RP:A Different World

From HollowWiki

Part of the The Day I Tried To Live Arc


Summary: After the battle on Larket's bridge, Khitti and Brand find themselves heading back to Kelay for the night. After an attempt to rid Khitti of the necklace that'd attached itself to her in Raiez's cave, they're both promptly knocked out and gifted with a shared dream--one that does not sit well with the couple when they awaken.

Northern Sage Forest

Not long after the battle Larket, or as Khitti liked to call it 'The Battle Where I Kicked That Other Vampire's Ass', Khitti and Brand wandered back through Sage Forest, leaving Lionel to tend to his soldiers on their side of the bridge. The redhead was certainly pleased with her new ability--even moreso now thanks to the fact that the more she did it, the less she needed to open up one of those large portals that her and the blonde had stepped through. Practice made perfect as she disappeared and reappeared, leaving plumes of smoke and shadows in her wake, using the strange spell repeatedly to poke at Brand lightly here and there where he wasn't entirely injured, her gigglings ringing throughout this portion of the forest. She'd soon stop though, at least with the prodding, not wanting to push Brand's buttons too much, but did continue on shadowstepping about, the 'bamf' sound that followed cueing Brand in on where her whereabouts might be.

Brand was putting on a show of being grumpy, but in truth he was not all that bothered by Khitti’s portaling shenanigans. She -had- saved their asses with that trick a few times now, after all. “Careful with that,” he warned, calling out towards where he guessed she was at present. “One slip-up an’ you could leave your foot behind in the shadow realm, or accidentally port yourself into a lava stream deep in the earth somewhere.” There was the sound of another shadowstep, this one at a greater distance than the last. Brand raised his voice further. “Or, you miscalculate an’ end up in a parallel universe where everythin’ is wrong an’ none of us exist. Then you’re -really- frakked.” Sure enough, as if saying it had made it so, Khitti would not find him once she’d ported back to his previous location. Not on the ground, anyway. If she didn’t immediately panic and thought to use her senses, she’d find that he’d scampered high enough up the nearest tree to be out of sight.

"But!" Bamf. "Zhis is!" Bamf again. "So much fun!" She disappeared and reappeared, aiming to pop up right behind him. She threw her arms out, as if to hug him from behind, but instead stumbled forward into nothingness with a gasp. She barely catches her footing in time before she takes another nose, crimson brows knitting together as she puts her arms down, a frown surfacing, "Brand...?" Khitti actually sounded concerned. She'd shadowstep around a bit more, looking for him, calling out his name again, before returning to the spot where he had last been. Distracted as she was, she didn't smell him at all--it didn't help though that the smell of burning flesh and wood from the north was lingering in the forest. The sounds of screams that rattled through the trees didn't make things much better. The reminder of what they'd just left behind made her a little somber, and now with Brand having disappeared, she sighed and kicked at the grass beneath her feet. "Damn it..." Maybe she'd gone a little overboard with her antics?

Brand was gone. No more Brand. He was right and she’d found herself in some horrible universe where everything was the same except that he’d died in the recent battle. But… look! Up in the sky! Was it a bird? Was it some kind of strange, mechanical flying contraption? No, it was Superman (whoever that is)! Wait, no. Just kidding. It was only Brand. (He -did- consider himself to be a pretty super man though, thankyouverymuch.) As Brand came hurtling down from the boughs above, there was simultaneously a rumbling of earth below Khitti’s feet. For a fraction of a second, the grass trembled as if it were somehow planted on the surface of boiling water, and then all at once the ground erupted in a fountain of dirt and stone that would send Khitti tumbling backwards. Tumbling, tumbling… just in time for Brand to crash-land into her arms. They’d roll, and he’d pin her down with his hands to her wrists. Just like those lions in one of the fairy tales Khitti so adored. “Boo,” said Brand, with a smirk so wide it threatened to tear his face in two. He’d earned a nasty cut along his cheek from a twig on the way down, but it didn’t seem to phase him. Just one more to join the other nicks and bruises he’d earned in the earlier fight.

Khitti just stared at the ground as it started rumbling. Had Macon's trebuchet caught up to them somehow--Noooope. Just a mouthful of dirt as she lets out a shriek. And then there's the tumbling--oh look! A Brand!--annnnd, we're pinned now. Good. Yes. Wait...yes? Yes, of course, he's super hot and he's on top of you, Khitti. Geez. She turns her head for a moment to spit out earth and grass, makes a face at the taste, then peers up at him again with that pouty look. "I should bite you for zhat." But, instead, she takes those dirt covered lips of hers and presses them to his, making sure to deepen the kiss in hopes of catching him off guard--meanwhile, she uses her tongue to spread the dirt around in his mouth. Yeah. That's what you get, you jerk.

