http://dragonreturned.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] dragonreturned.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] shatterverse2008-02-03 10:13 am

(no subject)

Iroh has been around the farm (really!). Mostly drinking tea and getting used to this world and, when no one's watching, keeping in shape. Today he sits out on the front porch with a steaming cup of tea simply watching and thinking. He's been nursing the same cup for an awful long time, but somehow it's still just the right temperature.
slayer_fray: (baby(1))

[personal profile] slayer_fray 2008-02-03 04:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Mel is determined to get the farm in working order, which will involve lots of hard work - physical and administrative and talking to people.

Loo thinks all this is boring, and has gone looking for her friend the squid. Unfortunately, she's 16 months old and hasn't a great sense of direction, so little feet, helped more often than she'd like, by little hands, have taken her around the front of the house.

Where there's a man! With tea!

Loo stares at him, waiting for something interesting to happen
slayer_fray: (baby(1))

[personal profile] slayer_fray 2008-02-03 04:49 pm (UTC)(link)
"Ha!" says Loo.

It may be 'hello', it may be just a noise. Regardless, she falls over in excitement.
slayer_fray: (baby(1))

[personal profile] slayer_fray 2008-02-03 04:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Loo tries to stand up by pushing herself up on her hands, but ends up falling backwards in the same movement so she's sitting on her cloth diaper.

It's hilarious, she thinks, because now there's a man with THE BIGGEST BEARD SHE'S EVER SEEN crouching in front of her.

Tiny pale hands reach out for the hair.
slayer_fray: (baby(1))

[personal profile] slayer_fray 2008-02-03 05:03 pm (UTC)(link)
"Mah!"

Loo's plans have been thwarted! She protests vocally and tries to pull her hands back.
slayer_fray: (shouting)

[personal profile] slayer_fray 2008-02-03 05:08 pm (UTC)(link)
That question is answered by another direction entirely.

"LOO!"

It's a young woman's voice, and it's coming from just to the side of the house, and it's terrified.
slayer_fray: (taken back)

[personal profile] slayer_fray 2008-02-03 05:15 pm (UTC)(link)
It might well be, because the sound of Mom's voice wiped the smile off Loo's face immediately, and by the time she races round the corner, kicking up dust in her hurry, Loo's face is scrunched up and turning red. On Mel's hip, Hana has the same expression.

When Mel sees who it is, she skids to a halt, and stares for a second. That second is all the silence there is, because both babies start crying simultaneously.
slayer_fray: (baby)

[personal profile] slayer_fray 2008-02-03 05:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Nothing quite guaranteed to snap Mel out of OMG Iroh shock than scooping up one of her crying babies.

Hugging Hana close to her with one hand, she starts forward immediately to take Loo from him, punctuating her own sssssh noises with a quick challenging stare towards him.

Iroh or not, that's her baby.
slayer_fray: (happy)

[personal profile] slayer_fray 2008-02-03 05:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Give Mel a second, she's busy jiggling a baby on a hip each, smiling and sshhing and making "I'm here, baby, I'm here," noises. Hana calms down relatively quickly, mostly because she wasn't sure why she was crying, and Loo follows soon after.

Then she grins up at Iroh.

"Yeah, I don't know how I manage either."
slayer_fray: (soft smile)

[personal profile] slayer_fray 2008-02-03 05:43 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, I know," Mel says, and smiles down at Hana. They both have yellowish eyes, but Loo is clearly Mel's spawn, with that mouth. Hana's eye shape and heart shaped face - that's what justifies Mel's next words.

"Take after their Dad."
slayer_fray: (baby)

[personal profile] slayer_fray 2008-02-03 05:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Mel steals a quick look up at Iroh, but drops back to Hana instead, taking a few steps so she can sit with them on the edge of the porch.

It hurts, somewhere she told herself she couldn't hurt anymore, to be talking to an Iroh who doesn't call her daughter, and doesn't love the girls any more than the way he cares for what seems like every one.

"They're babies. Most of them all look alike."

She doesn't believe that, not anymore.
slayer_fray: (baby)

[personal profile] slayer_fray 2008-02-03 05:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Mel smirks, partly to herself, as she eventually relents to Hana's protests at being held and set her down on the floor.

Loo's protests fall on deaf ears, and she's held tight. But there's smiles and finger games even while Mel keeps an expert eye on her sister.

"So who do they remind you of?"

Might as well get it out of the way.
slayer_fray: (quizzical)

[personal profile] slayer_fray 2008-02-03 06:06 pm (UTC)(link)
"No!"

That's Loo's objection to the way Mel's hand tightened over her fingers when he mentioned his niece.

Mel sticks out her tongue and beeps her nose.

(Hana wants to show Iroh Dino. Look!)

"How old are they?"

It's totally an innocent question, and not trying to work out when Iroh's from.
slayer_fray: (smug)

[personal profile] slayer_fray 2008-02-03 06:11 pm (UTC)(link)
The age Zuko was when they met, Mel notes. It -

- wow, that means he's still crazy -

It's almost a relief. She doesn't have to deal with a whole alternate life.

Instead she smirks quickly for Iroh's grin.

"Only there was a way to keep them babies."

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