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Babies...?

Malen puttered about the kitchen measuring flour and sugar, cracking eggs and pouring olive oil into various bowls. His mothers in their latest email had sent him a host of new baked goods recipes he'd decided to try out. Considering how often people stopped by the headquarters these days and despite the fridges food producing abilites Malen though that having home made treats availble for the guardians and increasing number of children might be nice. That and he figured he'd get a smile out of Ianna when she caught site of him in a rather girly pink apron.

Well, it wasn't Ianna who walked through the door of the kitchen, "Daddy?" came the familiar voice of the child Sidhe as she peeped in. Her long white hair was tied up into two pig tails today, spirling downward and over her shoulders and she was wearing quite the lovely white and blue dress.

"Whatcha making?"

Malen looked over at Coailiann and grinned " Hey there sweety you look pretty today." It always amused Malen that his daughters were so different. Kishi was rough and gave gave him strange looks when he came near her with girly clothes. Del was eccentric combining everything into strange outfits and Kay was elegant always looking refined and beautifull." Now if only we could get your mother to wear pretty dresses like you" he mused.

"Im making muffins and brownies and a cake from recipies my mothers sent me" he said " Would you like to help? I'll even let you taste the batter."

Kay shook her head, "Can you take a break? I wanna ask you something. It's kind of important 'n' I'm really confused..." She trailed off and went to sit at the kitchen table, crossing her legs daintily before turning her head and looking at her father once more, bright green eyes glittering with curious innocence.

"Maybe after I can help."

Nodding Malen made sure that nothing he was doing would need his direct attention for a bit before joining his daughter at the table. " What's got you all confused ?" he asked smiling at her. He'd been a curious one as a child and to him getting answers to his questiosn had always been important so he was prepared to sit for a while and answer questions that weren't really important but that kay wanted answers for and were important to her. After all if it was really important she'd ask Ianna about it becuase of their closer mother daughter bond.

Well, they had a bond too - and well, it was important. Poor Malen would be taken aback by the next things out of Coailiann's mouth. She smiled sweetly at her daddy and took a deep breath, "Are babies made of fish and eggs? Cuz Airaka said that babies come from fish and eggs...I don't think we're Omelettes...Where do babies really come from?"

She blinked, the obvious confusion still written on her face.

Malen felt his already large dislike of Airaka grow, how could she tell his daugher such lies. Grabbing his braid he brought the tip up to nibble on while he tried to figure out how to explain where babies came from. There was so much to cover and he wasn't really sure how to get the information to her without goign over her head. Besides this was Ianna's job wasn't it?

Removing the braid from his mouth he stared at his daughter " Well babies can come from lots of places. Some babies come from fish and eggs but those are fish babies. Well all babies come from eggs in a way." He sighed and rubbed at the bridge of his nose " Ok most women have really really small eggs inside them that when their activated make babies grow inside them." That was good right it explained without goign into detail and confusing her more, atleast he hoped so.

She blinked, "But...How? Airaka said men have fish and women have eggs and when they love eachother the fish and eggs make a baby but HOW and..." she looked incredibly lost. Malen's explanation REALLY didn't help matters, and the poor Sidhe didn't like feeling lost.

Stamping her foot on the ground, she stuck out her lower lip, "I just don't understand! Do I have the eggs? If women..I'm a women! I...Could I have a baby, if I ******** ******** and double ********, Malen was stuck giving the baby talk and now the period talk too, dammit someone really hated him today." Well yes and no, when you're older you can have a baby but right now becuase your eggs aren't ready" Malen was going to kill Airaka when he next saw her. " You see when girls become women then their's eggs are ready to become babies. Until then you can't have any." Which Malen thought was good becuase he was not ready to be a grandfather yet thanks. "And before you ask you'll know when your eggs are ready becuase when your body is ready to have babies it makes itself ready inside in a special part called the womb. Then once a month if an egg that's going to have babies doesn't come into the womb it cleans itself out and you bleed then your body starts making the womb ready all over again and it happens every month untill you have a baby or get old".

Malen paused for a moment to catch his breath and let the information sink in he was pretty sure he'd done ok with that now came the hard part." In order for an egg to be able to have a baby there needs to be a um sperm involved it sort of breaks into the egg and fertalises it. Now there's lots of different ways for this to happen. I was born becuase my mother went to a special place where they gave her sperm so she could have me. Some people have sex and thats when a man would be giving a woman sperm ." Breathe Malen breathe " And sometimes a spern and an egg are put togeather outside of a body." This said Malen waited silently for Kay's response

Coailiann listened carefully to her father, understanding a good part of it...But there were some things that the young girl just didn't understand. That meant that her father would be getting a lot more questions - lucky him! It wouldn't be surprising if he started regretting having all girls and shacking up with Ianna.

"Okay. So. I bleed...But...Isn't that dangerous? Do I get sick? Will I die? What's sex? And what's sperm? Is that like the whale?" she blinked several times, raising a fine eyebrow at her father.

And if it was like the whale, wouldn't that hurt?

"Where does the sperm go? Do you eat it?"

...that was a WHOLE other conversation. Poor Malen.

Malen laid his head on the table and considered telling Coailiann to go ask her mother , still she'd come to him and he'd started this so he was just going to have to bear it " You will only bleed for about four days and no it's not dangerous and you wont die. You can get sick when you're older if you use certain products called tampons but I don't know anything about those so ask your mother about that." Ok so that was lie growing up with a twin sister Malen knew more about tampons than he cared to but he was not explaining that to his daughter.

