The Twofold Houses 5: Rebuilding

[Morty]

[Frescot House - Molerat Wranglin']

"I can be quiet and quick," Tuskfang says. His parents might disagree with the first half of this statement, but he really is pretty quiet as he creeps up behind Gwydion. He's ready to rush in and grab the frogs when the Frescot boys do.

[Gullara]

[Frescot House - Molerat Wranglin']

"David no." Cern whispers. "You're not sneaky like me. You gotta stay." It's too bad the molerat isn't exactly trained to follow many commands.

Meanwhile, Gwydion leads the way a short ways away from Cern. He points to where a frog is sitting on the edge of the pond. It's a big one; it'd take two hands for the kids to hold onto it. He creeps forward. Slowly, carefully. Then he reaches out to snatch it! He hesitates, flinching as the frog reacts, and it hops into the pond. "It got away." he hisses.

"Noooo." Lucy giggles. "Mommy says frogs like staying in the water, though. The pond is their house." The girl explains.

[Reinholdt]

[Mithar Keep]

Walking up to the entrance is Ilpholin. At least what looks like Ilpholin as most people remember her, the most obvious cybernetic changes concealed. What can't be concealed is Ilpholin's belly, clearly heavy of a woman firmly in her second trimester. Which would explain why she's walking slower than usual. Her clothes somehow still seem to perfectly hug her curves, even the ones that have grown and clearly fight their confines. Tauron's clothing may have been disturbing at the time, but Ilpholin has thoroughly grown attached to its usefulness. But given the swell of her bump, it's unlikely she's here to talk fashion.

[Shadowcaller]

[Mithar Keep]

Ilpholin might have changed a lot, but the keep looks relatively similar. What seemingly haven't changed at all though is Garn. He is standing near the entrance to the courtyard with a broom in his hand and gives Ilpholin a suspicious stare as she approaches. "Who are you?" The gargoyle grumbles.
Oh, he remembers Ilpholin, but the question sounded better than "what do you want?" which Cessie specifically had told him not to greet visitors with and she looked a bit different. You could never be too careful.

[Gullara]

[Sweet dreams are made of this]

Early one afternoon Sakura is standing at the counter, wiping down some canning equipment that they picked up last week. She overlooks the kids as they're finishing up lunch. She glances toward the front door for the third time in the last two minutes. Cessie and Ambrosia should be showing up any time now. She's been too antsy to sit down for the last hour. She hopes they get here soon.

[Shadowcaller]

[Sweet dreams are made of this]

There is a knock on the door, and Cessie is one of the few people that don't actually use the doorbell so Sakura can make a pretty good guess of who it is.
"Sakura?" The door gleans open as her friend peeks inside.

[Spooky Encounters of the Frescot Kind]

Darkness encloses the Frescot house as only a few of the children are home. It's only evening but for whatever reason it seems darker outside than it should be.
Then all of sudden someone rings on the doorbell.
Yet if someone looks outside, no one seems to be there...

[Gullara]

[Sweet dreams are made of this]

Sakura perks up and looks toward the hallway. "I'm in the kitchen. Come on in." She calls.

The kids' attention is naturally drawn as well. Gwydion gets up from his seat and goes to look down the hall. "Hi auntie Cessie!"

[Spooky Encounters of the Frescot Kind]

The whole Frescot family had went over for a gettogether at the Mithar household. Of course, it's hard to keep track of all those kids at all times. Five of them snuck back to the Frescot house a short while ago, halloween candy in hand.


The eldest three have settled in the living room on the main floor, their loot from trick or treating poured out in three piles on the floor in front of them.

"You got more of the yellow chocolate bars?" Cora asks. She leans over to look at her brother's pile.

"They're mine." Bastion snatches up the aforementioned chocolates quickly, before his sister gets any bright idea.

Cora sticks out her tongue and instead leans over to look at Laela's pile, but Laela is saved by the doorbell ringing. "Someone's here?"


Meanwhile the other two are on their way upstairs. Lucy's guiding the way up to her room with Jillian just behind. The youngest Mithar tilts her head forward, and a rubber bat falls off her hat in front of her.

