Mithar Keep & Frescot House IV: Magic babble lies within

[UncleWolf]

A Romp in the Woods. Sorta

The little podlings' tail flips a bit in annoyance when Adir goes running off like that, but she has to keep up! She readies herself to go and sprints off after him...only to fall flat on her face when her new skinny and long legs get all tangled up, making her cry out in surprise. As she lays on the ground, she lets out a sigh and slowly tries to untangle herself so she can get up and try to work out how to walk like this.

[Murkus]

[Definitely a Romp in the Woods]

Adir... was expecting at least a little effort, so he definitely skids to a stop when he doesn't hear little hoofbeats at his back. Adir spins around and trots back a ways.

Oh.

Well, now he just feels bad. Poor kid. Adir has a sudden and far too-close-to-home flashback from his first transformation. From his own first painful stumblings.

Four legs are hard!

Adir bows his head in an apologetic manner and approaches his chosen podling once again. His eyes flicker, then narrow. Hmmmm. The stag sticks his nose underneath lil' Podling's belly, giving her something to brace and put her weight on as she rises. He nudges her up, as any good papa deer might, and pulls back slowly to watch her wobble. Slooowly. He'll huff and snuff his approval if she can start it off right, and if she can't, well he'll just help her right up again.

He feels some of his dad-feelings eking through. God help him if this kid gets added to Sakura's ever-expanding brood! She'd probably let it happen too!

[Shadowcaller]

Toddler Escapades

"Be polite, Cora. Otherwise you could have gotten that sword of yours yourself." Cessie reminds her daughter.

[Gullara]

[Arriving]

Sakura arrives at the Keep on her bike and pulls Russell out of his sidecar before she heads inside. No doubt Cessie is waiting for her, as she called ahead. When Cessie sees her, she might be quite shocked to see her dress is hanging off of her. Much of her soft flesh has been greatly reduced. She looks quite distressed, to say the least.

Toddler Escape

Thad will pass Cora the sword when he returns, smiling warmly to her. "Here you go. Have fun." He tells her.

Toddler Escapades

"Be polite, Cora. Otherwise you could have gotten that sword of yours yourself." Cessie reminds her daughter.

[Toddler Escapades]

"Sorry, mommy." Cora clutches the sword to her chest. "Thank you, Thad." Then she scurries off to the other kids.

"Laela! Bastion! Let's play!" Cora sprints over to Garn and waves her sword at him. "Garn Garn! We're playin' now!" She taps it against his leg and then runs over toward the nearest door. "Come come!"

Laela holds her towering hat in place and grabs Bastions arm, tugging him along after Cora. "Yay!"

[UncleWolf]

Toddler Escape

"You're welcome, Cora." Thad says as he watches as the kids run off before turning to Sakura with an offered hand. "Hello ma'am. I'm Thad. If you need any help, all you have to do is ask and I'll try my best." He tells her sincerely.

Moving Day

It takes the Podling a few long moments before she's able to find her feet again with Adir's help, but after a few minutes of flexing her legs one at a time and walking a bit, she begins to hop and skip around. It appears she's gotten the hang of it now at least. Once she's done, she looks over at Adir expectantly and gives a little flick of her tail in excitement.

[Shadowcaller]

Toddler Escape

Garn let's out a growl and then follows the little party along. He seems rather happy with this, if that's an emotion he even can convey properly.
Cessie smiles at her children as they move out. It felt like it wasn't too long since they had all been in diapers. She then turns to Sakura and Thad to see how this introduction is going.

[Arriving]

Cessie is down in the little courtyard to greet her. This was odd, but this was the nexus so things like this happened from time to time. You just needed a way to deal with it. She can easily see Sakura's distress though. "Sakura, why don't you sit down for a bit?" She gestures towards an empty chair near a table where she have prepared some lunch, and even a little snack for Russell in the form of baby-food (or whatever Russell ate). "We will figure out how to deal with this in no time."

[Gullara]

[Toddler Escapades]

The kids shriek and giggle as they run off, hurrying just a bit faster with a monster on their heels!

