[Oba] Market Shenanigans [Dris/Tes]

[Fluffesu]

Painted Moose

He was trying to be better. And not because the Obans he took residence with told him to get over himself and how he could not actually be saddened that one of his former 'masters' was gone. They, on the other hand, had lost a son, a brother, a friend. They had reason to be distraught. And Teslaron's debilitating depression was apparently unfair to them in that regard. Though, more currently, they'd taken to using the word 'disrespectful.' It grated on him like no other.

Regardless, that wasn't why he tried to be better.

His household was full of scampering, dark-skinned kiddos even younger than himself. And when he did something... unsavory (like near drink himself into a coma), they fretted over him. And occasionally had to scour the streets and gutters for him. Not that Tes remembered any of that, himself, but it didn't sound especially uplifting.

So no drinking. When he went to the market, it was not for a bottle of the most vile-tasting, poisonous, beautiful, sweet sensation of numbness. It was for fruit. And this fruit would go in a cake, so that his unfortunately picky young siblings could have some semblance of healthy eating. They mostly liked things soaked in batter and fried in oil, and so long as Tes was out of sorts, that was what they ate. Neo was starting to develop quite a layer of cushion on her person...

Though, they might eat more greenery without prompting if it wasn't so damn expensive. But that's what came of living in a desert, he supposed. Unfairly high prices for things that needed to be grown in the dirt.

Such as it was that Tes didn't carry much coin on him.

But he was quick, and when he slipped around the back of the stalls, he was nimble enough to avoid detection so long as he didn't pluck up more than he could manage in one hand. Whistling, Tes strode down the street, tossing an orb of fruit casually up in the air, before he caught it and took a bite.

What? Maybe he liked fruit too. And there was enough day left to waste just a bit of time.  

[Painted Moose]

Fluffesu

Dris'rynne was attempting to come to terms with her quickly changing circumstances as best she could.

While her mind struggled with facts her already swelling womb had known for weeks, Dris'rynne moved through the market place. There was simply no denying her symptoms, and once a healer had confirmed her suspicions the young warrior's mind had been in panic mode.

"Congratulations, miss. You're going to be a mother."

She hadn't known if the older oban had said it cheekily, or if the odd look in her eyes was pity. This was the same healer who had been tending to the mercs for as long as Dris'rynne had been with them; the same woman who knew what kind of lifestyle she led, and just how horrible this whole ordeal was.The same healer who had been at her side during a necessary meeting to discuss future 'events'. Soon enough she wouldn't be able to lead them into battle, and for many months after the birth her second-in-command would have to take over. At first Dris'rynne had feared back lash. Would they brand her a whore, or see her as weak? There had never been any denial of her gender, but in the past it hadn't made a difference what had been between her legs. Now, however, it meant everything. A change in leadership, potential shifts in the way missions were carried out...

They had taken it well. A little too well, in fact. Several had started giving her parental advice as soon as she'd spoken the words "I'm expecting", and more than a few had offered to geld the father if she so chose. Their support was heart warming, if not a little intimidating. It reminded her that she wasn't entirely alone in this.

Especially after her family's reaction.

Dris'rynne had left in the other weeks of her pregnancy to visit with her family in Jauhar. It had been her hope to bring her younger sisters with her, that way the teenagers could get out of the house for a little while and Dris'rynne could have some much needed help. Her mother had refused. There had been talk of terminating the pregnancy and...

Well, the trip had been short.

And now she was back in Oba, with a little basket nestled in the crook of her arm as she perused a fruit stall. For now her tummy was small, still mountainous to the first time mom; a little mound against her normally wash board stomach, poking out around the flaps of her shirt.
 

[Fluffesu]

Painted Moose

The first time Tes' gaze scraped over the form of a young Shifter woman in the marketplace, he didn't think much of it. Oba was becoming quite the mixed bag of races, likely due to its superior marketplace and higher population of traders, and he wasn't about to take interest in every foreigner he came across. But from the periphery of his vision, he spotted a familiar array of crystals dotting the woman's shoulder.

