's wounds with a superheated hand, cauterizing the cuts. "I don't even know why Yazeba has a bush like this in her backyard!"

Hey Kid is so excited that they leave themself vulnerable to the very Dibs game they’re teaching their dogs!

"Hahaha! I’m so excited that I just can’t hide—" RRRRRIPP!! "…it.""Ahh, gee-two-gee, bee-are-bee!" Hey Kid bolts to the Hey Kid Hotel to change because of the… mud. It’s mud, okay? They’ll put it in writing in the official Book of Happenstance. ’Cause it’s mud.