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 Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 1:39 pm
Contrary to popular belief, illusions are far more than mere parlor tricks. The sell of invisibility is among the most integral in a battle mage's repertoire. As you will often find yourself in dangerous situations and in need of a quick method for a strategic retreat. Illusions can also be used to deceive your opponents into thinking that you are elsewhere, or even trick your enemies into fighting each other. This is no easy task, but the accomplished illusionist can turn allies into enemies - and his or her own enemies into allies.
The words, near the end of the paragraph, began to swim and blur together as Aya blinked slowly, trying to keep the page focused. Ordinarily she considered herself to be rapt in her studies once she'd devoted herself to them, often needing to be reminded to go outside or to eat.
Today, though, something was off....and had been since she'd awoken that morning. She'd blamed the residual exhaustion and dizziness, at first, on a lack of sleep, but instead of alleviating itself as she got up and moving, it had only gotten worse.
Now, it was nearly impossible to concentrate. Her stomach clenched and fluttered, and her brow marbled with sweat in the cool air of the library. Closing her eyes, she swallowed hard and began to count backwards methodically from one hundred, willing the feeling to pass.
Taking a few deep breaths, she cracked her eyes open, refocusing them on the book's pages, which had, blessedly, come back into focus. Relief crept in, as she felt she had it licked, at least for the moment, and skimmed the page to find where she'd left off.
The former archmage Jandice Barov - may her soul rest in peace - was an excellent example of a talented illusionist. In life, she developed a spell that displayed several images of her body that were--
Her stomach lurched, jarring her again from her reading and making her rise from her seat as she staggered a short distance away from the table covered in books, scrolls, and irreplaceable tomes. She was going to be sick...and her body made it abundantly clear nothing short of an act of the gods was going to stop it.
The mage had nearly made it to the front doors before it hit, locking her muscles and wrenching her body as everything she'd eaten since that morning tore its way out of her.
A moment later and it was over, her thick panting cruelly amplified by the acoustics of the library's vast walls. Woozy relief crept over her, even as angry humiliation swept in, her brow burning against the damp strands and commas of her hair that clung to it.
She didn't have time for this. She had four more books to get through after the one she was currently reading before tomorrow evening, and her body turning traitor on her was not helping. She had done a lot of arguing, and Qwello had done a lot of arguing on her behalf, to allow her into the Kirin Tor's libraries to study. And she celebrated this victory, and proved to them their trust was well-placed, apparantly, by getting sick on their floor.
As she stood, waiting for the chills to abate, and still collecting herself, a bucket and a mop, magically guided by an unseen hand, swept in and began to deal with the mess she'd made, little by little making it an unhappening. For that much, she was grateful....but they'd know anyway, she had a feeling. Considering the way they went over everything she'd touched with a fine-toothed comb looking for tears and fingerprints when she was done with it, something like this would not go ignored.
Leaning against one of the library's pillars, the marble feeling blessedly cool against her skin, she relaxed a bit. ******** them, she decided. It wasn't as if she'd planned on it, and with the way she felt right now, studying further was not going to be an option today anyway.
After collecting herself a few more minutes, she pushed off of the pillar and half-shambled to the front doors to let herself outside. Maybe, she mused, when they inevitably closely-examined everything she'd handled today, they'd pick up whatever bug it was she had...
The thought kept her warm on her trudge back to the inn room she was renting where she collapsed in a fatigued heap, dead to the world for the rest the afternoon.
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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 5:37 pm
"SUCH FLAMMABLE LITTLE INSECTS!" the dragon bellowed, one massive foot thundering to the ground as he sent the heroes that had been brave enough to face him scattering in a muddle of curses and clanging of armor. The inhabitants of Wyrmrest Temple had warned them that facing Sartherion in his own lair was death, but just as well-intended warnings had failed to stop the first intrusions into Illidan's Black Temple, these too had fallen on deaf ears.
Ayanne maintained her perch on a jagged piece of stone bordering the island in the middle of the magma pool they'd finally found Sartherion lurking on. As the hulking black beast rampaged in the direction of the party's strongest warrior, her eyes narrowed in concentration, plumes of fire beginning to swarm between her palms. She'd dealt with plenty of dragons in her day and all of them were the same when they finally reached the point of being a danger to all around them -- egotistical, brash, and narrow-sighted. If you knew what you were doing, they were easily dealt with, and Sartherion had been shaping up to be no exception.
The fireball left her hands with a roaring fwoosh, the molten sphere hurtling itself at the black wyrm and detonating with explosive force just over his eye.
They had this, she thought with an air of smugness as an arid wind touseled her robes about herself. It had been on a whim she had offered herself to the war party announcing it would be making its trek from Dalaran City to Wyrmrest and was in need of more able-bodied heroes. The bouts of sickness had increased in frequency as of late, not allowing her to do much of anything in the way of studying and making her feel all-around miserable with the world. This, though, she had missed. The excitement of venturing into a place she should not be, the thrill of calling out a menace to Azeroth's way of being to fight them, the faint dread of knowing they may be joining the scatter of ashes and bones that decorated the floor...
All of these had combined into a thrum within her that banished all feelings of sickness from her body. Maybe this was all she'd been lacking, she thought. Maybe--
"Fall back!!"
The frantic call pulled her back to the here-and-now as the dragon's massive paw came down on the warrior a final time, his armor finally yielding beneath the strain and allowing itself - and its wearer - to be crushed beneath the dragon's weight.
"This is why we call you lesser beings!" Sartherion chortled in triumph, thundering toward the next-closest person to deal with them in a similar way.
s**t... Aya growled inwardly as she hopped from her perch, quickly gaging the distance between the cave's entrance and herself. It was a gamble, at best...but better than nothing. Murmuring a hurried incantation, a blinding bubble of light engulfed her body as she began to run, the screams of the others melding together with the roar of the lava and the thunder of the dragon to make a symphony of carnage in her head. It was funny to think that not even a year ago, had her company not changed, this scenario wouldn't have sent her running but rather she would have been basking in it.
The invisibility spell began to take effect, and in the same instant, a black tailtip whipcracked across her ankles, interrupting the effects and making it dissipate from her form as she spilled forward, landing face-first on the searing rock beneath her. She had no sooner begun to scramble to her feet once more than a black shadow fell over her, making the bottom drop out of her stomach. Looking over her shoulder, Sartherion towered over her, his maw a gaping furnace as he glowered down at the troll mage beneath him. The place where her fireball had struck him still sent up a tiny plume of black smoke from his eyeridge, and clearly had not gone ignored now.
"How much heat can you take...?" the dragon hissed, his maw falling fully open as fire, white-hot, first licked from his jaws and then jettisoned over her, engulfing her body.
There was an explosion of pain, a starburst of silver light, and Ayanne knew no more.
------------------------------------------
"May this seed grow. May this seed prosper. May it pluck your soul from the nether and bind it back within you." a soothing rumbling voice chanted, a large cloven hand placing itself firmly on the charred ribcage of what had once been a party member. The tauren druid, who had performed the rites of rebirth many times in the past, still took his work with utmost seriousness. It was not a task to be taken lightly, he knew, no matter how many times he had succeeded in it. It was asking a big favor of the gods to return a discorporated soul to its corpse.
The starleaf seed had already begun its work, vibrant green shoots finding their way out of the husk to wrap eagerly around the blackened bones. The tendrils spread and wrapped, faster and faster, until the entire body had been engulfed in a mess of greenery. Beneath the cocoon of foliage, he knew, flesh was being restored, muscles rewoven, skin reformed. After only a few moments, the seed had finishing readying the empty vessel to recieve back its spark of life and the druid extended his hands heavenward, eyes closed, as a gentle breeze touseled over both himself, and the pulsing cocoon of vines before him.
Sometimes this part took the longest...some souls were so eager to flee their bodies that by the time they were called back, they were already miles away. And it didn't help that, unlike the priests and paladins' way of commanding the dead to life, a druid's way was moreso to ask. And sometimes there was just no asking politely enough. It would seem, however, that this particular soul had not yet ventured far from its body, and it was not long before a surge of white light twinged with red surged down from seemingly nowhere, darting directly into the cocoon. The tauren's eyes cracked open to smile a bit, only to have it wiped from his face quickly as, following the surge of light there were two residual blips. Tiny, and barely-noticable, but there.
He blinked, stunned, but said nothing as the vines began to fall away, revealing beneath them a perfectly-reformed female troll mage from what had once been a charred skeleton. She remained still a moment, and then drew in a sharp breath, coughing as her body kick-started itself once more.
The sick feeling was back tenfold as Aya growled, listing onto her side to curl up miserably.
She ******** hated dragons....
"You are safe now." the druid assured her.
"Mnnh..." that was as good of a 'thank you' as he was going to get at the moment. All she wanted right now was a hot bath and a long nap, not necessarily in that order.
"They are safe as well."
Aya felt her ears flatten as her eyes closed tightly. She didn't care about the rest of the damned party and whether they were safe or not. For all she cared, Sartherion could have drizzled butter on every last damned one of them and tossed them into his mouth like popcorn, frankly. If it wasn't for them, after all, she wouldn't literally be death warmed over at the moment.
"Mother..." the druid began, quirking a brow. "....what is it that drew you into battle today?"
"Ah ain't nobody's mother." she spat, curling up a bit tighter and willing the cow and his questions to go away. "Least'a all joors."
At this, the male furrowed his brow. Perhaps, then, she -didn't- know...
"No, not mine." he agreed. There was a pause before he reached out, placing his hand firmly on her belly. "....but someone's." His hand was slapped away instantaneously as another growl issued from the fallen mage, trying to sound menacing even in her current state.
"Dat ain' feckin' funny"
"Am I laughing?" he pressed, recieving no response. "I saw it myself, when I recalled your spirit to you." he went on. "Yours was chased by two smaller flares, still entwined with yours. Too small to exist on their own yet."
"Shut up." she said sharply, though anger in her voice had begun to waver into something else the longer the punchline was not delivered. What the hell was he talking about? That....that wasn't even POSSIBLE.
"And for that, you are fortunate." the druid continued. "As are they. Had it been much later, I don't know that all three of you would have been recovered so easily."
"Ah said SHUT UP!!" she snarled, one three-fingered hand extending from the end of a tattered sleeve to face palm-out at the tauren who seemed unable to close his mouth. Glowing orange-red light began to swarm at her fingertips, but then sputtered, fading away. She simply did not have the strength at the moment.
The white bull's ears flicked as his eyes narrowed at the gesture, moving to stand.
"There are others that are in need of me." he said simply, taking up his staff in one hand as he turned to go. "Life is precious, Sister Darkspear, especially in places such as these. You would do well to nurture it." The whisper of leather robes and heavy footfall marked the druid's leaving as Aya remained where she'd fallen, fuming and feeling on the verge of being ill yet again. She had known many tauren over the years and could fault them for a variety of things.....having a poor sense of humor, though, was a new one on her.
