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 Posted: Wed May 31, 2017 12:15 pm
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Posted: Wed May 31, 2017 2:23 pm
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Autumn, frankly, was terrified about the idea of becoming a dad. Thrilled too, equal parts probably, but also a bit nervous. From what he could see, nothing much was different about Pearl; perhaps she was a bit chubbier? Nothing he minded, of course, but it really made it quite difficult to wrap his head around.
He didn't question her, though, despite all that.
Pearl was the one who's word he took as a sort of 'absolute truth.'
Autumn have her hand a soft squeeze as she called his name, glancing over and, after giving her a quick look-over, offered her a smile before she pulled her hand away. Shrugging, he glanced away and scratched at his cheek. "We could... Just tell them? Like, straight up?" It'd be quicker and easier that way, if perhaps a bit more blunt. His dad wasn't going to be happy regardless; might as well get it over with quickly?
"Why do you think?" He swam closer to her to brush a strand of hair behind her ear with a smile.
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2017 10:28 am
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"Uuuuuuugh," groaned Pearl, leaning her head on Autumn's stomach with a bit of a bonk. She knew he was right; getting it over with quickly would be the best way. And who knows? Maybe everyone would be happy! Maybe they'd throw a party! Wouldn't that be fun?
"I guess," she grumbled, nose squished into his skin. "I mean, I'm sure my Mama will be happy." Well, she was mostly sure. Mama seemed to have some lingering issues about babies, but Pearl was never sure what that was about, and didn't want to ask.
"What about your Mama?" she asked up at Autumn. She still had trouble grasping the concept of "father" sometimes, even as an adult--Mama was just the one who took care of you.
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2017 11:13 am
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Pearl's mom would be happy? That was a good thought, one he sincerely hoped would hold true. That would help to ease many of Pearl's reservations and, in case they ever needed it, she could serve as a source of help with the kid. Kids? Was it going to be a boy or a girl or a boy -and- a girl or... Oh boy, this was hard to think about. It hurt his head in a way (or was that just stress?).
Perhaps instinctively, he'd begun to comb his hands through the hair on Pearl's scalp, softly stroking through the curls atop her head as he looked forward at nothing in particular.
"My mama....?" He didn't have a- Oh right, Pearl called his dad mom as well. "He.... Probably won't be too happy..." eyes glancing away and a hesitant laugh permeating the silence that followed, his hands stopped moving for a while as he thought on it.
Was he going to be a mama then?
Shrugging, he gave Pearl two firm head-pats. "Nothing he can do about it though; not like him complaining will make em go away, right? Or I don't think it could work that way...." he voice trailed off as he considered the idea. "Anyways!" he laughed, now full of resolve. "If your mama is happy about it, I bet she can make him happy about it too. Right?" What a great plan this was; simply the best!
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Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2017 11:53 am
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"Yeah, I guess that's f--" and she cut off her own sentence with a giggle as her beloved picked her up, hanging onto him by the shoulders.
"You could warn a girl," she said with a not-very-serious pout, flicking her fins amusedly. Pearl loved surprises, but somehow always acted like she didn't want them. Another contradiction of being a woman, she supposed.
She tucked her head into Autumn's neck as they swam, smiling and giving him little kisses occasionally. She could get used to this mode of travel...
Soon they arrived at Mama's grotto (and she only had to redirect Autumn three times!). She slipped from his arms and floated in front of the door. After a moment, she took a deep breath, exhaled a cascade of bubbles, and entered.
Kelebek was busy, but not...busy. It wasn't as if she had very much to do with herself, especially not that all her children were grown. Again. She'd spent a lot of time with Hjortur recently, but, as always, spending time at the palace was exhausting. She felt on-edge.
She was "cleaning" when the pair arrived. This mainly involved rearranging her collection of baubles. She'd had them organized by color for a long time, and she had decided that it might be fun to organize them by size, so as to create a rainbow effect. She was being extraordinarily careful, as she'd been known to drop them. Luckily the water was forgiving and usually she could catch them, but sometimes she created a bigger mess in the process.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, delighted. "Hello, my darlings!" Kelebek set a blue shard of glass, rubbed smooth by the ocean, on the shelf in front of her, and went to them, kissing each's cheek. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" Sure, Pearl still technically lived here, but Kelebek understood that her youngest was not a child any more, and had her own life and her own paramour.
Pearl shuffled uncomfortably. "I, uh....I mean, we, that is, Autumn and me, we had something to tell you, Mama."