"First off sperm have nothing to do with sperm whales secondly sex is .. sex is, well it's a lot of different things and it's hard to explain and sex in the way you're asking is two people enjoying one of the many ways to have sex untill orgasm which is a really good feelign that happens at the end of sex. Sperm are little things really that sort of look like tadpolls their things men have iniside them and during orgasm the sperm travel into the woman from the man and then all the sperm go looking for the egg."

"Can I have an...orgasm? If it feels good, I wanna have it!" she grinned brightly at her father and rose up from her chair, "I'm going to go find someone to have sex with and have an orgasm!" she giggled and ran off, hair bouncing behind her as her bare feet smacked against the floor.

She, obviously, had no idea what sex really was - or how to do it. All she knew was it sounded damn fun. At least she wouldn't have a baby because she didn't have eggs, right?

"YASHI!!!!!!!!!"

The sidhe's voice could be heard ringing throughout the headquarters before a door slammed...and then silence.

Ianna was going to kill him.

Malen lay with his head on the table unable to move, his daughter was gone, vanished to go have orgasms becuase couldn't explain a simple thing like sex without confusing her all the more than she had been." Note to self kill Airaka" he mutterd. Slowly rising to his feet he looked over at the half completed baked goods and sighed, if nothing else he could make something tasty so that when Ianna found out she didn't kill him.

The garden smelled sweet, but age smelled sweeter. Callix sauntered along as if he were in love (though it would seem like he was more in love with himself than anything else), smelling the flowers along the way, humming a tune to himself. Kay, the reason he was here, was sitting some few feet ahead of him. A slightly evil smile graced his lips and the incubus darted forward to stand behind her. Hands flew over her eyes, an older voice playing in her ear.

"Guess who."

Coailiann had been taking a break from learning to write in that stupid english and she was...more than agitated. Had she wings, they'd be twitching furiously at the moment - and the fact that she didn't HAVE wings seemed to foul her mood even more. However when her eyes were covered by a pair of hands and an older voice touched her ear, the sidhe jumped a good foot in the air, landing hard on her rear before flying backwards and knocking herself into Callix.

"EEEP!"

The girl twisted around to see Callix, breathing heavily from the surprise, "Callix?!"

"Oui, mon amie. Who else would it be?" he stated matter-of-factly. He'd grown to a decent height, his wings stronger. He felt much older and was quite proud of that fact. Kay didn't look any different, but the fact that he was no taller than her? Grand. He always hated to be shorter than a girl. It was...unbecoming.

Kneeling to offer a hand to help her up, smiling. "Did you miss me?"

"Well...Yashima or Armel," she ticked off, green eyes glittering with mischief. Would he still be jealous over them, now that he was bigger? Then again they were both big too. Hmm. Her white hair caught a breeze as her hand lifted to take his to help her up, "But I digress."

She had no idea what it meant - but she heard it on several snazzy television shows and it sounded nice, didn't it?

"Yes! I did, a lot!" The sidhe launched herself at him and hugged him tightly, kissing his cheek in greeting.

Well that was nice. It was nice to be missed, even nicer to have a lovely young lady kiss him on the cheek. Taking out a small box from his pants, he showed it to her. "I've brought you a present. I know we promised to see each other when I grew. I'm glad you haven't gotten too far ahead of me."



Standing in the shade, the child leaned against the nearby tree. He'd seen manly men do that all the time on television. Callix was sure he looked at least ten times greater than them any day. "I missed you too."

Coailiann took the small box and eagerly opened it, her eyes widening as she saw the gift. It was gorgeous! Not usually her favorite colors and it wouldn't go with anything she wore but...Well, she wouldn't say that. It was from CALLIX and it was a gift and...She didn't get any gifts, really. She held the necklace over to him and beamed, "Can you put it on me? Please?" she knew she wouldn't be able to work the clasp without seeing it.

"And...I'm glad! Yashi and Armel's company is nice...Specially when Mel kissed my cheek, that was nice...and the rock..." she coughed, "But you're so fun! and you can talk! And...you're bigger than me!"

The last thing wasn't as cheerful as the others...But, it wasn't scornful, either. She hated being short.

Callix walked forward to fumble with the clasp. He'd never messed with one before, but with a few tries, he'd figured out that hey, there was a hook that went into a hole in the necklace. Duh. When she'd explained that she'd eben kissed on the cheek, a strange feeling washed over him. Not anger, not disappointment, but something else. Something like a cross between frustration and anxiety? He shook his head. Didn't matter. Mel was probably stupid anyway.

"There." he said finally, the necklace flopping down to a comfortable position on her chest. "Lu said she found a couple, but she only gave me that one." Callix smoothed his hair with a free hand. He'd have to talk to Lu about that later. Better jewelry was required. Everyone knew girls liked shiny things.

"You're fun too. That's why I wanted to see you as soon as I could." The book suddenly caught his eye. "Are you learning something?"

She beamed as the red and black necklace sat on her rather flat chest right beside the silver and blue necklace that she had gotten for easter from her mother. The colors clashed, but the sidhe didn't seem to care at all. She really adored that necklace.

"Thank you, Callix. And yes. English," she scowled at the book, eyes narrowing into tiny slits, "I hate it. I hate it I hate it I..." she slipped into a string of unidentifiable gaelic before slipping back into her english, "Die."

A deep breath was given then and her smile returned, sweet as pie. It obviously wasn't a good idea to piss Coailiann off, "When did you grow?"

Okay, bad subject. Callix was suddenly very glad that he already had a decent grasp on English. If he hadn't, he wouldn't be able to communicate verbally, let alone in writing. Lu had helped him a bit here and there with extending his vocabulary, but his native language was always a favorite.

