How it all started. Sandy, you know we all <3 you. :(

 

 

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--<* Castle District - Feren Road *>--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

 

    The Noble District of Alexandria is a mixed bag as many of the nobles are nobility in name and title only and exert little influence over the politics of the city with the exception of a rare few. When Altima descended upon the city most nobles fled or were killed and during the Myrrish Occupation Era, only a few retained or regained any semblance of their title. Now with the new parliment in place, the remaining noble families wield most of their power where commerce is concerned and the ports of Alexandria have rewarded them well. Famous estates such as The Estates of House Telenil and House Alexandros can be seen here. Tall and graceful trees have been planted regularly along the well-kept sidewalks here, throwing shade on the lovingly tended lawns and pristine flowerbeds that bloom with exuberant color. 

 

    The entire area screams wealth and sophistication, though the current economic boom has enriched more than a few tradesmen and guildmasters, allowing these commoners to move into certain vacant estates. Local rumor has it that this trend of the nouveau riche does not please the remnants of the old nobility. The bustle of air traffic has been kept to a minimum although it's hard to go anywhere in Alexandria and not see at least one or two Airships. Part of the Noble District is built into the Inner City Walls now with bridges and openings connecting the district with the upper class atmosphere of Theater Row.

 

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-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= Exits -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

 

Lady Sandiel's Manor <LS> Theater Row <W>           Mountain Road <E>

 

Feren Road <S>            

 

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Rawsone has arrived.

 

Darshan stands in the snowslush, with a small child glued to his legs. A touch of red rims her eyes like she'd been crying, but well, that's past, isn't it? She scrubs at her face and frowns bravely up at Sandy. "/Not/ crying!" she gives her head a little toss. Darshan closes his eyes, and looks towards a device left there in the road, some piece of artificery, and then towards the manor, apparently thinking something.

 

Sandy stands there, too, of course. Scowling, because that is what Sandies do. 

 

"...stomach, I swear I'll rip their hand off." This does not sound like a conversation fit for children! Baira is waddling along, making angry gestures while Rawsone walks beside her, looking sleep-deprived and holding Regin, who's fussing.

 

Baira is, it should be noted, -very- pregnant now.

 

Valeska has disconnected.

 

Sandy is always scowling. 

 

She pauses for a moment, noticing Baira and Rawsone. Eyes the both of them. She then turns towards Darshan and Ganesa. She casually moves towards Ganesa, picks her up, carries her over towards Baira, and cheerfully says, "Why, hello there!"

 

Ganesa bounces along, and well--women have hips, don't they? And they are made for carrying children, aren't they? So, Ganesa wraps little-kid arms and little-kid legs around the elf and settles against Sandy's child-bearing hips and tucks her head into Sandy's shoulder. "Hurts," she confides. And, "...am I going to get a cookie?" Oh. So that's how it is. 

 

Darshan looks after them both, and gives a hasty bow to Rawsone before just...stopping. And eyeing Baira. Eyeing her. And then he looks back at Rawsone. Never before has a reptilian face said so clearly: WTF??

 

Baira, the normally mild-mannered one of the pair, sticks a finger in Sandy's face. "If you even -think- about patting my stomach I will break every bone in your hand. Hello, sweetie," she adds, turning to Ganesa. "I don't have any cookies, but I have a sweet. Do you want a sweet?" She produces some penny candy from a pouch. Rawsone just blinks back at Darshan. What? It's not -her- fault her friend is hormonal.

 

"Pat your stomach? Oh no. I'm just showing you what you have to look forward to," says Sandy, cheerfully, as she glances at Rawsone and gives her a wiggling-finger wave. Obviously, this can not be good. Whatever Sandy EVER has planned can not be good.

 

"/That/--is where they keep the eggs?" Darshan jabs a finger Baira's direction. And stares. Rudely. Outright. Ganesa cuts him off with a sniffle, though, and reaches for the candy. Of course, she still sits curled up on Sandy's child-bearing hips. She seems comfortable, at least, and very happy for the candy. Nom nom nom nom.

