Welcome to Gaia! ::

There was a certain familiarity to working himself to exhaustion before adding new additions to his family. While Sol and Ygraine were in Eema’s womb Callum fought mighty beasts to strengthen himself. With the triplets he’d done his best to secure funding and practice a level head, though jealousy ended up claiming him in the end. Now? Well, old habits were hard to break and with Siel by his side Callum was doing his best to provide for their future little one.

Some days the younger hybrid came with him, some days he didn’t, but Callum didn’t blame him. He was happy that his children were able to explore their youth in security and happiness, so much so that he encouraged Siel to slack from his work. It wasn’t the best parenting strategy and yet…Well, he worked enough to buy his own instruments, didn’t he? That was good enough.

Taking a break for the moment, Callum stretched out along the top of a rock wall near the edge of their little village. At first the locals hadn’t wanted anything to do with him – specifically because of the feathers – but now the younger yaeli were brave enough to walk by with murmurs. When he smiled their way they would laugh, wave and skirt off.

Callum could have fallen asleep on the warm sun if left to bake long enough. Despite it’s general resemblance to Jauhar, there were parts of Yael that could bring a chill to him. Why anyone would choose to live their entire lives here he would never understand. A season, surely, but forever…?

“Hmm?” Rolling his head to the side, the pale hybrid caught sight of his husband and smiled. “You did?” Adjusting himself, Callum shifted first to his side and then brought himself up into a sitting position with one leg tossed over the side. When he stretched an array of bones popped that most certainly didn’t used to. “Oh Gods – I’m going to need a warm bath after today.”

The presentation was comforting in it’s simplicity. There wasn’t much flare in yaeli culture and as much of a shock as that was to Callum it was almost calming. For a man who’d lived nearly his entire life on the edge of a blade the lack of risk was as kind as it was unnerving. He’d come to know what a peaceful life was in Matori and now this?

This was a level of domesticity he hadn’t thought possible for a man who dressed in sheer materials.

“Mmm, you say that like we’ll never have another moment.” Sure, it would be difficult, but Callum hadn’t let any of there other five children stop him from enjoying his husband. He leaned his head back just enough to n** at Nimueh’s lower lip. “Did you see Azusa today?”

Ah, well, at first the information settled with Callum in a very familiar way. His nose curled a little, far less than the first time however, and he felt a certain level of resignation. He liked Asuza – spoke to her regularly as a friend, even – and even chatted with her partner. It was different this time and yet in some ways it very much wasn’t.

He’d been keen to pinch off a bit of food when the last bit of Nimueh’s words caught him. When he looked back up, caught that spark in his husband’s all encompassing eyes, Callum’s jaw slacked. “….Is she?”

“Ha!” Callum reached over to shove Nimueh’s shoulder with a youthful grin. He couldn’t help it! He was so happy he could have flown if his feathers were useful. “I told her you were a hag from the Zenan mountains in your past life and that your spells worked.” He clapped his hands with a laugh and nearly dropped their lunch before catching it. “For her sake I’m glad; if she ended up carrying three Yisira would hunt you.”

As supportive as Azusa’s partner was, Yisira hated seeing her lover in pain and fussed over her when a surrogacy was deemed risky. If a repeat of Odeya occurred, then Callum couldn’t stop the Elarian from busting down their wall.

“I can empathize.” Most of the time he’d been too busy with performances, general life tasks and keeping up with their teenagers to fuss with the intrusive thoughts. In the moments they had come around he found himself commiserating with Yisira and having her there had been a big help. “But you’re right; it worked!”

A new little one would be holding chubby fingers up to him and stumbling over their names before too long. He’d have to write to Ming’we and Talisia again to let them know. Even if he didn’t see his friends as frequently now he still liked to keep in touch and the children! “We’ll have to write to Ygraine and Sol. I’m not sure what sending a missive to Belrea will cost from here or if they’ll even do it, but we can figure it out.” What would his oldest children think of all this? He couldn’t imagine Sol would be pleased.

“With our luck we should plan for multiples.”

What if they had eyes like Nimueh, Morain and Ygraine? Would they be silver, like Azusa? Or what if they were golden with black sclera? A part of Callum really should have been put off by the comparison to the surrogate, but honestly he was old enough to mostly be curious about it. Honestly? It would look really amazing, and oh gosh, the markings oh those cute, plush, chubby baby legs-

“I’m not the witch of the mountain so my word means very little.” He stated pointedly before grabbing a bite of food. Excitement could only keep a hungry man from tearing into a fresh cooked meal for so long. “Can you imagine the free time we would have? I don’t think I’d know what to do with myself if I didn’t have a baby on each hip.”

[Moose via Discord]

After rearing three all at once and knowing this would be their last Callum knew this poor child would be smothered in affection. Not only from them but by their five older siblings as well as their nieces, nephews, and found family. “Having one just seems cruel at this point. What would we do with the other half of our matching papooses if there was just one?” He teased. In Sol and Ygraine’s youth Callum had tried to hold onto ‘parental dignity’ before things went south, but with the triplets? He’d fully embraced ‘embarrassing but necessary’ parenting. His favorite? The double sided papoose that let him back two kids at once; one on the front, one on the back. With two it would have been perfect, but the triplets made it hard.

“Did you ever think we would be here? With this kind of life?”