July 31st, 2005
"Upsy-daisy, there we go..." Sosiqui grinned at Airyn as she settled her grandchild into the highchair she'd bought for Riven long ago but never used - it had been too easy for the legless baby to slither out. It was good to see it finally coming to good use. "You'll eat for me, right, sweetie?"
"Ahbah," Airyn agreed, banging on the tray with her plastic spoon.
"She's noisy," Five complained from his place at the table. The
strange bottle Sosiqui had given him to care for was cradled carefully in his lap as he waited for her to dish out the dinner.
"Well, the thing in your lap might become noisy, too, so you should get used to it," Sosiqui said, reasonably. "Watch Airyn while I go into the kitchen, will you? I'll be right back."
"'kay," the black mage said, and Sosiqui left only to return a few minutes later with a steaming pot of spaghetti and meatballs in her hands, and a few baby food jars tucked under one arm. Five started helping himself as soon as the pot hit the table.
"What about the egg?" Five mumbled through noodles.
Sosiqui glanced at the basket that was currently occupying Riven's chair at the table. In it was nestled a large speckled egg the size of a big watermelon. "That might be noisy too. Aren't you glad you have your own room out there?" She waved vaguely in the direction of the backyard as she fumbled with the lid of a baby-food jar.
"How come people keep giving you stuff to take care of?" Fiven pressed, a faint slurping noise coming from where, presumably, his mouth was.
Sosiqui sighed. "I suppose I just have a kind face... but the ash-bottle is YOURS, you can't foist that on me." She shook the baby spoon at Five before dipping it into the strained carrots. "And... I asked Karma for the egg." She looked at it fondly. Karma, Arkanti's Guardian, was one of her friends, and she'd discovered... well, some hole in a rift thing, but basically a world of anthropomorphic animals and... yeah, it was weird, even for Gaia.
But she'd missed having something young in the house. Airyn's visits had become the highlight of her week, and she missed Riven terribly. Five was, of course, there to keep her company, but... he wasn't hers. He was very self-sufficient, even though he had his moments of vulnerability... he needed to be taken care of, but not as much. And she had to respect that. He'd earned it.
Hence, the egg now sitting warmly in the basket. Karma had said it would hatch into a child...
"AHHHBAH," Airyn said demandingly, reaching out and swatting the filled spoon with one hand. Carrots glopped onto the floor.
"Airyn..." Sosiqui sighed and bent down to mop it up, when she heard a faint tapping sound. "Five, knock it off, it's noisy enough in here."
"It's not me," Five said, eyes round and bright. Sosiqui looked up in confusion. "Then what..."
A fine line of cracks had broken out on the egg, and there was something inside tapping at it.
The spoon crashed to the floor, much to Airyn's distress, who began banging her fists on the highchair tray and kicking her feet. "AaaaaahFWAH."
"Not now, baby, not now," Sosiqui said, hurrying over to the egg. Small bits were flaking off of it now, stickily. She risked darting to the kitchen for a roll of paper towels, and when she came back a beak - a BEAK! - could be clearly seen through the cracking shell.
Slowly, slowly, with Five watching in astonishment and Airyn burbling her displeasure at not recieving FOOD NOW, Sosiqui helped peel the eggshell and resulting goop away from the struggling form within.
"It's a... a duck... a.. wait, that's fur, no... it's a... platypus?!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAH," Airyn screamed, finally, sick of this.