 

"I know what I have to look forward to," Baira says, sniffing before stroking Ganesa's hair now that the candy has been handed over. She proceeds to eye Darshan, but let Rawsone handle this one. 

 

"'S not an egg, 've told you before, Darshan. "No eggs, just the little baby," Rawsone informs him. She glances at Baira's stomach, but decides not to mention kicking. That would lead to stomach-patting.

 

"Ganesa, why don't you tell me what you want to do when you grow up," says Sandy, cheerfully, tousling her hair too. She seems happy. Also, her hips are not child bearing, dammit! THEY AREN'T!

 

The sith tilts his head, and shakes it. "If you...say so, m'lady," and he doesn't believe her. Not by his tone. Of course he doesn't believe her, and he walks around to lift the handle of a small, red wagon out of the mud. But Ganesa believes in the candies. She sucks on the penny candy, getting it all over well, her. And by inclusion, the shoulder portion of Sandy's shirt. Gets candy on it. Also, snot. "I'm going to take over the world one day," she announces. Settled against Sandy's child-bearing hips.

 

-------------  At a glance around Castle District - Feren Road  --------------

 

Rawsone           9m 5'4"     150 Lb     Human             Female    

 

    Alexandrian archer with a tanned face.                                    

 

Darshan           0s 6'4"     274 Lb     Sith'makar        Male      

 

    Darkly scaled sith'makar in blacksmith's clothes                          

 

Sandy             5m 5'7"     117 Lb                                 

 

    An elven female with black hair, blue eyes.                               

 

==============================================================================

 

"Isn't that sweet. Are you going to marry the Crown Prince?" Baira asks, refusing to be ruffled by this declaration. She absently reaches behind her with one hand and begins knuckling her back. Stupid pregnancy. 

 

"You've never seen a birth before, Darshan?" Rawsone seems surprised. "Not even a lambing or something?" Regin suddenly stops fussing--and throws up all down Rawsone's back. Yum.

 

"And how do you want to do it, Ganesa?" asks Sandy, still playing with her hair and being cheerful. For once, she isn't even going to stop smiling. Yet. She oesn't mind the candy, apparently, either. She's aiming to make Baira CRY. CRY! She must spread her hatred of all living things!

 

Sniff. "/I/ don't know," to the Crown Prince thing, "Adults always seem so silly about the whole flirting thing. I think I should get it out of the way early if I'm going to rule the world." Sniffle. Poor lil' redface. "It takes /years/ to train a husband, /aunt/ says. So I should start early." Like it's the most logical thing in the world. She tucks her face into poor Sandy's shoulder, but peeks at the giant egg-belly. Darshan is also staring at the giant egg-belly. Rawsone: that would be a 'no.'

 

It backfires--Baira starts laughing. "It depends on which one you pick, sweetie. *Mine* only took a few months." More laughing. "Though I suppose the first one took a little longer than that." She reaches out to ruffle the girl's hair. She's totally in stomach-patting range. 

 

"Oh, *Regie*." Sighing, Rawsone pulls out a towel and begins trying to wipe herself off, settling the toddler against her own child-bearing hips, mirroring Sandy's stance.

 

"Really? You can train them faster than that?" Baira must be the smartest woman in the world! Ganesa looks up with interest. "Do you just kick them really hard? /Sandy/ says if you kick someone, they have to listen, but she suggests punching, too." Because if Sandy says it, it must be true. Man, these hips are comfy. They must be child-bearing hips.

 

"No, silly. If they love you enough, they do anything you tell them to do," Baira says, shaking her head. "You just watch Peter sometime, he's so sweet and thoughtful. I've never -once- hit him." That will probably change when she gives birth.

 

"It's absolutely true. You get a cookie for that alone," says Sandy to Ganesa, cheerfully. She reaches into her pouch and produces a cookie! For Ganesa! She gets her cookie at last! "Punching and kicking them is a *very* good solution." Oh, Madrienne is going to have *words* with the elf later.

 

"My aunt says she loves me, but she keeps telling me to go to bed," Ganesa points out this logic. Baira must be mistaken! "She--" oh. Her eyes go wide, and she squeals, forgetting about the fact that well, things hurt a little bit right now, because darnit, she has a /cookie/. And cookies are /awesome/. So she has a cookie. To go with the candy.