"I grew not too long ago. Just before Prom. A couple days, I think. What do you think?" The incubus turned about for observation, his new tail swishing back and forth. Even he hadn't seen that growth coming, and was quite happy with it. Wings and a tail!

"Very handsome," Coailiann said, smiling warmly at the young incubus. He really was, too, "A French gentleman."

And he really did look like one. Quite handsome, with WINGS...God, why did everyone BUT her have wings? She sniffed a bit at the thought and reached absentmindedly behind her to touch her non existant wings, "And you have a pretty tail, it's cute."

The young girl reached out to touch his tail, fingers giving a small stroke, "Can you fly with me yet?"

He was still learning to move his tail, and it twitched about sloppily at times. Turning around, he left the tip of his heart-shaped tail within reach of her fingers. It felt odd to have another extention of oneself coming out of his lower back. That would take some getting used to.

But at the comment of flying, he sighed. "No, I cannot fly yet. I tried it once, but I'm still not ready. I need more practice." Callix stepped forward and gave her a little bow, one he'd been working on since Prom. He'd been ungraceful then, and he vowed to be the best at it, if only to fly circles around Xo, or even Sei. "But I promise we'll fly as soon as I am able."

Looking up, he gave her a wink. Men did that all the time in movies. Ladies liked it, right? "And you are still as pretty as ever."

"Practice makes perfect," she quoted her mother, tilting her head to the side, "You'll be able to, I know you will."

A blush touched her cheeks at the compliment and she sat herself down on the grass, dress floating around her. She really did look regal sitting there, long hair falling over her face and down her shoulders. Her head lifted to look up at him, "You had a prom? And didn't take me?"

Callix nodded, though he looked as though he was being taken to a disappointed parent. Kay, to him, looked like he'd thrown her mother over a bridge for no real reason. In all honesty, he hadn't time to think of who to take, only that he was supposed to go.

He walked to her side and sat down. "I wanted to, but the invitation said 'Fa'e only'. And besides, I grew the day before. I didn't have time to think of who to take." Callix pulled up his knees and rested his chin on them. So many things to keep track of...

"Mm," she responded, keeping her green eyes locked to him, "Well, I suppose I can forgive you if you promise to dance with me sometime soon? I know I can't dance very well but it sounds like fun and..." she grinned then, "We could be like those grown up people on the television and I can wear a pretty ball dress thing and you can wear a tux n kiss my hand and stuff!"

That actually sounded really fun. And then if they did that they wouldn't have to deal with anyone else like they would have at the prom. Kay didn't exactly like large crowds of people, anyway. But she would have liked dressing up all spiffy.

"Just like in the movies!" Callix said, perking up. Really, it sounded like a fun proposition, but there wasn't anyone around that could be made mad. Like, Sei. Sei was fun to annoy. He was just jealous. Yeah, that was it. Sei was just jealous that his mother and Lethe liked him more. And Callix was quite proud of that fact.

Shifting around, Callix found a different, more comfortable position. "Kay, what have you learned since you grew? People have been asking me all sorts of questions, and I haven't been older for very long. It's very confusing." He gave a slight, mock frown.

"Yes, just like the movies," she confirmed, picking a flower and playing with the soft violet petals. Her attention was lost for a good while on the flower, fingers idly stroking the petals for some time before Callix's question made it through her dazed state. Somehow the flowers did that to her, but she didn't quite understand why. Shrugging it off, her head lifted and her eyes returned attention to the incubus.

"I have learned that I hate English. I have learned a lot of things, but what kind of things are you wondering if I learned or not?"

"I don't know. There was one Fa'e, some legless genie, he asked me if I knew of a dead relative of mine. I don't know anyone who died. Things like that. I feel...how is it said? Out of the circle? Something like that." Not that it bothered him too much. He hadn't gotten around to asking his Guardian about the death Riven spoke of. Didn't seem to matter much.

He shook his head. "Seems like the older ones like to keep all the important stuff to themselves. They don't want to tell us anything." Stupid Riven, not elaborating. Callix wished he could just know everything right there on the spot, without having to ask other, older people. They always filtered things.

"Oh...That kind of stuff. I haven't really learned anything but what I told you," she answered, reaching out to pat his shoulder lightly, "But I don't think anyone else knows 'bout my past so I don't know how you feel. It IS Frustrating when people won't tell you things. Or try to sugar coat them, though. Like when I asked how babies were made. And Airaka said Fish and Eggs..."

She made a face, "Daddy said we come from orgasms and that orgasms feel good. I want an orgasm..." she paused, then, and looked up to Callix with a grin, "Wanna orgasm with me? It'd make us both feel good. That's what daddy said."

Only she didn't know what it was, or how to do it...

Callix's eyebrows creeped up into his hairline. What? "I thought I was already an orgasm. Aren't plants and animals orgasms too?" He thought he saw once on the science channel a documentary detailing the smallest to the largest of orgasms on earth, and that everything living was an orgasm. How strange. Just by being, people make babies?

The incubus thought a moment. "I don't want babies if being an orgasm makes babies. But if we're already orgasms....I'm so confused, Kay." he wheezed, defeated.


"I think that's an...organism," she said, scrunching her brows together, "Daddy said that orgasms happen after sex and the boy puts tadpoles in the girl's body and...Do you have any tadpoles? I think they'd feel funny if they were put inside me. And..." she giggled slightly, "Tickle maybe? Maybe tickling is orgasming?"

The sidhe was highly amused. Tickling DID feel good - but sometimes it hurt too. She was confused, but orgasms would make people feel good and...They could probably both use something to make them feel better.

