Family Resemblance (NJ)

[Maira]

Saiyuri was glaring at yet another dead houseplant. She couldn't understand it at all, why did they keep dying on her? And suddenly too, not slowly wilting and then croaking, oh no, the just curled up all black and withered. "Dominic, I can't take this anymore!" she shouted up the stairs at her husband before going and slumping onto the couch. Her griping was punctuated by a very feline growl as she watched yet another plant, one of her favorites, curl in on itself and die. Gods forbid she go outside, she'd likely start killing the neigbor's petunias.

She didn't understand what was going on with her and she was about out of her mind trying to figure it out. Killing her houseplants wasn't the worst of it though, not by a long shot. The leopard that prowled inside Saiyuri had recently been shoved to one side and something else had taken up residence as well, and that didn't include the baby Saiyuri was carrying either.

Her Shifting had become random, and quite uncontrollable as was sometimes want to happen during a Shifter pregnancy. If it had just been her familiar leopard shape that she was shifting into Saiyuri wouldn't have been worried. She had however somehow aquired two new forms as well. Something that looked nearly like her human form except with black feathered wings and her eyes changed to a dark crimson. There were two options she could think of for what precisely that form was but she had no idea how she came to have that form. The next form was even more confusing. It was a combination of her human form, her leopard form and the form with wings. She wound up looking like a really odd halloween costume, leopard spots everywhere on her skin except her face, a long furry leopard tail, and black wings with the same reddish shadings as her hair and eyes.

"Sweetheart, quit stressing," came a soft voice next to Saiyuri's ear, the voice of her husband Dominic. Just hearing the patience and worry in his tone, Saiyuri lost her battle with tears and cried, "Easy for you to say! 1. You're not pregnant, 2. you're not killing all our houseplants, and 3. you are still who you thought you were before i got pregnant!" As she watched, her African Violet that had been sitting on the coffee table turned black and went to dust.

Dominic sat down next to his wife and took her now winged form into his arms, comforting her as best he could. "Your father will be here shortly Yuri, don't worry, we'll figure this out." Just then, a knock sounded at the door and Dominic got up and ran to answer it. Still sitting on the couch all Saiyuri heard was a mumbled, "Thank you so much for coming Katsu, she's really upset and confused." The next sound she heard was a gasp from her father as he saw the black wings sprouting from his daughter's shoulders.

~~~~~

"So what you're telling me, father, is that Olivia wasn't my mother? That some girl you had a fling with was? That you don't even know anything about her really?" By this point Saiyuri was furious and the conversation had been moved to the kitchen to keep all the plants out of her range...

Clearing his throat and looking very sheepish the older man answered his oldest daughter, "Thats the gist of it yes Saiyuri." When his daughter looked like she was about to start berating him yet again, Katsu held up one hand to keep her in check. "Just hold on a minute, I brought something for you."

Curious, Saiyuri did as she was told and watched the old man fish through his pockets for something. When a triumphant smile came into his eyes, Saiyuri raised an eyebrow. When he handed her a much rumpled piece of paper, the eyebrow inched even farther up her forehead. "And what is this?" she asked stiffly.

"Just open it," Katsu said pointing at the paper. "It has the name of your mother and her last known address on it. I've been trying to keep track of her for years now but she dissappeared for a while and I couldn't find her after she returned. All I know is that she did. Don't ask how I know, I have my own sources."

Saiyuri knew her father was friends with a few Magic Users and she wouldn't doubt that one of them was some sort of psychic. Instead of focussing on his obvious neglect of telling her she wasn't who she thought she was, Saiyuri opened up the piece of paper. She didn't recognize the name but she knew the address. It wasn't all that far away. She'd probably driven by it a thousand times on her way to work or her college classes. It was a big house in the ritzier part of town, rather isolated actually. Saiyuri had to admit, she could have taken shorter ways to class but she'd always loved that big old house. How odd...

"Well fine," she said shaking herself from her ponderings, "I'll just go on over and knock on their door and say sweetly, 'Hi, I'm Dion's daughter is she here?' I'm sure that'd go over really well father." The sarcasm in her voice illustrated just what she thought of that idea.

