(Super heavy weights activated: 6,403)


     With everyone SOOOO busy with her Auntie going to see Momma (she couldn't come for some reason), Momma out training somewhere for something REALLY important, and Uncy Cal going off to do... something else, Terra was stuck on the lookout with nobody but Mr. Popo. It wasn't like she didn't like the Djinn, after all he ferried her out into the night when she wanted to follow her Uncy, even at the risk of being yelled at by Auntie Ayu! He was her friend! ...But he was still weird... Trying to understand Mr. Popo was like trying to see your reflection in a very opaque body of water. If you looked close enough, you may be able to see what you're looking for... Then again, you might not. It was all a matter of what it let you see. Sometimes, Popo would just tend to his flowers and stay out of the way! Sometimes, he'd be at Mr. Dende's side, just looking out over the lookout! ...Sometimes, he'd help Terra with her training by showing her how to manifest Ki the right way or take the correct form when punching...

    ...But he just wasn't as available as she wanted him to be. In essence, Terra was lonely. She sat at the edge of the lookout, kicking her feet lazily over the side as she looked out like Mr. Dende sometimes did. How did he ever see ANYTHING from up here? Whenever there weren't clouds in the way, they were so high up it looked like the sky was below them too, the ground BARELY visible! It was like trying to find a rock under water from 30 feet in the air! Terra puffed out her cheeks and tooted steam out of the holes along her arms in irritation. Maybe she'd go see Grampy Roshi again soon... At least he was still around and seemed to like her sometimes. Maybe-

    Terra's head SNAPPED UP as a familiar voice echoed over the lookout! At first, she thought it was her Momma, FINALLY coming back to see her after all this time! Terra HOPPED UP back onto the Lookout, eyes WIDE, EXCITED... then she called her name... and Terra was STILL excited! It wasn't Momma, but it was her best friend, Moire! Pretty Moire! She was here to see her! She even called for her!

    "MOIREEEEEE!" Terra cried, rushing towards her friend, her weighted sweater BARELY slowing her down! She would JUMP into the air, aiming to be caught in Moire's arms, Terra nuzzling her face into her neck sweetly as she wrapped her arms around her body! "I miss you! I miss you lots! Everyone go somewhere, I so lonely... Then you come! You good friend! I miss you!"

WC: 463

    Terra giggled softly as she leapt into Moire's arms, and holding her close! Instantly, the little girl relaxed against Moire, letting out a content, happy sigh. It almost felt like Momma hugging her again, the two of them reunited at last... Terra could probably drift away to sleep right here and now, safe in the arms of her friend. The little pink girl smiled like a puppy as Moire expressed her joy of seeing her, even noticing how much stronger Terra had gotten! 

    "Awh, it not too much..." Terra giggled brightly! "...It hard to train up here when nobody here to help! There not much to do but run around outside of lookout, right?" Another giggle, then Terra would look over at the ladder barely visible over the rim of the lookout. "Climb down there once! Found big red stick connecting the lookout to a big building below it! Try to reach but... I no can reach... Arm too short!" Terra held up her little arm for Moire to see, to give context! "Wonder what down there... Dende say talking cat sit around in there but I no believe him! How can cat talk? That not make no sense!" Moire would then question if she'd been keeping up with her studies and if she'd been on her best behavior! Terra nodded eagerly! "Yup, yup, yup! Grampy Roshi gave me big book of math to play with! He say I get smart if I finish AAAAAALL the problems and they match the answers at back of book! I finish almost half! Feel smart already!" Terra grinned widely, pointing at her head! ...What she didn't say was that she skipped the even problems because, for some reason, the person who MADE the book didn't include those answers in the back! Boy, they must've not been too smart if they forgot that! "...And I very careful to make sure I not make mess when I eat and am very quiet when Mr. Popo is gardening! Sometimes I watch! Sometimes, he let me help! He nice but weird man! I like him!" 

