I don't own DC
The sky was cloudy, and the sun was slowly setting as the rather unremarkable car with very remarkable passengers. Isabella 'Izzy' Rhodes and Shiawase 'Joy' Toyoda. They had arrived at Mike's Comics and Games Shop. They were going to play Dungeons and Dragons in the gamer cave basement when Mike and his employees closed up in a few hours.
Freya, Mel, and Leslie were going to join in the game, but the latter two were still on shift, and the former was currently napping at her home, the Superbabes' house. But it was all agreed that she'd be able to get to the shop in record time on her beloved daisy yellow bike, Sleipnir.
"So shall we head downstairs?" asked Joy as Izzy locked her car.
"Nah, we got plenty of time. I'm going to catch up on my latest issues."
"Then I guess I'll go spend time with Mike," Joy said playfully as Izzy chuckled.
"Well, don't tucker him out," Izzy said as they began heading around to the front door. "I'm DMing, so I don't want him too tired to roleplay.
"No promises," Joy said teasingly as they walked in. "Hey, Kyle 9." New guy Kyle 9, sitting at the counter and watching the two beautiful women strut by. Kyle 9 was a recent hire; Rico, a former employee, left Gotham for Metropolis to attend college in a safer city. And Kyle 8 finally graduated to his actual name, Humphrey… he probably, however, should've stuck with Kyle.
Izzy redirected herself to the comics section to catch up on her Beetle-Man and Honey Badger comics. Joy promptly went to the back elevator that led to Mike's apartment and the attic storage. Stepping inside, she used the key he gave her to access the apartment and rode up. The elevator doors slid open. She stepped out of the elevator and immediately kicked a box full of what APPEARED to be junk… but she didn't want to assume.
"Mike?" She stepped over another box of stuff and went looking for him as his voice echoed out from near his bedroom.
"Yeah?" Then, after a second, he realized that the voice wasn't one of his employees but his very sexy girlfriend. "Oh, Joy. Hey. I'm in my bedroom." He said as she danced across the floor, avoiding boxes before entering her boyfriend's bedroom and finding him ass deep in his closet.
"What are you doing?" she said in a very cutesy tone.
"Well, it started with me looking for a family heirloom after my mom asked me to find it."
"…Doesn't she live in Central City?" Joy asked as Mike stood up, holding what appeared to be an SD drive in his hand. He promptly tossed it onto his bed.
"Yep. She was looking for my grandmother's old jewelry and seemed to think my dad sent it to me by accident." She casually looked at the SD drive and the piece of tape on it that said 'JToy' and smirked, eyeing him knowingly as he went back into his closet.
"I take it you found it then?" she asked, and he groaned.
"Not me, but apparently my niece was playing dress up with it, and before anyone noticed, she took it home." He said as she pouted.
"You have siblings?"
"I have cousins, and I find it easier just to say they're kids are my nieces and nephews." He said, "Anyway, since it caused me to clear out my closet in the first place, I might as well move some of this stuff to the attic or toss what can be tossed out."
"So let's start with this?" she said, picking up the SD drive that clearly had all his porn of her, coyly teasing him as he sighed.
"Well, I'm not tossing that out. Porn or not, it's still a perfectly good SD drive. I can still use it after giving it a good scrub." He said, going back into his closet, "Oh, hey…" he noted, "I was wondering where this got off to." He then walked out of the closet holding an old ornate box, carved and polished with old rune-like Gaelic symbols carved into it. Joy stared at it almost in awe.
"Wow… that's actually really pretty." She said, admiring it curiously as he put it on the bed. "Where did you get it?"
"This is another family Heirloom." He said, "But it belonged to my great-grandfather Conner Conroy, dad's side of the family." He said as Joy giggled.
"Conner Conroy?" he shrugged.
"Made out of a hawthorn tree struck by a lightning bolt, if Gramps' story is to be believed." He said with a cheery smile, before twisting a wooden lock and letting the lid pop open with a click. Inside were old trinkets, handmade, polished wooden jewelry, and other little knick-knacks from pretty little crystals and shiny marbles that appeared to be more modern… but notedly.
"Oooh," she said as he pulled an amber pendant on a shiny red and green woven cord. It might have been considered a cheap bobble if not for what appeared to be a four-leaf clover trapped within. "Wow." She said, staring at it. "Where'd you get that?"
"Came with the box." He said before handing it to her. "If Gramps is to be believed, it belongs to my Great Grandfather Conner." He said, before going back into the closet to keep cleaning.
