Bluebird

Neobedouin

Benny whined as Metalbeard grabbed him about the waist and hauled him away from attempt #47, squirming in the captain's hold. "But- spaceship!" he pleaded.

"Not now, lad. Can't risk ye gettin' caught by Bad Cop." It was a familiar argument by now. Benny pouted and slumped in his hold, trying his best to be dead weight, but Metalbeard wasn't the least bit deterred. Gravity hadn't had a proper hold on Benny since his awakening. "Besides, I've got a surprise for ye."

"Surprise?" The spaceman perked up again at that, spaceship forgotten for the time being. "What sort of surprise?" Metalbeard released him when he made it back to the helm, and Benny hauled himself up on the railing, swinging his feet.

"Ye hear of Cloud Cuckooland?"

"A few times," Benny confirmed. "What is it?"

"It be a safe haven for Master Builders, or so they say," Metalbeard answered. "Tis bein' built by a princess from a kingdom far across the seas, I hear, someplace untouched by Lord Business' reign. How she heard of our plight, I couldn't tell ye, but I be glad for some help. Some lass who goes by 'Unikitty', whatever that means."

"She sounds like fun already," Benny said, grinning.

"Captain! Rainbow ahead!" the lookout called down.

"Rainbow?? Why's that important?"

"Tis how ye find Cloud Cuckooland!" Metalbeard crowed as he sailed straight for it. Benny gasped in surprise as the ship sailed straight up the rainbow, flailing as he fell backwards off his perch.

"Oh!"

"Quit playin' around, lad," Metalbeard told him, looking down at him as he lay sprawled on the deck.

"Oh, but it's just so comfy down here."

"That be enough o' yer sass." Benny snickered and sat up, looking around.

"Well I get the 'cloud' part for sure. You're certain this is it?"

"Aye. We just have to give the secret knock!" He marched over and rapped his hook against the door, a single loud blow.

"...That's it? That's the secret knock?" Benny cackled. "It's so simple!"

"Sometimes the simplest solution be the best," Metalbeard said, though he was also grinning. The door swung open, granting them entrance.

"Whoa," Benny said.

"Aye," Metalbeard agreed.

"Okay, I get the 'cuckooland' part now too, this is just..."

"Too much?"

"A bit."

"HIIIIII! Welcome to Cloud Cuckooland~!"

Benny yelped, leaping into the air- and staying there. A half-unicorn, half-cat hybrid about the size of a tiger had leapt down right before them, smiling brightly. "Ohh wow, you can float too! You know, we have a couple other guys here that dress like you that can do that-"

"Ken and Lenny are here?!" Benny squealed, grinning. "I haven't seen them in forever!"

"Oh, you're already friends! That's great!"

"I see why ye be called 'Unikitty' now, Princess," Metalbeard chuckled. "That be yer actual name, or just a nickname?"

"A bit of both!" she chirped. "Names have power, you see, so everyone in the Unikingdom has a second name! What are your names?"

"I be Captain Metalbeard, and this be Benny Blue," the pirate introduced them. "Tis a pleasure to meet ye, Princess."

"Oh, you don't have to be so formal with me! Rick does it all the time and it's so annoying. You're Master Builders, so you're my friends now! You can just call me Unikitty! Come on, let me give you the grand tour!" She trotted ahead of them, giving an obviously rehearsed spiel as she showed them around. The place was total anarchy, somewhat surprising for someone raised as royalty, but Benny found it growing on him.

"So how do you keep this place floating?" he asked, craning his neck as he tried to catch a glimpse of everything. There was so much to see, it was almost impossible. Metalbeard pressed his hand to Benny's back to nudge him along.

"Your friends have actually been a great help with that! They rigged up our Silly Cloud Stabilizers! I guess having experience with spaceships helped a lot! They said having you around would help a lot more though- you're an engineer?"

At the mention of spaceships, Benny's attention snapped back to her. He blinked as the question processed a second later. "Oh- yeah! I'm an engineer."

"What do engineers do?"

Benny snickered. "Well we're a lot like Master Builders- we design and make stuff. But it takes engineers a lot longer to build stuff 'cause we don't have a Master Builder's matter manipulation ability so we have to wait on all our parts to be fabricated."

Unikitty paused, giving him a strange look. "You say that as if you're not a Master Builder."

"Sorry, it's- a thing I'm still getting used to, honestly."

The strange look didn't go away. "So you're saying you didn't train to become one."

"No, it um... just kind of happened." There were a few murmurs of disapproval from the crew that had Unikitty outright frowning. They fell silent, and she smiled again.

"Well that's okay! You're still a Master Builder, no matter how you got to be one!" She still had a weird look in her eyes, though, that promised they'd be having a chat about it later. "Come on, let's go find your friends!"