RP:Babypocalypse

From HollowWiki

Summary: Alvina goes into Labor after attaching Pilar's mechanical leg. Lionel and his +1 summon Emilia to see the procedure through. It's ahead of schedule, it's panic inducing and quasi-terrifying (for those not passed out during the process). Emilia is the hero of the hour, Pilar is recovering and oblivious to the process with Cassy by her side. Hudson gets to do the things all husbands love to do, and have no power in the situation and hold Alvina's hand. Lionel is put in the most awkward of positions; to assist in delivering the twins with Emilia and May (Emilia's aid). One Caesarian and two babies later, the reality that is parenthood begins to creep in on the bard / werewolf power team.

Fort Frostmaw

Alvina is panting, thinking about the grafting on the skin. It looks all right but was it really? Would it heal properly? It occurred, this conflict of doubt, on almost all projects. Would it work? Would it be functional? Was it how she wanted it to be? Would Cerinii approve? She thinks about her avian teacher as Lionel appears. He's saying something to her, it's a little muted. Was he whispering? Was it because of the other night, and because he knew Hudson was here? “You came out of no where,” she told him, looking a bit dazed and very uncomfortable. “I'm just – ugh...” Her palms brace her torso for suppose against her knees. A grimace, and her breath stalled in her lungs. The crown of her head is visible to Lionel, instead of her twisting expression. Her breath bursting back out a few seconds later in full force. “I have to walk...” She whispered, head canting back upright before beginning a patterned breathing cycle. Her mouth formed in an uncomfortable and perfect 'O' shape. Inhale slowly through the nose...and exhale through the mouth. She's canting it, internally while Lionel looks at her, perhaps bewildered that she lacks urgency. If he continues to object, Alvina will wave him off, “This is what Emili-” A clang. The sound of something falling or being dropped in Pilar's room? Alvina turns her head to look at the door but it's still closed. Surely, nothing serious. It's followed by a distinct 'pop' sound, which causes Alvina to look at Lionel. Did he hear it too? The thought didn't have time to process. Water, warm and viscous, snaked down her legs and into her boots. Not a common occurrence but she'd heard about pregnant women sometimes...you know, peeing themselves in front of strangers. Her cheeks flush a quick crimson and she's stuttering some kind of excuse to get Lionel into Pilar's room. “You really should go check on her, she's asleep but -”. Please do not notice I've just peed on myself. PLEASE. Thank the gods for long dresses. Maybe Lionel is turning towards the room, hoping to get Alvina to come with him to sit down like he asked. She's forcing an awkward smile, chants some mantra secretly about not being found out, waving him off and steadying her breathing so he won't worry. It's just the procedure, it's stressful, she's fine...when a burst of water cascades down both her legs and collides with the heavy stone floors with an audible splash. It's too obvious to notice, she's now standing in a very distinct puddle, laced with traces of blood. She closes her eyes and wants to vanish. How is this happening? There's absolutely no way to process that her water just broke...in front of Lionel, of all the people in this gods forsaken realm. Her mouth is open to say something, but no sound comes out. She should be shouting for Hudson but the surreal realization that you've effectively dumped pounds of water into the floor in front of someone who is not your boyfriend from between your thighs is...nothing short of horrendous.


Lionel is fine. This is fine, Alvina’s fine, and Lionel is fine. There is a nagging feeling like the entire planet has been turned upside-down or gravity has approximated the effects therein but not to worry because Lionel is fine. His feet are wet and his mind trails to a tsunami overtaking Frostmaw -- could that happen? If everything is ice and snow, well, surely ice and snow must melt, and when that happens, what is left but water? Perhaps Alvina is only the beginning. Perhaps the water will shortly break everywhere the eye can see and every single resident of this great kingdom will turn to aqua. What if that happened? Hellfire would be needed, right? Lionel would be needed. A song of ice and fire. That’s how this would work, right? Lionel would need to pacify the tidal wave in some absurd potentially obnoxious heroic fashion. All this thought rips through him in an instant but Alvina Liadon is still standing there mouth agape in quiet shock. Ouch. Shock. Electricity does not mesh well with water. Practical thoughts, Catalian. Practical thoughts. Lionel breathes. It’s an odd thing to note save for times when breathing has not yet transpired. Snapping up in haste he puts his hands up in some kind of frenzied peace offering. Who is he offering peace? Surely not himself -- this has been addressed -- Lionel is fine. No matter. He is a man of action and there are definitely things he should be doing. “It’s going to be fine,” Lionel tells Alvina, as if he could possibly believe it. “F, f,” is he going to say something crude? “Follow my lead,” he recovers, “trust me on this, I am an expert,” and he snaps his fingers and suddenly realizes he does not know the father’s name even slightly. Well then. Whoever the lucky lad, he will be happy to know his twins are on the way. Beyond doubt, he and others must be made aware. It cannot be overemphasized that the contents of this entire paragraph of text are occurring inside the span of a few manic seconds. Lionel is physically capable, hardened with war’s rigors, so he manages to slide across the pool of broken water with deftness and even style. In sliding, he places a hand to her shoulder reassuringly and swings open the door to a sleeping woman with a fresh new leg and her multiple personality girlfriend and a guy with a magazine. “Alvina is having the baby!” There you go, Lionel. We’re all so proud of you for bursting out five mandatory words in a direct and appropriate fashion. Then he twirls, still across that puddle, takes a deep breath, cants his head to the side, and waves at Pilar and her darling and whoever that other dude was. “Follow my lead, trust me on this, I am an expert,” he repeats, and then he cups his hand and cries out down the desolate hall, “enemy attack! Literally right here! Help!” And sure enough, a wayward guard turns a corner with a panic and a spear held high for striking, but Lionel waves him off posthaste, and surely the guard sees the woman with her puddle, and Lionel is now holding her supportively and he continues his plan. “You! There is no enemy! ‘Twas but farce -- go -- fetch Emilia from her chambers!” The guard blinks but Lionel’s face is determination personified. And let me tell you, the guard does not want to disobey. So he’s off to find Emilia and everything is fine. Alvina is fine. The babies will be fine. Lionel is fin… ding out in rapid realization that the fellow in Pilar’s room is the father, and his heart goes up and down and zigzags, but now is not the time. Now is the time for men of action. And it cannot be said that Lionel, with his ankles drenched and Alvina leaning against him, is not a man of action.