"Lucy!" She bends over to scoop it up. "Look! 'Member the house with the bats that fell? One was on my head!" She holds the toy out for her friend to see.

[Murkus]

[Molerat Wranglin]

David proceeds to do exactly the opposite of what Cern advises, suddenly hurtling forward and diving headlong into the tall grass. His scurrying rampage might just prompt a tide of froggy refugees to escape from his wrath, but they could also just all hop into the pond instead.

"That's right. Though they can live just about anywhere that's wet. Though don't tell your brothers! They'll try to keep one in the tub!"

[Spooky Encounters!]

Laela will get up, trailing a glittery gown that's at least twice as long as she is tall, and waddle over to answer the door. "Nope! Nobody!" She decides loudly. "That's funny-- hey, Cora, you better not be sneaking any of mine!"

Lucy peers close, squinting her eyes. "Haha! He must really like you," she squeaks. "You're batty, Jillian! Daddy says that means 'crazy'." She gasps, hatching an idea. "We should hang him up somewhere! Aw, it'll be so funny!"

[Morty]

[Molerat Wranglin]

Tuskfang opens his mouth to comment on the frog's escape and David's antics, but he remembers being quiet! So he clamps down and, in an exaggerated sneaky motion that he must have seen in a cartoon or book somewhere, stalks along the side of the pond, on lookout for more frogs.

[Shadowcaller]

[Spooky Encounters!]

While there is no one in front of the door, there is a note there that Laela might notice once she answers it. As all three should be able to read it shouldn't be hard to make out what it says despite the sloopy handwriting on the note.

T R I C K

If she doesn't notice it, another knock on the door will soon follow once she closed it.

[Sweet dreams are made of this]

"Good day, Gwydion." She smiles widely at the boy as she kneels down to greet him. "Always good to see you. But you know that I'm technically not your auntie, right?" She will playfully ruffle his flower hair, careful not to damage it as she knew how sensetive it could be depending on the season.

Ambrosia shortly enters the house after Cessie. Her expression is completely neutral as she turns her head to look around in the hall. Then she continues inside the kitchen without waiting for Cessie.

[Reinholdt]

[Mithar Keep]

Ilpholin might have changed a lot, but the keep looks relatively similar. What seemingly haven't changed at all though is Garn. He is standing near the entrance to the courtyard with a broom in his hand and gives Ilpholin a suspicious stare as she approaches. "Who are you?" The gargoyle grumbles.
Oh, he remembers Ilpholin, but the question sounded better than "what do you want?" which Cessie specifically had told him not to greet visitors with and she looked a bit different. You could never be too careful.

[Mithar Keep]

Ilpholin blinks for a moment, a wave of nervousness. She was different, but not that different, surely. In her mind and with the looks she gave herself, she was clearly still Ilpholin. The wave passes and she laughs and playfully pushes at Garn's shoulder. "Oh Garn. It's good to see you've lightened up." Because he was clearly making a joke in regards to her pregnancy.

"You seem busy, so I'll just find Cessie myself. Don't worry about it." She goes to step past Garn and walk in without waiting for him or his approval. Rude? Well she is trying to let him work without interruption. Maybe not.

[Shadowcaller]

[Mithar Keep]

Garn moves in her way before she can get around him, stretching out his wings to stop her if need be. His expression is unchanged as he doesn't laugh either. He just stares back at her.

"Why do you wish to see the master?" The gargoyle insists as he crosses his hands over his chest.

[Gullara]

[Spooky Encounters!]

"I'm not! I just want more yellow ones." Cora gets up off the floor and heads to the front door to see what Laela is up to now. Bastion, not wanting to be left out, gets up and hurries just behind her.


Jillian giggles and waves the bat at Lucy again before sitting down on the stairs. "Hang him where? So people run into him?" She asks, her eyes alight.

[Sweet dreams are made of this]

"Yes you are. You're silly." Gwydion laughs. "Are you visiting? Did you bring any magic books?"