And yes, they might have belonged to anyone, but it was enough to give Tes pause, enough to cause him to double-take, and enough for him to pace backwards for a better look. Sure enough, the woman was familiar, though her backside wasn't usually the first thing he saw of her. "Dris'rynne?" Tes questioned with a wide grin as he stepped toward her side.

Maybe it was just the basket that threw him off. It looked so domestic for a woman to be carrying any such thing through the market square, and it seemed so wrong on her. She'd never exactly struck him as 'domestic,' though maybe younger siblings did that you. His gaze flit from her face to her breasts on impulse, and likely would've lingered longer except...

"Gods, you're really filling out, aren't you?" He asked, staring pointedly at her stomach. "You sure you ought to be shopping around for food? I think you might need to lay off the snacks..."  

[Painted Moose]

Fluffesu

Undoubtedly certain areas of Dris'rynne's body had grown soft in her pregnancy. Even though she tried to stay active, the swordsman was unable to keep up with her rigorous routine, and had no doubt gained a little fluff around the edges. Not enough to be a true concern, but she wasn't happy in the least to note that her backside had expanded.

She picked up a long, golden fruit that she recognized from Jauhar. Dris'rynne turned it for inspection, then stilled, not bothering to hide her groan. That voice...Gods, why? Hadn't their last interaction been awkward enough? Must she suffer through another, especially when her life had already taken such a drastic turn?

She set the piece of fruit carefully back down with the others and turned to look at him. At the very least he wasn't openly ogling her, which should have come as a relief, but the area he had chosen as his next target wasn't much of an improvement. Dris'rynne shifted on her feet, and impulsively tried to suck her stomach in, which only served to give her a mild cramp, since this one was doing no such thing.

"Goodbye, Tes." Dris'rynne quipped, and moved to walk past him. She should have left it at that, but a part of her was feeling particularly cheeky that day. So, she stopped and performed a half turn, which inevitably just made her distended stomach all the more obvious. "As you can see, I'm a little busy shopping so I don't have time for this-" She waved to the general space between them, "-today."

Dris'rynne knew it would have been much easier to just be out with it, to tell him she was pregnant, but for some reason she didn't want to. He'd already poked fun at so many things about her that she wanted to keep it a secret from him as long as she could.  

[Fluffesu]

Painted Moose

Teslaron Elendel was not a blithering idiot. Sure, he was still mostly ignorant of all the things a woman's body went through when she was carrying one of the most precious things the world had to offer, but he still could (mostly) clearly recognize the difference between weight gain as it pertained to normal activities and that of the more special variety. Not that he'd ever had to deal with pregnancy in his own home, but he'd seen it elsewhere and already gone through the process of being laughed at, ridiculed, and slapped for calling expecting mothers 'fat.' Salena had helpfully pointed out one great difference after such an experience.

Babies sat lower.

And though he couldn't really say much one way or the other in Dris'tynne's case at present, they were also apparently shaped differently. He squinted at the Shifter woman's belly as she turned to gesture between them. Nah. It all looked about the same shape to him. Still, if she wanted to just pass him off as rude, that was her business. He'd pry later.

He hummed, took another bite from his own fruit, and quirked his brow. "My, my, you're in a mood today," he grumbled. "And by all means, keep doing what you're doing. I won't stop you, buuuut unless you intend to walk away now, I'd hardly cal it 'goodbye.' C'mon, it feels like ages since we've seen each other, hm?" He slid to her side, grinned, nudged her shoulder with his elbow. "You might as well tell me what you've been up to. Who've you been doing? Oh." He covered his mouth with the tips of his fingers. "My mistake. What have you been doing?" He winked.  

[Painted Moose]

Fluffesu

What did I do in a past life to deserve this? One moment he was perky, the next sullen, then it was followed by a frightening level of insanity. The last time they had spoken hadn't exactly been healthy for either of them, so to act as if it had been a simple meet up over drinks was disconcerting.

She bumped his hip with her own on an unconscious impulse. Dris'rynne re-situated her basket, as the added fruit had made it a little heavy. The shifter didn't have it in her to call him out on his crass talk, though she did give him a sort of deadpan, 'seriously?', look. It ended with a little quirky smile; despite her intentions. He was just too goofy.

