RP:The Captain And His Mermaid

Sunmary: Before attending the big fight between Shishi and Eirik in Craughmoyle, Khitti and Brand use the journey to Chartsend as a much needed time for rest and to spend time together.

The Tranquility, Somewhere In The Waters Between Cenril And Chartsend

The first week of the new year had been harder than it should’ve been. First Meri and the pregnancy, then Khitti’s bakery was scheduled to be open. The holidays had since made things like finding sugar and various other baking supplies a bit harder to find until tradeships returned to their routes and the shop’s kitchen had been in utter chaos. By the end of the week, Khitti was exhausted and decided that she needed the weekend off.

‘Thank the gods’ was definitely thought multiple times, with regards to Brand’s decision to move them to Khitti’s old room--he’d been right about her having trouble getting up and down the ladders--and now was no different as she ever so carefully made her way to the galley. It was almost as if she’d no longer had her sea legs, the way she wobbled here and there, the redhead even going so far as to holding the wall for balance--as if she’d not been unstable enough. Nothing would deter her from her late morning breakfast though, for both her stomach and that unborn child demanded it of her. She hadn’t even bothered to see if Brand was still in bed or if he’d gone off to deal with his captainly duties; that hunger created a tunnel vision something fierce.

Steak. Steak sounded good. And eggs. And hashbrowns and toast. Toast for days. She’d eat the whole frakking kitchen if she had to in order to sate this child’s ravenous hunger. Thankfully, the crew had already had their breakfast and went about their business, allowing Khitti to have the kitchen to herself (and not having to make small talk) to cook and eat that meal that was big enough for two.

Teeter totter, wibble wobble. The Tranquility was at sea, and the waves were particularly unruly this morning. Or maybe it was the novice at the wheel who was struggling to follow their charted path avoiding the rougher seas. Captain Brand would have to have a word with them about that, if Dozla didn’t beat him to it. But today? Today was for rest. Today was for putting old troubles out of mind -- Facilier, the curse, even Onyx -- and contemplating the new. Namely, Khitti was most definitely going to topple over, going around the way she was while they were in these waters. Brand was sure of it. He had half a second’s sight on her from within the kitchen and had already seen all the dreadful possibilities in his mind’s eye.

And in the next few seconds, as Khitti entered the kitchen and began to look around, Brand moved faster than he’d previously thought possible. The food-laden tray he’d been carrying toward the bedroom clattered onto the table. The jug of juice, though, was not so lucky. It fell to the floor and rolled, spilling its contents. But Brand was already well past the new citrus lake, steadying hands at Khitti’s back and side. “Woah there, what are you doin’ here? You spend enough time in the kitchens when you're workin’. I was gonna bring you something.”

“I'm fine. I can still do things for myself, you know,” came Khitti's immediate reply, an offended tone hinting around her words. “I just have to get used to this.” But… would she? She'd never gotten used to nearly all the differences between being human and a vampire after a year and a half… why would this be any different? Despite that tone, she still settled back into Brand’s hold for a moment, grateful for the breather it allowed her. It didn't last long however, the redhead soon attempting to make her way to the table on her own.

Whether he helped her along or she managed it herself, Khitti would plop down into the nearest chair with a sigh and stared at the table in silence. This was how it was gonna be for the next two months wasn't it? Brand was going to fuss and worry over every move she made and she was certain it was going to drive her to madness. Having to deal with Lionel and his lack of letting her do much of anything besides paperwork was bad enough. It's not like they wouldn't have done that anyway, after her death, but it certainly didn't help things now. It built on everything else that she couldn't help but dwell on and decided to keep to herself. Brand would know that pensive stare though and the fact that with it, something was usually going on in that head of hers.

As Khitti made her path to the table, Brand followed only just enough behind her to still catch her if she should fall. She made it without incident, and a moment later he had fetched the mop and swabbed up the mess of juice on the floor. He leaned on the handle when it was done, palms cupped around the end, staring at her staring at the table. One of these messes was far easier to address than the other. “It’ll get cold if you don’t eat,” he urged at length. “I thought you’d be hungry.”