~~~~~

What she'd thought originally, and what she thought as she stood on the doorstep of the big old house were two completely different matters. She was a nervous wreck but after searching the phone book for the phone number associated with this house, she'd called and asked to speak to Dion. Apparently the woman had been at work but she'd been told to stop by later that evening.

So, here she stood, for once blessedly free of any strange forms, on the stranger's doorstep. She'd yet to get up the courage to ring the door bell or knock. Probably ten times already she'd had to stop herself from turning around and running back to the car and just leaving. After five whole minutes of standing there warring with herself, Saiyuri gave up and before she could loose what little nerve she had, she raised her hand and knocked politely on the door, three soft raps of her knuckes against wood.

[Demeter]

Dion, after storing the used dinner dishes in the dishwasher, padded out into the living room. She flopped down onto an overstuffed couch and propped her feet up on the coffee table. After a long day at work the only thing she wanted more then dinner was to put her feet up.

After lighting the trio of lavander calanders on the end table next to the couch, Dion flipped around and sprawled out. She needed to relax after the bomb that might have been dropped on her today. Her adopted daughter, Faith, had come to her with a problem. Well, not a problem, really, but a complication of sorts. Dion was having a hard time seeing Faith and Tempest as parents. And then, of course, was the whole thing with Oberon. He'd stopped by before dinner for a bit of a chat. About his heritage. And about the new traits that had started to pop up suddenly.Dion covered her eyes with a arm and sighed.
****
She'd didn't know how long she'd been laying on the couch but when she heard a soft sound coming from the area near the front door, Dion raised the arm and stared at the hallway to the door. Dion moved to kneel on the couch and pulled a panel of the curtains away from the window. She stared out at the partionaly blocked view of the road and the slightly familar looking car sitting in the driveway. She was sure that she'd seen that car before. Maybe it was one of her children's friends?

Dion leaned forward and smushed her face up against the window and tried to get a glimpse of who ever was at the door. All she could make out from this angle was that the person at her front door was tall and had black hair. Dion leaned back, scowled at the cheek print that now smudged the window and scooted off the couch.

As she walked out to the main hallway, Dion glared up the staircase and sighed. Somewhere up there, her children and husband were making noise. Dion crossed her arms over her chest and stalked towards the front door. "Probably wouldn't hear a thing if a bomb detonated next to the house," she muttered to herself. As she walked pasted it, the little plant on the hallway table droopped a little.

Dion rearranged her features into something a little more friendly and opened the door. A quick assesment told her that the person on her front porch was older then any of her children, Oberon included, and very nervous about something. "Yes? Can I help you with anything?

[Maira]

Saiyuri would have jumped off the porch when the door opened if she hadn't heard the person on the other side walking towards it. When the door did open though, she still nearly bolted. There stood a woman who looked suspiciously like the reflection Saiyuri saw in her mirror every morning.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Saiyuri tried to speak. She had thought of a few things she'd wanted to say on the way over but as is natural with these sort of situations, all those ideas had flown out of her mind the instant the door opened. Instead of working around to the subject in a nice meandering way, Saiyuri asked the woman she assumed was her mother, "Do you remember a man named Katsu? He was Japanese and you probably knew him a little over 24 years ago..." As she heard herself talk, Saiyuri realized that there was no way the poor woman would forgive her for being so blunt. What was she thinking just blurting that out? Oh wait! She wasn't!

Feeling suddenly very foolish and more than a little scared to find out the truth, Saiyuri looked away from the woman's face and at one of the bushes next to the porch. "Sorry, that was rude. If you don't want to answer my question I wouldn't blame you." Then, taking another steadying breath she added, "Actually, just forget I asked, I shouldn't have bothered you. Have a good night." As she said this, Saiyuri turned from the now probably seriously upset woman, and headed for her car. As she practically ran down the walk, she saw each plant she passedbegin to wilt. Oh great! Now she was killing somebody elses plants!

