got good ears

[temporal_affairs]

The neighbors don't complain. Much. (They do occasionally ask that things be kept down, but they don't complain about there being noise at all. They understand about mates.)

The room isn't designed for long-term human occupation. There is no bathroom, no food, no bed, no climate control - though this is Florida, so climate control is not such a concern - no plumbing.

But there's lots of magic. It's such fun to make, after all.

(Nathan had been worried he'd have to ask one of the succubi, or Joham, for lessons on what might whimsically be called "safe sex". He likes not having to bother with this better.)

Comments

[manofmyword]

Whimsically, "When's a good time to ask her?"

[temporal_affairs]

"In - two weeks, I'm going to guess that's when she comes by for more coins," says Nathan. "So, after we meet Henry."

[manofmyword]

He laughs. "Okay."

[temporal_affairs]

"Her Majesty doesn't like being interrupted, so perhaps she's about to have a busy two weeks - or an unbusy two weeks, so she takes a lot of spare hours and goes off with her mate and really doesn't want to take calls," speculates Nathan.

[manofmyword]

The Joker giggles.

[temporal_affairs]

"Ah, mated vampires and their insatiable fascination with their mates," says Nathan, as though he is not just such a vampire.

[manofmyword]

"Yeah, you're one to talk," he says fondly.

[temporal_affairs]

"Ah, all those other mated vampires are fascinated by their mates, whereas I have the superior taste to be fascinated by mine instead."

[manofmyword]

"See any more trees?"

[temporal_affairs]

Nathan looks around at the dense tree-lining along the highway. "Gosh," he says, "not a one, we must have wandered into a desert when I was distracted by your loveliness?"

[manofmyword]

He beams. Not innocently. Not innocently at all.

[temporal_affairs]

Nathan picks him up and hustles him behind the nearest, sturdiest tree.

[manofmyword]

The Joker is going to remember this tree with great fondness.

[temporal_affairs]

They don't really make a lot of northward progress over the next four days, and then Nathan says, "Timer says now, for going to meet Henry, do you want to just teleport us to Jaipur?"

[manofmyword]

"Sure," he says, laughing, and spends a pentagon. They appear in an unoccupied room in the appropriate capital.

[temporal_affairs]

Nathan knows the way to where Rosalie and Emmett live; he leads the Joker there and knocks.

"Come in!" calls a cheerful woman's voice.

Nathan opens the door.

Rosalie is, subsequent Heidi's demise, the most beautiful vampire in the world by any objective standard that doesn't account for personal types - and given the baseline vampire beauty, this makes her the most beautiful person in the world. She is smiling with the radiance of a sun. The baby in her arms doesn't look four days old.

"Nathan, hi!" she beams. "And this must be your new mate."

[manofmyword]

The Joker waves.

"Cute kid!"

[temporal_affairs]

Rosalie kisses Henry on the forehead. "Thank you! Isn't he perfect? And he's all mine and Emmett's, and we thought we'd never - well, I do have you to thank for that, don't I, in a roundabout way?"

[manofmyword]

"Guess you do," he says. Cheerfully, "You're welcome!"

[temporal_affairs]

"Thank you." Then, after a moment, "Do you want to hold Henry?" And to Nathan she adds, "He's a half-vampire, of sorts, like Elspeth, not too fragile."

Nathan takes the baby from her and makes faces at him and gets faces made back; the baby looks months old, not days. And then he hands him over to the Joker.

[manofmyword]

The Joker holds little Henry and cuddles him and makes even sillier faces than Nathan, and listens gravely to the burbling he gets in reply.

[temporal_affairs]

"Aww," says Nathan, laughing.

Henry reaches out and grabs the Joker's nose. He is only a little baby, and only a half-vampire, but he is still very strong, and if he is not made to let go, the nose will give way soon enough.

[manofmyword]

He giggles, and doesn't do anything about the nose. He'll just grow a new one, right?

[temporal_affairs]

Rosalie isn't so willing to let that happen; she pries Henry's hand off the Joker's nose and takes her baby back. "Are you all right?"

"He's fine," says Nathan. "Bounces back. You didn't hear anything about me begging lessons from your cousins, did you?"

"Well... no," admits Rosalie. "But you could've been waiting."

"Not everyone is your sainted father, Rosalie," chuckles Nathan.

[manofmyword]

The Joker gives Nathan a fond one-armed hug.

"I get better," he confirms brightly. "A squished nose here or there doesn't bug me."