What kind of absolute waste would tease someone about something like that when they were freshly-returned from the dead?? It would be one matter, she guessed, if it was even a possibility, but she liked to think she knew her body better than he, or anyone, did. Her ability to bear children had been taken from her years ago, and, after two sons of her own, she'd not been sad to see it go.
A pang of sickness gnawed at her belly, making her grit her teeth against it as she forced herself to sit up, placing her palms firmly together. Swirling white light swarmed from them, growing in volume until a hazy portal stood before her, showing the rippling city of Dalaran on its other side.
A nagging part of her told her that what she really ought to do, before the shower, and especially before the nap, was she ought to go find a priest to get a sincere answer to put her mind at ease, but...
No. It ain't worth wastin' mah time or givin' dat feckin' beefwall de satisfaction. she thought vehemently as she pulled herself to her feet, absently brushing a hand over her tattered clothing to step through the portal, leaving behind the strench of charred flesh and failure.
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Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 6:20 pm
Unfortunate Truths - an RP between Ayanne and Qwello She was exhausted, she was cranky, and she was sick. All three of these factors blended together to create a vile tapestry of pissiness that loomed over Ayanne as she stalked through the streets of Dalaran. What she WANTED to be doing right now was sleeping, but instead, she was out of bed and off to find a needle in a haystack named Iyonis. As she neared a throng of blood elves that had chosen to block the streetway to have a conversation in the middle of it, she made a sharp gesture with her hand, blinking herself a short distance forward and through them, not in the mood to be polite at the moment. Qwello, at least, had a rather loose idea as to where the priestess might have holed herself up, which, at the very least, made the search a little less daunting. Uortunately he did not look in a much better mood than his pupil happened to be at the moment, the mixture of his height and slight frown making him look rather intimidating. This had to be someone's idea of a stupid joke, because it was simply impossible. In between Aya assuring him she could not bear children anymore, and the own precautions he'd taken himself. With a similar gesture, he caught up with Ayanne and lead her toward the library. If the blood elf wasn't there, it would probably be more... problematic. Thankfully, however, his guess had been right - the priestess was sitting by her lonesome, a blank book open in front of her and twirling a quill idely in between slender fingers before finally letting it rest on the paper, clearly unaware that her peaceful and quiet corner would remain neither peaceful nor quiet for very long. She really should have been overjoyed at the prospect of this outing not taking nearly as long as it might have if they'd had to lead a wild goosechase all over the city. However, her current state of mind did not allow her much more than a slight waver of her mood as she approached Iyo, stopping in front of her to regard her for a moment in silence. Not even a week ago, she'd likely looked similar, she thought -- mind on her studies, enthralled in a good read, NOT sicking up her meals near-constantly. It had been at Qwello's urging she was even here. Though he'd shared her sentiment that it was not even a possibility, she had not slept since returning from her failed venture at the Obsidian Sanctum and it was not only effecting her studies but the private life the two of them had shared behind closed doors as of late. At length, she sharply cleared her throat to draw the priestess's attention to their presense. At the sound, one long ear perked up, and the black-haired woman looked up, reveling glowing green eyes. "Ayanne ?" The blood elf clearly seemed surprised to be sought out, but surprise seemed to be quickly remplaced by worry as she noticed the somber look of both trolls. "Are you allright... ?" Her voice was low and soft. The calm voice, though it was no fault of Iyonis', seemed to be the catalyst that broke Ayanne. "No, ah AIN'T feckin' all right." she growled, throwing up her hands as she began to pace irately in front of the chair the priestess sat in. "Ah been pukin' up everythin' ah try ta feed myself, ah got mah face stomped in by a BIG pissed off dragon, an' de druid dat brings me back, y'know what 'e tells me?" she asked, almost daring the sindorei to hazard a guess as she stopped, glinting red eyes meeting Iyo's softly-glowing greens. She was bordering being a raving loon at the moment and she did not -care-. Clearly that hasn't been the right thing to say. When Ayanne started on her rant, she put back the quill in it's holder and the other hand closed the book in a smooth motion, revealing it to be some sort of ornate libram. If she'd found the mage's behavior any ridiculous, nothing of it showed onto her expression. "He told her that she was pregnant. With twins." Qwello clarified from where he was standing a few pace away from Ayanne. It was much better to leave her her space right now, thing that he had learned rather painfully over the course of the past few days. Well, it seemed rather clear what they had been coming for, at the very least, and ever though every instinct pretty much told her to get away from hurricane Ayanne, the blood elf worked herself on her feet anyway. "I am going to need you to stand still for a moment." She worked her way over and slid a hand over the mage's abdomen as softly as she could manage, clearly not wanted to end up with a fireball in the face. Ayanne didn't WANT to stand still for a moment. She wanted to keep raging. It was one of her few comforts the past few days where at least afterward, she KNEW she would have some sort of relief. Grudgingly, though, she halted herself, her fists balling and unballing rhythmically at her sides. Just get it over with Her mind told her. The sooner she tells you its nothing, the sooner you can go back and do what you were doing before -- bedrest and waiting this thing out. Exhaling a sigh, that seemed to carry with it the red-hot fumes of her anger, she waited. The priestess was quiet and, true to her words withdrew soon afterward, though the look on her face and the sudden perk of her ears did not predict anything good. Neither mages would be pleased, she knew, but yet her worries laid elsewhere. Mostly that something felt so incredibly odd in there... However, she figured one bomb would be enough for now. "Ayanne..." She sighed. "...The druid was not lying. I'm sorry. I'll see if I can do something about the morning sickness, at least..." Behind Ayanne, Qwello's orange eyes went rather wide, and he choked on the breath he hadn't quite realized he had been holding. This.... couldn't be possible... !!!!! One would have expected Ayanne to explode. To literally detonate on the spot in a pillar of fire, ash, and rage. And, if her entire brain had not ceased working completely for a moment, she might have been happy to do exactly that. She....what? WHAT?? The library and everybody in it was lost in a white haze of shock as one of her hands distractedly groped the air for something to support herself on. Her fingers, at last, caught the back of the chair Iyo had once occupied, leaning heavily on it. "Tell me dat's a joke." she said at last, turning a paling blue face to the priestess, her voice a lower tremor in her throat. It was clinging desperately to the shades of rage still in it, but they were languishing, bearing the other, uglier, emotions beneath it. ".....ah kin REALLY appreciate a joke like dat." Qwello was in motion just as he saw Ayanne pale, reaching out for her to take his arm as needed, worry readily-apparent on his face, yet entirely silent. He had no idea what to say. He'd.... really ******** it up this time. Iyonis simply shook her head. "I would not play a joke like that on you." Could she not feel them, and the weird aura that clung to them... ? The priestess then whispered a few low, soothing words under her breath, gently surrounding the mage with a faint warmth. "This... should help the sickness, a little bit. I can't make it go away completely, unfortunarely." The other library dwellers were staring now, and she looked away from the pair of trolls with a frown on her face, far different than the gentle look she had given Ayanne. "And what are you all stariing at ?" Her voice turned colder, then she turned back to Ayanne, the moment having clearly passed, and some of the elves dispersing in shock at the tone the shy woman had used. By the sunwell, she hated her own race sometimes. One long periwinkle-colored ear twitched faintly as the soothing light permeated her being, soothing the greasy pit in her stomach that had refused to go away the last span of days. It should have brought her relief, but all it did, really, was draw attention to the little hints her body had been trying to drop her that had been drowned out by illness. She recognized them like old visitors she'd not seen in years....the faint fluttering pressure within her womb, the flushed feeling in her breast. These were things she had hoped never to feel again. Not after two sons she'd not planned on that had stolen her youth from her. How had it happened? She'd been told years ago that her continued channelling of the arcane had destroyed her body's more delicate workings, leaving her barren. It had allowed her to carry on her whirlwind affair with Bulli for nearly a year without worry, in fact. It made no SENSE that she and Qwello -- especially at THEIR age -- had managed it in only a week's span. At the feeling of the younger mage's presense nearby, she let herself sag against him a bit. Just for the moment. It was one of those rare times when the rug had been neatly yanked from beneath her and she, simply, felt defeated. All Qwello could only do was slide an arm about her, looking as equally crestfallen and defeated. He had never wanted children. He didn't have time for children. He'd taken every magical precaution he knew in despite of Ayanne telling him it was impossible. And yet... there they were. He bent over to whisper in her ear. "I'll bring you to my room..." He did not want to leave her alone, not here and not now. But he would have to seek someone out later... He reached out to support her, gently taking her off her feet with ease. They needed to go somewhere else... somewhere else without all those stares and the rumors that would follow them. A portal opened in front of them and, in a blink, both trolls were gone. Iyonis let out the sigh she had been holding, and shook her head. There was something entirely too wierd about this... something entirely too wrong. Something entirely too familiar. She glanced down at the libram and shook her head, taking the book and leaving, not minding the still puzzled gazes that followed her. She did not feel like writing anymore.
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Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 11:15 pm
It was business as usual in the floating city of Dalaran – as usual and calm as a city could be when towering above a continent that was mostly an ever-shifting warzone. Heroes came and went, mostly in a hurry to return to the battlefield from where they came, in an attempt to gain even more glory in the eyes of their respective leader. Some mages, clearly wearing the tabard of the Kirin Tor, walked casually down the streets, chattering away and providing directions to the newcomers to the mage city.
And then there was one woman, sitting near the fountain located on the south side of the floating city – wearing not armor, but a casual blue dress, but yet remaining more dangerous-looking that most of the heroes running down the street, with her white skin, pale blonde hair, and glowing, ice blue eyes.
A death knight, after all, was dangerous as long as her weapon was on her person, and if there was something Gekkoura Dawnsigner had learned in her new unlife, it was to never go anywhere without her weapon. Her runeblade was definitely there, though well-hidden under a black velvet cloak, and it was for once easy enough to be relaxed – no one seemed to be paying much attention to her, and for that, she was glad. So, she sat there, and waited for her once pupil to show up – he had looked rather… nervous when he had sent an image to seek her out, and she was not quite sure what to expect.
Hopefully nothing had blown up. He was much too old for her to play nanny with, after all.
Just as she shifted to reposition herself to look into the water, she noticed him turn around the corner (there was one good thing about the boy being so tall – it was near impossible to miss him unless one was completely blind) and she stood to meet with him.
“Lady Dawnsigner…”
“Qwello, how many times do I need to tell you…” She sighed, but there was a fond smile on her face. “I no longer hold any rank here. Gekkoura will do.”
