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 Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 2:38 pm
Azrael noted the abrupt change in conversational focus curiously. There was clearly something behind the cut-off there... but ah, he was hardly one to be digging around in someone else's unhappiness. God knew how little he would appreciate it if someone tried to do the same to him.
"Magic work," he mused. "That sort of thing seems... much more common here."
"And less sacred," Emiree noted before she'd even thought about the subject to whom she was speaking. When she did, however, the spirit seemed properly abashed. "Ah, I don't mean any insult, Miss Nikomas! I just mean, where we're from, it's just the clergy that seem to practice any sort of magic."
Well, it's always been said that the best way for a child to learn that the stove was hot was to let them burn themselves on it. Very likely, this was about to turn into a parallel situation. Maybe after yanking on that glowy-fiery tip of Nanaki's tail this once, Peach might learn that tail-pulling was a bad idea in general....
Or maybe that would be too optimistic. She certainly wasn't expecting anything wrong as she made a grab for the teasing tail, intending to pull it straight down to her face so that she could give it a better examination.
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Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 3:27 pm
Nikomas grinned, shaking her head and waving her hand in the air, obvious motions of dismissal. "No offense taken. Gaia is vastly different from any other place. I originally come from a world called Oasis. Anyone who had the talent for magic there was trained in it, to prevent any disasters from uncontrolled powers. I'm hardly holy anymore." She said with a slightly twisted smile, unfurling her black wings slightly. "They used to be white."
"You'll find all sorts of people in Gaia, if one of my sort surprised you." The angel said with a more humorous smile. "A human friend of mine has a daughter that's part snake, genetically mutated as far as either of us is aware."
Never before had anyone quite pulled his tail before, at least not the same way the baby girl had. Sometimes Nikomas would grab it and give a gentle tug to keep Nanaki from crawling away, but this time was different. Somewhat painful. And unexpected.
The baby boy gave a yowl as his tail was pulled abruptly towards Peach, gold eye closed in surprise at the sudden touch on his tail. "Yoooow!"
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Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 4:27 pm
Surprised by the immediate (and loud) reaction to her tug, Peach made a startled noise and released her grip. What had happened?! Was something wrong?! If Nanaki had made a funnier face, like the swirly-eyed examples she knew from her home she might have thought the entire thing funny- but the pained expression on her playmate's face was anything but entertaining.
So, her reaction wasn't going to swing toward happily amused. Which meant it could only swing in the opposite direction....
Azrael had just been about to ask more about the subject of "genetic mutation" when a sound began to split the air, causing every muscle in his face to contort with an agonized despair. Something had set Peach off... again....
He wasn't going to panic this time, though. He was telling himself this resolutely: He was not. Going. To panic.
As calmly as he could manage, he said, "excuse me a moment", and went to attend to the young princess. Gil wasn't around to bail him out this time- he'd have to try and calm her down himself.
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Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 8:39 am
The angel flinched as she heard the animalistic yowl that came from Nanaki's throat, and immediately went to the carriage with Azrael. Squatting down in front of it, she gently picked Nanaki up, cradling him in her arms and rocking him slightly, making comforting cooing sounds under her breath.
"Shh, there there love, she didn't know that would happen..." Nikomas murmered; she could only assume little Peach had grabbed his tail, which the angel had generally just assumed was a no-no.
As he was picked up and held in the angel's arms, Nanaki started to quiet, his sounds dimming down to an occasional sniffle, the expression in his gold eye pitiful. His tail didn't hurt so much anymore, now that no one was grabbing onto it.
"Maah." He mumbled, clinging to her torso, trying to hide his ears from the wailing from the baby girl. His tail didn't hurt anymore, but now his ears did. Peach was loud, and his ears were sensitive...
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Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 2:07 pm
Great. How was it that Peach could pull another kid's tail and cause them injury, and that other child would be quieted in a matter of seconds, while Peach would still be in a full-out meltdown long after?
Azrael was too concerned to be embarrassed, at least. Plucking the girl out of the buggy, he tried holding her to see if that would calm her down- and when that failed, he tried bouncing her a little. Which made her wails amusingly choppy and warbly, but didn't seem to slow them down. "'Sokay, princess, everything's okay," he tried coaxing, to no more effect than anything else.
Emiree sighed, leaning her cheek helplessly on her hand. She didn't know who she felt the most for- poor Peach, who was miserable and wild, or poor Azrael, whose expression was growing more and more desperate as his attempts to calm her failed, or poor Nanaki, who was the only one who had actually suffered anything in this whole affair!
All that she could really do was to place an ethereal hand on Azrael's shoulder, knowing that it would not be felt or even likely noticed, and wish for the best. Some days, what she wouldn't give for solid hands....