Brand either didn’t notice the taste or didn’t let it deter him from kissing her back and ending with a brief chomp on her lower lip. “You should,” the blonde retorted, “but you’d have to catch up to me, first.” Really, Brand? She’s got vampiric speed and shadow portals. What the hell do you think you’re -- “See ya.” As Brand rose up from off of her, stone shackles shot up from the earth to replace his grip on her. Brand licked the dirt back onto her cheek, groped at her chest for the heck of it, and sped off for Kelay, cackling endlessly. Seriously, Brand, what the frak is wrong with you?!

Did he just--he did. He really did. That's all Khitti could think about anyway as she stared up at where he was moments ago, her mouth almost entirely agape. "Vait...VHERE ARE YOU GOING?!" Khitti, you can get out of there, you know. When the metaphorical lightbulb switches on in her head, she shadowsteps out of his little trap, then uses it to close the distance between them. She appears right in behind Brand, quickly pounces him to the ground like a cat, and summons up a bit of shadowsilk to bind hands together behind his back. After carefully turning him over, sitting him up all nice like, and straddling his lap, she leans forward just enough so that there's mere inches between their faces, "Hello, my delicious cupcake." He's gifted with another brief kiss, "I'd grope you back, but zhen, uh, it'd lead to other zhings...and I don't fancy getting pieces of zhe forest in places zhey don't belong. Still zhinking about biting you, zhough." She seems to make her decision as she buries her face into his neck, chomping on his neck but not breaking the skin as if she were going to feed. "You're lucky I'm so nice." Yeah, okay, tell that to all of those Larketians you just killed, woman.

Brand was -so sure- he'd get away. It had begun to look like it, too -- even with her enhanced vampiric abilities. Even with her shadowstepping. But then, nope, out of nowhere there she was. Brand grumbled the whole way through her antics, too flummoxed to do much else. But then, finally, a sigh. “Yep. I guess you win. You’re just too gorram fast for me.” Huh? The ground was moving again. Wait, no, that was Brand. Somehow, he’d broken free of his bonds -- his fire, perhaps? -- and was now on his feet again. Brand’s arms braced her such that she was in a reverse piggyback, and then he was speeding off again for where the forest would eventually meet the road connecting Kelay to Xalious.

Kelay Way

Khitti couldn't help but giggle at all of his grumbling as it made him all the more endearing--don't tell him that, though. She wouldn't resist her being carried all the way to Kelay, instead taking the time to quietly gaze at him. She'd run a couple fingertips lightly over that cut he just earned during his disappearing act, a faint frown surfacing. Her expression only grew more somber as she shifted her line of sight to the destruction directly behind them. As great plumes of smoke rose from the treetops, Khitti's soon reminded of the mortal coil that was tightly wrapped around Brand, and therefore Dominic as well, and how it could've been as cut as easily as a pair of shears with a string during the battle that they were currently leaving. The vampiress snakes her arms around his neck, a light kiss is pressed to his cheek, and then she's resting her head on his shoulder, her attention falling on him again, "I never should've asked you to come vith me."

“Hush, you,” scowled Brand. They’d had this kind of conversation too many times before. “You worry too much. I can take care of my gorram self -and- anythin’ that comes your way.” They’d reached the edge of the town. Brand let her drop to her feet again and led her by the hand through the many cobbled streets and speckled-dirt alleys of Kelay. “You got anywhere in particular you wanna stay at? I need food, first. Was thinkin’ seafood. There’s a nice place that imports from Cenril. Kid used to help with deliveries, the first couple months we were here.”

A 'no' was given to answer his question as she looked down at their joined hands. It still boggled her mind that he did it willingly, even now. "I suppose I should -eat-, too." There was a bit of emphasis on the word 'eat' and Brand would know what that meant, of course--she needed blood. "I guess zhe tavern is fine. I never paid much attention to zhe places in Kelay besides zhe restaurant. It vas always an in-between place, on my vay to or from Vailkrin or Cenril vhen I vas needed in Xalious." Sighing, she shakes her head, "And vhat if you can't? Vhat if Amarrah freaks out again? Zhe only vay you're going to be able to stop her is to kill me. I doubt zhere's more little magic bottles of stars sitting around in Raiez's cave." Her free hand reached up to the necklace that still sat firmly embedded into her throat, cringing as she tugged it a little, though it didn't budge at all. "Can't manage to keep myself out of trouble, you know. Can't even get zhis damned necklace off of me."

Worry, worry, worry. It seemed to Brand at times that that was all Khitti ever did. He didn’t peer back at her as she spoke, but continued pulling her along the pathways. “I’m not worried about bitchy little Lemoncakes. There’s gotta be more ways to get at her than just that. Besides, she’s done barely anything since. Probably gone dormant again. Good riddance.” Khitti’s steps slowed noticeably as she yanked at the necklace, leaving Brand to almost drag her across the lane. Brand wheeled around impatiently and found her hand at her throat. Seven hells. That frakkin’ thing was what had brought Amarrah back in the first place. “You said it was a jolt, right?” He stared it down, the silver chain and the fractured blue stone. An idea was sparking in that schismed brain of his. Maybe solving one problem would solve the other, and Amarrah would be banished once more. “A jolt, and then it hooked into you. So maybe if you just --” He wrapped his free hand over hers and bolted the pendant beneath.