There was a faint frown on the troll’s face, but he nodded. “Nonetheless. Thank you for coming, I know you where probably busy but… I think I may… need help.” Oh, it was an hard thing to admit – it was rather apparent on his face. She knew how to read him perfectly by now, as a mentor knew most of their pupils’ quirks. But Qwello had always been different – she knew him even more deeply. He was fidgeting the side of his robes with his hands just like he used to do when he was young.
“It’s not very hard to tell. I think the last time I saw you so twitchy was before your first true exam.” Just as she said that, he of course tried to straighten himself, proud one that he was. She started walking at a leisure pace, much like the mages roaming the street. Still, no one really paid attention to the odd, mismatched pair. “Come on, out with it already.”
“Well…” He hesitated, apparently still struggling with his own pride. “It’s… about Ayanne.”
“Oh ?” One long eyebrow rose with interest. “They did not bar her from the library, did they ? I know she’s been pretty sick lately, and they seem to be looking in every tiny reasons to bar anyone aligned to the horde from gaining much access…” Which was rather unfair, she had come to find, but now was not the time to discuss of this.
“No, that isn’t it. I brought the case up to Lord Sunreaver, who will hopefully take care of things and get them to let her be.” He would have gladly brought the matter to Rhonin himself, but it was kind of hard to do so with that snotty high elven b***h that followed him around and refused to so much allow him in the same room as her own. He was quite aware that trolls and elves of most kind had a deep rooted feud, but this was rather ridiculous.
“So, what is it, then ? It’s the illness ?”
“One… could say that. We seem to have figured out what is wrong with her.”
“Qwello, for the love of the sunwell, spit it out already.”
There was a few seconds of silence. “…She seems to be pregnant.”
“Oh.”
“…With twins.”
“…Oh.” It was Gekkoura’s turn to be silent. “I figure you happen to be the father ?”
“Given that she hasn’t seen anyone else that way for a couple months…”
“So you mean to tell me you had wild jungle sex and the idea that this might actually happen never crossed your mind ?” Her eyebrow quirked back upward rather amusedly. He could not honestly have been this dense, didn’t he ?
Her comment pretty much caused her former pupil to choke. “Of course not, I’ve been very careful, thank you ! Well, beside that one time.”
“That’s all it takes, im afraid.”
“It wasn’t my fault, she caught me completely offguard !” Quickly on the defensive on the matter, he crossed his arms and muttered. “Like I knew she was gonna jump me in the middle of a library hissfit.”
Unfortunately, he had seemed to forget elves had a rather keen hearing. “…So you’re had wild jungle sex… in a library.”
“L-Lady Dawnsigner !”
Okay, that was enough. Any more of that, and his stammering would catch unwanted attention, as oddly amusing as it may be. “And the point of all this would be ?”
“Well…” He regained his composure rather quickly. “What the hell am I supposed to do now ?”
“It’s quite simple. You stick around and help raise those kids, or I will make sure this has no chance of happening again.” The elf replied all-too-candidly, and while this was a pretty empty threat coming from her, what followed was not. “…Keeping in mind, of course, that Ayanne does not get to your balls first.”
“That is not what I meant !” There was irritation in his voice, and a frown on his face. He quite considered himself much more noble and worthwhile than the father of her first two sons, thank you very much ! “I have no damn idea how to do this !” The idea of children of his own had never entered his mind. Not even a minute.
But then the idea of a woman in his life had not really entered his mind before, either. It had it’s ups and down, it’s fair share of screaming and kindness both, but… it was getting hard to imagine life without Ayanne to add her own spice in it, now.
Not that he would admit it in the open, of course.
And now there he was. With twins on the ways.
Twins. Seriously. There was a deity up there laughing it’s a** off pretty hard, right now.
“Well. She’s probably going to be off the charts for awhile, especially later on. Hormones are pretty hard to deal with, and that’s going to be worse for her, but not really sunshine for you either. Just deal with it all the best you can. Show her that you’re here to say, it might help a little, though to be honest it’s kind of hard to get a troll mindset on this.” She made a face as she rounded the corner. “And let me tell you a little secret.”
“Hm ?”
“There’s thousands of books on parenthood, but guess what ? Even if you crammed all of them in between those two ears of yours ? I’ve pretty much seen that nothing ever quite works out that easily. Being a father is not something that you can just learn from a book. It’s all experience.”
“So you are saying, in flowery terms, that I am screwed.” He tilted his head to look down at the short woman.
“Oh, please, you can’t do worse than some of the jackasses out there.” There was no need to specify, so she did not. “Just do your best, that’s really all you can truly do.”
“You… will help me, right ?” Oh, he hoped he could, at the very least, keep going to his former mentor for advice.
“I figure I may be able to spare the time. And, actually, let this be your first lesson.”
There was an odd look of pure puzzlement that crossed the troll’s face that she had not seen since he was but a whelp, and it made those thin, black lips curl into a smile, and she rather amusingly had to stand on the very tip of her toes to grap his chin gently. He did not flinch when her cold skin touched his own, and it made her feel warm for the first time ever since… that day.
“Children, Qwello, no matter how old they are, and no matter how they may pretend otherwise, often find themselves needing their parental figures even well in adulthood. You would do well to remember that.”
He was silent, but she knew he had understood, and she let go. It was odd that, even with how fuzzy her memories where, she still remembered doing the exact same thing to catch and focus his attention when she was the taller of the pair. “Get going, now. She might be waiting for you.”
“I know.”
“If anything happen, or if you just need to scream for awhile… You know how to find me. I should get going now. Ill see you soon, hopefully.”
And with that, Gekkoura walked a few paces away, opened a rather dark and chaotic portal, and stepped into it.
…Maybe she is right, after all.
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 4:57 am
The next person who tells me to calm down is going to have a hard time saying anything else while they're rolling around screaming and on fire.
Calm down?! I'm getting to the point that I'm old enough to be a greatmother. I AM a greatmother, in fact, and he says 'calm down'!! Easy for him to calm down when all he did was plant the seed. HIS job is over. I can feel my body telling me as we speak that this is the worst idea ever at my age and I'm not disagreeing.
I haven't kept a journal in years but I'm exhausted. And I'm out of things to burn. And he's not here to yell at. But I'm still pissed.
You know the insult to injury? People are already talking. Its not even been four hours and ALREADY they're talking. Like Qwello and me are a couple of kids too young to deal with this. I don't WANT to deal with it but my two grown sons are evidence enough I'll deal with what I don't want.
I don't want to get sick in the mornings anymore. I don't want to get fat in the belly again. I don't want to nest and jump every time I feel a pain wondering if its time. I don't want the late nights with the crying again. I'm too OLD for this.
Calm down. He'd better HOPE I've calmed down by the time he decides to come back...
- Ayanne
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 5:04 pm
The last few weeks have been rather... eventful and full of assorted discoveries.
I must admit that I had no idea water could burn if one tried hard enough to make it so. And I was rather painfully reminded that burning hair smells rather rancid.
...Allow me to simply say that Lady Dawnsigner had not been kidding.
I have no idea what I am supposed to be doing. She wants me here, she wants me gone, she sends me porting to the Outlands of all places in the middle of the night because she wants a clefthoof steak (and lord, she wants it YESTERDAY. And raw. This can't possibly be healthy). She's screaming, she's crying, she's laughing in hysterics, and I believe I can count the hours of sleep I had this week on one hand.
And, journal, allow me to remind you that I happen not to have many fingers to count on.
It's hard to keep my temper and just take the fireballs head on sometimes, and there are definitively times where I so gladly wish to remind her that, oh, she was the one that jumped me unprepared, but ohhhh no, this was completely my fault, wasn't it ?
Of course. Thanks to many public tantrums, most of the city seems rather convinced it was my fault as well.
Let us just forget the fact that I am about as interested in being a father as she is to being a mother again. If this is going to sort itself out when the twins have born, then trust me those children can't come out of here quickly enough.
...Yet, about that, something seems to feel wrong. It has been about a month since Iyonis made us aware of it, yet.... she seems to be alot more... further along. I have not pointed it out in fear of getting singed, and I know trollish pregnancies tend to be on the quick side, yet... I worry.
I get treated mostly like pure s**t lately and yet I still worry. I just might be the dumbass male of this planet.
Well, she's screaming again. I better go see what's up now...
