GLoG

[Reinholdt]

[Paternity Problems]

"Well we both know that's going to be impossible. Staying on anyone's good side for that long is just too harrrrrd," Reinholdt overdramatically bemoans. He'll never make it.

Reinholdt doesn't add too much more. He's not entirely sure Atya will ever not be in danger. And maybe this will all be very silly. But he doesn't want this to end up like the situation with Blanche did.

His head turns as Braon approaches, leading a quintet of little ducklets. He has to bite his lip to keep from audibly d'awwing at the cutewiddleohmygoshg;lkfh. Fortunately Braon opens up. "Ah. Yes. We're. Still. Here. At-Atya here wanted to see the lake before we went home. I may have played up how great it is. It's a pretty good lake."

"Well hi there," Rein says, waving at the children, returning the favor for at least one of them. Oh no spontaneous crying. Rein messed up, he's sure of it. "Well, I, uh, I'm sorry..." Reinholdt tells the crying child. He didn't mean to interrupt their duck time.

[quillpleasant]

Paternity Problems

"Well, luckily my bad side likes you just as much. Maybe even more," says Atya with a wink. Of course, she's quite convinced that if either of them gets tired of the other, it'll be Reinholdt and not her. But there's no need to worry about that today.

Not when there are other things to focus on. Like the baby parade that's just shown up. Atya's eyes widen in delight as Braon's family approaches. Oh god they're cute in those little ducks. And there's definitely a family resemblance in some of them. Her eyes flicker between Reinholdt and the boy with red eyes and blue hair. Hmmm.

"Yes, it is a lovely lake, isn't it? Far better than the duck pond back home. So these are the little monsters, huh?" she says, smiling cheerfully at Braon as she kneels down to be more on the kid's level. She waves back at the blonde girl. "Well aren't you just the cutest ever?"

Then one of them starts crying, which isn't surprising at all, because well. Kids are like that. Atya coos in sympathy at the bawling girl as she stands back up. "Poor mite. What are their names?"

[Ironsmith]

[Paternity Problems]

Better than the duck pond? That can't just be coincidental phrasing, right? Atya's definitely implying something about Braon's...

Erm.

Sonething. Her workmanship, maybe. The fact that she doesn't get it right away just proves it's a very clever insult and probably right.

But Braon can't really focus on that. Not with a crying girl in her arms. And Rein apologizing for making her cry, sonehow, like she isn't perpetually on the verge of bursting into tears.

But, fortunately, she's also comparatively easy to soothe, and after a few monents of gentle shushing, Braon is able to re-join the conversation.

"Right. Names." The fiendling clears her throat, gently bouncing her daughter in her arms. "Well, this one here is Niamh. That's her sister, Ciara, that's laughing at you. Then there's Cain, Tadhg and Cathal, in that order." She smiles, giving her horned son a gentle hair-ruffle with her free hand. "Don't let the look fool you. He's a real sweetheart. I mean, they all are, but... you know."

[Reinholdt]

[Paternity Problems]

Reinholdt does his best to start repeating all those names in his head over and over, but immediately starts tripping over some of them. Is that Ciarah or Seaira? Kathal? Oh dear. Those are some challenging names. It must be a Braon cultural thing.

That's fine. He doesn't have to memorize them all right away. The crying's stopped so things must not be that bad and no hasty retreats are necessary. Let's just leave them with an impression. "Well hi there. I'm Reinholdt, Treasure Hunter Extraordinaire!" Reinholdt performs his well practiced flourish. The kids love the flourish right? Everyone loves the flourish.

"Do you all like to feed ducks?" He asks. He thinks they're better on a plate than being given a plate, but that's birds in general for you. Rein's never seen eye to eye with most people about them, not even Atya. He accepts that they can be pretty from time to time.

Rein's not expecting much in terms of replies so he'll just nod understandingly to whatever babbles and gestures the kids come up with.

[Keeper]

Main Cabin

There's a unicorn visiting the camp. Well, two actually. Well, actually, two more than the usual one. Jace, his mostly usual blue and silver-tinged self has business with Sophie. He still has a bit of the motherly look going on, mostly since he had his foal about a week ago.
Speaking of, Kit is still naturally following him everywhere. He looks an awful lot like his papa, aside from his horn still being half-sized and more spiraled. And the feathers naturally worked into his mane and tail. The foal appears to be gazing wide-eyed at absolutely everything while Jace goes looking for staff.
Naturally, Zebes snoozes from his place on top of Jace's saddlebags.

[Morty]

[Main Cabin]

Thankfully, Jace need not look for too long. Sophie is here waiting for him. She steps out of the main cabin in time to see him.

"Oh, Mr. Vallarm. Good to see you here." But then she notices Kit beside Jace and her eyes almost visibly sparkle with uncontained excitement. "Goodness. Who's this with you?"

