Welcome to Gaia! ::

Niko slowly walked up to the newly finished HQ. She had went by the other day to visit, to find the cloud gone and the building looking completely different. She hadn't really spoken to anyone that much before, but she was hoping to talk to somebody today, maybe, and she had brought Blackfell along too. She just hoped the boy didn't try and snatch anything...

Fell was resting on her hip, one of her wings wrapped under him a little to help her hold him; he was a pretty plump baby, though Niko was hoping it was just baby fat. Her other wing was wrapped against her shoulder, as Fell made occasional grabby-hands at things that passed by that he decided were pretty enough for his focus, or just shiny.

Pushing the door open, she walked inside, looking around for a moment; she seemed to be the only one there, though it was easy for her to occasionally look over a heat-splotch, or mistake a person for something else she might not otherwise.

It was only natural that Niko was given no more time to investigate the empty room than to peek around and indulge in the comfort of solidarity, that the door- barely even having clicked shut- crashed open with a peace-shattering bang, the new hinges being given their first official test as the Infamous Jack-of-all-Trades, Arrien, stomped into the room, eyes narrowed as she took in the infinite newness of the place. She snorted her distaste as she scanned the room, scowling and grumbling and growling to herself.

The jewel-studded child in her arms seemed only nominally bothered by her Guardian's noisy antics- actually, Dusty seemed to be more happy than anything. After all, for the first time since she had arrived in this world, the weather outside was pleasant enough not to qualify for the dreadful snow-clothes that she had been forced to tolerate whenever Arrien took her out; dressed in a warm little outfit of greenish hue and flowery patterning, the little girl seemed tolerant of the disruptiveness of her Guardian.

Which was good, because Arrien didn't seem to be ready to calm down just yet. Niko, being the only person there, was the obvious (and only) target; rounding on her, the Jack-of-all-Trades scowled and demanded- "What the hell happened to this place?!" It wasn't clear whether was disappointed or straight-up pissed, but either way, she certainly didn't seem too pleased with the changes around her. And, perhaps most unfortunate, she seemed certain that Niko must know the answer.

Niko jumped in alarm as the door flew open, hitting the walls with a loud bang. She muffled the shout she had been going to let out when she saw it was Arri, the mother of Aqua's old playmate Fenrir. "A-Arri, you alright?" She asked, eyes wide, though you couldn't see through the kerchief wrapped around them. She flinched a little bit when Arri turned to her, her eyes fierce and very angry looking, though she got a glimps of a black, white, and namely, shiny baby in her arms. What's that, gems on her arms? Oh god, please don't notice it, Felly... She groaned inwardly.

But she had no luck. As soon as the door banged open, Fell let out a loud cry, , making a pouty lip as he watched the woman storm in, a baby in her arms. He immediately shut up though, when he saw the little sparklies on the girl's arms. Tugging on Niko's arms, he leaned forward, reaching for the little gems. "Shiny!" He stated, pointing at the girl while he lifted up his chin stubbornly. "Who's she?" He asked, since mom-lady appeared to know her, if not the little girl.

The Jack-of-all-Trades blinked as Niko turned, the familiarity of the other woman triggering a few alarms. She knew this woman, didn't she...?

"... Oh! That's right!" Fen's little water-girl friend... this was her mother, right? Nikki, or something... blast her two-second memory for names.... "Sorry- uh- Nik, I didn't realize it was you." Arrien smiled blithely, assuming that her guess was correct (or at least close enough).

Her attention was quickly drawn elsewhere, though- namely, to the kid making grabby-hands at the jewels on Dusty's arms. Cocking a brow and raising Dustin a little higher in the air, just to keep the baby out of reach of the weird klepto child, Arrien dubiously questioned- "Uh, this one's yours, I take it?" There was something unnerving about some boy that was trying to grab at the gems that, so far as Arrien could tell, were infused with her baby's skin. Then again... there was something to be said about simply having a baby like that, she supposed. She could understand the temptation for a child to make grabby-hands at the sparklies....

But still.

"Those are Dustin's gems," she told the child flatly, "and they're attached. So no trying to take them, got it, kid?"

Niko grinned sheepishly, standing up while precariously balancing Fell on her hips, using her free hand to tug his hands away from where they were pulling towards the other child. "Eh, that's alright. And to answer your previous question, I don't rightly know." She shrugged helplessly. "Cloud went up for a few months, and it randomly came down the other day. Well, it was down when I came by, at least." Niko looked upwards as she mentioned that, grinning at Arri.

Niko couldn't help but giggle a little as Arri hoisted the child up and above her head, but she nodded. "Yeah, he is. This is Blackfell, he's about a year or so old. And annoyingly stubborn sometimes." She made a face, but grinned anyways. "And this is yours? Dustin, is it?" She shifted her grip on Fell, so she was using both arms to hold him.

