The Rainbow Housewarming

     "Oh what a mess! I better clean it up before—"

     Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Iridesia gulped a bit.

     "...She's already here... This is going to be super embarrassing to show her."

     Nevertheless, Iridesia did not want to keep Luxinia waiting.

     "Coming," they said before reaching the door and allowing Luxinia to enter.

     "I'm sorry about the huge mess, I-"

     Luxinia held up her hand.

     "It's not a bother, Iri! That's what I'm here for, to help you with cleaning and redecorating!"

     Iridesia sank to the floor as they heard those words. Luxinia then rushed over to their side.

     "Oh goodness, what happened? Are you ok? You must be tired! Let me go—"

     "No, no, it's just that, umm… big changes are kinda overwhelming. There's a lot going on, and it's all happening at once."

     Luxinia sat down next to Iridesia and held their hand, squeezing it a bit. She peered into their eyes and nodded slowly.

     "I understand; we don't have to do it all at once. Let's just start small. Maybe we clean up something that you no longer need first."

     Iridesia nodded. They glanced at some of the light faerie things in the house. They reached over to the cord going into a light faerie lamp and yanked it out.

     "Would you like a free lamp?" Iridesia asked.

     Luxinia nodded. "I can take that off your hands, but we'll need to get you a different lamp."

     Before they could continue, there was a rattle in the ceiling, and then a piece of rubble from the Faerie Castle fell through it and landed a few feet away from Iridesia.

     "AHHHH!" they yelled, leaping out of the way.

     "Yikes, let's go up there to take a look," suggested Luxinia.

     The two faeries flew above the house to survey the damage. They noticed that parts of the castle were lodged within the roof, likely from Vocivus tossing them into Iridesia's house.

     "Hmm, I'm not sure if it's safe to stay here, Iri. Not until we fix the roof."

     Sighing loudly, Iridesia nodded.

     "You know, I hadn't really spent much time in this home after Drakara took my wings away. I sat in the yard and watched the novas float around," Iridesia began before breaking down in tears. "That's how things got so bad. I know my furniture barely passes muster. I know everything is broken now. I'm sorry that you have to deal with my mess of a past."

     The Light Faerie took the Rainbow Faerie's hand again, and the two of them floated back to the ground near the rock where Iridesia used to sit and watch novas. She patted Iridesia on the back, and eventually, they stopped crying.

     "Maybe you don't have to stay here. Perhaps we could find you another place, in New Faerieland perhaps?" Luxinia offered.

     Shaking their head, Iridesia rejected the notion.

     "You're in New Faerieland already. If I also moved there, nobody representing Old Faerieland would be involved in interim leadership and selection of the council. I don't think Faerielanders would be fond of the idea."

     "Ok, how about a new place in Old Faerieland?"

     Iridesia once again shook their head.

     "I've grown up in this home. All it needs is some fixing. Plenty of other Faerielanders do not have a roof over their head. It'd be unfair for me to take housing from them when I still have a house."

     "That's unsafe to live in! What if something falls on you when you're asleep?"

     "All we have to do is clear out the rubble and it'll be fine!" Iridesia insisted. "I lived outside for a while. I can deal with a hole in the ceiling until it's repaired.”

     "You don't have to live like that anymore!"

     "It's only temporary! Besides, didn't you fix your own house in New Faerieland? Why didn't you move to Old Faerieland?"

     "My home was just messed up; the roof and everything was fine."

     "But you stayed in your home! I want the same thing you wanted!"

     The two were standing almost in each other's faces before Luxinia took a step back.

     "… I understand. But I do want you to be safe. I'd like to help you fix your home!"

     The Rainbow Faerie raised their eyebrows.

     "Really? You know, you don't have to. There's a lot that I need to do. I can fix things up on my…"

     "It's boring fixing a home on your own! Why not do it with friends? Plus, my house renovation magic may help!" Luxinia insisted.

      **

      "Hmm, no, I'm not sure if I like those pink shingles. They are too flashy," Iridesia said as Luxinia handed them a sample.

     "Hm, okay, how about this other shade of pink?"

     "Does it have to be pink?" Iridesia asked, sighing.

     A passing earth faerie took one look at Iridesia's house with a hole in the roof and decided to interrupt them.

     "Yes, according to Faerieland rules, houses in Faerie City must have a pink roof. Clearly, your house is not compliant. I shall be reporting this to..."

     "Meaghan, please leave. Fyora is no longer queen, and she left us in charge. We'll handle it," Luxinia interrupted, folding her arms.

     " And when was the last time you trimmed the grass..."

