Open: Well young lady, have you been good to your mother?

[biteybaby]

Sunny Baudelaire has been having quite an exciting time lately. For once, "exciting" means "filled with fun" and not "filled with terror, pain, panic, and an inordinate amount of running and hiding". Without the threat of Count Olaf and his associates finding her in an attempt to steal the Baudelaire fortune, Sunny has had more time for her studies. "Her studies" is a phrase which here means, "catching up on learning how to do things most people take for granted".

She has finally learned how to walk. She thinks the amount of words she is now able to say has increased. Magnu has even taught her a few things in sign language, which she finds is a little easier than speaking. The biggest news is that she now has five very sharp teeth, as opposed to the four she started with when she arrived.

Shortly before she arrived, Mr Poe had told the Baudelaires about an aphorism: It takes a village to raise a child. She wonders if that is why she has had so much time to grow. Her days are spent rotating around between several different guardians, babysitters, and friends, and it has been lovely. She hopes her siblings are having just as good of a time in the village of V.F.D.

Unfortunately I must report that her siblings are not having just as good of a time in the village of V.F.D., nor are they even still in the village of V.F.D. Sunny does not know this. It would probably be for the best if nobody tells her.

Comments

[biteybaby]

She rolls inside and motions for Grantaire to follow her, before trying to stand up, failing to stand up, trying to stand up, failing to stand up, then finally standing up. The ground inside this bouncy castle is a lot bouncier than she is used to. It is also a lot castleier than she is used to.

[futaille]

Grantaire promptly steps into the bouncy castle after her. "Oh, this is certainly different."

[biteybaby]

Sunny grabs Grantaire's hands and starts bouncing, a word which here means, "bending her knees repeatedly and not actually jumping at all".

[futaille]

He 'jumps' in a pretty similar way for now, realizing that if he were to actually jump, the recoil when he hit the floor again may well send Sunny flying.

[biteybaby]

Sunny would not mind, and as they are inside of a bouncy castle, she likely would not even be hurt, but fortunately she is just as happy to bounce like this with Grantaire.

[futaille]

Having only just met Sunny and wanting to at least work up to airtime, especially given that it's also his own first time in a bouncy castle, gives him at least a slight measure of restraint, although his bounces are slowly getting bigger.

[biteybaby]

Sunny loses her balance at one point, saved from falling completely only by the fact she is still holding hands with Grantaire. This causes her to twist around, halfway dangling in the air. She is laughing though, so it must not be too bad.

[futaille]

He swings her in the air a couple of times before helping her get back to the surface for more bouncing.

[biteybaby]

If you have ever spent any considerable amount of time around toddlers, you will know that one of their favorite activities is to suddenly run off when you are least expecting it. Sunny has spent a lot of her life running, at least in a metaphorical sense, as she could not literally run until very recently. The amount of time she has spent metaphorically running has not, it would seem, put her off of literally running, because after another minute of bouncing in the bouncy castle, she suddenly runs off. She turns around on her belly to slide out of the small opening, and makes her way over to a large inflatable obstacle course.

[futaille]

Grantaire then properly jumps a couple of times before ducking out of the bouncy castle and following behind her. "What have you found now?"

[biteybaby]

"This," she answers, struggling to climb up on to the obstacle course.

[futaille]

"Marvelous." He helps her up onto it much like he did with the bouncy castle.

[biteybaby]

"Thanks!" she says as she squirms her way through the hole at the start. She begins by running up to the vertical barriers and just hugging one of them. This, she assumes, is a very important step.

[futaille]

"Clearly built for the purpose."

[biteybaby]

She turns to look, to make sure Grantaire is following her through.

[futaille]

"I'm coming, I'm coming." He squeezes through the entrance after her and promptly 'stands' on his knees, also giving one of the entrance obstacles a hug.

[biteybaby]

Sunny stops hugging the barrier and punches it. It is much better for punching than a crash test dummy would be, but it does still hit her in the face on its recoil. She falls down and shouts “Dead!” before crawling her way through the other barriers.

[futaille]

Grantaire follows behind, remaining on his knees. "Vanquished in battle? Your bravery will not be forgotten, mademoiselle."

[biteybaby]

Next Sunny comes across tubes that stretch from one side of the obstacle course to the other, forming what could only be described as a sort of barricade. Most barricades tend to be made out of doors and chairs and tables and precisely one cow, whereas this barricade has no doors or chairs or tables and precisely zero cows, which does make it easier for Sunny to climb underneath.

"Raaaa!" she yells in response to Grantaire's comment about not being forgotten. It might be a battle cry.

[futaille]

Grantaire did get the opportunity to witness the building of a stereotypical barricade from the convenient view of an upstairs window, and this is only passingly similar. He squeezes through the upper tubes on his own way through.

[biteybaby]

The next obstacle is a pair of tunnels to crawl through. Sunny hops into one, but rather than crawl through, she sits in it, reclined, to catch her breath. "Zoom," she says, which here means, "That was a lot of running."

[futaille]

To be entertaining, Grantaire sticks his head and shoulders into the other tunnel. "Zoom," he agrees.

[biteybaby]

Sunny rests for a while. It is important to take regular breaks, even when doing an activity you enjoy, such as sewing, cleaning, writing stories with friends about fictional characters trapped in a mysteriously large mansion with no way out and no way to bring their friends and loved ones to stay with them, weaving, or even running through an inflatable obstacle course.

Sunny slithers out of the tunnel on her belly, arms first, and crawls over to Grantaire. "Aire," she says, tapping his leg, then taps her own chest. "Aire. Baudelaire." She wonders if there is some significance here.

[futaille]

He wriggles out of the tunnel and looks down at Sunny. "Ah, a grand R and a handsome one, mademoiselle Baudelaire."

[biteybaby]

Having sorted that out, Sunny turns and goes back through the tunnel she had been resting in before.