Alejandro and Jaspre

[antonnachzehrer]

She glances at Alejandro, frowning thoughtfully. "You have to take us to the circus," she says finally. "That way we know you're not lying."

{It's the evil mad scientist bringing the artificial twinkie to life, a la Frankenstein.}

Comments

[timbits_tootsie]

He nods. ”Alright. We only got here today, though, so there won’t be any shows, I’m afraid. Come, and we’ll talk to your caretaker,” he says, unable to hide a smile, and stands, waiting for them before he walks over to Alejandro. He leans in to plant a kiss on his mouth. “They won’t quite believe that you and I are in the circus. If it’s alright with the caretaker, could we show them?”

The intention was to bring home one child, not two, he’s sure, but the two children are attached, and he does not wish to separate them.

(XD. Twinkies are scary stuff!)

[antonnachzehrer]

He smiles and looks down at the children. "I'll go ask," he says, and turns to go find Lucian.

He returns a few minutes later, smiling broadly. "Lucian and Greg are going to take all of the children to the first show," he says, and looks down at the little girl, who is still frowning. "So you'll get to see us perform."

She frowns and pouts. "Fine," she says. "But this had better not be a trick."

{They are indeed. :3}

[timbits_tootsie]

Jaspre wants very much to reach out and stroke her hair the way he did with Absinthia when she was younger, but he refrains, kneeling down instead to be on eye level with her. “It’s not a trick. I give you my word,” he says. “Will you tell me your name?”

(So are they going to take the kids now, or are they going to wait until the show? Ginger is so cute, all protective and stuff :3)

[antonnachzehrer]

She shakes her head. "Nuh uh," she says. "Fey can use your real name to make you do all sorts of nasty things. I'm not telling you until I know I can trust you."

{I think now is a good time, and then they can formally adopt them after the show. :3}

[timbits_tootsie]

“A wise decision,” he agrees, partly to indulge her. “Then I will wait for you to tell me.”

Next to her, Mathièu presses against her side, hiding his face, although the boy will glance at them with a few seconds in between, curious about what will happen.

“Let’s go, then. Hold onto Mathièu’s hand,” he tells her, then turns to Alejandro. “Perhaps we should take a carriage back. It’s too long a walk for them.”

(Okay!)

[antonnachzehrer]

He nods. "We'll find one on the way back," he says.

He leads them out of the house, with a thinly veiled threat from Greg, the other manager, that if they hurt so much as a hair on either child's head he will kill them, but Alejandro just smiles and assures him that they are in the best of hands. They grab a carriage as soon as an empty one passes them, and within perhaps ten minutes, they are back at the circus grounds.

The children's eyes go wide as they pull up, the red and white Big Top bright and colorful against the pale blue sky. The other monsters are still setting up the last of the equipment, but other than that, everything is as it should be.

"See?" Alejandro says as they get out of the carriage. "We weren't lying."

[timbits_tootsie]

Both children are too busy staring to hear him, and a soft noise of excitement leaves Mathièu’s mouth before he takes the girl’s hand, going up and down on his toes on the spot. Jaspre smiles fondly at their wide eyes and open mouths, and is about to say something when he hears his name being called.

Absinthia is practically smiling from one ear to the other, and he knows then that she must have been in on the surprise- it makes sense, when he thinks about it.

“These are the kids, then?” She doesn’t wait for an answer before she squats down and grins at them. “I’m Sinthia,” she greets them. “You’ll love it here, I’m sure. We travel a lot, but it’s fun, and we get to see new places all the time. Jas and Ale will take really, really good care of you, I promise. They took care of me when I was little.”

She cocks her head. "What are your names?"

(Oh, Greg. XD.)

[antonnachzehrer]

The little girl seems a bit shocked at Absinthia's sudden friendliness, and then her cheeks flush and she looks down at the ground shyly, gripping Mathièu hand. "I don't wanna say yet," she says quietly.

{XD I love Greg. ♥}

[timbits_tootsie]

“Oh. Okay. Don’t worry about it. No one’s going to force you to do anything here.” She glances up at Jaspre, then back at the children, and smiles. “We’ve been waiting for you,” she says softly. “And Jas has been waiting for a long, long time. It would make him very happy if you want to stay with us, because he loves kids.” Then, as if she means to tell them a secret, she leans in a bit and whispers, “He loves spoiling them, too.”

An amused smile makes Jaspre’s lips curl, and he crouches down next to her. “Is there anything you want to see? The animals? The big tent? We can go anywhere you like.”

Mathièu flushes a deep red as he squeezes the girl’s hand and looks up at her with pleading eyes.

(Me too!)

[antonnachzehrer]

She looks down at him, blinking slowly. "The animals," she says after a moment. "Mathièu likes animals."

{I think that as he grows older, Mathièu should bond a bit with Cecelia, because she's also part spider. What do you think?}

[timbits_tootsie]

”The animals is a good place to start. This way,” Absinthia nods and leads the way, with the rest of them following suit.

Jaspre’s hand finds Alejandro’s, and he can’t conceal that he is nervous that the children won’t want to stay with them; they will probably be able to find another child if that happens, but he…he doesn’t want to. Seeing the little boy’s nervous face and the way the girl cares so much for him makes him want to take care of them, to put smiles on their faces and cradle them to his chest.

(Yes! He can sneak in to sit by the animals and watch her train them when he's still little :3)

[antonnachzehrer]

They go to where Cecelia has her manticores out, getting them ready for the show tomorrow, though she stops when she sees them. "Hello," she says. "How can I help you?"

{Yes!}

[timbits_tootsie]

”The little ones wanted to see your beasts. Isn’t that so?”

Much too excited to contain it, Mathièu tries to pull the girl with him closer to the manticores, wanting to pet them and not at all afraid, though they are more than twice his size.

“Mathièu,” Jaspre says, perhaps a little firmer than he intended, and the boy looks up at him with wide eyes. “Don’t go close unless Cecelia says that you can, alright? The animals can be dangerous.” He had not intended to chide, but the sudden pang of concern in his chest got ahead of him. “Perhaps, if you stay with us, you can pet them sometime. Animals need time to get used to people.”

The boy looks at him, then slowly nods, putting his thumb in his mouth.

(:D)

[antonnachzehrer]

Cecelia looks at the children for a moment before going over to the largest, oldest manticore, her precious Ajax and leading him over. "Here," he says. "Put your hand out so that he can sniff it. Keep your palms flat."

Mathièu looks confused, so the little girl takes his hand and positions it correctly. "Like this," she says.

Ajax leans closer to sniff the offered palm before purring and moving to nuzzle it with his cheek.

{It's awfully late, love. Shouldn't you have gone to bed by now?}

[timbits_tootsie]

A squeak flies from the boy’s lips. Jaspre nearly moves, but sees then that Mathièu isn’t scared- his eyes shine with excitement and happiness at being so close to the large animal. He watches him pet Ajax’s very carefully and far more gently than he would have expected from such a small child, and breathes a sigh of relief.

“I'm sure you can pet him too, if you like. He is a good, trustworthy animal,” he tells the girl, giving her a reassuring smile.

(No school tomorrow, so I intend to sleep until afternoon. I love doing that :3 I'll probably crash in a bit, though.)

[antonnachzehrer]

She looks at him, then back at the manticore, and slowly lets her hand unfurl for Ajax to sniff. He takes a few moments longer to decide that she can pet him, and she does so very tentatively, like she's still not sure it's okay.

{Okay. Just want to make sure you're not killing yourself.}