"Hi Thad. It's nice to finally meet you." Sakura shakes his hand and offers him a friendly smile. "You must be quite the babysitter. It looks like Cessie's kids like you already, so I'm sure mine will too."

[Arriving]

Sakura sits, but none too happily. She distracts herself with helping Russell start to eat. He usually still drank breast milk, since Sakura doesn't think he's too old for that still, but he does get solid food once in a while. "What are we gonna do, Cessie? I don't feel right like this." Sure she's not actually hurt, but she feels quite violated and the sudden change just feels wrong.

[Murkus]

Moving Day

It takes the Podling a few long moments before she's able to find her feet again with Adir's help, but after a few minutes of flexing her legs one at a time and walking a bit, she begins to hop and skip around. It appears she's gotten the hang of it now at least. Once she's done, she looks over at Adir expectantly and gives a little flick of her tail in excitement.

Man, Adir thinks, I am the best deer-dad ever. Hopefully some of his kids get the Change and he can nudge them around too. And once they're older he won't have to give all the piggy back rides! Just the thought of that makes his back feel a little better.

If he could smile properly as the Podling bounces around the clearing, he would. Instead, he huffs his approval, sticks his butt out, flicks his tail, and off he goes!

Just a tad slower, this time. Let the little one get the hang of it. He sure hopes Sakura isn't worried about where he's gone.

[Shadowcaller]

[Arriving]

"Don't worry, Sakura. First we must identify what's wrong with you." She looks at the dryad, trying to ignoring the fact she looked even thinner than herself at the moment as she attempts to do a reading on her. "I can tell you it isn't eldritch at the very least. It's probably aether then, which mean we need help."

[Gullara]

[Arriving]

Sakura can't help but look crestfallen. She was really hoping Cessie would be able to fix this. "Okay... Who can help me then?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Arriving]

"We have a couple of alternatives, you could potentially help yourself through the fey essence but considering what happened last time we might want to wait before we use that option. We could also have someone else do it using the fey essence, but the same problem applies. There are a few stores that specialize in this sort of problem too if we like to go for outside help." Cessie has found out about these, just in case.

[Gullara]

[Arriving]

"Uh, the fey essence probably isn't the best idea." Considering what happened next time. What if she got double the babies again? That'd be four this time! "If you can think of someone that might be able to help that'd probably be fine. Just as long as they can do it soon."

[UncleWolf]

Romp in the Woods

The little podling seems to have gotten the hang of it enough to be able to keep up with Adir well enough through the woods as long as he doesn't go too fast. She's particularly good at prancing even.

Great Toddler Playdate

"If you ever need me to come over and babysit, all you need to do is ask, Mrs. Frescot." Thad says with a smile. "This actually reminds me quite a bit of my family's home, though we live in Riverside."

[Gullara]

[Playdate Minus Toddlers]

Sakura smiles warmly and she giggles a bit. "Are you sure you'd be able to handle them all? We already have five, and there's another two on the way." She pats her large belly. "They'd have you thoroughly outnumbered."

[Murkus]

[Arriving]

There is the sound of a harp being plucked at, and the sound carries most pleasantly.

It only took a little bit of coaxing on Zillia's part for the Keep to allow her entrance. Visiting one's granddaughter is a perfectly good excuse. One of the walls of the room Sakura and Cessie currently inhabit simply folds open. Bright light seeps into the chamber, silhouetting the lovely redheaded figure that sways out onto the stone floor. She's curvy. Her hips and chest are just touched with a bit of extra weight, enough to fill out the white toga that holds her tempting form. Her eyes flash blue, with flecks of gold, and they regard the two other women with pleasant affection.

Her smile is warm as the sun. The portal behind her does not close, at least, not yet. "Soon enough?"

[Romp in the woods!]

Adir doesn't prance! He gallops! He leaps! Soars! At least, that's what he'll tell himself when someone accuses him of prancing. Maybe he'd bite their hand, too.

His easy prancing takes him through the woods in short order. After quite a breathless little journey, they come out in the flat, grassy clearing that makes up the Frescot backyard. Ahead of them, the back of the hill-house can be seen, and an expansive deck protruding from it.

Adir shifts back and starts to climb into his pants, nodding at the podling. "Do you..." He looks at his pants. "Do you want some clothes, little lady?" Maybe Laela would be obliged to share!

