He blinked. "Gina? When did you get so hairy?" he whispered softly as his eyes came into focus. Whoa, hold on a minute, this wasn't Gina!
A small, cherub little were-cub. A year, maybe two younger thing his own daughter with a Jaguar patterned pelt. It took him a moment to remember that Were's tended to generally be born humans, but on few occasions they came out in their hybrid form, already able to change shape and form from the get go. Such births weren't as rare as people tended to think, but by no means were they all that common, either. He smiled, some of the tension leaving his body at that. He didn't know when the young child had found his way in here, where ever the hell he was at, but there was something soothing, peaceful about the child that was proving to be most infectionous.
"Garfeild!" he heard a woman's voice stress in the barest of whispers. Tilting his head to the side, he eyed the quite obviously pregnant Jagwere. She was tall, like all members of any Were breed, with a dark brown pelt with little rings spotted through out. She had rather expressive eyes, giving him a sense of a mischievous little minx, though that was tempered with a sense of responsibility. He smiled, carefully, least he wake the slumbering child, waved in greeting.
Aeila covered her mouth sheepishly, "Sorry."
Theo shook his head, "I needed to get up anyway."
The woman moved to the bed, gentle lifting up the slumbering little boy, "I'm sorry, this is usually his room. He must have been sleep walking last night."
Sliding out of the bed to his feet, he placed one hand on the nearby desk for support as a sense of vertigo settled over him. Tsunami really must have worked him over, and worked him over good if he was still feeling the effects today. "It's okay, really."
Aeila shushed him, tucking in the little tyke before grabbing the him by the arm and practically dragging him from the room. "Sorry, it's just so hard to get him to sleep at times."
Theo smiled slightly, "My girl's the same." Wonder how Gina was doing now? Oh, and how badly Ranma was going to yell at him for being gone so long with out even leaving a message behind. He couldn't express how grateful he was to the young man for all the help he had given him and his family these last few years, pissing off the guy was the last thing on his mind.
Aeila brought her finger up to her lips again, "Shhh. You're not our only guest tonight." she motioned to the couch as she slowly, carefully, tiptoed across the living room, motioning once again for Theo to follow.
Theo spared the slumbering Were-panther a quick glance, before moving to catch up to his host. "Busy night?" he recognized her some what, from the night prior. He was a little disoriented and dizzy during the majority of the fight, but he could clearly remember seeing her launch a flare in the air. He made a mental note to thank her first chance he got, he didn't even want to think where he'd be right now if she hadn't been around to help him out.
"It's not everyday a Weapons master..." Aeila explained, picking up a large wooden spoon, "Who happens to be your father-in-law, goes nuts like that." she picked up a large wooden juice container from the sink and set it on the counter, before moving towards some cupboards.
Theodore winced. "It's.." he sighed, "A complicated situation. I didn't think he would blow up like that."
"I bet." Aeila hmmed, pouring some sugar into the container, "I don't mean to pry, but since my husband and Pantha.."
"Pantha?" Theo hmmed.
"The young lady sleeping on the couch." Aeila clarified, "Since your father-in-law threatened to get them next, I really want to know just why this happened."
Theodore frowned. He really didn't want to talk about it, for obvious reasons, but the knowledge two other completely innocent people had gotten drawn up in this little fiasco seriously rocked his world. He owed them at least this much for saving his pitiful life. "Ah.. where to begin."
Aeila smirked, "Take a seat, and start from the beginning. That's usually the best place to start."
Theo nodded with a sigh, doing just that.
---
"... divorce. I can't blame her, she's already suffering enough with out me going out of my way to make her life hell." Theodore finished his story, taking a long, tentative sip of the juice his rather gracious host had prepared for him. It was cold, with a bitter sweet shock of lemon to it.
"Quite a story." a new, previous unknown voice mumbled from the hallway to the living room.
Aeila glanced over, "Pantha! I didn't know you were up." she struggled to get up, her rather full belly making the task a wee bit difficult.
