#honourable mention: Styxx Morrians

[brooklynislandgirl]

12 - What’s the best memory of your father? // 15 - Do you want to parent like your father parented you?

Father Knows Best Is Not True || -

Beth leans against the jeep because she can still fit behind it’s wheel. Lunch had been a nice treat but when Vivian starts to ask...those...questions, Beth can only guess that either she misses her own, or that she thinks Styxx will fix everything wrong between the Admiral and Beth herself. It won’t. Mostly because she has absolutely no intention of letting that man anywhere near her son. Nor will she allow Z’s father either. No one really needed grandfathers.

“My bes’ memory, is no kine dat exist. I barely remember him from childhood, he spent mos’ of his time on his ship an’ wen he did come home, he would avoid me. He terrorise my maddah. He was terrible t’ everyone around him...an’ when I was sixteen...I lef’ home. Las’ time I even saw him was my braddah’s funeral. I t’ink dat pretty much says all need be said about dat.”

And she feels bad, that was more than Viv probably wants to hear. So she softens her tone and shakes her head. “Naw. Like I said...he was a terrible man, an’ we...Z and I...didn’t have to work so hard for dis...” And she cradles the bump that was her son, “jus’ to ruin it. To be as neglectful an’ abusive as he was t’ me an’ Andy. So no...if any t’ing, I’m gonna be da dead opposite kind of parent. I’m going to love my son, gonna be understandin’ an’ patient wi’ him, an’ see dat he has da bes’ life we can offer.”

[brooklynislandgirl]

20: Is your muse good at picking up on others’ flirtation/sexual advances or are they oblivious? (asked from whichever boy or girl takes la fancy)

Little More Conversation || Accepting

Beth’s hands stop stirring the brownie batter when Hannah asks the question, but she doesn’t look up. If anything, she squeezes her eyes shut and swallows down the lump in her throat. She shifts from one bare foot to the other and Hannah could easily be forgiven if she thought maybe Beth hadn’t heard her. Or that the red-haired teen had somehow overstepped invisible, inexplicable boundaries. By rights, she should have told the girl it was better to ask her mother or an auntie, but isn’t that sort of what Beth is?

Hannah is friends with the boys; Noah and Styxx. She is visiting from Tennessee, and maybe she just needs an outside perspective, or maybe she’s testing the waters, gleaning insight from the only other female in the house. Beth could never imagine her being so candid with Zarek. Or even as sensitive as her son can be, this is not the kind of thing anyone would ask him, and she thinks this as his doting mother. She sets the spoon aside, looks up, and inclines her head graciously to the girl before she comes around the counter, and sits beside her. One leg crosses over the other, foot tucked behind an ankle. She wipes her hands on a dishcloth. What Beth is doing is stalling and they both know that. “When I was your age,” she says slowly, carefully, recalling many years back, now. “I wasn’t the person you know now. If you can imagine, I was cripplingly shy, completely uninterested in boys or girls...or anything, really. When I thought about the future, I imagined I would be a doctor, and my brother would be an officer...Captain, maybe, or even on his way to becoming a General. Or maybe he’d follow in the Admiral’s footsteps and becoming a senator for New York.  “I’d already been accepted to Columbia and several other colleges for pre-med, and the mainland was so very new to me. I was probably too afraid, too busy getting my feet under me to notice if anyone tried to make gestures of affection. I spent almost all of my time studying, working hard. I barely had time to go anywhere with my hanai-sister much less anything else. “Eventually, Andy had his accident and there was a long time that we believed he’d died, and that put me in a very dark and terrible place. Eventually I came here, to New Orleans, and met Zarek.”

He’d tried to kill her. Right after or maybe during her trying to kill him, so that was fair. He tried to drown her. He called on Sin to pass judgement over her. He’d sent her away. Then he’d gone and found her and brought her back. During that trip, Sin had murdered her, but not before she and Zarek had consummated their relationship, though those are all details that she is not going to tell the girl. “Eventually, as sometimes happens, he married me, and we ended up having Styxx.  We both made some mistakes...” She still can’t say Garrett’s name without dying a little on the inside of shame, especially when she’d mistaken friendship for an advance. Moreso that she contemplated it for a whole five seconds. She also learned to stop asking if her husband loved her.