[quillpleasant]

Paternity Problems

"Aww, such pretty names!" Atya exclaims. Her face is starting to hurt with all this smiling. "Nice to meet all of you, I'm Atya. We're friends of your mom, yes we are!" She considers sticking to her fake name, but it's not like the kids will remember it either way.

Looking at the five children, Atya can't help but be reminded of her own siblings. As awful as most of them ended up being, having that connection is something she misses deep down. It's nice to see kids in a better situation.

Which reminds her that she should probably tell Reinholdt about meeting her brother. Well, time for that later.

"Oh, if they do like ducks, I could bring one sometime. I keep some very cute mandarins," she nods at Reinholdt's question. She'd offer to invite the kids over to see all her birds, but that would be impossible as long as she's sticking to the safety precautions she's decided on.

[Keeper]

Main Cabin

At least it's been long enough that Khannie has already explained the unicorn thing to Sophie. At least enough to expect him to look like this.
"Oh this is Kit, Khannie's baby brother. He's about two weeks old, now. Do you want to say hello, Kit?"
Kit looks at Sophie and makes a small snorting sound, not deigning to start chatting just yet.
"I think he's feeling shy today."

[Morty]

[Main Cabin]

"Oh, that's normal. He's still very small." Sophie beams. Small but already capable of speech, just unwilling. Of course, she doesn't know anything about unicorns so she won't question it. "Come in. I do get visits from children, so there are some toys in my office he can play with while we talk."

[Murkus]

[Oh Deer]

Sineran looks at TASBot with incredulity. Her eyes momentarily seem very wide in her frail face. "I think you overestimate other people," she replies. "But Tas... bot. A-alright."

Sineran will follow Khannie uncertainly. A place where danger isn't allowed... it sounds too 'good' to be true. But as she's heading there, black spots start to appear in her vision, like fire burning holes in a reel of film. She sways a little, trying to keep upright, holding her stomach. Then, whump, down she goes.

The little pudu-lady faints straight away.

[Rebonack]

[Oh Deer]

Khannie jumps a bit when the deer woman suddenly sways, then drops to the ground.

Heck.

She fainted.

Khannie's pretty sure that was exhaustion catching up but she doesn't know for sure. Taking a deep breath, the unicorn rolls her shoulders and hips (somehow?) a shoves off the ground into a bipedal stance. A wave of magic rolls over her finger-like front hooves to clean them off.

"Can you help me carry her?" Khannie inquires of TASbot as she moves to pick the pudu woman up.

[Keeper]

[Main Cabin]

"Oh, that's normal. He's still very small." Sophie beams. Small but already capable of speech, just unwilling. Of course, she doesn't know anything about unicorns so she won't question it. "Come in. I do get visits from children, so there are some toys in my office he can play with while we talk."

Technically none of the Vallarms are capable of speech. Sophie's Solar perception has probably clued her in by now that Jace and Khannie talk by magically producing a voice and then just pretending it's coming out of their mouths.
Regardless, Jace follows Sophie into the office. Kit is trying to walk with his head leaning on Jace despite the practical problems with walking around like that.
"Well, we'll see what he likes." Jace says warmly. Toys are a bit of a strange question when it comes to handless, psychic children who were born able to talk.
"You wished to speak to me about Khannie?" he asks, looking for something suitable for him to sit on.

[Morty]

[Main Cabin]

The kids' corner of Sophie's office contains the usual selection. A small toy train, sets of blocks of varying complexity, stuffed animals, dolls and balls. Hopefully Kit finds some of it interesting.

"Yes. She has expressed interest in taking on more duties in the campsite. As a junior caretaker of sorts." Sophie sits on her chair, while Jace will find a large cushion that may be suitable for him. Sophie has had patients with limbs in different shapes and numbers, but her resources are limited. "But it's something I must discuss with you instead."

[Keeper]

Main Cabin

Kit does find the plushes cute...
...but being still a newborn, almost immediately upon he and Jace sitting down he starts to nod off.
"That is what I recall. I have no objections with Khannie getting a job. But I do feel like you will need to impress upon her the hours that you expect her to be here. To be honest, she is a full time student with several clubs, a minor superhero career, and a shocking number of hobbies. I frankly don't understand how she even has time to be here." Jace explains.

[Morty]

[Main Cabin]

So, Jace knows about Khannie's superhero activities. That makes things easier.

"That is true. I can understand it. I was similar, when I was her age. Only without all the magic, heroism and strange events." As far as she knew as a teenager, she lived in a mundane world and dealt with entirely ordinary problems. "We do allow a lot of flexibility on the part of our volunteers but burnout can be an issue. I'll have to talk to her about it."

[Ironsmith]

[Paternity Problems]

...Oh.

It's official, Braon thinks to herself. She is absolutely being paranoid. Atya was talking about an actual, literal duck pond that she had somewhere on her property and Braon didn't know about. Why would she ever think it was about anything else?

"...They're a little young to be getting that close to actual ducks." Braon points out, giving Niamh a gentle bob. "Or water, for that matter. Half of them can barely walk, much less swim."