"How about this. I'll tell you two stories and if you can guess the right one, I'll stick around. If you guess the wrong one I can shop in peace." She was so sure he would guess wrong that Dris'rynne almost had herself convinced she might be able to go back to her quiet musings. Who was she kidding, though? Even if he guessed wrong the likelihood of Tes leaving was as high as the sun imploding.

"I recently found out I am allergic to perzi-" She paused, "-or I'm pregnant."  

[Fluffesu]

Painted Moose

Though he hadn't been in any especially unsavory moods to begin with this day, Tes' face proceeded to light up like fireworks in the night sky at the prospect of a game. He beamed, despite making an effort to appear neutral while he mulled the offer over. "Mm... I'm not so sure I trust you to keep your word," Teslaron hummed in the least convincing disinterested tone anyone had ever uttered. "The last time I made a deal with you, you didn't exactly follow through..."

And that was some time ago now. The festival. His kiss- he'd worked freaking hard for that, damn it! Not that he'd really hold a pregnant woman to any such thing if she was going steady with who knew who. And what was with that, anyway? Wasn't she gay? Why had he thought that?

It mattered little. He waved the thought away with a flick of his fingers over the ends of his hair. And somewhere in that interim, his excitement managed to dim marginally. "Well, those are hardly stories worth telling, though I guess I shouldn't have expected as much showmanship as I did..." He huffed and plucked up her fingers. "What a disappointing game, Dris! C'mon, c'mon. More details than that! And don't bother with the perzi. You and I both know full-well you aren't, or you would've had lashback way before now."  

[Painted Moose]

Fluffesu

"I didn't follow through? You were the one who never claimed your reward." She had even tried finding him to congratulate Tes for his victory. How was it her fault that he would rather spend his time slumming it in backwater taverns? Dris'rynne had just assumed he'd forgotten; not that she was particularly eager to be kissed, but he had seemed to want it at the time.

"Fine," She snapped. There was so much frustration in that one word that it brought tears to her eye. She scoffed at the sensation and tried to brush it away, damning whatever God thought crying over everything was a good side effect for pregnancy. "You want to know what I've been up to? I'm pregnant, Teslaron, and as far as I know the father isn't even in Oba anymore!" Her hands shook as she gesticulated; in fact, her whole body was shaking.

Throughout this whole ordeal Dris'rynne had managed to stay sane; to keep moving forward and think about what needed to be done instead of having her 'oh no' moment. She wanted to let it die, and go on about her day, but oh no he just couldn't leave it be.

"For once in my life I decided to 'let loose' and go with my heart instead of my head. A few nights of fun, I said, let someone treat you like a damn woman for once, I said. " Dris'rynne threw her arms up in the air, kncoking several pieces of fruit out of her basket. By this point she was loud; not screaming, but so very close to it. "Then I found out I was expecting, and I wasn't mad at the baby or at him: I was furious with myself. How am I supposed to work and take care of it? I have to keep working to keep us fed, but what's going to happen to it during the day? I have no one in Oba, so I thought I would go to Jauhar and bring my younger sisters back with me to help. But GODS ABOVE, I can't do that, my family branded me like the whore I am and wanted me to terminate the pregnancy because THEY CAN'T FATHOM HAVING ONE MORE DAMN HYBRID IN THE FAMILY."

Now, now she was shrieking, and crying and Gods, she was a shaking mess. This time she didn't even bother hiding her tears; what was the point? As soon as she wiped them away more would surely take their place. "I'm alone, okay? I'm alone, and I just wanted to buy some fruit so I could try doing something good for the baby since I can't seem to do anything else right."  

[Fluffesu]

Painted Moose

She really was in quite the foul mood this day, and he was only teasing, as ever. Of course he could see that she was pregnant, and of course he'd assumed for some reason that it was a planned and happy occurrence, if only because Dris didn't seem the type to throw caution to the wind in that regard. But to his deep, deep horror, frustration at his presence devolved rapidly into actual tears.

Tes bit his tongue against anything he might've said after that, posture stiffening in shocked confusion. Because everything that leapt to the forefront of his thoughts was not especially inspiring. 'That'll teach you to think you can have fun,' or 'Eesh, if you were going to sleep around, you might've had the decency to keep it to your own race.'

