No Problem Can't Be Solved [Finished]

[carcinoGeneticist]

If Raina had even the slightest inclination of what Donnie was getting at, which she didn't, she certainly didn't show it. She just continued to curl against the other woman, resisting the temptation to give into her tiredness. The warm body against her wasn't making that any easier, so she shifted again, forcing her puffy-feeling lids open and staring at what she could see of the Wolverine. Mostly chin. Watch as the chin moves and the Queen talks about needing to go see her family soon. A year or more? Hmm. Seemed like it wasn't that soon...

"That would also be nice. Then I won't be dead to the world upon return," the girl managed to chuckle, rubbing lightly at her eyes with the back of a hand. Guh. It was like the allergy attack from hell, and somehow much more than that. "...I might need to take a day or two before I get back into the work, Donnie. I'm just feeling so drained. You don't want me attempting to take care of anything important right now."

A hint of misery crept into her tone. She'd gone on her King's Quest. Now she was back, and she couldn't freaking do anything. If that wasn't enough to make someone feel useless... She sighed lightly.

Then blinked. "...Quinn's kids again, I'd assume?" She asked, feeling a bubble of dread. It had to have been. The only other person that she'd heard about the Ferret boffing was... Eugh. That just didn't seem possible. That particular rumor had likely been just that. She screwed her face up somewhat. "I'd imagine she's feeling utterly delighted. Glowing with an inner motherly light?"

[The Jenn]

"No worries, Muffin. I'm not going to make you do anything much for a few days. Consider yourself my King, though, and welcome to the world of titled nobility. However sickening it may be at times." Donnie smirked and shifted with the human girl, rubbing a hand down one arm in a soothing gesture. She felt bad, but not bad enough. She'd expected something of the sort.

What she honestly hadn't expected was Vessie popping that little surprise onto her lap. Especially now, of all times. Mia was going to find himself busy as hell in a few months, as was Zane. And Raina, doubly so. All of the nobles would be under a good amount of stress thanks to this double 'blessing' to come. At least the ferret had already assured her of the fact that there were servants just dying for a chance to watch some kids.

"She's a beacon of maternal contentment," the wolverine agreed in a voice drier than the Hisstor. "Where she walks, flowers bloom and birds chirp. Little animals frolic in her wake. Of course, the flowers are nightshade and the birds are vultures and the animals are plague rats. Watch out for her. Apparently she's four or five months along and cheerful as hell about it. She said they're Quinn's."

And why should she feel so nervous about sharing her own news? Should she wait until the girl felt better? It seemed rather unfair to spring this on her when she looked liable to fall asleep at any moment. Really, it would probably be better to wait. Her only fear was that Vessie - and gossip - would get to her first. The Queen wasn't showing yet, but servants were perceptive when you least wanted them to be.

[carcinoGeneticist]

Hearing the words spoken out loud sent a little thrill of excitement through Raina's body, tired as it was, and a slow smile stretched across her face. She worked up the energy to twist in the Wolverine's arms and kiss the tip of her chin, her voice bubbling up in a soft whisper: "Thank you."

She'd finally managed it. She'd fought and hissed and screamed her way to this position, going against her age and, in some ways, her family. And now she'd succeeded. A pleased flush crept across her cheeks as she settled back down once again, letting her eyelids slip closed. "I hope to do you proud, Donnie," she murmured, stretching her fingers out to rake them slowly through the woman's thick fur. Then, in a moment, the soft moment of contentment was gone.

Raina chuckled softly. Vessie, pregnant... And at four or five months, she was almost certainly showing, too. Wasn't that a thought? She'd be sure to give the woman just a little more space in the weeks to come.

But there was still a nagging little thought in her head. "I certainly hope they're Quinn's. The alternative is almost unthinkable." It wasn't that she disliked Apocalypse, not quite. She just... She couldn't imagine the Ferret's grumpiness would mix well with the other King's.... Whatever the hell his problem was. "I'm sure Quinn is farting rainbows over this."

