Small World|Aegestrom, Maelstrom

[Kender Bard]

"All right, let's see if we can't make a little money before heading home," Dreamwarp said, rubbing her hands.

"What are we going to do?" Kura asked, looking up at her mother.

"You aren't doing anything," Dreamwarp told her firmly. "In fact, I'm going solo for this one. I'll catch up to you all at the temple once I find some work for us to do. Drake, you'll especially like it here. Maelstrom is brimming with Wrathful."

"Yay!" Kura squealed.

[tuo]

Drake blinked. "Really? That's good news I guess but I wonder why so many wrathful are here..oh well. Let's go Kura, time to see how the wrathful do it outside of Flux." Drake said as he moved to pick her up and let her ride on his shoulders for now. "This should be a good place for you to kick or punch others."

Adam chuckled softly as he held Lysander's hand. "Want me to do anything dear?" He asked Dreamwarp.

[Kender Bard]

"Don't get hurt," Dreamwarp told him seriously, and leaned in to kiss him in parting. "Keep an eye on Lysander too. Kura and Drake may be too busy for that." With a wriggle of her fingers in a farewell wave, Dreamwarp sauntered off to go find some work for them all.

The Soahcian wing was quiet, for now. The Wrathful were mostly training or chatting, and the non-violent paths had come out of their hiding places to enjoy the temporary peace. Locket sat near the back of the temple, nestled in amongst some Envious and Proud. The place had a lamentable lack of Lustful, Generous, and Curious. All the Prouds looked to be in varying stages of recovery, and many of them doubled as Cowards, the rest either 'pure' Proud or also Wrathful.

The Envious were providing her with amusement, at least. They seemed to be acting as replacement Curious, asking her many questions. Unlike the Curious, most of her answers were met with mutterings and, well, envious looks.

Once Kura and her family arrived at the temple, she squirmed gently to be put down. "Lotsa Wrathful!" she cheered, seeing a cluster of them sparring together.

One of them glanced up and gave a curt nod to the group. "Welcome, brothers and kids."

[tuo]

Drake took hold of Kura and gently placed her down. "Don't play too roughly or it'll be my head."

Adam took note of the startling imbalance of path's here and frowned worriedly as he looked around before...did he just..what are the odds of that? He began to make his way to where Locket was after seeing her and wanting to make sure. "Locket?" He asked as he led Lysander by hand, keeping him from wandering away just yet.

[Kender Bard]

Locket glanced up in surprise, hearing the familiar voice. Her eyes lit up and she scrambled to her feet. "Adam!" she squealed, carefully stepping over the other priests to embrace him tightly. "Oh, Forces, but you must be a gift from Soahc. I've been missing you so much!"

Kura looked back at Drake and made a face. "What's the point of bein' a Wrath-in-training if I can't break some noses?"

[tuo]

Drake murmured quietly to Kura. "Because outside of flux the other path's might not be as hardcore as us and might take real offense if you beat too many of them up too badly. Of course that's not to say you can't break noses, just saying is all." He said with a smirk.

Adam beamed wide and let go of Lysander's hand to hug Locket. "Stay close Lysander. And it's great to see you Locket! What are you doing here? How long has it been?" He asks before looking down at her belly. "Oh my, why aren't you being pampered?"

[Kender Bard]

Kura giggled and looked at Drake fondly. She loved her father dearly. "Okay Daddy," she agreed with a conspiratorial wink. Everyone knew Fluxian Wraths were the best. She ran away from him to go over to where a couple of acolytes were of differing ages. They were older than her, in their teenage years. She was the youngest there.

"Who's this?" one boy asked, looking at her with a frown. "Get out of here, kid."

"I'm Kura," she announced, standing up straighter. "The bestest Wrath acolyte ever!" The boys laughed at this and she scowled.

Locket snuggled up to Adam. "I'm here with Nagi," she told him. "To learn from the Brightmores. I've got all the pampering I want waiting for me at their mansion. I came here because I was bored." She kissed his cheek affectionately. "Of course none of the priests here have the tender touch of the Generous. Who's the young man with you?" She glanced at Lysander with a smile.

[tuo]

Lysander piped up at this with a grin. "My name's Lysander. Are you pregnant lady Locket? Does it hurt?" He asked with wide eyed innocence painted on his face.

Adam smiled and gently tried to lead Locket back to her spot. "Come with us Lysander. And as for you, 'Lady Locket', require proper care while here. It'd deplorable that I don't see any of my brothers or sisters here tending to you."

[Kender Bard]

"Hey, we gave her the nicest pillows!" one of the Envious protested, sighing wistfully as Locket sank back down upon them again. "And we didn't let any of the Wrathful come over here unless they swore not to rough-house."

Locket reached out and took Lysander's hand, drawing him down with her on the cushions. "Yes, I am," she told him. "And no, it doesn't hurt at all." Which was a lie because sometimes she did ache, especially in her feet as of late, but she didn't need to tell some little child that. She glanced at Adam and added, "I'm actually having twins, too."


Meanwhile, over by the Wrathful, Kura growled, "Don't laugh at me. I bet I could beat any one of you into a-a sniffling, crying, blubbering pile of... sniffles."