When she finally got to her car she climbed in and just sat there. She'd come here, made a fool out of herself, and probably scared some poor woman half to death. She was such an idiot. The more she thought the more upset she got with herself but she just couldn't bring herself to go apologize to Dion. She didn't have the nerve to face somebody who probably never wanted her in the first place...

[Demeter]

Dion stared blankly at her front porch as the young woman walked away. Well, that was certianly an odd way of starting an conversation. Spewing some thing and then turning around. Dion leaned out of the door as she noticed the leaves on one of the potted plants she kept on the porch turn brown.

Dion gripped the sides of the door and leaned farther out, watching with wide eyes as the plants intermixed with weeds started to flop over in the front drive flower beds. Wait a second, the girl mentioned someone named Katsu. Didn't I... Dion looked back towards the house before cursing under her breath.

There were some things that no woman would ever forget. One of those things would forever be the first boy to have slept with her. And one certianly didn't forget the name of one's first born child's father, even if that child was, supposedly, stillborn.

While Dion stuffed her feet into a pair of shoes, she thought about how she would tell Tobin about this. When she had returned from her little..vacation...she had promised to keep no secrets from her family and yet she had kept one. Her first child hadn't been born at eighteen but at sixteen. 24 years, that would be right she thought as she hurried down the pathway and knocked on the passenger side window of the woman's car

[Maira]

Saiyuri had been lost in her own little world of self loathing when somebody knocked on the passenger-side window. Giving a start that shook the car, she looked to see who it was. Needless to say, seeing Dion standing there staring in at her, Saiyuri did the only thing she could; opened the door.

When Dion crawled into the passenger seat, Saiyuri was a bit taken aback. The woman didn't even know who she was and here she was getting in her car...

"I'm really sorry about all that," Saiyuri started as soon as the passenger door was closed. Not knowing what to say about the plants, she decided it best not to mention them. Instead she just jumped right into the fun part. "I'm pregnant and strange things are happening to me, beyond the normal wierd pregnancy things. My father, Katsu, gave me your name and his story. I'm sorry if none of it is true and I've bothered you." Then remembering the other possibility she continued, "And if it is all true, that you didn't want me, and just want me to leave I will but I have to get some answers first." At this point she looked pointedly out at the plants that had withered with her passing.

[Demeter]

Dion stared at the woman and swallowed. Not even a few months ago, she'd been faced with the repparance of Oberon into her life and she had thought she'd handled it well. She'd only killed two trees and a few of the fish that Faith had kept when she learned of the things Oberon had been told about her.

But this, this would mean that she'd be going out hunting later if this woman, this pregnant woman, turned out to be her daughter. And everything was point in dirction of yes, this was her daughter. Dion held a hand up to keep Saiyuri quiet. "Just hold on for one moment here," Dion turned her body around in the seat so that she was sitting sideways and facing Saiyuri face on. "First of all, who are you? Secondly, if you are my oldest child, because I was told that the first child I had ever had was stillborn, then I need some explanations myself."

Dion glanced in the direction Saiyuri was looking and winced at the sight of her garden. "And don't worry about the plants, I think most of them can be saved. If you are my daughter, which is basicly what you are implying, then it is just a...thing that happens at times."

Dion popped open the car door and clambered out of it. Once out she turned and looked towards Saiyuri. "Would you like something to drink? Some tea maybe? I have a feeling that this will be a very long night."

[Maira]

Saiyuri oggled at what Dion was saying. The woman had been told that she'd been stillborn? And her father had been told that Dion hadn't wanted her? Somebody, somewhere along the way had gotten some wires crossed.

When Dion let herself back out of the car, Saiyuri nearly panicked. What on earth was going on? As if being pregnant wasn't crazy enough, now she had to deal with all of this?

When she heard Dion's voice from outside the car, talking about the plants, she started to relax. Well at least one thing was going somewhat okay, the woman wasn't going to hate her for the near death of so many plants.