Nope. Nuh uh. Sorry, Brand. Your impatience is not a good thing, you remember. Much like before, there was that imaginary fire that spread throughout her entire body, the electricity jumping from the necklace, to Khitti, and then back to Brand. Unfortunately, for the two of them, that wasn't the only thing that happened. A flash, similar to the one that had come from the bottled star, engulfed the two of them and suddenly, they were no longer in Kelay. They weren't even in Lithrydel. Oh no, the readers of this story would know exactly where they were now--it was that ever familiar apartment from Khitti and Brand's dreams. "DAMN IT," Khitti shouted as she teetered back and forth on top of a chair. She -had- been trying to change a light bulb in the kitchen, but that klutz of a woman forgot to flip the switch to the 'off' position beforehand. Safety first, Khitti, sheesh. She was promptly given quite the shock of her left, a whiff of ozone left in the air aftwards, and a light bulb sent crashing to the floor.

At the precise moment Khitti received her shock, Brand touched the metal knob of the front door and experienced a strong static shock of his own. Damn this winter weather. For the entire past month, it seemed like this kept happening to him every gorram time he touched something. Muttering, he opened the door -- and caught sight of his wife wobbling precariously atop a chair. Before he could even fully register his panic he’d arrived at her side, first steadying her and then gently aiding her down to the floor, safely away from the broken glass bulb. “You should be lettin’ me handle things like that,” Brand hissed, though his concern was obvious. Already, he was reaching for the broom, sweeping up the bulb’s remnants. “Frak’s sake, Khitti. How’d you even get up there with that belly?”

Once Khitti was back down onto the ground, she frowned at Brand and pulled away from him. "Aw, Brand, you make me sound like I'm as big as an elephant." That was probably the wrong thing to say to your dear wife, Brand. "I'm tired of sitting around...and it's been long enough that I don't feel sick anymore. You and I have already done this song and dance once. I know how it works. I know what I'm capable of, damn it." Well, she hadn't been exactly as capable as she thought when it came to changing that bulb. Khitti, however, was not quite so big as Brand made it out to be. Currently, she was only around twenty-six weeks along, and thankfully not anywhere near the dreaded waddling stage--and she was damned proud of that. Brand was right as always though, she'd not tell him that. The redhead pulled the chair away from where Brand had been sweeping, moving it closer to the table before she slumped down into it with a heavy sigh.

Brand didn’t even need a chair to replace the bulb -- one of the advantages of being tall. With that done, he awarded Khitti with a pointed stare. “I mean, I don’t remember you showin’ this much when you were this far along with the kid.” Brand contemplated. “With Dominic,” he corrected, frowning slightly and rubbing at the back of his neck. Kid was gonna need a new nickname soon. “S’not a bad thing. You’re just so skinny normally, that…” Brand blinked and thought better of finishing that sentence. “He ran into the road chasin’ a rabbit on the walk to school again. I swear we need to put a leash on that kid before he gets himself killed.”

That unfinished sentence was greeted with a narrowing of Khitti's eyes, those wretched hormones of hers making her uncertain as to whether or not she should lash out in anger or start crying. Instead, she only frowned more and looked elsewhere away from him. "Dominic just likes having adventures. I'm sorry that he turned out more like me than you. Maybe this one won't have its head in the clouds all the time and will be gifted with a harder heart." Nope, okay, it was definitely the waterworks this time around. Thanks, extra estrogen. "I'm not going to baby him, but he still needs to be a kid and have fun while it lasts. Making him grow up too fast is just cruel, " she said through faint sniffles as she raised a hand to wipe at her eyes. After the much needed break from attempting to deal with the light fixture above them, she pushes herself up out of the chair and heads to the sink. Dishes from last night's dinner are slowly and carefully put away--she might actually be heeding Brand's advice of caution now--her tiptoes utilized when necessary to set a dish on a high cupboard shelf.

Red alert. Red alert. Here comes the Niagra Falls. “H-hey now. That’s not what I meant. Of course he can be a kid. But he’s gotta stop runnin’ into the street if he’s gonna make it to adulthood, y’know?” Brand arrived at Khitti’s back and placed a few kisses along the vertebrae in her neck. Please don’t cry. Please don’t cry. He’d pray to however many gods it took, just… not again. She was already up to three times today -- that he was aware of -- and it was barely past lunch. “Listen, you don’t want ‘em turnin’ out like me anyway. You remember the shiz I got up to in high school.” That thought caused a shudder. These kids weren’t teens now, but Dominic only had a few more years… frak. Why had they wanted a second one, again?