- Qwello
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Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2009 1:23 pm
Making Up - an RP in between Ayanne and Qwello The door was opened, and closed as silently as it was physically possible to be operated. There was no initial reaction, so Qwello figured Ayanne was either upstairs or outside somewhere, which at the moment suitted him just fine. There was no denying that he looked like hell warmed over as he moved to the side, his brain uneven where he usually only put the uttermost of care into it, and it was only further betrayed by the dark rings under his eyes. The mage let his bag on the table, not carrying too much when scrolls started to roll out of it as a result. He had come to a decision today that he was not quite happy with, but... he really had no choice. He could not keep on going like this. He would take no more pupils until the chidren where old enough. All had found different masters.... beside Ayanne. Which would work out well. It did not mean he was any happy about having to do this decision, even if he knew it was the right one. With his bag set down, he then slid toward the living room, basically flopping into a rather comically too small chair, laying back, and closing his eyes. Maybe he could catch a few minutes of sleep before she came back, or noticed his presence - he was home, after all, much earlier than usual. In the sleeping quarters, Ayanne sat on the edge of the bed that, until just recently, both of them had occupied on a nightly basis. She was well-aware of the fact she was an irrational creature even on her best days. She was also aware of the fact that, as the life within her had begun to grow, it had brought with it a torrential downpour of hormones that amplified her sour nature into something much more dangerous. Even on days when she felt like she loathed his very existance, it was not lost on her the way Qwello was, bit by bit, beginning to distance himself. He didn't try to talk to her anymore. Not in the way they had before all of this, anyway....he would ask how she was feeling, he would ask if she felt like going over her recent studies, and otherwise, he left her to her own. It hadn't really sunk in for her just how bad she was allowing it to get, though, until today when it occurred to her that she was not just waking up to an empty bed, but also laying down to sleep in one as well. Today, she had sat down with herself when he'd left to try and drive home a very simple point in her head -- they were losing one another over this. And she wanted it to stop. At the sound of movement in the other room, long ears pricked as she drew in and held a breath, listening to the familiar rustle and shift that marked Qwello's arrival and setting down of his things. For a long moment, she sat, debating, before she rose from where she sat, adjusting the tie on the simple linen robe she'd wrapped herself in. Swallowing her pride was not something she was good at, but hell, she was going to make a try at it... Drawing herself to her full diminuative height, she padded out into the hallway and into the living area. Likewise, he heard her move, heard her footsteps as she came down the hallway, and straightened himself upward before she could come in her view. Such was pride - he could not allow himself to look weary... Expecially not in front of her. It was true that he had distanced himself - some of it he was very well aware, and some of it he also had done without really noticing, but it did not change the fact that he loved her. If he hadn't... he probably would have been long gone, duty be damned. He managed a smile as she finally came inside the room, though it looked out of place with the rest of his feature. "You look like you're feeling a bit better now..." He'd heard her get sick again the night before, which had contibuted to his lack of sleep. "I am." she said, nodding once as she lingered in the doorway. "Had some sleep." She tried to think of something more to say, coming up blank for a moment....something else that was odd for her. Usually, no matter how awkward the topic was, she had plenty to say about it. Casting her eyes floorward, she mulled her next words over carefully. If she said the wrong thing, it would lead to questions on his part, which would lead to an argument, which would blow up into the same melodramatic kodoshit that had brought them to this point in the first place. In the end, though, she really could only think of two words that really summed things up the way she felt they needed to be. Even if they were two words she'd always had a very hard time saying in the course of her life. "Qwello, ah'm...." she began, dragging her gaze up to meet his once again. "....ah'm sorry." He was silent, for a moment, as she was - until she spoke once more, and he actually looked up at her for the first time since she had come out. "It's... it's alright. I know this is hard for you." He shook his head a bit, and rose back on his feet, for once not minding how the silk of his cloak had creased. Usually it drove him nuts. "I know there are many things going on that I cannot begin to understand. Lady Dawnsigner told me..." Had he even told her about Gekkoura ? Had he ? He couldn't even recall. The last few days where basically blurrs. "Ill be around more from now on, which... I hope will help you." She closed her eyes, giving her head a forceful shake. "It -ain't- jus' dat." she said. "Ah know why ya spendin' time away....an' ah dun blame ya." She crossed her arms over her chest, keeping a reign on herself, but not wanting him to just brush it off as easily-forgiveable either. It wasn't. And they both knew it. "Its be hittin' me hard, yeah. Real hard. Sometimes ah dun even know what ah want anymore." That much was true....many of the times she'd devolved into a hysterical fit of demands lately, she'd had no idea what she was even saying. She'd just wanted him, and everyone around her, gone for awhile. Slowly, she crossed the room, then, approaching where he stood to reach up and place one three-fingered hand on the curve of his jaw. "....but it be hittin' joo hard too. "It is." He admitted. There was no use in denying it - they both knew it. "I never thought it would happen to me... There are many more things I need to be thinking about now, and I am... not quite used to it just yet." He'd always thought he would live out his life around, be born and gone like a blink compared to the existance of the beings he had essencially been raised by. None had ever really held much of anything but a passive interested at the odity he was, beside Lady Dawnsigner, who... acted more like a mother than anything else. It was rather clear that he, ultimately, had no idea what he was doing. One hand went up to bush the side of her face, gently sliding a stand of loose hair away from her eyes. "I just.... I figure I worry I will not be good enough for them. For you. My father... honestly never cared much for me, I've always felt - taking care of me made him look more noble in the eyes of everyone else, thus allowing him to keep his rank, but... I have no idea what a father is even supposed to be doing." The explanation was a bit unexpected....she'd braced herself to hear a torrent of pent anger being released over the way she'd been treating him the last span of weeks. She'd been prepared to try and convince him not to give up on her. She'd been ready to hear him call her names or make threats. She'd spent the better part of the morning convincing herself he was entitled to at least that and she would not retalliate. To hear him, even now, fretting that he was not good enough for her or for their children pulled at something deeply within her. Her eyes closed as his hand passed over her brow to smooth the hair away, and she suddenly felt ashamed of herself. He'd given her no reason to doubt him, and she'd automatically assumed that he was cut from the same cloth the last two men she'd wasted time on had been. Qwello, from the minute she'd met him, had been nothing like Motai who had abandoned her the moment something of greater power had attracted his eye. And he was certainly nothing like Bulli who bailed at the first sign of her expressing emotions other than rage or lust, thus betraying her as something other than an object. A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, even as tears prickled at her eyes. Damn hormones... "Dere ain't no 'supposedta be' about havin' kids." she told him. "Ja do what needs doin' an' take it as it comes." Rising to the balls of her feet, no easy task in her body's current state, she ducked her head between the polished points of his tusks to brush a kiss over his lips. Instinctively he shifted, as she got closer - one arm slid behind to embrace and support her without him thinking too much about it. He returned the kiss gladly, though he wasn't quite sure what he'd done to deserve it. He felt ratter silly for still being worried in despite being told, many times in fact, that there was no true, flawless way to prepare himself to it. ...Though at that very specific moment, with her lips locked to his, he did not really care that much. She let their embrace linger for a moment, feeling a long-missed warmth bloom in her that rage, fear, and other turbulant emotions had kept at bay, before stepping back and away from him, a bit out of breath. "Ah tink you an' me have a couple tings to talk over...." she told him, even as her hands went to the waist of the robe she wore, undoing the cinch and letting it fall open. Beneath it, she was wearing not much to speak of. ".....lata." she finished, reaching out to grasp the curve of one of his tusks, using it as a lever to give him a tug in the direction of the bedroom in unspoken invitation.
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Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2009 2:37 pm
I think we both needed that.
I know I did, at least. It was a nice variety from the usual -- 'the usual' being feeling bloated and like my body is trying to turn itself inside-out.
While I was giving everything else thought today, I tried to remember if carrying Kanatta or Zelzhan was ever this bad. I don't think it was, though. I was sick in the beginning, but not all of the time. And I never felt this tired before. I wish I knew what they were doing to me...
He told me, just before he fell asleep, that he didn't care how many bookcases I blew up or how loud I yelled, he wasn't going anywhere. Maybe its because he was raised by elves or something, but nobody's ever told me that before. I wonder, sometimes, what he sees in me that nobody else seems to. Not even me, really.
I guess I'll probably look back on this writing in a few hours or so, when the mood swings are back, and wonder what the hell I was thinking. I know this isn't me talking right now. .....or maybe it is?
Screw it. I don't want to think right now.
-Ayanne
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Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 10:07 am
It was getting harder to get out of bed each morning.
The disconcerting fact of the matter, as well, was that it was not entirely her size that was doing it. Aya, as the pregnancy had worn on, just very simply had less energy with every passing day. It had been easy to pass off as a lack of sleep or general pregnancy lethargy at first, but she had come to realize it ran deeper than that.
As her sickness had finally, mercifully, begun to abate itself, Qwello had begun to encourage her between mood swings to pick up her studies again to give herself something to focus on that was more constructive than how few of her clothes fit her anymore.
At first, she had set herself the pet goal of mastering the incantation of ice tomb before the children were born, but today had been evidence enough that it was a futile venture. She had been unable to work herself through even the first stages of the spell. For that matter, she had been unable to cast spells she -was- capable of.
Her mana, mysteriously, seemed to be entirely gone. This fact would have alarmed and infuriated her, if she were not so tired. She had given up in futility after nearly a half-hour of nothing, and had excused herself to lay down.
She laid on her back in their bed, staring wearily at the ceiling as her belly occasionally lurched as the young within it shifted and kicked. For as dead to the world as she felt, THEY seemed more active than ever.
What if it only got worse? What if, by the time their birthing day arrived, she was not just tired, but had nothing left?
It was not the first time the thought had reared its head, but it WAS the first time she'd forced herself to ponder it for any length of time. One three-fingered hand reached up to plant itself on the curve of her stomach as her eyes shut wearily.
What are you doing to me...?
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Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 10:44 am
I can't do this anymore.
On the days I have the energy to actually get out of bed and go outside, I can feel them staring. What they THINK, doesn't bother me. Its what they have the potential to do that does. I tried to ignore at first that the Dalaran healers were reluctant about touching me, let alone putting their hands on my belly to check on two kids they didn't think should even exist.
I tried to ignore the whispers.
I tried to ignore the laughing.
I would NOT have ignored being called 'jungle trash' in their ugly elf tongue if Qwello had told me sooner what they were saying....
I don't trust these damned high-nosed pricks and their magic that they have too much of. Qwello is here because it was their mages that made his father, and his father who made him. In a way, they see him as belonging to them. I am here because I refuse to take their hints and none of them have the balls to straight-up tell me to leave.
This is what scares me.
I am in a woeful place right now. I am tired all of the time, and I have no magic to defend myself anymore. When I'm ready to birth, I will be at these people's mercy for my own survival as well as these whelps'. It would be very easy to write off anything that should happen as 'she was just too old' or 'sometimes these things happen'.
Well ******** that noise.
The last thing I see, I've already decided, is NOT going to be the smug, flat faces of a handful of high elves looming over me doing nothing while all three of us die. They are not touching me. Or these kids.
I need to find somewhere else. Somewhere where life is a bigger concern than what walk of it you came from. And I need to find it soon.