"Get lost," one of the kids snapped, reaching out and slapping her. It wasn't even a hard slap, though it did sting. Kura winced, her eyes flashed with hate and rage, and slugged her fist hard at the boy's gut, causing him to double over in surprised pain. She slapped him back. The other teen-wrathful stared in surprise.

"Told ya," she said.

[tuo]

Drake laughed and clapped. "Ha! Wrath isn't about half measures, if you're gonna hit somebody, make sure you actually hit them or else you'll end up like him." He told the acolyte's while gesturing to the one Kura slugged in the gut.

Lysander snuggled against her with a smile and rubbed her belly curiously. "What's it feel like then?" Adam chuckled softly as he sat down and began to massage Locket's feet. "Don't mind him my student. He's just learning to be a Curious." He turns momentarily to address the Envy who spoke up. "There is more to pampering then just giving her the best pillows. To pamper her you basically need to treat her as you would like to be treated." He said with a pleasant smile.

[Kender Bard]

The Envious rolled her eyes. "Fucking Generous."

"They do make thoughtful lovers," Locket couldn't help but add lewdly, seeing as there was no handy Lustful to make the remark. She sighed a little and smiled at Adam, wriggling her foot playfully in his hands. "You better let me pamper you back after this." She then glanced at Lysander and shared with him a bright and happy grin. "Oh you're a Curious acolyte? How fortunate! I'm a Curious myself. It's my primary path. Generous is my second; Adam is actually my Generous mentor. Isn't that nice?" She was liking Lysander more and more. "It doesn't feel like anything, really. A little heavy, I suppose. I feel like I'm getting fat." She made a face at that. "Filly--she's a friend of mine who knows about these things--told me that at some point though I might feel them moving around. I haven't yet, though." She pat Lysander on the head.


The other acolytes glanced at Drake and then looked at Kura. They seemed a lot more eager now and Kura fell back a step, nervously. Oops, she thought as the teens advanced. Damnit. Don't show fear. That's, like, rule two or something!

Two of them grabbed at her, one of them another boy, and one of them a girl who made sure to get a fistful of hair. Kura swung wildly at them, trying to get them off, especially the girl. The girl pulled, hard, causing Kura to yelp in pain. She kicked out at the girl's shin, but she moved her leg out of the way and the boy who had her by the arm reached out with a fast hand and grabbed at the leg she'd lashed out with. There a painful and dizzying moment where the two spun or flipped her and then suddenly she was on the floor, facedown, winded. The youngest of the teens, overeager, kicked her in the side, not holding back, and she cried out in pain. No fair, she thought angrily beneath the pain. No fair, they teamed up on me!

[tuo]

Drake winced at the beating Kura is taking. "Damn...maybe I shouldn't have said that...hey, you want some help now or just when you're about to pass out girl?"

Adam smiled again and continued to rub and massage Locket's feet deeply. "Well if you really want to sure. And that must be really something, I bet the children will be beautiful. So tell me what else you've been up to lately?" Lysander was about to ask another question but figures hearing all that should cover most of his questions and settles to lean against Locket with a smile before hearing the sounds from across the room and looks over. "Hey..didn't Kura go over there?"

[Kender Bard]

Kura sucked in a breath to answer and it hurt, so she said nothing. The other kids were feeling a little awkward, looking down at her. Most of them thought she'd put up more a fight.

"What the fuck is going on?" one of the Wrathful asked, breaking away from his group to storm over. "Explain!"

"She was askin' for it," one of the kids mumbled. The Wrath lashed out with a backhanded slap.

"Explain," he said again, clearly unhappy with the first answer. He reached down, grabbed Kura by her robes, and hauled her to her feet. "You alive?"

"Nghn," she grunted.

"You're alive," he confirmed, letting go. She gasped and went back down on her knees, hugging her bruised side.


Locket delayed answering Adam as she looked at Lysander and asked, "Who's Kura?"

[tuo]

"Damn.." Drake walks over and tries to help ease Kura up. "Sorry kid, I forgot that outside flux Wrath's use more teamwork. Gonna have to teach you how to fight that." He glances to the other Wrath priest. "Where did these kids learn to fight like that?"

Adam glanced over as well and winces at the sight and half rises before seeing Drake doing something about it and sits back down. "Oh, it's our daughter, Drake's, mine and Dreamwarp's."

Lysander wrung his hands. "Is Kura gonna be okay? She looked hurt.." Adam gently hugged him. "She'll be fine, they have healers here if she's more then a little bruised and Drake will knock out anybody who tries messing with her right now."

[Kender Bard]

Kura clung tightly to Drake. She started to cry softly, but that just hurt more, which made her cry more, until she was bawling loudly.

The Wrath-adult gritted his teeth as Kura's wailings grew increasingly louder but, for a moment, he showed remarkable restraint as he ignored her. "Here, you dipshit."

"He told us to fight with all our strength and not pull our punches," the girl tattled sullenly.

The Wrath glared at Drake. "Who the fuck do you think you are, coming in here and telling our acolytes what to do?" He gestured at Kura. "And what kind of Soahc-damned idiot makes a little girl her age think she can pick fights with older kids and come away unscathed?"


Locket stroked Lysander's head softly when she saw how anxious he was getting. "Is Kura your friend? Another Curious?" She tried to see what was going on, but it was far away and she was in a poor position to see the action.