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Post by Greenie on Jan 14, 2010 0:06:59 GMT -5
Vessatha struggled to stay upright as she got to the guard's post. They hailed her, of course, but she pushed Riordan's sling aside to show them her rank marking, then bristled and hissed at them until they let her through. Stupid guards, it wasn't as if she hadn't been here before. She managed to get into the Court foyer before she had to sit down. Her body felt as though it was about to fall apart, limb by limb. She was on the last drugs the midwife had given her, and the hamster had seriously warned her against taking them, as she was afraid it would overtax Vessatha's nervous system, not to mention harm her already over-frantic heart. You generally weren't supposed to give birth and then take a day trip with the new baby. She slumped onto a couch that she figured was intended to be decorative, but served her purpose for the moment. Ten minutes later she grimaced and peeked through Riordan's sling. He'd been a remarkably good baby the entire trip, and she was relieved to find he was very quiet unless especially hungry. It meant that he was happily asleep against her chest now, comforted by the warmth of the sling and the beating of her heart. The ferret shoved off the couch and landed, thankfully, upright, and flagged the first card she saw wearing Hearts livery. "I'm going to King Apocalypse's office, and he had damned well better be there when I get there. It's going to take me about a half an hour because I can't walk for shit. Is that clear?" She glared bloody murder at the poor rat, who scampered off immediately. It helped that she was still a sight to behold - the amount of drugs she'd taken made her look like a crazy beast, complete with bloodshot eyes and teeny, tiny pupils. At least there was some humor in this. She set off for Pale's office, one lagging step at a time. |
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Post by carcinoGeneticist on Jan 14, 2010 0:24:47 GMT -5
As luck would have it, Apocalypse was in his office at the time the attendant arrived to tell him about the very drugged, very angry, and very much out-to-get-him Spade King that was currently dragging herself down the hall to find him. Of course, with such good luck had to come some bad, and the King was forced to spend the next several minutes screaming at the attendant about knocking before breezing into rooms and then giving the people in them a chance to make themselves decent before launching immediately into long speeches like the one he'd just been given. At least that he'd had enough advanced warning to finish up what he was taking care of here before he had to face what sounded, from the Rat's hurried words, like it was his own doom. Cheeks still bright with a flush, Apocalypse quickly put his pants back on and ushered the kitchen girl out of the room with a promise that they'd have a more satisfactory meeting another time, when his neck wasn't on the proverbial line. He just wished he had some indication of what he'd done. He'd left Vessie satisfied, hadn't he? She'd certainly seemed satisfied when she'd left. Damn. Well, judging by the knock at the door, he'd be finding out soon enough. " Your Highness," Apocalypse greeted as he opened the door, giving her a toothy grin. Then he froze in place, his grin still quite firmly affixed. What the fuck was she holding? " What the fuck is...?" |
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Post by Greenie on Jan 14, 2010 0:34:14 GMT -5
Vessatha pulled Riordan out of the sling and held him in a semi-dangling pose in front of his father, his large, odd claws hanging limply in front of him. The baby peeked through his baby mane up at the human, then gurgled a bit and swung his oversized limbs around happily.
"Your child." She said simply, at first, letting Pale take in the wonder of gene-mixing that was Riordan. Her knees decided to buckle on her at that moment, so she literally dumped the infant into his arms and pushed past him to go collapse in one of the chairs before she fell over again. He wouldn't hurt the baby, right? Riordan was a King of Spades, something to be proud of, and while his mutation was a little weird, he was a rather adorable little kid.
Vessatha figured he'd had enough time to absorb the "oh shit" moment, and continued talking from the chair. "There's two more. They need masks, and they need them stat, and you're going to have to get them because in about an hour I'm going to pass out and I'm not going to wake up for probably a week." She paused to rub at her eyes. "Oh, and after you do that, I'm going to rip your balls off, string them onto some wire, put some pretty twinkling lights on them, and then hang them in out in that pretty little drawing room I passed on my way here."
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Post by carcinoGeneticist on Jan 14, 2010 0:58:42 GMT -5
Even before the words came out, Apocalypse knew what the woman was going to say. He stared at the child for a long few minutes - seconds? instants? who the hell could say? - and took note of every feature that marked him as his own sprog. There were some very identifying qualities to the boy, of course, but the first thing to catch the King's attention...
Those hands. Those fucking hands. They tormented his every minute - even now, Vessie was thrusting the child into them and he was carefully folding them around the tiny body, as careful of his claws as he could possibly be. There was an instant when he moved for the Ferret as well, but she caught herself quickly and then moved to one of his chairs, collapsing into it. For now, Apocalypse decided to stay exactly where he was. He held the little thing up to his face, eyes round with a mix of wonder and horror. King of Spades. From the legs, biped. His mane.