-Ayanne
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Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 10:52 am
One day, Qwello would come home to find the bedroom was still and silent, seeming a little emptier than before as it was devoid of some of Ayanne's belongings. It would seem she had vanished out of nowhere, if not for a slightly-ragged strip of paper that was folded and perched on Qwello's pillow. It is a note, penned in Aya's looping and uneven handwriting. A Scrap of Parchment Qwello, Assuming nothing happened, I've gone to the Cenarion Refuge in Zangarmarsh. I plan to stay there until the birth, with or without you. I don't feel safe here anymore. `Ayanne
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Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 2:18 pm
Dark Beginnings - Twins' Birth RP Part 1 Even since he'd seen the note, he hadn't stopped a lick. It seemed like he barely remembered to breathe. The obvious choice was to hightail it to Zangarmarsh as fast as portals could carry him. Some of the elven denizens of Dalaran had very quickly noticed he was NOT amused as he left them to unfreeze their feet from the ground. It was their faults. All their faults. The way they had treated Ayanne ever since she had stepped foot in the city had been despicable, but it was perhaps only with the pregnancy that he had seen the true extent of it. As much as he disliked to be out of his element, he had been starting to think it was safer to go somewhere else. Only Ayanne had taken the matter in her own hands. And with how weak she was, he had no damn idea if she had even made it safely. Could she not have waited for him ?! Did she think he would insist on staying ? It was moot now. He was on his way to the Cenarion Refuge, the long way, just in case. The hippogryph he was soaring though had issues keeping with the flying carpet that was one pace ahead of them, ridden by a small woman with glowing green eyes. There was no way to know just in what state she would be upon their arrival, so he brought along what he hoped would be the only elf she could trust with this. Iyonis, they both knew, held no bias... beside perhaps toward her own race. Time had not changed the druids in the Cenarion Refuge from how she'd remembered them. They had bid her welcome upon her arrival, and taken note of her condition almost immediately. They had not asked questions, they had not pried, they had simply asked if they could offer her a bed for the evening. It was nice to know that some people in this universe still knew how to mind their own business. In spite of the heat and humidity making her robes and hair cling to her like a second skin, in spite of the whine of mosquitos, and even in spite of the hydra-infested lagoon that lurked nearby, she had felt more at-ease than she had in the last span of months huddled in the plush living quarters she and Qwello shared. The whelps, too, seemed to have noticed a change as their listless turning and kicking had ceased, giving her, just for a moment, some relieved peace as she sat on the stairs of the inn, staring off into space at nothing in particular. Would he get her note, she wondered? For that matter, would he feel like coming all the way out here, or just see it as yet another unreasonable demand she'd made? PaffSomewhere within her was an unimportant popping feeling that made her wince a bit, willing the children to remain settled. Just for a few more minutes. They had all day to continue their merciless volley of kicks and punches and whatever-the-hell else on her bladder... Her answer would soon come with an odd-mismatched pair of carpet and hippogryph cutting though the sky above the camp - only to sharply turn around and backtrack back to the village. Neither seemed to bother with proper dismounting - Qwello blinked off the second the beast's claws had touched the ground and Iyonis just plain ignored her carpet and let herself levitate off it. She could fish it from the hydra-infested hole later. She'd very clearly felt something that Qwello hadn't, that very same feeling she had felt the last time she had seen the pair, but even... even more intense. One look at the mage confirmed the thought that she was much too far along for the span of time that passed. She didn't like it. Qwello was by her side in another blink. "Aya...." He wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to say. "Hi, honey, I'm here. Thanks for not collapsing on the way over."?She looked so pale... She hadn't known, really, what she'd expected....certainly not for him to arrive so quickly. As he appeared at her side, she leaned into him heavily. "Ya came..." she said, her voice sounding much more frail than she would have liked it to. Damn this weakness. Damn it right to the nether. Her eyes wandered to Qwello's companion and she felt herself inwardly bristle, though relaxed when she saw who it was. Both of them had dropped what they were doing to follow her here....or more likely, he had and had dragged Iyonis along without giving her a chance to ask where they were going. "Ah couldn't stay dere no more." she murmured, drawing her knees closer to herself unconsciously as a cramp clutched her abdomen. "Ah been drivin' myself outta mah head dese last few days, fixin' up little tings, worryin' 'bout stupid nonsenses, all de same tings ah did righ' b'fore Kana an' Zel was born. Its gonna be soon. Any day now." "Mother...?" a throaty, soothing voice inquired as a mottled brown female tauren emerged from within the inn to approach them. "Your bed is ready if you would like it." Aya did not move from where she sat, trying to ignore the sheen of sweat that had appeared on her brow as she nodded once in acknowledgement. "It's okay." He murmured, running one hand across her forehead to wipe her brow. Her furred skin felt like it was burning. "I understand. I was starting to think it would be better to leave, but... you made your decision before I could suggest it." He shook his head. "Wouldn't Shattrath be safer, at the very least ?" Not that he did not trust the druids here, of course - they were a large reason he was in one piece - but Shattrath just overall seemed... safer. He perked when the druid came, then nodded. "Thank you very much, miss. Your help is appreciated." He moved to attempt to help her stand so that he could carry her. They could go inside for now, Ayanne was MUCH too weak to be going anywhere at this moment. She would need to recuperate first, even if the mosquitoes where already going nuts. Iyonis, for her part, had remained silent, and only approached when it looked like Ayanne was not reacting negatively to her presence. She looked almost like a bristling cat sencing danger, and as she came even closer, recognizion seemed to hit her features. That perticual fel aura... This magical signature... But damnit, this couldn't be possible ! She hadn't left Dalaran ever since she'd known she was pregnant ! At least it was what Qwello had told her. But no... No, not even Ayanne would dare wander into Karazhan knowing she carried life within her, no matter how unwanted. If anything, her presence here confirmed that. Was no one else feeling this... ? "Aya...." The words died in her throat before she could complete her sentence. Ayanne's brow furrowed itself as her eyes screwed closed. The idea of going -anywhere- right now did not appeal to her. The journey on wyvern-back from Shattrath to here had seemed to last forever as it was, not to mention having to make the walk from Swamprat Post when she'd landed. "M'not goin' nowhere." she grumbled stubbornly, moving to push off of him a bit to sit on her own and failing, even at that. As Iyo spoke she shifted herself again to look in the priestess's direction, though, she tensed when she felt something amiss. Hot moisture, like sinister little kisses, was beading down her legs, soaking into the fabric of her robes and into the wood of the step she was seated on. She blinked once, twice, and then her eyes snapped wide as realization dawned. She knew what it was. And what it meant. To the untrained eye, however, it might look as if she were giving Iyonis her full, undivided attention for the moment, even if her mind was anywhere -but- on whatever the elf had to say. Thankfully for her, Iyonis, even if young for an elf and relatively on the start of her carrier as a healer, pocessed a very quick mind. Her question, whatever it had been, was quickly forgotten. "Inside." Qwello gave her a confused look. " NOW." The tone of the usually shy priest's voice almost made his braid stand on it's ends, and he did just as he was told, as Iyonis turned to the wide-eyed druidess. "Please tell me your healer brethen are about..." She knew, from the armor this perticular tauren that she ecxeled in feral combat. "I fear not, my lady, they all have left on a mission further in the marsh - only the apprentices remain..." "s**t." The elf hissed. It meant she was the most trained of anyone in this camp. She had, at the very least, all the textbook knowledge it had been possible to get. "Get me some water and towels, and get me the most talented of those apprentices. I will need another pair of hands, and he or she is about to get an up-close biology lesson." And with that, she darted inside the inn as well. Adrenaline spiked through the mage as another, more insistant, cramp gripped her. Stupid. How could she have been so STUPID?? Every warning sign that signified the calm before the storm had been there....the nesting, the babies suddenly quieting themselves, and she'd ignored it all. She was barely aware of Qwello pulling her to her feet, aided by a night elf who had, moments ago, been manning the innkeeper's station within and had been drawn out by the sudden commotion between Iyonis and the tauren. Another pain struck her, a deeper one that made black spots swirl in front of her eyes, as she was ushered to the back of the inn and laid down on a mattress of linens and clean straw. "Carefully now." the night elf's voice filtered past one ear as two pairs of hands propped her against some pillows. "Just relax..." Relax? RELAX?? If she'd not been focusing her energy simply on trying to stay conscious, she would have strangled the owner of the voice. Fortunately for him, she could do little except grit her teeth, a wheezed mewl escaping her. Iyonis darted inside just as she had been settled into the bed, with Qwello rather smartly going to the side and holding Ayanne's hand. Out of the way, but comforting. Good, good. She honestly doubted she could have asked better - she had enough on her plate with dealing with the rest of the circus of people that came inside her so-called bubble with the best of intention, but suddently a flash of purple crossed her green eyes for a split second. "You people will be more useful outside. Please." This was not pleading, no. On the contreary, it was clipped, tense, and overall authoritive. When most of the people evacuated the room, she started to feel a little more better. There was only her, Qwello, Aya, the tauren from before and a new face left inside the room, the latter two carrying what she had asked. Good. One could really trust druids to be dependable, no matter this walk of life. "Your name ?" She asked, glancing up at the new arrival. "Asayake... miss." She answered, shyly. Young. Inexperienced. She used to be like that, once, and it was like a stab in the chest, but she ignored it. "Well, then. Asayake. I would like you on the other side. Get one of the blankets ready for the babies, okay ?" There was only a nod from the young tauren as she moved to do so, and Iyonis moved in. "Breathe. Ayanne.... Breathe." Her voice was even, calm in despite of the storm brewing inside. She could not let it show that she had no actual practice at birthing, for it would only make the troll panic more. "Breathe." This continued for a few minutes, until she was breathing a little more normally. Good. "Okay. Aya... I need you to push now." Everything was a meaningless din of noise to her as the pains began to come with more regularity. She had been through this twice, and this was not at all how she could recall it being either time. With Kana she had laid for hours in the birthing hut, feeling like she was being fruitlessly squeezed in an invisible vice. Zel had come early, and his labor had been only a couple of painful and exhausting hours. This, though.... It felt like she was being cruelly split up the middle as white-hot agony tore through her abdomen. It did not feel so much like her body was nudging the children from its safe haven into the world so much as it was forcefully and angrily attempting to expel them and simply did not have the energy to do so. Her mouth dropped open in a soundless cry, her back arching sharply, as two words managed to float through the haze of pain and register in her mind. Push now.She didn't know if she could. Drawing in a deep breath, holding it, she bore down, feeling her body stutter and tremble violently with the force of the effort as sweat bathed her entire form. Oh gods, no....no she could NOT do this, she realized with a delirious sort of helplessness. "Asayake !" The young druid understood, and Iyonis had no choice but to leave Ayanne in her hands and focus on the children. This wasn't anything like a birthing. Nothing at all. The more time passed, the more the stench of magic grew, and the more it became evident that Ayanne was not giving birth. No, her body was, very clearly rejecting the twins. As if she had never been able to carry them at all. One quick look only made it even more evident. Ayanne.... she noticed it very clearly now. Her insides were broken. There was no way in hell that she SHOULD have been able to carry anything, even less TWINS. This was as far as from natural as one was possible to go. And the stink of raw magic, of Karazhan... of.... "...Medivh." She hissed, and Qwello looked at her even more confusedly, but there was no answer from the priest. She had to get the twins out of there, NOW, or all three lives would probably give in. "Don't stop! For the love of the Sunwell give it all you've got!" If the poor, near-traumatized young druid could hold Aya, she could do this. The second tauren joined in, clumsy but still beneficial. The worried lump in Qwello's gut only grew and all he could do was stand there... completely helpless, as the priestess had to resort to helping Ayanne push. Regardless of whether Iyo had said anything or not, Aya had reached similar conclusions about her state of well-being. Some primal instinct she'd seldomly felt before stirred within her, its ominous voice warning her that she was edging dangerously close to the brink of the void. The spirit plane's ties were strong in Azeroth....if caught soon enough, a body's soul that was discorporated due