Fell pretty much ignored Arri; he was watching the girl, Dustin?, trying to figure out how the sparklies didn't fall or anything. He reached forward again, attempting to brush one of them to see. "How?" He asked, his golden-brown eyes turning up to mom-lady; she must know, she knows everything! He was still ignoring Arri. After that loud bang from the door, he didn't want to hurt his ears, so he sort of tuned her out.

"Yeah, I remember the cloud... but still!" Arrien protested, giving a loud huff that clearly expressed her dislike of the differences of the place. "I don't like it when things just... just up and change like that...."

She was being childish. She knew it. But damn it, she liked to be informed when things were going to get mixed around like this! No one had told her that the HQ was going to go flip out or whatever!

Sulking slightly, she made a face at Blackfell and settled Dusty onto her much-higher-than-he-was shoulders, wrapping the baby's chubby legs around her neck and holding Dustin's arms. This thrilled Dustin, of course; for once, Arrien's bunny-ear headband was within easy reach! And with Arrien eyeing the boy, it was oh-so-easy for the dark-skinned child to reach out and start gnawing at the soft, fuzzy end of one of the ears.

"Yeah, Dustin. Dusty for short," Arrien affirmed, oblivious to the going-ons above her head. "And she's not really mine... I mean, sort of, but no. I'm just taking care of her for the cat and the deer. She's got a real mom and dad, but she lives with me."

Niko grinned again, laughing softly as she spared a hand from Fell to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Well, somehow I don't think you or me have much of a choice, now do we?" She grinned crookedly. "If it's any consolation, there's more room then before at least." Niko said, laughing again while getting ahold of Fell's hands again. "Stop it, silly. I said no shinies outside've the house, didn't I?" She gave her youngest child a reproving look.

Fell glowered up at her, making a huffy face and crossing his arms, pouting slightly. "Yes." He said simply, still eyeing the now-much-higher shinies, though he couldn't help but start laughing as he saw Dustin start gnawing on one of the purple-haired woman's bunny ears, while Niko frowned. "Umm... Cat and deer? How can a cat and a deer have a baby? Or a cat-person and a deer-person? Did they put Dusty for adoption then?" She asked, giving Arri a questioning look while trying not to smile as her rabbit ears were slowly being mauled by the baby's teeth.

Bigger, pah. Bigger still wasn't the same. But she was supposed to seem adult-like and mature, so Arrien grumblingly conceded the point- at least so far as dropping the subject.

Naturally assuming that Fell's laughter was addressed to the concept of a cat and a deer having a baby (and not, say, something horrible happening to her precious bunny ears unbeknownst to her), Arrien chuckled lightly. "People, they're people, of course," she elaborated. "Keir and Y... ani. Yani. That's the right name. And, uh..." Arrien gave a fleeting glance heavenwards. How to explain the circumstances under which she'd taken custody of Dustin.... "... Yeah, adoption. Something like that."

Dusty, in the meantime, had slobbered the ear to her heart's content. Her eye fell on the new face that stared up at her from the ground- and, more specifically, those wings. Those... those were interesting... "Naaa guha!" A piece of grey fuzz still stuck to the corner of her mouth, the baby started waving her hands around (managing, in the process, to clock them against Arrien's head more than once- the Jack-of-all-Trades winced) and squirming, her message very clear; she was done surveying the room from above, she wanted down.

"Calm down there, kiddo!" Arrien tried to instruct the child, but Dusty didn't really care what her Guardian had to say- she merely fussed and wriggled more. With a sigh, the woman gave into the baby's demands and plucked her off her shoulders, letting her down onto the ground with a suspicious eye on Fell. If he tried to take Dustin's shinies off of her, Arrien'd be to the rescue in a heartbeat.

Niko raised an eyebrow slightly, hushing Fell with a quiet whisper. "Are they... What's it called, Fa'e? Like Lucien, or Faye?" She asked; she had met the two, though she hadn't seen the rabbit-girl or the scorpion child in ages. She wondered fleetingly if Lucien kept up his magick practice.

Shaking her head slightly, she smiled. "Don't believe I've met anyone named Keir or Yani." She was about to continue, when Dusty started making funny sounds, waving her fists around. Wincing sympathetically as Arri flinched, Niko kept a hold on Fell's hands, just to make sure.

Blackfell kept his eyes on Dusty as she was lifted up higher, then down onto the floor. He started squirming as wel, turning his head up and backwards to look at Niko. "Down? ... Please?" He added as an afterthought. He wanted to see the black-skinned girl closer, but without waiting for an answer, he wriggled more till Niko loosened her arms to get a better hold; instead, Fell slid through, flapping his wings a little so he didn't hurt himself. He smiled cheerfully at Dusty, holding a little brown hand out. "Felly." He said, introducing himself, since he didn't like saying his full name.