     The earth faerie was about to bring out her tape measure when Iridesia began to respond.

     "I've been fighting Vocivus and fixing our void problem. Cut me some slack! Besides, Luxinia's here to fix up the house."

     Meaghan folded her arms and glared at the two of them.

     "You have a week before I start issuing fines. Just because you're the Rainbow Faerie now doesn't give you a free pass." She then began walking away, tossing her tape measure between her hands.

     "Make sure any council we establish bans busybodies and homeowner associations," they muttered to Luxinia as Meaghan got further away.

     Luxinia nodded before showing Iridesia another sample.

     "Oh, the pastel pink is good. Let's do that!"

     With a snap of her fingers, a roof in that exact colour appeared over Iridesia's home.

     "Your magic is impressive!" Iridesia commented.

     "We're not done yet; the rest of the house needs to change too. What colour do you want the siding of this house?

     "Does it have to be all one colour? Can it be multiple colours? You know, like my wings?"

     Luxinia looked around at the other houses in Faerieland.

     "Well, you would be the first one to do that, but I think we can make that work."

     The Light Faerie snapped her fingers again. Each layer of siding took on a colour matching a different part of Iridesia's wings."

     "Hey, that looks cool!"

     "Now comes the hard part. We need to fix the interior."

     Iridesia opened the door to the messy interior. The changes the roof had caused another layer of thick dust to accumulate inside. They took one step, and immediately a cloud of dust kicked up into the air. The two faeries coughed until the dust had resettled.

     "I think we need to clean the floors first," Iridesia replied.

     They approached their broom and tried to pick it up. Upon doing so, more dust fell from the broom itself.

     "Umm, that's not supposed to happen, is it?" Luxinia asked.

     "I've been away for so long..." Iridesia began.

     "Not to worry, with my magic, these floors will be shiny in no time!"

     Luxinia brandished a magical sponge in her hands. The two of them flew up after Luxinia placed the sponge on the floor. The sponge instantly whizzed back and forth across the hardwood and soon unveiled golden-brown flooring.

     "Oh, so that's what it used to look like..." Iridesia remarked.

     "We might as well take care of the walls too!"

     Luxinia's sponge then slid back and forth over the walls until they finally revealed themselves to be the same pink as the rest of the homes in Faerieland.

     "I suppose I wanted to blend in with the Faerieland aesthetic then. But what do we do about this?"

     They gestured toward cracks in the wall that exposed the wooden frame of the house.

     "... How did that get there?"

     "I can explain. I was crafting a weapon for Queen Fyora that was meant to shoot motes at high speeds, and I uhhh... It accidentally went off in the house."

     "Accidentally?" Luxinia said with a grin.

     "Uhhh... Well, I was just testing it... so it was less of an accident."

     They both laughed as Luxinia went over to survey the damage.

     "A little magic here can patch it up. Just watch," she said.

     Luxinia tapped on the wall with her fingers, and the bit of missing drywall began to fill in the cracks. However, the edges of the cracks remained visible, and the drywall was not pink, like the rest of it.

     "Hmm, I guess my magic isn't enough," Luxinia said in dismay. "But I don't understand. I was able to fix the roof."

     Iridesia, however, got out some putty with a putty knife to fill in the remaining crack. They then used their wings to dry it all off before painting it pink.

     "Oh well, that's another way to do it!" Luxinia exclaimed.

     "I couldn't have done it without your help!"

     Iridesia continued to stare at the wall, feeling like something was missing. They finally realised that the pink did not really suit them.

     "Actually, how about a pattern on the wall that alternates the different colours on my wings?"

     Luxinia closed her eyes and attempted to transform the walls. She snapped her fingers, and the walls turned a faded pink.

     "Oops, that didn't work very well. Let me try again."

     She attempted again, and the walls managed to alternate between blue, pink and white.

     "I don't think I can get all of your colours," Luxina sighed. "Perhaps Ozzy could—"

     "No no, this works!" Iridesia said, smiling.

     With that, Iridesia stared at the dilapidated furniture littering the house. Luxinia glanced over at it too. While the furniture was still functional, Iridesia noted that much of it had changed colour after being shrouded in dust, having not been cleaned for so long.

     Their desk was also cluttered with work orders from their past artificer days. Queen Fyora would tell them the specification of a weapon, and they would build it, seeking Delina's advice where necessary.

     Iridesia picked up the last work order before Drakara had turned them grey.

     Weapon type: A pod of peas that could be used to attack opponents. Similar to the Super Attack Pea, but an entire pod of them with peas that can be shot at targets.