Luckily for Brand, she didn't cry much. There'd been a few tears, but not much more than that after he comforted her. She stopped what she was doing, leaned back against him, and wrapped his arms around her middle so his hands would come to sit on her stomach. "Sorry," was muttered faintly, likely for her crying again, as she'd been apologizing for it since the extra waterworks started a few months ago. "And, I do want them to be like you. You're strong...and you don't let things bother you all the time. Not like I do." Khitti leans her head back, peering up at his face from the odd angle, "You're a good dad, you know? And a good husband. Still can't figure out why you married me, to be honest. I'm nothing but trouble. Surprised you've not gone grey yet."

“Sheer force of will an’ the occasional lorazepam,” shot back Brand, smirking. He rubbed reassuringly at her stomach, planted one more kiss onto her forehead, and backed away for the refrigerator. Whatever he was rummaging around for in there had him looking far enough towards the back that his whole head and most of his arms were inside. “There was never really anyone else, y’know? I mean, yeah, I went to all those frakkin’ parties, an’ I knew all those people, an’ I slept around plenty, but they didn’t actually know me.” His voice echoed oddly in that enclosed space. Khitti would hear something heavy being shoved to the side, rattling the bars of one of the shelves within. “I s’pose it was inevitable the moment you ended up on my doorstep. So gorram determined to be friends -- an’ frell if I know why. I was a right arse to you.” Ah. There it was. Brand righted himself at last, beer bottle in hand. “Jus’ the one,” he proclaimed defensively, and cracked it open. “Before the kid gets home.” Some things never change.

Khitti tilted her head, watching as he dug the bottle out from the back of the fridge, and also maybe casually staring at his arse while she was at it. "If I was smart, I would've had them switch me to another sponsor house, but you were just so--" She let out a catcall whistle and grinned, "Can't keep a girl from liking a bad boy, you know." Pursing her lips together, she studied first him, then the bottle, then him again ever so carefully, "Hm. Alright. I think you've earned it. You -did- save both your son and your wife from certain doom today. I might even let you have a second one -and- a make-out session in a little while, if you're lucky. That's if you want to kiss your whale of a wife." She batted her eyes at him in that cute way of hers, then returned to finishing with the dishes.

Was that an eye roll, conveniently hidden from view as Brand retreated to the couch? Nah, definitely not. “Pretty sure ‘bad boy’ had nothin’ to do with it,” he insisted, between sips, “considerin’ you were the one tryin’ to get me to -stop- with all that.” He sank further into the couch with his drink, eyes scanning the pictures on the wall behind. High school graduation, almost twenty years ago now. Khitti’d had a fleeting phase where she’d dyed her hair black. Brand had teased her relentlessly until she went back to her natural red, but looking back he had to admit she'd made it work. Next to that was a photograph of the two of them with Dominic the cat, passed away before Dominic the kid had come around. That cat had been such a frakkin’ jerkface. Then, college graduation. Brand had stayed up partying the whole night before, and the bags under his eyes had definitely made it into the picture. Engagement photos. There was that damned cat again, center right. Khitti’s hand rested on top of his head, happily displaying the ring, and Brand stood just behind and to the left with a rare, genuine smile not spawned by snark or sarcasm. Wedding photos -- Khitti in a shimmering green dress, Brand in a tux with a crimson bowtie. There was one with Khitti, looking utterly exhausted but cradling a newborn in her arms. Brand's parents and the still-living grandparents, playing with a toddler Dominic. Kid must've gotten that black hair from his grandpa’s side, somehow -- everyone else was all in reds and blondes and light brunettes. But who could say for sure? Genetics are frakkin’ weird. At the end there was a photograph of Dominic’s first day of school, beaming and showing off his Crying Breakfast Friends backpack, and still more room for pictures to the right of that. “You’re not a whale,” Brand murmured, brain still half-planted in the past. “You're a fabulous gorram mermaid.”

"No...it wasn't that...was it?" She paused and thought about it for a moment before joining him on the couch, "I don't really know what it was, I guess. 'Love at first sight' seems silly. That only happens in fairy tales. But, maybe that's what it was, and I knew I didn't want you to die from all of that recklessness. You were my best friend--my only friend--for so long, even if I hadn't been yours." She followed his line of sight towards the photos, but only briefly before returning to him, admiring him thoughtfully with a faint smile. "And you may not have been nice to me, but you put up with a lot of my own issues, too." Khitti raised a hand to his cheek, lightly running her fingers across it. "I think we did alright, though, yeah?" For a fleeting moment, there was a hint of doubt in her mind as she wondered if he was really okay with all of this, this life that they'd made for themselves.