 

Clearly, this is the best day EVER.

 

And Darshan is suddenly remembering he has a better-than-average sense of smell. "Ah...cloth. Towels. Do you need some mrm, help there, m'lady?" to Rawsone. Who has the spitup all over her. Poor Rawsone.

 

"Yes, but that's different. Husbands don't love you the same way parents do." Baira glares briefly at Sandy over the top of Ganesa's head, which fits so perfectly against Sandy's shoulder. Because of the hips. "You mustn't ever hit unless someone's trying to hurt you." 

 

Rawsone gives Darshan a pathetic look. "Would appreciate it...can't reach it all." Regin, perched on -her- hips, is now snoring. And drooling.

 

Darshan nods, sort of. "I'll uh--here--" he snatches his tabard from the back of the small, red wagon and forks it over to Rawsone, sudden and awkwardly, because there's this strange /stuff/ on Rawsone and it's /stuff/ and OMG if you squeeze children they explode like that? 

 

At Baira's words, Ganesa looks from the Living Hatchery to the Grouchy Elf (with child-bearing hips) and back again. And remembers perhaps, that one of them has given her a cookie, and the other a candy. "Uhm..." she says. "But Sandy--" think of the candy! Clamp! goes the mouth. Smart kid.

 

"Already have a towel, Darshan. Just...if you could wipe it off." Rawsone's arms don't bend that way, even as flexible as she is. Anyway, she holds out the already-goopy towel. Ew. 

 

"Sandy doesn't have a husband, does she?" Baira asks sweetly. So. Hormonal. "So how would she know how to train one?"

 

Sandy gives Ganesa a look. Then Baira a look. Then Rawsone a look. And then Darshan a look. "I don't," she acknowledges, "But that's because I don't intend to marry." A finger is jabbed at Rawsone, "You're awfully quiet," she adds. Ganesa stays on her side. For now.

 

"Uhm..." Ganesa says, around mouth full of cookie. So hard. So hard! Baira offers candy, Sandy offers cookies. The poor child. "Uhm..." she says again, and she's clearly torn. And Darshan's clearly stuck with the task of..."Demon guts," he mutters, and lifts his chin and settles his shoulders. Braces himself. Proud, this paladin. And he's ready to go to war.

 

Against Regin's regurgitated goo. At least the child's sleeping.

 

On Rawsone's child-bearing hips.

 

"Uhm..." says Ganesa. Also perched on Sandy's child-bearing hips.

 

Rawsone hands the towel over and then turns her back to him--that's where Regin got it, after all, all down her back and...especially the bits of the dress that stick out. Around the hip area. "'M always quiet," she points out. "And Regie just fell asleep, don't want to wake him." 

 

Baira just smiles. She so won that argument! See, she's even training Sandy.

 

Yes. Wade in. Wade in and...face the demons of regurgitated goo. Hopefully, this isn't going to--no. No.

 

Now is not the time to think about reanimated buildings.

 

He applies the goo-towel. And tries not to think about that, or the particular, warm, squishing sound it's making underneath his claws. Just...no. Oh, gods, no. ...was that.../blue/? 

 

"Sandy doesn't, but I /wish/ she did," Ganesa says, suddenly. "Then she could have a little boy, and he'd be young. I could train him, and we could do /all/ sorts of things. I could make the biggest garden /ever/!"

 

"Thanks, Darshan." Rawsone's dress is going to need some serious cleaning, but at least it looks like one that gets a lot of wear and tear anyway. "...want a little boy," she murmurs, probably too low for anyone but Sandy and Darshan to hear, since one is next to her and the other has sharp ears. Louder, she says, "Elves shouldn't mix with humans." 

 

"Have you seen the Priestess' garden? It's very big," Baira says. Silly hobgoblins and their fields. "The Priestess can make the plants grow, too, if she wants."

