MHA #6, Saturday Morning

[firstofitskind]

So last night had not exactly gone the way either Verity or Liam had been expecting it to go, to be honest. Which was not to say it was bad, exactly. A little awkward, possibly. Maybe a bit frustrating. But not bad.

But while Verity had been - well, 'startled' would be putting it gently - regarding what had happened instead of actual sex, she'd still asked Liam to stay over. They'd fallen asleep together, content with the idea that they'd talk about things tomorrow. As well as do some things that weren't talking.

Liam being Liam, he'd woken up after a couple hours and slipped out to the living room to do a bit of reading without disturbing Verity's sleep. The mice, naturally, had taken his appearance to mean that the Invocation of the Sacred Law of Food For Privacy had drawn to a close, until he pointed out that he didn't really have the authority to make such decisions.

... Have you ever seen a disappointed mouse face? Because that's what Liam had to deal with, several times over. He'd ended up placating them by ordering a delivery of a couple Mooby Burgers (the only place open at that absurd hour).

Eventually, he headed back to bed, because waking up with Verity was something he'd come to enjoy on the handful of occassions they'd managed it so far. What he wasn't expecting was to be woken up by small, insistent voices.

"Hey," he muttered. "Thought we had a deal, guys."

Yeah, this wasn't the mice, Liam.

[ooc: for the girlfriend, some small children, and the talking mice.]

Comments

[nextoftheirkind]

"Told you they were awake," Hayley hissed to her younger brother. It...wasn't very quiet. Definitely not as quiet as she thought it was. "We should go in and say hello!"

[nextoftheirkind]

"That's dad's 'Not really awake' voice," Tyrus whispered back. More quietly, but still not as much as he was probably hoping. "And no we shouldn't! We shouldn't even be here!"

[nextoftheirkind]

"Well, we are here," Hayley pointed out. Logically. "And it's too late to go back now, the portal's closed."

Ha! Set and match, Tyrant!

[nextoftheirkind]

Ugh. Why were little sisters so annoying?

"We wouldn't be here in the first place if you just listened for once in your life," Tyrus said, rolling his eyes at her. "We're already gonna be in trouble. Let's not go wake 'em up and get in any more."

[nextoftheirkind]

"Then you should make me breakfast," Hayley decided, setting her mouse down on the kitchen table so she could pull out a chair. Glimmerbug skittered over to the center and started to collect napkins. If breakfast was on the docket, it was good to be prepared.

"Why should I make you breakfast?" Tyrus demanded, letting his mouse, Aurelius, join his sister on the table.

"Cause I'm your older sister and I said so," Hayley told him. "And because I'm too little to use the stove."

[arboreal_priestess]

The screech of cheap aluminum over tile was enough to rouse Verity. "Liam?" she asked, sleepily. "That you?"

The question of how that could possibly be Liam and how he'd be able to answer her at the same time was lost on her still mostly-sleeping brain.

[firstofitskind]

"No," Liam said, awareness slowly starting to seep in. "I think someone's in your kitchen."

And not the usual someones; someone clearly capable of moving what sounded like a piece of kitchen furniture.

[arboreal_priestess]

Well, that was enough to wake Verity up all the way. Intruders were a danger--not just to her, but to the mice. Intruders could mean monsters or it could mean Covenant or it could mean something worse than either. No reason not to keep your options open.

"Shit," she whispered, pulling her gun out from behind her headboard. She snagged a shirt off the floor--sorry, Liam, she was borrowing this so she didn't try to surprise those someones in just some lingerie--and pulled it on, carefully approaching the door.

"I think I hear more than one," she said. "And they're moving around, trying to keep quiet." Beat. "They kinda suck at it."

[firstofitskind]

And on the heels of that 'I'm awake' sort of awareness came a different kind of awareness. The sort of low-level psychic hum he'd mostly associated with the Commonality. He had no idea why he was feeling that in the here-and-now, but something about their visitors seemed... friendly, somehow.

"I don't think they're here to hurt anyone," he informed Verity.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Liam," she whispered, hand on the doorknob, "they're in my house."

Unless they were Girl Scouts, unloading a whole truck full of Thin Mints and Samoas into her living room, Verity wasn't willing to bet the intruders weren't dangerous. Hell, even if they were, Verity would still be suspicious, but willing to give them a pass.

And if it were Caramel deLights instead of Samoas, though, they were going right back to guns.

"You coming with me or not?" she asked, cracking the bedroom door to see if she could spot any movement.