His child. His child. And there were two more. Xiven was going to murder him.
From the sound of it, however, she was going to have to wait her turn for that particular honor. If he'd had a biped form, his ears would have flattened against his neck when he turned to look at the woman. As it was, he drew the fuzzy little body closer to himself. "Masks," he repeated, still standing and staring at her for a moment. That meant... they were both Bog-dominant, didn't it? Shit. He needed to... "I appreciate the warning. It'll give me some time to make sure the decorator knows what to work around. I'm sure they'll look lovely with some kind of back-light. How about we work the details of that one out later, hmm?"
Quickly, he gave the child back to the woman, then moved for the door as quickly as he could manage. Then, he paused. "I'm going to get the maskmaker and tell Heilyn I need a few days. When I'm back, we'll catch a carriage. You can pass out then." Horses would be faster, but there was no way he could transport several people that way.
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Post by Greenie on Jan 14, 2010 1:06:28 GMT -5
She mustered up the energy to let out a short laugh. At least someone was keeping positive here, hmm? "Yes. Masks. The girl.." She winced, desperately trying not to remember the sound of the child whimpering. "It's bad, Pale. She needed it yesterday."
Her eyes closed of their own violation, and her arms instinctively accepted the baby as it was placed on her lap. She cuddled him close and maneuvered him back into the sling, then curled into a ball on the rather comfy chair, Riordan happily snuggled in.
She was in a happy fog when he spoke, and her assent was a faint murmur along the lines of 'I hope you're strong enough to lift me,' as she was already dozing off beyond the point of staying conscious. That hour she'd thought she had was turning very quickly into ten minutes, but she did her best to stay with it for as long as possible.
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Post by carcinoGeneticist on Jan 14, 2010 1:35:12 GMT -5
Something in the woman's tone sent a little shiver down the man's spine and put an extra rush into his step as he went to the maskmaker. He'd... He'd never considered the risks attached to someone giving birth to Bog children unprepared for their needs. It only made sense that it could be bad - one of Seth and Heilyn's most recent brood had suffered a seizure immediately after birth, hadn't he? But the maskmaker had been close by. Rhiannon and Heilyn had always had the maskmaker on-site when it had happened, ready to snatch a child up at the first sign of trouble breathing.
But then, the man realized with a pang of guilt, he hadn't been there when Vessie had delivered. He hadn't even known she was pregnant until she'd thrust the end result of that into his hands three minutes ago.
True to his word, Apocalypse returned in short order, the maskmaker following just a step behind him. The old Raemblen looked irritable, as if he'd been woken from a deep sleep, but mumbled something to the King and then nodded to Vessatha. "He'll come with us. Servants are already loading the supplies into the carriage." As he spoke Apocalypse moved to the woman's side, lightly pulling the sling off of her and draping it around himself and then slipping an arm around her waist. She didn't look very well either, and he hoped he could manage to carry the baby and assist the woman with little trouble.
The maskmaker grinned at him behind the glass of his own mask. "<That's what you get for impregnating an Outsider, Highness.[/b]>"
"<Save the snark and help me carry her, fatass.>"
In a few more minute's time, the pair managed to get woman and baby loaded into the carriage and then they were on their way to the Spade court. Apocalypse just hoped they could make it in time. He sat beside the other Raemblen, fingers laced in front of his face, hands resting on the bridge that they made. Babies. He'd had more babies. And they weren't his Queen's.
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Post by Greenie on Jan 14, 2010 1:43:31 GMT -5
Within a few minutes of Apocalypse leaving the room, Vessatha was in the deep slumber of the exhausted and over-drugged. She was vaguely aware of being moved - her hands vainly tried to keep Riordan close as Pale slipped him from her - and she was dimly aware of being moved and encouraged, and tried to put one foot in front of the other, though they didn't want to cooperate and tried to move sideways and backwards.
Then she was aware of being comfortable and warm, if jostled occasionally. She curled into the seat and blacked out entirely.
Almost an entire day later, she awoke to darkness. She sat up slowly, running her hands over her face, her much-abused eyes refusing to see much. She was still groggy, and she knew instinctively that if she fell back asleep now, it would truly be another week before she woke again. The carriage was stopping, so they must be close to Spades - she was going back home, right? The ferret paused and blinked at the other figures in the carriage with her. Some man..
Pale. With her baby. Yes, she was going back home, to her other babies that were dying and it was all her fault and wow, she had a good cry coming sometime after she finished being exhausted.
