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Deimos shrunk back, so low it was shocking. He had been shouted at by both Mother and Jabir and he felt terrible.

"Come on, Dei.. Nice to see you AI, Reid.." She said and picking up the child from off Rael's back.. Deimos was in so much trouble...

The wisp was being ignored byy Jizzy and dove into Reid's hair, hiding and tingling slightly.

Crow gave a snort and shook her head, unsure how to reply.

"Well, he's cute, anyway. What's with the fangs though?"

Lenore frowned at Malachi as she tried to sound out his name.

"Mawlakii...no, Mahlaky..Malac...umph. I'll call you Bah." she said, wrinkling her nose and crossing her arms resolutely. She watched as he tried to reach the seesaw with amusement, and loomed over him still brushing sand off her scraped knees.

"What's an albino? Why can't you say anything but 'Bah'?" she asked, and scratched at her stinging knees impatiently. Reaching up to the seesaw, she dragged it down for Malachi.

"You're too little to reach stuff by yourself - Imma lot bigger'n you, so I can do stuff like that easy."

Crow gaped at the wound, and then clapped her hand to her forehead.

"Are you tellin' me that you accidentally made a albino-vampire squrriel baby?" she asked in incredulous amusement, before adding as an afterthough, "Of doom?"

Lenore puffed out her skinny chest proudly, throwing her head back and grinning.

"Imma take care of Bah, he's too little to look out fer hisself. Imma make sure he don't do anything to hurt hisself!"

Climbing onto the other seesaw seat, Lenore carefully and slowly bounced the seesaw, making sure Malachi didn't fall off.

"How come you don't talk, Bah? Is it 'cause you're too little? Mama said I never stopped talking when I was a baby. How come your ears are so pointy?" Lenore yammered eagerly, not caring if the baby didn't understand her questions.

"Expect the reminder to be daily," Crow said wryly, glancing at Malachi sidelong. Her expression softened as she watched Lenore and Malachi playing, a slightly sappy smile spreading over her face.

"Yeah, she's a good kid. Doesn't know the meaning of tact and curious to a fault, though." She gave a maternal chuckle and turned to Rabid again.

"So, seen any interesting movies lately?"

Lenore slowed the seesaw and watched Malachi tensely, waving back furtively.

'You gotta hold on, Bah, or you gonna fall off and break!"

Lenore had been told many, many times by Crow that babies were easily hurt, and to be careful around them. Crow had stressed this because of the ever-wounding razor-feathers Len still waved around without a thought, and Lenore had taken it to heart. Pausing in her bouncing, Len waited for Malachi to hold on with both hands.

Making sure he was holding on properly, Lenore resumed bouncing the seesaw.

"No, not Leebah, Lenore. Everyone calls me Len, though. 'Cept Gramma Haedermann*, she calls me Mama's big axe-e-dent." Lenore giggled as she thought of her stuffy and glowering "grandmother".

"D'you have a Gramma an' Granpa, Bah? Mama doesn't like mine, she says they're shell-fish jerkwads!" Lenore giggled and bounced a little higher, taking pleasure in being airborne again.

Crow grinned slyly and nodded.

"I haven't seen it yet - well, I was supposed to on my last date, but the guy I went with was more interested in, well, ya know,..." she blushed furiously and twisted the swing chain in her hand violently, grumbling at the unpleasant memory. As she heard Lenore mention the name "Haedermann", she turned starkly white and whirled around.

"Don't say that word, Len, its a bad word."

"Worse than the f-word you said when Cole threw up on your bed?"

Crow gave a heaving sigh.

"Much, much, much worse." Giving a shudder and shaking her head, she kicked at the sand with her scuffed boots.

(*prods her 'About Crow' post in Len's journal* >>; <<; )

Crow straightened and shook her head slightly, sticking her tongue out at Rabid with dignity.

"You of all people should know I have a saintly vocabulary,' she said airily, grinning.

Lenore gave a delighted shriek and nodded eagerly, glad to have Malachi talking sensibly at last.

"That's right! Everyone calls me Len, but I like Lenore better. Your name's too hard, Bah." In an abrupt change of mood, Lenore slid off the seesaw and carefully lowered it so Malachi could climb off safely.

"Let's go do somethin' else - I'm bored wit' the seesaw."

Lenore's lips quirked into a smile and she checked her stride, allowing the smaller Mishap to keep up with her.

"C'mon, Bah, let's go find somethin' inter'sting to do," she said over her shoulder. Adjusting the antique pilot goggles so they sat awkwardly over her eyes, she jogged clumsily over to the monkey bars. Jumping up to the top rung of the ladder and perching like a bird, she motioned for Malachi to sit and watch a master at work.

Crow scuffed at the sand again, biting at her nails idly.

"Eh, it's been okay. Really busy with Len, trying to make sure she doesn't stab anyone's eyes out, that sort of thing." She bit more savagely at her nail, feeling satisfied as it was worn down to the quick. Running the newly trimmed nail over one of her sharp canines, she turned and spit the severed nail tip into the sand.

"My brother Julian's coming over to live here soon - I think you'd like him. He's gonna crash at my place for awhile, 'til he can get settled at a hospital somewhere near HQ." She started kicking at the sand again with her boots, sending a fine glittering cloud into the air.

"He's a surgeon," she added after a moment's thought.

Lenore puffed out her skinny chest and threw back her head in pride. Performing for Crow was fine, but now Len had an audience that could appreciate her talent because she was spectacular, not just because she was her only spectator's kid. Reaching out to the high bar, stretching her long legs as far as they would go, Lenore turned back to glance at Malachi.

"Watch this."

And with that, she swung onto the top of the monkey bars, poised like a gymnast as she slid her body through the narrow space between the rungs. Arms outspread like a bird, she stood on the hanging bar rung and looked down at Malachi, far below on the ground. Spreading her arms wider still, she crouched on the rung and steadied herself, watching Malachi all the while.

With a fluid, graceful motion, Lenore launched herself off the bar headfirst, freefalling through the air.