Hudson has nearly finished packing everything away when some guy he doesn't know, but who looks to be law enforcement, bursts into the room. He pales and stiffens, feels himself break a sweat immediately. It's happened. They've caught Valrae - he'd told her to better disguise herself! - and she's spilled the whole truth, all of it, and he's going to be cuffed and led away and it's all over, he'll meet his children through glass and Alvina will be on her own. It takes him ten seconds to process Lionel's announcement, and the terror bleeds out of his expression. With something like relief, he exhales a word that rhymes with 'sit' and, after exchanging a nod with Cassy, he leaves the various duffels of equipment where they are. Hudson can hear Lionel shouting before he enters the hall, and Huds takes a look at Alvina, who seems to have lost her sea legs all of a sudden, and the puddle on the floor, and scratches his face. "Hey, baby," he says to her. Well this is not ideal, her doctor's in Cenril. They had a whole plan that revolved around this happening in Cenril, and this exact situation is precisely why he hadn't wanted to come here, but ah well. Here they are. Saying 'I told you so' to Alvina can wait, maybe. "Couldn't wait, could you guys?" he sighs. All this yelling has attracted some attention, and why is there a guard running around...... To fetch Emilia, OK...?questionmark? He won't pretend to understand why Emilia is being summoned, but he knows Alvina probably doesn't want to just chill indefinitely in the hallway soaked in baby piss or whatever this stuff is, while everyone steps out of their respective rooms to see what the fuss is about. Hudson may have many flaws, including the hot witch = kryptonite one, but he did attend the baby appointments and has a general understanding of what's happening and thus knows that they've got maybe some time, and he can still implement part of the plan while they figure out what the hell to do about the doctor. Who is in Cenril damnit damnit damnit. Maybe if he rode Cleo really fast....... He's thinking a million miles a second but projecting outward calm. "Thanks, man," he exhales to Lionel, and then he takes Alvina's hand. "I got her," he says, leading her away. "I guess you can send Emilia to our room?" Maybe Emilia would be able to find some sort of Eyrie doctor. That makes sense. Alright, then, handled, proceed with the plan, possibly reevaluate speeding on winged horse to secure actual doctor IN CENRIL gods damnit damnit at later point in time. Then, to Alvina: "Come on, babe, let's walk to our room and you can take a bath and put on some clean clothes..." He sees her looking back, assumes it's at Lake Alvina. "Babe it's fine, I'll go find a janitor while you're cleaning up." He wants to squeeze her person but she smells slightly like piss, so he settles for squeezing her hand. "Babe. Babies are coming!"


Alvina can't keep track of who is going where or doing what. She's just standing there, staring down at her reflection in this mess she's made. Lionel is there, shouting things. Footsteps appear and vanish. People open their doors and gawk. Alvina turns a crimson deep enough to match her hair. Hudson appears and pulls her out of Lakevina and Lionel is still in the hallway, someone mentioned Emilia? "She's a healer..." She huffs, because she doesn't want to focus on how disgusting it feels to walk when your boots are full of...questionable liquid, what the heck is happening. Thank the gods the men have a plan because all those baby classes are doing absolutely nothing to ebb her panic level right now. The bard should say thank you to Lionel, apologize to Pilar and Cassy for leaving. Pilar would be okay, she'd wake up in a couple hours and would need Cassy there. See? Thinking about other people was so easy. What is Hudson saying? Babies? Oh that's right yes, this horrible encounter is the prelude to having screaming bundles of joy in her arms. Why does it pick this exact moment to get horribly real and terrifying? Life is cruel. On the upside, Lionel will -never- speak to her again. That much is obvious. Is that really an upside? Maybe for him...This is disappointing but she can't spare it too much thought because Hudson is leading her into the bathroom and running the water and...did she remember to pack everything? If they had taken Pilar's advice, and Hudson's, and the clinic's, they would be at the doctor right now. The one she'd seen every single time since she found out she was pregnant. She looks at the bathtub, filling with water and has a very real thought that lasts about two seconds after she came to the conclusion she could not fit in the tub AND get her face underwater. Another contraction rips through her chest, knocking the wind out of her. "Hudson..." She moans, hearing him shuffle things around in the room to get ready for whatever came next.


Hudson leaves their door slightly ajar so Emilia and entourage don't have to bust in there like the Kool Aid man or whatever, they can just stroll on in calmly. Emilia's a healer. In Huds' view, there's a big difference between HEALER and DELIVERS BABIES ON THE REGULAR but OK, it's good to have a "healer" with her until they find the "delivers babies on the regular" person. Alvina is very quiet right now, not surprising, she just unleashed whatever that stuff was out there in front of a total stranger (because who was that guy). Hudson runs the water, and leaves her to undress in the bathroom while he goes through her suitcase for the change of clothes. He's rushing a little, he still assumes that there'll be time for him to fly to Cenril, retrieve Alvina's doctor, and race back. It would make him feel better, honestly, much as he likes Emilia, to know that Alvina's care is in the hands of the medical professional who's been there for her since day one of this. It's just how people feel. And then Alvina calls for him from the bathroom, and he pushes himself to his feet and checks in on her. He noisily kisses the side of her head. "You're doing great, I love you so much, it will be over soon," he tells her. Man, she is breathing like an inflamed bull right now! He is filled with pride and the desire to do more for her. Man Solve Pregnant Woman Discomfort, etc. He starts to wonder where Emilia is, now suddenly he's all-in on the utility of Emilia, you see, because maybe Emilia can cast some sort of pain-lessening spell to help her through what was obviously a contraction, to be followed by more of them, no doubt. He helps Alvina into the bathtub, deposits her fresh set of clothes just outside by the towel, and tells her he'll be right back. He then leaves their room with great paternal purpose to go in search for Emilia.


Lionel is thanked by the father of Alvina’s children and then he watches the fellow escort her into the room. This is fair, he figures. As she disappears out of view, though, an odd sense of longing pokes at him like a dull knife. Now is not the time for such nonsense -- no, there is never a time for such nonsense. What he felt must merely have been some waking dream of the ghost of Alexia. He doesn’t believe it, but for now, for this very moment, he has successfully convinced himself of a lie. He’s good at that, this Lionel. He’s very good. The man runs a hand through unruly ashen blond hair and brings a wet foot up to the wall with a splash. His lithe form makes him almost disappear, yet his heart is still racing and it races faster still at the muffled sounds of every bump, every crash, every half-heard line from within the room behind him. Time passes slowly. Images flicker through his mind. With effort, Lionel centers on the peaceful, happy knowledge that Alvina’s children will soon be born. A good ending for a good woman. She deserves it. His breathing steadies… until he realizes there is still no sign of Emilia. “Where the blazes did that guard go? Chartsend?” He kicks off the wall just as the door swings and the father marches down the hall. Blinking, Lionel unthinkingly peers inside Pilar’s room. Nervous and feeling foolish, he coughs and goes back to staring at that nearby bench instead. He doesn’t want to seem weird. But at the same time, he’s so damned worried about her he doesn’t even know where to begin. “I, ah… I’m gonna keep an eye out for Emilia.” He talks into the air, as much to himself as to those within, but hoping Alvina will hear him. “I won’t go far. I’m right here.” Wait, what? “We’re all… right here. All of us… fellow people who are... all very… not… the father.” There. That seems like a reasonable thing to say. Satisfied, Lionel begins to move down the hall, but not too far. He doesn’t want to leave her. Weird.