“...but here we are. I don’t think I ever really noticed that Zarek was flirting with me, at least not the way you see it in movies or read it in books. And the only time I ever saw Andy have to try was with Seren. So, I guess you could say...I’m the oblivious kind. “But I don’t think you really care about that, and it’s not why you’re asking. Girl to girl... do you think Noah’s flirting with you? Has he said anything, or has his behaviour changed toward you? Or is it someone else?” Beth’s perfect English drops into her more comfortable pidgin for the first time ever, something that could be mistaken for the local creole. “Go on, tell Auntie, make ya feel mo’ beddah.”

[brooklynislandgirl]

♥ Do they make it a point to eat at lease one meal a day together with their partner, or do they do as they please?

Love and Courtship || Accepting

Sometimes a meal in a single day is all that Beth can manage, depending on verse.  As an emergency room nurse, Beth works the 7pm-7am night shift, which means she leaves for work between 5pm and 6pm {the extra time built into her schedule to accommodate the subway running behind}. She also tends to work most holidays. When she is strictly running her own clinic as a nurse practitioner or doctor, then her schedule becomes much more flexible. Beth doesn’t cook, and so she relies on her partner for that. If she doesn’t have one, she will rely on her brother{s}, roommate, or the house-keeper/cook. Otherwise, there’s a kingdom of take-away cartons in her fridge.

If scheduling doesn’t permit a meal to be taken together, she will find other ways to spend quality time with her partner; a long bath, close-cuddling before the other has to get up and out of bed, a phone-call or text/time spent in a video conference.

Food though is a kind of love language for her, especially culturally. She’s used to having large gatherings where everyone contributes to a communal meal. She still prefers these kinds of meals here on the mainland, and they are especially important to her during the holidays, which she might celebrate a little early or a little late, to ensure that everyone who wants to can be a part of it. Beth also spends her days off volunteering to work in her church’s soup-kitchen, whether that means she’s serving, doing prep-work, or clean up. Sometimes, if it’s slow going, she will sit with parents of babies and small children, helping feed them or keep them entertained while the parent{s} eat.

As she is vaguely dependant on her partner on what they are having, if someone is kind enough to make her a meat-based meal, she will not complain and will, in fact, eat it graciously and gracefully, even though she is primarily pescatarian. Other than personal preference, she has no dietary restrictions or needs.

One of the interminably awful, most torturous events for Beth is having Dinner with the Admiral, which is typically a once a month standing date. As unfair as it is to her partner, she tends to need a very long run up to, and severe after care from this event as it is viewed by the man to be open season on his daughter, and he will run her down in every way possible over the course of three and a half to four hours.

Side-note: Though she sees food as culturally important, and will shove snacks at anyone who will take them, surprise people with baked goods and the like from local businesses and the like, she herself doesn’t eat much or regularly unless someone does sit down with her. She also has a hummingbird metabolism and could eat the same portions as two people twice her size.

Side-Side note: When Beth was pregnant with Styxx in A Little South of Heaven {Main} Verse, her son insisted on her becoming a very hands on carnivore. A lot of red meat, the rarer the better. She has not yet emotionally recovered from this.

~*~

Specifically in Across the Universe {Star Wars} and it’s AUs... Anakin and Keni almost never have the luxury of being in the Temple at the same time together, and haven’t for years, much less able to carve out enough time to eat together. Things were simpler when they were younger, and were in the same youngling clan. During their early years of training they would have go to the smaller breakfast rooms set aside for them on the rooftops. On nice days the transparisteel windows would rise into the ceiling to let in sunshine and fresh air in, allowing them to experience a cool breeze while still being surrounded by the safety of the Temple and it’s guardians. Occasionally Jedi masters would join and speak to them, in what they believed was a privileged visits, but what actually turned out to be clever interviews to look for potential future padawans. Anakin and Melakeni would always find a way to sit together, whether directly beside or directly across. Food was passed from one to the other as favourites were decided upon. This sharing of food didn’t stop as they got older, and instead began to take meals at one of the refectories scattered around the temple. The refectories always had a kitchen and a dining hall, and were supplied from the Storage level and the kitchen gardens. When she feared not being chosen by a Master, Keni thought she wouldn’t mind working in the gardens, and could maybe at least catch a glimpse now and then of Anakin. While the refectories were designed for beauty, they maintained a sense of utilitarian purpose. They were connected to the service corridors, were attended by droids who would hover around the rooms to clear away spills, forgotten dishes, and to dispose of any undesired waste. The kitchens were large enough to service over a hundred Jedi at a time. Large stoves and ovens lined the walls. The dining halls themselves were filled with long trestle tables and accompanying benches. Holodisplays hung along the pillared walls to show news from across the galaxy. Meals there were often sombre affairs for the two of them, who never really fit in with clusters of other padawans. Especially the ones who decided to pick on Anakin and mess with him, or his food tray. 

