Nobody Loves Me [Nat]

[Kitty]

The tension in his muscles relaxed when he heard fin's voice, but the sour expression never changed. Daughter? Well, that was certainly new, and he wasn't certain if he liked that little tidbit or not. His fingers twitched a bit on the hilt of his weapon before he leaned back to settle it in it's sheathe again, he wouldn't want to accidentally cut the little rattling. It was odd, he felt a little warmer toward this batch then he ever had Mo. Maybe he was just getting soft in his old age? Bah.

He brought up a hand and un-crusted his eyes, he hated not being able to see whenever he rested them, and finally got a look at the this daughter of his beloved's. Temporarily his lip curled up to show off his yellow teeth before it went it vanished, he was guilty of the same thing ... only he wasn't aware of ever cluing the blue-haired hisstor in on that bit of information.

And now he was to take her to the bathroom as well? Bah, tour guide for a snot-nosed rug biter wasn't exactly in his job description, but he'd do it because Finistris asked. He shot the other man a glare before hopping off the counter and setting off down the hall.

"Hurry up then."

His words were followed by mumbling that sounded an awful lot like, 'or I'll cut off your tail and use it as a feather duster.'

Boston was in the other room with his siblings, and trying to ignore them by flipping through a book he'd found. It was a fascinating one, all about various poisons, what happened when they were ingested or injected and whether or not there was any way to reverse the effects. Upon hearing his name he perked up his head and got to his feet, Malachite following suit. Boston folded the corner of the book to keep his spot and flipped it closed before signaling to his brother that they should walk. The hisstor cheerfully obliged, he just loved helping papa and his brother cook .... even if he wasn't able to be a big help quite yet. It was just.... fun.

Sarahi on the other hand, had heard a new voice in the mix and was quite curious as to what that had been. With Itsy settled on her shoulder she made her way out to the living room before anyone could scoop her up and put her in that little box .... thing. She hadn't quite grasped the name of it but she didn't like it all that much. But.... there wasn't anyone but Bones out there. The couch was no longer an obstacle and she wriggled her way up it with her long limbs and claws, and settled there with her quietest sibling. That new voice had to come back eventually.

[Nako]

Xolani skipped along merrily as the rat led her to the bathroom. The man seemed rather unwilling to look at her, and when he did it was with that enigmatic look that was not unlike that of her mother's. Dissapointment? Resentment? One really couldn't be sure; but unlike her mother, the rat had no qualms with showing it. There wasn't even a forced smile. With her ears folding back against her head, she slipped into the bathroom and closed the door.

She tried not to dally for long, washing her paws absently at the sink. Something told her that Osias wouldn't be too keen on waiting for her for too long.

The drastically different atmosphere in the kitchen was more to her liking. The smile returned to her face as she obediently skittered forward, shucking each ear of corn with her squirrelly/weasel paws before handing them to Finistris. Her father.

It all seemed totally surreal, cooking dinner with a father she'd only just met hours before. But here she was; finally with the one parent who truly loved her.

What caught her eye was her other siblings. One had a living sibling attached to him very similar to Falks and Ben. How rare a thing to see twice in one life! And the other.. a girl with a most stunning hat. Another gift from papa? And her hair.... Xolani couldn't keep the grin off her face as she absently tossed looks their way. They were all quite young, but the Lowland child her father addressed as Boston was spoke to as if he were much older. Perhaps he was like Ben, and was much smarter than what was normal at a young age? She especially flashed a smile his way; assuming the social graces lost on infants would be better received by the intelligent other half.

(I'm sorry if this post is fail ;_; I had to stab the muses with sharp, hot things to make them respond)

[Nathalia]

"Thank you, dear." Finistris murmured, taking the corn as it was shucked and adding it to the boiling pot as he accepted the help of his children.
This was delightful.
His entire family, here at home with him.

It felt perfect, for all that the kitchen was a little cramped.
Dinner itself was nice too, extra chairs pulled up to the long table, Bones in his lap, and everyone tucking in.

It felt natural, comfortable, and loving.
Everything he could have wanted and more.

After a small dessert of ice cream dug from the back of the freezer, the children all tottered off to tumble into a drowsy, food-induced haze of half-nap, with the possible exception of Boston and Sarahi...neither seemed to sleep like the others, and the adults and Xolani went to sit in the drawing room.
All present trying to ignore the odd sounds that very occasionally drifted from the basement.
"Morpheus, would you please take care of that?" he asked in a quiet tone, passing out small cups of coffee.
He'd been hesitant to ask his son to ever quell the sounds of the thing in the basement.
After all, it was still Morpheus's house.
But, they had a guest...an innocent one, from the look of it. And he would rather she not runn off from fear before becoming used to their little family.