Then, suddenly Dion's head was once again inside the car, asking if Saiyuri wanted to go in and have some tea. At the same time, a lump rose in her throat and a great weight lifted off her shoulders. In a whisper, Saiyuri managed to answer Dion, "Tea sounds wonderful actually. Thanks."

Still fairly early on in her pregnancy, Saiyuri only had to maneuver a little awkwardly to get out of her car. Once she was out, the door shut and locked, she walked to the other side of the car where Dion was still standing. Holding out her hand she said in a soft, somewhat reassured tone, "I'm Saiyuri."

[Demeter]

Dion took the hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you, Saiyuri. Though I'm sure that you already know it, I'm Dion."

Dion turned and lead the way back up to the house. After kicking off the pair of shoes she'd shoved onto her feet, Dion moved down the hall and around to the kitchen. After motion for Saiyuri to make herself comfotable over in the breakfast nook, Dion rummaged around the kitchen for the cannister of tea.

She talked about nonesencial things while she made the tea. The weather, the proposed bypass over by the highway, and such things. After she put the two mugs of tea on the table, Dion sat across from Sayuri and offered a somewhat stressed smile. "I'm sorry if I seem just too calm for the situation, but this is not the first time I've had to deal with this. My oldest son, Oberon, had no clue who I was until a few months ago."

Dion folded her hands against the table and leaned forward a little. "So, tell me what you know."

[Shinigami]

Tobin was upstairs horsing around with his children, as usual. Even though they were all adults now, he enjoyed pretending they were younger again. He left Hawk's side quickly after ruffling his hair and making yet another vegetarian joke, just barely able to dodge the pillow that had been aimed at his head. Tobin had taken to the stairs shortly after dinner, along with the children, to avoid dishes. He loved his wife and her cooking, but dishes? Not so much. Dion often told him he as just a big 40 year old child, which he never denied.

Rayne yelped and growled as Tobin walked by with a smirk, having ticked her side as he passed. He moved into the bedroom to rid himself of his shoes before he paused at the top of the stairs. It sounded as if the dishwasher was running, so Dion must of finished up. He sighed and decided it was time to go downstairs and start sucking up. She seemed stress, maybe a back rub? A pillow collided with his shoulder as a chuckle was heard from one fo the bedrooms behind him. Tobin declared his revenge to be dealt later. "Right now I have to go suck up to your mother so I don't get put on the couch."

As he started down the stairs he was followed by exclaimations of "ew" and choking noises. Tobin rolled his eyes and continued down the stairs, pausing for another moment as a flying pillow passed him, landed, and then slid across the livingroom floor. "You're mother's going to have your heads if you break anything with flying pillows!" Tobin yelled up the stairs as he reached the bottom. He picked up the pillow and tossed it on the couch, which was current devoid of his wife at the moment.

He winced, and mumbled to himself, believing Dion to still be fussing over the dishes. Tobin figured he's help this time. It was the least he could do if they had been such a mess. As he neared the kitchen he heard voices, one of them being Dion's. He almost thought Oberon was visiting again until he realized the second voice was female. Tobin paused for a second, wondering whether he should go in before he pushed that aside. It wouldn't do for him to be caught lurking around in his own house, now would it?

He entered the room and shivered as his bare feet hit tile, but he put on a smile as he spoke. "I thought I heard voices. Hello there."

((OOC- *sigh* my internet connection screwed up everytime I tried to post as Tobin, so it seems you got started without me ^^))

[Maira]

(ooc: sorry! we both waited to see if you would reply and when you didn't we decided to go ahead. i just couldn't not write, Saiyuri has been demanding to be let out for days now hehe.)

Saiyuri was still reeling from how surreal this situation seemed to her, when Dion started chattering away with small talk. By the time the woman got done with the tea however, Saiyuri was feeling much calmer. When Dion explained that she'd been through something similar to this with another of her children only months before, it made things so much clearer to Saiyuri Dion didn't seem phased.

