[PRP] Noble Dads (Shiloh/Rabbit/many smols)

[Melancholies]

The sprout creature made another tiny chirp sound at being pointed out. Shiloh acknowledged it again for a moment, "I'm pretty sure it's alive." He crouched down for closer eye contact with the sirens, his hand nudging the sprout forward. It seemed hesitant, but inherent curiosity seemed to win out over the end, and it approached the siblings with tiny footsteps.

"But you can call me Shiloh. I never fancied the Lord title." He shrugged. "He just showed up when I was wandering the Court. I'm not sure where the little guy's from."

The sprout hopped up and down like it was trying to seem bigger. It wasn't working.

"Anyway," He said to Rabbit, "I'm not really as upset as I was about it before. It was just kinda shocking." There were still sour feelings, but they were ones he could live with. They weren't the bouts of nausea he'd wake up with in the middle of the night, anxiety churned in his gut and created from the sheer notion that Melany was still alive. "She's actually different in this world. Melany is. Something with the first sigil shifted the Court around."

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

Discouraged from calling yet another noble by their title (seriously, it was beginning to feel like Oroh had been trolling them about the whole respect thing), the sirens knelt then sat in front of the hopping sprout.

"Cool," one of them breathed.

Nev rested his hand on the floor, sliding it closer to the creature palm up. "It's very nice to meet you."

Rabbit turned away from the cautious introduction, head tilting a little to one side. "Really? That's... I thought everyone who was a part of the court would have stayed the same." To be fair, even if she had been the Melany he'd known, he probably would have had a problem identifying her if she'd just been walking around in the street. He'd had a tendency to keep his head down when she'd been around. "Different how?"

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

He shook his head. "Ezra's gone too, but I haven't found out what he's up to." He hesitated for a moment before speaking again, "So I don't know how different he is, but Melany... she's... smaller. Shorter." He made a motion with his hand; it was shorter than him by a few inches, "She's going to college. We have math together." His head dipped down, gaze focused on the squeeps and the plant thing.

"After the world was remade, I found a weird contact in my phone. It belongs to her? She doesn't remember Court, doesn't seem to think anything's different." He was talking now. It was hard to stop. "She called me her best friend. It's really ******** weird." Shiloh finally looked back up at Rabbit, "It's like she's human? I dunno."

The plant-thing hopped again, but stopped when the children sat. It remained statue still for a breath of a second, and then it jerked around in a circle, and then it started to slowly approach Nev's outstretched hand. Tentatively it reached out—slapped it—and then squeaked in something that seemed like delight. "I haven't told a lot of people because I'm worried of what'll happen. Like, I dunno if the old her is still in there, or if someone's gonna take the opportunity to ******** with her." A sardonic sort of smile crossed his face, "It feels really backwards wanting to make sure she's alright when I wanted her to ******** die before. But she's not like that women, not even a little. I dunno what to do about it."

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

"That's just... entirely ******** up." Melany, a normal girl going to college? She had always seemed both ancient and ageless to him. And Ezra... Rabbit didn't believe he was gone gone, but he also couldn't picture the man changed as much as all that. Did he even have a body under all that fire? Of course he did. It was stupid to think he didn't... probably. Rabbit wasn't sure.

There had been a time when he'd never left home without his flask, and though that time had ended with the introduction of impressionable children, he wished for a moment that it could return just long enough to give Shiloh a sip.

"On one hand, it would be nice to not have to worry about her trying to stop us from changing things. But you've got to deal with her texting you... Her best friend. s**t. I don't know what you should do either. Sorry." He was saying that so often these days that it was starting to lose its meaning. "If we do end the court, maybe she'll stay that way."

If the squeeps had taken notice of Rabbit's language, they didn't show it. Nev giggled musically at the sprout's low five, and Sy carefully held her hand up near it, hoping to receive a higher one herself, even though her hand was about as tall as it was.

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"Yeah it's... weird." He sighed, "Really ********' weird." And then he laughed in that under his breath sarcastic way.

"I kinda hope she does, though." He shuffled, "But the document to change the Court is in her domain, and I dunno how easily I can get it. Apparently I have a little more authority over her fetches, since I'm her ex-tithe? I guess it'd be the same for you with Ezra. Well, you and Alois." But he hadn't seen Alois in quite some time. Jeremiah too, but he didn't touch on that.

"But yeah, it'd be safer for everyone if she did." His arms crossed in front of his chest. "I'm gonna go look into it, but I don't want the next meeting to go like the last one. It was really... messy. No one really knew what to say." Shiloh's lips pursed, "But I guess Mercer didn't tell anyone what it was for, either. I kinda knew what the point was, but..." He shrugged.