“I'm starving,” Khitti stated quietly. In the time between when she sat down and when Brand finally said something, tears had begun to line her eyes. Khitti cleared them away with the back of her hand and soon after began to dig into her breakfast. Chomp, chomp, chomp on some bacon. Om nom nom on some eggs. But, she does all of this in silence. She looked tired--maybe it was made worse by the walk to the galley? Khitti at least seemed appreciative of the food as she scarfed it down rather quickly. She hadn’t been lying; she was definitely hungry.

Brand returned the mop to its home and slid into his seat, hip to hip with Khitti. He wrapped an arm around her, massaging at her shoulder. “Sometimes,” he said with a sigh, “as much as we fought back then, I think things were a lot easier when we had that mindlink. We’ve both changed since then, and I like to think it’s mostly for the better, but…” His hand traced a path downwards and settled on the swell of her stomach. “This link isn’t nearly the same. And neither of us were expectin’ it all to go so fast as it has.” There was fear in his eyes. For once, he was showing it.

Khitti leaned over against Brand as he spoke, “Maybe, but there were still things back then that neither of us would physically or mentally speak about. It’s not really much different from now. But, I’ve learned how to tell by your body language at least, and I’m sure you with me as well, when something’s not right.” That translated into ‘I know that you know that I’m not feeling great right now’. “I just wanted to savour the pregnancy itself, because we don’t know if it’s gonna happen again--or if we want it to happen again. But, everything I do--everything I want--is tainted somehow and I guess I need to accept that that’s never going to change.” She finally put her hand on top of his and squeezed it a little, “Makes me wonder if we should even bother with getting married, if only because something’s going to get screwed up and it’ll be my fault as usual. Things have not ceased being my fault, even when I was dead.” Because that was her fault too, making that decision to save Brand from Amarrah’s rage.

“What are you talking about? This isn’t your fault. We didn’t ask for things to go the way they have. Facilier, Onyx -- for frak’s sake, Khitti, put the blame where it belongs. If anything’s tainted, it’s not by you.” Their hands stayed intertwined while Brand traced small circles into her middle with his index finger. “Though, I’ve wondered just how much they’ve had a hand in all this. The contraceptive tea I was givin’ you, before your memories came back -- it should’ve worked. Followed the instructions to the gorram letter. And yet… here we are. I’ve barely slept, tryin’ to puzzle out why Onyx did what they did, what Facilier really wants and why he’s so determined to make your life more difficult for it. And if maybe this is why he helped you with the cure from the beginning? What does he really want with this child, and why does it have to be ours?”

“No, we didn’t ask for things to go this way, but -I- asked for a cure and got it from the worst person I probably could’ve. Even going to Gevurah would’ve been a better option.” Maybe. That was probably still up there on a list of top ten bad ideas, but at least Gevurah was much further down the list than Facilier -and- she wasn’t insane. “Maybe Onyx was messing with that tea too. We don’t know what they did and didn’t do to me behind our backs. Despite all that… I still am not as upset with them as I should be. Facilier is a necromancer, Onyx is an undead--there has to be some amount of unwilling control going on there. Then again, maybe that’s just wishful thinking. Things might’ve just been all frakked to hell since Onyx appeared.” Khitti sighed, but it was soon cut off as a rather sharp kick to her insides was gifted to her. “Ow!” She sat upright fast, peering down at her stomach. What the hell was that? It happened again and she soon realized what it was. With Brand’s hand still in hers, she pulled it over to the spot on her belly where their child’s foot had connected with Khitti’s womb, another kick given nearly in the same place.

“Oh, frak no.” Brand recoiled, shaking out his hand as if he’d gotten it drenched in some foul liquid. He ogled as Khitti’s stomach continued to twist and moved about. “Seven hells. It’s like you’re tryin’ to keep a feral cat in a bag. Look at that.” Cautiously, he returned his hand to rest just above her belly button, where another kick connected. “Can it hear us? Should I be tryin’ not to cuss so much? Don’t know that I’ll be any good at that.”