When Dion came to the table with the tea and sat down, asking her what she knew, Saiyuri gave a small sigh before answering. "I don't really know much Dion I'm sorry. I only know what I was told this morning by my father. All my life I grew up thinking that a woman named Olivia had been my mother. Of course. now that I think about it, the dates don't really match up so I should have noticed that a long time ago." Saiyuri shrugged, her confusion clear in her eyes.

"Anyway," she continued quietly, "Due to some very weird things happening since I've been pregnant, I've had a few breakdowns recently and my husband called my father to see if he had any idea why these things would be happening to me." At this point, Saiyuri looked the woman sitting across from her in the eyes and asked, "Killing plants when your emotional isn't all you can do is it? My father mentioned that he remembered wings while he and my mother...um... yeah. Well I have wings half the time now. You're lucky I didn't Shift standing out on your porch, I could feel it coming and its one of the reasons I ran back to the car."

At this point, Saiyuri was left slightly speechless. She didn't know how to continue without being blunt again and the last thing she wanted to do was offend Dion. She seemed like a really nice, if slightly stressed, woman.

Just as she was about to continue what the rest of what her father had told her, a male voice interrupted her train of thought. Looking up from her tea, Saiyuri saw a handsome older man, likely Dion's husband, standing in the kitchen doorway looking between her and Dion. She had missed what he'd said so she just sat quietly, hoping that Dion would answer him.

[Demeter]

(ooc: Sorry, Aub, she made my post and stuff. As she said, Saiyuri just wanted to be written.)

Dion twisted her mug this way and that while she listened to Saiyuri talk. She blushed when Saiyuri reached the part about thing wings when she'd been with Katsu. Yeah, that had been once of those famous moments when control had been lost. "Yeah, the plant killing thing is only thing I can do. There are various other abilities that come along with the whole Custos/angel parentage. I think I'll waiting on telling you about those things. The only thing you should have to deal with during pregnancy is the killing plants thing, I suggest Peace Lilys as they are rather hard to kill, and the wings. They are the only things that react to emotion."

Dion nearly jumped out of her seat and did managed to spill her tea across the table when Tobin walked into the kitchen and said hello. Shaking the still hot tea off one hand, Dion turned to look at her husband.
This was the part she was dreading. Telling Tobin that he had yet another stepchild and that she hadn't even know that this one was still alive. "Ah, well, Saiyuri this is my husband, Tobin and Tobin, this is my...friend, yeah, she's a friend, Saiyuri."

Dion cringed. She knew that Saiyuri resemebed Rayne who resembled her. She also know that Tobin may have been a child in a 40 year old body but he wasn't an idiot. She settled back into the padded bench seat of the breakfast corner and waited.

[Shinigami]

Tobin blinked when Dion nearly jumped out of her skin, raising one eyebrow as the young girl froze and his wife rattled off a half-baked excuse. Not only was her excuse not convincing, but she had hesitated. His first guess would have been a girl, much like Faith, from the orphanage Dion used to work at, passing her appearance off as coincidence. Now, with Dion being antsy and nervous, he could gather this girl, Saiyuri, was another lost child of Dion's. He decided to give his wife a moment to relax, and a chance to explain later.

A smiles came to his face, but he let Dion know he suspected, at the very least. "Hello, Saiyuri. It's nice to meet you." He nodded politely as he grabbed a dish towel from the rack and handed to his wife. "What on earth could you two be talking about to make you both so jumpy?" Tobin added a joking tone, hoping not to scare the poor girl off.

He turned to get himself some tea, spotting the tea pot, before he thought to ask Dion if she wanted another. He put his handon the mug, ,"Would you like another cup, dear?" He never used pet names such as 'dear' very often, so it sounded odd even to himelf.

[Maira]

Well Saiyuri was certainly surprised at the openess of her mother, as it was apparent now that Dion was indeed her mother. She hadn't expected the words 'Custos' or 'angel' to come into the conversation for some time yet. Of course she had brought up the wings... Now she just needed to find out which one it was that Dion was, surely it wasn't both. If it was both though.... Gods what had her father gotten into as a reckless teenager?