He couldn't say any of that and found that he respected her just barely enough to not want to, despite the Shifter's clearly worsening state at the moment.

He didn't think before he tugged her forward, slipping one arms around her waist, and the other about her shoulders to string his fingers through the back of her hair. He inhaled a slow breath and tightened his arms around her. "The people who treat you like that... the guy, and your family, they aren't worth crying over," Tes murmured softly against her ear. "They don't deserve your tears or your upset."

"This should be a happy occasion. Children are wonderful. Accidental or otherwise. And you already know you are capable of raising them. You raised your sisters, didn't you? So I'm not sure what you think you 'can't seem to do right,' and I dunno what exactly you've done wrong, but.."

He slipped his fingers over her shoulder, and thumbed beneath her chin, gently turning her to face him. Tes pressed a light kiss to her forehead, and flicked at the ends of her hair. "Well, maybe calling him an 'it' isn't exactly a positive start..."  

[Painted Moose]

Fluffesu

Dris'rynne felt awful. She was being seen as a blubbering wreck not only in a public space, but in front of Tes, of all people. Soon he would pop off with some witty remark that would sound hilarious to him, but would really be-

Her breath hiccuped when he pulled her close. She couldn't say why she wrapped her arms around his upper torso, or why she held onto him so tight. "Well, they won't get my tears because they aren't here," she grumbled childishly, pouting with her tear stained cheek pressed against his chest.

Dris'rynne sniffled, and nodded. She had raised her sisters, when she was ten, no less. Which is why it hurt so much that she couldn't have them with her. It felt as if someone had robbed her of her babies, when she wasn't even a mother yet. "I'll have to hire someone to live with me to help with the baby, after finding somewhere to live. I don't even have a proper home yet." She allowed her head to be turned his way, a blush turning her cheeks a dusky shade of blue when he kissed her forehead. "How are you so sure it's a boy?"  

[Fluffesu]

Painted Moose

There, there... He rubbed his hand down her back and was pleased that either his attempts at consoling the woman were working or whatever wave of female hormones had overtaken her was passing. Maybe both. Whatever the case, Dris was clearly out of sorts if she thought it appropriate to hug him back. Full of surprises, indeed. But as the shaking stopped, Tes found himself calming in response and casually holding her a little more loosely, though not letting go.

"Oh, you can call him whichever you like, I suppose," Tes snorted with a roll of his eyes. "You probably know more about what's going on in there than I do, and, ah, I'd offer to help, but-" He blinked and glanced down at her quizzically. "What do you mean you don't have a proper home? I've seen you on and off here for... well, months. Where have you been staying?"

With little more warning than that, Tes came to the realization that he didn't actually know what Dris'rynne did with herself when he wasn't around. Girl stuff, he assumed. Shop, drink, attend festivals... Had she ever told him exactly why she was here and not with her family at home? Other than to just get away... "Do you... like Oba? I suppose if the state of things is any indication, you might've had a boyfriend here or some such, but why did you travel so far from home?"  

[Painted Moose]

Fluffesu

"I have a wagon on the edge of town, but occasionally I'll stay in the inn." Dris'rynne shrugged her shoulders. Before this it hadn't seemed like such a big deal; she had been working too much to really put down roots, and it wasn't as if she had a lot of her own things here anyway. "Most of my things are still with my family in Jauhar, even they haven't burned it all by now."

She wouldn't put it past her grandfather. He despised Obans, and hybrids had always been a close second. It was why she had prayed he wouldn't be there when she returned, though the fates hadn't been nearly so kind...

"It's..." Dris'rynne shook her head. There really wasn't any sense in lying, not when she had been so open with her emotions just moments ago. "My step-father is a trader, and I came here with him to escape my mother for a while. She didn't take kindly to finding out that my birth father left her for someone else...even had hybrid kids by her. I was supposed to go back, take up the family business, marry well..." Dris waved her hand dismissively.

"Taking up those swords was the first act I've ever chosen for myself, and I didn't want to give it up." She took a step back, out of the loose hold he'd placed on her, and bent to start retrieving her fallen merchandise.
 