Emilia had returned to the fort not to long ago from a visit to the green house, surprisingly still standing after the war with the giants, with a basket of freshly cut herbs that she was hoping to not have to use in the coming days, but it was better to be prepared in case the mother to be went into labor prior to the due date of the multiple babies, which was a common happening for those housing more than one living being inside their stretched out stomach. Some gut feeling the Genasi had was inclined that these offspring to Mr. Buzzed Foamstache would be arriving soon, especially after being flown off to deliver another baby a few days prior. Babies, they always seemed to come at similar times, as if they couldn’t bother to wait and have their own birthday, no they all wanted to share the same moon cycle. Reaching her guest room the ice lady was present inside if only long enough to hang her cloak on its hook before the commotion outside her door stole her attention. The guard was running, screaming out, “Emilia! Come out, come out Wherever you are!” instead of knocking on the individual doors to find which room belonged to the visiting healer, why waste time babies were coming! Opening her door the Em was confronted by a wide eyed out of breath man with a spear that he was waving around like a mad man. Curious, “You called?” she replied in a more whisper compared to his loud voice. “Oh, thank heavens it is you!” He exclaimed reaching out to take the small wrist of the snow lady, giving a jerk as he yanked her out of her room and started running off down the fort halls with Emi in hand. Hudson was a flash of a sight as the pairing rounded the corner, Em’s bare feet not even touching the floor as if she was some over sized doll being rushed to Alvina. Reaching the room with Lionel on guard watching and worrying the guard announced, “I got her!” as he held the petite woman up in the air by her wrist for a short moment, leaving the Genasi looked like a fresh caught shark on display by the fisherman on the wharf, dangling about the ground. “Put me down,” Em snapped at the guard all while offering a wave to Lionel before her feet touched the floor once more and off she was to find Alvina in the bathroom in the tub. Another water birth, how great, nothing like being in water filled with membranes, blood, and ick from the insides of another while focusing on the incoming tiny human-wolf babies. Wandering over to the edge of the tub Em would address Alvina, “Sorry, I seem to be late to the party, but don’t you worry, Everyone is going to be just fine.” Turning to look for Hudson, surely he should be back by now, “You get towels, something clean to cut with, and hurry back.” After speaking to the father to be Em was back with the mother to be, “Do you mind if I join your bath? I would fancy being able to get a check on your progress and see how close we are or are not to pushing...”


Hudson apparently just misses Emilia in the labyrinth of corridors. "Emilia! Emilia!" he calls her name, striding up and down the corridors. He meets with no immediate success, and after five minutes or so decides to jog back. Shouldn't run inside, yes, he could collide with someone around a corner and in fact nearly does, but he's become nervous that he's left her alone. Except, it turns out she's not that alone, actually. That guy who had caught her, the one who looks like a senior guard person (that's Lionel), is lurking outside of the room, along with one of his guys. He can hear Emilia inside, and he visibly exhales his relief. He addresses Lionel and the guard: "Thanks so much for all of your help, finding Emilia, really appreciate it. You guys don't have to stay." Of course he assumes that they're just waiting to be dismissed, because who wants to loiter around a woman giving birth. Generally speaking, the father and medical professionals, that's it. He's got this, now Emilia is here, they'll figure out how long he has, and if it's possible fetch the doctor. He navigates their messy bedroom to find Emilia holding court in the bathroom. There's something strange about the urgency in the air immediately. He turns pale and looks at Alvina for guidance, as if she's in a state to provide it right now. ...He thought Alvina was rinsing herself and getting dressed, what's going on here? Why is she chilling in the bath, wait why is Emilia getting in the bath now? ...Why is he being told to get towels and a knife? Why is everything happening really fast, it's not supposed to be happening really fast?!


While everyone is rushing around outside, Alvina is still sitting in the tub, contemplating all the fearful questions mother's must have. It's perfectly normal or so she tells herself, to feel panic at this punctuated intersection of her life. This is a real thing now, all that water and utterly embarrassing nonsense is proof enough that there are small children in her stomach. Of course, little kicking feet and projected images could only do so much to prove it. And yes, she'd felt her body change but it's only now. Now that it feels undeniably real. The bard can hear Lionel's voice, almost like he's shouting into the room. It's actually reassuring, though she's thinking more about their previous exchange in the hall. She can't think about how embarrassed he must be (gods know she is), to have waded in Lakevina prior to Hudson scooping her up. She tries, quietly to call to Hudson but she swears she heard him take off down the hall too? Was it a man hunt for Emi? Alvina wasn't one for prayer but she sent out a little thought into the heavens, hoping the healer would come quickly. That everything would be okay. That Hudson would return, and hold her hand, and tell her she looked beautiful while she cursed him name to deliver their daughters. Getting out of the tub on her own was no use, so of course she's still there when Emilia comes in and she glances around for something to cover herself with. But why would she really need to? They were both women and to be fair, Emi was about to be a bit close and personal with some anatomy, as birthing children calls for. Can the bard really do this? “I-I can get out?” She suggests, Emi looks momentarily pensive about getting in the bath with her but here she is anyway! Two women in the bathtub, checking the status of her dilation. Heck if Alvina remembers what's what about all those pamphlets she's read. She didn't have a preference for water birth or not water birth but her back felt like it was splitting in two. Was this normal? Every odd pain and sensation, she wanted to ask IS THIS REALLY NORMAL? She'd seen blood in the water, when it broke? Was that normal? Are these babies normal? Then Hudson appears, and then his expression rises a small panic in her. He doesn't look like he knows either. Oh gods, no one knows what to do except Emilia. Alvina's gaze darts to the towels Hudson laid out for her for a change of clothes. Could they rip these cleanly? Why are they ripping rags cleanly!? And then, another contraction, so powerful, she inadvertently howls in pain. “Holymotherof- Ugggh!” Her hands clench, fleshed digits going white at the knuckles. It's a bit like riding out an earthquake. Everything shatters and reforms in her vision slowly. She's staring at Emilia like a child herself, asking for help but gods know what she's asking for help for specifically. Any guidance would do.


Time is relative. It seems to blink and flash from one event to the next in Lionel's perception, and yet simultaneously the whole world has slowed to a still. He can't get a good bead on how long it takes before Emilia and Hudson and the frantic guard all return, but it doesn't seem to matter. They're here. She's here. This too shall pass. He takes a deep breath amid another blinking flash. Hudson is expressing gratitude. Emilia had nodded to him, too, but he didn't even notice. His face is a chocolate box assortment of panicked and relieved and mystified and confounded and glad. In his peripheral, he spots the guard exhaling in supreme satisfaction. Is he happy Emilia is here? Or is he just grateful his part in this is done? The fellow bows a quick respectful bow, almost slips in a puddle beneath his feet, and bolts down the hall, vanishing before their eyes perhaps never to be seen again. Then Hudson's inside the room, and Emilia's inside the room, and Lionel is right where everybody left him. It dawns on him, not for the first time, that he's behaving awkwardly. So with a willful shove, he motions himself to leave. He's halfway gone when Alvina's pain reverberates across stone. Sympathy aches nearly buckle him; he grabs the hilt of a nearby trophy sword for support, very nearly pulling it free from the rope that hangs it. "Fitting," he mumbles, carefully withdrawing his hand before he accidentally causes a scene of his own. Down the way, maids and servants and two lanky merchants gape at the sounds of the miracle of life. "What?" Lionel asks, and his stance is such that they're instantly put on-edge. "Y'never hear a woman give birth before? Go on, sheesh, you're causing a commotion." Blankly, they stare at him, but with the Knight-Commander's badge in plain sight they abscond. Before he knows it, Lionel has walked back up to the closed door and sat down on the bench, knees curled up to his chest, eyes soaking in an irrelevant mural. 'It won't be complete without you.' Whose words were those? They're put to Alvina's voice in his mind.


