Welcome to Gaia! ::

Did she honestly have to be here for this? Claudine didn't see why it was so important for her to be here but if it would keep Bethany quiet then so be it. The woman sighed and brushed dirt off a particularly large pumpkin, sitting down on it and watching her maid inspect pumpkin after pumpkin, aided by the moon's light and a lamp pole that'd been erected by the farmer growing the patch.

"Bethany, explain again why I need to be here for this?" She crossed one leg over the other and propped her elbow up on her knee, holding her head in her hand as the young girl nearby rolled a pumpkin over to check for any damage.

"It's your house so I figured you would like to have some say in what gets put in it, ma'am." Bethany stumbled a little as her foot got stuck between two pumpkins, turning over another before picking it up in her arms and carrying it to her Lady. Claudine glanced down at the pumpkin at her feet and turned it over with her foot.

"I see...I suppose I can at least be grateful you decided to keep this little excursion to a night time one."

Claudine looked up when she heard the humming of another woman, watching quietly as the girl walked closer and closer to them. This put Bethany on edge just a tad, and she eyed the bag sitting at the base of the pumpkin. At least her mistress seemed to not be budging an inch, so perhaps it'd be okay!

She was certainly a perky little thing. And odd too, most normal people wouldn't be looking for pumpkins at night! "Hello." Bethany just smiled sweetly and nodded, picking up another pumpkin to drop at Claudine's feet and await approval.

"Isn't it a bit late for a pretty little thing such as yourself to be picking pumpkins?" ...Oh wait...they were doing the same thing. "Alone?" There, much better. Honestly! There could be murderous psychos out here!

She actually laughed at that one. How adorable! "Very good." So coming out was just the only foolish thing the girl had done. Then again the lamp lighting up the patch suggested that perhaps this kind of thing happened often.

"Oh, totally! And you don't have to race to them before other people too!" Bethany giggled and jumped over a couple pumpkins to get to a rather large one slightly smaller than the one Claudine was sitting on.

"So you always get your pumpkins late at night?"

Aww? What was aww? Claudine blinked and followed Nadia's gaze down to the cherry...red...was that a rabbit? There was no way that was a rabbit. Bethany gasped and squeed, clasping her hands together and watching the adorably giant red bunny hop around the pumpkin patch. "Awww! My Lady! Look! Isn't it adorable?"

Claudine still couldn't believe it was a real bunny. "I sup--what in the..." The woman quickly stood up and turned around to look at the pumpkin she was sitting on, her hands on her butt as the thing started to burst into flame. A few seconds later a pumpkin twice the size of the one she had been sitting on also started to catch fire.

"What's going on?!"

Bethany was clinging to her mistress with her face buried into the elder woman's shoulder, cowering from the flaming pumpkins. How did they catch fire? Should they inform the farmer? What if the rest of the pumpkins also caught on fire?! They could get in trouble for...for arson! She didn't want to go to jail! Claudine was slightly calmer than the frightened maid, twisting away from her strangle hold to cautiously walk up to one of the flaming pumpkins.

"I'm...not exactly sure...pumpkins don't just spontaneously combust like this." She turned to Nadia when the girl cried out, looking down at the little vined boy beside her. Where'd he come from? A tugging on the skirt of her dress drew her attention away from the other girl, looking down to find a little girl covered in vines and wearing a witch hat staring up at her with wide eyes. This was...awkward...um...what was she supposed to do now?

Unlike Nadia, Claudine had no motherly impulse...she didn't even know what to do right now. Instead she sucked her lower lip between her teeth and glanced back at Nadia as she picked up the child in front of her. Was she supposed to do that? Bethany was still too frightened by the pumpkins bursting into flame to give any advice to her mistress. So for now she just awkwardly mimicked the more responsive of the two women and picked up the little girl, adjusting her a few times in her arms until she settled on balancing her on her hip.

...Now what?

"Uh...where's your mommy, little one?" What were children doing all the way out here in the middle of the night without supervision? Some parents!

The girl tilted her head and stared up at Claudine. Her mommy? Well...hm...she looked around for a moment and then pointed at the woman holding her. Claudine blinked. No way...she couldn't!

"There must be..." A mistake. There had to be some sort of mistake. But even Claudine knew not to say such a thing in front of a child; it upset them. Frowning, she looked from the girl in her arms to Nadia, then back at the girl. This was not happening.

"Do we...?" Do they just take them home? Just like that? What if someone came looking for these children and they were nowhere to be found? It'd be like kidnapping!

That was it? And just like that she was supposed to take this child home like it was her own? Did she even have a name? Claudine watched Nadia walk away and sighed, hitching the girl up a little more comfortably on her hip. "Bethany." The maid immediately stood up from where she'd been crouching amongst the pumpkins.

"Yes, Ma'am?"

"Find someone to help with the pumpkins you picked, we're going home now." She didn't wait for a response, instead she turned and walked away from the maid to let her go about her business, trusting her to get things handled properly. She'd just meet her up at home. The child was probably hungry.