to a violent and sudden end could be recalled to its body. It, however, had its limits. Those who died to illness or who succombed to things such as trauma from an injury simply winked out of existance. Their souls did not linger in confusion but were pulled from their dying husks and guided immediately to whatever hereafter there was, making them unrecallable. She knew this. She understood it. And at the moment, in the sea of all of this agony, it terrified her. The pads of her fingers dug into what they'd sought purchase on -- the edge of the bed, and the shoulder of one of the attending tauren who'd been unfortunate enough to be within reach. Gathering what strength she had, she gave another push, feeling the pain increase tenfold. Stay awake. You are going to stay awake. she promised herself, unlikely as it seemed she would hold herself to it. The first of the twins crowned into existance as Aya sank her teeth into her tongue with a grating, growling cry. The first was a little girl.... much too little for a troll whelp with a scattering of reddish brown atop her head which, it seemed, belonged to neither parents. The priestess gave a weary look at those who were gathering around Aya and, grudgingly, had to make herself trust them completely as she took care of the first child, making sure to dry her thin layer of fur completely before bundling her in one of the linen sheets and, in lack of any other free hands, set her to the side where she would be safely in her range should something happen. There hadn't even been a cord to cut. This only strengthened her doubts and, the more this strange trainwreck worked itself out, the more she was convinced herself that not even Ayanne had any clue as to what the hell was going on, or even how this happened. It was, however, only when the infant let out a walling cry and opened.... glowing yellow eyes, that a chill very sharply ran thought Qwello's spine. "Iyonis... ?" The priest was already back at work, to getting the second child out. Once it had begun, the birthing process was going quickly. Much too quickly. Aya could hear the stab of concern in Qwello's voice, and tried to gather her elbows beneath herself to see what was happening. The baby's cries confirmed it wasn't dead, so wha-- Her thought didn't get a chance to complete itself as pain, once again, reared itself and was accompanied by an odd, weighty, drained feel. It was as if someone had opened a tap on her ankle and all of her remaining energy and awareness was pouring out of her. A gray veil began to draw over her eyes as her body shuddered, a contraction forcing her to bear down on the second of the children still within her. Another scream, this one louder than the others, and backed not just with pain, but with a frustrated sort of fury, tore from her throat as, more and more, the battle was lost. Ayanne focused herself fully on keeping the void at bay, mindless of the beads of sweat that poured down her face, and trying not to feel the ominous heat of blood on her loins as it escaped her. One hand left where it had clutched the bedframe in a deathgrip and groped blindly outward, seeking the cool smoothness of Qwello's silk robes, his hand, -something- of comfort.... At length it dropped uselessly to the side as her world was plunged into blackness. Her body collapsed against the nest of pillows and blankets, pale and still. Anything she'd had, she'd given....there just, quite simply, was nothing left in her. Not yet... was her last conscious thought, muffled by the thick dark of the void as it swallowed her. With the sight of the second child, there was no doubt anymore, and Iyonis reacted - she'd cast one look on the boy, and she knew. The familiarity she felt... how could she have been so stupid ? The boy, pale with glowing green eyes, was set next to his sister and started wailing as well, as if basically cut from his lifeline. Those children were halflings. Half-elves, and not high elven either. They were worn out, and their reflex would be to feed - as they had done all this time, weakening their mother further and further. If she let them, they could have killed Ayanne - as is, they were already losing her. She could not let that happen. It was with a pained cry that Iyonis came to the help of the two overwhelmed druids, pooling everything she had, every bit of magic she held, light in conjuction with nature, to anchor the mage's soul to her worn body, converting her own life into hers. It was a technique she'd often used back when... When Iyonis looked up, her eyes were a deep purple, her jaw clenched and pained, but she only stopped when the mage's breath evened. They had saved her, but the road to recovery would be a long one. There was, however, one last thing she had to do. She could not possibly hand them to Qwello knowing what was about to happen, and live with herself afterward, and as the thick aura of pure shadow completely engluffed her, she took both children and held them, taking steps backward until she hit the wall, and let herself fall straight on her behind. There was no light left in her, but magic was still present. She'd basically just fought a war over these children, and there was no way she would allow them to die. Not now. Not after all this. "Iyonis... ?" Qwello's voice broke the sudden silence. There were entirely too many things going through his head. Those children... everything pointed that he was not their father. There was a strange mix of anger and betrayal brewing below the surface. "What the hell is going on?! IYONIS!" His display of temper, however, was cut short when he heard only sobbing. She'd never wanted to feel this way again. She'd resisted the call of the darkness that had destroyed her life for years now, only for all her efforts to be broken. "G-Get me... Talon...." She clearly was not thinking this thought rationally - Talon would be the last person she wanted to have to face like this, but right now, sitting in the corner of an inn, covered in afterbirth and holding to her chest two infants who answered only to their instinct and were sucking on her magic, unaware and innocent of all the damage they had caused. She needed him.
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Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 6:22 pm
Revelations - Twins' Birth RP Part 2 Zuraij ran though the orcish capital city much like her life depended on it. She had been cornered by both a rather irate Qwello and a extremely flustered shadow priest, both parties apparently in search of an answer for something. And they wanted it yesterday. What made it slightly worse is that, while she knew where to find her mentor, she had no damn idea where Talon was - probably, ironically enough, pondering where the hell his girl had gotten to. She stopped in front of a familiar inn room door and knocked, with her usually lack of tact, though there was a foreign sense of anxiety in her voice. "KANA ! Ya in there? Ah need ta see ya!" There was a growl from somewhere within and stirring. A moment later, the door cracked open revealing a pair of bloodshot eyes framed by a rather sour-looking face. The hunter's green hair, usually swept back from his face to stand out behind his head, stuck out in uneven sleep-made corkscrews. "Whatchoo want?" the older troll grumped, seeing Zur on the other side. It was not the first time she, or one of the others had come banging on his door and roused him out of a sound sleep. And it was, most usually, for no reason whatsoever except to poke sticks at the sleeping badger and see what sorts of new obscenities he might invent before slamming the door. He'd had a long night, and he felt, all things considered, he was entitled to his rest. Too much paperwork, too much revising of his guild's charter...hell, he needed a vacation. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like she was poking the badger this time, hopping from one foot to another nervously. "Oh, thanks dem gods... Kana, yer mom ain't feeling so hot. She 'most died. Iyo got her stable but as far as ah know she fizzled herself in da process. She and Qwello be watching her." She bit her lip nervously. "Ah couldn't fin' Zelly, or Talon. Do ya know where they be ? Ah need to find and tell dem too..." Kanatta looked at her deadpan for a moment, letting all of this rattle around and settle itself into its proper places in his head. He'd, long ago, decided to keep himself well-distanced from his mother's affairs. She'd made it perfectly clear to both him and Zelzhan when they had come of age that her life was her own once more, and they were not to keep her from it any longer. He had not, in fact, heard from her much at all since she'd decided to settle in Dalaran with that new man of hers. Died. Had she said 'died'? "Whatchoo mean, 'most died...?" he demanded, eyes narrowing suspiciously, though the tense tone of concern was already evident in his voice as the door opened further, his hold on it becoming lax. A large, battle-worn hand, darted out, planting itself on Zuraij's shoulder to grip and draw her closer. "Zur, joo be pullin' mah leg, an' ah feckin' SWEAR...." he began warningly. "Do ah look like I am ?!?" The young troll grumped. "Iyo damn near blasted ma head off. Told me ta find you and Talon as soon as possible. Dat Aya almost died. That be all ah know ! If ye don't wanna trust meh, at least tell meh where Talon be so I can always bring one of em back and hope fer survival !" Dreds were tossed about as Zuraij went on, her rather frantic body language adding to the truth of her tale. Zuraij was many things, but a good liar she was not. His grip held on her a moment more, his eyes probing hers, but even as they did so, he knew she wasn't lying. In his time knowing her, both as a comerade and as a student, she'd pulled many things on him, but being untruthful was just not Zuraij's style. Especially not over things like this. s**t. s**t. "Aight..." he relented at last, letting go of her to stand there helplessly a moment, getting his thoughts in order before turning to dart back inside. There was a sound of leather and mail being shifted frantically and when he emerged again, he was, at least, some semblance of dressed. "Ah dunno where 'e is." he admitted, still tugging his shirt down over his chest as he bustled out of the inn room and started at a purposeful stride down the dusty path that led down into the main bustle of activity that was the valley of strength. "We was makin' a stop 'ere for a couple days ta load up on supplies. Less 'e caught a zeppelin back ta Northrend, 'e should still be 'round here someplace." "'Kay." Zuraij bounced along behind the older troll, as she often did, though it lacked most of it's usual amusement due to circumstances. "Ah'll go find 'm." And, given that this was Zuraij we were talking about, her solution was to bolt ahead of Kanatta and do what she did best. "TAAAALOOONNNNNN !!!! WHERE JOO BE?!?" Clearly, some lessons never did stick well. One long black ear twitched as Talon heard his name not just called, but bellowed. The tauren warrior slowly lifted his head from the auction lot of saronite ore he'd been examining, puzzled. No one ever came looking for him, especially in THAT tone of voice unless... ....unless perhaps something had happened? When he had not found Iyonis in the library as she'd told him she would be when they'd parted ways that morning, his assumption had been that she had, simply, found business to tend to somewhere else. And so, his hearthstone still spent and useless in his bag, he had decided to buy himself a mage portal back to Orgrimmar to do what he'd originally planned to spend today doing -- buy supplies. Setting his jaw, he abandoned the stall of wares to venture outside of the auction house and into Durotar's dry midday heat to seek the source of the calling. "TAAAAALOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNN---" Oh, Zuraij found him indeed, though the finding was rather rude on the young huntress' part - colliding face-on with what was practically a wall of plate. "Oof-" She wobbled, yet managed to stay on her feet, eyes wide as... the screaming fest continued. "KANA ! AH FOUND HIM !!!" It was, thankfully, where the screamfest ended. "Sorry." she managed, shaking her head and doing her best to make the spots that now littered her vision go away. The tauren winced as her voice jangled in his ears, his entire body tensing. When she was done, he opened his eyes again. "Its all right." he told her patiently. "What's the matter?" His eyes flicked up to watch as Kanatta careened around the corner into their midst as well, looking out of breath and like he'd rolled around in a pile of clothes rather than actually putting them on. Unusual for him. The warrior looked between the two trolls a moment, half-dreading that he was about to be pulled into some sort of scandal. If a bizarre love triangle had popped up between Shaveri, Zuraij, and Kanatta, he planned to put MILES between himself and it before he'd take sides. There was only so much depravity he could involve himself in and still sleep nights. "Iyo be looking fer joo." She finally managed, putting his fears at rest, at least on that front. "Aya almost died, Iyo and Qwello be looking over her. Ah warn ya tho... she's a mess." She sighed. She wasn't quite sure what he would do with what he was about to discover, honestly. "Dey be in Zangar. Druid camp in that. That be all ah know." He blinked in surprise. "What??" he asked, eyes darting to Kanatta for confirmation. "Mon, ah dunno...." he groaned, seeming at a similar loss. It really wasn't much to go on, after all, aside from the jarring details she'd presented. "Ah guess we head ta--" Talon, however, was far ahead of both of them, having already fumbled his now-cooled hearthstone from its resting place in topmost pouch of his backpack and holding it firmly between his palms. Green light slowly spiraled out from its core, enveloping his hands up to the elbows. It grew in intensity, cocooning him in it, until, with an audible POP, he was gone. "...That be one way ta do it." Zuraij stared rather blankly before turning to Kana. "Mine be on cooldown.... A'll catch you over thar ? Gotta go the long way through." Kana nodded in a distracted sort of way, patting at the pouches on his belt until he, likewise, found his stone. It had had all night to recharge and was quite cool to the touch as he tweezed it between his thumb and forefinger. "See ya dere, den." he muttered, duplicating Talon's feat from a moment before. There was a sensation of pulling, flying, and then being jarred back into one place as, when the light faded, he was standing in front of the crackling fireplace of The Filthy Animal. Nargut and Rhukah looked up from their places at the innkeeper's side, the great wolves momentarily intrigued by his