Later, the closer that they came to the Clone Wars, whenever Anakin returned to the Temple and Keni happened to be there, she would find a way for them to end up in her quarters. After their ritual re-acquaintance which largely consisted of Anakin standing there while she breathed him in and nuzzled his throat and petted or stroked every bit of him that was polite, he would often bestow upon her off-world treats that he had acquired, though none so rare as the occasional wullah fruit picked up from traders who exported it from Zelos. Other times they would smuggle tidbits out of the refectories to share later, things nibbled off one another’s fingers, usually fruit and vegetables. Occasionally a bit of bread or special pastry.

In later years, after the fall of the Order and the rise of Imperial Rule, Palpatine cleverly arranges social gatherings and it is rare that they are both allowed to be in attendance. But still, they manage. When it is possible, they do share meals together. Keni continues to threaten the Impending Doom of both cooking him a meal and making one of him.

Anakin continues to hope that she will.

Side-Note:  One thing that has never changed in all of their years together, Melakeni always shares her food with Anakin because she doesn’t technically need as much as other humans, and because she is, in fact, biologically capable of photosynthesising, and able to survive up to three months or so of going without anything more substantial than sunlight.

[brooklynislandgirl]

elder: if you had a fairy godmother, what would you ask her for?

Unrest in the Forest || Accepting

She moves twice. Both times to remove herself to the bathroom. At least one of those times was to shower because she was told to do so, and Beth tends to be obedient. But for the near week Tabby’s been around, she hasn’t done anything else. She exists in a semi-torpid state, neither awake nor asleep. She doesn’t eat anything that Tabby brings her and shrinks away when the other woman urges her. She hasn’t said anything at all and when it looks like she’s going to? It all dissolves into tears again and she curls up as small as she can make herself until exhaustion has it’s way. It’s worse than Andy had hinted at.

And eventually he stops bringing Styxx over, which was the only time she took on even a semblance of her former self.

A whispered conversation and he tells Tabby that he’s done waiting, that he can’t let Beth stay this way, and that he appreciates that Tabby’s tried to do her best. He says it’s going to take a few days to make the arrangement and asks if Tabby can stay and make sure that in that time Beth doesn’t do anything stupid. Then he admits that she’d do something, anything at all. He doesn’t seem to hear Tabby’s retort before he’s gone again, this time not even bothering with the car; he simply ceases to be there. Like a hologram.

At first it doesn’t seem that she even hears the question and it’s long minutes before Tabby gets an answer. Beth doesn’t even sit up. Instead she simply glances over her shoulder. Her eyes are haunted, still wet, because she doesn’t know how to fix the all-consuming grief that rages its way through her. Can’t stop feeling the pain of loss and the shame of guilt in ever churning waves.

“I...” A singular word. A vowel, really. It sounds like rust and dry leaves. “I would aks her to start ovah. I nevah would go t’ Garrett’s hale. I nevah would make dat mistake.” And her face screws up and she sobs again. Struggles to get a hold of herself with a shuddering breath. “I nevah would aks him if he love me, ‘cause I don’ need him to. I just... I...” She would be grateful for what she had, wouldn’t be greedy in wanting more. She would be quiet and she would be good. Better than good. She would be perfect. She would never ask him for another thing, she would follow the rules as they were let out. She would give up everything, including herself if she had to. She would. She would. She... “I would tell her...I wan my husband back.”