[Shadowcaller]

[Arriving]

"Perhaps I could ask Dorota, she-" Cessie starts as she's suddenly interrupted by the sound of a harp. She's quite certain that she doesn't own a harp so where did that come from? She looks around just in time to see Zillia's grand entrance, her eyes widening as she see the nymph simply waltz into the keep through some mystical doorway. Her eyes flutter as she blinks in disbelief. What in the Artari's name was going on? "Zillia?" She asks hesitantly, her nymph relative always looked a bit different every time she saw her, but she had no idea who else it could be visiting like this.

[Gullara]

[Arriving]

Sakura blinks in surprise at the nymph's sudden arrival. She's confused for a moment, but Cessie makes all the pieces fall into place. "Hi Zillia." She says with a smile despite her situation. "What are you doing here?" Cessie sure seems surprised. There's know way she could know what's going on, right?

[Murkus]

[Arriving]

"You can't recognize your own dear grandmother?" Zillia asks Cessie with a teasing smile, knowing full well how different she looks each time they meet. "Oh, Cessie, I missed you darling." She coos, grinning as she bends forward to catch Cessie in a hug.

Whether or not Cessie permitted their embrace, Zillia's always ready to try again. Her eyes twitch to Sakura. "Oh! Sakura! Cessie's dear friend. How are you?" She rushes over to scoop up the dryad, too. Even if they both stand for it, Sakura's still very much shorter, and she may get a heaping facefull of Zillia's chest.

"I was lonely, and I thought I was about due for a visit," Zillia says into Sakura's long ear. She pulls back some and smiles. "Are you doing alright, darling? You look terribly skinny. That can't be good for the baby." She simpers as her palm brushes Sakura's belly, but only for an instant. "Goodness, that's adorable. How far along are you?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Arriving]

Cessie get's surprised hugged! Her arms still handing by her sides as Zilla squeezes her. "I didn't exactly expect you." She says, the nymph always making her somewhat nervous. She knew it wasn't fair to Zilla but she always expected the worst to happen whenever she came for a visit.
As she let's go the sorceress takes a moment to gather her bearings. So her nymph relative suddenly appeared, that was some amazing luck considering what they needed right now. "Yes, she has been cursed." Cessie states as she hears Zilla's statement. Not sure wherever she should help Sakura or not. Zilla had no concept at all of personal space. "We were just discussing it, you came in in the middle of it." She gives Sakura a sympathetic look, trying to gauge wherever the dryad wanted Zilla a bit more... distant or not.

[Gullara]

[Arriving]

Sakura, on the other hand, is always open to physical contact. She grins and hugs Zillia back without hesitation, even if she gets smothered for the duration. "Good. Well, not great right now, but good since I saw you last. Some crazy person did something to me today and now I'm like this." The dryad puts her hands over her belly; she doesn't mind at all if Zillia wants to feel. "I am sure the babies are fine, though. I'm about five months in right now." It'll be clear to Zillia that Sakura is quite large for that amount of time, even accounting for twins. She looks like she's full term! "Um, we're pretty sure I'm going to give birth a lot earlier than normal, though."

[UncleWolf]

No Longer Prancing

The little podling explodes into a mass of vines against before reforming as the cat-girl from before. This time though she wears a little dress that's the same color as she is. She frowns at it and seems to concentrate furiously for a few seconds. After a moment the dress twists around itself until it appears to be a soft blue in color. Once she's done she grins and looks up at Adir, ready to go on in.

Toddlers Escaped

"I have a large multitude of younger brothers, Ma'am." Thad admits. "Little ones like these shouldn't be too much of an issue even if they are capable of coordinating ambushes on me." He explains with a warm smile. "I'm sure I can handle anything they throw at me."

[Shadowcaller]

The Frescot House

Adir and Sakura's little peaceful hovel will get an unexpected visitor. Namely a twelve foot tall pit lord that wanders towards the house. It looks about as friendly as you'd expect a creature with that kind of appearance. Yet it's still civil enough to knock on the door with it's huge fist, taking a look around their place as it does.