"So do you want to have sex and orgasms?"

"Tadpoles? I have TADPOLES?!" Callix jumped up, thinking he was covered in slimy creatures oozing around on his person. He shook his shirt frantically, tail twitching every which way, but nothing fell out. After a few moment, he opened up the top of a sleeve and peered down it, seeing nothing as well.

"Kay, I don't think I have tadpoles." Not disappointment, mind you, but still.

Sex and orgasms sounded like serious business if slimy creatures were involved. And babies? No thank you. But Kay insisted it felt good. Hell, if she wanted to feel better, at least Callix knew how to tickle people.

Coailiann couldn't help but giggling as the incubus fa'e jumped around and tried to dislodge the imaginary creatures, "I don't think you can see them, I think they're inside you. ButI don't know how they get out or why. Maybe snot or something is what they poo?" She had always wondered what snot was. Her little sister seemed to have a lot of it...Shrugging, Coailiann tilted her head and studied the young man.

"Maybe you can orgasm without tadpoles."

His tadpoles could poop snot? Is that why kids picked their noses? To clean out tadpole poop? "But if tadpoles poop snot, how come you have snot? You're a girl, but you don't have tadpoles." This whole business was quite confusing. So now he had two things to ask his guardian. Death and sex. Easy questions for an Older Person, right?

"Maybe you can. But how do you orgasm?" he asked, sitting down again.

"I don't know," Kay said, looking incredibly confused, "Daddy said men had tadpoles and women had eggs and they mixed together to make a baby. And then Orgasms and...It feels good and happens at the end of sex." She rested her head on her friend's shoulder and looked thoughtfully at a rose bush for some time, trying to figure out how to orgasm and have sex.

"I still think maybe tickling is because it feels good and you wiggle around like tadpoles?"

"I don't know either. It sounds really complicated." Wiggling and tadpoles and...it all sounded quite unsanitary. But the orgasming and feeling good and such, was getting dirty worth that? Apparently it was, since there were so many children running around. Were all the children products of sex?

So women had eggs and they liked sex because it felt good? "If you have eggs, why aren't you a bird? I thought birds had eggs." Maybe Shina had eggs too, because she had wings like a bird! So maybe there wasn't as much to this sex thing as he thought.

"Maybe all women ARE birds? But..." she went quiet for a moment and sighed, "I don't understand, it doesn't make sense. Surely it can't be that complicated if there are so many kids in the world? And people like it?"

One of her fingers was now absently twirling her white hair the way she had taken up doing when she was thinking. It was calming, to say the least.

"Maybe you should try to give me an orgasm? If I like it, I'll do the same to you!"

Callix's eyebrows crept higher. It felt good, and people HAD to have liked it, considering how many children were running around, filling the world. He liked Kay, she was nice and pretty. So why not? Except...he didn't know how.

The sidhe mentioned tickling, and she thought that tickling brought about this orgasming business, so why not? Callix reached to tickle the sidhe's ribcage, where he assumed she would be ticklish. This was all so very complicated. But no tadpoles were involved!

"I don't even know if I'm ticklish..." he said after a few moments of thinking. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to be tickled.

When Callix started the tickling, Kay twisted and writhed immediately, giggling and shrieking. She most certainly was ticklish, it seemed - and highly so. A deep flush came to her normally pale cheeks and she wiggled madly beneath his moving fingers.

Her breath was promptly sucked from her until the incubus Fa'e stopped his tickling and she was allowed a blessed gulp, "Well," she panted, small giggles still remaining as the sensation marked itself on her flesh, "That did feel good! Funny, but good."

With that, she dived at him in retaliation, fingers flying over his body to tickle him in an attempt to make him orgasm too. Or, she assumed what happend was an orgasm. It did, after all, feel good!

"Hey! I thought it was you who wanted the orgasm!" he managed, trying to gently fight off Kay's evil fingers. He'd never been tickled before, and lo and behold, he was quite ticklish. He tried to keep a straight face, while at the same time, trying to take to fight back into her camp.

But it did feel good, even if it did leave him sore from all the laughing. His Guardian would never find out about it, of course, because then she would hold it against him. And that couldn't be done. Finally, Callix backed up into the tree and huddled into a ball, wings wrapped around him so that only the top of his head stuck out.

"Orgasms are embarassing." he muttered.


Kay giggled and flopped back onto the grass as Callix curled up in the ball, "It only felt right to give you one too!" she answered, rolling onto her stomach and lifting her legs daintly to cross at the ankles above her. She didn't quite care about staining her dress - her mother could always get the stains out. Besides, she was having fun and she really shouldn't have to worry about spoiling her clothes...right?

"Why're they embarassing? I think they're fun."

So daddy was right! Orgasms DID feel good!

Callix didn't know he was so ticklish. Sure, he could let Kay know that, but icky people he didn't like? They couldn't know. Because then they would make fun of him, and he hated that. Coming out of his cocoon, Callix crossed his legs. "Because it seems right that boys give girls orgasms, not the other way around." A firm nod.

"I've seen it in movies. A boy tickles a girl, not the other way around. The TV knows practically everything." Maybe he'd spent too much time analyzing everything he saw from it. But now that he was older, he could question the older Fa'e. They would know, right?

"The TV DOES know practically everything," she agreed, giving a firm nod of her head. Most of what she knew she learned from the TV because she couldn't read english - and not al ot of things came written in Gaelic. Which was really a shame since it was so much prettier.

"But I don't like listening to the television or older people. It's stupid to do what other people say 'cuz it's supposed to be right. You gotta do what YOU feel is right."

Ahhh, the little rebel.