"Yep, they are!" Arrien replied cheerily, nodding confirmation to Niko's guess. Squatting down to pick the fuzz off of Dusty's lip and straightening out her hair a moment, the woman grinned up at Niko. "Pretty interesting people. I don't know them as well as I'd like, but they seem nice- I haven't seen Keir at all since Dusty was born, though. She wasn't exactly thrilled to be a mother, I guess. Not, uh, that she isn't a good mother... or won't be, when she's up to the task." Standing up again, Arrien did her best to shrug the matter off. Keir would come around and visit Dustin when she was ready, of course... it wasn't as if she had totally abandoned the child. Arrien was sure of it.

Down at knee-level, Dustin and Fell were face-to-face (or almost so) at last. Sitting a bit unsteadily, the Fa'e babe gave the boy a blank stare as he offered out a handshake. "Flaa gyaa guh," she replied enthusiastically, bypassing his hand altogether as she crawled forth, intent on the feathery things stuck to his back.

Niko smiled again, grinning as she folded both her wings closer to her shoulders, keeping a wary eye on Fell; his wayward fingers tended to get into things they shouldn't sometimes, or he tried grabbing stuff that can't be moved. "I take it Keir didn't really want the child, then?" She asked, tilting her head to the side a little bit, looking very birdy.

Fell fell foward a little as she ignored his outstretched hand, instead climbing over to get to his wings. Huh, what about my wings...? He thought, fidgeting a little uncomfortably, but he relented and turned around slightly to show her the black raven wings, the pink tipped feathers glossy and shiny.

Quirking a funny, insincere sort of smile, Arrien just shrugged again. "I think she panicked. I ran into the cat out in the rain while she was freaking out at her own belly. I think she'd really want to be around Dusty if she could get her head straight... and she'll probably hate herself later on for not being there when Dusty was little." The woman gave the babe a favorable look; Dusty really was so much like her mother, it was a shame that Keir hadn't gotten to see that yet. "Her dad's been around, though. He's a real stand-up guy, didn't even hesitate to take responsibility. So that much is good."

Glancing back down at the children, she caught glimpse of Dustin reaching out for the boy's wings, a look of concentration on her face as she made a determined grab for the pretty feathers. "Whoa, whoa!" Ducking down to catch the baby's hands, Arrien chuckled sheepishly. "No y'don't, kiddo- those things are attached, you don't want to hurt your new buddy, do ya?"

From the frustrated look on Dusty's face, one might think that she didn't really care so much.

Ignoring the baby's fidgeting whines, Arrien settled to sitting on the ground behind her, hands kept lightly on the baby's arms. Addressing Fell now, she said by way of explanation- "The last time some brave little boy let her near his wings, she ended up pulling him onto the ground. She's a tough little kid, you have to admit!" She snickered. "But I bet if I helped her, she'd like to feel your wings without, y'know, causing any bodily harm to you. Would that be okay?"

Niko grinned, laughing softly at the child, but nodding at the first statement. "Yeah, well, that makes sense. And taking responsibilities for your, umm..." She blushed slightly, but grinned again. "Wayward seed, I guess, is good."

Fell squawked a little as she started tugging on his wings, and he ruffled his feathers, little bits of down puffing up before floating downwards, as he quickly scrambled to turn around. "No!" He said. His favorite word. When the purple-haired woman sat down, he looked up at her, gold eyes slightly wide. He grinned as he saw the damage to her ears, and he, unhesitantly, pointed a little finger up at them. "Ears." At her question, he smiled in childlike cheerfulness, nodding. "Yes." He answered simply, grinning. He didn't mind showing off his pretties, even if they were attached to him.

Wayward seed... now THERE was an interesting descriptor for the little babe. Yani'd probably go red-faced to hear his daughter spoken about in such a manner, at least. Arrien snickered at the sound of the words, but had nothing to add to that.

At Fell's insistant pointing towards the top of her head, the Jack-of-all-Trades reached up questioningly to explore her headband- and withdrew her hand with a face. Yech-- baby drool! Dear lord, did babies know how long it took her to get that stuff out of her ears? "Aw, man...!" Whining, she pulled the ears off the top of her head, looking at them in distaste. She felt so naked without them, but she couldn't wear them if they were all... dribbled on.... Sighing heavily, she set them on the ground beside her. She'd just have to try not to think too much about it until she got a chance to clean them up.

Instead, she focused on the baby Fa'e as she crawled forward again (her determination now redoubled after the wings had moved so much in the prior moments of flight) and, unperturbed by the controlling touch of her Guardian's hands on her arms, tried to grab for Fell's wings again. "Be nice," Arrien told Dustin warningly, getting no more reaction from the girl than a indistinct babble. "You can touch, but you can't tug on them. Okay?" When Dusty didn't seem to understand, Arrien decided she ought to take a firmer hand in this matter. Getting a hold of Dustin's wrists, she pulled the baby's arm up and ran her palm along the feathers. Feeling the softness of the wings under her fingers, a wide grin grew on Dusty's face as she squealed happily.

"See? That's good!" Arrien said approvingly. Dustin tried to grab at the wings again, and the Jack-of-all-Trades ran the baby's hand gently along them, smiling at Fell as she did so. "Thanks for letting her see them."