[Murkus]

[The Frescot House]

The Pit Lord will have to wait about two minutes for an answer. The answer doesn't come from the door - it appears in the form of an antlered man about ten yards to the monster's right, having appeared from around the side of the little hill house.

Adir Frescot palms the ancient gun in his pocket - through the fabric of an oily rag, thank Yuri, because who knows what happens when you touch these things - and stares with his face frozen expressionless. His eyes are squinted down to almost nothing, cold drops of light deep in the grim gullies of his face. A glare, razor keen and utterly compromising, cuts across the demon's form.

Adir flashes his idiot grin.

Come on, you big ugly thing. Turn this way.

Away from the house.

Please.

"...Can I help you with something?" He asks in a voice that's only as measured as he can keep it.

[Invasion of the Pod Person]

Adir blinks.

"Okay."

That did not look any less strange through a person's eyes than it did when he was a deer. Buttoning his pants, he offers the little podling his hand and guides her toward the house. Up the deck stairs, there's a little set of windowed double-doors that lead inside. "You know any other people words, pod-girl?"

Adir swings the doors wide for his guest. Time to see who's awake. It was pretty early yet when he left.

[Arriving]

"Curse? Cursed?" Zillia peers up, down and around Sakura, putting her hands on the sides of the dryad's belly as she makes a great show of searching. And the concern on her face is evident. "This isn't any sort of curse I've ever seen, Cessie honey."

As they finish explaining, Zillia narrows her pretty eyebrows at the dryad. "Are you sure someone did this to you, Sakura?" She spares a glance for Cessie. "This could all be the work of the kami, you know." Zillia's never seen one take weight or fat like that, however. There are too many things playing havoc with Sakura's body.

Her glance at Cessie is questioning.

As though she should know exactly what she's talking about.

Or someone in this room ought to.

Mortals. So oblivious.

[Shadowcaller]

[The Frescot House]

The pit lords turns to look at Adir with a confident and perhaps a bit sinister smile. "Put that away. Won't harm you." It states in it's deep menacing voice. "Coming here with a warning. VIGIL is no more. Destroyed it. Will also destroy any survivors of it coming our way. This includes you and anyone associated to it." It places it's armored fist upon the wall of the house, leaving a scorch mark. "You will inform the other survivors of this. We aren't trying to destroy or conquer the world, so stay PUT." It glares menacingly at Adir. "Understood? We know where you live and we are endless."

[Arriving]

Cessie meets Zillia's gaze. "A kami? I wasn't aware of a kami, what kind? I didn't even know they operated here." She asks, sounding completely confounded. A kami possession? In Sakura? They usually didn't work that fast but if there was anyone who could tell it would be Zillia. She had only read about them, never actually seen one in person.

[Murkus]

[The Frescot House]

It's tough to keep emotion off your face. It always is. The combination of choking, suffocating worry and raw, burning black rage causes a twinge at the edges of Adir's eyes, at the ends of his mouth.

"You can see this? Good," Adir sneers hard, rattling the lump in the gut pocket of his hoodie. "If you knew what it does you'd be threatening me from the other side of my property line. And I swear on whatever nauseating thing you play bitch to," He points with the callused finger of his free hand. His corpse grin doesn't fade. "If you touch my house again, I can show you the end. Not your friends, not your idiot race with your I-don't-care plans." Adir's ugly little eyes and shaking shoulders promise all sorts of pain and misery.

The stag swallows and regroups himself. Time to pull it back. Time to... to... "Now. Now... I don't want anything to do with VIGIL. Alright? I don't want a fight. I don't want to shoot at monsters on my front lawn with a gun that's pretty honestly too heavy for me. And I'll call my friend at VIGIL as soon as he starts picking up."

He hasn't been.

"You can tell the thing or things holding your leash that I'm not a problem. Hell, tell them I wet my pants when I saw you," he spits, throwing out his hand as if giving assent. "Tell them Adir Frescot understands. Alright?"

