Epicorm and Gibberllin

When we last left Lilette, Ash had just informed her that her entire family is being held hostage in their home by Rats, under the order of the Rat King. Ash then told her that there was something he needed to show her, thus taking Lilette to his toadstool home.

“Come” said Ash, placing his hand on Lilette’s back, politely allowing her to enter before him.
“Thanks” she murmured at a near whisper, her insides buzzing with the feeling of his touch. They entered a semi circular shaped room, empty of people. The room was rather small, all the items of furniture and belongings took up the majority of what little space there was, making Lilette feel somewhat claustrophobic. Next to each of the four wooden framed cotton beds (lined up on the wall farthest from the door) was a large wooden box, the wooden boxes were separately labelled Gibs, Ash, Epic and The Wise Dreamer.

Lilette fixed her gaze upon Ash’s box, wondering what he kept inside.
“All of our belongings are kept in those boxes. My brothers, my dad’s and mine” Ash informed her, leaving Lilette feeling slightly embarrassed that she’d been staring at them. Besides the beds and boxes, the only other object in the room was a blue wardrobe, built especially to fit the curve of the semi circular room. A dim red light hung from the centre of the rooms ceiling, light enough to see clearly but dark enough to sleep if you wished.

“Where are your brothers?” asked Lilette curiously “and your dad?” Ash gestured to the wooden door in the middle of the wooden wall that the wooden framed beds were lined up on. To get to the door they walked in between Epic and Ash’s beds. Ash opened the door and Lilette followed him into the kitchen.

The room was the same size and shape as the bedroom. It was, however, a lot brighter than the other room, there were square holes cut evenly into the toadstool walls. Doing the job of windows and letting in sunlight. Lilette observed the room as being a kitchen/ dining room, fitted with all things needed to cook and eat. Sitting at the large dining table – which took up the majority of the space – were three Fairies. The boy closest to Lilette was very skinny, more bony than anyone Lilette had ever stumbled across. His body appeared to be too long for him, leaving him with a clumsy and lanky persona. He was content to absently look through a piece of transparent red paper, his face full of childish amusement.

The boy next to him wasn’t quite as skinny, he was more similar in shape and size to Ash (normal weight and a little taller than average.) Lilette wondered if he was older or younger than Ash, she would have guessed the same age, but she didn’t suspect them to be twins. He sat with an overacted display of maturity, trying to look proper as he wrote neatly onto a leaf. Lilette thought he just looked snobby.

On the far end of the table was an old man. Older, Lilette thought, than what Ash’s dad was going to be. He had white, wildly frizzy hair, his face seemed aged with knowledge. Lilette had never sensed wisdom by purely looking at someone’s face before. The old man sat with his eyes closed, but Lilette guessed he was doing something other than resting.

“Dad?” said Ash, closing the wooden door behind him, but only his two brothers looked up at him “Dad!?” he said loudly and with more irritation than before. The old man didn’t stir.
“Dad” said the snobbish brother, his eyes didn’t leave the leaf he was writing on.
The old man opened his eyes slowly at the sound of the snobbish brothers voice, Ash sighed in a ‘why does it never work when I do it’ way.

Lilette noticed that one of the old man’s eyes was brown, and the other was electric purple, she had to bite her bottom lip to stop from gasping.

“This is my dad, Jacob...” Ash began to introduce his family, but was interrupted by his father.
“Please. Call me.... The Wise Dreamer” Jacob said slowly, with intended dramatised mysticism. Ash rolled his eyes. The old man stood up, with the help of his cane, and headed to the door “now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some unfinished business to attend to.” And with that, Jacob left.
Ash bid his father farewell and continued the introductions
“This is my brother Epicorm” Ash pointed at the lanky boy, who looked away from the transparent red paper and said
“Look through this! Look through this! It’s so exciting! It’s called CELLOPHANE!!! It makes the whole world red!” Lilette giggled at his enthusiasm and accepted the offer of looking through his ‘cellophane.’
“Yeah” Lilette said “it does make everything red” she tried to sound excited, but her attempts were pitiful. She handed the paper back, thanking him for letting her see.
“It’s called cellophane!” Epicorm informed her for a second time.
“Yes, I know” Replied Lilette, starting to wonder if there was something wrong with him “and it makes the world red” Epicorm nodded passionately, amidst a seizure of his own hysterical laughter.

“Ok, Epic” Ash warned, but Epicorm kept laughing “Epic! Enough!” Ash yelled firmly. Epicorm burst into a fit of tears, which Ash ignored. “Sorry about that” Ash said to Lilette “he may be twenty-one on the outside, but inside he’s still three” he said with more irritation than concern. “And, last of all, we have my brother Gibberllin” Gibberllin looked up from his writing, stood up, and shook Lilette’s hand.
“It’s lovely to finely meet you Lilette” he said with smooth, literate accuracy. Lilette wouldn’t have been surprised if he spent his spare time practising how to greet people properly.
“But... how do you know my name?” Lilette asked bewildered.
“You haven’t told her?” Gibberllin asked Ash, disgusted with worry.
“No, not yet, Gibs. That’s why she’s here. I thought it would be easier to show her, rather than tell her” when Ash spoke back to Gibs he adopted a ‘don’t think you’re always the right one, you’re no smarter than me’ tone.

“Come” Ash said, returning his attention to Lilette “and I’ll show you the calendar.”