Playdate?|Malagard, Khelek

[Darastrix]

Schuldig put his arms around Harmony and gave her a little squeeze as she got settled, and let out a content sigh. At least someone was happy to have him around. At her question, he tensed up. He could well imagine how a question regarding Morilantans and love had gotten into her head. He was going to KILL Locket.

Later. Schuldig took a deep breath and forced himself to relax. It wasn't Harmony's fault. He had to deal with whatever this was first. "What do you mean by 'earn love?'"

[Kender Bard]

"I was playing with Princess Fausta today," Harmony explained. "And she was telling me a lots about Morilanta." She decided not to tell her father that they were also discussing parents. That might lead to awkward questions that she didn't want to deal with. "She was telling me that in Morilanta, a man doesn't love a woman or a girl unless she's worth something. So you have to earn your love. Is that true?"

She wasn't even sure if Fausta merely meant Morilantan men or all men. It seemed like such a strange concept to her.

[Darastrix]

"No," Schuldig said, his tone firm. "What you earn by being of 'worth' in Morilanta isn't love. If you...." Well. He sure as hell wasn't going to use prostitution as an example.

"If you knew someone who needed, say, information on something, you might work out an agreement," he told her. "He pays you for what you give him, or he gives you room and board, does favours in exchange, and he might give you some extra things if what info you're giving is especially good. You may become a valuable informant, but at the most, you're just prized asset. A thing. Love doesn't factor into that, and if anyone ever tells you that they'll love you if you 'prove your worth' or some bullshit like that, they're just trying to use you. And it's not just the men in Morilanta that do that kind of thing."

[Kender Bard]

Harmony frowned thoughtfully at that. "So what she was describing wasn't love at all?" Something of great pity flashed over her face. "Oh. I hope she doesn't find that out then. I think... that's all she has. How sad. Morilanta is a really awful place isn't it?"

She hugged him tightly. Her eyes burned a little bit. "You'll love me no matter what... won't you?" she asked quietly. "Like mom?"

[Darastrix]

What?? The idea that Harmony would doubt that hadn't ever occurred to Schuldig before, and he was surprised at how much it hurt to think of her believing that he didn't love her. He hugged her back tight.

~Thank you SO much for letting my daughter have shit like 'girls have to prove their worth to be loved by men' get put into her head,~ Schuldig growled at Locket before slamming his shields shut again.

"No matter what," he said. "I won't always agree with you, I will get pissed off at you, and we're probably in for some screaming matches -mental AND vocal - when you're older, just because I think we're a lot alike, but none of that will ever mean I don't love you. Most of it will be because I DO."

[Kender Bard]

Harmony closed her eyes and let out a small sigh that shivered with her relief, just a little, as she continued to hug him tightly. She had hoped that her guess was right, and that his answer would have been yes. She loved him very, very much and she knew he loved her; she had just needed a little reminder that it was an unconditional love. "I love you too," she said quietly. "And I'm going to yell at you too and maybe even say things that I know will be mean and hurt..." She'd already once or twice found herself hovering near doing just that, in her angriest moments. "But I'll love you forever."

She turned her head and laid a firm kiss on his cheek. "I'm glad you're my dad," she concluded with a smile. "Even if you're unlike any dad anywhere."

[Darastrix]

Schuldig arched his brows at her. "So that's what you've been doing while I've been away. Meeting every father in Naruta to compare me to. I see how it is." He poked her in the ribs.

"You've."

Poke.

"Been."

Poke.

"Daddy-shopping!"

With that, he started to tickle her in earnest, keeping one arm around her to prevent escape.

[Kender Bard]

"No!" Harmony squealed loudly as she writhed around, laughing almost hysterically from Schuldig's tickling. She squirmed and twisted and tried to find some way to escape until she got it in her mind to expend an effort of will and teleported a foot away, though this caused her to land on the floor with a little thump and roll backwards a trifle as she'd been leaning hard away from Schuldig when she'd teleported.

Then all she could do was sit on the floor and laugh some more until it at last it subsided into furious giggling, which showed absolutely no signs of abating. "No," she said again, trembling with repressed laughter that threatened to burst forth at any given moment, panting a little for breath when she could.

She scooted across the floor to kneel at his feet and lean against his leg affectionately. "Do you feel better?" she asked when even her giggling had at last abated, leaving her nigh exhausted. She wondered if she was correct in guessing that he'd been in a bad mood or a sulk when she'd found him.

[Darastrix]

Schuldig grinned down at Harmony and mussed her hair, wondering if she'd picked that trait up from Filly. He might have to test the theory later. He blinked at the question, having forgotten that he'd been in a bad mood to begin with.

"Hmm? Oh. Yeah, I do," he said. "I had a...disagreement earlier with Locket on whether you should be around Fausta. Partly because of what she might tell you, the kind of ideas you might get from her." Okay, it hadn't been on his mind at the time when he'd been snapping at Locket, but it was now, and it was a perfectly valid reason. Schuldig was sure he'd had that in mind, at least subconsciously.

But considering how things had worked out....

"I'm still not happy with the idea," he stated, "but if you will promise to talk to me later about the stuff that comes up, I'll give it a try. Or if you'd rather talk to your mom, or Nagi, or even Crawford, that's fine, too."

[Kender Bard]

"All right," Harmony agreed, smiling at him. "I do like her. She's kind of weird but I think that's because of how she grew up. Did you know she's never had a mother or a grown woman around her almost her entire life? That's so strange. But anyway, even though she's odd, she's nice to me and I like making her feel better. She wants me to tell her what it's like to have a mom."

Hmm, she'd have to figure out what she was going to say for that. Planning for later. "I promise to tell you about anymore strange things she says though." She got back on her feet and dusted herself off. "But YOU have to promise that the next time you feel bad that you'll let me know so I can give you a hug. And a cookie."

Because cookies made everything better. She crossed her arms and gave Schuldig the stern-healer look she'd seen her mother give patients dozens of time. "Okay?"

[Darastrix]

"Okay," Schuldig agreed, unable to keep from grinning at Harmony's pose. He'd have to share that with Filly later.

"You have no idea how much I missed you in Anarlina," he said, sending her a burst of warm affection on impulse. Flux could definitely wait a few more months.

[Kender Bard]

Harmony blinked, surprised, but soaked it all up like dry ground to the rain. Then she grinned and focused on sending her own affection and love at him.

Which, in a momentary spike of power, was a powerful throw of emotion. She stopped herself abruptly, a very surprised look on her face. "Did I do that?"

[Darastrix]

Schuldig was startled by the power Harmony displayed, but he still reacted to her projection must as she had to his. He hadn't lacked for company while he was gone, but real affection had been in short supply. After he'd recovered his mental balance, he looked confused for a moment, then understanding.

"Well, I didn't do it. Has that happened before?" he asked.

[Kender Bard]

Harmony shook her head. "No," she said. Then she thought about it and shook her head again. "Wait, no, I take that back. Once. I thought it was just..." She waved her hands, unsure of how to put it. "I was practicing my telekinesis with a ball." She held her hands out, palms up. "Hovering it and making it move up and down. It's really hard... anyway I felt something, dunno what, and I nearly 'threw' the ball up to the roof. But when I tried again I couldn't."

[Darastrix]

"Sounds like you're starting an elemental growth spurt," Schuldig told her. Which would likely coincide with a more physical one. Good thing for the palace that she wasn't a telekinesis specialist. Nagi had had some...interesting moments once he hit a certain point. "If that's it, you're going to need to be careful with what you do with your sign until your power settles."