The Estate, Sidra, Glacia, Saturday Evening (Fandom Time)

[trigons_child]

With all the time differences between Fandom and Glacia, not to mention time spent in other worlds, keeping track of just what day it was could just be asking for a headache. So Raven was very much surprised when one of the staff told her she had visitors, and even more surprised when she went outside and found the wagon and its occupants waiting for her, bearing birthday gifts.

Much later, after making certain that all her visitors had full stomachs and a place to spend the night, Raven retreated to one of the Estate's sitting rooms, Philia curled at her feet. She clutched some of her presents to her chest as she read and re-read the letters from the children. She wasn't crying. The sitting room was just dusty, that was all.

[Open for those in Glacia or text/phone calls, but it's late, so SP will be in effect!]

Comments

[trigons_child]

With a complete lack of shame, Raven slipped out of her clothes, then pulled on the dress. The flowy bits made it a bit difficult to figure out just what went where, and she had to struggle -- don't you dare laugh, Jono -- to get it on correctly.

Finally she had it on, and she slowly turned in a circle. "Well?" she said.

[furnaceface]

Hey, now. Jono wasn't laughing. Jono got to watch Raven get dressed. Anybody who had an interest in buxom ladies would be insane to not appreciate the show, here, fumbling and all.

//... Bloody hell,// he shared, along with a pulse of raw appreciation, //I'm going to have to write Momoko personally to tell her she made very much the proper choice. You look stunning.//

[trigons_child]

That wasn't going to stop her from preening.

"Thank you," she said. "I think I like it very much. I shall have to wear it at the next Court function we are forced by Karla to attend."

She got a thoughtful look on her face, then moved closer to Jono, looping her arms around his neck. "I want to ask something of you," she said, "but you just have to promise not to laugh and to just allow me to finish before you say anything."

[furnaceface]

//Seems to me like a fair enough request,// Jono replied, letting his hands move up to rest on her hips. He couldn't think of anything she might say that would have him laughing at her out of hand, but then, Raven was full of surprises, wasn't she? //What do you have on your mind, luv?//

[trigons_child]

Raven took a breath to collect herself. "First, I wish to say I will understand if you say no, as it is no simple thing I ask, but I would hope you think about it before you refuse," she said.

The rest came out in a rush. "I wish to have a baby, a child of my own blood, and I would like you to be the father. I would neither demand nor expect any commitment from you, and you may have as large or small a role in the child's life as you wish."

Surprise?

[furnaceface]

Surprised! Jono didn't laugh at all, if only because that was exactly the sort of question to ask if you wanted to knock his mental processors for a loop. He did blink down at her, though, taking a moment to register just what all of those words meant, when strung along, one after the other.

//You want... to have... a...//

There went his brain, shorting out a little, again.

//With me?//

Okay, shorting out a lot. It wasn't that he'd never thought about it, or, hell, even that he didn't want it. He did. He wanted to be a father so much it ached. But there was so much in the air when it came to that sort of thing, not the least of which being his own genetics (nobody wanted to bring an exploding baby into the world, let alone an exploding Starsmore), and the fact that, even these days, even if he hid it well, he was still scraping emotional trauma off the walls every morning so that the hearth witches wouldn't get ill whenever they stepped into his room to change his sheets.

His want sat between them, right along with his worry. He wouldn't wish even a risk of his mutation on anybody, especially not a son or daughter, and while he doubted Apocalypse would ever make his way to Kaeleer...

Of course, he supposed Raven had similar concerns with genetics and large evil relatives to wrestle with.

//I... I'm not going to say no, yet,// he said, carefully. //I'm not going to agree to anything just yet, either. This... is something I'm going to have to think about. Something that requires a lot of talking first, I think.//

[trigons_child]

Raven nodded, relieved he hadn't just refused outright. "Of course," she said, smiling. "I know this is something that would require a great deal of thought."

And because hello, she'd met him, she knew some of the thoughts undoubtedly going through his mind now, and she moved one of her hands to touch his cheek. "And I know you must have fears -- as do I, for different reasons. But think of all the children we have seen over the years in Fandom, children who were happy and healthy and loved."

