Finding a Balance

[Demeter]

Dion used a finger to mark her place in the book she'd been reading, When Saiyuri finished talking, Dion grinned. "Custos...don't always assume the sterotypical, Saiyuri." Dion tilted her head back. "Rarely do pure Custoss or angels have anything but the typical wings for their type. Half breeds like us, however, may have one side that is dominate then the other but the presence of something of the submissive half is present. For you, and myself, it is the type of wing. Feathered, rather the the scaly, bat type of wing."

Dion grinned at her daughter. "And just to make it even more confusing, it is possible for a half breed dominate and submissive sides to be almost completely seperate. When an angel, he looks the typical angel and the same for his Custos side. The thing that connects those two portions of Tobin is his sword. Some half breeds will perfer different weapons when it one form or the other."

Dion picked her book back up. "If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask me. There's some food in the kitchen if you are hungry but you'll have to forage."

[Maira]

What Dion said made a small amount of sense to Saiyuri and she just continued to lean against her mother for a while, just having a mother to lean against again was incredibly soothing. Kaori, her step mother, didn't really count as her mother, the woman had pretty much hated her...

Finally when her stomach gave a soft rumble, Saiyuri hauled herself off the couch. She had taken two steps toward the kitchen when she turned and walked back over to the couch. Leaning down she gave Dion a quick kiss on the cheek and said softly, "Thanks Mom," then she stood up and made a beeline for the kitchen.

*****

With her stomach full, thanks to a quick turkey sandwich, Saiyuri made her way back out to the livingroom, baby monitor in hand. The monitor was silent, which was good as Lani need her rest, so Saiyuri wanted to ask her mother a few more questions. Plopping back down on the couch next to Dion, Saiyuri asked quietly, "So what do I do now? I mean, you have a job working for some god... What do I do? Do I need to devote myself to a god or will they come find me or will any even take me because my heritage is so mixed?"

[Demeter]

Dion glanced up at her daughter when Saiyuri plopped back down on the couch next to her. "Ah, well, that is always a fun question. If your abilities are excellent and above average, a god may came after you. If, after you get ahandle on your abilities, you have a certain god in mind, you can go to a high ranking Custos that serves them so they can act as a go-between. You're mixed hertiage shouldn't be a problem. Gods have been known to take the lowest of the low. Fallen Angels would rank below you."

Dion leaned her head back against the couch and stared up at the ceiling. "You really shouldn't be worried about all of this at the moment. You will have plenty of time to figure everything out. Right now, you should be focused on bonding with that child. I can't hold my family off for much longer. They all want to offically met you and kidnap your child in rotating turns."

Dion grinned. "My father is deteremined to spoil his oldest grandchild rotten for all the years he didn't get to. You like cars right? And trips to foreign countries?"

[Maira]

Again Saiyuri listened as her mother talked and she took comfort just in knowing the other woman understood her and cared about her. When Dion told her to focus more on her child than her new powers, Saiyuri couldn't help but smile. Lani was such a joy and so far she'd only known her less than a day. She coudn't wait to bathe her, and sing her lullabyes, and get up for midnight feedings...

In the middle of her musings, Dion's words about her family wanting to kidnap Lani on a rotating schedule made their way into Saiyuri's mind. Curious, her head tilted to one side she asked, "Just what do you mean by that? You've sad that more than once and I think I should be worried..."

Then, after asking that, Dion's other words about her father sunk in. "Your father wants to meet me?" Saiyuri asked completely broadsided by the possibility. She'd never had a grandfather before... Oh if only she'd known him as a child! She always was jealous of the other kids in then Pard who had grandparents. Her father's parents had died when she was three and she hardly remembered the at all. Just fleeting images when they'd come to visit from Japan. After her father had married Olivia, Katsu's parents had returned to Japan to live out the rest of their retirement which was unfortunately short. They both died of some especially deadly strain of the flu shortly after their last visit to the States.

[Demeter]

Dion grinned. She'd be wondering when Saiyuri would get around to asking that question. "It's taken all of my sneakyness to keep them away from you for the past three months. I have a very large, very noisy family that likes to be in everyone's business. In a way, we see each other on a very regular basis. You saw how Demeter is prone to just walking into the house at any time of the day and how her son basically lives over here. The entire family is like that. I have keys to every single house and apartment. They all have keys to this house."