    ...Weird was an understatement. Trying to understand Popo was like looking up at the universe and trying to comprehend its SIZE. SURE, she could get bits and pieces of his personality, mainly that he was quiet and polite, generally solitary and peaceful, but Terra always got the sense he was so much MORE than that, like there was a guy underneath that jiggly belly and those... sometimes scary eyes! Moire's mention of Terra's mother made the little majin freeze... then her eyes widened with excitement and wonder at what that implied!

    "NO! HAVE YOU!? BIG, PRETTY BLUE MAJIN LADY WITH LONG TENTACLE-HAIR? YOU SEE? YOU SEEEEE???" Terra practically shook with abject excitement in Moire's arms as she begged for answers, an almost desperate twinge in her voice! "AUNTIE SAY SHE GO TO SEE HER BUT NOT COME BACK! MAYBE MOMMA HAS HER WITH HER! DID YOU SEE, PRETTY MOIRE? DO YOU KNOW WHERE SHE IS???"

WC: 503
TWC: 966

    "I try!" Terra giggled as Moire acknowledged her strength! "Wanna be BIG hero! Wanna save lotsa people! World scary below! Wanna help! Wanna get BIG strong!" Terra's hands SHOT above her head as if to say "THIS MUCH!" ...Even though progress was slow, the little pink majin was undeterred! She had a vision and by golly she was gonna make it happen! The world NEEDED heroes now, more than ever with monsters running around and destroying cities and stuff! The adults who trained for stuff like this, who made it their duty to fight on the behalf of the weak people were just... nowhere to be found! They had all but disappeared! Well, Terra wasn't having that! She was gonna get strong and help everyone she could! Even Pretty-Moire! 

    When Terra expressed her excitement over hearing about Moire and her mother, the purple Majin would explain that she and Liari were together! Terra's smile wained into a confused frown, the little girl looking around and behind her friend but... there was nobody to be seen!

    "Watcha mean? She not here." Terra mumbled, her frown deepening slightly! "It joke...? It not funny joke... Miss Momma lots..." Terra may have been a bubbly ball of sunshine most days, but there were just some things she didn't find funny! She missed her Momma! She was gone forever! Saying she was "with" her was like saying she got a gift for Terra but came empty-handed! The little pink girl grumped softly for a moment... then considered something that Grampy Roshi had said to her one time: That she sometimes misunderstood things that meant more than one thing! Terra had a difficult time grasping this concept in the past, that words that sounded the same or were spelled the same meant different things in different contexts... Maybe this was what Grampy Roshi meant. Maybe this was a situation where Moire meant something different.

    "'With' Momma..." Terra mumbled, touching her chin in thought... "Mean... You 'like' Momma...? You 'like-like' Momma...?" Terra questioned. "...Momma and Moire...? Momma and... Momma...?" The little pink majin stared up at Moire thoughtfully, her warm red eyes locking with the purple Majin's. If... If THAT was what she meant, that she and Liari were an item, Terra was... uncertain what to think at first! Mainly, she was confused what to even CALL Moire now! Did she call her "Momma?" Did she call her "Pretty Moire?" was there some third thing you called your new momma? These sorts of things mattered and stuff!

WC: 420
TWC: 1386

    ...And there it was. Moire dropped the bombshell.

    Terra stared at the tall purple majin with an almost expressionless gaze, uncertain if this was part of the joke or... she was serious. In AAAAAALL the honesty a child could be capable of, Terra had a hard time imagining her Momma ever taking an interest in someone THAT WAY, let alone loving them outright... like... romantically! Her mind was usually just focused on other things all the time! Training, Eating, Sleeping, having fun with Terra! These things all seemed to take priority over... LIKE-LIKING someone like that... And MOIRE of all people! They just seemed so different...! Opposites, really! Moire was always so soft-spoken and gentle, speaking the way one might imagine a young queen or princess would! Momma, though... She was way more bombastic! She was easy to excite or anger, always wanting to fight and train for some reason! Was it true that opposites attracted...? 