     "Oh, I never actually finished this one. Hmm... I hope Fyora doesn't still want it."

     "Maybe we could talk about what furniture you'd want to replace?" Luxinia suggested.

     "Ummm... All of it?"

     "I can start with the kitchen and dining furniture. I would advise cleaning out your desk here, though, since my magic could cause things to be lost if I conjure up a new desk."

     Luxinia walked over to the kitchen. It looked like Iridesia had finally tried to do some cleaning up. The pile of dishes in the sink had disappeared. Instead, the dishes were neatly arranged on a drying rack next to the sink. However, the oven next to it still sat broken, and the cooktop was still encrusted with residue from past cooking. In fact, turning it on would likely have started a fire, which is why Iridesia hadn't cooked a meal in years.

     Luxinia snapped her fingers and a shiny, new oven appeared in its place.

     "Now this kitchen is safe for cooking again," muttered Luxinia.

     She returned to find Iridesia tossing things out of their desk. Weapon schematics landed in the recycle bin. The only thing Iridesia kept were their notes back and forth with Delina.

     "There are things she taught me that I can apply to crafting anything!"

     Luxinia waved her arms and the old desk disappeared, leaving behind a rainbow-shaped desk. A rainbow chair sat behind the inside curve of the rainbow, flanked by drawers. Next to the desk, off to the left side, was a metal workbench.

     "Oh! I can store my tools in here!"

     They went over to their toolbox and carefully transferred their drills, hammers, screwdrivers, and other artificer tools they had. With that sorted, Luxinia then turned to the living space.

     "Your living room doesn't have anything in it!" she exclaimed to Iridesia.

     Iridesia sighed. "I never saw the point. When I was a Grey Faerie, other Grey Pets would just come in, sit on the ground, and mope. Sometimes we would discuss our problems so we could validate each other's feelings. Other times we would sit in silence. And the rest of the time I would spend outside, staring at motes."

     "So you never really had a proper living area in this house?"

     "Uh, nope."

     "Well, come on, let's go to Faerie Furniture to pick some things out!"

     Iridesia shifted around uncomfortably.

     "Uhm. I didn't have the best experience in there last time. The shopkeeper kept trying to push me to buy things I was merely looking at."

     "Well, maybe I can help keep her away," Luxinia suggested.

     "Let's go check it out then."

     The two of them left the house and took a brief walk into Faerie City. A lot of repairs were still underway, but the main shops were open now. The furniture store, in particular, was very busy with folks coming in for replacement furniture.

     At the front of the shop, the shopkeeper had arranged all Fyora-themed furniture with a sign that read "Celebrate Fyora's Retirement! All Fyora items, 50% off!" As Iridesia glanced at a Fyora-inspired vanity table, the Air Faerie shopkeeper, Flo, suddenly appeared.

     "Ah, you're back! You know, this vanity table is perfect for..."

     "Ahem! I'm helping them pick a few things out. I think those other customers over there need your help," Luxinia interrupted, gesturing toward the line of Neopets waiting to purchase items.

     "You're right! Let me know if you need anything!"

     With Flo out of the way, Iridesia and Luxinia strolled around the shop. However, despite trying their hardest, there really wasn't anything to their liking.

     They stared at a Light Faerie Chair in front of them, bewildered.

     "How does this work for posture? And I feel like I'd slide right off of it if I reclined," they asked Luxinia.

     Luxinia shrugged. "I certainly don't have one of those. I don't think every light faerie has the best ideas!"

     As Iridesia turned to look at something else, they noticed Kaia standing there looking a bit lost.

     "All of these faeries don't seem to make use of the floors of their homes. It's all chairs, beds, and sofas to avoid sitting on the ground. So different," Iridesia overheard Kaia muttering to herself.

     Intrigued that she was hinting that there were other lands with homes where sitting on the ground was considered the norm, Iridesia approached her.

     "Wait, do folks sit on the ground in Shenkuu?" Iridesia asked.

     Kaia looked up nervously. "Yes. You probably think that's weird, though."

     Iridesia shook their head and patted Kaia on the shoulder.

     "No, I don't! I've done that a lot too, but on dirty hardwood floors. I don't think I'm supposed to sit on dirty floors, though."

     Kaia's eyes lit up with excitement. Finally, someone with similar interests in decor.

     "Well, no. That just wouldn't do! In Shenkuu, we had special mats to sit on and furniture that would accommodate that. We called them Tatami mats."

     "Oh? Now that's interesting. So you have tables that accommodate sitting on the floor in Shenkuu?"