Blood. It was the single thing that stopped the frosty woman from getting into the tub with the other woman like she was about to before that contraction hit Alvina, something was not right. Instead, Em as tiny as she was laid over the side of the tub with her feet floating in the air, reaching her hand into the water below the most pregnant belly to check the progress of Alvina. “Sorry, if this is cold...” the genasi whispered before her cold hand checked the dilation of the bard. She was not near dilated enough to have these babies, yet there was blood in the water, more blood than normal. Turning her hand the healer realized that it was not a head her fingers could feel...it was a foot, this twin was still breech. There was no time to wait out the process for a natural birth, Alvina needed a c-section now. The look that remained on the features of the Genasi were calm to keep her internal worry from both mother and father to be. A frozen white hand fell to rest on the tightened belly sending a cooling warmth from the healer to the bard during the contraction, not removing all the pain from the experience of bringing life into the world just numbing it to a more tolerable level. Blue lips moved without any words falling from them while her gaze kept on the bard. The healer was counting under her breath, at least that is exactly what it looked when in reality she was sending whispered messages on a winter breeze to keep the woman from getting worried. Em’s first message was to the young woman that had accompanied her to Frostmaw from the guild to not only make her way to the room now, but to bring with her the black bag of supplies. The second to Lionel. It would travel across the distance between the Genasi and the man only being heard when the cold air rushed over his ear, “Lionel, I need extra hands...I need you in here now.” It was a command, the healer didn’t have the amount of hands needed to properly move Alvina out of the tub, to slice open her belly for not natural birth, or to tend to both babies and mother after the birth. Even her one assistant wasn’t going to be enough help. Casting her gaze now onto Hudson, a most serious look if she ever had one, “We are going to need to get Alvina out of the tub and onto the bed in the other room. Myla will be here shortly with my things for this, but we need to lift her out carefully and try to not move her upright...” a soft smile, fake as ever, upon those lips while she turned to Alvina to speak to her, “My Dear, this twin trying to come is foot first, but you are not near ready to push nor are you at a point where turning the baby would be wise. I am afraid that I am going to have to remove the babies with an incision. In cases of multiples this is common where one or more are not head down and ready to be born. I promise that everything will be fine for both you and the babies, but I am going to have to get your permission right now.” All the while Em waited impatiently for Lionel to get in here to help move Alvina to the bed and her assistant to arrive with the bag and Alvina to agree. To ease the mind of the mother to be Em added in, “My triplets were born the very same way, we are all healthy and well.”


Hudson realizes that the expression he's got must not be a calming one because Alvina comes away from their shared look with panic in her face. He immediately endeavors to look more relaxed, as if all is going according to plan (It Is Not, Though). And then suddenly Alvina emits a terrible animal cry and he feels like the wind's been knocked out of him. He doesn't need a watch to know that that happened pretty fast after the last one. This is more unexpectedly stressful than he anticipated (and he'd anticipated a certain amount of unexpected stress, query whether that makes it therefore expected). Why can't he do anything for Alvina! So much for getting the doctor in Cenril, these babies are happening and don't care for their schedule. "Are you alright?" he asks Alvina, kind of futilely, because the answer appears to be obvious. There's blood spreading in the bathtub and Hudson's face has gone pale. His heart is beating very fast. "Can't you numb the pain, like right now?" he asks Emilia, because that seems important and Alvina can't advocate it for herself at the moment. Emilia appears to be focused on checking on Alvina, and seemingly gives no indication of whether she's heard him. He cups Alvina's head and talks to her. "Emilia's going to see what's going on, the contractions are happening faster than we expected, perhaps you noticed, babes," he tells her. "That means that you'll be done this earlier rather than later, yeah? You're doing great." He hopes that is correct. He keeps talking to her. "So, not exactly how we planned to do this, but that's fine. We read all the baby stuff, you know exactly what to do, I'm gonna be right here, OK?" He looks at what Emilia's doing, she seems to have gathered knowledge from her scientific groping over there. He knows he's supposed to be fetching supplies, as he was told to do, but his feet feel made of lead right now. Emilia seems to be mouthing words and touching Alvina's stomach now, and while Hudson has no idea what specifically is happening, he has a feeling that it has to do with numbing Alvina's pain and therefore he approves. He pulls a hair tie off of Alvina's wrist and puts her hair up, look, he's so useful. Emilia addresses him after that, telling them that Alvina's got to be moved. "OK," says Huds, because he literally knows nothing and is trying to be cooperative and also to not to form any genre of concerned expression in response to what she's saying next about the baby being in breach. "Babes, tell her it's fine, I got you," he says to Alvina, and he waits for her to agree before attempting to put his arms under her and lift her out by himself. Ooof. He makes a sound like she's a sack of bricks. He's a strong guy who lifts plenty, but she's heavier, weighed down by bloody water, which is cascading everywhere, making the floor slippery. Alright, this is going... he's not gonna drop her, but maybe Lionel's assistance wouldn't be undesired at this point.


Alvina looks at Emilia, when she warns her about the cold. She's tempted to say 'It will probably be nice since my body feels like it's made of lava' but that was a lot more cold than she anticipated. All the cold is followed by a rather pleasant cooling sensation in her back. My, that's lovely. Hudson looks let worried. Everything must be okay. The bard doesn't hear Lionel anymore so assumed he is gone because...why would he stay? And it's just Emilia and Hudson and whoever this assistant is...that is a lot of people to see her do this thing. I mean, sure, she's no lithe prize to be won, all bloated with children, but her body was still...hers. Geez. Why she's worried about people looking at her is really beyond her writer's comprehension. She doesn't answer Hudson about being all right until Emilia starts talking about moving her. It's a bit odd, she could stand up if they let her but sure? Emi is talking about doing a C- Section and panic spreads in Alvina's features. Of course, the only thing she's still wearing is Valrae's charm. It's probably the only thing that's kept the incident from getting more out of hands, in the regards of these werewolf children and their help. The velvet-like glow of the crimson stone blends in with oddly clumped bits of wet hair to her skin. "I-I-I don't know." Her neck nearly snaps to look at Hudson. "This wasn't what we planned on..." She starts but Emilia is saying it's fine. Her own triplets were born the same way and they are fine. Alvina can not remember why it can't be feet first, that it has to be head. Probably a spacing issue. So, for her loopy record this will make a total of...four people who will have seen her in such a fashion. The number looked better at two but doesn't giving birth really count? Hudson has her hand, is saying everything will be okay. It's very comforting to hear from him. She thought he might be panicking but he's calmer than she is. He must be right, she must be imagining the sense of panic in the room. "O-of course, you have my permission." The bard tells Emi, hesitantly. Hudson should carry her preggo self over to where and just deposit her like lunch money on the counter only...he isn't? He's holding onto her...in the bathroom but they aren't moving. Water drips off her skin, back into the bath but she can't see the water, the angle is a little weird. It's not the time but she grabs a towel off the nearby rack (just to cover hers) and looks between all those present for the moving ceremony. Hudson looked calm. Emilia looked calm. No one else was here to compare too. Why didn't she feel calm too?


