The Forgotten Zodiac

Geoffrey looked up as his sister and her husband entered the room. He'd been fiddling around with some horse tack, trying to fix a bridle, but sat it aside to greet the couple. "Lucia, Soren," he said, glancing over to where Boyd and Mist were sitting and looking up at the arrivals. "Good of you to join us."

Mist, who'd been talking animatedly to Boyd, paused to give a smile to the mage and the swordswoman. "Hi Soren, hi Lucia! Did you get bored in the castle?" she asked.

"Hello, Mist, Boyd, Geoffrey." After briefly embracing Geoffrey, Lucia sat down in a chair, ensuring there was an empty one beside her for Soren. "I did, at least. Elincia's already divied up anything I used to do, and Ike has threatened to kidnap Elincia and Greil if they ever ask someone to babysit." The swordswoman shrugged and redirected the conversation to Mist. "What've you been doing? How's the pegasus training going?"
 Boyd shifted and sat up straighter, looking somewhat uncomfortable. Soren always elicited this reaction from the mercenary; the mage always made him feel as if his foot was in his mouth already. "Hey, Soren. Hey, Lucia. How's the baby doing?" He was reaching for a topic that was pleasant for Soren and Lucia, and he hoped the baby was such a topic. Most people were excited about their upcoming children.

Soren sat down beside Lucia as Mist took time to answer her question.

"Training's been going well. The pegasus actually let me sit on her back for a while today, instead of just being scared or trying to bite. She's getting used to me, so that's really good. I'll be in the air before long!" she answered excitedly.

Geoffrey nodded in response to Mist's answer. "I saw her. From a distance, of course - pegasai... you know how they are around men. She's surprisingly good with her mount, Elincia was right in suggesting she start training. A natural," he complimented. Mist beamed at him, before looping her arm around Boyd's, falling silent as her boyfriend engaged Soren and Lucia in conversation.

Soren considered Boyd's question, before answering. "That's not something I can really answer for sure. Lucia seems fine." He glanced up at his wife. "How's the baby?" he asked, flatly. It was clear that he was trying to humor Boyd, but it was obviously a question that the mage couldn't really answer.

Lucia immediately saw why Boyd was so uncomfortable around Soren. Judging from the Reaver's reaction, it was Soren's habit of taking every question so seriously that offput Boyd so. "The baby is fine, Boyd. Thank you for asking." She searched, briefly, for another topic, hopefully one more comfortable for everyone than the status of her unborn child. "How're the Mercenaries, Boyd? I haven't seen any of you for quite some time."
Boyd latched onto the easier topic, remember several of the messages he had been sent with. "Oh, yeah. Mia says congratulations and wants to know if she can be the godmother, but I think she was joking about the last part. Oscar wants to know if Lucia's craving anything he can make. Rhys wants to offer his anti-nausea stuff for Lucia, and Shinon sent his... annoyance." He listed of the mercenaries in his head, trying to think if he had missed anyone. "I think that's it, but I'll let you know if I remember any more."

"Nothing from Titania?" Soren asked, looking a bit surprised. The red paladin had always placed herself in the role of "mother" in the mercenary group - the mage found it a bit appalling that she wasn't sending he and Lucia all sorts of advice on how to be a real parent. Of course, Boyd had probably, as he implied, merely forgotten, so Soren hoped that this would jog his memory. Not that Soren would need advice from Titania normally, but she'd been running things since he and Ike had left, and no one had died yet, so it was obvious she at least partly knew what she was doing.

"Oh!" Boyd nodded emphatically as he remembered. "Yeah, she said stuff." He stopped for a moment, appearing as if he had forgotten it. In reality, he was thinking his way through his conversation with Titania, which had been fairly long and confusing. "She gave me a lot of things to tell you, but then she told me to forget them all and just tell you to write her with any questions you have and that, next time I come up here, she'll send me with a list for you two." The mercenary continued thinking, attempting to recall specifics from the conversation. "I remember some of them, if you want..."

Soren nodded, pressuring Boyd to continue. "If you can," he said, and the way it came out almost made the phrase sound like a challenge against Boyd's mental capacity. Mist frowned slightly and shifted a bit closer to Boyd, smiling at him despite Soren's tone.

((...so short.))

"Well, to start," Boyd embarked on a long and complicated explanation of how to change a diaper, for that was what Titania had started with. After nearly three minutes of the instruction, he stopped, looking quite chagrinned. "Can I switch to something else now? She started repeating herself after a while."

Soren half-listened to Boyd; only half-listened because someone, at Lucia's baby shower, had thought it to be a great idea to buy Soren a book on parenting. It was signed anonymously, but judging from the spelling and handwriting, the mage was pretty certain it had come from Ike. Though it may have been Mist's idea, as well. At Boyd's suggestion, Soren nodded. "Please, anything else," he said.