"I feel it's right." he decided with a grin. Besides, for whatever reason, it felt better when he was in control. He never knew why, but he wasn't about to dwell on it now. "But you listened to your dad about eggs and tadpoles and everything. How do you know it's right? Maybe if it's on the TV too, that means it's right. Because then that's two places that say the same thing."

Something about 'one is a liar, two is a conspiracy, three means it's true'. But Callix couldn't think of another source of information, so two would have to be truth. He wondered where they could figure this sort of thing out on television. "Lu has some of the channels blocked though. I don't know how she does it."

"But he didn't tell me to do something, he just answered my question," she returned, a smirk on her lips. See, she was right! Sort of. Kind of. Well SHE thought that she was, and that was good enough...wasn't it? Yes. Yes it was, she decided, and simply shrugged her shoulders, "But I think it's right because it makes sense."

Kay didn't like being out of control either - she liked to be able to command a situation. Not that she knew why...She just did. It would be interesting when Kay and Callix both grew up, for certain. Especially if they ever decided to argue.

"I think adults have magic that keep kids from having fun."

Callix leaned forward. "Magic? You think so?" That would explain why kids were always told not to do something, not to eat something, and not to go anywhere. How boring. So his Guardian lied to him when she said she had no magic! Liar! "How do you think they got magic to keep kids from having fun?"

Maybe God came down and said 'Let there be boringness!' and then all the adults got magic to keep the kids from having real fun. "Maybe that's why no kids have babies. Because the magic keeps them from having them? I like that idea, then. Babies smell bad and poop everywhere."

"Well, I think that makes sense," Coailiann pondered, gnawing on her lower lip for a moment, "I think you get the magic when you grow up and then it's your turn to tell kids not to have any fun because you didn't get to and stuff. But I won't be like that when I grow up. I'll give kids all the ice cream and chocolate they want. Because that's the nice thing to do!" A confirming nod and she beamed up at Callix.

"I like babies. Just not my sister. She's slightly annoying."

"I have a sister too. She's a baby. She's annoying." And so were so many other Fa'e, but they weren't related, thankfully. How embarassing, to be related to some of them. Disgusting even. But he supposed girls were raised to like babies because they were the ones who had babies and liked dolls and loved dress-up and princesses. Callix tossed a curious glance at her. "Why do you like babies?"

Maybe, secretly, Kay went home at night at watched Pretty Pretty Princesses and played with dolls, like Raeith probably did. Raeith was like a grown-up princess-loving statue with a horse and carriage. Kay was too good for that, right?

She pulled the most innocent look she could possibly manage, "Because I can tell them what to do!" Kay may have liked pretty things (Look at her dress, for heavens sake!) but she wasn't opposed to getting dirty or anything. In fact, she remembered distinctly getting into a mud pit with Yashima and having HIM throw a fit because he got dirty.

She snorted.

"Besides, we were babies once. I don't remember what it was like, but it can't be easy or fun. They only get to play with the adults. And Adults aren't fun."

"No, adults aren't fun at all. I don't want to be an adult if it's no fun." The teenagers, though, they seemed to have fun. At least, from what he saw. There were fights and girls and motorcycles and parties and having your own place to live. That sounded fun. Teenagers had the best fun ever, so says the television!

Callix looked down. "I don't remember being a baby either, but I imagine it wasn't fun. Have you seen teenagers though? I saw two get into a fight when I was younger. You see it all the time like on shows like Dawson's River or something. Are they adults?" He'd never really thought about it, and it wasn't like you could ask the tv.

She shook her head - She had never seen anyone but adults. Everyone else was younger than her or her own age. Maybe Callix could take her to go see teenagers at some point? The thought was amusing. She HAD seen them on television - and they talked back to their parents. Which seemed really, really fun. Because the parents usually didn't know what to do about it.

"Nuh huh. Saw 'em on the TV once. I don't think they're adults yet cuz they still have to listen to adults - but they're close? They're taller, anyway. And some of them smoke and stuff."

Ahh yes, he'd seen them smoking. Smoking and drinking and riding around on motorcycles with tight black leather and jackets that had skulls on them or something to that effect. Tattoos and staying out late were other things teenagers got to experience. "Smoking looks gross though. I've seen adults do it and it smells bad. Makes me wonder why they do it when it makes them smell like stale things."

He wondered if it was fun to be a teenager. Sure looked fun. "Teenagers go to dances too, like Prom. Do the ghosts have Proms?"

"You can't do proms? Babies are definately no fun then. Prom is where you see everyone again andyou wear fancy things and dance and drink punch and steal people's dates." At that last comment, Callix smirked. While he didn't really steal Shina away, he liked to think of it like that. Made him feel better about himself, that was for sure.

If all of the other ghosts were babies, then they couldn't do anything. Kay couldn't come to Fa'e dances because they were Fa'e only. There had to be some other way. Hands on his cheeks, elbows resting on his legs, Callix thought a moment. "Proms are on tv all the time, but ours didn't look like that."

"Stealing people's dates doesn't seem very nice," Kay thought out loud, kicking her bare feet slightly, "Maybe we could have a halloween party. It's soon, isn't it? Like two months? Maybe Fa'e and Ghostlings and everyone else can come that way we can all make more friends and have fun. And get candy....Because candy is good. It's better than trick or treating and going door to door..."

She had seen that on the television.

"And we could dress up and have games!"

Sei was just asking for it anyway. Callix thought, smirking inwardly. "Halloween? That's the dress-up holiday, right? Candy and games sounds good. We could get everyone together, and that way, no babies can come. What would you dress up as?" He'd seen several displays at local stores of premade costumes - a pumpkin, a witch, the grim reaper. But none of those seemed fun at all.