Emilia could not have been more blessed that Lionel had burst through the doors the moment Hudson tried like a complete idiot with no regard for her word as a healer to remove Alvina from the tub by himself, nearly putting the lady in an upright position with his stupid careless lack of listening skills. The furious look plastered on her face as the Genasi glared at him the entire time she follow the pair of men carrying the lady out of the tub room and into the other, placing her onto the bed. Ah, just in time. May was here with her black bag filled with an assortment of herbs and medical supplies that she was going to be needed here shortly. Taking in a slow breath the healer turned to look at first Lionel, then May, and finally Hudson as she gave her instructions in a clear, serious (I may kill you if you don’t listen again, Hudson) tone, “This is going to happen in what will seem like a blur to you both, but I need ears open and you to listen to my every word, doing as I say it, not trying to be a hero thinking you can do your own thing. There is innocent lives at risk if you don’t.” Then she was moving to take a seat at the bedside next to Alvina, a hand reaching out to gently pat her hand in comfort, “I promise I know what I am doing and you will all be fine. I have an elixir that I would like you to take before we start. It will not only numb the pain into a dull pressure during the procedure, but it will in turn put you to sleep for a short time, very short time, and by the time you wake up it will be all over with and your babies will be waiting for you outside of your stomach. I would not offer you something that I have not taken myself. I have used this elixir and am perfectly here right now. If you focus really hard with all of your control you may be able to keep awake and watch, but you may then fall into sleep after the procedure for a time while it settles into your body. I offer this because this is going to be painful without it, very painful. You will still be having your contractions and you feel me cutting into your stomach. The pain alone may cause you to pass out.” Turning now the Genasi reached into her black bag to pull out a small bottle filled with a light green liquid, pull the cork from it then hand it over to Alvina to drink, assuming and hoping she would take it. While this is settling in, assuming she drank it, Em would begin to pull out a series of instruments from her bag laying them out in order off to the more open side of the bed. “Hudson, You will stand up there by the side of Alvina and you will not move until I tell you to move again,” clearly she was still angered at him, “I want you to while standing there comfort her and make sure she keeps her forehead relaxed, no wrinkles. I also want you to keep your voice low and in a whisper.” Turning toward May, “I want you at the ready with towels and the nose bulb to clear out the babies nose and mouth after the first one is freed from her stomach, then I want you to take the baby after it cries over to that area away from this bed to get the baby cleaned up, then wrapped into a clean towel to keep warm.” And then of course, Lionel, “I am going to need you here near me, handing me things as we progress into this. The item closest to the head of the bed in number one, the next is number two, and so on. I may not need them all, but I will need a good deal of them. There is going to be bleeding so please do not feint on me. When the second baby is freed I will be handing the baby over to you for you to take over to May while I heal up her stomach.” She needed someone with a clean head to take her orders in this moment and Hudson she didn’t trust. Em now pulled her crazed curls up into the most messy of buns atop her head. May brought over a bucket of steaming water set on the floor, an empty bucket farther off to the side, and then a bottle of a red-orange liquid given to Em. As the Healer uncorked the bottle she turned to everyone present in the delivery room, “Are we all ready?”


Hudson is relieved when some random guard manifests - he doesn't even realize it's Lionel - and assists him in moving Alvina, the floor had gotten slippery fast and given him some concerns. He clears the bed, sweeping all sorts of their things off of it, and pulls the top sheet out, covering Alvina with it to give her some semblance of privacy, beyond that provided by The Towel. "If you get cold before we get going here, there's the duvet," he tells her. "Love you, doing great," he kisses her on her sweaty forehead and reaches around her to arrange the pillows to be better situated behind her head. He's in action mode but certain truths are starting to catch up with him, which is why he's keeping himself busy. A C section probably isn't the safest... for anybody... It doesn't occur to him that Lionel is still lurking here, and he turns at the sound of his voice. Oh, that guy. Man, he really was in the wrong place at the wrong time, wasn't he. Hudson isn't paying much mind to Lionel's wearing his heart on his sleeve, or face, as it were. "Uh, I think we're good, man, thanks a lot, you've been very helpful," he says, which is the only thing one really would say in such situations. You generally don't just let random dudes who aren't medical professionals lurk helpfully around your woman while she's giving birth. It's then that Emilia begins addressing them. Hudson personally thinks he's being helpful, but it's not a time to argue, she's stressed, Alvina's stressed, he's stressed, apparently even this random guard is stressed by association, why is that guy still here. Oh, good, of course she's putting Alvina under. He nods at Alvina approvingly to let her know that this is a good idea (they have no choice, also). Drink the stuff. Drink the... great! So great, she drank the stuff! Now Emilia's handing out tasks. "OK," he agrees to the task assigned to him, and then does a double take when Lionel is somehow STILL HERE and apparently now part of the merry cast of the feature film Alvina Goes Into Labor. Say what, he's the one who gets handed HIS babies? How is this real life, Alvina's going to be passed out, he can hold his own damn babies, yo. "Wh--" he begins to protest, but May is whispering at him to just shut up, shut up, shut up, do what she says, and is pushing him to go kneel in the Appointed Location beside Alvina. "Hey babes, you're stuck with me," he whispers to her, in an apparent understatement. "Are you feeling sleepy yet?" he asks, and he scratches his forearms and hopes that she doesn't notice one of the more obvious tells of lycan agitation. The gleam of a very sharp knife reminds him that Emilia's about to cut her open, and Hudson makes an effort to pretend that all is going according to plan. Well, the new plan. The new, new plan, actually. He strokes Alvina's hair in what he hopes is a very reassuring manner, although at present he himself does not feel all that reassured. People die from these things. He won't say it in front of Alvina, while she's still awake, but he is looking intensely at Emilia, like trying to silently burn into her brain with his eyes the message that nothing better happen to his babymomma here, she above all right now. "Ready," he says, on cue.


When Lionel comes rushing in, that previous count of four people (to have seen Alvina in such advance stages of undress) becomes five and the bard wants to tense up but she can't. Whatever Emilia did to her in the bathtub earlier dulled her reflexes. Her evergreen eyes do widen in surprise, to be flopped on the bed, still wet mind you in front of the Knight - Commander as this swarm of assistances crowd around to hear Emilia's demands. Hudson pulling up the duvet and granting Alvina a smidge of modesty under the top sheet is enough to calm her erratic heartbeat. Lionel is staring, very openly at Alvina's face in the background but the bard is too busy trying not to panic to catch his transparent affection. Her eyes swivel between Hudson and Emilia. Hudson would tell her if she should be worried right? Even if Emilia overlooked details to keep her calm. She could count on Hudson to tell her if they should worry...? Time to listen, Emilia is giving clear, detailed instructions to each individual with their role. The bit about innocent lives being at risk spikes her breathing....but then the healer is beside Alvina, patting her and everything seems okay. Telling her about an elixir, things would be painful, she might pass out. "I trust you." The bard replies, taking the vial nervously. Did she want to sleep? Would it be better for everyone if she did? It would certainly save her the embarrassment of whatever was about to happen, or keep her ignorant of any dangers or panics. Before draining the contents, she listens to Hudson's instructions, gives him a grateful smile and tries to squeeze his hand with her empty fleshed digits. She needed to feel the heat of his skin in hers. "Babies..." She smiled, trying not to worry. Trying so very hard. This is where she's looking when May receives her instructions. Her eyes are rimmed with tears. The emotions; fear, anxiety, gratefulness, excitement...boil over to cause these tears. They are too numerous to contain, these feelings. "Thank you, for staying beside me...I love you so much..." She whispers, so only Hudson might hear her. It's too emotional. She can't contain it. He could have left, at any time. Any time. But he didn't. He stayed beside her. He stayed. Emilia is pulling up her hair and Alvina can tell it's time so she drains the green liquid quickly. The bard doesn't have time to notice that her alchemist boyfriend is scratching his arm. Hudson takes the empty container, and looks back towards the end of the bed. Alvina can't. Her body feels like liquid. She's a puddle in the bed and Hudson is all she can see. He's all she's ever really seen. "Tell them I love them...so much..." She sighs. Tears stream down her cheeks as her lashes flutter closed. Her hand goes limp in his, but her chest continues to rise and fall.