Khitti couldn’t help but snicker at Brand’s reaction. “I think it can hear us, but I doubt it can understand you. I’ve been reading things…” That’s a shocker. Not. “I guess they like music, even when they’re this small.” She put her hand on his again, gingerly, “Maybe you should try a little when it’s older and it starts talking? But, even then, if we’re living on this ship, it’ll probably hear a hell of a lot worse.” Olive-green eyes settled on Brand, a faint smile mustered for him, “We’re gonna be alright, though, right? Even after all of this? I’d say this might not be the worst thing that’s happened to us, but… I don’t know where babies and all of this domestic stuff ranks for you anymore in the same list with getting trapped in a dragon’s cave or getting our asses kicked by frost giants or…” She let the thought trail off, assuming he got the picture. The smile faded though as another realization hit her, “We never did get to have that baby shower, but I guess there’s still time so long as we can get Meri out of the Shadow Plane and she’s fine and all that. We still have to pick out a name too…”

“I dunno,” he said to the ranking. “I guess we’ll find out. I’m tryin’ not to think about it too much. Dozla will be able to help, I’m sure, but we’re so unprepared. I can get supplies easily enough, but if you don’t wanna raise them here, what are we gonna do? You have your shop, n’ my work is here… scheduling everything is chaotic enough, even without the kid in the mix.” The child kicked again. Brand prodded it back. “Meri, maybe, for a girl. Especially if…” He didn’t need to say it.

“I don’t think any parent is ever fully prepared, Brand. Even Dozla said that when she realized I was pregnant. And, I don’t -have- to be at the shop all the time. I certainly won’t when it’s born. At least, not for a little while anyway. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. I -am- a little worried about raising a kid on the ship, but mostly because it’s gonna need some grass to run around on when it’s older, you know? Besides, there’s tons of captains’ wives that stay back on land while their husbands take care of their cargo.” Khitti shrugged, “It doesn’t have to be like that either though, because I know I won’t want to be without you for too long.” It was a little sappy, but unfortunately it was also the truth. “You could teach it how to swim, and that’ll certainly help things. Babies are better swimming students that older kids, apparently.” The kid pushed at the inside of her again, this time with a hand, and she too prodded at it. “And, Meri is definitely a good name. And, I’m sure she’ll love it too, when she comes back. She -will- come back. She’s like us… I doubt she’d give up that quickly.”

“I hope you’re right.” Was it even a matter of Meri ‘giving up,’ though? One human against Facilier and an army of hostiles… how could she have survived that? It wasn’t worth pointing out to Khitti -- likely, she already knew it, even if she was in denial now. “This kid’s gonna be born knowin’ how to swim. And there’s plenty of room to run around on the topdeck, so long as it’s not stormin’.” He laid his hand over Khitti’s. “Other’n Meri, I dunno. You got any family names you’d wanna use?”

“The land is just as important as the sea, Brand,” Khitti said with a heavy sigh. He didn't seem like he was going to budge with this, so she just gave up. “On any normal occasion, I think I'd be fine with suggesting Magda or Lydia, but I'm not entirely enthused with naming my daughter after a bloodthirsty spirit or the sister I sacrificed. I'd be reminded too much of all of this mess.” As if she weren't already. “I don't know. What about Max? It's my dad's name but it could work for a girl, or a boy obviously.” Khitti squinted her eyes in thought, “Speaking of names… what are we going to do about the wedding? There's that whole tradition of the bride taking the groom's last name, but uh… you don't exactly have one.” A smirk made itself known as she lightly poked at his side with her free hand. “It's not like we have to do that though.”

“Max, hmm. So… short for Maxwell or Maxine, depending. I like the long forms, anyway. But it’s flexible, in case the kid wants it short. That’s good.” Had Brand been sneaking peeks into the baby name books when no one was around? Perhaps. Where else could he have heard the name? No one on the crew shared it. “I suppose most people -do- have a last name, don’t they?” Brand mulled over the thought. “We’ve both come from other places. Is there a good word for ‘traveler’ in your language?”