"Why's that hard to believe?" she said, admiring the polished amber and the Four-leaf clover preserved inside it.
"Well, because according to my gramps, Grandpa Conner apparently got it from a leprechaun." He said as Joy blinked, then smiled.
"…That sounds like a story, Mr. Dungeon master." She said as he chuckled, rather embarrassed.
"Want to hear it?"
"Well, Izzy's going to be our DM tonight so… yes." She said, putting the family amber pendant back in the box made from a hawthorn tree struck by lightning. "I like your stories." She said as Mike actually blushed and cleared his throat as he cleared out his closet.
"Well, once upon a time, there was a son of a wood carver-"
"Hey, Da, have you seen my boots?" asked Conner Conroy, scratching his head as he looked for his shoes in the early morning before working the family farm.
I thought you said he was the son of a wood carver?
It was 1800s Ireland, and everyone had a family farm.
"Have you checked the closet?" Sheamus Conroy replied impatiently as he worked on a table commission.
"Yeah, they aren't there."
"Probably the little people took them." Deirdre Conroy said playfully, before handing him a hunk of bread and cheese to snack on, and a standard baked potato.
…Is that racist?
I'm just telling it as my gramps told me.
"Ma, be serious, those boots were brand new!" Conner replied as Grandpa Sheamus, shaking his head at his wife's joke.
"You probably just left them in the tool shed." Grandma Deirdre chuckled as Conner grumbled.
"Probably more believable than a tiny man stealing them," Conner noted, finding his old shoes and putting them on.
"Leprechauns do like shoes." Grandma Deirdre declared, as Grandpa Sheamus sighed.
"Honestly, woman…"
So, irritated that he was wearing old shoes and he couldn't find his brand new boots, Conner walked out of the house and headed out to the farm, which was located about 30 minutes away.
Wait. What? Why was it-"
I'm just telling it like it was told to me.
"I didn't leave my brand new work boots in the bloody tool shed," Conner mumbled to himself as he got to the tool shed on their farm. "Why would I take my work boots off at the damn tool shed if I had to walk back to-" he opened the door and stopped as he saw his work boots in the tool shed… however, what he also saw was a part of feet sticking out of the end of the left boot, laying on the ground like a tiny person was using it as a sleeping back.
Loud, raucous, drunken snoring rippled out from the boot as the tiny feet wiggled and rolled over. Conner stared at it, slowly shut the tool shed door, and seemed to process what he saw. Two tiny feet using as one of his work boots as a sleeping bag… He opened the door again and stared at the shoes… before shutting the door again.
"…No stinking way."
Stinking?
Gramps didn't swear in front of me.
Conner hesitated again, opening the door one last time to see the sleeping little feet. Then, in a moment of brilliance. He grabbed a fishing net hanging from the wall of the toolshed, stepping over tiny little bottles, and approached his boots… The net in one hand and the other reaching out towards the boot. Before grabbing it.
"Faith and begorrah!"
Faith and Begorrah?
…I'm starting to think you want me to modernize this.
Is it not already?
Do you want me to tell the story or not?
Sorry. Carry on.
Holding the net under the now squirming boot, he dropped the little man into the net. "What? Who!? Oh…" Conner stared at the tiny red-haired man in a little coat and a bushy beard. "…Well… Bugger me." He mumbled as Conner poked him. "Hey! Watch the fingers!" he slapped away Conner's fingers. "I don't poke you after waking you up now, do I?!"
"No, you just steal my boots," Conner replied, poking him again. "…Plus. I'm not ENTIRELY sure you're real."
"Of course I'm real!" he snapped, kicking away at Conner's poking fingers, his legs hanging through the holes of the fishing net. "What? You got a problem with little people?!"
"No. I don't… but again. I'm not drunk and YOU…" Conner poked him again, "Are a… a leprechaun."
"Says who?!" the obvious leprechaun said.
"…Me?"
"Well, that's your opinion." Conner blinked, "Now if you'd be so kind as to put me down, lad, and we can talk about this like gentlemen."
"Nuh-huh," Conner said, as the leprechaun sighed.
"…Bugger. That usually works."
"I caught you? Right? That means I get wishes?"
"Who the bloody hell said that?!" The leprechaun replied, "Do I look like a genie to you?" Conner frowned. "Just because you caught me doesn't mean you get wishes." Conner frowned.
"How about a pot of gold then?"
"If I HAD a pot of gold, would I be sleeping in a pair of work boots?" the Leprechaun replied as Conner frowned at him.
