Like a tidal wave I'll make a mess
Or calm waters if that serves you best
I will love you with every single thing I have

-Sleeping at Last, Two

1. Ink

There had been a packet of pens that were nearly done for, but not quite, and it was Daisy's idea to use them up before tossing them out.

The first idea for these pens was a poem, and Luigi tapped his pen against the paper as he tried to think of something. He heard scribbling that sounded more like drawing instead of writing and hid a laugh against his hand.

The scribbling sound made something click and he was able to write out a poem, and finished just before the pen finally ran out of ink.

"Let me see, let me see," Daisy said when he said that it was done, and they swapped their paper.

Luigi read her poem, "Muddy muddy," and then it stopped, in lieu of an attempt at a music box, with scraggly notes floating upward from the toy.

"The water goes, the fish afloat, ah, the river flows," Daisy read. "What kind of river?"

"A big one."

When Luigi got his paper back there was a long line and an arrow that denoted, "River."

The next assignment for the pens was drawing each other's portraits. Luigi was only able to draw an eye before the pen ran out of ink. There was an agitated noise as Daisy put the cap back on her pen and tossed it into the empty pen pile.

There was only his moustache on the paper, and some attempt to fill it in; it got halfway there.

"That's scary," Daisy said when she saw her own portrait. "I see you."

Luigi put the paper over his face and tilted it from left to right and Daisy let out a fake scream.

"There's only two more," Daisy said as she handed him a pen. "Let's draw happiness."

A clear image came to Luigi's head, and he got to work. He drew it carefully, making each drop of ink count, and drew a porch with two people sitting on it; he tried to label them but stopped himself. He drew a line around the porch and little upside-down V's to show that they were blades of grass.

The sky was shaded dark for night, and he tried to draw mist. It just came out looking like bunches of clouds, so he drew a line and arrow to label it, "mist."

When he looked up he saw a crumpled piece of paper alongside Daisy's work.

"It came out wrong," she said when she saw him looking at the crumpled paper.

She showed him her paper, on which "happiness" was written.

"Is it really a drawing?"

"I drew a heart over the I," Daisy replied.

She looked over his drawing. "So this is happiness?"

He nodded.

She smiled. "It's nice. I'd want to be there."

2. Glass

Luigi held up the mirror, tilting his head and his reflection doing the same. It wasn't a test to see if the mirror would work, though if his reflection stayed stationary the glass would've slipped from his hands.

He pushed up a hand at his face, and then pulled at his cheek. He pulled at the other cheek, and it did just the same. He lifted up his head and put it down, turning from side to side.

He told himself it was just to really check that everything was normal, as if it wouldn't be normal outside of a dream, but some part of him recognized that it was a wondering if there was something that could be changed.

"You're cute as you are," Daisy's voice said in his head and he quickly drew the mirror down and shook his head. He caught a glimpse of the redness in his cheeks as he put the mirror down and told himself it was because he had been prodding at them.

3. Erratic

"So, then your kart is working fine?" Luigi asked. After a mock race to make sure the karts were working fine, Daisy's had abruptly stopped; they decided to push it to the pit stop nearby the track.

"Just needed to check some things," Daisy said. She patted the hood of the kart. "Nothing too bad, but you know. Just to be safe."

Luigi thought of erratic turns and falling off the track. "That's good, I don't want you to get hurt."

"I'll probably hurt my pride more by losing," Daisy replied. She hid her grin by checking under the hood one last time.

"I'll check mine, too." He went out to his kart and started it up; it sputtered and hissed, and smoke billowed out from the hood.

"That's new," he said, astonished, after he forced it off.

"It's contagious," Daisy said.

They pushed the kart inside and worked together.

4. Born

Out in the little garden beside his home Luigi lined up the flowerpots and showed Daisy how to easily dig a hole in the soil.

"I let the flowers sit outside for a few days so they could get used to this new place," he explained.

"Silly flowers, you were born in the ground," Daisy said, as she patted one of the flowerpots.

"They must get confused," Luigi said with a smile. "So, now, we loosen the flower…"

He placed a hand on top of one of the flowerpots, his fingers against the soil and tipped the pot upside down. He shook the pot a little and then the clumped-up soil was freed from the pot.

"It's free," Daisy said, and she leaned in closer to look at the bundle of dirt and roots.

"We make it so that the roots will grow outward," Luigi said, and he carefully pulled the roots so that they were no longer wrapped around.

"There's a base for the dirt," he said, and he placed the flower there, and filled in the loose dirt. He patted down the soil around the flower. "Not too tight, just enough to support it."

"Lot of work for them," Daisy said. She began to dig, and pushed against the sides when she felt like it was big enough for the flower.

"It's a little big," Luigi said when she presented the new place for the flower, "but that's okay, it's not good if it's too small."

Daisy picked up a flowerpot and followed his previous motions. When she shook out the soil, it slipped from her grasp and fell to the ground.

"It's okay," he said to her worried look, "We just need to pack enough soil for it."

Daisy gingerly picked up the flower and its soil, and let it rest in the hole. She began to pack in the soil, and patted it down when it encompassed the flower.

"It looks happy," Luigi said when she was done.

She grinned. "I'm glad they can be here."

5. Painting

Daisy was sitting on the bench, her arms enveloping a bouquet of sunflowers and Luigi peeked out from the canvas.