[brooklynislandgirl]

@ronmanmob {{xx}}

At fourteen, Styxx Morrians has more in common with his father than he does his mother. For one, he towers over the woman, able to meet Ron eye to eye, though he doesn’t. He’s all arms and legs that will some day fall just short of his sire’s towering frame, though throughout his face, he’s a little more delicate. Eyes so dark that they rival night rest beneath thick lashes and he stubs a toe in the dirt as the man shakes his hand. “Good morning, sir.” Crisp, clean, respectful diction. None of his mother’s zephyrs on his tongue though there’s a hint of a grin that’s all her sharpness, her bite. He turns with Ron over his shoulder to see his mother buried in dogs. Can feel his father’s presence in the shade beyond the yard gate, hears her laughter and the chaos of wuffs and yips that tells him she was missed. He turns his not-quite gaze back to the man. “No, sir, but mother...speaks highly of you and often. So it’s like I know you.”

He’s not quite disagreeing with Mr Kray, merely explaining the situation better. But of a sudden there’s another presence and that makes Styxx look up quickly, with a voracious curiosity that had been lacking a moment ago.

He didn’t have any siblings. Most children at school had already learned the hard way that he had his father’s mercurial temper and thus were not inclined to spend much time with him. Not that he ever said so to his parents, he mostly didn’t care one way or another as long as no one breached his sensibilities of what acceptable behaviour was to him. But this boy... he’s lovely. He’s shy.  And he’s making little gestures that are reminiscent of his mother’s dancing.

Hearing his name, he tenses, waiting for the other boy to laugh or say something mean because while he liked it...most people thought his name was unusual at best, a reason to be teased at worse, and for a split second he almost adopts a boxer’s footing. Eyes unmoving from the other boy’s face, Styxx waves back.  “Ya sou,” he murmurs, before he glances across the yard to Beth. “Boró na páo kai na paíxo, mitéra?”

One tiny hand rises up from the pile of dogs, shaped very much like a sock puppet minus the actual sock, and the ‘head’ bobs up and down for a moment. “Neh,” she replies in a muffled tone.

Permission asked and given, Styxx sidelong glances at the boy. “Mother says I can play.”

[brooklynislandgirl]

Fig: Something my muse sees as forbidden but still desires Grapes: What would my muse want as a reward for hard work?Lemon: Something in my muses life that went sour Orange: What small things in life make my muse happy? Peach: If my muse was immortal what would they do with their time?Pear: Something my muse wouldn’t want to be separated from. Pineapple: How does my muse handle long-term relationships?Plum: What are five things that make my muse happy?

Fruit Basket || Accepting

Fig: Something my muse sees as forbidden but still desires?“Wan my faddah in law’s head spitted on a pike an’ put on display at da foot of Zeus’s throne itself, an’ I’ll bloody well pu’i’ dere m’self.”

Her friend is a goddess in her own right, and must understand how she feels about these sorts of things. She feels Ares has earned every ounce of Beth’s spite, every ounce of her minimal blood-thirst. For every scar he allowed to be put on Zarek’s body, every one he inflicted himself. For every time he’d failed to be a father, just like her own. Some day she will find her way to Olympus or wherever it is that they all reside and she will find a way to burn it all down to the ground, those fires slaked only by rivers of divine blood…from everyone who has ever failed her husband.Zarek’s wife is a gentle soul, it’s true, but she would be nothing if not vengeful when she ascends.

Grapes: What would my muse want as a reward for hard work?

“Don’ need a reward, nevah been a materialistic person in my whole life…but mebbe…mebbe some day I’ll see sovereignty restore t’ my islands. By dat I mean put a Kanaka Maoli king or queen back in dere rightful place, give back da land dat was stolen from us, let da land an’ her people’s be free like she was only a few hun’red year ago. Same wi’ Ireland too, come t’ t’ink of it.”

Lemon: Something in my muses life that went sour?

“My relationship wi’ my braddah. We use’ t’ be so close, we migh’ as well have been twins. Aftah da acciden’ when he lost his leg, everyt’ing between us changed an…we went bittah wi’ each oddah. I miss dat. I miss him.”

Orange: What small things in life make my muse happy?