    ...Or was there more to this story?

    "...Really....?" Terra said after a minute of silence... "I not believe it..." Her face would then break out into a grin! "You new Momma now! You Momma #2!" Terra had heard that almost AAAAAAALL people out there on Earth had two parents! Sometimes they both ladies, sometimes they are men and ladies! Sometimes they were computers in the case of androids! But Terra... only ever really had one! Sure, Ayu was a GREAT Auntie, teaching her all sorts of important things, but at her core, there just wasn't the same kind of connection she had with her momma! Between them, she wanted to be MOST like Ayu, someone who protected people, took them in and helped them instead of training and fighting all day like her Momma, but that didn't mean she didn't harbor a stronger connection at her heart!

    Auntie was Auntie... Momma was Momma... but now... She had another Momma... and, now that she thought about it, Terra couldn't have imagined a better person to be her other Momma! Just think about it! The friend you love most is gonna come live with you forever! They become your family just like that... and its because your momma loves them too! Terra's eyes GLOWED with excitement as she looked up at Moire, wrapping her little arms around the back of her neck and hugging her tightly! She was her Momma now! 

    "SO! You and Momma kiss-kiss yet...?" Terra asked, puckering her lips dramatically! "Mommas and other Mommas do that, right? Oh! I excited! We gonna have lotsa fun!"


WC: 422
TWC: 1808

    Watching Moire's face darken and steam like a roast made the little girl smile. For as pure and cute as Terra could be sometimes, there was always that little voice in her head, that little edge of temptation urging the little girl to act just the TINIEST BIT nefarious! Sometimes, it was just an innocent prank! You know... put sticky-notes of funny faces on Moire's flowers, try to startle Mr. Popo by sneaking up on him while he meditated... sometimes, even, trying to indirectly learn about Earth's past heroes from Dende, something he... didn't seem like he wanted to tell her about yet! 

    ...And in this case...? It was making her frien- her new Momma BLUSH BUNCHES! Terra giggled cutely and hugged Moire tighter, almost as happy now as she had been when she first met her Momma! When she and Liari were together, there was a sense of completion in Terra that filled her with joy... Two pieces being whole, mother and daughter together... and now Moire was gonna be part of that whole! Two halves were becoming THREE because... you know... she wasn't gonna love her Momma any less because she has another one now! Moire assured her that Liari was just taking care of some things right now, meeting people she really had to but, in time, they would all be together at last and, as a family, they would teach the little girl what it REALLY meant to be a hero! Whatever they wanted, really!
    
    "Wooooooow! Reeeeeeeeeeaaaaaalllllllllyyyyyyy?" Terra asked, extending the word as her voice rose in pitch to a squeak! Anything they wanted...? Wooooow... Even when she was with Momma alone, they couldn't do that! Auntie Ayu was always keeping a close eye on both she and Momma when they were out having fun, advising from the sidelines or while she worked on other things! She was always so... careful about stuff, making sure Terra never went too far from the house or tested her limits too much! Sometimes, it was important to do that! After all, nobody wanted anyone to get hurt! ...But sometimes, it stopped the fun before it really got good! TICKLEBALL, for example! Zaks had taught her this one! You threw little balls of ki at the opponent and, if they hit, they exploded in a ticklish flash instead of hurting he other person! ...Ayu had stopped the game early when both majin were out on the ground, gasping and laughing as giddily as mother and daughter could! 

    ...Maybe that meant they wouldn't have to stop having fun anymore! Terra SQUEEEED for joy and HUGGED her new Momma for all it was worth, rubbing her cheek against hers as she did so! 

    "Love you, Momma!" Terra proclaimed, pulling back... then leaning in, gently resting her forehead against Moire's... just like Liari had done with Terra! "...I love you lots~!"

WC: 478
TWC: 2286