Little Children

Log Info

• Title: Little Children

• GM: Aftershock

• Characters: Ravenstongue, Telamon

• Place: The Golden Gang's hideout, somewhere in Alexandros

Approaching the small makeshift area where the children who call themselves the 'Golden Gang' have located themselves isn't difficult. Particularly for a certain archmagis and his wife. It's been somewhat fortified against the oncoming winter, but it's extremely clear to an adult eye that the children are going to have a long, cold winter ahead of them. The makeshift shelters that they've managed to cobble together are about what one might expect of a teenager lost in the woods. Or six.

Interestingly however is the children's reaction to the approach of strange adults who are incoming from the sky. They quickly gather around their fire and start throwing rocks at the pair of mages with the littlest yelling out, "TANNY! DULTS ARE TAKING!" Which seems to have no actual effect until the other kids take up the chant and it seems that the chant is actually more along the lines of... "Tanith! Adults are attacking!"

Oh no. This could get complicated.

GAME: Telamon rolls talky: aliased to diplomacy+5: (13)+36+5: 54
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20: (12): 12

The winds are growing colder, and out of deference to sensibilities, Telamon now wears a long cloak of sable trimmed with silver fur over his long-sleeved tunic and trousers. Soaring towards where the 'Golden Gang' is established, he cautions his wife through their link. . o O (We have no idea what the situation there is, love. But I'm not exactly keen on letting them try to rough it through an Alexandros winter, even if Tanith is their patron.)

The pair descend on magical wings, only to be greeted by rather ineptly tossed stones, which causes Tel to furrow his brow. More worrisome is the chant to Tanith. Since there's no point in overcomplicating things, Telamon decides to try and head things off.

"Ho there! Is this how you greet guests? Is this how you greet one who knows Tanith, who counts her as friend? Enough with the stones, you'll hurt someone." The half-sil sorcerer hovers about two inches from the turf, regarding the children with a gentle gaze. "I did not come here to fight -- I came because I learned of you, and did not want you to be cold and hungry this winter." His starry eyes gleam. "I am called Telamon Lupecyll-Atlon, and I am not your enemy."

Cor'lana is also dressed in cold-weather clothing, although she and Telamon don't particularly need any defenses from the cold on account of their sorcerous gifts. (I love you because of your generosity and kindness, my love,) Cor'lana responds to Telamon through the link, although she's quick to add, (Among many other things, as well.)

Pothy groans a little as he follows him on his own pair of wings. "Cut it out, you two!" he demands. "I can hear Lana, you know." Such is the life of a familiar.

But then there's stones being thrown, and Pothy has to dodge out of the way of one being thrown as he tries to land on Lana's shoulder. "Woah!" he calls out. "Not cool!"

"Please be kind, children," Cor'lana requests, her arm tightening around Telamon. "We came here not just to help you survive the winter, but... My friend Pothy here could use new friends to play with."

"Nuh-uh," Pothy says with a pout, landing on Cor'lana's shoulders. Except he totally did. He just wants to look cool for the children.

The pair land and even as Telamon is introducing himself, and Cor'lana starts to open her mouth, the youngest of the bunch of youngsters opens her mouth and darts forward. Now it's notable that the youngest of the youngsters is a goblin with giant ears that flap as she runs to Cor'lana holding up her hands. She's also all of four years old if she's a day. She bumbles up to the sorceress and holds up her hands and hops eagerly. "Birby! Birbyyyyyy!" She cries in a sing-songy pleady voice and all the kids sigh in unison.

Meanwhile, the oldest of the kids, a young man really - and a half ourch with some hair on his chin steps forward with a bit of embarrassment on his face. "Are you really friends of Tanith? We didn't know... She'll be here because we called for her." He seems more than a little defensive. Ready for a fight. His eyes on the little one standing close to Cor'lana in an uncomfortable way like he wants to snatch her back. You can tell he's had to defend his found family before.

"Biiiiirbyyyyyy!!!!????!!!"

There's a moment's silence and then Tanith appears in the middle of the air curling around herself looking for danger. "Who's here? Who's attacking? Fish thieves? HORDE THEIEVES!" She sounds ready for a fight herself, or at least willing to work herself up into one, but then she spots Telamon and she cheers up considerably. "PEOPLES! Hey! It's peoples! Good peoples! Hello peoples!" She wafts down a ways and blinks at Telamon. "Whatareyoudoinghere?"