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Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 3:34 pm
With Nanaki quieting down to snuffles, Nikomas turned to look at Azrael struggling to quiet the still crying Peach. She couldn't help but smile in humor at the awkward father, doing his best to calm her down like a nervous, new dad still getting used to the position. Which he may very well be, for all she knew.
Standing up straight, she stepped next to Azrael, bending over a little so she was close to eye level with Peach, Nanaki at a level that his head was craned up slightly. "Shh, there, there, sweetling. It's alright now, see? Little Nana is fine, you just startled him by pulling his tail..." She murmured, bouncing Nanaki in her arms, pulling a little burble from him, and a tiny smile.
There was indeed a tremulous smile on the boy's face, and he waved his chubby hands in the air. "Maaah!" He gurgled, his gold eye turning back to Peach. He gave her a cheerful enough smile, leaning forward in the angel's arms in a sort of forgiving gesture.
"Peeeaa?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 3:56 pm
Peach's sobs began to diminish at long last, leaving only muted sniffles in their wake. Bewildered, her eyes shifted from Nikomas to Azrael to Nanaki, being greeted with reassuring smiles (however strange and awkward Azrael's own was) on each face. Nothing was wrong, then?... how could anything be, if everyone seemed to happy?
"That's a girl," Azrael encouraged her, feeling tremendous relief that she'd ceased bawling. Fishing a soft cloth from one of the many pockets inside his coat, he quickly wiped her face clean of the post-tantrum tears and runny nose, then disappeared the cloth once more.
Suffering her face to be cleaned, Peach wrinkled her nose, then blinked and turned her attention back to Nanaki with a soft inquiry. She couldn't even remember what had made her so upset now, but whatever it was, she was happy that everything was back to normal!
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Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 4:22 pm
Nikomas smiled as she slowly quieted down, making a silly face. Sticking her tongue out, she crossed her eyes. "Nyahh, there's a good girl." She said, shaking her head so her hair flopped in her face, and looking all around quite goofy.
Nanaki's face was still covered in a steadily growing, happy and bubbly smile, which only spread as his mother started making faces. He started giggling, waving his hands towards Nikomas's face. "Maah!"
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Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 4:55 pm
A sure-fire sign that everything was right and good with the universe: People making silly faces! Spurred on especially by the laughter of the other baby, Peach began giggling anew, her laughter as abundant and hearty as if she'd never been upset at all. "Yaaa!" She squealed delightedly.
Emiree couldn't quite manage to hide a giggle of her own, fluttering her hand up to at least try and mask that impish smile of hers. The sight of the angel and the babies and just, everything seeming so cheerful and bright- how could the ghost avoid a happy laugh of her own? It was impossible! "You are very good with children, Miss Nikomas!" she commented brightly. "Do you have a lot of experience?"
It was probably just as well that Azrael was too busy sending mental praise in the angel's direction to catch Emiree's faux pas. Peach was happy, which meant that he could be happy, which meant that, for however long, maybe the world wasn't actually as much on the edge of destruction as it had seemed a few short seconds ago. Now, if only this could keep up for the rest of the day, he might be able to go to bed that night with a little peace of mind!
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Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 5:02 pm
Niko turned towards the ghost, a tender smile on her face accompanying her shrug. "Mm, I've had alot of children before. All adopted, but still. Numbering somewhere around eight or nine, I can't quite recall since alot of them have grown up and gone away. I haven't heard from several for a few years." She said, a tinge of sadness coming into her voice.
Nanaki decided to imitate his mother, making a face and sticking his tongue out. "Nyaahh." He burbled, wrinkling his nose with a little grin as he shook his head towards Peach, the beads in his hair tinking against each other.
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Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 12:43 pm
Emiree didn't miss the wistful sound for a heartbeat. Aligning her features to be properly sympathetic to the angel's heartbreak, she offered carefully, "That must be quite rewarding, though I imagine it is difficult to let your children go after having raised them for so long...."
Her living counterpart was thinking along utterly different lines. "Adoption seems to be... typical, here," Azrael said, phrasing his observation as carefully as he could. Every single person with a child that he'd met so far, didn't have a blood relation with their progeny. Compared with where he was from, where adoption was a rare and desperate measure for childless couples. But here... well, the fact that it wasn't always a willing gesture might have something to do with it, but it was as common as dandelions.
Nanaki was nothing but a thrill to little Peach, who redoubled her laughter to watch his antics. She quieted down quickly, however; the talk going on over her head had grown more serious, and there were some sounds in the voices that were anything but the bright, cheery pitches she wanted to hear.
Was it Nanaki's mama, who was sounding so sad? But she'd been so happy just a second ago, hadn't she? Well, how had this happened, then?!
Well, someone was going to have to do something about it. Turning her attention upwards to the angel, she copied Nanaki's expression as well as she could (since his was available for study at that moment), scrunching up her face and sticking out her tongue. She forgot the head-shaking part, though- but maybe that wasn't important?
