[PRP] Where Are Your Parents? [FINISHED]

[Daisicle]

Menelie

Menahem was definitely not thrilled to have pulled the straw that sent him to Breeheart for a supply run, which meant much more time away from his...family...than he wanted. But it wasn't as if he could complain; after all, as far as anyone was aware he was single.

After arriving and stowing his belongings at his lodging, Menahem headed to the café for a brew and something to eat. He always had trouble with their menu; much finer fare than he was used to. They should've sent Sven, he thought bitterly, he likes all this fancy s**t. He finally settled on "carrot cakes" which at least sounded somewhat hearty, and a pint whatever kind of ale they had available. He took his order to a small, round table and sat down. The ale looked decent, but this food...he tried one of the small, square cakes covered in some kind of white cream and made a face. This was just a spice cake with a carrot decoration! And some kind of exceedingly sweet glaze. He washed it down with some ale and grimaced.

He looked around and tried not to sigh. Tirzah would love this. Rho too. He wished he could have brought them with him. He ran his hands over his face and focused instead on his list of items to purchase.

Daisicle

Iolyte, much to her mother's chagrin, was proving to be quite the slippery little thing when she decided she was bored hanging around with mummy. It wasn't her fault she wasn't used to having to only be where mom went - back in Zamarad, she was allowed to go a few places on her own! So she'd waited until mummy was busy in a conversation with 'Door-a' (Tvora) and busted tail to get outta sight and out of mind fast.

Now she was here, walking around the cafe areas (those were the best areas) and her tummy decided to rumble. Rumbly tummy = hungry, but Io bad no currency since she was just a kid.

She looked around and saw a bright orange faun (she didn't know what that was, but he looked like A-door and Door-a with funny head things and without wings) with something that looked tasty in front of him!

Before she realized it, she'd practically walked right next to him and was just starting at the cake.

Menelie

Menahem, still focused on his shopping lists, didn't notice the child approach until she was standing right there. He jumped slightly, startled. Where had this child come from? "Hello, uh, curious little.....one?" He looked around a bit. "Where are your parents?"

Now, Menahem didn't consider himself great with kids, but neither was he heartless. And the child was clearly a Faun, despite the addition of tiny wings, so he felt a sort of kinship with her. And this town was just...strange. Pae of all types just...living together. It wasn't natural. He didn't want this child to get snatched up. So he mentally decided to keep an eye on her until her parents came for her.

Daisicle

Iolye looked up at him and grinned before waving as he acknowledged her. "Hi! I'm Iolyte!" She looked around with him before noticing a chair at the table and walking over to it. She had to jump a little to get up, but soon enough she'd gotten herself situated with it more than a little obvious that she wasn't quite big enough for it all, but she was also oblivious to this fact.

She stared intensely at the cake for a few moments before pointing at it. "Are you gonna eat that?"

Menelie

Menahem couldn't help but smile as he watched her get up into the too-large chair. Clever little girl. "Well, Iolyte, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Menahem."

Her question caught him off-guard and he looked back and forth between her and the cake a few times. "Eh?" He chuckled. "You know, actually, I'm not. I didn't much care for it. Would you like to try it?" He nudged the plate toward her.

Daisicle

Iolyte nodded rather aggressively in response to his offer - had she had any hair on her head, it surely would have been bouncing all over the place. "Can I Many-hem?" She was quite obviously close to literally buzzing in excitement as she just stared at the dessert, just waiting for that final go ahead.

Mom did say she had to be polite.

 

[Daisicle]

Menelie

The way she said his name positively warmed his heart. "Are you hungry?" He inquired. This obvious dessert wouldn't provide much in the way of actual nutrition. But then again, children did love their sweets. "Sure, go ahead and take one. They look about your size, eh?" He sipped at his brew, amused with the child's antics.

Daisicle

"THANK YOU!" On cue, she reached forward to grab one of the petit fours and plop the whole thing in her mouth, which was immediately followed by a very happy noise and some kicking of her hooves below.