Niko couldn't help but laugh, though she tried to quiet herself as her friend's face fell, inspecting the damage to her headband. "I'm sorry about that, Arri." She said; she was still grinning slightly. When Arri helped Dustin feel Fell's feathers, Niko smiled fondly at her son, kneeling down to give him a quick hug.

Fell twitched a little as the other child made a move to grab his wings again, but when Arri kept her from doing so, he relaxed slightly, smiling brightly over his shoulder. "Pretty, yes?" He asked, grinning as he ruffled his feathers. He shuffled himself till he turned himself around, and poked at the gems attached to Dusty's arms. "How attached?" He asked again, wanting to pick one up, but he didn't think he could.

"Sorry? Oh, that. Ah, those things have been through worse than a little baby drool." The Jack-of-all-Trades didn't so much as look up as she said this; after all, there were other things more important than the state of her bunny ears, as much as she didn't want to admit it. Dustin took precedence, and the less Arrien needed to think about her beloved headband, the easier it would be to keep her priorities straight.

Pounding her heels on the ground with her excitement at the wings, Dusty squealed and laughed her pleasure with the foriegn things. "Yaa!" She informed Fell, looking straight at his face as she beamed her approval. Her enthusiasm turned quickly to confusion, however, as the boy began to examine the shiny rocks stuck to her arms. "Gaaugh?..."

Ruffling the girl's hair in amusement, Arrien answered Fell for her. "They're pretty stuck... not, uh, that I've really tried to take them out or anything. For all I know, it might hurt her if someone took them out, or she might disappear or turn pink or something... but they seem to be set in there pretty good, so I don't worry about it so much." She tapped one faceted green stone, as if to demonstrate their solidity.

Niko grinned, keeping her laughter to herself as she shifted to sit on the floor instead of balancing on her toes; they were starting to ache from holding her weight, and sitting down felt good. "What're the gems from, do you know? 'Cus I have yet to see a deer or a cat, even if they look human, with gems stuck to themselves..." She asked questioningly, looking at Dusty with another grin as she showed delight in Fell. "You're gonna make him more conceited then he already is!" Niko said with a laugh.

Fell tilted his head to the side, blinking up at Arri. "Stuck? No grab then?" He asked. He had such a crestfallen look, since it was starting to sink in he couldn't take these shinies home, like most of the other ones he found.

"Eh, I dunno. They definitely aren't something she took from her parents... Lethe thought Dusty might be a necklace Fa'e or something, but hell. Who knows?" Arrien spread her hands in confusion. "I'm guessing that's just something we'll have to wait to find out."

In case it couldn't be figured already; the Jack-of-all-Trades was not a person who relished the thought of waiting around to find something out.

Tweaking the hem of Dusty's shirt to work out a few wrinkles, Arrien masked her impatience with an amused grin at Fell. "Sorry, kiddo, but that's exactly right. Unless those gems stop being stuck to her for some reason, they've gotta stay with her. They might not grow back, y'know? You wouldn't want Dusty to take your feathers, would you?"

Niko giggled, grinning. "A necklace fa'e? Maybe. Never seen a necklace with so many differently colored gems though. Only other things I can think of are maybe showy armor or something? Or maybe a crown. Never seen necklaces with those kinds of colors, though, not all together." She said, shrugging slightly, before laughing. "Maybe you could go see a psychic or something."

Blackfell shuddered noticebly at the mere idea of taking his feathers. Who would want to take his precious feathers? He shook his head, his black hair flipping about and into his eyes with the fast motion. "No!" Again, his favorite word. "My feathers." He said firmly, holding up his little chin stubbornly.

"... A psychic, huh?" Arrien's face was... thoughtful. Not joking, but serious and contemplative.

I wonder if Bard would be able to figure anything out...? Her spell-casting friend hadn't ever let her down before. Granted, she didn't think divinition was really his area of expertise. He'd been really busy as of late, though- from what she understood, his newly-teenaged boy was giving him one hell of a headache. But he'd probably be able to make time to help out with this, wouldn't he?

"... That's really not a bad idea," she said at last, a grin stuck on her face. "In fact, that's damn near genius, Nik!" Taking little to no note of Fell's reaction to her gentle manipulations, Arrien got to her feet and pulled her cellphone out of her pocket. "Can you watch the kids a sec? I just need to make a quick phone call...."

Niko laughed again. She had been half-joking with that suggestion, but it might be a good idea. Though half the time, the "psychic" was making the stuff up for money, and the other half, sometimes a person just didn't want to know. "Yeah. I can't really help much there, since I don't know any. Havn't really cared to go to them; I'd like to keep my future a secret, otherwise I'll probably spend too much time thinking about it." Niko said, shrugging a little philosophically.

Niko started a little, before her forehead creased into a frown. "Really? I was kinda joking with it, but if you think it's good..." She said, fidgiting before grinning sheepishly. "Doesn't really seem like I've got good ideas, not after the way Sere's been acting lately..." The angel rolled her eyes, while massaging a temple with a finger. "I havn't got a clue what to do with her. And sure." She said, blinking when her friend took out a cell phone, but she pulled Fell into her lap, smiling cheerfully at Dusty.