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Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 4:22 pm
Nikomas smiled, shrugging slightly. "I've tried to hold onto them, but that generally just makes children want to leave all the more. I'm steadily learning, though I could never say no to a child." She said, looking down fondly at the two babies waving and giggling at each other.
Her eldest son, the one who had been with her longest... Again, she wondered where could he have gone to? She hadn't seen anything remotely close to the strange woman who snatched him.
Shaking her head to focus back on the two in front of her, she felt a humorous grin coming up. "Yes, well, Gaia is sort of... A cross roads between places, I guess? So you're likely to get all sorts, and as a result, children that need raising due to a lack of decent parents."
Nanaki had also noticed the slightly sad tone in his mother's voice, and awkwardly managed to turn around in her arms, wiggling his little arms up until they wrapped around her neck. Well, halfway at least, since he was still smaller then her.
"Mahh?"
The angel looked down when she heard Nanaki, and was greeted with arms around her neck in a baby-hug, and little Peach making silly faces at her.
She couldn't help it; she just started laughing, and held her arms around Nanaki more tightly, wishing he were big enough that she wouldn't hurt him from a regular hug.
"You two are cute." Nikomas mumbled, still grinning.
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Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 12:36 pm
Azrael gave an obvious frown to Nikomas' description of "children that need raising". That wasn't Peach, surely? She was a Princess; there were any number of caregivers she would have had access to, in most cases. And in those few cases where that wouldn't be true- such as the royal family getting placed in danger of some civil unrest- then the last thing anyone would want would be to end up a target near them. But Azrael was willing to admit, at least a little, that if there were such a situation that put Peach at risk, he might... might just be willing to....
It was ridiculous to contemplate, though! Walker was not an altruistic fellow, in any manner that Azrael could determine. Peach wasn't shoved onto him to be raised by a "decent" parent, as the angel had suggested. There was something else at work here, and he'd better keep his eyes peeled.
AHA! Mission successful; now everyone was smiling and happy! Except for her caretaker, anyway. But he was always grumpy like that; Peach had learned to pay it no mind.
Instead, she let loose a stream of exceptionally girlish giggles, well-pleased by the young duo's accomplishment.
Regarding the happy princess for a moment, Azrael dared a small smile- just one, and very brief- before settling the girl back into the buggy. "Well, Miss Nikomas, I think that we'd better be on our way," he said as he tucked Peach under the covers. They ought to cut their walk short and get back home; it wasn't a short jaunt, after all, and Peach would probably be getting hungry soon....
"Oh, Azrael, wait," Emiree protested, an odd note of urgency in her voice. Without waiting to see if the white-haired man would pay her request any heed, she turned her full attention back onto the angel. "Miss Nikomas, may... would it be all right, if we were to ask a favor of you...?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 9:47 pm
Nikomas smiled fondly at Peach as she started laughing delightedly; she reminded her greatly of when Aqua was a baby. Granted, the elemental was still pretty similar now. Just... Bigger. And what with knowing her powers, significantly more to handle.
She was about to say goodbye to the two as Azrael seemed ready to part, when the ghost's intervention took her by surprise. Eyes wide, she looked at the ghost curiously. "If I can be of assistance, then certainly I'll try."
Nanaki grinned at Peach, a wide smile on his lightly furred face. It sounded like the white haired man was going to be leaving soon, taking the blond girl with him. The thought made Nanaki somewhat sad, and his ears angled backwards slightly, before perking up again. They'd see the pair again, he was sure. No reason they wouldn't, right?
He turned his head to look at his mother, wondering why she was talking to the air when the man had said goodbye. "Maah?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 1:05 am
Azrael's gaze had turned to the ghost as well, but his was a bit more worried, and a great deal more warning. What was Emiree thinking of, exactly? They'd spoken at length about asking people for help- she wouldn't have suddenly decided to go against what they'd decided, would she? It gave him a headache to think of. So much bad could happen, just for a moment of impulse. Worse, he couldn't put such action beyond the ghost--
"I was wondering," Emiree asked cautiously, very aware of both members of her audience. "You see, there are stories about angels where we're from, and...."
Stories? What stories? Azrael frantically tried to think of what Emiree might be considering. There was a story about an angel restoring someone to life, but she wouldn't be thinking of that?... would it work, if she did ask?
"This might sound silly, but would you be opposed to saying a blessing over Peach?" She inquired.
Azrael relaxed. Sort of. It was a little anti-climatic, and as much as he'd hate to admit it, he had entertained some hopes- but it was all for the best, really.
"It's simply that, there are so many stories about princesses that receive blessings in the cradle," Emiree smiled. "It may be foreign here, but meeting you like this, so soon after Peach has come into our lives- it seems like an act of fate, doesn't it?"
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