When finished, she reached for a second one more casually this time. "Where are your wings Many-hem? And why's your head (re: antlers) so funny - it looks like you're part tree!"

Menelie

Menahem chuckled. "Glad you like them. I didn't realize it was a dessert when I got it. I was expecting something savory." He paused a moment and thought about how he would turn it into something savory, but was interrupted by her next question.

"Uh, well," he began, scratching the back of his head. "We Faun come in all shapes and sizes," he said. "So I've got no wings, but I do have these handsome antlers." He paused and sort of "preened" in an exaggerated way. "And you've got no antlers, but you do have your wings, and that pretty horn." He wondered if her parents were those Fauny types. How odd that she didn't even know what antlers were, though!

Daisicle

"What's a faun?" Was the obvious follow-up question when presented with a term that, to date, Iolyte hadn't really paid attention to. She ate the second one of the little cakes - now there was just one left - before continuing. "These are yummy! We don't have anything like this at home, not even at the Bee-heart Store. Everything here is super super yummy." She tilted her head a bit more at Mena. "But, how do you fly if you don't have wings? Do the antlers fly? Everyone at home has wings, but only me and my cousin Amethyst have horns."

Menelie

Such questions! And now Menahem was very curious what her parents looked like. "Hm, well, a Faun is like me. Most of us don't have wings, but we have these hooves that help us walk, and these antlers that are our connection to the Earth." He actually wasn't sure what antlers were for, now that he thought about it, but this sounded good enough. "So no, I don't fly. I have some friends who do, though," he added. "Some Faun have wings, or horns, or both, like you!"

Then, a moment of curiosity: "Where is home for you, little one?"

Daisicle

"Oooooooh..." She tilted her head as the internal gears started going. "But I have feets like you - are those 'hooves'? Wait!" She pointed at herself, "But I have a horn and I have wings! But I'm not a faun - I'm a daemon like mom and my grammies!" This was probably as close to a self-reflection a child could get to, and the confusion was pretty evident on her face. "But... you looks more like Uncle A-door than mom does - mom has these biiiiiig-" she raised her arms to emphasize the size, her hooves kicking a bit as she did, "-wings and fluffy ears and a big fluffy tail and THREE eyes but no horn! And she's blue like me!"

She decided now was the time to reach for the last sweet. "I'm from Zoo-- Zoo-mah-- ... Zoom-rrah-doon!" She had a hard time with pronunciation it seemed. "It's far away - we had to ride on a cart for a LOOOOOOONG time to get here and it was SUPER boring."

 

[Daisicle]

Menelie

Ah, the merchant town. Truthfully Menahem had no idea how to pronounce it either, so he just nodded. "I'm not from here either," he said. "I'm from Laisidhiel. It's a huuuuuuuge and beautiful tree!" He gestured widely. "And I also had to take a long and boring cart ride to get here." He was fascinated by the child's self-approximation but he was starting to feel out of his depth here. Daemon? He supposed it was possible she had a Faun parent and a...non-Faun parent. But she was almost certainly part Faun, even if she didn't know it. Hooves didn't come from anywhere else that Menahem knew of. "The world is full of mysteries," he said finally, not sure whether he was talking to Iolyte or himself.

Daisicle

"Lisd-heel?" She put the food in her mouth and didnt quite finish eating it before she added on while pointing at the largest tree in her current visual area. "Is it bigger than that tree?" There weren't a lot of trees in the beaches of Zamarad, so even these were pretty exciting.

Menelie

Menahem laughed and nodded. "Much bigger," he agreed. "It's big enough for a whole city of Faun to live in, each with our own little alcove." He then launched into the most colorful description of the Great Tree and her features as he could manage, painting it as fantastical as he could to hold the child's attention.

Daisicle

Iolyte was so enraptured from this great tale that she didn't even notice as a certain somepae that looked remarkably similar to her rushed on over.