arrival, before lowering their heads back to their forepaws to rest once more. Kana tore out of the inn as quickly as he could go, skidding around a corner and into the thrumming alcove that contained a series of portals tuned to ley lines across Azeroth. Taking a moment to locate the one that held Shattrath City's shimmering visage on its other side, he stepped through it. Though the peacekeepers maintained their vigilant duties in the streets and near the Naaru, it was apparant that the city had not seen nearly as much activity from outsiders these days. It suited him fine, really, as it was less people to trip over as he headed directly for the windrider's station. Negotiations for travel were made, a wyvern was purchased, and soon he was in flight, clinging fast to the beast's mane as sturdy membranous wings beat the air. Back in the inn of the Cenarion Refuge, not much had changed. Ayanne still laid in bed, deathly still but breathing evenly. Her life was safe for the moment, but there was no way to be completely sure she would wake up. Or to know what the hell to tell her when she eventually did, and figured out that only, as far as Iyonis could guess, her children were not only magical contructs, but half-elves and not of Qwello's blood at all. She paced the room back and forth, at the very least now clean, but still rather frazzed and weary, thick shadows trailing behind her as she tried to find some sort of logical reason for all this. All the hints seemed to draw back to Karazhan, though she was still missing a big part of the puzzle. Qwello had not moved from his spot beside Ayanne ever since everything had quieted down. He'd only finally sat when Asayake offered him a chair, and he held the two little bundles in his arms. It took only a few well-placed words from the priestess for his anger to more or less evaporate into thin air and to be replaced by confusion, worry, and weariness. He'd insisted on handling the twins despite Iyonis' warnings, though now that they were mostly sated, the pull wasn't so bad. Every now and then, one tiny blue hand would come out of one of the bundles, and he would offer one large finger for the little girl to grasp - though worried orange eyes never left the face of the woman he loved, and that he was afraid he might have lost. Several minutes passed before there was the sound of a riding raptor's shriek outside of the inn. It had been fortunate that the occupants of Swamprat Post had remembered him....and even moreso fortunate that their scouts had just returned when he'd landed, freeing up a pair of mounts. One hasty explanation later, and Kanatta had been on his way to the refuge on the back of a borrowed reptile. He leapt from its saddle, grabbing for its reins to tie it to the sturdy wooden post outside of the inn before trotting up the steps. It was quiet, and the air was thick with the stink of blood, sweat, and spent adrenaline. The hunter paused in the entryway, an ominous feeling prickling at his hackles, before one hand moved to unshoulder the spear he carried across his shoulders. This must have been why Zur hadn't been given much to go on....how could details have been divulged in the middle of combat? A hand closing around his wrist stopped him, however, as he darted his head to the side to see Talon, who had arrived at roughly the same time. The tauren did not speak, but shook his head in the negative. No weapons the gesture said. He had smelled the same things Kana had, but, his nose being keener had smelled something else as well. Something far more delicate than the sourness of the things prefacing it. When they entered, Iyonis bolted - and rushed straight for Talon to bury herself straight in his chest, almost looking like she was seeking to burrow into the mass of armor and fur and never come out. "Thank you for coming so quickly..." Her eyes were on Kana and his, for once silent, student, who had arrived just as the two had made their entrance. It was evident her gratitude extended to them as well. However, if her current position was an indication, it was rather evident that the tauren's sole purpose in this mess was to keep her grounded with some semblance of comfort and sanity. She would have to apologize to him later, after she's recovered and visited A'dal. And she was probably going to need to provide quite an explanation. "Ayanne is stable now." She continued. "But... Kana, I need to know what happened in Karazhan." She'd heard whispers, of Aya and someone else getting lost, being knocked unconcious and then taken outside, but now it seemed certain there was something more to it. And she'd known, in fact, that the troll hunter had been present. Large muscle-roped arms immediately enfolded the priestess as she pressed herself against him. She did not often allow her countenance to waver from its usual peaceful composure....but in the times that it did, he had tried to be there for her. Seeing her in the state she was in, he dreaded asking what, exactly, had happened. The residual scent of blood and birth still clung to her, despite her cleaning up....thankfully, it was not her own. He liked to think he was not THAT oblivious... "I'm here for as long as you need me." he soothed, his voice a comforting rumble in his chest as thick fingers stroked her hair. At Iyo's question, Kanatta was first confused, and then felt his defenses flare. Why was she asking about it? What did that have to do with ANYTHING? .....from what he could recall, she hadn't even been there, so how had she even heard...? His mind touched briefly to the only other person who knew what had transpired. Uwawa....had HE told her something? Until he knew for certain, he was going to stick to his guns, not about to put his neck into a noose if he didn't have to. "What's dat matter?" he demanded. "She an' de paladin wandered off, got dey fool selves jumped an' needed revivin'." "There are two matters that I've actually birthed into existance a few hours ago, who are currently nestled in their adoptive father's arms. I would like to be able to explain to their mother without going on my own half-baked theories about her suddenly procreating without being able to do so, and which caused to almost lose her life in the process." Clearly, Iyonis' patience was rather brittle at the moment, and, from behind him, one could almost hear Zuraij's mind working. "....Babies? Whut?" Clearly she hadn't been kept aware either Procreating, adoptive father, birthed.... Oddly it was Zur's innocent query that made the last piece snap into place for him. Wait....no. NO. "Joo sayin' she--" Kana began, pointing into the darkness of the inn. It occurred to him that he had not spoken to Ayanne since that night when he and Uwawa had had to pry her and Arcyn off of one another, re-dressing them in solemn quiet. Uwawa had inquired what they would tell them when they awoke, and Kana's immediate and at-the-time logical response was that they would tell them nothing. If they hadn't recalled what the succubus's magic had forced them to do to one another, he saw no reason to flay open strange new wounds and let them bleed drama all over him and the rest of the guild's denizens. But, apparantly, one way or another, that night was deadset on not letting itself be forgotten. "Indeed." Was the answer he got. "I'd heard rumors, how she wandered and got herself knocked out, like you said. Elves being elves, they talk and word travels." If she was aware she was knocking herself in the process, she didn't care. "They were magically created, because she was right on one front - she is completely unable to bear children, yet they happened. I've also felt the aura of the shade of Medivh around them, so one could assume he had something to do with this." She continued, not yet daring to stray from her lover. He was so warm, and safe, and and and.... "They're halflings. Half-elf. And I think we all know Ayanne would rather spear an elf than lay with one, so I'd even go as far to assume there was yet more interference... Who was that paladin ?" Kanatta was torn. On the one hand, he wanted to be impressed with her ability to deduce things and piece everything together without him telling her a damn thing. On the other hand, he wanted to throttle her for exactly the same reason. The latter not being an option with the way Talon provided himself as a living brick wall between Iyo and anything that would attempt to come near her, he vented a sigh over the points of his teeth. Ayanne. His ma. Had given birth to babies he hadn't even been aware of. Babies she shouldn't even have been able to have. An elf was the father. And....somehow Medivh was to blame. Even breaking it into bite-sized chunks didn't make it easier to swallow. It sounded so insane, in fact, that he itched to shove past her and Talon to confirm it for himself. Not that it would help much.... Cat's outta de bag, mon. Walk away clean."Arcyn." he said with reluctance. "It was Arcyn." Reaching up to rub at his temples, trying to stave off a headache, he continued. "Dey broke off from de group, an' when we went ta find'em dey was....havin' at each udda righ' in de middle of da hall. Woulda thought she'd lost 'er damn MIND iffin me an' Uwawa hadn't seen de succubus pullin dey strings...." If it were a secret that had kept him awake nights, it might have felt GOOD to confess all of this. The truth of the matter, though, was that he'd not given it any thought since its happening, and dredging it all up again just plain sucked. "....so we dealt wit her, den got'em both dressed, an' decided we wa'ant gonna say nuttin 'bout it." For a moment of pure silence, one could have heard a fly go though the room. Unfortunately, that moment couldn't last. "You're saying that no-good, arrogant little bast-" Suddently aware of the multiple pair of eyes locked on her, she stopped right there and cleared her throat. "......I think we can forget getting any kind of help from that front, then." Qwello had been silent since the start of this conversation, quietly tending to the yet unnamed twins and watching over Ayanne, who had not given any sign of awakening, clearly torn. All this... all those weeks, all those sacrifices he'd made.... and these children were not even his own. It was a brutal, bitter pill to swallow, even if there was a traitorous thought attached to it. The children were not his. It wasn't his problem, right? He could just go on with his life. Right ? He glanced down at the pair of glowing eyes staring at him, cooing and doing whatever babies did when they felt happy and safe, one could assume. In his distraction, the girl had taken his braid in a deathgrip and was happily gumming on it and covering it in saliva. Hm. Ew. Yet, staring into those eyes, he knew what kind of future was likely to befall them. They would be tolerated by few, and accepted by even fewer - theirs would be a life much like his own, a life of anger, sadness and, for the most part, feeling like they would not belong. Could he really turn his back to these two? Would Ayanne even want anything to do with them? Wouldn't that make him as much of an a*****e as he'd always thought his father was, if not more ? The mage let out a sigh. Kana and Talon both had flinched in the shadow of Iyonis's outpour of venom as the tauren's embrace tightened a bit, lowering his head to nuzzle her reassuringly. "So what you're saying," he put in, trying to keep conversation moving so she would not dwell on her rage. "....is that Medivh, for some reason, took advantage of a convenient opportunity and made these kids?" His ears perked a bit in intrigue. "But why...?" "Unfortunately, I have no damn idea." She continued, as if her outburst had never happened at all. Talon's attempts at diversion was working flawlessly. "Maybe he's just a sick, twisted b*****d and that's how he gets his kicks. But I've felt it very clearly. Didn't even bother to hide it. It was as though I'd stepped into that manor on my lonesome..." She shook, from within her lover's embrace. "The fel energy I've felt explains the succubus pretty nicely. At any rate, they are magical constructs, because Ayanne is completely sterile. She did not birth these children, per-se. Her body outright rejected them." She paused for a moment, before burying herself in her lover's chest once more. "How am I even going to begin to explain this to her..." "Like it is." Came the voice from the back, as Qwello finally stood and headed toward them, the two bundled newborns held safely as he walked, cloak half-undone and looking even more of a wreck that he had looked in the past few weeks, if that was even possible. "It isn't like we can pretend everything is fine and dandy - she'll take one look at them and know. We can't really pass them as mine." "I can postpone my trek to Dragonblight." Talon immediately offered. "It seems to me that the two of you will need all of the help you can get these next few days..." Kana really hadn't wanted to look....he told himself he really should NOT look. Nonetheless, his eyes were drawn to the bundles in the elder mage's arms as he drew out of the shadows. He felt his gorge immediately rise in revulsion upon seeing the babies, who did not at all look the way troll infants should. The one that looked the most like it ought to had a ridiculous flat face with ugly pinched features that cruelly betrayed the elven taint in it. And the other....where did he begin? The little boy, who had been sleeping for the mostpart since his arrival into the world, cracked swarming green eyes to blink skyward. He gave a tiny sneeze and focused his gaze first on Qwello, and then on his half-brother. For a moment, it felt to Kanatta like he and the infant were locked in a staring contest, seeing who would back down first before his lip twitched up in a snarl. What're you looking at? he thought vehemently, unreasonable as it was to think that the baby was looking at -anything- really... The blue-skinned child was cheerfully ignoring the world around her, beside the mass of hair that she was happilly gumming on, and was happy and safe surrounded in the scent of the one she had already initially identified as "daddy". "It's okay." She answered softly, finally daring to break away. "I need to go to Shattrath... and see what A'dal can do for me." She shuddered, clearly disgusted with herself. She would not let herself become what she had once been, and in the comfort, it had seemed to work - already the shadowy aura surrounding her was starting to recede. "And then I'll watch over Aya until she wakes up... we'll see what to do from there. Kana..." She hesistated, clearly trying to avoid adding oil to the fire, expecially at his reaction of seeing the twins. "....Thank you." There was one thing clear in her expression, however. After this, she was dead set on never having children. Ever.