Well, except Anakin Bass.

"That does not guarantee anything, but whatever gifts this child may or may not have, he or she will be surrounded by so much love and protection and those who will fall over themselves to offer guidance."

[furnaceface]

Exploding babies, Raven. Baby-bombs.

//I know Elizabeth certainly was,// he agreed, leaning his cheek into her touch. //It is a frightening prospect, but...//

He shrugged his shoulders a little.

//I'd be lying if I were to say I wasn't tempted. Still, there's... a lot going on at the moment, especially with Karla and Warren expecting theirs, and a lot of thinking to be done. There's no particular hurry, is there?//

So much of his attention and energy these days went into making certain nobody who meant Karla harm could get to her while she was still vulnerable. He managed to keep most of the fallout from it to himself, the headaches and the nosebleeds, but that would be practically impossible if his attention was split between Karla's well-being, and... this.

[trigons_child]

Exploding baby with a healing factor! Or a baby with a fiery Soul-Self guaranteed to panic people in Jono's world.

"No hurry," Raven agreed, though she was feeling a bit anxious about it. "Certainly not before Karla's baby is born." She'd have her hands full for awhile with that as well.

"Think on it, and ask me any questions you may have."

[furnaceface]

Jono nodded, and then closed his eyes and leaned forward to rest his forehead against hers.

//I'm sure there'll be plenty that come to mind,// he admitted. //Mostly 'what-ifs,' I'm sure. I'm excellent at coming up with worst-case scenarios, unfortunately. I'll try to tamp a few of those down.//

Try.

[trigons_child]

Raven sent him the sensation of a gentle kiss as she leaned against him.

"And I am an expert at seeing the bright side," she said. Well, usually. "So I will counter any unpleasant thing you might think of."

Jono being Jono, of course, that was going to be a challenge.

[furnaceface]

//You've got your work cut out for you,// he murmured, returning that feeling with a gentle kiss of his own, //but I suppose you have plenty of experience with all of my chattering little brainbeasts.//

He paused for a moment, and then tilted his head a bit.

//If... you don't mind my asking, what brought this on?//

[trigons_child]

Raven shrugged her shoulders slightly. "I am not certain," she said. "I have imagined what it would be like to be a mother, particularly after times in Fandom when those impossible children appear. Perhaps it is all the time I have spent in the orphanages as of late. Or...just seeing Karla prepare for her own child. It has awakened a longing inside me."

Sparked by no small amount of Envy.

[furnaceface]

Jonothon nodded a little bit. He could understand that, well enough. He and envy went way back, after all.

//I think about it, you know,// he ventured. //Of, when I'm a little more stable on my own two feet again, not just very good at pretending I am, maybe adopting one or two of the children from one of the orphanages we're familiar with. Hell... almost brought home a little girl from Rapture, once, who was already thinking of me as her daddy...//

She'd gone home with Grace, and that was probably for the best. A forced telepathic connection between Lou and himself had been a blessing, of sorts, in the moment, but he would've worried about what it meant in the long run.

//And then there's Karla and Warren's girl.// He gave another wry little smile. //She thinks of you as The Kindness. It's fairly apt, I'd say.//

[trigons_child]

"She does, does she?" Raven said, smiling. "I like the sound of that." She'd touched the child empathically during her many checks to make certain everything was well, but she'd never had a conversation with her other than whispers of emotion, and she envied Jono for that.

"I have considered adoption as well," she said, a wistful look coming over her face as she thought about the many children she'd helped, and of the surprise they'd sent her today. "And I expect I will do so once I can arrange suitable quarters in which to care for a family instead of just myself and Philia. But I also wish a child of my own body."

Her expression turned a little more serious. "What do you mean, pretending to be more stable?" she asked. She wasn't sure if that was usual Jono-ness or something else.

And Jono-ness was totally a word.

[furnaceface]

Jono-ness was a perfectly apt word, that summed it up very well to anybody who had ever met Jono, absolutely!

//Heh... it shouldn't be that much of a surprise,// he murmured. //I'm doing better. Even in the last year, I'm doing better. There's no doubt about that. But I've got leaps and bounds to go before I'd consider myself okay.//