     "Yes, all kinds of tables with lower profile designs."

     Luxinia glanced around the shop.

     "Unfortunately, I don't see any of that here," she stated after surveying everything.

     "Maybe we could build it ourselves!" Iridesia suggested.

     "Well, if you show me what they look like, my magic may be able to make them appear."

     Kaia reached into her purse and brought out some pictures from her childhood home in Shenkuu.

     "Hmm, there's just one problem," Iridesia replied after looking at the designs. "My friend, Seshatia, sits in a wheelchair sometimes. This might be too low for her."

     "Ah, not to worry. The entire room doesn't have to all be Tatami. You could also have a higher table with chairs next to it."

     "Hmm, so I could have a Tatami table and mats in one part of the living space and then also have a regular coffee table with chairs next to it… can you make that work, Luxinia?"

     "Of course, but what will we use for mats?"

     Kaia stared at the pile of materials near the back of the shop used to make all sorts of rugs, including the Deluxe Fyora Print rug.

     "Well, these could work. If we could convince the shopkeeper to let us buy her raw materials instead. Hey, maybe I could use some for my home too!"

     The faeries made their way up to Flo, who was busy ringing up other customers. She looked puzzled at their request.

     "Just to be clear, you just want the materials and not the finished mat? I can give you almost all of the material for the Deluxe Fyora Print Rug for cheap since she is retiring and all of her stuff is on sale."

     "Yes, that's what we want," Kaia and Iridesia said in unison.

     **

     Iridesia laid the last of the mats down in their living room.

     "Whew, that was more work than I thought it would be. I didn't realise cutting those materials would take so long."

     "Thanks for cutting the extra ones for me!" Kaia said, loading pink and purple mats onto a wheelbarrow.

     Luxinia then got to work. She closed her eyes and imagined the same furniture that Kaia had presented in the photo, but changing the colours to match Iridesia's wing aesthetic. Sparkles filled the living room, and then the furniture appeared in the empty space.

     A lowered, round table with Iridesia’s wing pattern in the middle sat in the space, complete with floor chairs of different colours.

     There was also a curved table next to it, this one at normal height, with some taller chairs around it and an empty space for wheelchairs. The table also had Iridesia’s wings on it.

     Kaia and Luxinia plopped themselves down on the chairs. Iridiesia joined them moments later. They glanced around their house one more time, observing all they had done to fix it up. No longer was it dusty, and no more were there piles of dirty clothes on the floor. And more importantly, it finally felt like a home to Iridesia. Still, they finally realised they had been on their feet with little rest.

     "Well, that was a bit tiring," they finally said. "Thanks for helping out."

     The faeries smiled at each other as they relaxed on the floor.

     **

     Fyora carried a large paper bag at her side as she glanced down the pathway behind the Faerie Castle.

     "Wow, that looks neat!" she exclaimed as she noticed the changes to Iridesia's house. "The outside looks just like them!"

     She walked closer and noticed a group of Grey Neopets making their way into the house. Iridesia opened the door and beckoned them inside. Fyora followed them inside.

     She found Ozzy and Nyx there as well. They were gathered around the round table in a circle. There was a lot of food on the table. Fyora brought out a large plate of Faerie Queen Burritos to add to the other dishes there.

     She then handed a new multi-tool to Iridesia.

     "Oh thank you! I've needed a new one!"

     Iridesia placed the tool next to the other gifts near their desk before sitting back down next to Luxinia. Ozzy had brought Iridesia a painting of Faerieland that he had finally finished. Nyx and Juni had brought them some gardening supplies. And all of their grey friends brought various decorations. A mirror with a flower-patterned frame painted in rainbow colours, a few faerie dolls including a handmade one that looked like them, cooking supplies, and an organiser with drawers painted with Iridesia's wing-pattern.

     Once everyone had settled in, Iridesia stood up out of their seat.

     "Friends, welcome to my home… well, my newly decorated home. Thank you all for coming out to visit. Uhh… I appreciate your help decorating, and a special thanks to Luxinia for wanting to fix things up here. Anyway, you're always welcome here. But I'm hungry now, so let's eat and hang out."

     They sat back down, and Luxinia patted them on the back. Leaning over, Luxinia whispered with a grin.

     "I think we're gonna need to work on your toasting skills."

     Iridesia shrugged.

     "I spoke words. But really, thanks for fixing my house. I would have just accepted my living conditions."

     "You're welcome! And well, the next thing we need to work on is your new wardrobe!" Luxinia said with a wink.

     The End.