 

"Now, now," says sandy, casually, to Baira. She wags a finger at her and Rawsone, "Elves can mix with humans as much as they bloody want. Especially me. I prefer them to the company of my more annoying, frolicsome people. Tra-la-la is something I never, ever want to hear again. Or Fa-la-la. Or La La La." She glowers, then carefully sets Gaensa back down.

 

"Oh. I'm planting pipes!" Ganesa says, proudly. "I want them to grow into big things." And since she's comfortable, well, she clamps a little tighter, as kids are wont to do, around adults. Don't wanna be put down! Behind Rawsone, Darshan nods and--well. A close look will show he's not breathing, but that's only a close look, perhaps? And he nods, too. "Mrmm..." a comment to nothing in general, maybe even to what Rawsone had said. "One has...that is were you--" he thinks a moment. "One has mrm, seen you working in it, yes. The children dig there, don't they?"

 

"'S not fair for elves to marry humans. Live forever, and the humans don't," says (one of) the one(s) married to a Highborn. "Thanks, Darshan." When he's done, Rawsone turns around to take the towel from him. "'Ll get the rest off later. Kids dig everywhere."

 

Darshan nods to Rawsone, and well, he's glad to turn the towel back over, except--it's all over his hands. The goop. He reaches down for a handfull of slush. Then, "...one had meant to ask you about that. There are at least two more kinds of elves, aren't there?" Darshan asks, turning back to Sandy. "There are...mrm, there seem to be some more..." words, words. Diplomacy? "outspoken ones, and ones that prefer flowers, like Atar. Are there different names for them, as the Ko-Jodakh to the Sith-Makar?"

 

"There's the high elves, and the Mythwood elves, and then the shadow elves from Charn," Rawsone shrugs--elves seem to be elves in her estimation. "Suppose that's different kinds, like highborn and human."

 

"Yeah, well. Lots of stupid elves are stupid. And most of them are. Believe me," says Sandy, wagging her finger again. She squints at Darshan, then adds, "They're Grey Elves, in the Mythwood. And then there's the Llyranessi in Lyranost. They almost never come out. And they're retarded anyways," she sniffs.

 

A look, a longer look, and Darshan seems to think that over. "Are they both called 'gray elves,' then?" he asks. Apparently there's a point of confusion somewhere along the line. Because there are totally Hitting Elves and there are totally Flower Elves. Ganesa seems to think it's funny, though. But she has a cookie. She's going to be good--mostly. She's very happy there on Sandy's child-bearing hips.

 

"No, think those're the High Elves. Shadow elves're purple," Rawsone adds, moving Regin to the other hip. He clings like a monkey, even in his sleep. "Come from Charn."

 

"Is there anywhere to sit? My back is killing me," Baira says, knuckling her back once more.

 

"Mrm..." the elves just multiplied. Poor Darshan. They're like bunnies. "There are too many kinds of elves," he says, at length. "One had heard of the Cursed Ones, but the rest...one knows very little of." He turns and nods to the small, red wagon. "If you like. Ganesa was napping in it, but she seems mrm, quite awake lately." And with a cookie in her mouth. And very happy where she is. 'Cuz Sandy has child-bearing hips.

 

"Purple? Really?" says Sandy, snorting. "If that 's true, they should go jump off a fucking cliff," the elf glares at them all. ALL. And attempts to set TGanesa down again. Fails. This is no good. She is firmly attached!

 

Baira eyes the wagon, and shakes her head. "I'd never get up again." She's probably right, too. With a slight groan, she rubs one side of her stomach. "Oh, gods, it's kicking again." 

 

"Means he'll be big and strong, like his father," Rawsone says. 

 

"-She'll-," Baira corrects. This seems to be a common interchange between them.

 

Ganesa is quite happy where she is, and like Regin, is taking a cue and...falling asleep. The young girl clings just like a monkey, it's true, and cuddles next to Sandy's spit-and-snot covered shirtsleeve, and so nestled, does what little children have done for a millenia. She falls asleep on child-bearing hips. 

 

"Mrm..." Darshan looks from one to the next. And, "One will fetch miss Adalyn. I'm mrm, sure she has--tea. Cookies. Things." And the sith'makar hurries to do just that. Flees. But in a dignified, slow manner, of course.