"I guess I was too put off to say anything insightful." He watched the sprout hop up as high as it could manage, slapping Sy's hand before spinning around in circles, beside itself with this weird little game. "I just want to see the cycle of abuse end. Fetches too—they were people once, y'know? Even if they did what they did..."

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

Rabbit nodded, watching the sirens and sprout all the while.

"I didn't know what was going on. I just showed up because Jeremiah asked and it sounded important." He shrugged. "At least I know more about the situation now, even if I have no idea what to do about it. Getting the Court document sounds good though, so... thanks for that." It was a bit of a relief to hear that Shiloh wanted to help Melany, even a little, if only because it meant that Temperance had done the right thing in the end. She'd given a dangerous shell of a woman a second chance. Maybe things would be better this time. "Really. It must suck having to pretend everything's okay." The kid looked tired, though Rabbit wasn't about to say as much.

It was Sy's turn to laugh as she swayed away from the sprout's slap, as if its sheer power had knocked her back. "Do you want a ride?" she asked the plant. "Nev, give it a ride!"

Hand still flat, Neverain wiggled his fingers. "If he wants one. I don't want to hurt him."

"He's got a billion muscles you're not going to hurt him c'mon!" She pushed into a crouch with a flurry of feathers.

Following a contemplative and possibly awkward pause, Rabbit continued. "I'd like to do what we can for the fetches. Some of them are probably too far gone to be trusted with freedom, but mine's not so bad. If she ever got back to the other side, I think she'd really like Target."

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Shiloh perked at that, "Yeah, no, I totally agree." He nodded, "Beel's kind of a jerk, but he hasn't been a fetch a super long time. I think he'd be okay." He looked over his shoulder like he was expecting to see him there, lurking. Thankfully it wasn't the case. "I think they should all have the chance to like... rehabilitate? Or like, return to the cycle if that's what they want. I know it bothers a lot of them."

The sprout seemed to want the ride though, as it crawled right into Neverain's hand. Granted, it didn't look very stable, and as such it laid there flat as a pancake to minimize possible fall damage. Still, it seemed willing.

"When I talked with Lady after the meeting, she made it sound like we could change a lot more than just the Court." He added this thoughtfully, "She was mentioning stuff like bringing the flow of time to the Otherworld. I think maybe it's a lot bigger than we were thinking, at least with the amount of things we can alter." He shrugged, "I almost... wanna involve people who aren't just nobles. I think it might affect more than just us."

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

"From what I can tell, Oroh's been around a while. She might need to be watched a little at first, but I think she'd be okay." He paused again. "If we can manage to free them, I hope she wouldn't mind talking to me afterward." Despite her penchant for withholding information and turning the sirens into Court kissasses, he'd miss her if she left.

Sy stood the rest of the way and Nev followed more slowly, carefully balancing his pancake friend. He began to walk, wary of any sudden, mysterious breezes.

"Now you're tall," he announced. "How does it feel?"

Rabbit chuckled a little, shaking his head to try to negate it. "This isn't... I'm not laughing laughing, I promise. 'Bringing the flow of time to the Otherworld' definitely sounds like something we should bring everyone we can in on. I just hope we can all agree or we'll have more problems than we started with." It was all overwhelmingly unbelievable, the power they had in their hands. "I didn't know the Otherworld didn't already have time." Or maybe he had and just hadn't thought about it that way.

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Rabbit's laugh immediately set Shiloh on edge—he was so goddamn accustomed to adults not taking him seriously, and it was still a pet peeve—but Rabbit explained himself and he settled. Actually, hearing it repeated back to him made it sound a little fanciful, absurd even, and he laughed a little bit too. "I mean, it was just an example Lady gave. It's just... this is a lot bigger than just the Court, y'know?But there's so many of us involved, I dunno how to get the word out without it turning into a ********." He looked perplexed for a moment. "Maybe through the listserv, but..."

He shrugged. "I think it isn't so much that... the Otherworld doesn't have time so much as it flows differently? Like, Lady was here for years but she only thought it was a few months. So she didn't age. I thought it was a lot longer than three months, and I don't look super noticeably different, but I look a little older than my twin. If you squint. Anyway though, if I find out anymore information, I'll let you know about it. I think... everyone deserves a opinion." He watched the squeeps, "Even the fetches."

The sprout made a tiny trill-like sound, apparently overjoyed at its new outlook on life. It slowly unpancaked onto its two feet—wobbled slightly—and then made a triumphed motion with its hands.

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

For a short stretch, Rabbit watched the squeeps and the sprout some more too, not truly seeing them. He had gotten stuck on the word 'twin' and all it implied, spinning off in a number of strange directions involving identical tithes, one a noble and one a fetch in the end, both nobles, both fetches. He had thought his confinement had been longer too, but he had been so grateful to come home at the end of it that he had never thought about it further. What if he was older? If he'd had a twin to compare himself to, it probably would have just freaked him out.

