Dite's Suite, Arms Hotel, Monday Afternoon

[glacial_queen]

Anytime there was an overnight trip to the island these days, it was traditional for people who'd been given a key stayed over in Dite's Suite. During reunion weekend, there were several such people--and all their friends--but while that meant that sleeping quarters were a bit cramped, it reminded Karla of the giant slumber parties she used to throw in the dorms, roughly a million years ago. And it was good to be able to look around and see so many people she loved in one place.

Other than her meeting with Ino later, Karla had no plans for the day. She'd probably go out and make one last round of the island, though she was loathe to disturb Kayla from where she was playing quietly in her playpen. Hmm, maybe she could just see how many people she could get to visit the room instead. The Arms had excellent room service, after all, and food plus friends equaled a party.

[For anyone who thinks they stayed in Dite's Suite and anyone else who is inclined to visit and/or thinks they'd get an invite from Karla. Soo...basically anybody, good job me. SP is loved and late pings welcomed! I DON'T WANT TO SAY GOODBYE TO ANYONE YET]

Comments

[glacial_queen]

"Big idiot is what you are," Karla grumbled, amused. "You do realize that not yanking is good for all sorts of scenarios, don't you? Not just with Arcerians?"

Kayla, though, was quite happily burbling at him in her mind. She recognized the word 'Arcerian' and was sharing with Jono many exciting adventures with them, like falling asleep in a litter of them and how warm and velvety their fur was and how rough and scratchy their tongues and walking through the estate clutching tails. Most of her sharings were sensory, so enjoy having the feeling of fur on your tongue, Jono, as Kayla relayed why we didn't try to give our Arcerian friends baths the way their mamas did.

[furnaceface]

... Well... that was a... a learning experience. Jono was somewhere between nodding along and trying not to make faces. Because if one of the first things he was tasting today was some poor, unsuspecting Arcerian kitten, complete with lingering fur feeling, and he couldn't even spit that out.

//Yes, well... you live, you learn...//

Was he talking to Kayla? Or Karla? Both? Who knew!

[glacial_queen]

"What is my daughter doing to you?" Karla asked, watching Jono's face perform interesting contortions.

[furnaceface]

//She's catching me up on everything I've missed in Glacia involving herself and Arcerian cats,// Jono reported, still nodding and listening intently to everything Kayla had to say. //So help me god, I think I just licked one.//

Help.

[glacial_queen]

Karla just leaned back on the couch and cackled. "Ask her about nursing," she suggested with gleeeeee.

Evil, evil glee.

There was no help coming, Jono. This was your choice.

"We had a delegation from Arceria stay with us for awhile," she added. "I'm sure she has plenty to share."

[Perfect fucking icon]

[furnaceface]

//... You know, I think I got the whole 'nursing' thing out of my system back when I was her age,// Jono replied, giving Karla a mildly horrified look. //I'm going to have to draw a firm line at anything that might involve me latched onto your bloody tit, even by proxy.//

 BECAUSE NO. NEVER. GOD. WHY.

[glacial_queen]

"What?" Karla yelped. "Ew, no, not me! The Arcerians, you nit! Like we were just talking about! Gah!"

[furnaceface]

//You say 'nursing' to a toddler and see what she thinks of first,// Jono countered. //I guarantee you nine times out of ten she'll switch tracks from the cat and leap on over to the one she's familiar with the most.//

And then, back to Kayla.

//Isn't that right, Sunshine? You love your mum more than some big smelly kitties?//

There would be tummy raspberries here, if he had a mouth. For the record.

[glacial_queen]

Of course she did! She was the Everything! Even if she was Mama out here and much less Everything than before.

She also loved you, Music! ♬ ☄ ♫

[furnaceface]

Baaaaaaaby. You'd have to excuse Jono now, Karla. He was right back to making nefarious plans to tuck Kayla under one arm and run.