Dion grinned at Saiyuri's second question. "My father spoils all of his grandchild. You are one of those grandchildren. He wants to spoil you. To make up for lost time, he says, and to make up for what Ellen did to us." Dion growled out the last part. "What Ellen did to us. She took my baby away from me, told me she died. Did you know that you have a grave. I had named you Chantal, after my mother." Dion leaned over and hugged Saiyuri. "If I could I would go back in time and rearrange everything so that I had you."

"Mind you, I wouldn't see be with your father. Otherwise I would have no Oberon and no triplets and no Rayne."

[Maira]

Saiyuri gawked as her mother talked first about her family, then about her father. Tears sprang to her eyes when Dion started talking about how she had wound up living with her father and not knowing who her real mother was. She had a grave? Her name was supposed to be Chantal? How had she gone three months living with this woman and not having found out any of this before?

Quietly she muttered, "Oh god... I'm sorry Mom." Why had her father never told her any of this at least? Did he even know what Dion's step mother had done? Why did he think that Saiyuri had been given to him instead of being raised by her mother? She would have to ask him later...

Not wanting to dwell on something that could be potentially depressing, Saiyuri asked curiously and a little scared, "So when do they all want to come over?" She knew it was likely inviting trouble to meet everbody all at once, especially if they were as overwhelming as her mother made them out to be, but it would probably be good to just get it over with.

[Demeter]

Dion took a moment to calm down. She still wished to maim that woman but her father refused. That woman, of course, had lately been having finical and socital issues. After a moment she turned to Saiyuri. "They would all like to come over as soon as possible. Which means that if I were to call one of my sisters they would all, with the exception of Nerissa as she lives across the atlantic, would come over en masse. So, I think we will start with my father. He can keep a secret at the very least. "

Dion stood and walked to her kitchen. And then called her father, informing him that he could come over and snuggle his grandbabies. Dion, after hanging the phone up, walked back out the living room. "So, your grandfather will be over within the hour. I would suggest freshing up just a little bit. He's gonna pounce on you and, I don't mean to be rude, but you have been unconcious for a while."

Dion settled back onto her couch and waited for her father to show up.

[Maira]

Saiyuri blinked as her mother informed her that all it would take would be one phone call to have the whole family over. When Dion instead offered to call just her father, Saiyuri nodded greatfully, she could handle just one man. She then watched as Dion got up and went into the kitchen to make that phone call. As she waited, she stared at the baby monitor and noticed that a few of the lights were moving and that there were happy cooing sounds coming from it. She was tempted to run down and check on Lani but so long as she wasn't fussing, Saiyuri figured she could wait for her mother to return from her phone call.

It didn't take very long at all for Dion to come back out to the livingroom and when she told Saiyuri that her grandfather would be over in an hour, Saiyuri couldn't help but smile. She was nervous about meeting a man she'd never met but it couldn't be any harder than meeting her own biological mother had been right? That day was insanely crazy.

When Dion mentioned that she might want to freshen up as she was likely going to be pounced, Saiyuri's jaw dropped and she glared at her mother once the shock wore off. "Are you saying I stink? Wow, now I know you love me," she teased and then stuck out her tongue as she got up off the couch and headed toward the basement door after grabbing up the baby monitor.

*****

Nearly fourty-five minutes later, Saiyuri re-emerged from her basement apartment looking, and smelling, a lot more refreshed. Her hair was still a little damp and it showed off her long black curls quite well and she had on comfortable jeans and a light blue sweater. Lani had been bathed too, just for the sheer fun of it on Saiyuri's part, and smelled of lavender and chamomille and was dressed in a little violet (to match her eyes) sleeper with a pink butterfly on it that said, "Flutter-by". "So Mom, is this a little more presentable?" she asked as she shut the basement door behind her.