These and many other thoughts were swimming through Saiyuri's mind as she waited for Dion and Tobin, as he introduced himself, figured out just where the evening was going to go from here. She suddenly felt as if she'd intruded, and in all reality she had, but she needed answers as much as she hated to disrupt this family.

When Tobin asked just what the two of them had been talking about to get them both so jumpy, Saiyuri looked to Dion questioningly. It was the woman's place to say, not her own. After all, she had claimed Saiyuri as friend, not daughter.

As she waited and thought, her left hand strayed unconciously to the slight swell of her belly. Three months along and she had just started to show if she was wearing anything other than the fluffy comfy sweater she had on at the moment. Once she realized what she was doing, she was very glad she'd worn the big sweater. If poor Tobin only knew all that was going on, Saiyuri didn't think he'd be nearly as composed as he pretended to be.

[Demeter]

Dion eyed Tobin as he called her dear. That was rare enough. She took the towel and dried off her hand and the table. "Yes, Darling, I'd love some more tea."

Dion scooted down the length of the bench so that Tobin could join if he wanted. "I'm sure that you've already guessed it, but this is Saiyuri, my first born. I had her when I was 16. Her father had been a summer fling. A few short weeks together and then we went our seperate ways. I had been told that Saiyuri had been stillborn."

Dion slumped back against the wall and played with her newly refilled mug. "My part of Saiyuri's genes have been popping up lately. You know, those rare ones that only show up when emotions are wacked out of control or there are hormonal surges."

[Shinigami]

Tobin listened to Dion's explanation as he poored the tea, nodding before placing Dion's mug infront of her. He took a seat on the bench and sipped at his tea, his gaze flicking between Dion and Saiyuri. He understood, as best he could. Dion had promised not to keep secrets from him anymore after Oberon, but she hadn't known Saiyuri had even survived. It was rare, actually, for mixed blood to survive when the mother was so young.

He glanced up from his tea as he caught Dion's last sentance. "Hormonal surges?" He smiled and chuckled slightly, "The last time I heard that phrase was when we found out you were pregnant with the triplets." He paused and glanced at Saiyuri. It had taken him saying it for it to sink in, but once it did he sighed and smiled at the girl across from him. He almost thought it was funny enough to crack a grandma joke. Almost.

"Well, I can certainly see why you would come for a visit if that's the case." Sipping his tea once again.

[Demeter]

Dion slide sideways along the wall and leaned against Tobin's side. "Sorry for not ever telling you about Katsu, it just never occured to me to mention him."

Dion sat up and looked back towards Saiyuri. "I know that you are confused. I'm startled and I'm sure your father is pacing a hole into some surface and wants to know what is happening. Thats one of the things I remember about him, that he was very protective of those he considered family and friends. I guess this is really a turning point for all of us. You're going to become a mother. We're going to become grandparents...uh, you do realize that now that I know you exisit, I'll probably be part of almost everything you do. And of course, there is your aunts and your uncle. You have six aunts, by the way. All of them like to meddle."

Dion took a sip of her tea and closed her eyes for a moment. She was hanging on, just barely. She was getting better when dealing with surprises or major upsets in her life. "Now, Saiyuri, I have a couple of questions for you. How far along are you? And I'm sorry if this sounds rude but, exactly what are you? Is the father in the picture?"

[Maira]

Saiyuri's hand had clenched in her sweater when Tobin had figured out the one thing that Dion hadn't already told him in a moment of blazing honesty. What would he think? What does Dion think? When there was no adverse reaction, in fact he seemed almost pleasantly surprised, Saiyuri's protective grip on her sweater relaxed immediately.

As soon as Dion started talking, Saiyuri realized there was too much information and too many questions. Saiyuri's head was getting all fuzzy trying to process it all at once. Blinking into her tea, Saiyuri tried to sort it all out so she could give answers that Dion obviously needed.