Bats and the like were the theme of Halloween, or so he thought. Maybe he didn't even have to dress up? Lu wasn't a very good seamstress anyway. Suddenly, Callix was glad Kay was never at Prom. She wouldn't want to see him torn to shreds.

"Iunno. I could be a princess?" She snorted. It wouldn't be much a change from how she normally looked, really. But then she could wear her older sister's Tiara and play with her wand and put her hair all fancy instead of having it hang down, "And I could get some fake wings...Cuz I don't like having no wings..."

Her hand reached out and touched his leather wings lightly, "Maybe you could be a vampire?"

His wing stretched out under her touch, seemingly of its own accord. Callix looked at it curiously. "I like vampires. I have a movie Lu doesn't know I've seen, where the vampire is French and everyone loves him. Maybe I could be him for Halloween. He doesn't have wings, though." But that was what made Callix that much better in comparison!

The horse and carriage idea had come back to him, but he wasn't sure if that could be arranged. Raeith looked like a princess in that carriage, but she sure wasn't dressed like one. "Why haven't you grown wings yet?" he asked honestly. He was born with them. Why wasn't she?

"What movie is that?" she asked. She may have seen it, sneaking into the main lobby to watch late night television while everyone else was asleep. That was great fun because she could watch whatever her little heart fancied, that way. She had an off fascination with old horror films, too - even though she didn't know why. She found them cheesy and the graphics to be unrealistic...But it was better than that...What was it? Buffy the vampire slayer?

And then he touched a sore spot. She flinched slightly and looked down, "Iunno. Maybe I'm deformed or something. I had wings in my past life. Maybe I'm being punished?"

Callix shook his head vigorously. "You never did anything wrong. Maybe they're just waiting to be big and strong when you grow again. Then they'll pop out of you and be sparkly, and then it will be worth the wait." He nodded at the thought. Never could he imagine not having wings. It was like not having arms.

"The movie was called 'Interview with the Vampire'. It has a blonde vampire in it, but I think I would make a better vampire than him." the child stated proudly, puffing out his chest. He could dress better too, and speak better French. The actor's accent was way off. "Have you seen it?"

"Doesn't sound familiar," Coailiann admitted, "But maybe we can watch it together sometime. And I think you'd make a good vampire. Definitely a handsome one. And they're supposed to be handsome, right? To lure the ladies?" She smirked a little bit, "That's why you like vampires."

The little girl sat up then, dusting her dress off to lose the grass that had stuck to it, "I hope I get my wings. They were so pretty..."

The incubus grinned. Of course he was handsome. That was a given. But really, was that the reason he liked vampires? Probably. Women liked them too. They must've, or they wouldn't write books about them and make movies about that. "Vampires are like me, only not as good. And vampires don't have wings or tails."

He leaned forward. "You'll get your wings. Is there some spell or something you could use to make them happen faster? Or is there something special you have to do?"

She shook her head, "I don't think so. I think I just have to wait. And that's why you're better then vampires. You have pretty wings and a cute tail. And red hair. Red hair looks good, I like red hair..."

She had only met one other red head and that was Airaka. Apparently, her father didn't like red heads...Unless he just didn't like Airaka...But she had no reason to think that. Airaka was nice.

"So if we have a halloween party, will you go with me and be my date?"

The boy smoothed out his hair in response. He liked getting complimented. It made him feel good. "You'll get your wings, and then you'll make everyone else jealous because of how pretty they are. If your prettiness is anything to predict by...or however you say it. An...indication? Your wings will be pretty."

Oh, had she asked him to a dance? He always thought it was the other way around. But then again, Shina asked him to Prom. Maybe girls liked to do that. "I'd love to be your date." He smiled. Maybe then he could make his own costume and gets flowers and everything!

Coailiann beamed and pressed yet another kiss to his cheek, "Yay! I'm glad. You're the only friend of my age I have. And you're special," she hugged him tight, then, and rolled back onto the grass, laying on her back. Yashi wasn't talking to her and she hadn't seen Armel since she grew. And god that was so long ago...She looked over at him, beaming brightly still.

"It'll be fun, I PROMISE I won't let you be bored! And we can eat all the candy we want and maybe get our faces painted."

"I'm never bored when you're around." he admitted, trying not to allow himself to blush under her kisses. Men didn't blush. He'd never seen it. Callix stood and walked to where she was, laying down carefully. He didn't like to get dirty, but the grass looked comfortable. Looking up at the sky, he smiled.

So Halloween was already planned. His Guardian wouldn't have any say in it whatsoever. And he liked it that way. "Maybe when we're older, we can throw our own party!"

"Yeah! And we can go out on dates too. And our parents can't do anything about it because we'll be Teenagers, right?" She grinned as her head turned to look at him, white hair falling over her small face, "N we can drive. And fly! Callix, I wanna grow NOW."

She giggled, then, and looked up at the sky, "Whatcha thinkin when you look up there?"

The incubus stared for a few silent moments, then looked back to Kay. "Sometimes I wonder how we got here. Then I decided it was too complicated and I think about my friends." He gave a short laugh then. In actuality, he'd thought a bit more about his origins, but not much more. Too complex and irritating.

"What do you think about?"

"Wondering if...HE is still alive, you know? I think he's dead. It was a long time ago but...You never know in this place, right?" she turned her head to look at Callix, "And if he's still alive, I'd like to be able to talk to him, I think. Because he hit me and I want to know why."

She had the vague feeling that he had something to do with her death - but she had no idea what the hell happened. She only knew that he seemed to really, really like her. Until he hit her, anyway.

