The first sign that things were not going as planned at all began when a boxy small grey-green van came barreling out of the birthing ramp, meeping loudly.
"That - ?" Marianne stared. Elaine on the other hand looked almost ready to have a fit there and then.
"That." Charles commented. "Quite frankly looks like it might be one of the servant's children."
He slowly looked around the medical personnel gathered about. One of the Master Mechanics swallowed and wheeled forward.
"Your Majesty, I - "
"I am well aware that there are always a certain number of servant's children or noble children that end up being created in the Imperial Complex, despite the steps taken to prevent that, but those children should have been rerouted to an alternate Birthing Station. Correct?"
The Master Mechanic swallowed. "Yes, your Majesty, they should have been rerouted to B-17 for the Nobles or B-19 for the Commoners - "
Charles took a deep breath and swallowed his ire.
"But that is not what is happening, obviously. Send word to all the Birthing Stations in the Imperial Complex currently in use to doublecheck all the children's parantage. - And somebody stop that child from meeping."
"Yes, Sir!"
Charles sighed as all the medical staff sprung to work, and then nearly jumped in the air - a rather difficult feat for a Car his size - as Lady Elaine started to screech at them like screeching was going to go out of fashion tomorrow.
"How dare you - Incompetents - My precious Imperial Princess - "
"Calm down and compose yourself." Charles told her, giving her a shake.
"Ye - Yes, your Majesty..."
He gave her a push in Cornelia's direction, who was looking at them wide-eyed.
"Stay with your Lady Mother and - keep alert."
"Yes, Sir!"
Ahh, a Military Vehicle to the core, this one was. Charles sighed inwardly as Cornelia saluted him. This one was headed for the Military no matter what her Lady Mother wanted, he could tell already...
"Everybody - " Charles turned towards the assorted mass of his Consorts and Court hanger-ons, and shook a wheel at them.
"Stand back and let the Medical Staff do their duty. Everybody but those who are excepting offspring today, go back to the Pavilion of Fountains - "
And that was when there was an ominouscreaking sound from the birthing ramp. And was that the sound of - meeping? And beeping?
"What the - " One of the Techs manning the work stations bit off a word one was not supposed to say in front of Royalty.
"Doctor! - The rerouting isn't working, and I can't tell why -"
One of the Master Mechanics scooted over to check the screens, and nearly turned grey.
"All Medical Personal, make sure to check all the Birth Stations, not just the ones currently in use! - Why are there so many - "
"Move it, move it!"
That was a very good idea, Charles felt.
"Schneizel, make sure everybody gets back to the Pavilion! Oddeseus - "
And that was when the deluge started. The assorted Royals and Nobles watched open-mouthed as no less the 6 children came clamboring up the birthing ramp in what seemed to be less then a minute.
"Get them away from the ramp and corral them away! Hurry, damn it!"
One of the Master Mechanics yelled, as the Techs sprang to obey.
Charles turned, and started to shoo his people back himself. This whole thing stinked of sabotage, and almost half of his Consorts and children were right here.
And that was when Marianne reared her front half.
"Everybody - You heard his Majesty. Back to the Pavilion!"
Charles reeled back as his Consort's voice rang in his head. Oh, Marianne...
But it was working, at least partially. Charles sighed as about half of the people gathered here managed to break away from the meelee.
But for the other half...
"...L-Lord Father!"
Now how had Clovis ended up almost draped over his window-eyes? Charles nearly went cross-eyed - His window-eyes were nearly touching the boy's window-eyes, quite literally.
"Try to get on my truck bed - No, wait, get up on the roof, you might get crushed otherwise."
Charles blinked as Odysseus leaned over and tried to push his half-brother up, putting wheelmarks all over Charles himself in the process. Well, those would wash off, he supposed...
"Elaine! Get on my truck bed - Elaine!"
"Here comes, Charles!"
Lady Elaine squeaked most unbecomingly as Marianne picked her up and simply put her on Charles' truck bed.
"Your Majesty~~~"
"Just hold on! You too, Clovis!"
Clovis meeped as he clung to his roof, sounding rather younger then his age for that moment. Charles fought the unfamiliar urge to pat the boy on his retractable roof.
More and more children were clambering out of the birthing ramp, while the Techs stood around and performed a strange triage in which they corralled up the children according to whether they were Royal, Noble or Commoner. Or to be more accurate, they were divving them up by their looks, since there was no time to do any in-depth examinations at all.
Charles sighed. Maybe his daughter had been born already, and was meeping along with the other children in the Noble or Commonor corrals - It wasn't like he himself was exactly the Royal Ideal, after all...
He took a look at the boxy little van-child in the Commonor group, and sighed. He really hoped that one wasn't it - Elaine would start spinning on her sides if any child of hers were so - so drab-looking.
Well, at least the deluge of children seemed to be slowing down somewhat.
And that was when the bright shiny pink child came clamboring up the ramp.
The first thing Charles noticed was Elaine making a very odd noise, indeed.
Ahh...It was very...pink. And small, and tall, and round. And utterly adorable, even more so then most children's.
And then it bleeked in their general direction, and Charles could tell even from this distance that it had his eye-color.
".......Ahhhhhhhh????"
".........Ahhhhh?????????"
He couldn't really see what Elaine's expression was like at this moment, since she was in his truck bed and all, but he could guess from Cornelia's expression well enough, he supposed...
"Master Mechanics! Check out that one!"
Well, not that he thought that he actually had to order that, but...
It didn't take long, once the Master Mechanics actually managed to make their way to it's side.
"Your Majesty! Lady Elaine! I am honored to report the birth of an Imperial Princess, Sir and Madam!"
Elaine and Cornelia both made soft whimpering sounds at that.
"Come, Elaine, set a good example for you daughter. Smile, smile..."
Charles muttered, sotto voice.
"Y - Yes, your Majesty..."
Elaine gulped, and then tried to climb off his truck bed, a task easier said then done. She finally managed it with Odysseus's help.
"...Come here, my darling..."
Elaine wheeled out to her daughter, Cornelia following gingerly, while the Techs frantically tried to keep the rest of the children away from them.
"My daughter is the most beautiful of City-Cars, is she not?"
Charles said loudly, daring anybody to contradict him in any way whatsoever. No child of his was going to start out life by getting laughed at or worse, thank you very much.
"Of course, your Majesty!"
"Truly, she is beautiful!"
"She's adorable, Lord Father! I - May I make a Plasti-cake that looks like her, Lord Father?"
Charles stared at the voice coming from on top of his roof. A Plasti - what?
"Of course you may, Clovis. - You'd better not eat her, though..."
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(Posted Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:18)
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