Khitti side-eyed Brand at his usage of the long forms of ‘Max’. Weird. He never seemed like the type to be well-versed on names and such. Huh. The subject of surnames was continued as Khitti crossed her arms over her chest in thought, a faint ‘ow’ given. Yeah, those were hurting too. She was starting to wish for the days when her breasts were half the size of what they are now. “Hm. ‘Traveller’ literally translates into ‘Reisender’, which could work. There’s also ‘Segler’, which is ‘sailor’ and can be paired with other things. ‘Herzegler’ is ‘heart sailor’, because, you know, you love sailing. If we wanted a sea-themed name, ‘Liir’ could work as well, though that’s Catalian, sort of. I read it in one of Lionel’s books. It’s about a wicked witch with green skin who has a son. It’s the son’s name and also apparently a sea deity. Probably just a made up one, but I’m not for sure. Lionel doesn’t really keep books on the Catalian gods--that I’ve seen anyway. Or didn’t, I guess… since his home in Frostmaw is gone now.” There was a brief frown, but she tried not to dwell on it. “ ‘Feuerherz’ is ‘fire heart’, if you didn’t want something water-based. I guess a bit of thought needs to be put into it before we really decide.”

Brand sounded out their names with each potential last name as accompaniment. “I think ‘Liir’ sounds too abrupt, ‘specially put after my name, and I never glommed on much to my Catalian heritage, anyway. Hmm. ‘Heart sailor’ sounds like one of your picture book heroes, the ones with the moon wands and elemental attacks. Or it could mean, like…” He lifted his hand off her stomach and poked above one breast, aiming toward her heart. “Sailin’ the link we used to have. Or the dreams we shared cuz of that necklace. It’s still around here, somewhere. I dunno if we’d be where we are now without it.” He’d grown strangely quiet. His hand traced down her curves and ended back where it began, rubbing little circles where their child had kicked. “Whatever happens, I’d rather we face all this than even think of losin’ you to death or heartbreak. Prob’ly would’ve, the way things were goin’ before.”

Was Brand… being mushy right now? Crimson brows raised somewhat in surprise as her line of sight followed up his arm, eventually settling on those handsome Catalian features of his. She was starting to get all teary-eyed again, but at least it was good, happy tears this time. “I don’t think you would’ve let that happen. Even when you were afraid of us being together, you still stuck by me. It would’ve just been another time that you saved my ass, really. I’m sure there’s some timeline out there where the necklace happened, but I still stayed a vampire, and Dominic didn’t turn into a frakking jerk, and you were still a ‘gorram broodin’ loner man’, and there were no kids, and things turned out just fine.” Khitti nudged him with her shoulder, failing to hide a grin, “Well, no. Dominic -was- still you. Probably would’ve ended up as a jerk anyway.”

She’d eventually fall silent too for a bit, running over the names in her head herself, and then nodded at length, “'Khitti and Brand Herzegler' it is then. I’m gonna have to pretend I’m fourteen again and write our names together in a journal with a big heart around it and lots of other little hearts to decorate around it all.” Khitti already does this; now she’d just be adding their last name to it. “Also…” She paused, mulling things over for a second, now that a certain someone’s name was fresh in her mind,“...if we’re going for a theme here, and naming our kid after people that might’ve died… if it’s a boy, can we name him Dominic? Is that too weird?” She was entirely unsure of this, considering, you know, she was dating Dominic before he disappeared.

Brand’s circle-tracing paused. “Really? It isn’t too weird to -you-? Well, I guess I did call him ‘kid’ for a long time, didn’t I?” He mused over the idea for a while. “I mean, I guess if we get a boy with black hair, it’ll almost seem like fate, won’t it? And I guess if that’s the case, that means you’ll be havin’ twins afterwards.” He grinned and poked at her again. “You ready to have two in there? I’m surprised Facilier didn’t do -that- to you.”