"Oh, you're here too, Ambrosia. Hi." Sakura says. She stands up and clutches her hands together. They have the kids' attention now. They're all watching the new person. "Adir was just putting the youngest two down for a nap. He'll be here soon."

[Molerat Wranglin]

The frogs are canny enough to know that the pond is the place to be when something comes rushing toward them on land. There's more of them in here than the kids might have expected, and all the ones near David evade him into the water.

"David! You're doing it wrong!" Cern scolds.

David's ruckus extends over to the other two boys, since the pond isn't very big. Even so, Tuskfang can see one especially jumpy looking frog. If he can really nail his approach, he might grab it, but the commotion has it on edge.

"Gramma, put me down." Lucy requests, not minding the commotion the boys are making. When she's put down she sits on the ground and starts taking off her shoes.

[Reinholdt]

[Mithar Keep]

Garn moves in her way before she can get around him, stretching out his wings to stop her if need be. His expression is unchanged as he doesn't laugh either. He just stares back at her.

"Why do you wish to see the master?" The gargoyle insists as he crosses his hands over his chest.

[Mithar Keep]

Well baby steps. At least Garn tried to make a joke, even if he hasn't yet mastered expressions.

"Mistress," Ilpholin corrects him. "I'd like to talk to her about her children."

[Shadowcaller]

[Mithar Keep]

"Master." Garn corrects right back. Unshaken in his beliefs.
He does take a step back though and turns. "Follow me. Don't go off." The fact she had simply tried to move past him meant that he had to keep her close. She could be wandering around where she was not meant to be.

If Ilpholin does follow Garn he will lead her into the living room where Cessie is sitting in an armchair. She has all her children around her however. It appears as if she has been reading something for them.

[Sweet dreams are made of this]

Cessie smiles as he laughs. "You really want to look at them? Cora can't stand the sight of them at this point." She chuckles. "But Garn could always bring out a few if you asked him to. Just tell him I gave you permission, okay?" The sorceress winks. "It will be our little secret."

Ambrosia nods deeply as Sakura addresses her. "Long time, no see, miss Frescot." Her gaze turns to her children. "And greetings to you as well, children. I am Ambrosia Ithil. I... study things." Lucy and Russell seem to catch her attention in particular. Two quite peculiar children.

[Gullara]

[Mithar Keep]

The three Mithar kids are arrayed in front of Cessie, sitting on the floor with cushions and pillows. Cessie is telling them a story right now, so she's managed to capture Cora's attention. Though even still, she's the first to look away when people enter the room. In moments all three kids are looking up at Ilpholin. Cora and Bastion don't seem to make any connections, but Jillian's brow is wrinkled like she's thinking hard.

[Sweet dreams are made of this]

"Okay! Thanks auntie." Gwydion grins and goes to give Cessie a hug.

Russell simply stares back at Ambrosia. He may even look a bit wary, though he's a bit hard to read. Lucy, on the other hand, notices the attention and speaks up. "Are you mommy's friend?"

"Ambrosia is just helping mommy with something today." Sakura interjects to explain.

[Reinholdt]

[Mithar Keep]

Ilpholin tsks. "This is why you aren't going to get that promotion," she teases. She follows Garn but always seems one step away from going off on her own. Especially near corners where she pivots and leans and looks in the other directions as if she was scouting the place. Which to be fair, she was. Ilpholin needed to memorize as much as she could about the layout of this place for when she inevitably had to defend it from the demon attack. And they would attack here eventually, the crud sucking scum.

Fortunately today was not that day (probably) and Ilpholin ends up standing in the entrance of the living room. She gives a small smile to the children who are now staring at her, but also doesn't actively interrupt. Unless Cessie herself pauses with the loss of the children's attention in which case she'll try to wave it through. "By all means continue."

[Shadowcaller]

[Sweet dreams are made of this]

Cessie quickly returns it. "Just remember to be careful with them, Gwydion. Some of them are pretty old." She slowly starts to get up and let's go of him. "Now I need to help your mother though."