[The Jenn]

And now the girl was being cute and half falling asleep in her arms. Donnie regretted that she couldn't spend more time indulging this mood, but she'd only allowed herself about twenty minutes for a tea break before a meeting. Oh well. Maybe she should save the tea itself for that evening and enjoy the cuddle until it was time to shoo the girl back to bed and get on with her day.

She would wait to share the news until Raina was more awake and herself. It wasn't very kind to surprise someone when they felt sick and she didn't want any worse a reaction than was already possible. She didn't expect one, but she'd learned to be more pragmatic in relationships since Sadie and the blinders of optimism.

"I'm sure you will. And I'm sure she is. Quinn seems the type to get excited over anything, from what little I've seen. Who else could they belong to?" Phrasing it like that meant there could be an alternative, which she hadn't realized. Was there some juicy little tidbit of gossip that she had missed regarding her darling, gravid King? She tilted her head down and to the side for a better view of the tucked human head.

[carcinoGeneticist]

As tired as her body was, the turn that the conversation had taken was more than enough to perk some spark of interest in the girl's mind. She moved to a slightly more upright position, traces of a frown dancing at the corners of her lips as she did. Her joints ached a little, too, but that was probably just a normal part of Yarrow-sickness. It seemed to have a fairly wide list of symptoms, some of which Raina was rather thankful she was not experiencing.

Not yet, at least, a quiet voice nagged in the back of her mind. She pushed it away. Right now, she wanted to gossip with her Queen. She could sleep... later. Hopefully it wouldn't be too much later.

For now, Quinn would be on the Eagle's list of people to avoid. At least until she wasn't feeling so bloody ill. Once she was back on her feet, she would be able to deal with the joy of a father. Frankly, she wasn't sure what was so exciting about being a parent - from her experiences at the Court of Hearts, they were messy and needy and took a very long time to turn into anything even remotely interesting. If Raina wanted company that couldn't talk to her, she would find Liadan and teach her some new tricks.

Oh, but wasn't this a delightful little tidbit... The girl sat up a little straighter, propping herself against the Wolverine so they could more easily speak. "Remember when she paid a little visit to the Court of Hearts?" The one advantage to having such a wide variety of family there was that she hadn't missed out on this odd piece of news. "She was seen leaving the office of one of the Kings there and looking rather... Glowing, shall we say. I guess there had been some speculation that whatever had happened between them wasn't entirely businesslike, shall we say."

Vessatha would have her head if she knew the other King was chatting to Donnie about this.

[The Jenn]

Donnie's furry eyebrows rose to the sky. To infinity. And beyond. "Really? And here I thought she was entirely committed to her reportedly crazy otter mate. I can't imagine many things that would make Vessie glow. Verbal torture, possibly, especially if it involved one of her children and was done by her. That seems unlikely in the Court of Hearts. Well damn... which King was she? I'm sadly unfamiliar with a few of them and picking one that she would have found attractive is even harder. I've only met a handful."

This was quite a successful distraction from her own concern. In a way, she was pleased. She didn't have to feel as twitchy about not sharing right away, and she got a juicy little piece of gossip on the ferret. Which she wouldn't share, of course. Thus far, her King had been very discreet as to her own indiscretion, even if she didn't know precisely what it was. She'd pushed, but then let it go, and as far as the wolverine could tell there had been no serious digging into the matter. She could at least offer the same courtesy. Beyond her conversation with Raina, she wouldn't speak of it, even if the gossip was already out there.

[carcinoGeneticist]

This kind of discussion was almost comforting, in a way. It was gossip, which Raina always had fun with in a perversely satisfactory sort of way. She liked to know what was going on with the people around her, and sharing the information with Donnie felt... Safe, almost. She liked talking to the Wolverine, something she hadn't entirely expected when she'd first set out to try and worm her way into the structure of the Court. Just another happy little side effect of the whole situation, she supposed.