"Coffee, Xolani?" He asked, unsure if she would have ever had any before.



~Nathalia

[Nako]

Xolani's ears would often twitch whenever there was a strange noise. It was persistent, but somewhat familiar.. like the noises she'd heard at the Court of Hearts once and was explained that it was the creaking pipes. There weren't many pipes in her mother's house.. but sometimes the water pump made the wailing sound of a pained animal when the water was straining to come up. That certainly made more sense than what the sounds -actually- sounded like…

Of course, being offered coffee was a delightful treat that took her thoughts far away from those perplexing sounds. With widened eyes, the young girl eagerly nodded her head. "Oh, I'd love some! Is it good? The query came out in the same rushed breath as her affirmation.

Over the course of the night, even Charlie came out of hiding, shuffling carefully to find his way to Xolani's side. She was ignoring him.. not intentionally.. of course. She seemd so happy to be near this strange man. He heard the word 'Papa' over and over again.. She'd spoke of 'Papa' even before she'd met him. His innocent mind was able to put these two together. Perhaps this was a good thing? Even if the raggedy man frightened him. It was no worse than Uluani with that torturous… -thing- attached to her. At least the one that stayed near Zuberi had the sense to stay silent. Of course, that was because Zuberi always kept it in check. But.. the Voodoo Priestess had no say over the evil spirit that loomed over her Midori daughter.

Charlie's feathers fluffed out in an almost defensive manner, which was immediately smoothed by Xolani's caring hand. It was as if she didn't even realize she'd done it; perhaps caring for him was second nature… The ace immediately settled, and something of a smile crossed his simple expression. Perhaps… this frightening place could be home after all.

[Nathalia]

Finistris deftly filled another mug with coffee and motioned to the cream and sugar.
"It's an acquired taste, sweetheart. Make sure to put in plenty of cream and sugar or I can nearly guarantee you won't like it much." He advised, before straightening back up and resuming his chat with his Osias.

Bones escaped Boston's attentions and trotted fatly out into the main living room where his parents were seated.
"Squeak!" He said happily, chubbing by his Mother's legs and rubbing them endlessly with undying affection, before doing the same to his Father's pant leg.
Finistris reached down to stroke at his infant son's back before continuing to talk with Osias, chatting about their day and using a mild code they had developed around the children to discuss lightly if he was alright with the stay of their new daughter.

Unperturbed, Bones turned his attention to the other seated near him, waddling to Xolani and headbutting her knee.
"Squeak." The rat muttered solemnly, staring up at her, tiny pinpricks of blue light reflected in his sockets seemed to follow her movement like normal eyes.
Then, the Chicken slowly settled on Xolani's other side.
Bones stared at the creature, fascinated and excited by such an interesting little thing.
Slowly sticking his head around his half-sister's side, he observed the Ace.
"Squeak?"

[Kitty]

The rat's brow's furrowed a bit as he conversed with his mate, he wasn't exactly thrilled about the entire concept, he was kind of pissed really. In their code.

We'll have to go for a little stroll later.

Which was a coded warning that he had a little steam to vent, and didn't quite feel like waking up or scaring anyone at this point in time.



Morpheus entered into the picture somewhere after dessert, looking a little more pleased with himself then was his usual, and carrying in quite the large basket. A basket which he immediately went back and placed in his room for good measure. This, he was certain, would be quite the delightful surprise.... for Father at least. He was pretty sure no surprise was a good one for the grouchy old rat.

He stepped back out into the living room and finally noticed a new body sitting on the couch and his pointy ears perked with interest, before one flopped back at the request. He rolled his eyes lightly, dug out a key from an inner pocket of his jacket and disappeared behind the closed door and down the steps.

He forcibly slipped the Queen of Hearts that lived down there some of his mother's sleeping powder, and it wasn't long before the noises ceased entirely. Drugs were just the quickest, quietest way to shut the Highlander up. A few moments later, he reappeared from behind the basement door. He moved over to where Finistris and Xolani were sitting, and leaned over the back of the couch with a grin.

So who's this cute little thing?

Osias, as grumpy as he was, definitely had a soft spot for the chubby little rattling and made the move to stroke the boys mane, and scritch along his spine before he moved on to his father.

[Nako]

Xolani was a bit overzealous with the contents of the cup, eagerly taking a gulp of the black, unsugared stuff. She almost gagged, making quite a face as she quickly reached for the cream and sugar to.. rectify the issue. "Acquired taste is right!"