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 4:02 pm
This sheet of heavy bound paper was very clearly ripped from a book, balled up and thrown astray to discard - Ayanne would find it once she would feel well enough to start packing up her things to leave. Qwello's handwritting is unusually messy and pointed, the quill punching holes in the paper in places and small ink spots scattered across where he paused, as well as spots where moisture was soaked up by the paper.
This would be quite a sharp contrast to the mostly patient man that had been at her side though the last few months...Quote: It has been one week ever since the twins have been born. It feels like my world has been thrown upside down and there's no way to righten it up again. No, there is no way to righten it up again. Ayanne finally woke up this morning. I was starting to fear she would not, and... I actually hoped this would be the end of this madness. The last stone, so to speak. I could explain this wreck to her, we'll go on and build SOMETHING from there. Ahaha... Fat chance. I shouldn't expect to be thrown bones - I am way too old for this s**t. She gave one look to them, and told me to get them as far away as possible. She never even gave me room to explain things over, she wanted them gone.. Perhaps, after Kanatta's reaction, I should not be surprised by this. Perhaps all they see when they look at them are deformed monsters. Oddly, I don't. I must have done the stupid thing and gotten myself attached to them. I know that look very well. It's the very same look I have been given though my childhood and most of my adult life. The look one give something that should not even live. The look one give to a monster. I know it was toward them - but for a few painful seconds, I could swear she was glaring at me, too. I took them away. I did not have the mental nor physical strength to argue with her. Not that I've actually bothered to even argue with her lately. I took them to Lady Dawnsigner, and by the time I came back, she was asleep again. Looking more peaceful that I've seen her in months. For some reason, it hurts. It ******** hurts. Is that a troll thing ? If you don't like it, get rid of it ? Get it out of your sight and pretend it never happened ? Was it what my mother though when she left me on Dalaran's gate to what she probably knew would be a rather painful life ? Was it what my father dreamt on doing when I was raised mostly by a single elven woman, while he used me as an object to further his standing with the mage council in order to one day, perhaps, become a member of the six ? And yet somehow that's all perfectly fine ? What a load of ******** bullshit. These two... the boy and the girl - their father is not even aware of their existence, and their mother want nothing to do with them. What am I supposed to do ? Leave them behind ? But they... they do not judge. They simply do not know how. They love, without knowing that the object of their attention may very well hate them - the girl kept trying to reach for Ayanne, but she wanted nothing to do with it. I don't have to worry that they only give a s**t about me because I can be used in some way- wedged in some place beneficial to others. I am tired, perhaps, but I cannot help but wonder if all I was for Ayanne was such a conivnence. This would explain why she's done nothing but try drive me away, leave me in the dust, and ultimately wanted nothing to do with the twins. I cannot help but wonder if she would have done the exact same thing if they where of my blood. They're not. They're not even full troll. But that does not change anything. Over this week where I have done nothing but watch over her, pray to every damn deity that may or may not exist that she would wake up, and taking care of the two newborns, they have become my children. My children. They have never truly been mine from day one, and they never will be, yet they're my children. I must be completely off my rocker. Maybe they where all right all this time and I am nothing but a raving lunatic that will cling to to slightest hint of attention and affection like a lifeline. ...No, I cannot leave them behind. I cannot leave them to an uncertain fate. Even if I had the heart to leave them here, how could I make sure that they are well cared for, by someone who loves them, by someone who would freely share their mana with them until they are old enough to learn control, as Iyonis told me ? I do not want them to grow into bitter teenagers and adults, much like I have. I will do everything I possibly can to prevent this. To think that everyone is out to use them, that everyone hates them. I already basically blew up what I'd managed to rebuild of my life over these two before they where even born, what's one more step ? I can forget about being allowed to take apprentices again after I resigned - I had a dream, I had at hope that if I trained enough of them, proved to the council that they where worth the time, that they where skilled and bright... That things would improve, that there would be acceptance. It was an uphill battle all the way, but now there's nothing left. The dream is lost. Even if I had the energy to both raise these two to the best of my clueless ability and keep on going, I am not sure I could manage. Even if I finished to train Ayanne, and finally told her what had been my plan, one of the few reasons I've actually clung to life in the past few years, in hope that she would chose to help me... I look at her, sleeping peacefully, and I feel only hurt and betrayal from a woman I yet still love. It has always, from day one, been her way - I am not sure she would have bothered to go along with this to amuse me. Just one more slap in the face. I should be used to this by now, but I am clearly not. Well, I will let her have her way one last time. I will take the children and go. I will need to find names - I cannot call them the boy and the girl forever. (Perhaps Melchior, for the boy... No, it does not quite fit.) I hope she can live the nice life she'd clearly planned out for herself. And maybe, one day, the wound deep in my chest, that horrible look she gave me, will fade away from my memory - but I fear that if this happen, I may be much too old for it to matter. Why I am even bothering to write down this s**t, it doesn't ******** help, it only makes it hurt more--
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 5:11 pm
She had never, in her life, wanted to sleep so much. Her instances of waking had been disjointed blurs between restful periods of blackness as her body worked to mend itself from the inside-out. Her resources having been entirely drained, it was a much slower process than it ordinarily would have been with her race's accelerated rate of healing.
When she awoke that morning, to the splash and gurgle of something in the nearby lagoon, she had felt better than she had in the last span of days. Or, if not better, at least alert. Had it not been for the horrible ache in her midsection and the way her belly was still stretched and distorted from the cargo it had carried the last few months, she would have almost been willing to believe the whole hellish birth had just been a dream.
Birth.
Where were they?
A bleary assessment of the neighboring beds and chairs found all of them empty. And then, she remembered...
She had recalled, vaguely, during one of her waking periods, Qwello approaching her bedside, and attempting to give her their children but something....something had been wrong with them. Something that had made her not want to hold them.
For the life of her, she could not remember what it had been, or if it had been ANYTHING. The last thing she recalled with any clarity was telling him to get them away from her....
She sagged against the pillows with a frustrated sigh, reaching up to brush strands of blue hair away from her face. And so he'd done just that, hadn't he...? That probably meant that he was somewhere nearby with them, waiting for her to be ready to face things rationally as he often did after she'd done something unreasonable.
The question remained, did she feel up to facing the music now?
Plodding footsteps made her turn her head in the direction of the front of the inn as a tauren druid moved to pass by her to fetch a jug of fresh water from where it was stored against the wall. Seeing the troll mage alert, he blinked in surprise.
"You're awake." he remarked, giving her a small smile. "Feeling better?"
"Ah guess." she muttered, moving to sit up straighter. "Where's Qwello?"
"Qwello...?" he asked his brow furrowing. One blue brow arched in return.
"Prolly had two whelps wit'im?" she offered. When that was met with silence as well, she blinked. "....tall guy? Tied back hair? Silk robes?" He was not, exactly, hard to miss...
"He left. Last night." the druid informed her, clearing his throat. "He had said he was doing what you'd asked of him."
The answer was like a sobering slap on the cheek. He was gone...?
Trying, very hard, to keep a chokehold on her temper as it threatened to rise, she drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She should have known. She should have ******** known by now. Any type of man who would be with her was also the type of man who would run at the first sign of complication.
So now he had done to her exactly what Motai had. Stranded her here with more children to raise while he went off to do gods-knew-what. And funny enough, what made her angrier than the fact it had happened was that she had actually let herself believe that this time might be different.
"I apologize, but he was rather insistant that it was what you'd wanted."
"Yeah." she muttered, feeling hot, angry tears burn her eyes. "Yeah, dis be exactly what ah wanted. Seein' his face every day in a coupla kids ah gotta bring up."
"They....went with him, actually."
....what?
The roil of emotions fled into a fog of shock. The druid shifted his weight, clearly uncomfortable with the can of worms he'd just unwittingly opened.
"Where'd he go?"
"He didn't say. He--please, lay down, you aren't ready to get up yet." he said, reaching out to her even as she was yanking the covers off of herself, pawing at the foot of the bed for her clothes. "You aren't done mending." the tauren went on insistantly, grabbing the hem of the robe to keep her from taking it. "If you would just--"
"Git offa me!!" she hissed, ignoring the stab of pain in her belly as she jerked the robe out of his grasp.
The force of the action made something drop from between the folds of the garment. Nothing conspicious, only a wadded page of paper, but it caught both of their attention just the same, the scuffle over whether she was getting up or not momentarily forgotten.
Kneeling to pick it up, she unrumpled it as best as she was able and began to read.
The more she read, the less she felt like going anywhere. By the time she was halfway finished, she had sagged back to the bedding in a disbelieving sit. By the time she was done, she looked like someone who had seen a ghost.
"Are you all right?" the tauren inquired after several stone-silent moments.
"......could ja leave me alone?" came the reply, in a voice that sounded very small and meek compared to her usual demeanor. Feeble of a request as it was, something about it compelled the druid to obey as, without so much as a nod, he fetched his jug of water and left her to herself.
Whatever had happened, clearly she had much to think about.
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