He turned his head, curious. "You wonder if who is alive?" He hadn't anyone from his past he remembered specifically, except that woman, and a man. But other than the genders, he really wasn't sure. Nothing made sense. The shadow never said anything specifically, except that they were important.

Oh well.

Whoever she was speaking of, he sounded like a bad person.

"Prince. I think that's what he was, anyway...He...Hit me. He seemed almost obsessed with me but...I just don't really understand," she shrugged her shoulders, "I don't think I'm meant to, yet, though. Maybe I'll learn more later. I HOPE I learn more later. I want to know how I died. I know it was bad...."

Anyway, enough depressing things. The young girl took a breath, "If he's still alive you could beat him up for me and ride off into the sunset like a knight in shining armor!"

"I could! Would you like that?" Callix turned over to lay on his side. Someone hit her? He'd never seen a man hit a woman before. Sometimes he'd done bad things, but he'd never been hit. Lu never hit her daughter either. Maybe Kay did something bad and was spanked or something.

Maybe one day he would learn more about his past. Or one day he'd learn to pay more attention. Or something.

She nodded, "I was sittin' outside and lookin' into the fountain and we got in an argument...He insulted me, and I defended myself. He hit me, right across the face. Left a mark...I walked away, he yelled more. But I walked away. It'd be good to see you beat him up."

Coailiann blinked, "Did you learn stuff when you grew?"

"Some of it," she answered, shifting yet again to cuddle against him. Her past wasn't something she throughly enjoyed talking about but it was Callix. So she'd make an acception, "I learned I could sing and play the harp. And I could dance - even if I can't dance now. And I can heal things. Like, little things. But I learned about the prince and that I was...What they called untouchable? A pure one? I don't know what that is..."

But it had to be special because it kept being brought up.

She thought a moment. "I learned some things. I guess. I was shown a lot of pictures, but I didn't know what they were, really. One of a man, one of a woman, and one of a monster. I liked the monster a lot, but I don't know why."

The monster really struck something within him. He loved how it moved in the night and made all the men terrified. If Kay saw it, maybe she would be scared. The boy wasn't sure he liked that thought. He wasn't sure entirely what he thought of the monster. "The stuff about the Prince... is that what you learned when you grew?"

"Some of it," she answered, shifting yet again to cuddle against him. Her past wasn't something she throughly enjoyed talking about but it was Callix. So she'd make an acception, "I learned I could sing and play the harp. And I could dance - even if I can't dance now. And I can heal things. Like, little things. But I learned about the prince and that I was...What they called untouchable? A pure one? I don't know what that is..."

But it had to be special because it kept being brought up.

The boy sighed slightly. "I would think that would mean you were invisible?" Wait, no, that didn't sound right. Not invisible. What was the word? "Invincible." he corrected himself with the nod of the head. "Pure and white, I would think. Like bleach?"

Bleach made things white. He learned that from television. He learned a lot from television. Which reminded him. He needed to ask a lot more things, since no one would willingly hand over the information. That was irritating. "Is there anyone you can ask?"

"If I was invincible I wouldn't have died," Coailiann pointed out, furrowing her brows slightly before sighing, "But it doesn't matter..." a pause, "Do I smell like bleach?" the young Sidhe lifted her arm and sniffed at her armpit. No. Didn't smell like bleach. It smelled like that peach deod....Or whatever it was called that her mother made her wear. She shrugged then and looked up at him.

"Nope, my mother said she doesn't know...."

Which was quite irritating for her, as well.

"No one seems to know. It's not fair." he whined and leaned back, trying to get comfortable. It seemed that, no matter how fast they grew, everything continued to elude them, whether it was information, concepts or social events. But at least they could go to dances together. That should be fun, just like in the movies.

Callix looked down at her with a smile. "One day, they'll be the ones irritating to us. Then we can laugh at their faces when we know everything and they don't."

Somehow, that made him feel better.

Kay couldn't help but giggle at that, "Yeah! That'll be fun. We'll show them, right Callix?" her green eyes were alight with amusement and a smile had replaced her confused look. Well, at least the mood shift was quick, right? The girl reached for a flower and started playing with the petals idly, "I wish we knew everything right NOW though."

Coailiann didn't like not knowing things. She hated even more not being able to do things, though. At least she was able to walk now.

The Incubus smoothed out his sleeve absently. "I wish that too. That way, people can't change the subject on us and refuse to answer things, or simplify things because they think we won't understand. That's not fair, I think." Really, adults thought they ran everything. If children ran the world, information wouldn't be safeguarded. At least, he thought it shouldn't. If you needed to know something, then you should be able to know it. Like your past.

"Who tells you about your past, Kay? Can you ask them again?" Maybe they could team up and hunt down their tormentors and throttle them into telling everything they knew. As soon as he learned what throttling was.

"It isn't fair," she agreed, pulling petals off the flower now, "We understand more than they give us credit for, you know!" nevermind the fact she was slow at learning to read or write in English. Maybe that's why people talked down to her? She couldn't spell "Cat" to save her life? ...Okay, that was stretching it a little. She knew that "Cat" was spelled k-a-t but that was beside the point!

"Nobody tells me," Coailiann responded, looking up from the mutilation of the bud, "I had to watch. I was trapped."

At least he had a tormentor that spoke, even though most of what it said was never important. Referring to itself in...some sort of weird tense. What was up with that? Regardless, he shook his head. "We'll know when we grow again, right? I think so. I think we'll know sooner than everyone will think, and we can flaunt it in their faces."

Too bad they never knew when the growing would happen. If they could just... make themselves grow! Just like that! Problems would be solved.