That certain somepae was, in fact, her mother walking rather quickly over with a mix of worry, relief, and a bit of irritation all showing across her features in a way only a mother could pull off. She gave her kid a light karate chop to the back of the head (more to surprise her that anything) before giving her 'the look' once the child made eye contact.



Iolyte, however, was much too excited about the story she'd just been hearing, so she just looked excitedly on at her mom as she gripped the back of her head. "MOM DID YOU KNOW THERE'S A REALLY BIG TREE AND ITS CALLED LISD-HEEL AND YOU CAN LIVE IN IT?"

 

[Daisicle]

Menelie

Menahem was simultaneously relieved and disappointed when the child's mother showed up. He'd been enjoying entertaining the girl, and yet he was eager to get on with his duties so he could head home tomorrow.

And even though Iolyte had very accurately described her mother, he was still surprised to see the daemon woman, identical in color to the child. "You must be Iolyte's mother," he said. Still didn't sit quite right with him that this child apparently had a Faun parent but she had no idea what that was. But none of it showed on his face. "She has been quite good company."

Daisicle

"Yes, I knew that sweetie..." she responded in a thoroughly less-excited manner to Io before looking over at Mena, whom she seemed to linger on looking at for a second after his comment before responding. "Yes, that's correct. Thank you for looking after her - I swear I had my eyes off of her for a few seconds and she'd already run off... Again." she looked down with a bit of an exasperated expression at the kid in question, who was still practically beaming at her newfound story. "Seems a new place brings out the curiosity in her. I hope she wasn't too much trouble."

Menelie

Menahem nodded along to Iolyte's mother's words. He remembered fondly all the times he and Rho had slipped away from the adults minding them. "Children seem to be very skillful at escaping their parents' attention," he agreed with a little chuckle. Then he made a dismissive motion with his hand. "Of course she wasn't any trouble. She was a treasure. I enjoyed telling her about my home. I don't often leave, and I do get homesick." He smiled a little.

Daisicle

Tanz nodded emphatically - since her sister did the majority of watching the kid while she worked, this was her first time having to take the full-time single-parent role. She'd probably return home at the end of all this with a newfound respect for the profession of childcaring and, if it wasn't Pur, would have probably expressed such upon getting home. But she wouldn't say that to her twin. "True, it isn't often I see a pure faun - you (referring to 'faun' in general) do tend to stay close to your Tree. I wonder how long it's been...?" Her gaze lingered a bit longer before she caught herself it a small laugh.

"Sorry, I just... you look remarkably similar to her father - it took me by surprise."

She looked down at Iolyte and rubbed her head, feeling a bit feely at the moment. "Now, tell the nice faun thank you."

Menelie

Menahem chuckled awkwardly. "Then she's sure to grow up handsomely," he joked, booping Iolyte gently on the nose. Who even was he right now? He had no idea how to handle children, yet here he was interacting with one like it was the easiest thing in the world.

Daisicle

Iolyte brightly responded with a, "Thank you for the sweets Many-hem!" before hopping off of the chair to run back behind her mom.



Tanz reached into a satchel to pull out some coin for the table to pay for whatever it was that her daughter had evidently just pillaged from this Manyhem. Even if he'd tried to stop her, she'd have look looked at him and calmly said, "I insist," before reaching down to take Iolyte's hand and lead her back where she was supposed to be.

Menelie

Menahem did indeed try to refuse, but Iolyte's mother had been insistent. She he chuckled and gave a wave to the little one before they disappeared. Hm. What now? He got back to his lists and mentally separated them into the different shops he'd need to visit. Over the rest of the day he made his purchases and packed them securely in his cart. He also, on a whim, purchased a gift each for his lovers: for Rho a tin of whimsical, magical cookies that were sure to amuse him, and for Tirzah a small jar of raspberry jam. The next day he set out for home again, anxious to return.