[FIN] This is all your fault! [Hjortur & Beltan]

[Daisicle]

Hjortur was in a pretty good mood today, all things considered. He'd just finished up practice with the ensemble, his relationship with Kel was smooth sailing, and his father'd yet to do anything stupid and requiring his help. The children and grandchildren were grown and living lives as productive members of naiad society. There was this boyish grin plastered to his face as he pondered what to do this day. Maybe he'd pop over to Kel's to see if she was watching over the little Kelee and Peaches again; he'd spent considerable time since he'd last seen them thinking about what instrument they might be suited to learn. Maybe he'd bring some little coral drums or clamshell maracas to see if they took to them. Where before he'd been concerned about butting into her family's affairs, Hjortur was now becoming more comfortable with the idea that soon enough... well... perhaps he might actually be a part of it.

Kind of a strange feeling, really. It kind of made him giddy, and it kind of terrified him. He wasn't sure which he felt more.

He certainly wasn't expecting anything unusual to happen this day as he wandered through the palace's halls.

Elros Namasi

 

[Elros Namasi]

Things hadn't been quite so easy-going for Beltan over the last month and a half or so that had passed since he'd been wrangled into 'guarding' Hjortur at the Venus Day celebration. He'd failed his duties and been evaded by his mark, then somehow had blacked out, waking up what he hoped was the next day in his barracks-room cot. He'd reported to his superiors and everything had seemed to go back to normal even though the whole situation nagged at him. Until the day Quetzal had been pretty much dropped on him by an official-looking Cherub. 'Congratulations. It's a boy.'

What had he done? Despite his initial shock and dismay, though, he'd taken fairly easily to single dadhood. He had to admit, his kid was adorable. He'd also been granted a small bit of paternity leave and moved into the residential area for the guards with families. So things certainly weren't terrible for him, but he was still run a bit ragged being a new father and, to top it, today was the last day of his leave before he had to report back for active duty.

"That's why we're gonna go to the kitchens and get us a ton of shrimp puffs. You've got charming Cook into parting with, say, a pan or two, don't you small fry?" Too busy chatting away to the happily cooing toddler strapped to his back with some good strong seaweed, Beltan didn't notice Hjortur until he bumped into him. "Oh sorry, I didn-" he began, looking up to see who he'd just run into. "YOU!" he exploded when realization struck. "You couldn't just cooperate, could you?! Was it absolutely necessary to ditch me? I didn't wanna be there either, you know!" While he built up a good head of steam, Quetzal giggled and tapped at his father's face, which had just turned a new and interesting color.

Daisicle

 

[Daisicle]

Beltan wasn't alone in not paying attention, considering Hjortur's own lack of awareness. "Nah, it's fi--" he'd started before becoming very much cut off by an angry feesh.

Woah woah woah woah, slow down there buddy!

"Look, you are going to have to give me a touch more context on how I have inconvenienced you this time. I have tried to maintain my distance I will have you know!" If he gave it more thought, it probably would have been obvious that the last time they'd seen each other was at Las Venus (great memories btw), but he was pretty much trying to yeet himself out of this situation. After a pause to look over at the little one so happily beating his dad's face, Hjortur couldn't resist quipping with a smirk. "Cute kid. Shall I teach him to use bongos?" he then mimicked Quetzal's hand motions in the air as if he was beating on a pair of drums.

Elros Namasi

 

[Elros Namasi]

The gentle tip-tapping at his face made it very difficult for Beltan to maintain his anger, which fizzled and died into something akin to exasperation. It was true that Hjortur was the sole reason he had gone to the Venus Day party in the first place and he was directly responsible for it being such a bewildering and unpleasant experience for Beltan. But it was also true that Quetzal had been the result of Venus' fun and he couldn't be mad about that.

"You know what? Forget it. Next time you need a watch put on you, do me a favor and ask for literally anybody else. Just say I'm incompetent or something. That's not even really a lie," he said, his tone more tired than anything else. "The bongo player in the making is Quetzal, by the way. We have important business to attend to, so if you'll excuse us.." Without waiting for a reply, he 'stepped' to the side and started passed the other naiad.

Daisicle

 

[Daisicle]

Hjortur huffed a bit, hands still making bongo motions, as Beltan unloaded on him. "Why I think that's quite uncalled for! The kid's cute though, so I'll take some credit if you think you need to blame someone for him." Strange how others always seemed to come back with children after Venus Day - he'd been going for ages and nothing of the sort had ever happened to him! Really though... How curious.

