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.

"Perhaps Yazeba likes her guests and staff to remember their own vulnerability" seeing the opportunity Moon Prince calls "Dibs" and snatches a berry from Hey Kid, then looks back to Robin, "Did I do that right? I'm not sure I understand this ritual"

"You get to take all of them, actually," Robin says to Moon Prince, giving them the other two berries Hey Kid left behind. "Now be careful not to let somebody snatch them back again! Get two more and you can store them in the kitchen for safekeeping."

The hulking elemental looks down at his own two berries for a moment. Then, he grins and offers them to the Moon Prince. "Here you go. I’ll get more, but I want to make sure you get a big piece of the pie later!"

The Moon Prince looks at Robin in bewilderment and then blushes, and looks away slightly "That's very kind of you, I supposed I'd best take these to the kitchen and maybe find something better suited to carrying than my handkerchief."

Hey Kid returns and is wearing… a sundress? "I had to borrow Hey Kid IV’s clothes. Becauuuuusss—Oh look pie!"

Hey Kid casually plucks a berry out from under a bird’s nest.

With a newly acquired thirst for berries, the Moon prince plucks the last from the closest bush, popping it into the small basket they'd retrieved.

"I love the look, Hey Kid!" Robin says. "Very cutesy! Very demure!" He carefully plucks the last berry from the bush with broken glass, sighing with relief when he is able to do so without injury.

---

"Why thank you… but I’m borrowing from my sibling, so I better not pick from the muddy bush anymore.

"Hi, Yazeba. Can I borrow this?"

They YOINK a berry!

"You and the Moon Prince both have an impeccable sense of fashion," Robin says wistfully. "I wish I could find some fancy clothes in my size. Most of them either don't fit or immediately catch on fire as soon as I put them on. There's not much love for the big and tall and highly combustible among us."

He moves up beside Hey Kid and tries to pick another berry from the bush that sort of looks like Yazeba, but he ends up tripping over a gnarled root and stumbling headlong into the bush. "Oh! Oh, no! I'm so sorry!" he apologizes loudly as he becomes entangled with the bush.As he finally extricates himself, the bush seems to whisper and writhe hypnotically. Robin stops and stares at it, slack-jawed. "Oh... yes... yes, I understand," he murmurs. He drops his two berries, leaving them unattended as he pushes his hands together and focuses the heat from his body into an intense and pressurized blast. After a few minutes, he pulls his hands apart to reveal a little sparkling gem in the shape of a heart that he offers to the bush. "Is this what you are mising? I hope it is to your liking," he says to the inanimate plant.

Dog Dog n' Dog run to the berries and sniff them with curiosity!

"Ribf! Ribf!" Hey Kid barks on their dogs’ behalf. They pet Dog, Dog and Dog on each head and hand over the dibbed (or ribfed?) berries. "Whooo’s a good boys?"

By the time Robin recovers, Dog, Dog, n'Dog has scooped up the two berries he dropped. "Aw, flame! Oh well," the elemental says as he picks another berry from the Yazeba-bush.

---

With everyone gathered around the Yazeba bush, the moon prince takes a look at another bush, it appears to have some kind of creature nesting within but Moon Prince doesn't think that take a berry will bother it.

Seeing the Moon Prince’s curious look, Robin helpfully explains, "Those are called ‘birds.’ There are a lot of different kinds in Earth. Do you have animals on the moon?"

Having recovered from her earlier boo-boo, Muckleby squishes her way over to the muddy bush. She reaches a pseudopod out to grab a berry, but the bush shakes too much and mud splatters all over her! As a being made of grime and muck, this normally wouldn't bother her, but her beautiful red bow gets very muddy as well.

"Oh no! Let me go get cleaned up," she says, oozing towards a nearby pond to wash off. She leaves a muddy, grimy swath of dirt and filth behind her--as well as her berries.Muckleby plops into the lake, squishing and squeezing her body like a person would wring out a towel. She gently brushes and scrubs her bow until it is shiny once again.

Hey Kid handles their own "DIIIIIIIIBS!!" and with two berries already, proudly declares, "These would be great in pancakes! But I wanna help bake the pie!"

Hey Kid generously donates the berries, a couple of which they picked themself.

Dog Dog n' Dog sees Hey Kid and leave their berries next to him. They bark happily and chase their tail.

As he awaits the Moon Prince's response, Robin moves alongside them and reaches for a berry from the bird's nest bush. Unfortunately, a few embers leap from his body onto the dry branches of the bush, setting a small portion of it ablaze. "Oh no! Not again!" the elemental wails.Startled by the smoke and flames, several of the grackles nesting in the bush caw and take flight, swarming all around Robin! He drops his berries again as he runs away, the birds chasing him. "Ah! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!" he cries out, running for cover.

The fire on the bush gutters out on its own, but the birds' nest is singed and damaged. "Don't worry, birds! I'll fix it! I'm something of a handyman myself!" Robin declares. The grackles caw and watch the elemental judgmentally as he sets to work enthusiastically rebuilding the nest, bigger and better than it was before.