“I mean… maybe a little, but… it just feels, like it should be that way? I just… don’t want to forget about him.” Khitti frowned, her line of sight falling to the table again. “The Dominic in my dream, the day Amarrah took over my body and attacked the guild, that one, our son, left me too and I feel like I need to make things right. Seeing him in that casket--that wasn’t supposed to be how it ended for him. Even if it wasn’t the real Dominic.” But was the ‘real’ Dominic even the real one? Thinking about it made Khitti’s head spin. The color drained from her face after a minute or so when the last of Brand’s words finally registered in her head. “T-two? -This one’s- big enough all on it’s own--it’s probably going to end up as tall as you are at this rate. You’re going to have to roll me around Cenril if I’m going to be carrying two of them. Do you… think you’d want more than just this one?” Khitti side-eyed him curiously.

Brand's cheeks flushed as red as Khitti's hair. "Well, I mean, if it's fate -- won't have much of a choice if it's somethin' the gods decided for us, will I?" He overtly hid himself behind several strips of bacon while biting into them two at a time. He'd fallen so far from the days of the 'gorram broodin' loner man.' Maybe, with enough bacon, he could salvage what was left of his dudebro masculinity.

Sorry, Brand. There’d be no salvaging today. Khitti looked rather taken aback, olive-green eyes wide with bewilderment, her mouth slightly agape. “But, I thought you don’t give a frak about ‘fate’ and the gods.” Pale features twisted from that baffled expression to one of skepticism, those same green eyes studying him ever so carefully, “Brand. Do you -actually- want more kids?” She scooted herself ever so carefully off her chair and onto his lap, just so she could be almost nose to nose with him--luckily for him, she’s still a little petite despite being so heavily pregnant and might not entirely crush his legs underneath of her. Hopefully. Probably. “You are allowed to say and think these things. Because it doesn’t matter what fate wants. What -we- want are the only things that matter.” Another jab to her insides was gifted to Khitti, as if the child understood her, though it was probably just a coincidence. “Okay! Ow! Damn. Yes, what you want matters too,” she grumbled and rubbed her belly.

Brand finished his bacon and was left with one very serious poker face. “I dunno, just turns out you’re kinda hot like this. Or Dozla has really good taste in maternity dresses, in addition to amazing sewing skills. Or both.” Yes, Brand. Be one with the dudebro. Mind perpetually in the gutter. “I -did- notice your boobs got bigger, even before Dozla realized you were pregnant. Wasn’t gonna complain about a good thing, though.” He gave her a squeeze -- and dared give her a kiss. Okay, so he didn’t have to be -all- dudebro, just enough to save face for whatever weird paternal instincts had been bubbling up in him ever since Khitti had come back to life. Was she really going to make him admit to it? He might almost be willing to pray to those gods he so disdained if he thought it would help. Or maybe pregnancy-brain would let him get away with changing the subject? “How do you feel about oysters for dinner? We can get ‘em fresh once we’re in Chartsend.”

Khitti’s lips twisted into a smirk that just gradually continued to grow the more he spoke. Despite how ridiculous he was being, he definitely did just compliment her. It was almost a form of revenge because it was her turn now to blush profusely. “S-shut up, you. I am not. I’m a frakkin’ whale is what I am.” She wasn’t being -entirely- serious, of course, and she definitely did let him kiss her. Khitti didn’t have to force Brand to admit it; it was written all over his face: he might -actually- like the idea of being a dad now, even if it was scary as hell. “Oysters sound great.” She didn’t press the subject, leaving him what was left of his dudebro pride. “Maybe if it’s warm enough, we could eat dinner up top and watch the stars? We may not get many more nights like that for a little while… at least until things with the kid settle down a little and we get Dozla to babysit for an hour or two.” Khitti took to staring at Brand as she offered the idea, one hand lightly running through his hair. She had that smile on her face--the same one he saw that day in Mrs. Mallard’s when Onyx brought him to find her there. It’s almost as if she were actually happy, and not just because of the kid, but because Brand was happy too.

“Dinner under the stars, it is. And you know what I gorram -have- to say now, right?” Brand was grinning, too. Maybe too much? Don’t tell him. “You’re not a whale, you’re a beautiful frakkin’ mermaid.”