"BIIIIIIIIRBYYYYYYYYYYYY!"

GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20: (14): 14
GAME: Telamon rolls perception: (19)+33: 52
GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Perception: (10)+27: 37

As the mood relaxes and lightens, so too does Telamon's countenance. His smile is a warm thing, and he spreads his hands. "We are, yes. And if she comes to you, as she probably will, I can prove it." His expression is wry. "No one is getting hurt today, my friend."

As the goblin child approaches, he chuckles. "His name is Pothy, little one. He likes snacks and pets -- in that order." Tel lets Lana manage the young gobber, as Tanith suddenly appears. "And there she is on cue," he quips with a grin.

"Hello, Tanith," Tel greets the tiny dragonet, offering her a bow. "Is everything all right? I was much surprised to learn you'd been buying fish by the wagonload." He snorts. "That ...fellow Mavlin Gobiru tried to shake me down over that shark."

Lana's heartstrings are pulled by the little one who is excited about Pothy. She looks at Pothy. "See? Told you that you'd make friends. I bet Tanith misses you a ton, too."

Pothy looks at Tanith. He remembers her, all right. Those blue eyes are haunted by all the days and nights in which Pothy was targeted by Tanith. So many pounces where he was pinned to the floor or the walls, yelping for Lana to come save him. So many mealtimes where he had to share his fish and then eat his portion quickly, lest Tanith steal his. So many days where she curled up next to him as he sat polite-bird on the couch, and they snoozed together.

Then he realizes he's not back in the house with Tanith. They're right here. Out in the middle of nowhere. And there's a little girl screaming BIRBY! at the top of her lungs. "Yup. Hello! I am Birby! But I have a name. My name is Pothy!" Pothy chooses to stay on Lana's shoulder for the moment.

Except then Lana completely and utterly betrays him by kneeling down before the girl, smiling. "So you have to be gentle, but I bet if you're nice and calm and slow, Pothy will let you pet him." She then looks over at the elf child hiding in the bush over yonder. (Tel, that's the boy who was missing, right? Mallin Grefirelethyra? His missing posters have been on every pole in the Theatre District for weeks now.)

Tanith grins at Telamon. "Okay. Not best but okay. Try get fish for little peoples. Bad peoples try to keep fish. Mean. Fishthievery!" She sounds appalled that this is the case, absolutely aghast.

The young half-ourch steps forward a little hopefully. "Does that mean that you'll help us then sir? With the shelters? Maybe?" He clearly knows that they need help. He's reluctant to accept it from just anyone, but he trusts Tanith - she's proven herself - so he's willing to extend that trust a bit. And they need help.

Pothy is betrayed. And a four-year-old goblin knows nothing of patience. She tries to be slow. Reaches out in a flash for the birby and... there's drool on those hands. Yup. Drool hands. She plants a biiiiig kiss and there's more drool. "Birby back!" She declares, clearly so happy her tiny heart is breaking, she sits down and cries. Now there's snot and tears and more drool. Poor Pothy.

Telamon just shakes his head. "It was pretty offensive, so I yelled at them a good bit. They're lucky I didn't let that lass keep their purse. I was very tempted." He grins back at Tanith. "All is well."

His gaze moves back to the half-oruch lad. "Before I do," he says carefully. "I would like to know why you're outside the city, on your own. I'm not saying I won't help; but I think an explanation is in order first." He raises a hand to forestall a protest. "You may have good reasons. I just want to hear them. Oh, and tell your friend over there to come out of the bush. That can't be comfortable."

Can't hide much from an archmage, it seems. "I'm certainly not going to let you freeze or starve, even if Tanith wasn't involved."

Pothy is pretty certain that this is what happens in the bird version of the Hells. Except instead of one goblin child crying and putting snot and tears and drool on him, there's about a hundred all jostling for his attention. Like Maugrim, he is bound to the Abyss. "Birby back?" he tries to question, before he has an idea. "Lana! Do they still make those plushies of me?"

"Oh, yeah, I think they do," Lana says thoughtfully. "Do you think this sweet little girl lost her Pothy lovey? I'm sure we can get one for her."