[firstofitskind]

"Of course," Liam said, mostly because he was more curious than concerned, now.

Though since someone had already claimed his shirt (and looked adorable, Liam couldn't help but note), he was heading to the door shirtless. Super intimidating.

[arboreal_priestess]

Still a lot more intimidating than Verity would have looked in just her underwear!

They crept down the hall to the kitchen, where the 'stealthy' noises were continuing, along with a running conversation of whispers. It was hard for Verity to make out the individual words, but the general susurrus was coming through.

She caught Liam's eye and held up three fingers, two, one--

"All right who the hell are you and why are you in my house?!" she demanded, barging into the kitchen with her gun out, though still pointed at the floor.

Which was good because otherwise she'd be pointing it at two children. Neither of whom seemed particularly fazed by a half-naked woman wielding a gun.

[nextoftheirkind]

In fact, it was almost like they expected it.

"Hey, mom," Tyrus said with a sigh, having resigned himself to the fact that this was, in fact, happening. "Hey, dad. We would've called ahead, but," he shrugged. Kind of hard to do that when your sister impulsively jumped into a portal to who-knows-where and you followed out of a need to make sure she didn't get into too much trouble.

[arboreal_priestess]

"There is a child in my house that just called me mom," Verity said to Liam, voice calm. "And you dad. Liam, is there something you need to tell me?"

Look, Liam had been conceived and born, grew up in three hours, and his mother's memories erased. And last night there had been a big purple glow and Verity was just a little concerned right now.

In a minute, she might remember listening to the radio last year, but at this moment, she was using all of her self-control not to freak out

[firstofitskind]

Liam's eyes went wide as he, too, considered that very real possibility. Thanks, alien biology!

Except Beckett's memories being erased hadn't been a part of the whole... process... that had been a conscious decision on the part of the Resistance. And he was pretty sure he'd remember Verity having kids at some point during the night. Right?

"I don't think- I mean, I wasn't trying to-" he was pretty sure that intent was critical when it came to how reproduction worked for the Kimera. Of course, as he'd said last night, he really had no idea what he was doing. And he was two-thirds human, after all. Who knew how these things worked??

[nextoftheirkind]

"I think you broke Mommy," Hayley stage-whispered to her brother. "Way to go, Tyrant!"

"Don't call me Tyrant!" Tyrus said, screwing his face up. "You know I hate that." But, uhh, Hayley had a point. "Mom? Are you okay?"

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity shook herself and put the gun down on the counter. And then looked at the kids, picked it up, and handed it over to Liam after making sure the safety was fully engaged.

"Highest cupboard," she said, since there was no way she'd be able to put it there.

"Okay," she said to the kids. In her house. Calling her mom. "So we're going to have to, uhh, start from the very beginning here. Mom?! How did that happen?"

[nextoftheirkind]

"So you and Daddy love each other very much," Hayley dutifully recited. "So one night, you took off all your--"

[arboreal_priestess]

"NOT THAT FAR BACK!" Verity yelped.

[nextoftheirkind]

"We weren't born last night, don't worry," Tyrus clarified, looking slightly pained as he spoke. Look, talking about your parents' sex life was... ugh. "We're from the future." Because that made it better!

[arboreal_priestess]

"Okay," Verity said slowly. "So...you're not unexpected children who were aged quickly by alien technology or something?"

Okay, that was something of a relief.

[nextoftheirkind]

"..."

The children were awkwardly silent, Hayley giving Tyrus frantic looks out of the corner of her eyes.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity was suddenly much less relieved.

She looked at the little girl, who was doing a bad job of pretending to not know anything, to the slightly older boy who was refusing to look at anyone, over to Liam. "Tagging you in," she decided, leaning over to tap his shoulder. "I'm making coffee."

And possibly putting alcohol into it.

[firstofitskind]

Okay, the awkward silence was... concerning. But Liam decided not to press that for now.

"We can come back to that," he said. "What're your names?" Because that would also be useful information to have.

[nextoftheirkind]

"Tyrus," the boy introduced himself. "And that's-"

"I can say it myself," the girl hissed. "Just 'cause you're bigger doesn't mean you always get to-" she trailed off, because oh yeah, there were things that she wasn't really supposed to talk about. "I'm Hayley!" she concluded brightly. "We were gonna make breakfast."

They hadn't gotten very far. Mostly because of the lack of anything breakfast-y (beyond that possibly spiked coffee) in Verity's kitchen.