That was not for tonight, however. Vessa pulled herself completely awake and reached across the carriage to poke Pale in the knee. "How is he doing?" She asked quietly, gesturing at Riordan, though she wasn't sure how well he could see in the very dark space. "We're almost there, aren't we?" Vessatha tried to keep the anxiousness out of her voice, but it permeated her tone despite herself.
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Post by carcinoGeneticist on Jan 15, 2010 18:33:46 GMT -5
On a personal level, Apocalypse hated long carriage rides. He found himself wishing more and more that he'd been able to just take a damn horse and let the others catch up on their own time. Then he could have done something to help - given the children his mask for a little while at a time until Vessie and the maskmaker had arrived, but it was too late for that. He was feeling cramped from sitting in one place for so long, his butt was numb, and he was feeling remarkably high-strung.
For most of the trip, he just sat in place, staring down at the baby in his arms. His baby. His baby. How long had he wondered if he was even capable of siring children? Xiven had been pregnant, sure, but she'd miscarried. He'd asked the doctor and he'd been told that it was possible that it was the fault of his own biology. He had strange biology, after all.
But here was a baby. A perfectly healthy, mostly normal (but for those hands, which he knew he was at fault for) baby. He stretched out a finger, a more dangerous version of what the boy himself had, and lightly brushed the few strands of blond hair he could see on the child's face away. Children. The man's head spun with the weight of that thought.
He exchanged a few words with the other Raemblen from time to time, and then, finally, curled up on his seat to sleep. He could feel his limit approaching quickly, and he knew he needed to get his rest. Four hours. Hopefully, no one would try to wake him before that point. He knew he was going to be dead to the world until that time was up - and god forbid someone keep him from getting his sleep. Once he was done crying like a little bitch and had then managed to sleep heads would have to roll.
But everything in the carriage was quiet, and the man gently enfolded himself around the baby, sheltering it as he slept.
Hours later, more than enough to suit the needs of his arm-wraps, Apocalypse became aware of something poking him in the knee and stirred quietly. He'd moved while he'd slept, and Riordan was closer to his face now, his nose pressed into soft fur. But the boy was perfectly safe. Bright and feline-looking eyes met Vessatha's in the dark, and the man slowly sat up. "He's fine," he replied, voice soft. "And I think we're here, yeah."
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Post by Greenie on Jan 16, 2010 12:29:09 GMT -5
Vessatha watched him with Riordan for a long moment. It was odd seeing the two together. It was so obvious that Riordan was his son, but her mind was still having difficulty accepting that she had had children with someone else-- the carriage was stopping. Now was not the time for such thoughts.
"Do you want me to take him?" She asked as they came to an abrupt stop. Part of her was worried Quinn would see him with the baby and go berserk, but she knew that Rio was also his child, and sometimes holding the kid was the best acceptance policy.
The ferret paused before starting to get out. "I'm sorry that I have to warn you - but I have no idea who's waiting inside. With any luck it's simply the midwife and the babies, and.... not my mate." She grimaced, staring blankly at the opening door.
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Post by carcinoGeneticist on Jan 16, 2010 16:12:38 GMT -5
A slight flicker of some emotion - possessiveness, perhaps? - crossed the man's face at Vessatha's offer to take the baby from him, and he subconsciously hefted the little creature and held him ever so slightly closer. Yes, she was his mother. Clearly. But... he was the father, and this was the second child of his that he'd ever held, and he felt his throat go dry for a moment. Unless something very strange happened, he wasn't going to be seeing a lot of these children, would he?
He masked the strange look over in an instant with a small, reassuring smile, then gave his head a small shake. "No, no, it's fine. I've got him." If she asked for more, he could say he wanted to hold the boy just because of how tired she'd been. He wanted to take some of the strain off her.
Of course. Why would she think anything else?
Her next words made him pale visibly - quite a feat, considering how white his skin was naturally - and his eyes widened. Her... mate? "Oh," he replied, sounding somewhat faint. "I take it... she's not best pleased?"
Could he blame her? He'd never intended to sleep with someone who was in a committed relationship, and he really never intended to impregnate them. He stepped down from the carriage, offering Vessie one of his hands - which, by now, had gone back to its normal state - to help her down. His head was still spinning with the reality of this. He had children with a taken women. Some poor sap had probably spent the last months bouncing with excitement over the prospect of having children with their lover, only to have them be...
Maybe he would have felt better, had he not been in a similar position twice in his life. A fine tremor went through him. "Are they going to be out for my testicles, too?"
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