Taking a sip of tea to wet her throat, Saiyuri finally looked back up at her mother, yes her mother. That was so weird to realize. Here she was sitting at the same table as her mother. The woman she hadn't known existed yesterday, the one she'd been told hadn't wanted her this morning, and now very obviously a concerned mother (and soon to be grandmother). Finally she managed to answer Dion's questions in short clipped sentences. It was the best she could manage at the moment.

"I'm three months along, nearly. I'm half Pard, were-leopard that is, and whatever you are. Yes, Dominic is in the picture. We're married actually." As she mentioned her husband for the first time that night, Saiyuri had a sudden realization that their child, the one growing in her womb was more of mix than they'd originally thought. Not only was it going to be part Vampire and part Pard, it was going to be whatever Dion was too. Gods help the poor child, she was gonna be a mutt like no other! And with that last thought she added rather distractedly, "Oh yeah, he's a Vampire."

[Shinigami]

Tobin smiled at his wife as he drew and arm around her waist, the other keeping his tea hovering just below his lips. He snorted softly as Dion mentioned her sisters, muttering "Like to meddle? They -love- to meddle," making sure not to be too loud. He watched as Saiyuri looked quite frightened, figuring she must be worried about how they might see being grandparents. Tobin didn't mind at all, and he knew Dion would dive right into the poor girl's life, which may be welcomed when the child starts to figure out their powers. He would never turn down family, not after what his mother had done.

Tobin perked up as Saiyuri began to speak, also curious as to who the father is and all that. He smiled warmly when he heard they were married, and obviously had planned to have a family, though they were currently being sidetracked by this business. He was in the process of sipping is tea when he heard Saiyuri mention her husband was a vampire, his surprise causing him to cough lightly.

A vampire? This would be a tricky pregnancy.. and birth. "You said vampire, yes? You wouldn't happen to know what bloodline he was from would you? With such a mix of blood, it would be best to have all the information we could get. It would help the pregnancy and birth go a little smoother, knowing what to expect."

[Demeter]

Dion lightly elbowed her husband's side and glared at him. Yes, she knew her sisters just loved to meddle in their relatives lives but that was no reason to give the girl any more reason to be scared. Dion took another drink of her tea and watched Saiyuri over the edge of her mug. Had she never had dealth with Oberon's reappearence, Dion probably would have been ranting and raving and looking for something with a pulse to kill. She'd gone for Oberon's father that time around and hadn't calmed down until Tobin had sat her down and explained to her that no, she couldn't kill the man as it wasn't allowed.

Dion blushed when Saiyuri said her background, having realized that she'd never quite cleaned up that little mystery. "Sorry, I'm both angel and Custos but the angel in my is dominate. You see, when a angel and Custos hybrid reaches maturity, a sort of test happens, a really painful test, and the side that wins, shall we say, is the side the the hybrid is mostly governed by. I'm ruled by my angel side but I'm still a hybrid because genetics are rather hard to change."

Dion eyes snapped open when Saiyuri said that the father was vampire. She choked on a drink of her tea and let Tobin to the talking while she caught her breath. "Vampire...?" was all she managed to wheeze out.

[Maira]

The headache that had been brewing since this morning, finally erupted, little black dots dancing across her vision. With the headache, came the rushing feeling of the Shift. "Not now, not now," she growled softly to herself as her hand gripped the table until her knuckles turned white.

When the rushing subsided and only the throbbing of her head was left, Saiyuri opened her eyes and looked anxiously at her hands. No spots, thank goodness! She'd been afraid she'd go all leopard/angel (or whatever) in front of Dion and Tobin. That would have been fun trying to explain...

When she was finally herself again, Saiyuri looked back up at Tobin and Dion and answered the question that had set off that little episode. "He's Keahi." Then, asking the questions that would not leave her mind, "What do you mean it would make things go smoother? Are they going to be bad?" What had she gotten into Saiyuri couldn't help but wonder.