“Seein’ people be kind t’ demselves, t’ oddahs less fortunate. T’ see dem treat da earth an’ all of its creatures wi’ gentility, without fear or greed. Children laughin’ an’ playin’. Ocean waves against da shore. Sound of da gators callin’ across da bayou. Butterflies. Grill cheese san’wiches. Very sharp knives.”

Peach: If my muse was immortal what would they do with their time?

She laughs at this because, well… “Work as a doctah in any an’ alla places dat need medical care an’ don’ have adequate access t’ it. Like Africa, Sout’ America. Parts of Asia. Anywhere I was needed.It’s all about keepin’ balance, yeah? My husband is very good at da darker aspects of nature, an’ mine are about growth an’ life. So dere’s dat. But also get more time t’ read, an’ travel, an’ jus’ about any kine we wanna do.”

Pear: Something my muse wouldn’t want to be separated from?

 “Par’ of me…always t’ought if I no were Awakened…if I could go back t’ Sleep an’ nevah remembah wha’ it was like t’ have dis magick inside me, t’ jus’ be one normal person…dat I’d have been happier somehow. Different. But since dis lil shark came along…”Beth fondly lays a hand on the rounded swell of her growing son, and gave the bump an easy, gentle rub.“….I’m no gonna lie…bein’ cut off from certain aspects of dat magick…is like losing one of my senses. It’s really strange not to feel life all around me. Not bein’ able to look a’ someone an’ see what’s goin’ on inside dem. Not hearin’ da earth whisper t’ me. An’ I dunno if it’s evah gonna come back.”Pineapple: How does my muse handle long-term relationships?

“Surprisinly…it’s a struggle, ya know? It was terrible a’ first. I didn’ know how t’ be wi’ him. I didn’ know how t’ lissen t’ not wha’ he was sayin’ but more wha’ he meant. I dunno how f’ explain it, but it was very rough startin’. But once I came to a certain understandin’…da kine start t’ smooth out. Bein’ able t’ show him I’m faithful. Dat I’m loyal. Dat I always wan’ what’s best f’ him, even when sometimes dat’s not me or my involvement. I do know dat I’m a damn sight mo’ beddah for him dan any of his previous women.” 

Plum: What are five things that make my muse happy?

“My husband. My son. Surfin’. Music. Dancin’. I’m a real easy person t’ get along wi’ an’ my pleasures are simple.”

[brooklynislandgirl]

👀 + Beth and Jay

Three Glimpses From the Inside || Selectively Accepting

I. Small, Medium and LargeAt first glance, most people didn’t bat an eyelash when they saw Jay and Beth flanking Andy. One leather clad arm around each of the women’s shoulders, matching grins as they did whatever happened to take their fancy. He introduced them as his sisters. He always had, except for that year and a half that Andy and Jay had dated.

“I t’ink i’ funny, look on dere face when dat las’ bit come out.”“Yeah, kid, but that’s mostly you. Senor Grumpypants has no sense of humour, remember?”

“I’m sitting right here.”

“Is almos’ li’dat...if ja’lissen...ya can hear him still talking.”

“I saw his liver the other day, by Bethesda Fountain. I don’t think it recognised me.”“Still sitting right here.” He throws a french-fry at Jay.

She accidentally splurches ketchup over his knuckles.Beth steals a sip of Jay’s milk-shake.

They certainly act like family.

II. Midnight Margarita Parties

Jay’s freshman year of college paired her with sophomore pre-med Beth. And in turn Beth introduced Jay to Practical Magic, both the book and the movie. She was absolutely convinced that it was a twist of fate that two Awakened witches ended up being roommates, despite the difference of Tradition.

Beth isn’t sure when MM became a thing exactly, but they became a mainstay of late night cram sessions, end of the semester blowing off steam, and soon after, just because.

And the recipe is a mix of them both. Coconut tequila. Cointreau. Fresh-squeezed lime. A rim of mixed Dead Sea salt and Brown sugar. Loud music and deep breaths. A pitcher later and there’s dancing. Singing. And never a single hangover.

That’s the real magick.

The music and the dancing are just a bonus.

III. Auntie Jay

Beth chose Jay to be her midwife for many reasons, despite the fact that the Janissary needed a crash-course in Life to do so, and those lessons had to come from Luc. It was an easy choice for her despite the somewhat dark looks that passed between Z and herself. He had never liked Jay. Would never like the woman. 

