Home 27: Ward-bound

[Gullara]

[A Request]

While Astrana is sitting in the living room, she can hear the rest of her family through the wall, notably the occasional pitching voice of one of her daughters. A short bit later Valerie comes out of the room, the volume rising for a moment before she closes the door. She went in there carrying Maha, and it looks like the youngest child was left to play with her sisters. Valerie glances at Astrana before grabbing up a book she had left nearby earlier. She comes up to Astrana, who will recognize the book as one of her own. Valerie puts it on the side table without remarking on it.

"Hey babe." Valerie sits down next to Astrana and hooks her arm behind her fiancée's back. "Um, can we talk about something?"

[Shadowcaller]

[A Request]

Astrana places her hand over Val's. "Yeah? This isn't about Leis, is it?" She inquires with smile as to set Val at ease. This didn't seem to be about their future marriage at least...

[Gullara]

[A Request]

"Um, no, it's nothing like that." She averts her face for a moment before making herself look back. "It's that I want to have another baby. I mean, I want to have a baby." She places her free hand on her belly.

[Arkhosia]

Fettina's Place

Spoiler

Show

Fettina's Place

Unfortunately for them both, this is simply how Tina deals with these things. Irreverence, feigned or not. It's easier simply not to care... or if you pretend not to truly care long enough, maybe you can believe it will become true. Oh, but how quickly all that wilts in the face of reality when it isn't kept at a comfortable distance...

Reese opens the door for the two of them. The limo interior, lit only by small bars of soft yellow light, awaits their boarding.

Inside, a man is waiting, one leg crossed over the other and his hands folded in his lap. He's impeccably dressed, the business casual of the far future. Despite the apparent perpetual youth of Tina's people, this man chooses to show his age, or at least some of it. His skin is a shade darker than Tina's, and he's as bald as an egg, but the resemblance is striking.

Only small flecks and tastefully placed bars of metal in his face betray any augmentation. He's not nearly so... loud as Fettina.

"Hi, dad," says Tina, sliding in on her butt and moving far enough to make space for Cantie.

"Hi, baby," says the man with a sort of cordial gruffness. He smiles, and Cantata can see where Tina gets her charisma-- this man could light up a room. "And you must be Cantata."

Fettina's Place -> Cool Limo

Cantata seems to transform a little as she slides into the limo, pouring in beside Fettina like she was born to occupy the seat beside her. it's as if she's slipped on a new face as well; she greets the man with a dazzling smile and an acknowledging nod, even as her eyes flit up and down in a quick, analytical scan that takes in and assesses his features as much as it habitually checks for weapons. That brief, colder glint is all that's there to belie an otherwise gracious and sparkly demeanor.

A pleasure. Cantata chooses to sign in response, figuring it safe to assume he'll be adequately prepared to communicate with her but keeping it brief just in case she has to reiterate. If a man with a presence like this who already knows her by name must have done some degree of background work on her, after all.

[Shadowcaller]

[A Request]

"Um, no, it's nothing like that." She averts her face for a moment before making herself look back. "It's that I want to have another baby. I mean, I want to have a baby." She places her free hand on her belly.

[A Request]

Astrana's eyebrows raise. "Ah." She nods as she thinks through this. But she didn't want to seem like she was hesitating either. "Of course, I had honestly been half-expecting that now that we're moving into a larger place." Her eyes are drawn to Val's belly and reaches down to touch it. Placing her hand on Val's. "So if you feel that you're ready then so am I."

[Gullara]

[A Request]

Oh! Val's eyes light up. She wasn't sure what Astrana's reaction would be. "I'm so happy to hear that." She grins and hugs her fiancée. "I've thought about this a lot ever since, well, I could." She releases Astrana to grab the book she set down earlier. "There's complications because of, you know, the whole vampire thing, but I was doing some reading." Astrana will recognize the book now as one of her own, a document of animalistic spirits written by some Fourth Tower scholar.

[Shadowcaller]

[A Request]

"Yes?" Val's reaction was to be expected. She knew how much this would mean to her so she was just have to be supportive. "I can see you've done some digging."

[Gullara]

[A Request]

"Yeah, um, I knew that we'd need some help and I figured something in your wheelhouse would be the right approach." She says as she flips the book open. She offers it to Astrana once she's settled. The first thing that draws her eye is likely the illustration of a heavily pregnant hippo. Astrana's familiarity with this entity aside, a quick glance at the notes within talk about fertility, pregnancy, bodies of water, the phases of the moon. The description of this entity is fairly lengthy, suggesting it's no simple spirit.