[Fluffesu]

Painted Moose

Teslaron squinted. He didn't mind camping. It was a unique way to pass the time and an activity of moderate interest at that, if there was nothing better to do. But by this point he'd had enough experience with living with camping (during his travels across Jauhar, Tale, and Sauti with Dovev), that it seemed especially unsavory to do for long periods of time. Seldom was there a kitchen available while camping.

He crinkled his nose at her and tried not to grimace.

"Well, that sounds..." Desperately displeasing. It occured to him not to say it, but the time to mince his word had passed. "Terrible. Very terrible. How do you cook? Where do you wash your clothes? Where do you-" With startling realization, he peeled his arms away from her and took a step back, expression clearly that of disgust. "Where do you wash yourself?" He doubted wagons at the edge of town had water pumped in from the oasis, and inns were an entirely different kind of sketchy.

Maybe that wasn't important right now (though it did seem like it). He eased back and made a great show of dusting his hands on his pants, as though he'd touched something quite nasty.

"You'd think if you found a place you were interested in staying, the least you could do is set up a proper base of action. If you were going to go back, temporary is fine, but you've been here for months. Living out of a wagon. Does that not sound... gross to you?"  

[Painted Moose]

Fluffesu

Dris'rynne rolled her eyes and reached for a particularly spiney fruit, one that nipped her fingers when she tried to touch it. It took several tries to roll it close enough so that in one hurried swoop she could place it back into her basket. "You do realize that Oba has public bath houses, right?" From her current angle she couldn't see him, even if she were to look up. Her good eye was focused on the task at hand. "I eat what I can, sometimes I buy a warm meal, and I pay others to wash my laundry when I cannot do it myself. Are there any other questions about my base living that you want to ask?"

She didn't live in extravagance, nor did she have others to help her tend to her matters. Occasionally she would stay in an inn just to remember what sleeping on a bed felt like, but beyond that Dris'rynne felt she had little to quarrel over. "There are much, much worse ways to live." The way she said it was most indignant, as if she were trying to prove it was so much better than it actually was. Seeing him wipe his hands, though - it made her wonder if it really was bad.

"What would you have me do?" Dris'rynne sat back on her haunches, and looked up at him now, fully taking him in. "What landlord will rent rooms to a foreign shifter who makes her living slaughtering Obans?" She stood back on her feet with a tired little sigh. "Look, if you're going to keep blathering on, can we speak of something productive? Do you know anyone who could actually help me? I need to find someone who is good with children."  

[Fluffesu]

Painted Moose

The thing about public places was... Well, that was the thing. They were public, and the public was one of the filthiest, most unpleasant places to do any type of intimate business, such as bathing. "No, no, no. One thousand times no. Do not even insinuate that you've made use of- Oh, gods, wait. Even worse, you're going to subject your infant to- Oh. Oh, no. Oh, gross. You must realize that putting a poor wee defenseless child into any such situation is like throwing a hooker to a pile of convicts. It's not going to end well. And everything scuzzy that gets wiped off by some slumlord is going to end up right of your poor baby's skin." Vile. Bathhouses were great and terrible harbingers of filthy peasant poison. Tes shuddered, shook his head, and squirmed as if he were looked at something covered in slime at that very moment.

Of course, as a slave, he'd never had any private rooms of his own, but since Tes had always been very visible in his duties and often prepared food for his masters, personal upkeep had been of great importance. And still was.

He was probably more fortunate in that regard than many of his brethren, though he severely hoped not. Taking care of your personal belongings just seemed like proper etiquette. Even if your personal belongings had a razor tongue and penchant for wanting trouble. Tes groaned softly, and rolled his eyes by way of agreement. Worse ways to live, indeed...

"Anyway, have you considered not telling your landlord that you're a murderer? Or if you aren't interested in living under someone else's roof, you could always build your own house. Though, in all honesty the real estate market in the lower corners of the city really isn't terribly overpriced. You could probably afford to buy a... temporary place. In case you ever did want to leave... And if you can't afford it now, it does look as though you still have several months to remedy that. And since you do have a while yet, maybe don't focus on the childcare part until it's a little closer to becoming an issue."