"Great, I'll just be a sec!" Flashing a grin and a quick salutary hand signal at Niko, the Jack-of-all-Trades exited the room to make her phone call.

And Dusty, suddenly deprived of the controlling touch of her Guardian, sat and stared wonderously about. It was as if the entire world had just opened up to her, now that Arrien had left the room- no small surprise the sudden feeling of freedom, given how close an eye the woman had learned to keep on the Fa'e child.

Pausing only as long as it took to gurgle her excitement, Dusty flopped onto all fours and started off, crawling with typical babyish unsteadiness towards the first object to catch her interest; a basket of toys set next to the television along one wall, a very tempting offering for the baby girl.

Niko smiled over the babies collective heads at Arri as she left to room to call someone; a psychic maybe? Shaking her head to herself, Niko turned her eyes back to the two babies, when Dusty fell over and started crawling away.

Grinning slightly, Niko stood up, bending down to scoop up Blackfell before walking slowly after the wriggling baby girl. "Dusty, do you wanna play with the toys?" She asked, smiling as she sat down on a chair near the toy-basket, letting Fell slide back down onto the floor with a thump.

Blackfell also started wriggling towards the toy basket, though he stopped before reaching in, waiting for Dusty to come over. "You first?" He asked, deciding to be polite.

A good thing Fell had stopped, too; Dusty didn't look like she had any intention of slowing down so that someone else might get a toy before she did. With a wide smile and a squeal of excitement, the baby grabbed at the edge of the basket and, perhaps finding it a bit too tall for her to reach in sitting-down, did the simplest and most obvious thing to get at the toys within.

She pulled it over and spilled the toys everywhere.

There was one flaw in this plan, though- by pulling the basket to get to the toys, she was creating a situation in which they must all fall directly on top of her. No doubt, were she only a little older, she might have realized this fatal mistake. As was, though, she blithely tipped the entire bin over on top of her.

At least most of the toys seemed to be plush and furry, but there was one plastic horse figure that tumbled out and fell directly onto the top of her head with a audible clunk- it scattered to the ground, leaving the head-clunked baby to sit there and slowly absorb what just happened.

"... Nyaaa!" A happy squeal. Thank God, it wasn't an injured-baby tantrum, but a happy noise as she crawled over to where the horse had fallen and, after waving it around and smacking it against the ground a couple times, started trying to fit as much as it into her mouth as she could.

Blackfell squirmed after her, grinning brightly as she tumbled the toy basket over, all sorts of toys falling all over the floor. Smiling happily, he made a grab for a plushie, before he realized they were all in a pile, and the other child was nowhere to be seen. Blinking in confusion, he clambered over the pile of toys, to see if she was on the other side. Nope. Not there. He sat ontop of the pile, blinking in confusion, until he heard a little squeal and saw Dusty squirm out with a plastic horse toy.

Grinning, he grabbed a dragon stuffed-animal and rolled down the pile to sit next to her, a broad, childish smile on his face.

Niko couldn't help but start laughing as little baby Dustin tipped over the basket of toys onto herself, only to crawl back out with a horse figurine. Niko started to slide herself over as she started banging it on the floor, about to warn her on abusing something that wasn't hers, when she did what Niko should have expected; she put it into her mouth. As much as she could manage, and, to the angel at least, that didn't look like her mouth would feel too good after. "Dusty, that's not a good idea." She said, still grinning as she reached forward to help get the horse toy out.

Industrially smacking her gums away on the smoothness of the poor, quickly-becoming slimy creature, Dusty didn't seem like she had a care in the world as she babbled and burbled through a mouthful of plastic, even as Niko approached. At the angel's attempt to remove the toy from her mouth, however, the baby gave a cross-eyed glare and complained, trying to keep her toothless grip on the figurine.

For a little kid, you had to hand it to her; when she wanted to hold onto something, she had one fierce baby grip that was tricky for even someone four or six times her size to break.

Dusty certainly couldn't be difficult forever, though- baby attention spans didn't work that long. She surrendered the horse from her mouth at last when she noticed at last the raven boy beside her, and the plushie that he had nabbed from the pile. Her orange-red stare grew harsh and wide, her mouth flapped open to make small, confused sounds; something about that toy....

"Naa!" With a fierce death cry, the baby made a wildly clumsy two-handed grab for Fell's toy, the horse forgotten entirely. She wanted to get that dragon away from him, and she was not gonna be gentle until she got what she wanted.

Niko sighed slightly, before resigning herself to a little wrestling match to get the horse out of the baby's mouth without hurting her. She finally managed to, though, through no action of her own; Dusty's attention had been drawn elsewhere. As Niko carefully dropped the now slimy horse figurine into the pile of toys, she turned to see Dusty trying to take the toy Fell had grabbed, a dragon or something.