[Shadowcaller]

[A Request]

Astrana raises an eyebrow as she looks the book over. She certainly wouldn't have the time to read it all, or even a fraction of it, but her familiarity with the topic tells enough for now.

"What made you interested in this particular entity?" She inquires, there were quite a few fertility entities after all. "Is it its connection to the moon? Since I know the vampires of your world are connected to it as well."

[Murkus]

[Cool Limo]

It's tough to define what Fettina's father does as he takes in Cantata in turn. The best word one could use to describe it is 'cataloging'. Like she's being neatly checked, filed, and boxed. The smallest tick of his smile softens him a little again, and he seems to acknowledge her differing communicative needs with a nod.

"So I hear there is to be a wedding. Or... two weddings. Did I hear that right?" asks the elder man.

"And you thought you would, what? Just drop by without a heads up?" Tina says, trying to keep the innate hostility there to a minimum. "How did you even hear about this?"

"If I'd given notice, would you have seen me?" The old man challenges.

Fettina pouts and throws her gaze aside, folding her arms with a clank. Her old man looks at Tina's metal skin with a few more lines showing in his face. "You didn't even tell me about this."

[Gullara]

[A Request]

"Well, that's what they say, but I don't really know." Valerie ponders for a moment, but refocuses in a second. "Honestly, I just knew that my case would be more tricky, and it says that she's a pretty powerful entity. It's not like I have some regular fertility issues."

[Arkhosia]

Cool Limo

Spoiler

Show

[Cool Limo]

It's tough to define what Fettina's father does as he takes in Cantata in turn. The best word one could use to describe it is 'cataloging'. Like she's being neatly checked, filed, and boxed. The smallest tick of his smile softens him a little again, and he seems to acknowledge her differing communicative needs with a nod.

"So I hear there is to be a wedding. Or... two weddings. Did I hear that right?" asks the elder man.

"And you thought you would, what? Just drop by without a heads up?" Tina says, trying to keep the innate hostility there to a minimum. "How did you even hear about this?"

"If I'd given notice, would you have seen me?" The old man challenges.

Fettina pouts and throws her gaze aside, folding her arms with a clank. Her old man looks at Tina's metal skin with a few more lines showing in his face. "You didn't even tell me about this."

"We weren't sure there would be a need. They won't be particularly... serious weddings," the woman attempts to appease, looking towards Fettina to provide the elaboration. It did not feel her place to do so - and beyond that, she wasn't exactly sure how to approach it in the first place. How do you explain that you're getting married in order to be able to curtain to your betrothed's father?

In the meantime, Cantata moves to touch Fettina's arm, offering her a reassuring look. Should she look her way, the woman will sign in small gestures meant only for her; "It's okay - you're right to be annoyed, and he is to be worried. It can't hurt to ease it."

[Murkus]

[Cool Limo]

"Yeah," Fettina agrees, a little reticently. "It's something with this... condition. I can't be intimate with anybody unless we're actually married. Sort of. It's like a... bad joke. Made especially for me."

Fettina looks at Cantie while she signs her little message, and she reaches out to pat the other woman on the hand. It was a nice gesture. And she was probably right. Be reasonable, Tina...

"Where Tina and I come from, marriage tends to be more of a... serious consideration, if an uncommon one nowadays," says the older man, after some consideration of his own. "There's a muddling of finances, lives... feelings."

[Shadowcaller]

[A Request]

"Well, that's what they say, but I don't really know." Valerie ponders for a moment, but refocuses in a second. "Honestly, I just knew that my case would be more tricky, and it says that she's a pretty powerful entity. It's not like I have some regular fertility issues."

[A Request]

Astrana nods. "I'll see what I can do with this. It probably shouldn't be too difficult if the entity is as potent as you think." A beat.

"...how soon do you want this ritual to be done? I assume you don't want me to stress this but you must have something in mind."

[Gullara]

[A Request]

"Well, my thought was this would be a way of making me capable of getting pregnant. Then we can figure out, uh, the rest after that." Valerie chuckles. The rest is a pretty big question, but one thing at a time. "So I don't think there's any reason to wait."

[Morty]

[Entrance to Underside]

There are many different entrances to the sprawling subterranean goblin city-state. This is one of the smaller ones, all told. An elevator cut into the rock, making regular trips up and down. There's a small border check set up around it, but not may people are coming through today and the guards are mostly bored. And how two little girls are waiting for someone nearby. One being Brinika, wearing a wide-brimmed hat against the bright winter sun. Cheasadh is no doubt close by.