He nodded at the blankness before him and started off with a pencil outline. Daisy's drawn head was a little big and the hands were strange appendages that gripped a cylinder of nothing. He drew in the sunflowers and the petals were weirdly droopy. The eraser on the end of the pencil was no good and he reassured himself that he could fix the petals in the painting stage.

Luigi found a thin enough brush and began painting over the pencil outline. The paint completely covered the sunflowers and if he tried to dab at it they became black circles. The hands completely melded together, but the face looked relatively unscathed.

He looked out from the canvas; Daisy had broken the pose for just a second to tuck in a stray strand of hair behind her ear. He took in the form again and breathed out as he looked at his creation. He started again by adding color.

The two blue painted eyes began to run down. Luigi quickly pushed the brush against them and they became two big circles. The sunflowers became a homogenous blob of yellow, and her painted hair was a shade too light. When he tried to darken it, the shade became too dark. He finally found the right balance but the paper was too wet in some patches.

The paint on the canvas eventually dried and he said, "It's done."

Daisy excitedly stood up and placed the bouquet on the bench. He brought the painting to her and let her take it.

Daisy studied her painted self, an unreadable expression on her face; Luigi's shoulders slouched as he really looked at his painting.

"I'm sorry."

Daisy seemed to find her thoughts; a smile appeared on her face and she carefully held the painting close, her arms crossed over the back. She let go and looked at it again before lifting her head upward.

She went to place the painting on the bench before she turned around and hugged him. He relaxed, and returned the embrace.

6. Loud

"We don't have to watch it if you don't want to," Daisy said. She must've noticed his shoulders hunch up.

He shook his head.

"Here's something not scary about it," Daisy said. She pointed to the screen. "The sound cuts out for the ghost's scream when it interrupts the party, so I say, 'Shut up, stupid!'"

"It must be an old ghost," Luigi said.

"All it wants is peace and quiet," Daisy replied. "Ah, don't we all?"

For once Luigi had a smile on his face as he watched the film; true to her word, as the ghost made itself known and screamed there was no sound.

"Shut up, stupid!" Daisy shouted, the last word in a high-pitched tone.

Luigi was about to say something, when the ghost made all the doors and windows slam, and a loud, droning noise ensued until one of the characters ran out of the house. Luigi put a hand to his heart.

"You okay, Luigi?"

"I think that scared me more than the ghost…"

7. Naked

It wasn't any sooner than when Daisy settled down into the chair that Polterpup jumped up into her lap; Luigi was about to say something, maybe scold, but Daisy only let out a tiny squeak of surprise and then began petting the ghostly puppy, "Good pup, am I in your spot? I'm sorry, you can stay here."

Her smile settled into something more neutral and her hand was placed upon her chest in a dramatic way.

"Luigi," she said in a mock-scandalized tone, "this puppy is naked."

He knelt down to join her in petting Polterpup and said, "So rude in so many ways."

"Oh, he stole stuff from you, yeah?"

Luigi nodded, and laughed when Polterpup began enthusiastically licking his hand.

"Seriously, I wonder if clothes could fit him?" Daisy asked thoughtfully.

"Maybe they would go right through him," Luigi said.

"Does he ever get cold?"

"I… I don't know," Luigi replied. Polterpup had taken to look pitiful for more pets, and Luigi obliged as he tried to remember where he'd seen Polterpup.

"I don't think I saw him in the snowy mansion," he said.

"Hmmm," Daisy said as she ran her hand up and down Polterpup's back. "He's happy with you so that's all we need to know."

8. Climb

There was a lone tree out on the hill, its branches adorned with leaves, and it was the right sort to lean against and look upward at the clouds that trailed across the sky.

Luigi thought then that this tree would be good for climbing; but then it was shoved away with excuses of not being small enough for its branches or fear of getting stuck.

And then almost immediately Luigi thought of Daisy's dismissive remarks to such excuses, with a declaration to climb a mountain before crossing that bridge.

So he got up and began to climb the tree. Sometimes his feet scrambled for purchase and his hands protested against the roughness of the bark, but he managed to pull himself up to a branch. It held him well and he sat on the branch, smiling at this closer distance to the vast sky.

The smile faded when the thought, "I wish Daisy could be here," crossed his mind.

9. Soothe

There were muffled sobs and a million ways to soothe but none of them seemed right so Luigi was left with open arms and Daisy holding on so tight it almost hurt.

There were a million ways to soothe this and he needed one more, something that fit this grief that he could recall all too well. It was so horrible to be alone.

He breathed in deeply, a silent example for her calming, and returned her desperate embrace, but gentle. In time there was an exhale without any tears to follow and he found the right words.

"I'm here."

10. Precious

Polterpup was looping around Luigi's legs, and he was trying in vain to pet Polterpup. He thought that excitement sometimes clouded the fact that what was wanted was right there.

"Stay, stay," he said, and Polterpup stopped, still brimming with rowdiness and Luigi began to lean down to pet Polterpup.

"You're a good dog- ow!"

"What happened?" Daisy called.

"Doggy head-butted my nose." He blinked away a few tears, and saw that Polterpup was looking up mournfully.

"It's okay," he said, as he knelt down and began petting Polterpup in earnest.

"It's impossible to get mad at that," Daisy said, as she watched from the doorway. "It's just, 'Awww, you precious little ruffian.'"

"His only crime is being so cute."