Boyd nodded and began sorting his way through the topic Titania had addressed, listing them off as he remembered them. "There's how long to wait if you think the kid is having a nightmare, how much crying is allowed for scraped knees, when to be stern and when to melt, um..." he drifted off, knowing there was more, but having a hard time pulling it from his memory. He hadn't been listening particularly well to Titania when she gave him these directions either, as he had been debating where to stop and pick flowers for Mist.
Thankfully, Lucia had mercy on Boyd. It had been admittedly amusing to watch him stumble through the details of child-rearing, but it was obvious that no one in the room was actually listening to him. Making him continue felt a little cruel. "You know, Boyd, if we have any specific questions, we'll be sure to ask you; but I think it's safe to hold off until Titania can write us or come visit." Now left with the job of filling the conversation, Lucia turned to her brother. "How's Nephie, Geoffrey? She should come visit Felirae; I'd love the company."

"Nephenee's doing well," Geoffrey said, smiling. "She spends a lot of time out in the gardens or visiting her family; they seem quite happy in Delbray as well. I think they're still adjusting to all of this, but they certainly do smile a lot," he said.

"Oh, I'm delighted!" Lucia beamed back at Geoffrey. "She always did like the outdoors; I'm glad she hasn't been trapped inside." She turned to her husband then, a sudden thought blossoming in her mind. "Speaking of gardening, did we ever decide what to plant on that north corner? I can't recall..."

Soren seemed a bit thrown by the question, and for a moment all Lucia got in response was a blank face. Quickly realizing that, if he did not cover it, Mist would certainly call him out on the fact that he, for once, seemed shocked at something, Soren simply dismissed the question with a wave of his hand. "Some purple flower, I can't remember what it was called, though," he replied. "I did leave the gardening up to you, after all. I don't have an eye for such things as you do." These words brought a faintly discernable smile to the mage's face as he looked at his wife.

"Oh, was it..." Lucia stopped for a moment, looking off just above Soren's shoulder to picture Felirae Castle's north corner. She hadn't genuinely expected her husband to remember, but the discussion of gardening had jolted her memory and reminded her that she had been undecided about said flowers. "Right, well. I was mostly curious."

Soren shrugged slightly before looking back at the others in the room. He was confronted by a giddy smile from Mist, to which he responded with a scowl. "What is it, then?" he asked, slightly irritated that the girl would direct such an absurd expression at him.

"Oh, it's just..." her face reddened, but Mist pressed on with her explanation, "You two are so cute! I never thought you'd get married, it's just so adorable how well you two get along!"

Soren looked as though he wanted to whip out his wind tome and launch Mist and her shrill voice across the room, but she had already set her sights on Boyd.

"Don't you like the idea of getting married? Look at how adorable!" she said, gesturing to Lucia and Soren. Geoffrey did pretty well in concealing his smile as he realized why Mist was hounding the group like this - he caught the slight look of seriousness on the young woman's face as she turned to look at her boyfriend and questioned him on his idea of getting married. He knew that Boyd could be pretty thick at times, but he certainly hoped the man got <i>that</i> hint.

Boyd's expression froze for a brief second with his jaw slightly ajar, but he recovered quickly. "Uh- Yeah, Mist, it's great. Really fantastic." He had indeed received the hint, and it made him extremely uncomfortable. "But, you know, I've heard you don't really appreciate adorable from the inside. Just from the outside."
Lucia started to laugh outright before she transitioned it to a cough. "Do you hear that, Soren? We're adorable. Somehow, I never expected that particular adjective."

"Nor did I," Soren said, still frowning slightly at Mist. The expression softened a bit as he turned back to Lucia, opening his mouth to say something more, but Mist cut him off by standing up suddenly.

"It's been great catching up with you all, but I promised my pegasus that I'd take her out for a fly before dinner, and I should keep my promises! Boyd, you want to come with me?" she asked, smiling brightly at her boyfriend.

"Uh, yeah! I'd love to!" Boyd rose and pulled the door open for Mist, recovering quickly from his discomfiture. "You can practice keeping her from biting people; that's an important skill for your pegasus." He rubbed his arm slightly to massage the places where he'd been, repeatedly, nipped. "Yeah, you should teach her that."

"I'll try, Boyd," Mist said, smiling brightly at her boyfriend as she headed from the room. After their departure, Soren rose to his feet as well.

"Lovely talking to you," he said in Geoffrey's general direction before starting towards the door. He paused, waiting a moment for Lucia, before assuming that she probably would appreciate some more time talking with her brother and excusing himself.

Geoffrey laughed a bit. "You will work on improving his social skills, won't you?" he asked his sister.

Lucia half-turned in her seat to watch Soren go and turned back to her brother once he had. "Don't expect results too quickly. He's hardly receptive to forced change." She paused for a second, then smiled. "You know, he's already better. Before, I doubt he would have said anything about enjoying the conversation."