“Yeah,” echoed Brand, literally and figuratively -- his mouth was on the lip of his drink. “I think we’ve done okay at conquerin’ most of our demons. So far, anyway.” The bottle lowered, and so did his gaze, down to Khitti across from him. Thin stripes of sunlight filtered in through the blinds of a nearby window and lit a fire in her hair. She looked at peace, he thought, more so than he’d ever seen her before, perhaps. Hmm? No. That couldn’t be right, could it? There had been so many other moments of serenity before this one. Those frames hanging above their heads were proof enough. He rejected the brief worry, kissing a path up her arm and then nestling his face into her neck. The hand not occupied by alcohol came to rest on her bump once again. “Dad said he’s gonna make it for the birth, this time. Called me on my way home. Says he’s got his calendar blocked off a for a whole gorram week before an’ after the due date.” Brand planted one last kiss at her neck and readjusted to sit facing forward, an arm now wrapped around her shoulders. “Said to tell you he demands some of your cookin’ when he comes, as if there won’t be enough goin’ on already…” The blonde shook his head. “He was prob’ly joking, but I’m thinkin’ maybe you spoiled my parents a bit too much last time they came by.”

"Demands? Sheesh. Shouldn't I be the one making demands? I'm the one that's pregnant." Well, there -had- been all of those nights at three in the morning where she demanded Brand go fetch her some barbeque wings. "Nah, that's fine. I'm sure I'll manage. I've got to spoil someone, you know." Khitti put the back of her hand to her forehead in quite the dramatic fashion, "You've never liked my cooking and baking anyway." Of course, it was all in jest, and made known as such as she gives him a poke in the ribs. "Hopefully, they don't have to cut me open again. I don't exactly fancy looking like something a mad scientist stitched together anymore than I already did." She rested a hand on her stomach, feeling the thick scar beneath her shirt. For a moment there, she thought she remembered something, a woman on a table with a bunch of cloaked figures, but it was vague and fuzzy like a dream. She shrugged it off, chalking it up to either a dream, the memory of some eighties horror flick, or a combination of the two. That didn't stop a chill going up her spine though, one that was strong enough that it made her teeth chatter and her body shake a bit. "S'pose you'll have to content yourselves with pizza for a day or so afterwards. I'm sure that just breaks your heart, though."

Quickly, Brand rose and fetched the blanket that was laid over the back of an armchair. He swept it around Khitti, over her legs and wrapped around her shoulders. She’d had these sudden chills now and again throughout both pregnancies; by now, he knew the drill. “I dunno, peach. Maybe if you need it they can cut through your scar so at least you won’t get a new one?” He took another few glugs of his beer, eyeing her sidelong as he did so. She looked a bit like she was in a cocoon now, with only her feet and her head sticking out. Did that mean she’d become a butterfly once their second was born? “Wait there,” he called to her, and disappeared down the hallway. A moment later he returned, bearing a lighter and a movie case. Two, actually: A movie called The Butterfly Effect and Khitti’s worn but well-loved copy of Alice in Wonderland. “Which one?” Brand asked, as he flitted about lighting candles. “We should have time to finish both, before the kid comes home, unless…” There was a suggestive smirk as Brand snuggled in alongside her again.

Khitti quirked a brow as he buried her in the blanket and wandered off. What the hell was he up to? She blinks a couple times as he returns with the lighter and movies. Hm. It was a tough choice. Well, up until he gave her that smirk, though. Grinning, she points at the Alice in Wonderland copy and nibbled his jawline, "Let's watch that one. We may not get too far down the rabbit hole, though..." Oh, that look of his always did get her worked up. I'm sure you can guess what happened after that. They didn't actually watch that movie, of course. Ohhhhh no. And after all of that excitement, they had themselves a nap until Dominic came home. Thankfully, they managed to wake up and put their clothes on before the kid burst through the door. What? No, Dominic, your parents didn't just have sex. Everything's perfectly normal. Also, don't sit on the couch right now. Ew. Now that their raven-haired son was home, Khitti fixed him his favorite sandwich: a pb&j with the crusts cut off. She tried to at least, until a punch to the inside of her belly was gifted to her, the knife dropping from her hand in surprise and a pained gasp surfacing from Khitti's throat.

“Pew! Pew, pew!” Dominic was sprawled on the living room carpet, playing with some of his parents’ collection of action figures. With a grumpy looking mercenary in one hand and a fierce lady mage in the other, Dominic hosted an imaginary duel. “My fireballs are better than -your- fireballs! Pew, pew! Pew pew pew! BAM! Pow!” His shouts soared all the way to the kitchen, where Brand was dicing vegetables for that night’s dinner. “Hey, kid,” called Brand, “careful you don’t set the place aflame.” He’d meant to follow up the jest with a wink at Khitti, but never got the chance. She cried out and Brand’s own knife clattered to the counter; in a blink he was behind her with his hands at her bump. “Seven hells, are they kickin’ while I’m here for once?” The man leaned down as if to whisper to the child within. “C’mon, little seedling.” Yes, that would do for a nickname. “Kick so your dad can feel you.” Some tiny part of his brain, as if relegated to some cobwebbed corner, found his own words to be… sappy. Horrifyingly so. He supposed there’d always be some part of him that would feel that way, though. His younger self would never have predicted buying into the domestic dream, after all. And overwhelmingly, those thoughts were washed away again by joy… as a second and then a third jab landed on the inside of Khitti’s womb.