Fell looked up as Dusty made the little cry, his gold eyes going wide as she made a grab for the dragon plush. "No, mine!" He said, frowning; what was with this kid? In his year of life, he hadn't seen anyone behave like that. He responded by holding the plush closer to his chest, turning defensively. "Mine."

Dusty was having none of this "no, you have to be nice and let someone else play with the dragon toy" crap. How dare he not give the toy to her when she demanded it? How dare he!

The girl tried to make another grab for the dragon, but it was all a futile effort. Quickly finding that the toy was now too well-guarded for her to snatch (can babies her age really move smoothly enough to "snatch" something, anyway?), the white-haired girl drew her face into an angry pout, her cheeks tinging grey and her eyes slanting.

There weren't too many ways that Dusty could figure how to get what she wanted at this point. If Blackfell was going to be difficult and not give her the toy, then... well, she had little choice, did she? With an angry and incoherent wailed exclamation, the little girl leaned forward and began to try and hit Fell with an open-handed downswing, seeming to aim mostly for the arms that were keeping the toy away from her but, in her wild and uncertain aim, threatening all parts of his chest and face.

((Dusty makes me chuckle xd ))
Blackfell stuck his tongue out at her over his shoulder, bright pink against his tanned face. He didn�t see her hand coming down on his head till it actually hit, making him open his eyes and glower at her. "That hurt!" He said, bunching his knees up against his chest. "Not giving it to you, now." Fell said angrily, glaring at her, gold eyes slightly narrowed.

Niko inwardly groaned as the two babies started fighting over the toy; what could she do? She couldn't seperate them very well, since it would be fairly awkward to hold two squirming children away from each other, especially when one was starting to swing her fists. "Dusty, no, bad!" The angel said loudly, reaching out to get ahold of the girl's fist, though she couldn't grab it before it hit Fell.

Dusty might not be so proficent with that talking-stuff yet, but she didn't seem to have any difficulty in catching the gist of what Blackfell was telling her- something along the lines of I don't like you and I'm not giving you what you want because I'm a bad person. Needless to say, this didn't go over so well with the upset child.

Frusterated, the girl was just bringing her fist down again for a second strike when Niko's fingers wrapped around her hand, preventing her from getting her next hit in. With a high-pitched squall, Dusty quickly did what she could to work around her new restraints and brought her feet to bear, trying to get in a few good kicks of her heel. Just in case she didn't make her disappointment and unhappiness clear enough with this gesture, however, she made a point to start screaming even louder, angry tears gathering in the corners of her eyes.

All of this noise had the very predictable effect of drawing the Jack-of-all-Trade back into the room, cellphone still in hand and eyes bewildered. "What happened?!"

Fell stood up and quickly scampered behind Niko, still clutching the plush protectively against his chest; he almost fell over as Dusty started aiming kicks. He still wasn't too sure on his feet, he was too used to floating. Instead, Fell plopped down onto the floor behind Niko, peering cautiously around her hip at the squalling child.

Niko managed to cover her ears(Well, one at least) while still maintaining a hold on Dusty's fist. Wincing slightly as her shrieks were still heard, she poked the tip of her wing into Dusty's field of vision, hoping maybe the child would quiet up and make a grab for that.

She jumped slightly at she heard Arrien come back in, looking quite startled. The angel looked a little pleadingly over her shoulder. "She started bawling when Fell wouldn't hand over a toy... Goddess, are all children this loud? Only Sere was ever screaming, so I thought it was just her..." She pulled her hand away from her ear; it wasn't doing anything anyways. Instead, she started massaging a temple with her fingers. "Lord that's loud..." She muttered to herself, trying to make the baby sit down again.

Just in case there was any doubt, Dusty was doing everything but cooperating. Sitting was all but impossible for a creature who, already not having a very accomplished sense of balance, was determined to swing all easily moveable limbs in all directions at the same time, as if that might somehow solve all their woes and troubles.

Her expression pained- from the ear-shattering baby screams or the fact that such a small thing had set Dusty off, wasn't entirely clear- Arrien stooped down to try and help Niko calm the child. She didn't seem too sure of herself, though.

"What's wrong, kiddo? Come on, what's with the tears? You're acting pretty silly, aren't you?" Logic didn't seem to be working. In retrospect, Arrien wasn't entirely sure why she'd bothered trying it in the first place.

Fell hurriedly crawled behind Niko's body, still holding the toy, while covering his ears with his wings. "Loud, make her stop!" He shouted to be heard over the other baby. He sat down behind Niko, knees tucked up to his chest as he peered cautiously around his mother's hip.

Niko winced again as Dusty started swinging her arms, her volume going steadily louder. Reaching behind her, she made a grab for the toy still in the faery-boy's arms, tugging it out of them. "Fell, why don't you just share? It'll be quieter." She said, looking over her shoulder at him.

He shook his head stubbornly, still holding onto the dragon. "No, I got first!" Fell said, sticking his chin out.