[Demeter]

He'd made some attempts at making his appearence look normal, after all he didn't leave the fifth layer all that often, but he didn't want to scare the baby. His nails looked normal, he'd masked the tattooing under his left eye. His eyes were still red though, there was very little he could do about that, it was just part of him. He'd even made concessions to clothing. Instead of the red cape with the outfit of black leather, he'd dressed in jeans, steel toed boots and a button down shirt.

After waving to his driver and informing him to go back to the house he kept on earth, Darius bounded up the stairs of his daughter's front porch and politly rang the doorbell. He wasn't in the habit of just barging into his family's homes, unlike the rest of his brood. Once his daughter let him in, he hugged her. He still couldn't believe the things Ellen did to his family. "Now then, where are my grandchildren?"

When he heard a stranger's voice asking if she was presentable, he turned around, hands clasped behind his back. "Nevermind, Dion, I do believe we have found them." Darius stood where he was, sevearl feet from mother and child. "You must be Saiyuri and that must be the newest edition to the family." he studied his oldest grandchild, smiling softly. She looked like Dion at that age, which meant she also had the look of her materal grandmother. "You look just like them. You have Chantal's mouth."

Darius took a few steps forward and angled himself just so, enabling himself to get a good look at the child. "And the little one looks just like your mother did at that age."

Dion watched the scene, leaning against a wall, and smiled. She could see the look on her daughter's face and she had to admit to herself that her father was a scary man even when he tried to look normal.

[Maira]

Saiyuri had been looking at Lani when she'd just blabbed out her question and hadn't realized that her mother wasn't in the living room anymore but was standing at the front door. When a strange man's voice came from the direction of the front door, Saiyuri took a deep breath to calm her nerves then turned to face him. Her nervous smile nearly faltered when she got a good look at him, and it dissappeared completely when he informed her she had her grandmother's mouth. Just finding out earlier that she was originally named after that woman made hearing her name really hard on Saiyuri.

When Dion's father took a few steps closer to Saiyuri and Lani, it took all of Saiyuri's willpower not to tighten her hold on her child. The fact that Lani was squirming anxiously didn't help Saiyuri at all with her misgivings about her grandfather. He was actually quite intimidating and more than a little scary. When Lani reached up her violet clad arms and cooed at the man however, Saiyuri had to give in and hand the little girl over. Quietly and nervously she told Darius, "It appears she likes you, would you like to hold her? Her name is Lani." Her heart was racing as she held out her child to the Custoslord but her head was trying to be logical in pointing out just how many girls he'd already raised and that he wouldn't hurt Lani no matter what.

[Demeter]

Darius grinned at Saiyuri and picked the little girl up, cooing at her and making nonsensical baby noises. He knew that he must look a silly sight. Baby talk from a man that could make dictators quiver in fear wasn't an easy combination to pull off. Darius easily held Lani in the crook of his arm, well used to the pratice his own children had given him. He could still remember being utterly nervous the first time he'd held Dion and Nerissa. So afraid that he would break them or drop them. Now, baby holding was a comfortable past time.

He turned his gaze up to Saiyuri and smiled. "I remember your father. I believe I told him that if he hurt my baby girl, no one would find his body. Turns out that he wasn't the one who did the hurting. But, enough with lingering in the past. I want to know all about you and where is this little girl's father? I want to tell him the same thing I told your father." Darius glanced around the house and shrugged before wandering into the living room and sitting down. "Come, sit."

Dion hide a smile behind her hand. Fearsome, intimidating Custos lord who occasionally acted liked some goofball. When he ordered them into the living room, Dion wrapped an arm around Saiyuri and steered her in. "And now you see why I only invited him over. Imagine five more just like him. All talking at once. and I'll try to make sure that Dominic's body will be found if he ever gets a hold of it."

[Maira]

She was already a mess from handing over her daughter to Darius and when he asked where the little girl's father was, Saiyuri nearly grabbed her back and ran downstairs. The last thing she needed was Dominic's death on her conscience. Because of that, she just didn't say anything at all.

When Dion wrapped her arm around her and directed her towards the living room after Darius and Lani, Saiyuri was shaking. She knew she was shaking but she couldn't stop herself. In a terrified whisper she begged her mother, "Will he really kill Dominic?" The man may have run out on her and Lani but she still loved him. She was sure he would come back and then they could be happy. She could almost bet on it.