//Lord, she's grown,// he murmured, holding her up and nuzzling his face against hers while he sent little chirps and coos and doodly-doos right back. //Can't believe how much growing she's done. Look at that head of hair she's got! And her smile is somewhat less gummy than it was, and...//

Augh, emotions.

[glacial_queen]

Karla was going to have to shield the whole room to keep him boxed in at this rate so he couldn't make a run for it.

"She's gotten so big," Karla agreed, wistfully. She had been there for all of it and she still sometimes couldn't believe this little girl was the same infant she'd cradled in her arms. "She'll be fledging, soon, too. Her wings are still forming, but there's no denying that they're there."

[furnaceface]

Jono's head tilted a little, and then he shifted her in his arms, enough to be able to pat at Kayla's back.

//... Well, look at that. Little mutant Queen, bringing the best of both worlds to the Sidra Estate, one licked Arcerian at a time.//

He cast a wry glance back at Karla.

//I have to hand it to you and Warren, you make good kids.//

[glacial_queen]

"That might be the nicest thing you've ever said about my Consort," Karla said, grinning. "And, I mean, I hate to overuse the word perfect, but..."

Well, just look at her.

"She's not going to grow up thinking any part of her is wrong or a mistake," she added softly. "She's going to be proud of both sides of her heritage."

[furnaceface]

//Don't get used to it,// Jono replied, bouncing Kayla on his hip. //Warren is still a tit.//

And nothing was ever going to change that.

//But... that's good to hear. Good to know. There aren't enough mutants in the world who get to be brought up that way. You know I'd raise hell of Kayla wasn't one of them.//

[glacial_queen]

"I'll be pissed if you don't," Karla told him. "Darkness knows I'm not perfect, but part of what makes me less afraid of raising her up is knowing that if I fuck up, there are plenty of people who will step up to make sure that I know it. And fix it."

[furnaceface]

//That's because we love you almost as much as we love her,// Jono shared. //And anyway, it's satisfying to give you a swat upside the head when you're really cruising for one.//

This was love, Karla. You'd do the same for him.

[glacial_queen]

Without thinking twice!

"I dunno..." Karla said, grinning. "It's been so long since I've had steak and fried potatoes, how am I supposed to remember what's right and what's wrong?"

[furnaceface]

Sigh. Jono was only loved for his cooking. He saw how it was.

//You drink a Carling for me, and I'll cook whatever you like for the rest of the weekend,// he decided. //Deal?//

Hannibal wasn't so big on the cheap beers, really.

[glacial_queen]

"Deal," Karla said, because chewy beers were totally worth the price of admission. No one else could cook steak the way Jono could, it was a fact of life. Her daughter had been, like, three-quarters steak by volume by the time she'd been born. "I'll even start the first one while you cook."

[furnaceface]

//... If you have steak and potatoes already here in preparation for this moment, I'll be terribly impressed,// Jono mused. //If not, I'll be a few minutes getting groceries. And Carling. And you better believe I'll hurry back for the sake of that.//

And more Kayla cuddle time. Though if he was inching toward the door with the baby still in tow, well...

Fresh air was good for babies, right?

[glacial_queen]

"Jono...." Karla said warningly. "You're not forgetting something, are you?"

LIKE ASKING PERMISSION, MAYBE?

[furnaceface]

There was a loooong pause.

//Just testing.// Honest. //May I? I solemnly swear I won't spoil her rotten before returning with her.//

[glacial_queen]

How could one man fit so many lies into three sentences? How?!

"Just so we're clear, I don't believe you even the tiniest bit," Karla said, making little shooing motions with her hands. Because she loved them both. "Anything that runs on batteries is staying at your house."

Because, again, she loved them both, but not that much.

[furnaceface]

//Hannibal will be thrilled,// Jono replied, because ... look, he and Hannibal were Not Discussing Whose House It Was, but it was pretty much a given at this point that Jono was living there. So. //And I won't be long. Just keep thinking happy thoughts along the lines of 'medium rare.'//