[Shadowcaller]

[The Frescot House]

The pit lord meets Adir's intense gaze with it's burning eyes, never once looking away or even blinking as he threatens it. But then as he finishes it suddenly pulls away from the wall, leaving a clearly hand-shaped scorch mark that will be hard to remove and nods. "You understand." The fiend repeats. "Then so do we. No one here will be harmed as long as you just focus on the real threats. Just try to make sure that your comrades are as wise as you." It starts stepping away from the house, but seems unwilling to turn it's back to Adir for the time being. Then all of sudden it's bathing in a bright hellish light which seems to be coming of it like flames, like it had been set on fire. But the next moment it's just gone, taking the flames with it.

[Gullara]

[Invasion of the Pod Person]

He may be up early, but since when did small children ever sleep in? He won't see anyone at first, of course, but he'll certainly hear them in the kitchen. "Cern, come back here with that. That's mommy's." Sakura says, a slight scolding edge to her voice. "Come over here, you have to eat your breakfast."

Before Sakura can even finish, the little boy in question comes running out of the kitchen. He holds a pot firmly in place over his head, grinning like a loon. "Daddy!" Cern runs to his dad and makes a big show of headbutting him with his new helmet. He laughs and looks up at Adir again, but this time he notices the strange little girl. "Who's that?" He points at her, looking to his dad for an explanation.

[Arriving]

"A kami? Um, I don't think so? The person that did this walked up and talked to me and stuff. She seemed totally friendly until she touched me. Then I woke up like this." She wishes she had more in the way of explanation, but that's about all she knows.

Russell decides now is a good time to bring attention to himself. He makes a gurgling sound and whines. His mommy is not paying enough attention to him. Instantly Sakura turns and scoops him up. She gives him a little kiss and holds him atop her belly. It sure makes a good baby shelf right now. "Look at me, forgetting to introduce you two. I don't think you've met Russell yet." The green, flower headed baby clings to Sakura's loose dress and stares at the new woman. Who's that?

[Toddlers Escaped]

Sakura laughs. "Okay. Don't say I didn't warn you, though." She gives him a wink. "You'll be the first person we call, if you're not too busy with Cessie's kids. You're gonna find out that hers my kids come as a package a lot of the time, though. Isn't that right, Cessie?"

[Murkus]

[The Frescot House]

Adir lets out what might be the biggest held breath of his life. He tosses the wrapped Object War on the ground to his right and bends, propping his hands over his knees as he does nothing but suck air for a moment. What the hell was wrong with him? Good gods, he hasn't faced a thing like that in what feels like years. And he didn't exactly play it smart.

"Okay... okay," Adir steps over and undoes his hoodie. He wraps War up in that, even tighter. The thought crosses his mind that he's never seen the ancient gun directly.

Now bare-chested, the stag raises his gaze to the scorch mark that... thing left behind. Can he clean that off before Sakura gets home?

[Arriving]

"Oh, shush Cessie, can't you see it isn't the kami?" Zillia says, seeming as though she's making every effort not to roll her eyes. Of course you didn't know there was a kami, Cessie, dear. "Oah!" Her attention is torn entirely from the two women. She makes a sound like she's just seen heaven. "What a gorgeous boy!"

Zillia bends down and smiles at the tiny creature, their eyes about level. "How ever did you explain this one to your husband? He doesn't know the father, I hope..." She leans forward to kiss little Russell on the forehead, if he and his mother both allow. Muah!

[Shadowcaller]

[Arriving]

Cessie begins to feel slightly exasperated. Or perhaps the word stressed was better when Zillia kept dropping hints about one thing or the other without explaining any of it. What she said of the kami was concerning to say at least, but now she was focusing in Russel instead. "Zilla, please. I know all this must be exciting to you but kami possession is a serious condition. Not to mention whatever did this to her. We need your help here." She points out.

((Other scenes will be handled tomorrow.))

[Gullara]

[The Frescot House]

Nope.

The dryad chooses this moment to arrive home. Thankfully she was never going to be coming down the road. Sarget emerges from the treeline with Sakura in one of his branches. They both catch sight of Adir and head his way, Sakura waving animatedly. When they get close, however, it quickly becomes apparent that something is wrong. "Adir? Are you okay?" Her eyes move between him and the scorch mark after she's climbed down. Sarget's face is a mask of concern and he makes a low rumbling noise.