"Cool, yeah, thanks," he said, coming back to the present. "I don't know where my time goes some days. I look up and I've missed five new things. I am on the listserv though, so I've been trying to keep an eye on that." It was a strange place to get used to, full of people who seemed to know each other sharing news he hadn't the first idea how to act on. Some of it was in code, for greg's sake. And he was pretty sure Temp's fetch was there too, which made him not want to talk at all.

Nev trilled back, smiling at the sprout but keeping his hands where they were. At least until Sy flapped. The resulting breeze wasn't mysterious, but it was sudden, even for her. Both kids looked rather shocked, Nev's trill turning into a squawk as he moved to keep the creature from falling.

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Shiloh nodded, "It's pretty confusing, yeah. Sometimes it's like—" He sighed, "Between my job and school and Court, I wonder if I should try cutting one of those things out. There ain't enough time, but I guess that's just how the world works sometimes." He didn't have to be so steeped in Court, or so dedicated to his studies... work, he was pretty sure Aleksy would have something to say if he tried to ollie out on him, and he liked the flowers, so that one was out of the question. Either way.

The sprout creature was very pleased with its newfound stature, but Sy's flapping sent the poor thing stumbling around. Sprouts were pretty hardy though, and it'd still be okay if it fell, but luckily it only tripped against the palms holding it up. It squeaked as it clung against the fingers of its pedestal.

"Y'know," Shiloh said as he watched them, "I dunno where that little guy even came from, but your..." Kids? Kids. "Kids kinda like him, if you wanna like, keep him." It seemed to be sentient, but it was also hamster sized. Kids loved hamsters right? Learning responsibility and all that s**t?

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

As distracted as they were by their own joyous shenanigans, both sirens managed to latch onto 'keep him' quite easily, turning as one toward the mostly-adults, their eyes wide with excitement.

"Really, L— Shiloh?" Neverain asked. "We can, right Dad?"

"Uh..." It was true that they were obnoxiously cute together and Rabbit had no problem taking in mystery creatures... obviously... but there had been a time, days after they'd been born, when he'd been overwhelmed and had seriously considered giving one of his children away. He was grateful every day that he had not. "We could." He looked at Shiloh. "As long as you let us know if you ever want him back."

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Shiloh shrugged. "I dunno where it came from, so like? I think it should go where ever it wants to." He looked down at the sprouty thing, which was enjoying the hell out of its play with the squeep-sibs. It looked up at Shiloh as it was addressed, but didn't seem too aware of the going-ons. "I honestly don't know anything about it, so... I mean, if it turns out to be too much trouble..." He shrugged.

"I mean, I have a lot of plant magic, so I can check in to see how it's doing. But between Court and school and work..." He rubbed the back of his head. Hell, Rabbit probably had a lot of s**t going on too, but the kids probably had more than enough attention for a plant thing.

Smerdle

ill give u art, should u choose 2 accept...

 

[Smerdle]

"Then... okay. Yeah, sure." Rabbit grinned in spite of the fact that Shiloh continued to look out of sorts, mostly because of the reactions the sirens had to the news. Nev, still holding the sprout, could only bounce in place, still afraid something horrible would happen if he dropped the creature. Sy, on the other hand, let out a whoop that echoed through the halls of the court.

"Thank you sooooo much!" she said, hurrying to her brother's side and scrunching her nose at their new pet.

"Don't worry about things too much," Rabbit said, taking his smile down a notch as he nodded at the other noble. "At least this thing. I'll bring him to you if he seems less plant-y. I guess... try to get some sleep. If you can." Until the next horrible bit of news burbled up out of the past.

Melancholies

/zoomstare and screech
omg yus <33

 

[Melancholies]

At least the kids were happy, that was nice. The sprout thing seemed... happy too? Probably. Shiloh couldn't really tell because, well, it was a plant thing. It was hardly paying him any mind though, mostly because it was too busy feeding off of the energy of the sirens as it bounced around.

"Yeah, yeah, don't... don't sweat it." Shiloh said awkwardly, but he was smiling too. "And thanks, I appreciate it."

"I'll let you know if anything else comes up." He didn't have access to Rabbit's personal information, but if anything was pressing enough then he was sure he could get in touch through Jeremiah or the like. As it was, he gave Rabbit and the squeeps a tiny wave. "Make sure you guys take good care of him, alright? Treat him like a friend." Plants thrived under kindness or whatever, right?

Smerdle

this is a fin on my end!
ur sprout will look like this as a babby, but after a few weeks it will take the affinity of lavender!
but this rp is older so it's probably there already anyway, ROFL