"Oh?" asked Kelebek, trying to conceal a smile and remain casual. She hoped what she thought might be the news was actually the news. She tried to refrain from turning wholly pink with excitement.
Pearl ran a hand through her hair. "Well, the truth is....I mean, we're excited to announce that we are expecting! A baby!" She smiled nervously.
Kelebek practically squealed. "I knew it!" she cried, sweeping the both of them into her arms.
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2017 1:12 pm
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Upon setting Pearl down, Autumn's eyes had drifted to the side to make eye contact with her as she passed to take the frontmost position. This was her mama, her home... her tadpole... It only made sense that she'd be the one making the announcement, given the circumstances. Still... Eyes wandering, he couldn't help but feel like the place had changed somehow in the limited time he'd known it. Not that he'd really had a way to deduce if it was, in fact, different, considering the relatively few times he'd visited it in length.
So caught up was he that he almost missed Pearl's entrance, a fine one indeed.
Still hanging back a bit, his awkwardness was apparent from the way his face flushed and his eyes looked this way and that from Kel's peck on the cheek. For all the bravado he'd shown a while ago, little remained. Part of him just wanted to take Pearl's wrist and try to excuse themselves, but it was far too late for that.
And there it was.
Just like that.
Before he even had time to react, the sprite was swept into a great embrace, his eyes wide and blinking as his mouth hung dumbly open. Swallowing, he hesitated for but a moment as he processed her statement before retorting back, his voice raising in pitch from the start to the end:
"You knew it...?!"
Wait. Was it really so obvious?!
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2017 2:51 pm
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Kelebek laughed and cupped Autumn's chin. "I mean, I didn't know, but I suspected something had happened, and I had certainly hoped!"
"Oh, you're going to be such good parents!" she exclaimed, embracing Pearl once again.
Kelebek wouldn't admit this to herself, but part of her joy was selfish: it would be so wonderful to have little fins flipping around again, and she had so missed having a little one or two in her hair.
Pearl couldn't help but be caught up in Mama's emotions. A wide grin spread on her face, and, inexplicably, tears welled at the corner of her eyes, only to be promptly whisked away by the water surrounding her. Mama's happiness took a huge burden from her shoulders.
"Have you told your father yet?" Kelebek asked Autumn, practically vibrating with excitement. "I'll bet he'll be just tickled!"
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Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2017 11:18 am
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Autumn was dumbstruck from the moment Pearl's mom - wait... wasn't she a sort of mother-in-law or something now? - took his face in her hands. His cheeks were slightly puffed as his lips protruded outwards from the pressure. It must have been a silly sight indeed, however short it lasted. Furrowing his brows for a second, he reached up to pink and pull out his cheek himself, lightly wincing at the pain in brought.
Yup. He was, indeed, awake. Or having a very lucid dream
Probably just awake.
Glancing over at the girls, his expression immediately lightened and a large smile grew from ear to ear. It was clear just how happy this had made Pearl, and that brought the best sort of happiness he could experience as well. In fact, he was having to restrain himself from not joining the hugfest himself; it seemed like a moment meant for him to watch, not participate in. Though, if offered, he was sure to join without hesitation.
"Nope! You are the first to know!" He retorted proudly, his chest puffed out and his fists resting on his hips. It lasted only a moment though before he deflated with an exhaled breath, his hand reaching up to scratch his chin as he looked away. "Well... I'm not so sure actually..." His voice trailed off as he struggled to find the right words to explain himself.
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Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 11:33 am
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Kelebek fixed her attention on Autumn as he deflated like a . Her eyebrows raised in disbelief. "Not so sure?" she repeated. "Autumn, he loves babies. He has five children." Not to mention three of those he adopted from the sea itself because he couldn't not, But as Autumn was one of those gifts from the Waters, she didn't bring it up. Poor child had such nerves!
"I can't see any reason why he won't be just delighted." She smiled a reassuring smile. "He's your father, after all."
Oh yeah, that's what that word was!
"If it'll help," Kelebek continued, looking back and forth between the two of them, "I'll come with you when you tell him."
There was a part of Kelebek that refused to confront the idea that Hjortur wouldn't be happy to become a grandparent. Maybe it was because the last time she told someone she was expecting, it...didn't go over well, and she refused to believe her beloved could ever be like that. Maybe it was just blind optimism--she was thrilled, why wouldn't anyone else be? Maybe it was because she'd gotten over the idea of being a grandparent long ago, and under much more complex circumstances.
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Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 12:18 pm
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"Well, I mean... Even if you say that..."