"…Why ARE you sleeping in my work boots?" Conner asked, looking down and again kicking the tiny bottles. "…Were you drunk?"
"…I might have had a few with a couple of good friends…" the leprechaun replied, "Who are looking like less good friends the more we talk," as Conner frowned.
"So you broke into my house, stole my work boots, and passed out in my family farm's tool shed?" The leprechaun blinked and cleared his throat.
"W-well, when you put it like that, it sounds like I did you a great disservice."
"More like a slight irritation. But I still caught you."
The leprechaun sighed, "…Aye. You did." He said, crossing his arms in annoyance. "And those good friends are looking a WEE bit suspect about that." He sighed again, then smiled charmingly, "Now. Be a good lad and let me go, I'll apologize for the irritation."
Conner thought about it, and he looked the leprechaun dead in the eyes. "…You can't leave until I let you go. Can you?"
"Bugger me." Sighed the Leprechaun. "…NO. I can't leave until you let me go." The leprechaun said, "Ancient laws and all that. I either need to trick you, or we come to a bargain." The leprechaun got an odd twinkle in his eyes, "But I can see that a sharp lad such as yourself isn't going to fall for the usual trickery. So let's start over. I'm Shaunessy."
"Shaunessy?"
Shaunessy?
Shaunessy.
"Aye. That's my name. What's yours, lad? Or would you like me to call you human the whole time?"
"Conner. Conner Conroy."
"Alright, Conner Conroy. Let's bargain." Shaunessy smirked at him, "You let me go, and I'll grant you one wish."
"…I heard it's three," Conner said as Shaunessy rolled his eyes.
"Aye, I bet you did. Trying to get three wishes out of a tiny old magic man. Well, I'm only going to give you one." He said, "No tricks. No lies. One wish, as long as it's in my power to grant, of course."
"…Still heard it was three," Conner noted as Shaunessy smirked.
"Well, I could offer ya three. But then there's a good chance you might not get what you want if you ask for it. But I'll grant you one wish, no tricks." Shaunessy said confidently, "And you release me." Conner frowned at that. "So? Do we have a bargain?" he held his hand out, and Conner frowned at it, but took the proffered tiny hand and shook it. "Done! Put me down, lad."
Conner hesitated for a moment, but then put the fishing net down on the tool table, and the tiny man grinned, stepping out. "Alright, lad. What's your wish? See? We can be civil. What do you want? A good crop? A lifetime supply of taters? Me pot o gold."
"I thought you said you didn't have a pot of gold?"
"I said if I had a pot of gold, why would I be sleeping in work boots. That's not the same as me NOT having a pot of gold." He sat down on a mallet, grinning up at Conner. "Of course. I COULD just have an empty pot that USED to have gold in it, so maybe don't wish for that."
"Sounds to me like you're still trying to trick me," Conner noted as Shaunessy shrugged.
"Well, I am a leprechaun lad, we're all for bargaining. For instance… it is actually three wishes." Conner frowned at him as he grinned. "But we're bound by rules and laws, and King Brian would have my backside if I broke them. So one free wish, no tricks. You're lucky you caught me at all." He frowned, "That's what I get for drinking whiskey with old friends. But you can't get that lucky all the time."
"…What if I wished for it?" Conner said as Shaunessy blinked.
"What?"
"To be lucky like that all the time?" he asked as Shaunessy scoffed.
"Lad, I'm not granting a wish for you to get more wishes!" he said, "You being lucky enough to catch another leprechaun? King Brian would have both of our heads and turn our backsides into shoe leather!"
"Well then, how about something that'll let me control it? Like a… lucky charm."
Okay, you did that on purpose.
I'm just telling it as Gramps told me!
"Aye… maybe," Shaunessy said, rubbing his chin. "…Alright, lad." He stood up, "We need to find a four-leaf clover."
"Really?" asked Conner as Shaunessy suddenly appeared on his shoulder.
"Do you want a lucky charm or not?"
"You have to grant my wish," Conner said as Shaunessy laughed.
"Aye… and like I said. We need to find a FOUR-LEAF CLOVER. Get on it, lad, we're burning daylight." So together, they went into a nearby clover field. And after an hour.
"I found one!"
Just like that?
We're almost done. Can you hold all questions until it's over?
"About time. Now. Go find us a hawthorn tree." Shaunessy said, appearing on his shoulder again with a bottle of tiny whiskey in his hand.