The scholar nods. "Indeed, me, your father and lady Mithar are going to, ah, study your mom. She's fascinating, wouldn't you agree?" She smiles.

[Mithar Keep]

Cessie looks to Ilpholin and then has to take a double check as she notices her belly. "Oh." She turns to her children. "Let's pause her shall we? This is Ilpholin, a friend. She's a warrior, just like Wenomir." That is bond to catch Cora's interest at the very least.

Garn has moved back and placed himself right behind Ilpholin. Could never be too careful...

[Gullara]

[Sweet dreams are made of this]

"I will." Gwydion promises. He's very careful! The boy returns to his siblings.

Speaking of which, they look pretty confused by Ambrosia's statement. "What do you mean?" Lucy pipes up again.

"Okay, no more questions right now. Mommy will explain later, okay?" Sakura gets up and stands at the head of the table. She'd find it hard to explain to anyone, let alone all the kids at once. "Time to go out and see grandpa, alright? Remember that you're all going on a walk with him?" Sakura wades through some additional badgering and whining, but soon enough she gets underway with helping the kids get their shoes and jackets on and ushering them out the patio door. It's quite a commotion.

[Mithar Keep]

"Really?!" Cora springs to her feat. "Can you use a sword? I'm training with Wenomir!"

"I remember you." Jillian decides upon hearing Ilpholin's name. "You visited before."

[Reinholdt]

[Mithar Keep]

"That's right. We finished hide and seek." Ilpholin remembers Jillian doing something along those lines at least.

She turns to Cora. "I wouldn't say just like Wenomir, but he's well worth training with. As for weapons, well I can use a sword..." Ilpholin holds up her arm and turns it into a sword. "A mace," the arm continues shifting to the various named weapons, "A hammer, a spear, an axe, a khopesh, and just about anything else you can think of. But the one I'm actually a master with is my favorite weapon, the whip." Her arm settles on a glowing purple whip. Partially because any more and she's certain Garn will tackle her if he hasn't tried already. And also because they can touch the whip without any chance of harm should they get grabby as it droops to the floor in front of her.

[Shadowcaller]

[Mithar Keep]

Garn and Cessie do give the suddenly shapeshifting arm a concerned look. Weapons appearing so suddenly in front of the children was not something neither of them wanted.
Cessie had almost forgotten that Ilpholin could even do that now. "Er, yes. Ilpholin's arm is like Wenomir's sword. It can turn into any weapon she likes." She briefly explains as she knees down on the floor and puts her hand on Jillian's head and softly pats her. "Do you actually remember that, ladybug?"

[Sweet dreams are made of this]

Ambrosia nods in agreement with Sakura but says nothing else as Cessie enters and Sakura starts herding out the children from the house.
Cessie will try to help Sakura out as Ambrosia takes up her tome to make some more notes in it. Cern also gets a curious glance as she sees his teeth. Clear signs of spiritual involvement, and in so many of the children.

[Gullara]

[Mithar Keep]

"Woah!" Cora's normal insistence that her weapon of choice is the best gets shoved aside. "How'd you do that?" She gets up and moves closer to Ilpholin.

"A little bit!" Jillian says, tilting her head up to look at her mom. She remembers that Ilpholin was fun.

[Sweet dreams are made of this]

Soon enough all the kids are herded out the door. They can see them running across the yard to where Sarget is waiting.

Sakura turns to the other two women then and lets out a breath. "Okay, as soon as Adir is down that's everything we needed to take care of before this."

[Murkus]

[Spooky Encounters]

Laela is probably far too focused on the prospect of candy to notice it. She closes the door, and then immediately goes to open it again. "Somebody's being stupid," Laela decides as she glances at the other children. "You can't have any of our candy! We trick-or-treated it fair and square!"

Lucy sits down with her friend, poking the bat again. "Uh huh! We could hang him in the bathroom. That'd be really good. Somebody opens the door, then... blah! Bat on your head!"

[Molerat Wranglin']

David continues to romp and splash happily around, uttering a solitary squeak as he plays in the damp. He seems pretty heedless of Cern for the time being. Viviana, meanwhile, heeds Lucy's request and squats to set her down on her feet. "Oh goodness," she says, watching. "Are you going to show them how it's done, Lucy?"