But Beth trusts her more than anyone else. She was the first and only person who knew about Zarek in the first place. And despite Jay’s misgivings, she tried to be supportive of Beth because the Incarna makes her happy.

“You sure you wanna do this naturally, swee’heart?”

“No,” Beth grins weakly. “But gonna.”“Okay. Why? I mean...you’re already gonna be pushing out my nephew through the play-dough fun factory of life, why add no drugs on top of it.”Beth frowned. “Cause...I don’ wanna risk...”“I was kidding.”“I’m not. Only got dis one shot.”Jay...doesn’t press the issue further. “Okay but...if you bite me, I’m gonna have him knock your ass out, you know that, right?”

She laughs. “Yeah, fair enough.”

What’s the threat of bodily harm between friends?

“I just hope the little proto-shoggoth isn’t Wyrm tainted.”“Really, Jay?”

[brooklynislandgirl]

Biscuits: What would your muse wear to a costume party?

Summer Carnival || Accepting

She glanced over her shoulder at Tabby, warming their cups while the kettle whistled. One of the things she loved about having her clinic in a three story house was having a full kitchen at her disposal. Today’s schedule had the clinic on limited hours so she could catch up on her paperwork, check lab results, and schedule the next few weeks.

After that, she’d be taking her maternity leave.

“Well, is no really one costume party, yeah?” Beth’s pidgin was beginning to adapt to the Crescent City creole, but so far was still decipherable. “June Undah Da Moon is more like a carnival but since it’s comin’ close to da Solstice an’ all.. I was gonna wear bandeau top an’ mebbe some kine broom skirt. Wanna highlight my son now dat he’s really startin’ t’ show.”

With that, she set everything she needed, the tea and cookies and tiny finger-sandwiches, cream and sugar all on a tray. She balanced it expertly as she turned and slowly made her way back to her friend. “C’mon. Show ya my day room.”The Antebellum house had a narrow sun room with beautiful windows showing off the back yard and Beth’s gardens. Most of it had been there before she’d taken over the practice but Zarek had spent so much time and effort helping her make it everything she wanted, much as he did back at the cabin. He even planted the seedling of her World Tree so both places would be connected.

“If he no mind, wanna do some face paintin’ or henna too. Mebbe a Earth Mother motif, whatcha t’ink?”

[brooklynislandgirl]

Gone: Ever thought of running away? If you did, where would you go?

Confessions || -The woman...reminds her of someone though Beth can’t say for sure whom or why. Maybe it belongs to that other life, that one that seems to have been so long ago, though it’s been really less than a handful of years.

Her hand goes to her own throat automatically, the other down over the slightest protrusion where her son grows.“Yes, an’ no, I suppose.” Her tongue skirts the edge of her lips and she takes a sip of the juice smoothie she’d ordered, though she’d kill for coffee, real coffee, right now.“Before dis’ lil shark righ’ here...Had fertility problems, ya know? Husband was fine, no’ any fault of his. All me. An’ when we wen an’ decided t’ try f’ one... my brother an’ his wife already have a six year old, an’ she was hapa with her second....it was very complicated ya know?”

The harder they tried, the more she did in keeping with his Auntie’s promise, the less things seemed to work. The more she blamed herself until it was all too much and for her own piece of mind, she had to get out of New Orleans for a while.

It wasn’t his fault, he’d done everything, sacrificed so much, moved heaven and earth...allowed his father to walk away, tail tucked between his legs, and made a bargain, just for her. For their future. And so everything that had gone wrong, she could only fault herself and the frustration...she knew it was the best choice.Walk away before she could sabotage the one good thing in her life.“So uhm. Decided t’ take some time. Go up nort’ back t’ New York. Visited friends an’ family I no seen since movin’ in wi’ my husband. Reconnected, checked on a clinic...I’m a nurse practitioner, workin’ on gettin’ my MD f’ family practice. Some midwifery, but mostly jus’ general practice.”