Arrien, in the meantime, was still trying to quiet her child down. With little success; there was only so much being a Jack-of-all-Trades could get you, and when it came to crying babies, there was very little she could figure to do to solve the problem.

How did I handle Fen when he got into a tantrum? Had Fenrir ever really gotten into such a fit? He was such an even-tempered baby... Arrien had griped and groaned back then, but never had she known how lucky she had been to have a sweet child like Fenrir....

"Do you want candy? Uh, a toy? There are other plushies, maybe even one you'd like better!" Dusty's wailing lessened as Arrien grabbed a random stuffed cat from the top of the pile, waggling it around in front of the child. "See? Mr. Kitty! You want to play with Sir Kitty?"

The look which the dark-skinned girl gave her Guardian could be described only as one of supreme annoyance and loathing. Did Arrien not understand? She wanted what she wanted, and substitutes would not be accepted!

Within seconds, the HQ was filled with the screams and shrieks of upset baby once more.

Niko clapped her hands over her ears again with another wince, letting go of the plush from Fell's grabby little hands. "M-Maybe try taking her outside? It might not be as loud, without walls to bounce everything around."

Fell had curled his head between his knees, trying to block the sound out while keeping ahold of the dragon. With a slight groan, he scrambled up to his feet, toddling precariously towards the wailing baby with an angry look on his face. "Shut up." He said, poking her in the side. "Want plush or not?" Fell asked, his words hard to understand through the loud shrieks and his unmastered skill of speaking.

Feeling backed up against a wall, Arrien took Niko's advice to heart. If she got the kid outside, if nothing else, maybe something would distract her so she would forget all about the damn dragon plushie. "Good ide-"

Arrien stopped herself. There was silence- or at least, less painful whimpering- and she had to take a moment to marvel at it.

"Mai...!" Still flushed and looking more than willing to tantrum anew if she should be disappointed, Dusty tried to grab the plushie away from Fell again, clearly determined to complete her goal.

Niko had cautiously lowered her hands as she realized the wailing had quieted down considerably. "She finished then...?" She trailed off, before wincing again as the baby shouted again. Rolling her eyes skyward, she immediatly reached behind her to makea grab at Fell, but missed as he scrambled away.

As soon as the other baby had made another grab for the plush, Fell scooted backwards, before wobbly standing up, and tottering away to hide behind the nearest armchair. "Mine!"

"Oh thank God!" Arrien's shoulders relaxed, as if the greatest of weights had disappeared with the baby's screams. She just couldn't handle Dusty being so upset, it seemed; I must be one helluva pushover, if I can't even take a few tears. She shuddered to think of how Dusty would capitalize on her Guardian's spinelessness when she got older.

Arrien froze, however, as Fell's reaction provoked another pouting face on Dustin's behalf. Dreading another attack on her sense of hearing, the Jack-of-all-Trades began to raise her hands to her ears, taking a nervous step back. Wildly, she wondered if Niko would put up a fuss if she just went turncoat and grabbed the dragon plushie from Blackfell for Dusty. It was for a good cause, Arrien justified- the angel couldn't complain too much about her ears being spared another tantrum....

Fortunately, another tantrum was not in the wings. The girl's pout became a fierce scowl. "Mai!" She debated heatedly, crawling on all fours after Blackfell. That was her plushie, so far as she was concerned, and she wasn't gonna give up on it!

"... She's a stubborn little brat, isn't she?" Arrien commented off-handedly, masking her immense relief with a shake of her head.

Niko grinned sheepishly, as she scooted herself backwards with her feet, before turning herself around to make a grab at her son. "C'mere Fell!" She said, tugging him into her lap. "Why don't you just share the dragon, now? Wouldn't want your mother to be blind and deaf now, would you?" The angel asked, her tone slightly reprimanding.

Blackfell glowered, sticking his tongue out while keeping a firm grip on the toy. "No, mine!" He wailed pitifully, even as Niko started tugging it from his grip.

"Fell, stop it. You've got toys at home, alright?" She stated, sticking her tongue out in return as she finally yanked it from the baby's grasp. She carefully turned around, so just her torso turned, keeping one hand holding Fell in place, while reaching behind her to hold the plush near Arri. "I don't exactly like the prospect of going deaf."

Oh, thank God. Niko had finally stepped in to put an end to the mess. With the dragon plushie captured at last, Arrien casually took it from Niko's hands and, flashing the angel a grateful smile, headed over to where Dusty was just figuring out that the dragon had left Fell's ownership. "Here ya go, bratling. Sure hope you're happy with all the trouble you caused to get it," Arrien told the baby sternly as she offered out the toy.

Dusty's face split into a wide grin as the much-sought-after prize came within her grasp at long last; seizing it with a happy cry of "Mai!", she wasted no time in tugging at its wings and thrashing the poor thing around in a way that, had it been a true dragon, would have most certainly prompted some sort of draconic fury at its mistreatment.