That would be lovely, if they could. Coailiann often wondered if that were even remotely possible...But she'd always decided that it wasn't and tried to forget that she wanted to grow and get it all over with. She wanted to be older and wiser and on her own. Truth be told her house was becoming stifling. Her mother was over protective and all she knew were babies.

It sucked. Royally.

Hell, her fingers were even too small to play the harp correctly.

"It'll happen, and when it does, we should grow together so we can gang up on them!"

"Do you think we could?" Callix knew he had no control over how and when he grew, which he hated. But he always liked the results, from what he could remember. He honestly wished he had control over such things, because if teenagers got to have as much fun as he thought, that's where he'd be right now.

He leaned over again. "I think we should. But how will we know when we grow so that we can be together? I never knew when it's going to happen, unless you know?"

Coailiann gnawed on her lip, pondering a way to grow together. Unfortunately, she couldn't quite figure out a way and a frown settled on her features, "I'd like to, but I didn't know when I was goin' to grow. I just felt very sleepy and ended up passing out for a few days. Then I woke up and I was bigger and I could talk...Do you have any ideas? Maybe it wouldn't be as scary if we grew together and not alone."

The idea of passing out and having to watch more of that stuff wasn't exactly pleasing to the young sidhe.

Callix shrugged. Really, this whole growing thing was still a mystery to him. How it was triggered and by who? Completely baffling. "I don't know. I never knew either. It just...happened one day. But how about this - we promise to meet each other after we grow up and be teenagers? How does that sound?"

Sounded wonderful to him, anyway, meeting up after having grown into teenagers. Teenagers who were on the front of Abercrombie bags and magazine covers and television, with muscles and height. Would Kay be as pretty as the girls on TV?

"Sounds good to me. I hope it's not a long time. I don't like being a little kid. Adults always think they know better than you and...and...You can't do anything!" She laughed slightly before handing the half mutilated flower over to Callix. It wasn't much but there weren't any other flowers near her and she didn't want to get up at the moment, "Do you think we'll get boyfriends and girlfriends like they do on television?"

Because damn, that looked fun.

Boyfriends and girlfriends. He saw some of that, before his Guardian decided to block that channel. Kissing happened between boyfriends and girlfriends. Lots of kissing and hugging and holding hands. Callix supposed it looked fun, but he really wasn't sure. From what he could tell, girls liked it more than boys. He wasn't sure why, though. "Sure. We could get boyfriends and girlfriends."

He should ask about that. "So we promise to meet after we grow into teenagers? I'll try to find you. I promise."

"Yeah, we promise to meet after we grow into teenagers. Maybe we'll be that before the halloween party!" She beamed at him then, wondering how she'd look dressed up like a teenager at the party. Then again it wouldn't be much fun if the rest of them were toddlers, would it?

"Or maybe not. It wouldn't be much fun if we were the oldest there!"

Callix looked up at the sky and sighed. Looked like it might be getting late, and as much as he absolutely hated to leave her, he had to. Otherwise, he'd feel the wrath of his Guardian for being home late. It was a wonder that he got out of the house without reprimand. Shifting a little to make it more comfortable for her to lean against the tree by herself, Callix brushed off the dirt from his fine linens.

"Je regret, but I have to leave. Lu will be so angry with me if I'm late coming home. I do want to hear more about that party, though, and how we must look our very best. We have to make everyone jealous, non?"

A small look of disappointment flashed itself over the sidhe's face when he told her that he had to go but it was soon replaced with the normal smile at his next words, "Yes! I think I may go as Queen Frostine. From my favorite game..." Favorite because it didn't involve her having to spell anything and her mother read the cards that were involved to her. That was a nice little perk considering all other games in the house involved letters.

"I'll let you know after I talk to my mom, okay?" She smiled at him and leaned up, kissing his cheek, "And then after that we'll meet again more! We have to."

Yashi wouldn't talk to her.

In a truly gentlemanly fashion (or at least as much as he could muster without looking silly), the incubus took her hand in his and gave it a kiss, just like he saw in the movies. If he had a fluffy, feathered hat, he'd do that cool little flip they do when they put it back on their head. And a cane! He'd need a cane to tap on the sidewalk as he walked back home. So many things to do.

"I look forward to seeing you again." he said with a smile. "We will meet again, okay? Remember all the details of the dance. I want us to have the best costumes ever."

And with that, he backed up, trying to do a bow at the same time, but ended up tripping a bit. Before he could fall, Callix caught himself and scampered off, hoping she didn't notice too much.

Lethe PD

"You were VERY rude, Coailiann," Ianna chastised, hands on her hips in the no-nonsense way that mothers generally had. The sidhe was glaring at her from her position on the bed.


"He s--"

"I don't care. You do NOT levitate people you've just met for something they thought privately to themselves. It's not right, nor polite, especially when he was already dealing with things. Like finding a place to live and being told he's a father."

Coailiann furrowed her brows, "But.."

"No. You're grounded - for a week." A look of horror crossed the young child's face, "Don't even. No. A week - no apples, either. And no television."

Okay, that wasn't TOO bad, she could live without TV and apples but...."And no harp!"

THAT she was upset about. "But momma!"

"Do you want to make it two weeks?"

Ianna was being incredibly irrational and tears were flooding the girl's eyes. This was horrible! No harp? No apples? No television? What was she supposed to do? "No, ma'am..."

"Good." Ianna turned and left the room, leaving Coailiann to throw her own little tantrum. Good, let her. She could clean her room back up as an extra punishment.

Kay Tries To Learn English

Metaplot Found Here