Pothy tries not to ask in what universe Cor'lana believes this girl to be sweet. Sweet children don't cry and wipe their snot and tears and drool on him... Except he sighs. He remembers little Cor'lana, all right. She did the exact same thing. "I think we should. Otherwise you might have to leave me here with her."

Cor'lana looks back up at Telamon and the half-oruch boy. "We'd love to help," she says. "But we would like to make sure none of you are... Well, that none of you have loving families that miss you."

The boy looks a little thoughtful and then nods. "We all have different reasons really. I'm Kektath. I got in one too many fights at the orphanage so they kicked me out. I'm almost old enough to get on a ship, or join up with the mercenaries but not quite. So I've nowhere else to go for now. Besides... The littles need someone to watch 'em." He seems embarrassed.

He points to the littlest. "Scavi kept running away after she lost her birby. She refuses to sleep without it, cries all the time. Keeps other kids up. Tanith took her in though and slept her through the night. The twins Madoc and Cadom lost their parents to a fire and have had some issues with pyromancy since then. We think they have an aptitude for magic but... Who knows right?"

He sighs and looks at the sith. "The sith came as a group. They were being sold off to the highest bidder in some scheme almost a year ago, and they got rescued, but they weren't comfortable at the orphanage with the softskin rules. Tanith made them comfortable. She speaks their language you know? As for..." Here he flushes a little and the girl-dressed Mallin steps shyly out of the bushes and hides behind the half-oruch boy. "She's hiding from her family. They'd been beating her. I saw the bruises myself. Maybe she's got one, but that doesn't mean they're any good."

GAME: Telamon rolls knowledge/nobility: (18)+13: 31
GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Knowledge/Nobility: (3)+11: 14

"They're not," Telamon says shortly in response to Kektath. "It took me a minute to remember. Father got into a huge row with them when he married my mother because they're the worst kind of hidebound traditionalist sildanyari." He makes a contemptuous snort. "Well, they won't find out about you from me, Mallin."

He sighs. "I can do this. I can build you a place, and it'll shelter you. I can test those twins for magical aptitude. We can even get Scavi a new 'birby'. But you need to think about what you'll do next."

Tel smirks faintly. "I'm a bit tempted to bring in some of my family and friends to help. That'll be by your approval though. I won't ask you to welcome strangers."

Cor'lana wrinkles her nose as Telamon describes the Grefirelethyra family. "Nor will they from I," she says. "Anyone who would disparage another heart's true calling by miring themselves so deeply in the swamps of tradition that they would rather drown in them is not a friend of mine." Her violet eyes glitter in that mirthful way as she looks at Telamon. "How do you think they'll respond when I write an unfavorable lyric about them in my next project, and they learn that I'm half-sil?"

She looks at Scavi, poor little thing. "Poor sweetheart," she says. "No wonder you love Pothy so much. We'll get you a Birby to love on."

"Please," Pothy says. He is drenched in drool and four-year-old-child tears and love. "I'm dying here."

That earns a little eye-roll from Cor'lana, who looks back at Kektath. "I'll support my husband in his endeavors. We are both powerful sorcerers; we can make a great number of things happen. Tanith is a dear friend and ally of ours... And I know well what it is like to be alone in the world, to make your own family from those who you find and love." She looks up at Telamon quite meaningfully then, her heart in her eyes.

Kektath coughs, covering his flush with a run of his hand over his short hair. "Actually, she prefers the name Matorri to the one her parents gave her, so we've been calling her that." He smiles at the elf at his side and... maybe it's not just a disguise? Because the way they smile at one another is pretty indicative. Also there's the way that Kektath keeps calling Matorri 'her'. Which is pretty pointed also. He nods to Telamon. "We'd appreciate whatever help you can give. I'll think on what steps we need to take from here. I know we can't keep living like this forever."

He looks at Tanith too and the golden dragon hums happily, seemingly satisfied with the situation and the outcome of her hard work. "Good peoples." She beams at Telamon and Cor'lana, but not just them, she's looking at Matorri and Kektath also. Even Pothy gets a fond look.

Poor bird deserves it.

"Birby." Warbles the little goblin girl happily, rubbing her cheek on her birby.