Welcome to Gaia! ::

A soft cry pierced the mostly silent apartment, startling Cody awake from his nap. Still groggy, it took him a few minutes to sort through what could possibly be crying and where he was. Yes, he’d been living with Edes for some time now, long enough to call the place a home and make it look as such but occasionally he forgot. Mostly it was because of the two new additions to their home waking up multiple times in the night for one reason or another. Well, more one than the other and it was because of this child that he rolled off the couch and rose to his feet. Stretching out the kinks in his muscles and wings, he wandered up the stairs to the room where the softly crying child rested.

Edes had taken Fennel out for a bit of shopping and to hopefully let the two at home do something he was pretty foggy on in reasoning. Sleep deprivation and his new odd sleeping schedule had thrown him through a loop, making the days and nights blur together in some places. It was only because of their sloth genes from their “mother” that allowed the twins to sleep more solidly through the night and day. That didn’t mean they both took heavily after said sin, no, far from it. In the weeks that followed their birth, Cody quickly noticed the twins acted very little alike. Faedessi, the girl of the two and the one currently upset about being hungry, seemed to act more like her greed side while Fennel took after sloth.

Of course, both seemed to use their virtues just as often as the other and had taken some time to realize Faedessi wasn’t as bratty and angry when she didn’t get her way. She never actually seemed to hate her brother, just got upset and cried as a way to manipulate her parents into getting what she wanted. It was the strangest thing to watch, almost as if she couldn’t actually hate anyone like Edes could. Still, it didn’t stop her from demanding attention and grabbing at items like Cody was sure he did when he had been roughly her age.

“It’s alright Fae, I’m here now. Are you hungry?” Cody murmured softly, picking the sobbing girl up into his arms. She said nothing, continuing to cry softly as her father carried her downstairs. As she was handed her a pink bottle her crying finally ceased, little hands grabbing at the object. Chuckling softly, he let her take it and carefully adjusted his hold on her as he did so. It was hard to think anyone was like this at some point, even himself. To be so completely dependent on the acts of another to the point of hopelessness was a little surprising and awe inspiring. And some day, she was going to grow up and be as old as him and have her own family possibly. The thought made him feel even older and fearful to the future.

What if he did something wrong in those years? She was going to grow up fast, meaning he didn’t have a whole lot of time to fix mistakes and replace them with happier memories. He practically panicked at the thought as he rocked her back and forth slowly on his way to the living room. Such thoughts often plagued him, even more now than before. Edes often reassured him that he’d be fine and hell, even his mom said there was little to worry about.

But that was just what he did, worry. “Da? Da?” Faedessi whined, nearly dropping the bottle to the floor to tug at his shirt. Thankfully Cody managed to catch it and set it on the end table via his wind magic without juggling her around. “Yes?” he asked with a sigh of relief when it didn’t topple over. Another good thing, he was adept enough at his wind magic to manipulate it on a moment’s notice. Unfortunately, he rarely had the time to calculate anything he did and caused his effort to go to waste occasionally.

“Down?” Chuckling, Cody knelt down and set the girl on the floor near where a few of her toys still laid from when she was playing with them earlier. Well, even if he did manage to screw something up later on, for now he was pretty sure he could handle things. Especially if most of her demands were to be carried, fed, and loved. Suppressing a yawn, Cody lowered himself to the floor next to where the small girl played. Despite her looking so much like him, it was all he could do to hope she didn’t do half the things he had done.

“Da?” Faedessi asked, holding out a toy to him. “Hm? You want me to play too?” he asked, laughing softly as she nodded. Yeah, he could handle things now. Hopefully later his luck wouldn’t change.

((Words = 824))

"Hm..? Yes Fae?" Cody asked with a yawn, feeling the insistent tugging on his arm and waking from a much needed nap. Work had him pull an all-nighter and Edes had insisted he watch the kids while he went off to work. Naturally the greed spawn had to agree, figuring the twins would lie down for a nap, as usual, and he could rest.

Apparently not. "Da! Dada!" Faedessi whined, tugging on his arm even more and even standing up on her own. This shocked him out of sleep in an instant. "Fae..? You-," before he could finish a book was thrust into his face with yet another cry of some unintelligible word demanding he read it.

"Up! Dada!" Faedessi whined, hands already high in the air as she waited to be picked up. "Well hold on a minute. Weren't you saying No and crawling around last week?" Cody laughed. It was startling how quickly the twins were growing. It was only a month ago when they started actually speaking. Broken words with little meaning, yes, but it quickly transformed into short phrases like up, mama and dada. Or "NO!" in Faedessi's case. From there they had started learning how to walk, albeit slower due to frequent needs for naps and the like.

Still, they were only a few months old and it was apparent Fae took after him more than Edes in both looks and personality. Probably why she latched onto him and refused to share him as often with her brother. It was... odd at first, he had to admit. "Alright, alright, I'll read you a story, geesh," Cody laughed as he sat up and pulled her onto the couch next to him. Fae instantly snuggled up next to him, thumb popping itself into her mouth and tail flopping lazily onto the remaining space on the couch.

"You're adorable Fae. Anyways... Once upon a time there was a princess who lived in a castle far, far away..." Cody smiled at the story. She always made them read it and he had it practically memorized. He was pretty sure it was because the princess wore a pink dress and had curly hair. Or maybe the reason was it was the only princess story they had at the time. Whatever the reason, he didn't mind reading it so long as she was happy.

"The end," Cody finished and closed the book. Looking over at his side where she had curled up at, he found the girl completely out cold. "Good night Fae," he murmured as he lightly stroked her hair. Faedessi frowned slightly in her sleep and moved closer to him. Now completely unable to move without potentially waking her, there was little he could do other than resume his nap he had been woken up from.

Cody yawned and gently set the book down on the end table. Settling into the couch to find a comfier position, he fell asleep pretty quickly with his daughter curled up and napping next to him.


((Words = 503))