And she’d spent time with Garrett, one of her dearest of friends. Because with Garrett, there was no pressure. There was no worry, no residual anger, and mostly, he couldn’t read her every thought, her every emotion, which let her work things out on her own. “Bout half way t’rough my stay... had a lil mishap an’ discover... I was two weeks. Stayed t’ make sure my friend was alright, then wen’ home early.” A brighter smile, another fond wave of a hand over her bump. “Five months ago. Been here ever since, jus’ makin’ sure we’re all ready for him to turn up. Due in July.”

A pause and then a glance over at the blonde. “Interestin’ question. Why’a aks?”

[brooklynislandgirl]

D. 2. how would they decorate their child’s room?3. how do they decorate their own room? H - 1. do they rather a hot or cold room?2. do they prefer summer or winter?3. do they like the snow? V- 3. are they good at comforting someone ill?4. what do they like as far as comfort goes?5. do they burp, cough, or hiccup most when nauseous? when vomiting?

Easy as 1-2-3s…|| Accepting

D: Decoration2. How would they decorate their child’s room?

She stands for hours even after he’s finished, staring at the walls. Reaches as high above her as she can to follow the flow of the river, to feel for herself every subtle nuance that Zarek has carved out. She doesn’t quite speak the language, one that is unique to him, to his experiences, and so there’s mostly just poetic imagery than actual history gleaned from every knot and hollow.She puts one hand on the still flat slope of her lower belly. He’s only the smallest of seeds at the moment, but she’s absolutely convinced Z knows more than he lets on, that maybe it was less a feeling and more a vision of the future. “He’s going to teach it to you some day. This language. And it will be important to you, just as your ‘aumakua.

She whispers to her son, softly and in her native tongue, as she decides on blues. Deep as the ocean, clear as the sky. Full of shadows, fully of the briney depths she comes from.Kracken tentacles?She turns and looks over her shoulder. Oh, yeah. Bigger the better.

3. how do they decorate their own room?

Beth is content to leave whatever he has made of his home as it is, the heavy solid furniture, everything tasteful and mostly neutral colours. She’s never forgiven herself for making him so angry he destroyed artwork in his wrath. She does leave one mark of herself in each of their bedrooms though. Somewhere in each of them, hidden from view and far from obvious, there’s one tiny piece of purple glitter. Star shaped. It started as a small rebellion, a private joke from when he kicked her out of his bed. And now it becomes a mark of ownership. Elsewhere in the houses there are more plants, she can’t help herself and the greenery thrives in her presence, though it’s kept in check by his own, in a happy medium. Most of her personal possessions remain in her apartment in New York. The Mustang in storage though he offered to have it brought down, though he offered to flicker there so they could drive it back. She keeps that life separate. It’s not hers any more, but she can’t let it go, either.The most personal spaces she carves out of his territories is at the cabin, where they first met this time round, where he married her, where he’d fathered their child. The little grove in the heart of his bayou, where her oak grows, blood red trunk from the sacrifices she makes to it. Where she’s warped the reality around the dripping moss and slender, leaning cypress trees to suit her paradigm. There she works her magick in secret, away from prying eyes. Where she grows her garden and marks the phases of nature. That’s her space, near up beside his and yet always in the shadow of him.

H: Heat

1. Do they rather a hot or cold room?

Beth could be in a wool suit, wrapped up in a holocaust cloak set on fire, and dipped into the very heart of Kilauea. Madame Pele herself could bless Beth with the secrets of flames, and her hands and feet would still be cold. And while she thinks winter is the neatest thing, Beth craves warmth. Unfortunately this means Z has to occasionally peel her off of him where she clings like a sticker to his skin.

2. do they prefer summer or winter?

Beth is a native summer child, prone to soaking up the sun and gadding about in as little as humanly possible while still remaining decent. But if asked, she’d say late fall and winter, when the surfing weather is the best. She still has a weird fascination with Alaska but that hasn’t come up in a long time, since he rescued her from a very ill-advised barfight.

3. do they like the snow?

Beth thinks snow is the neatest thing in the world, the concept of frozen rain absolutely fascinating. And yet it’s something not exactly common during winter in the bayou. If he ever came out to her Grove when Midwinter approaches though, he’d find warm flakes of snow falling inside the confines of her little sanctum, and he’d find her dancing in only her skin beneath it.