When they got to the livingroom, Saiyuri perched on the couch nervously and watched her grandfather tickle her daughter's cheeks and make cooing noises at her. The sight was a little disconcerting and unknown to her the corner of her mouth had turned up into a soft half smile. Lani too was smiling and making happy baby noises at her great grandfather.

[Demeter]

Dion smirked. "No, he won't kill Dominic. He likes to threaten all the men in the family. You should have seen what he said to Jonathan. That would be your Uncle Trey's former lover. He's the gay one by the way. Dad's always moaning that his only son is not only a bastard but a gay bastard."

Dion reached over and snagged a camera off a shelf. She had pictures of her father, the fearsome Custos lord, acting like an idiot over his grandchildren so it only made sense for her to snap pictures of him acting like an idiot over his great-grandchildren.

Darius scowled at the flash and glared up at his daughter. "You are evil. And this is the sweetest baby. Where's the father?"

"I only learned from the best. Of course Lani is sweet, but you said that about Rowan right before he peed on you. And the father is having a bit of a panic attack. He was a single child in a single parent family. Saiyuri here is part pard. And then their is the hoard that you rule over. He was feeling a bit overwhelmed but he'll be back and I'll pass the warning on. Now, stop acting scary, you're scaring Saiyuri. You should feel special, with the exception of Dem, your first person I've let see Saiyuri and your the first extended family member to meet Lani.

Darius scowled at the thought of this baby's father running off but shrugged his shoulders. He wasn't one to be talking about being a model parent. His girls had gone through enough because he wasn't a model parent. The fact that this was the first time he was meeting his granddaughter only proved that fact. Speaking of that Grandchild, Darius peered over at Saiyuri. "So, Custos or Angel?"

[Maira]

With the reassuring words from her mother, and watching her grandfather with her daughter, Saiyuri finally started to calm down. Yes, he was mean and scary looking but Saiyuri had a very funny feeling that Darius was in fact a big softy. At least around babies.

When Darius said that Lani was the sweetest baby, Saiyuri couldn't help but preen a bit. She thought so as well, but she was more than a little partial. She didn't even have time to register that Darius asked after Dominic because she heard Dion comment how Darius had thought Rowan was sweet too until he'd peed on him. At the mental image of a Lani-sized-Rowan peeing on the big scary Custos lord, Saiyuri couldn't help but bust up laughing.

It took her a few minutes to get her laughter under control, again she missed talk about Dominic, and when she finally stopped laughing Darius asked her one simple and straightforward question. The answer could have easily been just as straight forward but for some reason, Saiyuri felt herself saying a lot more than she planned. "Until I got pregnant with that violet eyed munchkin, I never even knew I had a Custos or angel side. When I suddenly started killing every houseplant or flower in and around me when I got upset and I sprouted wings I freaked out and went off on my father. Shortly after that I met Dion." At the odd look on his face, Saiyuri nodded her agreement. It had been a -very- odd pregnancy. Then, to answer his question she finally said, "I actually just checked and I'm going to guess Custos."

[Demeter]

Darius stared at Saiyuri for a moment and then shook his head. His family was odd so her oddness really didn't faze him. "Once you're able, you'll have to come down to hell. I'll have to be part of your training, unless you want to run around as an untrained Custos, generally not a good idea. And no need to worry about this one," he said while cooing at Lani. "My wife, Genesis, likes children."

Dion leaned over to muttering into Saiyuri's ear. "Genesis is an angel, you have nothing to fear from her. In fact, I would have preferred her to have been the one who delivered Lani. She's regarded as many things, mostly a sort of patron saint to midwifes type of deal. Lani is defiantly safe in her hands."

Darius stood, handed Lani back to her mother and turned to Dion. "Now, about Ellen. What should we do about her? I've heard that her husband has died, effectively leaving her without protection. Apparently their only child hates her."

Dion grinned and sat down next to her father. "remember that time you threatened to blackball her? Do it."

