[Hopetoun] Rule #1. Don't Die.

[Vega]

28th Ashan, 721

Vega pulled her shawl around herself a little tighter as the wind whipped about. Standing at Hope Point, she was looking out to the water and thinking.

It was rare that Vega stood still for any length of time, really, and she glanced down with a smile as she felt a small hand slip into hers. "Hey, Wren, you doin' ok?" She asked that in a friendly voice and she squeezed his hand. Wren looked up at her and thought about her question. He was so serious, Vega thought, and she waited for him to answer. "I am, yes. Thank you. How are you?" Vega smiled. "I'm pregnant," she said. Wren nodded his head. "I know," he replied. He sounded, Vega thought, a little surprised that she'd said it. They both knew it. She wondered if he thought she was banging on about it and that made her smile more.

"I don't know it," she said quietly. "Not yet. I mean, yeah, I know it here, in my head." She tapped her forehead. "But it hasn't really sunk in. Every now an' then, I'll be thinkin' about somethin'. Nothin' related. An' I'll think, 'I'm pregnant', out of nowhere." She crouched down next to Wren and looked at him. "It's weird." He considered this and then asked, thoughtfully. "Is it? Have you spoken to other pregnant women?" Vega grinned and shook her head. "Nope. Don't know any. An' anyhow, I've heard they're well emotional an' prone to tantrums an' outbursts. Who'd wanna talk to them?"

Wren nodded, thoughtfully, and Vega stood, holding on to his hand. "It's beautiful here, innit?" He nodded.

"Are you missin' your Papa?" When she asked that, he looked at her. "I'm not Hart's son," he said. "He's not my father." Vega smiled. "I didn't say he was. But he's your Papa, Wren. We've talked about this."

They had. Wren struggled with it a little, she knew. "You know my Papa, Wren?" He nodded. "He's not my father either." That caught the boy's attention and he looked at her with a question in his serious eyes. "My father, the man who created me, were Faldrun." Wren's eyes widened. "The Immortal?" Vega nodded. "Yeah. Old fire-head. But he's nothin' to me. He's less than that. My Papa is Joq'an an' he meets all the criteria for Papa in the world."

"There are criteria?"

Vega bit back a smile and thought about it. "For bein' a Papa, an' what that means? Yes, I believe so. You have to love the child, even when they're behavin' in a way that isn't even likeable. You have to put their needs above your own, an' you have to always, always, do your best. Even when it's not enough." Wren considered this, but he didn't reply. "An' that's why I reckon Hart is your Papa. Because he's not perfect, an' he's made mistakes. But that's true of everyone, an' he loves you."

Wren sighed. "Do I have to call him that?" Vega shook her head. "You can call him whatever you like, so long as you look at him with love, he won't care." Wren nodded. "You call him Pickle," he said. It was a question. "I do," Vega replied -very aware that she didn't want to answer it. "I'm not goin' to tell you why, because it's Hart's story to tell. But it's my name for him, because he's my friend." Wren nodded.

They were quiet together for a few moments, standing and looking out at the water. Then, Vega heard a call and she saw Jarad approaching. She waved when she realised that he was calling her and she was quiet as he spoke.

"Say what now?" Vega said and Jarad smiled a rare smile. "There's a bunch of cadouri here, looking for you."

Vega nodded. "Righteo. Come on then, you. Lets get ourselves movin'. No lollygaaggin' from the back row."

And they made their way back to the small settlement of Hopetoun.

[Vega]

28th Ashan, 721

"Oh, well, that's jus' an overload of cute right there," she said, as they approached the group of visitors.

"Al'right, Wren, you go do somethin' useful," she said. He looked at her and she grinned down at him. "You can stay with me if you want. Won't do you any harm to learn stuff. Up to you though." He nodded and then she felt his hand slip back into hers. Vega smiled, and squeezed gently. It was rare that he did that. Deliberately initiated contact with anyone, so she was pleased. There were five of them, it seemed. Vega looked at them and raised an eyebrow. Still, there was no going back now, she'd written to Saoire and asked for help, and then things had happened quickly. She liked that, it was goood.

"Mornin'," Vega said, walking up to them. "I'm Vega Creede, an' I'm right pleased to meet you all. This is Wren, an' he's going to be joinin' us." And then, they introduced themselves. First, "Good trial!" spoke a small hamster-looking fella."I am Herman, and I am here as a student of engineering and building, construction." Vega smiled. "Nice to meet you, Herman." Herman. Immortals save her. Herman the Hamster. Right. That was how she'd remember that.