Lionel is a thousand leagues away. He’s oblivious to Hudson’s shock. He’s oblivious to May’s whispers. He’s oblivious to everything except the task. Like a trained professional, he acknowledges Emilia’s orders with a curt nod and a blank face. That’s just it -- his face is blank now. He’s a statue. It’s just as well that Hudson, in his frenzy, hasn’t recognized -- or isn’t familiar with -- Lionel’s Knight-Commander’s badge of office. Right now, he really is a random guard, come to this room by happenstance, here to assist despite the inherent oddity. Inwardly, Lionel retreats. There isn’t much else he can do. Deep within his mind’s eye, he stands on Catal’s cloudy northeast shore. He’s a child. He’s watching beams of white and yellow reflect off the surface of the sea as the torch atop an old brick lighthouse rolls in scheduled circle. A ship is on the horizon, although Lionel is just a boy and he does not know the name. Panic quickly disintegrates the entire visual tapestry; suddenly, the lighthouse is aflame, its torch spreading fire everywhere as an usurper takes the Catalian throne. Lionel is on that ship now, rushed along into who-knows-where. Lionel knows where. He’s in a dozen countries, spirited from scheming host to scheming host, a play piece in his youth. This is where Lionel is -- in memory. But no matter how he wills himself to stay in childhood, anywhere but -there,- there comes and he’s here in Lithrydel, 16 and fresh-married. Alexia Isis’ face shakes him. She’s pregnant. It’s twins. And then she’s dead. Lionel, outwardly, is still the statue. If things are needed, Lionel fetches. Emilia’s numerical code is apt. Lionel will retrieve. Like a dog of war, Lionel will fetch. Somewhere in his heart, he is very much aware that a beautiful, splendorous saga is unfolding. Somewhere within him, Lionel is happy beyond words that Alvina’s twins will soon draw breath. Yet to combat conflicted feelings, Lionel has only ever had one cure: self-deception. He is silent and stoic. He is Hudson’s so-called guardsman. He is glad to be here, crushed to be here. He is ready.


May flipped a small hourglass filled with a golden sand over the moment that Alvina drank the green potion. Time, it is something that stands still and rushes past. The healer had until the last grain fell to deliver two babies from the womb of the soon slumbering bard before Al would start to wake from her nap. Forty minutes, less than a full hour, she had just that in time as it was only a small amount of the drink. Wasting no moment the Genasi rose from her position so that she could readjust the way Hudson had so politely covered his babies mother to keep her nude form from view. The duvet was removed, the towel she’d used in transport was reposition under her belly and over her lady bits and thighs, the sheet was adjusted then to be covering only her breasts up, minus her head which was left out for breathing of fresh air purposes. Thus, only the rounded stomach was exposed. Opening the vial of red she poured the contents over the lower stomach, a sterile smell emitting into the air from the product. Glancing around the room she checked that each patron was in their position before she began. Turning toward Lionel she spoke, “One,” and received the first instrument, a sharp metal blade. Starting at the left of the woman’s inner hip bone Em pressed down into the flesh with the blade, splicing her skin and muscle apart in a upward crescent shape, stopping at the inner spot of the other hip side. Blood leaked from the open wound, dripping down slowly over her flesh onto the towel. It bleed more with the next cut deeper into the muscle until she could see the stretched out pink flesh of the uterus. Handing over this blade to Lionel Em spoke, “Two,” taking the second item from the male assistant she had for this procedure. It was a large piece of something rubber looking in a circle that she bend in half before inserting it into the gaping wound of the mother to be, allowing it to unfold and open spreading out the flesh and muscle into a circle that would not close with the guard keeping it in place. Blood. It was still leaking as Em held a hand over the woman, focusing a deal of energy out to chill the liquid so that it would not flow so freely from the lady on the bed. Lionel would hear next ‘three’ the next one down the line, a smaller finer blade for a more precise cut. Holding it at an angle with one hand resting on the flesh around the uterus Em pressed down forming an opening in the organ allowing her access into the womb. Giving Lionel this blade Em glanced at the hour glass, plenty of time still, things were going smoothly. May in this time had stepped up closer to the edge of the bed readying herself to take the first of the twins to be born. Looking at Hudson she smiled, hoping that he’d not passed out like some men do, and assuming he had not being lycan and all handed him a pair of scissors, “You will need these soon.” she whispered to him before turning back to the matter at hand, baby A. The two mismatched colored hands of the Genasi disappeared into the second opening she’d made, time standing still in this moment right before the first baby would be brought into the world. With careful hands she supported the neck and head before wiggling the tiny one free from her mother’s belly. She was almost of average size for a baby born at this gestation with a healthy color to her body, no jaundice, covered in a mix of amniotic fluid, white blotches, and blood. May was quick to accept the baby into the towel she was holding open while Em grabbed number six from Lionel, a bulb syringe, In the nose and the mouth to remove the excess fluid before being squirted into the empty bucket next to the bed. It was within seconds of this that there it was, Baby A’s first cry of life. A small clamp made of two pieces of bark and a string was attached to the cord by the healer’s hands, pinching it shut, “Cut her free, Hudson.” Emi would instructed the father as she glanced at the sand in the hour glass. Alright, Baby A was out, time was on her side. May would, after Hudson freed his first twin, depart the group over to start cleaning off the baby while also calming her down.


Attention turned back toward Lionel she gave a nod, “Be ready for number two”. Her hands then dipped back into the stomach of the bard to retrieve Baby B, but something didn’t feel right as her hands supported the neck, she could feel something else there, the cord was around it. Wiggling out the second was easy, but there wasn’t a cry to be heard nor was Lionel given any instructions like he would have been. Alvina was left there with a gaping hole in her stomach, waiting to be healed as Em laid the baby down on the bed before the Healer, “Lionel, clamp and scissors, you need to cut it quickly,” There was no time to wait for Hudson, no time at all. Emi’s hand were busy carefully undoing the cord that had caused the trouble, it was still pink and warm meaning it hadn’t been there too long, there was till time. This is what she feared caused the early water break, distress of a baby which was more common in multiples. Thank Sven that Alvina was asleep so she wouldn’t be in a panic. Clamped, cut free, and untied from about the neck Emi felt at her wrist for a pulse, nothing. No, this was not how it was going to be, Emi made a promise and she was going to keep it. Leaning over the little one she put her mouth over her bloody-amniotic soaked mouth and nose before slowly expelling a breath of healing into her little body for a few seconds, then two fingers on her chest for a few hits to get that heart jump started. Nothing. Repeat of the process for a second time. Again, nothing. Em looked briefly to the time she was losing time for Alvina, but she had faith because third time was a charm, no? Mouth over mouth and nose, slow breath out into the lungs of the tiny one, and a few two finger thrusts to the chest. This was followed by the most prescious sound in the world, a babies first scream of life. Baby B was breathing and fine. Taking the baby smaller than the first into her hands she wrapped the little life into a towel before passing her over to May who had finished cleaning up the older twin. It was this First born that was brought over to Hudson during the process of getting her sister to cry. She was a cute little thing with a coating of red peach fuzz atop her head, perhaps a redhead to be just like her mommy.