[Maira]

As she listened to Darius talk, Saiyuri was deffinately relaxing. When her mother chimed in about Genesis she just smiled and listened eagerly. Finding out about her new family was just something Saiyuri couldn't get enough of right now.

When the pair of them switched topic to Ellen, Saiyuri was a little taken off guard. She'd been talking about the woman with Dion before Darius had showed up but for him to bring her up without any prompting from either of them just threw Saiyuri for a loop.

She wasn't sure what to say about the new topic of choice so Saiyuri just sat and cuddled her daughter in silence looking somewhat out of place. She had only just found out what Ellen had done to her and her family and while it angered her greatly, she hadn't had nearly as long to suffer with the knowledge like Dion, and apparently Darius, had.

[Demeter]

Carma stared up at the house as he flipped the kickstand to his black Kawasaki Ninja Motorcycle. How many times had he told Darius not to rush out without telling him. He pulled the helmet off, set it on the tail of the bike and hiked up the stairs to the front door, dusty red trench coat flapping behind him. He didn't bother to knock on the door. He just went right on it. He immidently zeroed in on his employer. "Darius! How many times have I told you no to go wandering off without telling me first? Ladies," he inclided his head to the two women and marched over to Darius, grabbed him by his ear, and pulled him off into a corner.

Dion was barely fazed by the interuption. She glanced over at a shocked looking Saiyuri. "Thats Carmine but we mostly call him Carma. He's daddies bodyguard and captain of the elite guard. He also runs most of hell because dad's great at the intimation thing but not so great with the details.

When Carma released her father, Dion called him over. "Carma, you remember Ellen correct? Well, this is my daughter, Saiyuri. I'm sure that you've heard all about this fiasco from Daddy."

Carma nodded. "Indeed. When he first learned of Ellen's trechery, he blew up half of the training room. And then gave me the work out of my life. It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Saiyuri."

[Maira]

When the front door opened again, Saiyuri was expecting to see Tobin or somebody else familiar but when a strange very annoyed woman stormed into her mother's house and yelled at her grandfather she nearly jumped off the couch and ran downstairs. The only reason that she didn't move was that her mother hadn't moved. And after the other man was finished yelling at Darius, he nodded politely to them.

What?!

Dion quickly explained just who the other man was and Saiyuri just stared wide eyed at him for a moment before regaining her composure. Once she did, she just listened intently as Dion and Carmine exhanged words. When he called her "Lady" Saiyuri looked at her mother questioningly. She was confused again...

[Demeter]

Dion swallowed a little laugh. She'd kept several details from Saiyuri. "My father is the Overlord for the Fifth Layer of Hell. Carma, being trained in a old-school style, Mars is a stickler for manners, acts all proper when he thinks he has to." Dion crossed over to the blond Custos and smacked the back of his head. "She's family, Carma, there is no need for you to go all fussy."

Carma scowled at Dion while rubbing the back of his head. He wrapped an around around her neck and dragged her closer, using his knuckles to give a noogie to her scalp. Dion squrimed away. She scowled at him and glanced at Saiyuri. "He's like my ultra cool big brother even though he's not related by blood. He's been with my dad for nearly 200 years now. He's my big brother or second father, depending on which way you wanna think about it."

Carma smiled at Saiyuri. "You have nothing to fear from me, my dear, I simply slave away for Darius and fix his mistakes while protecting the public from him should he go into a spiral of rage and destruction."

[Maira]

Saiyuri gawked at her mother's matter-of-fact declaration of her father being an Overlord in Hell. She only slightly knew, and accepted, that she was part Custos but she'd never actually considered that Hell was a real place. Now she was being told there were Overlords and different Layers? Too much information in such a short period, poor Saiyuri was getting a headache...

Then her mother smacked the other man on the back of the head, and he gave her a noogie, and things just deteriorated from there. She just stared at the two, and listened absently as they spoke, seemingly more to each other than to her. Only as Carma, as he'd been introduced, went off on a bit of a tangent about Darius going into a spiral of rage and destruction did Saiyuri come out of her haze.

"Rage and destruction?" she asked with a squeek before looking at the older Custos where he sat looking totally innocent and she was very glad she was once again holding her daughter...