The pregnant redhead blinked a few times, first at Brand and then at the rest of the kicking. "If it keeps kicking like this, it'll bust out before it's time. Dominic was never this bad. If all of this kicking and punching is any indication, they just might turn out like you after all." Khitti leaned over against him with an 'oof', "Maybe it's not a kid. Maybe it's one of those chestbursters from that alien movie. You know the one, with that Fassbender dude." Shuddering, she rights herself again, calling over to Dominic, "Hey, sprout! C'mere. Momma wants to show you something." The kid, with plastic spellcasters in hand, stumbles his way over to his parents in quite the rush, nearly running right into his mother. With a grin and a ruffling of Dominic's hair, she holds out her hand to take his, and places it on her belly. "Whooooaa," is proclaimed loudly, Dominic immediately entranced as the baby kicked again. "Did you eat someone? Like that big bad blue dragon?!" He didn't even wait for an answer before he's running off again to play with his action figures. Now the gorram brooding loner mercenary was trying to save the lady mage from the blue dragon. It was a fierce, tiring battle, but he overcame the great lizard. There was much kissing to be had afterwards.

The unborn child fell still again. After a moment of watching Dominic, Brand returned to his dinner preparations. “Blue dragon? Is that from some new show or somethin’? I swear, kid’s got a new one every week. I can’t keep track.” A handful of diced peppers were thrown into a nearby pot. Brand wiped clean his cutting board and began anew, this time with an onion. So many layers to peel apart. It reminded him of… nope. He’d lost the thought right as it seemed about to surface. Oh, well. It would surely come back to him later.

"I dunno. His imagination is worse than mine. You remember the one about the guy that fought some giants and the girl tried to save him afterwards, but she was just as beat up as he was? It's so odd. It always seems like it's the same two people. Gotta be something he saw on tv. Some of those cartoons nowadays are so much better than the ones I remember from when we were little." Khitti shrugged, "He says butterflies can talk, too." She didn't seem to think much of it, though as she finally finished Dominic's sandwich and went to give it to him. On her way back, she snaps her fingers, recalling something, "Oh! I know where he heard it from! Your cousin Lio was reading him some of the short stories he's been writing. They're smaller parts of that huge story he created for his novel. You know how he is, can't pass up telling people about it. What did he say it was called? 'Cat-dude vs The World?' He was super excited about it because he's going to get it published soon." She was entirely proud that her memory was mostly intact, and gave herself a nod as if a pat on the back. She jumped in (not literally, of course) to help him with dinner, carefully leaning into his shoulder as if to push him over, but not quite.

Brand allowed his wife to take over. She could chop at a dizzying speed compared to him. Pity anything that found itself under her blade -- especially when she was stress-cooking. Damn, if she couldn’t churn out more dishes than could possibly fit in the kitchen, if someone worked her into enough of a frenzy. “Yeah, that’s the one. Didn’t have the heart to tell him someone else’s already got a story with a similar name. I’m sure he’ll figure it out when he’s ready to start bringin’ it to publishers.” Brand sighed and reached for a snack of his own, a bit of spicy beef jerky. “Kid’s not the only one, though,” he said through a mouthful. “When I was a bit younger’n him, I’d gotten it into my noggin that I was gonna be a warrior mage. You remember what my parents’ backyard looks like? Me and the neighbor kids used to pretend that little strip of trees was a forest, and we’d tromp around pretendin’ to fight each other an’ all these imaginary enemies of ours. Dad put a stop to that after I almost burned our house down, but…” A smile had begun to creep up on his face while he was thinking of it, but it vanished for something more stoic the moment he became conscious of it. “Least the kid’s not stealin’ lighters an’ pretendin’ his old man’s got it in for him.” A bit of side-eye was sent Dominic’s way, but he didn’t seem to be listening. Brand continued, hushed. “But I’m hidin’ them all the day he turns sixteen and realizes I’m not lettin’ him borrow my car.”

Khitti side-eyed Brand as he spoke of his childhood, her own brief smile surfacing. She didn't compare with her own, though, but she was often like that, what with having lost Lydia and her parents and all. Instead, she turned it to the more recent past as she finished up the veggies and left the food to cook, "I don't think it ever really went away, either. You were always a bit of a firebug in college, but it mainly went along with the drinking. As if drinking fireball whiskey wasn't enough, it actually had to be flaming too." She chuckled somewhat, turned down the stove so that the food would simmer, then took his hand to lead him into the living room to relax on the couch for a bit. "Guess he's using my car then. Never have been able to say no to him when he gives me that adorable big-eyed look of his anyway. If he's using my car, though, you're giving him 'the talk'."