"He is yours, right? Never thought you'd be the one who'd turn out to have a thing for daemon." He smirk returned as he continued to needle Beltan.

Elros Namasi

 

[Elros Namasi]

Hjortur's pointed jabs struck home and rankled a bit, but Beltan didn't take the bait. He didn't blame anybody for Quetzal; his little guppy was a gift, a treasure stumbled upon by accident. Sure, Beltan blamed Venus for the crazy party, the weird drinks, his totally blank memory, and whatever other craziness had gone on that night and he had tried to convince himself there had been a mistake, he couldn't possibly be a dad. But he couldn't deny the truth..

"Even if he isn't mine, he's still mine," Beltan offered with a shrug, putting it into the simplest terms, and continued his "mission" to the kitchens. He didn't give the slightest bit of a damn whether Hjortur responded or not; he was absolutely going to go gorge himself on shrimp puffs with his kid.

Daisicle

 

[Daisicle]

Hjortur crossed his arms with the utmost seriousness as she casually invited himself onto Beltan's swim, and gave an almost stoic sort of nod into his insight. "Yes, yes I completely understand you. That is true, is it not? Why, my eldest I found wandering alone out near the Lake's shores of all places - to this day I have no idea how she managed to evade the pearl-keepers. And little Kerriana, why..." he paused slightly as he seemed to think back on it. "...Honestly, I still do not really know how she ended up under my care."

Actually, was Beltan even aware that, Kel's family aside, Hjortur had 5 children and 4 grandchildren at this point?

Elros Namasi

 

[Elros Namasi]

Having only been exposed to the snarky side of Hjortur thus far, Beltan was unprepared for the thoughtful parent version. At a bit of a loss for words, Beltan silently watched and listened to the other naiad speak. He did not, in fact, know that Hjortur had any progeny. Frankly, Beltan had been lost for such a long time that he barely recognized anypae he had known before, so it wasn't until his briefing for the light duty of keeping an eye on him that he even heard of Hjortur at all.

Nodding to himself, Beltan turned to look Hjortur full in the face (Quetzal copied him). "Alright, then you understand at least part of my confusion and panic. And I get why you'd be resentful being tailed at a party that's supposed to be all fun and games. So. We're square. Forgive, forget, and we'll go our separate ways."

Daisicle

Narrator voice: they did not go their separate ways

 

[Daisicle]

"Woah, so serious man. Always have to be the stoic sort, don't you? Must be in your nature," he raised his hands up in playful defeat - joking around was his sort of defense-mechanism for evading awkward situations and uncomfortable feelings. He wasn't so good with these overly-serious types... just look at his relative lack of a bond with his old man. Shrugging, he conceded to Beltan's apparent wishes. "Being honest, nah, I am not particularly resentful. It was quite easy to ditch ... I mean to lose you in the crowd, in any case. And you seem to be enjoying yourself too with the kid. There's less tension around you than the last time."

Still, he did feel a bit bad about kind of being the reason for someone else being thrown into parenthood, even if it really wasn't his fault at all.

"Kel and I have been watching over her new grandchildren from time to time. Their mother is a daemon just like little Quetzal's. I bet you they would enjoy a new member to their musical duet. But..." He shrugged and turned to head out, "...What am I saying. I doubt there's a chance in the abyss you would want this troublemaker looking after your future bongosero."

He waved to the kid (and decidedly not Beltan) before heading off with a, "Ciao~"

Elros Namasi

A bongosero is someone who plays the bongo

 

[Elros Namasi]

Beltan let out a sound somewhere between a scoff and a snort at the correction, honestly more comfortable with this side of Hjortur's character. Still, he schooled his face into an expression of bored detachment as if to say, yes, he did always have to be the stoic sort.

"Maybe if truly desperate," he muttered as Hjortur turned to leave, continuing a little bit louder, "I don't think I'd want any troublemakers watching Quetzal. What would he learn, huh?" Turning his full attention onto said kiddo, he caught him enthusiastically returning Hjortur's wave and rolled his eyes. "Really? I feel so betrayed small-fry." Putting on an exaggerated dramatic tone to make Quetzal giggle while he silently reassured himself that this was likely the last he would ever see of Hjortur, Beltan turned into the kitchens with his mind back on shrimp puffs.

Daisicle

lol Thank you and goodnight