"Whoa whoa." Pantha pushed the pregnant woman back in her seat before she could get up, "No need to get up on my account. You need your strength, remember, your living for two now." she patted her distended belly softly.
Theo finished his drink while Pantha grabbed her own cup. "Well, again I can't thank your husband enough for all his help and hospitality. Still, it would be better for you and your children if I just leave now."
Pantha was quick to kill that line of conversation, "Sorry, no can do. Until Gaja tells us otherwise, your in our custody, protective of course."
Theo frowned, not liking that one bit. He had already been gone from home far longer then he normally was, and if he knew Ranma he knew he was already going to be in deep trouble for that. "Ah.. I'm afraid I must insist, you see.."
Pantha shot in a half lidded glare, "You don't want to end up in jail for resisting arrest, do you?"
"Ah.. wasn't aware I was under arrest." Theo pulled on his collar, nervously. There was something about this woman that was setting his nerves on edge.
"You will be if you try to leave." the woman responded with a smirk.
Aeila rolled her eyes, "Oh, come off it Pantha. The guy's has it tough already, stop picking on him!"
Pantha blinked, "Hey! I'm just doing my job!"
"Stop staring at him then!" Aeila grinned wickedly, "He's not some piece of meat for gods sake! Look! He's blushing!"
Theodore was currently trying to figure out how the heck such a conversation came to be, and why they were picking on him all of a sudden. He had expected a small measure of pity, all things considered, but that woman was out to embarrassed the hell out of him.
"Hey..." Pantha sipped her drink, "Eye candy is eye candy."
Theodore wanted to crawl under the table and die.
---
Aeila spared the living room where Theo and Marcus were talking a brief glance, before leaning up to Pantha, "Hey, thanks."
"Hmm? For what?" Pantha spared her bow a serious examination, looking for any damage it might have sustained with last nights rather wild events.
"You know." Aeila stuck her tongue out at the woman, "The flirting. Poor guy really needed it."
"Hmmm."
"Can't imagine what he's going through."
"It's a bad situation." Pantha allowed, "He should learn to move on, though. From what he told us, I'm willing to bet he knew this divorce was coming months ago." She had to learn to live with out her husband much like he had to live with out his wife, but at least he could take solace in the knowledge his love was still alive. What she wouldn't give to have her husband back, but she knew, realized that wasn't going to happen and moved on in her life.
"Oh?" Aeila rolled her eyes, "This coming from you, Ms. "I'm never going on another date for as long as I live." Delruge."
"Hey.." Pantha scowled, "It's not that I don't want to go on a date, I just haven't found anyone I'm interested in."
"Hmm, hmm." Aeila smirked knowingly, "Well.. Theo's going through a pretty hard time, right?"
"Yeah." she allowed, putting her bow down. Just what was Aeila getting at?
"And since you went through something like that, don't you think you could.." she left it hanging.
"Could what?" Pantha didn't really like where this was going.
"Well.. help the poor guy out?"
"Ah.." the archer blinked, quickly shaking her head, "No, no I don't think so."
"See!" Aeila sighed tiredly, "You're always going to say no, no matter who it is."
Pantha remained silent, sparing the man talking to Marcus a long, long look. Maybe Aeila was right, maybe she was just tricking herself into thinking she moved on, but was really too scared to get attached to some one like she had her husband, the possibility she could be hurt again serving to drive her away from everyone and anyone she could come to love like she did Thorpan's father. This Theodore Diggers was going through something similar, hmm, maybe.. maybe she could help him get through it? It would certainly be a good trial run to see if she can handle meeting new people and making new friends before she went out and tried to find love again. "Ah.. alright. I'll see what I can do."
Aeila blinked. She hadn't been expecting that, not that it was unwelcome, no, not in the least but. She leaned back in her chair, tenderly rubbing one hand over her distended belly. Well, at least the girl was willing to try again, which was a good sign in her book.
---
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(Posted Tue, 28 Dec 2004 02:18)
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