V: Vomit

 3. are they good at comforting someone ill? 

Beth is literally a care-giver by nature, designed by aeons to offer succour to the sick and the poor and the weary. Her lap is surprisingly comfortable to take a rest in, her fingers soothing as she runs them through sweat-damp locks, and her lips are always cool on heated brows. That spark of life so deep and vibrant inside of her tends to leak out of her system and invade the body of those under her personal care, like an antibody, and affords her patient the same regenerative healing she possesses. Combined with her chronic insomnia and patience, she’s the perfect person to care for someone when they’re ill. 

And every ounce of her is actually looking forward to the midnight feedings, the wailing cries in predawn hours, the first cold, all the little things she shouldn’t know. And she looks forward to comforting Zarek for not having slept in ages, even if he doesn’t need it, and the first touch of grey in his black hair as he worries himself sick over their son. It wasn’t often he allowed himself to push his brow into her middle and let her stroke his hair, but there’d be time for that.

4. what do they like as far as comfort goes?

Beth is clingy at the best of times, she knows this and doesn’t bother to apologise for it. Now more than ever though, she wants to be close to him. On top of him almost in the literal sense, face pressed into his chest. She has no energy to do much of anything and spends these early days hibernating as long as he will allow.

She had forever complained about the diminutive nature of her curves until the first time she noticed how heavy they felt, how sensitive and she regrets every single time she’s ever wished nature had been more generous. And then there’s the desire to cry. Fluctuations in her hormones, so she’d read, but she knows the truth.

Their son is trying to kill her.

And much as could be expected, he’s winning.

So of course, she calls out for reinforcements.

She looks a little green around the gills she doesn’t currently have. “Kealoha? Can we turn up the heat? I’m sorry, I’m just cold.”Even though it’s already almost eighty degrees..

“Or you could jus’…come curl up with me?” Which really sounds better than what she wants to say, which is to beg him to let her curl up inside of him. She doesn’t really want that, he’d be squishy and sticky and probably something that he wouldn’t recover from for some time, and would just make everything awkward. 

5. do they burp, cough, or hiccup most when nauseous? when vomiting?

“Oh god. Not again.”

She goes running to the bath and slams the door behind her, relying on her own understanding of forces to do so. There lacks a subtlety and finesse that his telekinesis possesses but it’s the best she can do with a sphere she’d never bothered to learn more than the rudimentary principles of. And there’s a thud as she hits her knees.

She can feel the ghosts of breakfasts she hasn’t eaten rising up in open rebellion, a second or two after she caught the first whiffs of coffee. And she tries to make herself feel better that she can start drinking it again in a year or two. She misses coffee. She misses the sensation of not having all the acid in her belly rising up in her throat, and next thing she knows, all of the nothing comes up. And she’s coughing and shuddering and tears are streaming down her face. The inside of her nose burns and the smell. It was never that bad watching other people do it at work, but when it was her going through it …

Eventually it subsides but she’s not foolish enough to go anywhere, and sinks down onto the cool tile floor, silently praising Z for keeping it bleached to within an inch of it’s life. She gulps draught after draught of air, trying to quell the last quakes in her belly.

After being bitten by the shark, Beth had never been sick a day in her life. And if this was normal for mortal women, she honestly didn’t know how the human race survived much less thrived.

[brooklynislandgirl]

“Any advice on anything at all, pal? I’m stuck,” Jenna sighed over the phone.

“Advice about what? Or mo’beddah...stuck...how?”

She had to keep her phone on her in case the clinic rang her, but otherwise Beth was as unattached to the world back in Nola. She’d been reluctant to come back to Hawai’i. She’s stalled whenever Zarek brought it up until he caught her on the night after Styxx’s first birthday. Exhausted but happy, she’d acquiesced to his suggestion.

It should be no surprise that her husband knew exactly what she ~what they~ needed. She’d forgotten how the sun felt on her skin, the sweet and salty breath of her mother ocean, the sights so familiar to her and yet almost like a dream from long ago.

Currently her men were out on the ocean, Zarek teaching Styxx the fundamentals of kicking in the water and while he might not exactly be the smiling type, she could feel the joy radiating from them both.

“Can ya hear me, J?”