Meanwhile, Rein's flourish seems to have impressed a grand total of two of his audience; the already-delighted Ciara, and Cain, who lets out a little burble of amusement at the silly cat-man. The boy even reaches out and starts grasping at the air with his tiny fingers, clearly wanting something but lacking the elocution ability needed to describe what.

"Maybe we'll be able to- ow- to feed the ducks when they're older." Braon continues, pausing only briefly when Niamh starts pulling at her hair. "For now, they just have themed strollers, that's all. I kinda just went with 'what's cute and waddles' and worked from there."

[Reinholdt]

[Paternity Problems]

"They can beat a duck hands down," Reinholdt says, already imagining selling tickets to that cage match. And he knows every baby has mastered the art of throwing things. Give a baby a small piece of bread and fling! They're like one of those tennis ball machines but with food.

"Well I'm sure they'll be ready in no time." If they have Rein's genetics, they'll probably have aged a few months by the time this conversation is done. That's usually how it works with the other kids.

Until then though, he has no choice but to hold out one of his fingers for Cain who seems interested in practicing his early pickpocketing skills. Step one, grab. Can he master this powerful technique?

[Keeper]

[Main Cabin]

So, Jace knows about Khannie's superhero activities. That makes things easier.

"That is true. I can understand it. I was similar, when I was her age. Only without all the magic, heroism and strange events." As far as she knew as a teenager, she lived in a mundane world and dealt with entirely ordinary problems. "We do allow a lot of flexibility on the part of our volunteers but burnout can be an issue. I'll have to talk to her about it."

Main Cabin

"Well, just as long as you're aware of that problem. I'm sure you'll be able to figure out some sort of compromise." Jace turns as his familiar stretches and joins the conversation proper.
Zebes chuckles. "I gotta ask, does she do her 'too cool for school' routine for the kids or is it just Kit and her classmates? I haven't quite gotten her to shake that yet."

[quillpleasant]

Paternity Problems

"...are they? Huh." This isn't Atya second guessing Braon's opinions about ducks, but rather pondering her own childhood. There were definitely ducks at the inn, and several other animals as well, when she was little. But then again, there were also people with knives and lots of alcohol, so the ducks were probably pretty low down on the list of potential baby hazards.

She's also not going to argue the point with Reinholdt, but as a keeper of many kinds of birds, Atya knows just how unlikely it is for a baby to win against one. People underestimate the strength and fury of anatidae at their peril.

"Plenty of time for that later. And wait, did you make the strollers? I didn't know you were so good with your hands, they're adorable!" Atya's never had talent for artwork of any kind. Perhaps that's why she collects so much of it.

Also, Braon statement about feeding the ducks when they're older is promising. It means she's already thinking that they'll still be in touch down the line, which means she might be starting to trust Atya and Rein more!

...or maybe she's just reading too much into it. God, people are complicated.

But watching Reinholdt play with Cain, she can't help but smile. Complicated isn't always bad.

[Morty]

[Main Cabin]

Sophie blinks, uncharacteristically taken by surprise.

"That depends on what you mean by a 'too cool for school' routine."

[Keeper]

Main Cabin

Zebes chuckles.
"I think it's a high schooler thing. She's never mean about it but she doesn't like to show her emotions in front of certain people. Trying to keep cool, teasing friends by calling them dorks. When Kit was born she looked about to explode but tried to act cool and go 'hey' like it wasn't a big deal."
Zebes gestures down to where Kit has fallen asleep against Jace's flank, becoming spectral and indistinct as the sun isn't shining on him anymore.
"Look at that, as if you could pretend that isn't a big deal."

[Ironsmith]

[Paternity Problems]

Rein's assessment of Cain's pickpocketing abilities goes swimmingly; he soon finds himself with the tiny fiendling's fingers wrapped around his own, seemingly by pure reflex... much to the toddler's delight.

Slightly less impressively, much enthusiastic gumming of Rein's first knuckle ensues.

"Yeah. I started carving them when I first got down here and didn't finish until a little after they were born." Braon smiles, a little glint of pride in her eye. "I've spent a long time mucking around with knives and wood. I'd like to think I'm at least decent at it."

Though if she's being honest, she's sure some of it, if not most of it, is the product of her magic rather than her carving skills.

She's quickly brought back to earth by the sound of Niamh fussing in her arms, and suddenly makes a face. "...Ah, great." She mutters. "She's gone and soiled herself again. I'm going to have to head back to take care of this... can't really split them up, you know."

[Reinholdt]

[Paternity Problems]

"Atya's right. The strollers look very nice. You did an excellent job." Oh no, Cain, you're only half right! Reinholdt will have to teach you just a little bit. But you're at least ahead of the curb.

Rein glances at Niamh. "Already? Ah... Of course." When dooty calls. Reinholdt has no choice but to extract his knuckle from Cain's gums and retrieve his fingers. "Well it was good to meet you all. Bye-byee!" Rein gives them each a wave farewell.