Brand snorted, incredulous, and cast a sideways gaze toward Dominic.“I dunno if he’s even gonna need it. I mean, look at him.” Their dark-haired child seemed wholly oblivious to this conversation. He’d finished his sandwich, and now a third action figure had joined the others -- this one a knight, with a sword almost as big as he was. Together, the three fought a legion of green toy soldiers that spread across the carpet all the way to the hall. “Kid spends so much time in his head I’m not sure he’ll ever even notice anyone. I’ve watched the neighbor’s girl give him the googly eyes at least five times now and he jus’ waves and skips right on by her.” Then again, maybe it was just that one girl he had no interest in? Or maybe it wasn’t -girls- he was interested in at all… Brand was pondering when Dominic paused in his playtime. Large, green, serious eyes peered at both of them from under that mess of black bangs. “Kappie’s got cooties, dad. Uncle Lio says so. He says I’ll catch it too if we stare at each other too long.” Father blinked at son, but Dominic was already back to his war games. “Well, there you have it,” said Brand, bemused. “Uncle Lio can keep him outta trouble.”

Something felt...off. As Dominic and Brand spoke about girls and Lio, Khitti stared at action figures. Why did that scene seem so familiar? The knight was cutting down people left and right while the two mages pew-pewed their way through the crowd. It was like deja vu times infinity, yet the feeling didn't fade. She gets another chill like she had earlier, the woman entirely creeped out now, but she was soon distracted again by Brand as he finished up the conversation with their son. "Hm? Oh. Yeah. I'm sure he'll be fine." She shifted uncomfortably on her chosen couch cushion, a vaguely confused expression written on her face. "Girls are no good, love," she said down to Dominic, doing her best to avert her attention back to the discussion entirely. "Just ask your dad. He's dealt with a lot of girls in his time." Dominic blinks ever so cutely, practically oozing innocence as he peers up at Brand again. Thankfully for the blonde, his son doesn't ask, but instead returns to his toys. There was a war going on, you know. This wasn't time to talk about females.

Brand caught something in Khitti’s voice and wrapped his arm a little more snugly around her. “Y’alright, kiwi?” was whispered into her ear. “I can handle dinner if you need to go lie down.” It seemed she floated away from him sometimes. Pregnancy brain, he figured, plus the fatigue of growing a new human.

Crimson brows knitted together as Khitti looked up at Brand. She stared at him, just as she had with those action figures, seemingly at a loss for words. Her mind went blank and then all of a sudden she was keenly aware of the headache that had started without her realizing it. "Y-yeah. I'm alright. Just a headache is all." She'd muster up a smile for him, give him a quick kiss, then slowly pushed herself up off the couch. There was a bit of a wobble, her footing uncertain for the moment, but she was soon on her way towards the bedroom. Halfway down the hallway, a dizzy spell hit her. The room spun around Khitti and she tried to make it to the door to grab hold of the doorknob, but her vision had gone blurry and it was much farther away than it seemed. Back in the living room, Brand would hear a loud thud over the sounds of Dominic's intense swords and sorcery battle. If and when he'd go and inspect the noise, he'd find Khitti unconscious on the floor, a mere foot or so away from their bedroom.

The next couple hours were a maelstrom of sirens and scrubs and stretchers wheeled down sanitized white hallways. Brand now sat tensely, his eyes flitting between Khitti’s face and the beeping machine that displayed her vitals. This chair was too hard, its arms too narrow. He’d pace, but there was no room for it inside the curtained area that separated her from her roommate. “You’re alright. Our seedling’s gonna be alright. You’re okay.” This was at least the fifth time he’d said that. One might begin to suspect it was more to soothe his own anxiety than hers. The doctor still hadn’t come back to report any lab or scan results, but… that was a good thing, wasn’t it? They’d have come back in a rush if something life-threatening was happening, surely? Dominic didn't seem too concerned, at least. He lay across the speckled tile floor, meticulously filling in line art of a pirate ship with the handful of crayons the hospital had provided him.