Now, back to Alvina with the stomach wound still wide open waiting to to healed. First, Em would have both hands inside her once more so that she could pull free the placenta from the womb, tossing it into the bucket. With that out she rested a frozen hand on the pink flesh of the uterus. A gentle white-blue glow emitted from her hand as the healing magics flowed out of the ice-woman mending the organ back together again. It was a pushed healing, Em was sure that Alvina would start to wake any minute now. When the tissue was sealed together the healer poked and faintly tugged making sure it was indeed fully healed, it was. Removing the piece that held open the stomach, tossing it into the bucket, Em laid a hand on her stomach while the other bloody hand reached up to wipe her mouth off smearing blood over her snow white face. Again, a white-blue healing left her hand spreading the chilled healing of the Genasi into the flesh of the mother. Muscle would mend itself back together layer after layer, followed next by the skin tissue itself repairing until nothing was left but a silvery-blue scar where the cut had been made. This scar would be most cold to the touch for a few months, but then it would warm up to the bard’s body temperature. By now, Alvina would be awake. May would be bringing the cleaned off smaller twin over to Hudson. Unlike her older sister her head was perfectly bald with no indication or trace of hair color. Em would turn to cleaning up the mess surrounding Alvina, putting away her instruments into a pile on a towel that would be wrapped up and stuffed to insider her bag to be washed later. As Em cleaned the area of the bed May was cleaning up everything else. The Genasi whose nose had started to bleed turned to look at the awake Alvina, “Congratulations! It is two healthy baby girls.”


Hudson finds Alvina's tearful and abrupt sign off somewhat alarming, and he touches her face to see if she'll stir awake, but it's as if she's turned to stone. He looks at Emilia immediately to confirm that this is expected. Emilia seems unfazed. Well, then. Hudson can now proceed to worrying about the surgery, and pales to match the white duvet as the proceedings get underway. It takes a great amount of self control not to backseat operate here, that is, point out that Alvina's leaking blood basically the entire time in various places. You can read it all on his face, though. This full-body-clenched-in-anxiety state of affairs leaves the sports fan anxiety he'd had about the Cenril Cubs' championship in the dust. He accepts the scissors with a numb confusion, and then remembers just what it is he's supposed to do with them. He nods, sets his jaw, and then hard stares at the kinda gross flailing creature covered in birthing slime that happens to be his daughter. Mercifully she is toweled off, and begins emitting a sound much like a siren. Hardly registering his relief at this fortuitous but noisy event, which means his child is alive, Hudson goes about cutting the umbilical cord, grimacing, because ugh, apparently it's hardier than it looks, you have to chew through it with the scissors. Wow, OK... That was pretty disgusting, he can't believe he has to do it again. May relieves him of the scissors, and he barely realizes it. Distracted by the task at hand, he had sort of expected this to be some kind of baby assembly line, except there's no second baby. He looks over at Emilia, expectantly, and then feels his stomach drop out because she's holding the second baby but the baby isn't making any noise, in fact she's got the cord wrapped around her neck. "She can't breathe," he states the obvious with no small amount of panic. He watches with creeping horror as Lionel cuts the baby free and there's just nothing. Nothing, making the loudest sound in the room. Emilia is trying to revive the little body and Hudson forgets to breathe himself. She didn't make it. One of his little girls didn't make it she didn't make it she didn't make it. It's not fair. There's two of everything, this is not what was supposed to happen. He feels as if his heart is squeezed into nothing, like a sponge. And then she emits a piercing shriek, perhaps more annoying than her sister's, and Hudson's relief is unbearable. He wipes his face, tries not to get snot on his first daughter. He is totally overwhelmed, not ready to hold a baby but that's happening. She looks a beautiful but fragile, shrunken human, and she has zero interest in him right now. She's making ambulance noises, in fact had started up again to mark the occasion of being handed to her father. He tries to rock her like they'd learned in the classes and it feels ridiculous, and also not that effective... He glances back and forth between Alvina and his squalling progeny, is he doing this wrong, because she's still making The Noises. It seems to be business as usual for Emilia, which is doing a lot in terms of easing his concerns in the death-by-c-section department. And then Alvina's awake. Hopefully he looks like he knows what he's doing, notwithstanding screaming child, and also like he hasn't just Seen Some Things. "Hey babe," the words come out in a croak. He lifts his chin at May. "Can she uh, can you bring her the other one?" 'The other one' being the temporary name for daughter numero dos. The baby in his arms has stopped yelling, success, someone give him a trophy right now. That feeling of relief is so palpable now, along with a feeling of something more, and he looks at the people around them, their tired faces. "Thank you, all of you," he says before he forgets, before his sense of politeness is blasted into oblivion by subsequent baby screeching. His gaze finds its way back to Alvina. "You feeling OK?"


