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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Mar 26, 2018 18:56:01 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
He continued his examination, then realized he still needed to bathe himself so he slowly sank into the water with another humm,
"We can take turns watching the pot... It also helps not to have a bonfire for your stew, but that's just small advice, really." He mused as he began wiping away small bits of dirt that stained through his attire. He was rather attentive of his feet, legs in general, considering the bloody water he waded through. The dark blood still haunted him.
"As for the little one... well... No one's been raised here; maybe being somewhere absolutely miserable is the trick to having a Mother that stays alive and is good." He riddled on haphazardly as he looked off to her coat, then resumed paroozing Tilly's bare behind.
"Also; you realize if someone 'had no mother', I'd find their existence a bit skeptical. Even Madeline had a mother and she was a... Thing." The momentary pause and realization inspired a bit of notable worry.
He quickly cleared his throat,
"Proper-term would be 'has' no Mother." he clarified with a glib nod.
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Post by Vanitypirate on Mar 26, 2018 19:12:09 GMT -8
Tilly rolled her eyes, turning around pointedly so that he could admire the fact that she was rolling her eyes at him.
"Had no mother as a child, considering most people who come to the Hamlet aren't children anymore." She corrected, taking much satisfaction in that act. She set a hand upon her hip and noted him sinking in the water to wash the rest of his self, so she took the opportunity to wade next to him and tend to his hair.
She cupped a handful and gently rinse the side of his head, her fingers trailing after the water to comb out the inky locks. "...I dunno how to be a good mother." Her tone fell to something more casual, though she was quietly finding the words to ask,
"What do you think on all this? You've just been telling me how it's all do-able and all, not whether it's something you... rightly want." She shifted to be more behind him, to comb the back of his head. "I wouldn't have thought you to be the type to want to settle in and have a little sprout."
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Mar 26, 2018 19:28:08 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
With worried, then eager eyes, he watched his Love saunter over. His head turning slightly as she maneuvered behind him, when her fingers went through his hair he gave a small shiver and smiled as he rolled his shoulders and relaxed some.
Unintentionally looking more casual about the topic than he intended.
"I'd thought of settling for a long time but... Truthfully; a child was never on my mind." He admitted with a sigh, furrowing his brows,
"I remember them running around the fields and maypoles, poking frogs and... And they were happy. I used to delight in bringing... soaps and toys from merchants in my travels.
But I never thought of one being my own. As a Bastard, see, you're not rightly... told to make more offspring. It'd be more trouble than it's worth." He looked up to her, letting his head relax back a bit so more of his hair was readily in the waters.
"But I've plenty time and patience to handle trouble... I don't see it as trouble at anyrate, it's just another facet of Life, you know? It was all getting a bit easy anyhow." He sighed, though he spoke with ease, it was clear there was some weight on his shoulders yet,
"I'm not sure if I want this... But I'm also not sure if I don't want this. So it's two tides making a whirlpool, but I'm happy to set on the shore where it doesn't bother me at all." Lekalis offered a small, apologetic smile.
"I find myself lacking an opinion on the matter, s'why I leave it to you mostly; you're the one whose got to deal with the worst of it." He grimly chuckled as he brought his hand up to set his finger on her belly button.
"So : Do you want this?"
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Post by Vanitypirate on Mar 26, 2018 19:54:06 GMT -8
"It doesn't matter whether I want this or not." Said Tilly firmly, snaking her fingers through his hair. It brought her joy to do so, and it was a rare moment when he allowed someone to care for him, which made it all the sweeter.
She was working out the tangles.
"Nobody chooses to be born a bastard, or a peasant, or... born here. It's not the little one's fault; it's just up to us to do right by it. So that's what I want."
She still idly toyed with the strands of his hair, but her eyes momentarily followed his reaching finger before looking back to him,
"How's it feel for you, anyhow? To be a... y'know, a father."
The words felt so stilted on her tongue, but she said them regardless. She was curious.
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Mar 26, 2018 19:59:01 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
"Suppose it's pretty alright..." He shrugged indifferently, closing his eyes, though his temples flexed and his jaw went eskew in further thought,
"... You typically don't forget your Father, good or bad. I'm alright with not being forgotten." He tried to explain as he crossed his arms over his chest then winced as a knot was undone. Lekalis swore not to miss a whole week of bathing again.
"I don't rightly know what to think of it to be honest, what about you..?" He asked, popping an eye open to peer at Tilly with a smile.
"... What do you think it feels like to be a father?" Lekalis elaborated with knowing cheek as he let his finger on her bellybutton drift down...
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Post by Vanitypirate on Mar 26, 2018 20:11:58 GMT -8
"Dunno. It's easy enough not to be forgotten if you wear a flashy-enough cloak and make good friends with everyone, don't you think?" Tilly poised, tracing with her eyes the slight pulls on his face and mouth admiringly-- until the path of his wayward hand was made clear.
Quickly, she snared the wandering find in her hand and wrapped her fingers around it.
"You learn how to be kind from your mother, but you learn how to be good from your father, I figure-- morals, right and wrong, and the like." She brought the knuckle of his hand up and kissed it, with a playful wink of an eye.