[Ironsmith]

[Entrance to Underside]

This is a bad idea.

That's the thought going over and over in Arthfael's head as he tentatively approaches the elevator, and the two girls already waiting there. He'd been enthusiastic about this trip at first; if memory served, he was the one who suggested it. But as he got closer, and the reality of the situation started to set in, with undoubtedly tight tunnels carved for creatures smaller than himself, he's starting to regret it. Something about going into such a small-seeming space was just... wrong.

But he can't back out now. How would that look? Brinika would likely never let him hear the end of it. And Khannie... boy, would she have something to say about it.

The young strigoi forces himself to breathe, despite not really needing to, hoping that would calm his growing anxiety... or at least, that it would help him maintain the appearance of being calm.

[Rebonack]

[Entrance to Underside]

Oh boy this is going to be great.

Khannie approaches!

Without the sorceress cloak her dad made for her.

Mostly because she doesn't want to get it dirty but also because she doesn't really expect to be doing much in the way of sorceressing on this outing.

Instead she just has her backpack with some overnight gear for sleepover reasons.

Clearly the best reasons.

The backpack also contains one (1) fairy dragon curled up and snoozing in the blankets Khannie packed.

She waves at those gathered as she approaches.

"Hey everyone! This is going to be so cool. I've always wondered what underground cities are like," she says, examining the elevator curiously. It definitely looks big enough for her. They probably use it to move big boxes and stuff underground, she'll bet. That's why it needs to be so much bigger than a goblin.

[Earl of Purple]

Entrance to Underside

Cheasadh is here! She's a blonde gnome of about twelve with large green eyes, a big nose and pale skin. She's wearing a pink skirt, purple leggings and a pink jumper over a dark shirt. She's also wearing a floppy hat like her sister's. Next to her is a small-ish bear, a Teddiursa with a big head marked with a crescent and sticky brown fur. Pookie is currently sat on a rock with a large pot in front of him labelled 'Hunny'.

When she sees Khannie and Arthfael approach, Cheasadh jumps up and starts waving vigorously.

[Morty]

[Entrance to Underside]

Brinika waves equally vigorously. There's a lot of enthusiasm packed into this tiny body.

"Hi Khannie! Hi Arthfael! This is my sister Cheasadh," she says for the strigoi's benefit. "Ready to see the giant beetles? We're going to go where our dad works. They've got giant beetles there. And then we'll see where we feel like going."

[Ironsmith]

[Entrance to Underside]

Arthfael looks between the gnome, the goblin, and back again, clearly trying to reconcile "she's my sister" with what he's seeing and momentarily forgetting that adoption exists. "...I, um... I see the resemblance." He says finally, in a tone that seems to be caught between trying his hardest to be polite and an insatiable need to snark.

Fortunately, the difficulties of trying to be sociable are, for the moment, outweighing his concerns about going down into the cave. If they hurry and keep him distracted, maybe nothing will come of it.

[Arkhosia]

Cool Limo

Spoiler

Show

[Cool Limo]

"Yeah," Fettina agrees, a little reticently. "It's something with this... condition. I can't be intimate with anybody unless we're actually married. Sort of. It's like a... bad joke. Made especially for me."

Fettina looks at Cantie while she signs her little message, and she reaches out to pat the other woman on the hand. It was a nice gesture. And she was probably right. Be reasonable, Tina...

"Where Tina and I come from, marriage tends to be more of a... serious consideration, if an uncommon one nowadays," says the older man, after some consideration of his own. "There's a muddling of finances, lives... feelings."

Cantata nods, clearly understanding the man's position here. "It is... the same for me, mostly," she signs after a brief search for the right words. "Uncommon" wasn't quite the truth for her, and she seems a little curious about what "feelings" might mean. Still, she continues with "What we are talking about is ceremonial, not legally binding."

[Rebonack]

[Entrance to Underside]

"The giant beetles sound great. I've heard there are other cool animals that live down here, too," Khannie replies.

That's the main goal, obviously.

Same reason why Khannie likes all the zoos around Inside.

There's something about not pokemon animals that just makes Khannie feel...

She isn't even sure.

Safe, almost?

Normal.

Like she's where she belongs. In a world where everything isn't one hundred percent pokemon on hundred percent of the time.

And then Arthael acts like a dork. At least he isn't being mean.

"My dad rescued Cheasadh and brought her to GLoG when he was out on an adventure," Khannie says, expecting that to nicely explain the whole situation.