Charlie blinked, wide eyed stare watching the rat infant. Eyes locked. Black beady ones with those blue flecks. W-what did it want? Brrrr bawk. His feathers fluffed up comically as he jumped to his feet, strutting indecisively before the thing as he wondered if it was either a foe, or a potential playmate.

Immediately, Xolani giggled and blushed, hiding her bone masked face behind her coffee cup as she attempted to take a sip of her drink again.

"Xolani." She offered quietly, blue eyes peering up at the strange man. He was full lowlander like the grumpy Osias, but much prettier and didn't smell like a soggy gauze. And that hair… had it not been green she'd say it was similar to her papa's hair.

[Kitty]

He shook his head at the comment about black coffee, and then thanked the suits that he hadn't take a drink of his yet, not with that expression the girl just made. It did get him to laugh though, it was brief, but it was a laugh none the less and it eased a little of the tension in his face.

Acquired taste my ass, sugar's just fer faerie thumpers, isn't it?

He switched his gaze to Morpheus, eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he dug in one of his pockets and produced a dark little bag of some sort of powder. Definitely not sugar, the color was all wrong, as well as the texture, but it went into his coffee none the less. Part of why he liked the bitter tasting drinks was because it was some of the only things that covered up the awful taste of the things he took in an effort to keep his health up, just for Finistris. There had been times when his joke that Death himself didn't want him in Hel hadn't been as comforting as it normally was. So he'd submitted this. It was working, for the most part, he still got some nasty bugs every now and again, but nothing major.

He stirred his coffee with a finger before taking a drink, fully used to the extra bitter taste by now.

Morpheus reached a hand down and ruffled the girl's hair, he'd never really been one that was concerned with other people's potential space bubbles, and in his own home? Yeah, just not going to happen. He shot his father a look though, one eyebrow raised in a silent question before he turned his attention over to his mother, the corners of his muzzle curling up into a little grin.

Faerie thumpers eh? So tell me.... what are those exactly? Might you delight us with an excerpt from the quite riveting Osias dictionary tonight?

his voice was a mixture of humor, and complete sincerity despite knowing exactly what the man meant.

As a response, Osias curled his lip enough to show off his buck teeth.

[Nathalia]

Finistris gave his mate a flat look and took a sip of his own coffee.
"Some of us "faerie-thumpers", happen to appreciate a wide varieties of taste, dear..." He muttered, patting the Rat's knee and tuning him out a touch.
Poor Osias, the man just needed...some emotional recovery time, the children did sap his energy so.

As Morpheus entered the room, Finistris gave him an appreciative look.
Good, the sounds from below had ceased and would remain at rest, and his oldest son was in the room to paint the family complete.
"As she says, Morpheus, her name is Xolani. She's my daughter, and please leave your Mother alone. We don't need fireworks tonight, thank you." He gave her mane a small ruffle, and turned the Chicken just slightly, enough so that Mo would be able to see it was an Ace and not a threat or person.
His tone should have conveyed enough meaning that Mo wouldn't ask more about Xolani's...direct relations until later.

Finistris's hand rested comfortably about the Rat's shoulders and he crossed one leg over the other, watching as Bones gave the Chicken a delighted "Squeak!" and reached out a chubby paw as though hoping the bird would sniff.
The boy knew no better.
"Bones, come to Daddy, please." He murmured, putting the coffee down and holding a hand low for the boy to come butt his head against.
The little Rat did this happily, before sitting his chubby haunches down squarely on his Mothers foot and tilting his head back to give the Lowlander an adoring smile.
He did love his Mother so.

[Nako]

Charlie seemed delighted enough by the small infant, rubbing his wattle up against the extended paw in a search for affection that was cut short by Finistris' hands upon him. Making a few confused clucks, his head bent around oddly to look at the newcomer.

When the infant was called away from him he 'cawed' softly and walked about in a few tight circles. Herp derp.

Xolani grinned and used one paw to run through her now mussed hair, trying to keep track of the conversation as best she could… but really, she didn't care to understand the intricacies of the interaction at that moment.

Though what she could pick up on was their familiarity with one another. The banter was rough around the edges between Osias and everyone else, but even with spite and and annoyance spitting between those buck teeth, there they all were. Osias was family... even if he liked to call people 'faerie thumpers', whatever that meant.

"Why would anyone want to thump a faerie anyways?" Xolani queried innocently, taking a sip of her now sugar and cream saturated drink.