[Sweet Dreams]

Adir pokes his head in and the rest of him soon follows. "Ladies! Everyone's here," He is trying badly to hide his unease, but he does a passable job as the kids go filing by him. He ruffles most of them on the head. Sakura, at least, will know that he's still pretty uncomfortable about people going inside his wife's mind, but he's not going to fight it if it means they can learn a little more about Sakura's situation. "Guess we're finally doing this, huh?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Spooky Encounters]

Laela can hear childish giggle nearby, yet if she looks, there is nobody there.

It's then all the light's inside the house starts to flicker as if the electricity was going off. However, all other electronics inside the house still seem to function just fine.
Eventually, all the lights inside the house (besides the tv, phones, etc.) go out.

[Gullara]

[Spooky Encounters]

"Huh, what was th-" Cora cuts off as the light start to flicker. Then they go out. "Ah! What happened?" It's so dark, Cora fumbles around and bumps into Laela. "I can't see!"

There's a bit more fumbling about, but then all of a sudden a light emerges. Bastion is standing next to Cora, holding the helmet from her costume in his hands. Cora's fiery hair makes a pool of light around the kids. Bastion grins.


In the stairwell, the two girls have less luck. Jillian is giggling along with Lucy when the they're plunged into darkness. She gasps and her laughter cuts off. "Who turned off the lights?" She asks hesitantly.

[Reinholdt]

[Mithar Keep]

Ilpholin just needs Bastion's approval and she'll have majority vote over Cessie and Garn.

"Well it's with the help of a special technology called nanites. I had some very specialized surgery," Ilpholin explains. "But years and years and years of training came first. Are you keeping up with your studies with Wenomir?"

Ilpholin kneels down, slowly cause of her belly, and holds out her arm for Cora.

[Shadowcaller]

[Mithar Keep]

Ilpholin seems to have mistaken this household for a democracy.

Still, Cessie doesn't seem to mind all the attention the kids are giving the nymph. "Maybe you could see Ilpholin and Wenomir sparr sometimes, Cora. It's quite impressive." She assures her daughter while also bringing up the idea. It wasn't like she could fight her daughters interests so she just had to embrace it.

[Sweet Dreams]

"So it seems." Cessie remarks, her tone becoming more somber now that the kids are gone. "It shouldn't take too long though. Time passes much slower within the dream. For anyone outside it will likely only be an half-hour at most."

"Miss Mithar is correct. It's all and all a relatively simple process that is unlikely to cause any real distress. All that's going to happen is essentially just communication. No harm can be done here." Ambrosia assures them.

[Gullara]

[Mithar Keep]

"Mmhm. Wenomir comes and visits and we train." Cora reaches out to poke Ilpholin's arm. "Ooh, yeah! You should spar Wenomir!" She loves watching Wenomir spar with people.

"I'll go get my training sword!" She declares and runs out of the room. Unless someone puts in a real effort to stop her.

[Sweet Dreams]

Sakura nods. She was never worried about any harm, though. She's much more worried about whatever conclusions are going to be drawn.

"So how do we do this?" Sakura asks, looking to Ambrosia. As nervous as she feels, there no use delaying.

[Morty]

[Molerat Wranglin']

Tuskfang approaches sneakily for a while, but then he breaks into a sudden run, leap and grab. To his credit, it is pretty quick for a child his age. It is, however, not especially stealthy.

[Reinholdt]

[Mithar Keep]

This is tyranny!

Ilpholin's whip arm feels a lot like a whip, but feels a little tingly too. "Oh it might be a few months before I can spar at my best again. Sooo maybe Wenomir has an actual chance right now." Ilpholin winks, but Cora's already running for her training sword. "Didn't you want to finish the story?" Ilpholin protests, but probably doesn't even complete her question before Cora's out the door. Yikes.

She looks back at Cessie as her arm returns to normal. "Sorry. I really didn't mean to interrupt."