"Feels like a lot of work on my part for a wish," Conner replied, but off he went to find himself a hawthorne tree. Lucky that took less time, there was an old one just a little way from the farm. It was tall and lush, and probably older than the house they lived in.
"Alright. Just push the clover against the trunk there." Shaunessy said as Conner, in for the whole pot at this point. Pushed the clover they found against the tree. "Don't move now." Shaunessy walked on Conner's arm, tossing the empty whiskey bottle away, before pressing his hands to the tree… then an oozy liquid flowed out of the tree and covered the clover in a teardrop of amber. "Alright. There you go."
"Just like that?" Conner asked as Shaunessy walked back down his arm. He plucked the amber-covered clover from the tree; it was cool and smooth to the touch.
"Just like that," Shaunessy replied, sitting on his shoulder. "That right there is a lucky charm. Try not to spend all your luck in one place." Conner stared at him, "If you use it all up at once, then it's gone for good. Jinxed for life." He declared as Conner blinked at him.
"…So what do I do with it if I don't want that to happen?"
"Put it in a box made out of hawthorne wood struck by lightning," Shaunessy said as Conner frowned at him. "Wear it when you think you need a wee bit of luck."
'Where am I going to find Hawthorne wood struck by lightning?" With a thunderous crack from a cloudless sky, a bolt of lightning struck the very hawthorne tree they stood under, and a massive chunk of it fell, smashing to the ground beside them as they stared at it. Then Conner eyed the amber-covered clover as Shaunessy grinned.
"Aye, well, I believe that's proof in the pudding! Enjoy your luck, lad!" and he vanished in a small shower of gold.
"My great-grandpa Conner dragged that hunk of Hawthorne wood back home and asked my great-great-grandpa Sheamus to carve that box," Mike said, picking up said box with the Amber Clover pendant inside it, and putting it back in his closet. "And that's the story of my Great Grandpa Conner catching a leprechaun."
Joy smiled as she sat on his beg, and giggled. "…Do you believe it?"
"I mean, in the world we live in? Flying dudes? Magic Ladies. Aliens. Wonder Woman…" Mike sat down next to her. "…I mean… I don't NOT believe it." He said, "But I also have a firm policy of not screwing with stuff I don't understand fully." He said, "To me it's just a fun little story and a pretty trinket I get to pass on to my kids…"
"You are the sort of guy who yells at people making obviously stupid decisions in horror movies."
"I keep telling you, don't read the spooky book in the spooky place." He then gestured to the ornate box with the ambiguous family folk story. "I mean. True or not? I don't really want to mess with it." Joy giggled and stood up, ready to drag her boyfriend downstairs for fun and games, when she hesitated.
"Mike."
"Yeah?…"
"…I mean… thinking about it." She said, turning to him and smiling coyly. "…You DID win the lottery."
"Yeah." He said, frowning thoughtfully.
"And you have a successful business and dream geek lifestyle..."
"Well, that's just good business decisions-"
"And… what are the odds…" she said, sliding her sexy backside onto his big guy leg, and pushing her big breasts against him as she smiled thoughtfully. "That you'd meet your favorite ex pornstar…" she whispered, "And she'd become your girlfriend?" Mike suddenly looked concerned and thoughtful. "OR that she has a bevy of very sexy friends of dubious and highly loose morals?
"Okay. I see your point." He said, standing up and holding her waist. "And raise you a-Please don't make me think about that." She giggled and pulled his face into her lips. Kissing him lovingly, before slapping his shoulders and strutting away. "The only magic I want to deal with comes with DnD." He then paused. "Oh yeah! Explain how my dice rolls are aways shit?" he said, trying to counteract the point.
"Mike, I'm just messing with you!" Joy teased as Mike was about to follow her out of the room, but hesitated, glancing at the ornate box, allegedly made of hawthorne wood struck by lightning… before grabbing a particularly big shirt, and tossing it over the box.
Best not to think about it. Besides… his dice rolls are always shit. A magical lucky charm wouldn't let that happen all the time… right?
End
Once upon a time, and I'm sorry, I don't remember who suggested it: Forgive me. But they suggested that Mike had a 'lucky clover' that would explain how such ridiculously good things keep happening to him... at first that was going to be Joy's #7 (or #6), but then as I sat down to really think on it, it felt more like a 'Day off' thing. So instead, we got the story of the 'allegedly' lucky charm that Mike's Great Grandpa got from an oddly Familiar Leprechaun named Shaunessy (See Arwa #6)
Also, this chapter will lead up to Joy's #7 when I get around to it properly.