"S'why I'm curious. Makes me wonder what you'll teach the little thing."
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Mar 26, 2018 20:20:25 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
"They remember the cloak, and the man that pays them. They don't remember me"
He clucked his tongue and looked to have stubbed his toe as Tilly pulled his hand away, though the facade melted away as she kissed his knuckle. Lekalis rolled his eyes away before sighing and narrowing his eyes at Tilly; knowingly ambushed in this conversation,
"There are lots of things I'll teach the little thing..."
Pointedly, he raised his finger to count off,
"... First, it's name." He rose a brow pointedly at her.
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Post by Vanitypirate on Mar 26, 2018 20:24:16 GMT -8
"A name's rather important, yeah. I could agree to that." Tilly quirked a frown at the apparent stubbage of his toe, and shifted to be more beside him, than behind him; his hair had been rather thoroughly combed and washed, and she couldn't help but admire how nice it looked in the sun when it was all untangled.
She put a knee into the sand, and bent the other for balance, kneeling. His hand was still held hostage, but she kept it loose between them.
"What else?"
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Mar 26, 2018 20:27:39 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
For a moment, he didn't seem to understand her. Then he seemed utterly surprised as his brows shot up and he shifted in his knelt state, his eyes trailing after her for a moment before they looked up to the borish sky, hidden behind a spotty canopy. Then, he rose his ring finger,
"... How to... Eat?" He creased his lips and hummed, counting on.
"Walking is a... It's a thing they teach too." He continued with some difficulty, he looked to his drying clothes hesitantly, raising the next finger which was a bit easier. Then, he hesitated,
"Do you... teach them how to breathe?"
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Post by Vanitypirate on Mar 26, 2018 20:34:17 GMT -8
Tilly smiled at his apparent struggle, amused, and then chuckled, teasing. "Ah, yes, breathing, eating, and walking: that's the sort of ethics philosophers debate over nowadays."
She tipped her head to one side to allow the water to flow over her hair, hopefully carry away the dirt...
"They tend to figure out eating and walking on their own...-- I mean more of right and wrong. How to be good. Life lessons of that sort."" She continued, probing, watching him.
"So what else would you teach 'em?"
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Mar 26, 2018 20:45:16 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
"You : Clearly have not been to Athens." He remarked with some theatric prudeness as he ran a hand through his long hair as a thinker might run his hands through his beard. He gave another troubled sigh and closed his eyes, letting his hands idly groom his hair out still.
"Greece as a whole, really. Or Istanbul... Constantinople, whatever." He grumbled and clutched his hands close to his scalp.
The Ex-Lord seemed to think hard on the topic at last,
"I'd teach her how to fight... Not with just her fists, but her mind. Quick wit has saved me more than my muscles, but they certainly help to carry out the witty bits I think about." He continued, his little finger idly massaging his temple.
"I'd start with arts and crafts first, and read to her in bed. It's easier to think when the rest of your body is tired..."
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Post by Vanitypirate on Mar 26, 2018 21:00:29 GMT -8
It was a new, interesting light he had been cast in: where he had to think on an answer. He seemed so dastardly confident all the time.
Tilly delighted in probing his thoughts, and she smiled at the cutesy familial scene. It almost made her woozy to think of it as part of her life.
"What abouuut... how she should she treat people? What'll you tell her the world's like, what sort of friends she ought to look for...?"
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Mar 26, 2018 21:07:18 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
"... Treat them as you'd want to be treated by them. World's made of want, everyone want's something... Friends are the ones that want to help you. You shouldn't need them." He mused, sighing as he happily answered the questions from his meditative state of mind; he bared his teeth for a moment and rolled his shoulders as he rose his head out of the water and gave a small shiver to the air as he turned to face Tilly in full.
"If raising a child's this easy, what makes you think you'll be so terrible?"
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Post by Vanitypirate on Mar 26, 2018 21:20:23 GMT -8
Tilly smiled as though she had been caught red-handed in some mischief or another.
She tapped at her temple with a long finger,
"It makes it look like I know what I'm doing when I ask all the questions." She responded cheekily, cupping her hand and holding her hand back to wash out the grime and salt.
It was a lovely, underrated thing to be clean. Not often did she truly appreciate the feeling.
"On the contrary, I have no idea what I'm going to do." She shrugged, shifting on her knees, switching which one bore her weight. "She'll be her own, whole, human being, yeah? And we're meant to get her to that point, somehow."
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Mar 26, 2018 21:26:40 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
"I certainly hope she'll be a whole human being..." He mumbled worriedly, grossly extrapolating the fear as he pressed on with a touch of madness,
"... Can they come out not-whole? Madeline wasn't even a human being! Can they be half-not-human-beings? Is that how centaurs are made?" He hummed, his theatrics subsiding as he tapped his chin pensively, taking the look of a philosopher again,
"That would be curious."
With that, though, he cracked a cheeky smile at her and rose a brow, shrugging,
"That's fair, though... We've gotten this far without really knowing how, you know? What's a few more steps." He assured her, his smile turned to a wry smirk,
"It's not quite like stabbing a monster, you're prettier than that, but I'm sure it's not too different."
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