Like the big furry arms wrapping tightly around her, making her feel warm and safe and very much... loved? Perhaps. She couldn't say for sure, and with her head all clouded with sick-muzz, she didn't care too much to think about it. All she wanted to do was press her face back into that fluffy chest and sigh happily. So she did.

Then she rolled herself back over, a wide smile on her lips. "From what I've heard... Vessie might be totally loyal, but Quinn hasn't always been. Whispers, you know." The girl gestured vaguely, then continued on. "It would have been unlikely, yes, if the King in question had been a she. If the rumors are correct... This King is Xiven's, and is also Heilyn's son. A very odd man, to say the least."

It felt strange to lie to Donnie about something, but Seth had taken his daughter aside and told her that she needed to be utterly quiet about Pale's origins. To everyone and anyone. Bright purple eyes flicked towards the floor for a moment, and then she shrugged. "I can't say for sure if there's any truth there or not, of course."

[The Jenn]

A nice little bundle of human in her lap. It would have been enough to distract from a lot, but not from that news. Donnie's eyebrows disappeared into the fur of her brow as she stared at Raina in mild disbelief.

"But isn't she rather firmly attracted to women?" she asked in surprise and confusion. "Is this just a particularly willowy man, then? I have yet to meet the current King of Hearts." He had a stupid name, didn't he? 'Apocalypse'? Probably picked it himself. Men were forever surprising her with their 'ingenuity' when it came to bravado. That fell into the same category as the pathetic pick-up lines her cousins had told her about when they ventured out of the Yarrow.

"Well damn. Quite the rumor. I'm not even touching that one around her. We'll see when the children appear, I suppose. Little Torques versus little whatever-the-hells. She was a Bog, wasn't she? I can see Vessie shitting a brick if she has perpetually stinky kids. And I don't much fancy being surrounded by Bog-stink either, no offense to your family."

[carcinoGeneticist]

Oh, if she had a little bit more energy, that quirk of the eyebrows might have made Raina actually laugh. Instead, all she could do was grin a little wider, a quiet little chuckle managing to pass her lips. She had guessed that this would be a tasty little nugget for her Queen, and it made her feel warm to be right.

The girl made a non-committal noise, lightly tracing a finger through the thick fur on the Wolverine's arm. "Maybe we just haven't seen any men here that catch her fancy? Who knows, seriously. And yeah, that's the one. He's... Well, he's nothing like my father, but he certainly isn't Mia, either. Heilyn says it's his mother's fault. Some misunderstanding of the more commonly accepted meaning of a word." More lies, but it was easier. She knew the story they'd built inside-and-out, and it made more sense than the truth at times. Apocalypse was the name for a Weapon, not a man.

In truth, Raina was somewhat unsettled by the whole matter, but she wasn't going to tell anyone that. She nodded at the mention of realm. It was luck that the majority of Heilyn's children had decided they wanted to be de-oiled. But Pale... For someone who wasn't actually born in a realm, he seemed rather proud of the smell. Weird man. "Yeah, he's a pure Bog as well. Albino, though." She sighed softly, closing her eyes for a moment. Damn it all, she was drained... "None taken. At least Solandrians don't smell weird, right?"

[The Jenn]

Sleeping with not only a man, but a smelly man of rank in another Court. What nonsense. Donnie would hope for her King's sake that the children belonged to her mate, just as she was desperately hoping that these children belonged to her King.

"Musky in a good way," she commented absently, petting the bit of girl she could reach like some sort of lap cat. "At least you're a lot more cuddly, I'm guessing. What a mess. Here's hoping the indiscretion doesn't come around to bite her in the ass. I wouldn't wish that on anybody."

The weight of the words echoed in her ears for a moment before she sighed and shifted. "However, I think gossip-time has to end now. You look about ready to drift off in my lap and I have to get some work done this morning so I can finish earlier this afternoon. Maybe we could have dinner in your room or something. Tea afterwards. But you're going to have to scoot until I'm done."