Watching the child play with it for a few moments, Arrien seemed to be very satisfied as she turned back to face Niko and Fell. "Thanks for letting her have the dragon, I guess she's getting a little bit--" PWOP. Peals of happy baby laughter saturated the room as the dragon plushie- so valiantly quested and fought for, all to appease the whim of the young princess- bounced off the back of Arrien's head, knocking her bunny ears askew and her glasses clear off. The Jack-of-all-Trades rubbed the back of her head and looked behind her- the gem Fa'e had a quite pleased look indeed as she kicked her heels and giggled at the mischief she had wrought.

"... That... was just mean...."

Niko grinned sheepishly as Arri took the plushie, and gave off a sigh of relief. Pulling Fell into her lap, she spared a hand to massage a temple and tuck her hair behind her downward pointing ears. "Well, that was... Interesting..." She said, grinning again at Arri. Now that both the babies had settled down, she was in a better mood.

Fell, appearances aside, was mad. That had been his toy, he had grabbed it first! It wasn't fair! "Down! Down!" Fell started waving his arm, chubby finger pointed at the ground, before he finally just slid out from under his mother's arms, rolling onto the floor in a black feathered ball. Once he stopped rolling, he immediatly started crawling towards the fallen dragon plush, reaching out to grab it back.

Recovering her glasses from the floor and, after picking off a piece of lint stuck to on side, replacing them on her face, Arrien scowled irritably back at Dusty. "I bet you think that was pretty funny, huh?" The little Fa'e's laughter was all the answer Arrien needed; yes, yes she did, she thought it was just about the funniest thing she had witnessed yet since her arrival in this world.

It was just added insult that Dusty made no protest as Fell reclaimed the dragon plushie, having no doubt forgotten of its existence in her mirth at the misfortune she had sewn for her Guardian. Straightening up her headband and taking a soothing breath, Arrien reminded herself sternly- Dusty was just a baby, it wasn't as if she had been planning to do that from the start or any such thing, she was just acting on her instincts.

Arrien wasn't doing so well to convince herself, though.

"God, Keir was right. She is hellspawn, isn't she?" That was the closest Arrien could come to joking the matter off; the ignomy of her humilation by a child, even the one she was raising, wasn't easily dismissed by her more prideful half. Flicking a strand of hair out of her face and managing a grin, she stooped down to waggle a finger in Dusty's face- "You gotta know, kid, that sneak attacks like that are no good. All right? You ought to stick to throwing things at people's faces, you're tough enough that you shouldn't have to resort to tricks like that." Though the child clearly didn't comprehend what Arrien was trying to say, the Jack-of-all-Trades seemed much more content for her short lecture on the honorable manners in which to launch an attack with a stuffed animal; shooting a glance over in Niko's direction, she chuckled and repeated again- "Hellspawn, right?"

A slow smile was spreading across the half-elf's features, but as her friend turned back to her, she grinned even wider, hiding it behind a pale-skinned hand. She hid it for a moment, before starting to laugh. "Haha, hellspawn, right. Or maybe just a little baby trying to get a few laughs?" She said, her lopsided grin growing as she pulled Fell back into her lap.

Fell had been watching the transpiring events with an innocent little smile, laughing as Dusty clapped in glee. He clapped as well, dropping the plush into his lap, and tightened his wings to his shoulders. As he got pulled into his mother's lap, he grabbed the toy back into his embrace, holding it against his chest.

"Oh, God, don't say that. I refuse to raise up," she flicked the baby's nose playfully, "a comedian. I've heard the wild stories those people say about the people that raise 'em, and I don't need to be that infamous." Looking at Dusty, as though something in her eyes might offer some promise that this was not in the cards for the future, Arrien noted something very quickly. A yawn- Dusty's yawn, that is, not Arrien's. (For once.)

"Ah... someone ready to take a nap? Put in all the work the bratling union'll let you, time for your break, huh?" Arrien was answered with a vague "eyaa"and a few sleepy blinks; a "yes" if she'd ever seen one.

Lifting the baby gently into her arms, she turned back to face Niko. "Well, that's that; Dusty says it's time to go home, and what she says goes, as we all know." It was hard not to act disappointed by this, but Niko would understand- it wasn't as if the other woman had no children of her own to look after. Visits got cut short when the baby decided it needed to be, and that's all there was to it.

"But, hey, don't be a stranger, okay? Me casa es tu casa, or whatever. Drop by whenever you've got some time- bring Fell or anyone else you want to. Always happy to see a friend." The Jack-of-all-Trades nodded with a grin.

Niko smiled as the baby started yawning; she was wondering if Dusty would ever get tired from all the toy chasing. The angel laughed while Arri spoke to the child about comedians. "Arri, they're not all that bad." She said with another grin, standing up as well while shifting Fell onto her back, nestled between her wings where he rested his chin on her shoulder.

She smiled again at the offer. "Sure thing, Arrien; I'm sure Fell'd love it, and Aqua too. I'll stop by sometime, I just hope I don't make a nuisance of myself." Niko grinned, giving a cheerful wave.