[Earl of Purple]

Entrance to Underside

"A monster attacked my farm, and Khannie's dad looked after me for a while afterwards. He didn't go to the farm, which is handy because he wouldn't have fitted in any of the rooms." It was, after all, a gnome farm. The rescuers were Spako and a small blue furry individual whose name Earl can't remember, if he gave it.

"You can tell that we're sisters, though. We've got the same hat." Cheasadh smiles as she says this, glancing at Brinika's hat.

[Morty]

[Entrance to Underside]

Brinika's ears perk up with Arthfael makes his comment. See the resemblance, riiiight...

"And then she lived in GLoG and we became friends. She started hanging out with my cousins too and my parents decided to adopt her. It was awesome." She tips her hat. "Since our color schemes don't really match up because I don't look good in pink, best we can do is matching hats." Her ears are back to their normal position, but then the right one perks up. "I think I hear the elevator. We better get going. But I'm sure we'll see other animals down there too. Like molerats. Our cousins have a pet molerat. Or big lizards. Or bats."

[Ironsmith]

[Entrance to Underside]

Arthfael... does something. It's a foreign gesture to him, involving raising the corners of his mouth and slightly parting his lips, exposing the very tips of his pointed strigoi teeth. It might generously be called a "smile", but there's not really any reference to compare it to when it comes to him. Huh. He'd managed to have a conversation involving Khannie and Brinika and not made an ass of himself.

Yet.

That's... that's still a win, right? Even if he shuts up now and says nothing else throughout their entire time in the tunnels, he's come out on top.

...Oh, right, the tunnels.

He'll just, ah, follow the girls onto the elevator when it gets here. And hope it's not too crowded.

[Rebonack]

[Entrance to Underside]

"I saw some regular mole rats at a zoo Inside once," Khannie idly reports. "They smelled really bad. I hope the giant ones don't smell like that, but bigger."

A bigger mole rat stink would be pretty terrible.

Khannie will, likewise, await the coming of the elevator.

Seeing new places is always cool. That's one thing she really likes about living in the Nexus. There's always some neat new place to explore!

Not like the stupid pokemon world.

She was just stuck in that dumb village all the time. Couldn't even leave since you never know when wandering off might make you lose your mind and jump out at people from the bushes.

The more she thinks about it the more obvious just how terrible that place was.

Sure everything looked all cute and stuff but it was terrifying.

[Morty]

[Cass' Tower]

The dour-faced commander of Vigil is approaching the tower, looking considerably less dour than usual. Then again visiting this place often has this effect on him. Wenomir is dressed in a long, buttoned-up jacket, scarf and heavy boots, with no weapon in sight this time. He's carrying a thick passage wrapped in gift paper. Could it be he's here for a party? Wenomir on a party is an image that's difficult to reconcile in one's mind.

[Earl of Purple]

Entrance to Underside

"Don't worry, these ones have goblins to clean up after them. They do a good job, your nose probably won't smell anything nasty." Cheasadh grins, though her own nose is slightly more sensitive and she has smelt where a spot of muck was missed or recently cleared up.

Pookie has noticed the others are leaving now, and quickly gets up with his pot of hunny to follow.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Cass' Tower]

The dour-faced commander of Vigil is approaching the tower, looking considerably less dour than usual. Then again visiting this place often has this effect on him. Wenomir is dressed in a long, buttoned-up jacket, scarf and heavy boots, with no weapon in sight this time. He's carrying a thick passage wrapped in gift paper. Could it be he's here for a party? Wenomir on a party is an image that's difficult to reconcile in one's mind.

[Cass' Tower]

As Wenomir approaches the door, it swings open automatically to let him in, as it usually does, and swings shut behind him as he steps inside. Being a mage is handy that way. There doesn't seem to be a party going on inside, but Cass does seem to have company. Cass herself is lying on the couch, on her back with a small cream-and-brown cat sitting on her stomach, being petted. Across from her sits another dark elf with pale blue-grey skin: a man, taller and bulkier than Cass, with eyes the color of lilacs and older looking, with strong, handsome features and long white hair tied in a bun, yet bearing an obvious physical resemblance to Cass that reads as familial. An uncle? Older brother? Where are all these new family members coming from? He doesn't immediately acknowledge Wenomir's entrance, seemingly deep in thought while pondering a board game laid out between himself and Cass, with a glass of wine held loosely upright on the arm of his chair. Cass, however, lifts her head and waves at Wenomir, prompting the escape of the kitty, which wriggles free of her grasp and drops to the floor, approaching Wenomir curiously.