While it was true that his father did, indeed, have five children, it was also true that none of it had ever been his intention. If he recalled correctly, Pippin, Kerianna, and himself had been found in passing, and even Daedalus and Calliope had been unexpected surprises. With them all starting to move out and find places of their own, there seemed to almost be an aura of relief about his father. Grammy had told him plenty of stories about the past and how his father had once been such a free spirit; if he'd been the same, how would he have felt with the kids gone?
Likewise, how would he feel to suddenly and unexpectedly be told he was going to be a grandfather? He couldn't imagine it being a positive reaction.
That said...
"Could you?"
------------------------- Elsewhere in Alu Spring -------------------------
Hjortur was silently swim-pacing back and forth in his abode, a serious expression on his face and a hand on his chin. His eyes were slightly narrowed as he concentrated on his inner thoughts. Every once in a while he looked over at his daughter. She'd grown so lovely since he'd brought her into his care, as if time was shining on her.
So lovely and, as of late, plump.
The reason was simple - she'd come to visit just to speak with him on it, after all. But for how plain of an occurrence it was, he had no idea what he was meant to do in such a situation.
If she was... then that meant... when did she... with whom...
If animosity could send a chill up another's spine, surely Ignantous would have felt one at this moment. Not that Hjortur knew the boy.
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Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2017 10:34 am
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There could have been plenty of reasons for her to be putting on the weight, at least in the beginning. She had perhaps been a little depressed after the party her brother has invited her to and there could have been reasons that didn't necessarily make it hormone related. She had to go back to normal life after something like that, and she hadn't seen that male she had such fun with since shortly after the party. Then there was the fact that her normal life had become so... Disappointing. She was at a time in her life where she should know what she wanted to do and be doing it.
Instead she had been stationary at home (because moving around too much was starting to make her dizzy), fiddling with the instruments, and gaining a little bit of weight. Even her food choices hadn't been the best, so of course she was getting 'plump'.
She told herself that for a while, in complete denial because how in the seas could she possibly be pregnant and how in the seas would she explain that one to her involved family. There came a point where she couldn't deny it anymore though, it was hard to ignore two tiny beings warring for the space of your womb. So she accepted it with much tears and swims out to the kelp forest to rage in secret. Of course, she would only rage for a moment and then settle down into the ground and look down at her tummy lovingly. This just wasn't what she had planned and she was going to have to figure out how to tell her family, and this was all Daedalus' fault.
So here she sat in front of her father with the straightest of expressions on her face as she urged herself to tell him. He needed to know. Her mouth was currently refusing to open, this shouldn't be so hard after all they probably had all been whispering about it behind her back anyways. The words still refused to come out though. This was becoming awkward.
With a big intake of water she finally blurted it out, "I'm pregnant!" You couldn't tell if she was happy or sad or angry or anything. It was just shouted.
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Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2017 12:12 pm
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"Of course, of course!" Kelebek assured the both of them. She'd had no support at all when she'd had her children, and remembered well how alone she'd felt, even for someone who self-isolated.
She was determined that none of her children, grandchildren, or anyone else should have to feel that way.
"Do you want to go now, or wait until another day?" She glanced at Pearl. "You'll not be able to hide it much longer, I expect," she added with a cheeky smile.
Pearl couldn't help but blush, though she did think her new roundness flattered her figure. She looked at Autumn with a small shrug. "I mean, I'd like to go now...get it all out there?" She'd leave the final decision to him, though. Hjortur was his Mama...father....whatever.
Maybe he'd be in a good mood when they got there?
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Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2017 3:47 pm
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Time seemed to stand still at Pippin's very-properly-timed interjection into Hjortur's musing, his swimming all but stopping as he took it in. His body fell downwards, slowly. One could practically see the color draining from his scales.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Shaking his head, he swam over to Pippin and gave her shoulder a firm two pats. "Pippin, dear." For how high-pitched his voice generally was, it seemed to have a particular chime of denial to it this time. "You need not justify your newly found plumpness; I understand. Why, I too had a period where I simply could not refrain from the kitchen delicacies, and straight to my stomach they went! Simple weight gain is nothing to be ashamed of! In fact, some might say therein such a figure lies a certain charm." He, too, indulged in such softness from time to time, though he could hardly say something like that to his daughter.
------------------------- Elsewhere in Alu Spring -------------------------
Looking between the two of them, Autumn gave an affirmative nod and a smile.
"Alright, how about now then?"
Little could they have known what they were about to swim into...
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