Not long after Brand had gone over that anxiety-ridding mantra to himself did the doctor actually appear, carrying Khitti's info on a clipboard that had been outside the room and offering Brand a kind smile. "Your wife is going to be fine. We've given her some meds to help with what's making her sick. It's called pre-eclampsing or toxaemia. From what you told us, it seems she had quite a few symptoms: the extra weight gain and dizziness. On our end, we also found that her feet and legs are swelling a bit more than they should and her blood pressure is much higher than it should be." She lifts a few papers on the chart, making sure she'd gone over everything, letting Brand absorb as much of it as he could. "There is one other thing, though. Her family doctor must have missed it during the ultrasound, but that's not really out of the ordinary." That warm smile of hers shifts into a grin, "It looks like you'll be having twins. Women her age or older who are pregnant with more than one child tend to acquire toxaemia." Once her info session was complete, she finishes it with, "We'll need her to stay here overnight just to make sure everything checks out, but she can definitely go home tomorrow. The nurse will be in occasionally to check her vitals and give her her medication when she wakes up." With that said, she congratulates Brand, then heads off to seek out another patient and their family. All of the doctor's cheery talking manages to wake Khitti up just as she leaves, Khitti's nose scrunched up a bit at the pain in her hand that the iv was causing, the bright florescent lights hurting her eyes as she squints them open to try to look aroun. "...Brand? What the hell? Where am I?"

Over the course of the doctor’s monologue, Brand’s expression shifted from confusion to relief and finally to joy. “Twins!” he cried, shaking the edge of her bed. A moment passed, enough to realize Khitti hadn’t caught the context. “We’re at the hospital. You took a fall. Doctor says you’ll be fine, you just have tox… toxomi…” Frak. He’d already forgotten the term. “Whatever. They’re gonna be givin’ you meds for it. More importantly, twins.” That last word was drawn out and accompanied by more bed-shaking. What the heck, Brand. You’re going to make her sick again.

"Whaa...?" is all Khitti managed to get out as he relayed everything to her with much emphasis on the word 'twins'. She blinks a few times, looking from her stomach, to Brand, then back again, "Well...I guess that explains all of the damned kicking." She reaches for Brand's hand, but suddenly there's another zap of static electricity, this time between the two of them, with a loud 'pop' to accompany it. That white light from before returns, and the hospital room melts away. Brand and Dominic disappear entirely, and soon Khitti's waking up on the side of the road in Kelay. The grogginess of being electrocuted by the impatient blonde that lay on top of her wears off, and the memory of whatever had just transpired finally seeps into her mind. Dark eyes get quite wide in shock as she pushes Brand off of her so that she can scramble a few feet away, letting the necklace that had released its hold on her to drop to the ground nearby.

Brand looked exactly as he did when rousing from sleep with a hangover -- except, well, normally he didn’t pass out in the middle of the street. The man rolled off of Khitti when shoved, blinking at his surroundings until the clattering of that necklace drew his attention. “Well frak me,” he muttered, “it gorram worked.” The vampiress earned his squinting now, in a line of sight that drew laboriously up her form -- the briefest pause at her midriff, perhaps? -- and ended at her eyes. Nope, that was Khitti for sure. Not Amarrah. Brand clawed the necklace into his grasp and then staggered to his feet, leaning on a nearby wall for support. “Coulda done without the blackout, though.” Brand scratched at one side of his face and stared awkwardly into the distance. “Y’alright, peach?”

Nope. Nuh uh. No way. She was far from alright. What the hell was that? What just happened? A couple of her questions are actually voiced, her eyes a bit watery, perhaps from the jolt of electricity? "Vhat vas zhat? Vhat did you do? How did you...?" There was no Pilar-like sobbing, but Khitti was certainly rattled, tears finally making themselves known. "S-stay away from me." She pointed at him accusingly, though she knew damned well that he didn't have magic like that, the expression on her face full of anger and confusion. What else could it have been though if the necklace had fallen off? Khitti took a few steps back, then spun about, looking towards the forest, and then down the road towards Xalious, pondering on where she might go.

Brand had turned even more stone-faced than his usual. She must have seen it too, to have that reaction. "Zapped the gorram thing off you." His hands dug into his pockets, depositing the necklace there in the process. "That was it." He studied her; she still looked primed to flee. "Anything else you saw --" He stopped short, realizing the implication in his words. That he knew there'd been something else. That he'd seen it, too. He might as well have confessed it outright. Seven frakkin' hells, and all the gorram paths in between. This wouldn't have happened had that shock left him less frazzled. Should've kept his frakkin' mouth shut. "-- wasn't real." Brand pivoted on a heel. "That seafood's not gonna eat itself, y'know." He was stalking off for that restaurant still. Whether or not she'd come along, those steps meant any conversation on the subject was over.

Khitti's body tensed up as he spoke, her hands curling into fists. She didn't have to see that expression of his to know it was there, it was in his tone too. Gods damn it, how could he just deny it if they both saw it? Once she heard him walk away, she turned back around, glaring at him as he stormed away, "Fine! Great! I'm glad it vasn't real! Go choke on your stupid seafood!" Well, now she was as much of a liar as he was. She didn't follow him at all, and pivoted back around to face the west side of Kelay. Khitti sighed sadly, put a hand to her stomach briefly, frowned to herself, and headed off back towards home. She wouldn't be there though, when Brand finally returned to the inn the next day, as she didn't particularly feel like being around him, or even Dominic. It was much too awkward, and unfortunately for Khitti, entirely too depressing.