The next one to speak was a cat with an eyepatc. He was quite tall, although his four foot height was still small to Vega who stood at six foot. "I'm Mad-Eye Macavity," he said, his voice low and deep and sounding almost gravelly. "I'm a glassblower, and have an innate sense of beauty and design." He smiled at her and it wasn't reassuring. Vega grinned, though, unable to be anything but delighted to see them and pleased beyond measure with their cuteness. "Which one is the mad eye?" Vega asked and Mad-Eye chuckled but did not answer.

Looking at the next two, Vega did a bit of a double-take as she realised that they were holding hands. Now, while that was both none of her business and not important, one of them was a two foot tall mouse and the other was a pig cadouri that was pretty much as tall as her. Wild images of how that worked in terms of physical intimacy flew through her mind unbidden and she focused hard on greeting them in order to get those images out of her mind. "I am Reggie McNulty," the pig-cadouri said. He was softly spoken, and well dressed. "And this is my wife, Mavis."

They were married? Oh no. No. She had to stop trying to work out how on Idalos they managed together in bed and realised that instead she was wondering what their children would look like. Mouse? Pig. Mig? Pouse? "It's right nice to meet you both," she said. "I am a smith," Reggie spoke with pride, "and Mavis is the best jewelcrafter on Idalos." Vega smiled at that, and all consideration of who went where, when and how slipped from her mind. Because this was a couple in love, she realised. Just as she proclaimed Arlo as the best cook on Idalos (and the best storyteller), so Reggie spoke of Mavis. At that point, the mechanics of it all didn't matter.

Finally, there was another cat. With a pair of spectacles. He held out a hand. "Rover," he said. Vega looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Rover? Are you havin' a giraffe?" He blinked. "No," he said. "That's my name." Vega nodded. "Right. Rover. Nice to meet you." She smiled. "I am here due to my business acumen and ability to organise."

Vega nodded. "So, I believe that I'm goin' to teach you all how to stay alive, an' you're goin' to help us with the Beacon of Hope, yes?" There were nods all around and Vega smiled. "Alright. So, lets get you settled in an' I'll show you where you've got space for sleepin' an' stuff, an' then we'll get started yes?" They seemed happy with that and so, she got them settled, ready to begin.

They had, after all, quite a job ahead of them. She showed them the area which had been prepared, and she apologised to Reggie and Mavis. "I didn't know that there'd be a married couple, we'll work things around an' make sure you two are together, al'right?" They nodded, both pleased that she'd done that. Vega gave them time to get settled in and she looked at Wren with a smile. "I am havin' trouble maintainin' my grumpy exterior, you know, in the face of all this cute." Wren nodded, apparently seriously.

"No one believes that exterior, anyhow," he said and Vega frowned. "Do I need to start bein' more obviously grouchy?" Vega wondered and she looked at Wren with a raised eyebrow.

"Um," Wren said and Vega grinned. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Careful what you wish for, there, little bird."

Wren said no more, but he leaned against her and Vega put her arm around him. They stood in silence and waited for the cute brigade to be ready for the first lesson.

And that was going to be, very simply put, rule number one. Don't die.

[Pig Boy]

Player Name: Vega

Points awarded: 10 xp
Magic xp: none

Knowledge:

Caregiving: Discussing feelings with someone can help them.
Caregiving: Looking at the positives of relationships.
Etiquette: Don't insult people's names. Even if they're a cat called Rover.

Renown: +5 introducing yourself to some of the foremost craftsmen of Saoire's school. Vega's name is likely to circulate there.
Loot: None
Injuries/Overstepping: none
Wealth Points: N/A
Consequences: Mavis confides in Vega sometime during the camping that she and Reggie have had trouble getting pregnant. Yet Mavis' mother has gotten after her to have children soon, so she can have grandbabies to dote after. It really seems to upset Mavis that she can't have babies, although she declares it's not for lack of trying. Enjoy.

Skill Review: All Skills used appropriately to PC's level

Notes: OMG cute overload indeed. I really enjoy Vega's interactions with Wren in particular, and you really play him true to his character from what I"ve seen. The talk about what makes a father a father was very poignant, especially given Vega's thoughts and experiences on the matter. She's probably thinking about what parenthood means a lot lately anyhow.

The Five cadouri were amazingly cute of course, and even Vega couldn't deny it, although her discipline was sorely tested. But even she couldn't hold back a Giraffe when she heard the bespectacled cat's name "Rover". I also like how Vega gave Wren the nickname 'Little Bird'. That's cute.

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