In retrospect, that sedative potion likely did what a lot of anesthesia applications do (at least in the case of Alvina) which is to say, she got overly emotional. But she was also delivering children so it could just be a grab bag of hormones. She would not be aware that whatever sweet feeling she was trying to convey before drifting off to sleep had caused Hudson to panic, as if she was saying. ‘I’m not going to make it, go on without me, tell them I was radiant. Etc’. She couldn’t know how amazingly Emilia had orchestrated the birth. She wouldn’t become aware of things in time to know the second of the two babes had been at risk. There’s no universal cosmic feeler to trace how reflective and deceptively composed Lionel is, or how deftly May hands off their children to their father. All Alvina knows is when the world comes back into focus, and the dreamless sleep ends, Emi is cheering their success and Hudson is standing beside her with two pink faced sirens that she desperately wanted to know. “Gods…” It’s all she can say, eyes barely open and already full of weak tears. Then she looks to Emilia, who has…blood smeared on her beautiful snowy face. “Ar-are you okay? Is everything okay?” Head on a swivel, she tries to examine the faces of all present. May is shuffling about, cleaning things up as is Emilia. Lionel was…sort of just standing on the edge of it all, more like a statue than a living thing. Even still, he looked like a pleased statue…from what she could tell. Hudson gets the final look. “Is everything okay?” Dare to dream the impossible dream that for once, they could have a happy ending in their lives. Or in this case, a happy beginning. Hudson’s question was a bit of a surprise, because as she evaluated herself for feelings of discomfort or unease, she found…very little. It could only be attributed to the Gensai’s flawless talents that she so humbly had agreed to lend them. If they ever thought to bring the rest of the Landon Baseball team into fruition…there’s no one else Alvina would dare ask but Emilia. “I’m okay,” but she would have said that anyway, lied if she had to, just so Hudson would let her hold her daughters. “Thank you so…so much….” Where the duvet is or isn’t, what ungodly position or exposure level the bard is in herself is irrelevant. Let the whole world see the ungilded beauty that was her triumph. All thanks to everyone else. Even Hudson. Especially Hudson. “You did this…” She whispered to him, while he lowered the smaller, balder cloning into her arms. “It’s all your fault…” The baby in her arms was still squirming, fussing. She was so beautiful, a light in all the bard’s own darkness. She was the moon among stars. Both of them were. All of them…were. Her heroes. All of them. Without question, she is openly crying, kissing these pink faces as Hudson helps her juggle them. Here they are granted their names. “Luna Celine….” The smaller of the two, still in her mother’s arms makes no move to show anything of significance has happened. “ Harper Amelia …” The fuzzy-haired perfection in Hudson’s arms still, whimpering and wiggling. This was it. This is how it was supposed to be, from the very beginning. And then, a heavy sigh, as if the mother who had honestly done nothing but be present for this part, was exhausted herself. “Please, you all must be tired. Thank you…” The bard holds Emilia in her thankful gaze for as long as she will allow it. “Don’t forget to give her the bag…” Alvina says to Hudson, who should remember that they brought money for the clinic, that they would happy surrender to Emilia even if she protested. “Please take this. Please.” It wasn’t enough, couldn’t feel like enough, to reflect her heart’s peace. “Lionel?” He was still here? “Do you want to hold one?” She asked, heavy lidded and smiling, while tears cut clear streaks down her flushed faced. Alvina might have asked May but she assumed the trained woman was use to births. Had held her share of babies. Lionel looked a bit like he was trapped in a memory, and needed a breath of real life to breathe in. “Tell me who you will be…” She whispered to the child in her arms. “Show me what you both will accomplish in your lives.”


Lionel attaches numbers to items in his mind. As each is demanded, the Catalian is happy and distant but oh-so-efficient to oblige. Everything seems to snap around him in slow motion. A blur. Until he is told to cut. Immediately, he springs into the present, the here and the now and there is a baby right there in front of him and Alvina’s stomach is wide open. He’s terrified for her, he suddenly realizes, but there is still sand left in the glass. Almost without recognition for his own person, he severs the cord with clamp and scissors and then feels his eyes sting as Emilia searches for… something. What is she searching for? Is it a pulse? He feels numb. Hudson’s statement isn’t heard; Lionel is no longer mentally elsewhere but his concentration has room only for this. Then, a breath. A cry. Lionel, too, breathes. People are talking and he can barely hear them. Nothing graces his ears but the child. He doesn’t understand what he’s feeling, but wiser men might have told him it’s utterly unconditional happiness. It isn’t much longer -- in Lionel’s slanted perception, anyway -- before Alvina is awake and asking him a question. He’s so fixated on the simplest fact that it takes him a few seconds to fully register it. They’re alive. Alvina is alive. The babies are alive. Not all stories end in despair. These children will grow up with a mother and father who will nurture them, care for them, love them. It’s enough, for this stitch in time, for the man to forget the complexities of overseeing an army, banish away the conflict he feels when he looks at Alvina, and be glad for it all. The only cloud still in his mind: his belief that a darkness is spreading over Lithrydel. Well, so it is, Lionel, but you’ll never allow a wink of harm to come to their children. “Yes,” he replies. “I think I would.” He leans over, accepts one, and finds peace.


Emilia would never admit aloud that she’d purposely smeared Alvina’s blood on her face so that when he own nose began to bleed it wouldn’t be as freshly noted as her own, not when this was a moment for celebration of life. The plans to heal the inside organ and stitch the flesh had vanished the moment there was a complication, one she would never share with Alvina to ruin her perfect experience of the day her twins were born., causing her to resort to a full magic healing which it could be said the Genasi was not ready for fully since her recent regain of her abilities. Yet, it worked and everyone was alive and healthy. Staring at the happy family of four, or five?, she wasn’t sure made the woman realize it was her cue to depart the room. Not only that but there was two Alvina, two Hudson, four babies, and two Lionel’s sitting on the bed. A well practiced perfect smile, “Everything is fine, Alvina. Everyone is fine. I will come visit you in a few days to check your healing and see how they are doing. Thank you for letting me be a part of this gift to you. May will finish cleaning up and then let you enjoy your family. Should you need anything give me a shout, the guards know where I am at inside the fort.” Now there was three of them all and ever more babies, yet the Genasi didn’t look as if anything was amis beside needing her face washed of Al’s blood. The bag was Not accepted by the healer as she turned and darted out of the room before they noticed, before she ruined such a joyous day. Quick feet down a blurry moving hall or two and she was back in her room, door locked to rest herself.


"I think everything's OK, if you're OK," he tells Alvina, as she gazes about in wonderment. Emilia echoes his sentiments, good, because she's probably more qualified to make the assessment in all honesty. Hudson had apparently acquired two babies, and then is relieved of one, good thing, because he hadn't the slightest how to hold both, too soon for such shenanigans. Gods forbid one or both start up the wailing again. Actually, the one Alvina's taken for herself seems just about ready to holler, yep, there she goes, like an engine starting, her little face pinched with effort. Probably going to aggro the baby he's holding too, yep, she's thinking about crying he can just tell. OMG what has he done, this is it now, roll the credits, for the indefinite future he's going to be swimming in baby poop and piss, and forget about leaving the house or getting laid not to mention sleep unless there's a prolonged baby eclipse or something. He feels the briefest pang of terror commingled with annoyance directed at a certain part of his anatomy, and then it subsides because the child in his arms, dubbed Harper, sneezes repeatedly and then looks bewildered by this development. It melts his heart. He realizes that Alvina is also crying, and he'd try to console her but unfortunately Harper hadn't limited herself to just a sneeze... she's cut a foul one. "Wow," says Hudson, fanning the air surrounding her and peeking, with trepidation, at the wrappings she's in. No leak. She's just getting warmed up, evidently. She LOLs, seemingly at herself. His daughter indeed... He attempts to hand Emilia the bag Alvina's set aside for her - so that's what that was for! - but Emilia waves him off and excuses herself. "Thank you!" he calls after her retreating form. That's a clever one, sneak away from people who are frozen in place as they are holding newborn babies. "I'll give it to her later," he assures Alvina, leaning closer to her and running a thumb under the tear streaks on her face. "What you cryin' about, babe, everyone's good," he tells her. It occurs to him that she's talking to the guard who's still here, for some reason, who is named Lionel, apparently. Offering to let him hold one of their children. "Maybe not the one who keeps unleashing silent but deadlies," comments Hudson, now fanning the air around Harper again. He responds to what he perceives to be a look of accusation from Alvina: "Don't even. I swear to the gods it's her." Harper is openly cackling, or what passes for cackling in a newborn baby. "AND she thinks she's funny." There's a sound that punctuates this observation, a muffled wet noise that has its origin in her wrappings. A telltale odor follows. "Andddd the other shoe has dropped. Maybe, ah, Alvina, uh---"


Alvina could only sigh, reaching back towards Lionel to take the baby into her arms once more. "Maybe we should just call it a day."