milliways_bar | (no subject)

Current Mood: pensive

Entry tags:

guardian bob,
laini

(no subject)

READMEs on parenting can only take you so far. Sooner or later, actual practice needs to enter the equation. And Bob and Dot would both prefer that some of that 'practice' happen before Mairi is born.

Which is why Bob is attempting to pin a diaper on a roughly baby-sized blue teddy bear.

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"So, this can be either one of two things."

Cue the curious Fox watching Bob with no small amusement.

"Zero, hands-on parenting practice, or One, you've taken up voodoo and have a grudge against someone blue and furry and decided to stab him or her with pins in the nether regions."

This is Milliways. It's possible.

"The first one," says Bob with a bit of a smirk. "I don't know anyone blue and furry. Hi, Laini."

"I think I've met a couple of the blue and furry persuastion here, but I haven't seen them for a while." She ponders for a moment, then shakes her head.

"So, practice." Laini rests her chin on her folded hands. "You mean, Dot's still pregnant? How long-

"Scratch that. How long is the normal gestation time for sprites?"

"In human terms? One year," says Bob. "Mairi's taking longer because she has more code to compile."

"-A year? A whole year, normally"

Poor, poor Dot.

Edited 2009-01-06 01:17 (UTC)

"Yeah. What, she didn't tell you that?"

"If she did, I missed it." Laini shakes her head.

"Sheesh. Kitsune are usually only six months, unless you got other genetics to complicate things up a bit, but... " She waves a hand in the air.

"And it sounds like this extra code is doing about the same thing."

Bob nods. "Her due date is about four months away, as near as we can figure."

"..."

Laini's expression clearly says 'Poor Dot', though she is doing her best to not actually say it.

"But things are good, right?"

"Mostly. We've... had some security concerns, but I think they're taken care of now."

She raises an eyebrow, and both ears flatten.

"Wait, what. Why would there be security concerns? Haven't people seen a pregnant woman before?"

A hesitant pause.

"Did Dot ever tell you about Codemasters?"

Laini waves a hand back and forth.

"Eh... not really, no?"

"They're a society of mercenaries--assassins for hire, basically. A long time ago, one of them came to Mainframe looking for another Codemaster who had gone into hiding. We managed to get him to leave, but not before he'd trashed half the financial sector.

"And about a month ago, he popped into our living room."

"Popped into your living room." Flatly.

"Hopefully he's no longer among the living, now?"

"What? No!" Bob looks insulted. "I made him leave, I didn't delete him!"

Laini grits her teeth, but- well, she doesn't know if the guy came in for an assault or for a cup of tea. She exhales slowly.

"Did you find out why he decided to drop in?"

"Yes. He was hired to confirm the rumor that I'd merged with my keytool, and that my unborn daughter had inherited my keytool functions. And he didn't actually come out and say it, but he implied that there were a lot of other interested parties."

Laini blinks-

And then scowls, settling down with her head in her hands.

"Well, fuck."

"... er, to the 'interested parties' bit, since that is so very not right. Its no one else's business if you're part keytool and she is too."

Bob nods. "Dot spent three full seconds running a background check on everyone working for the Principal Office, just in case."

She nods slowly. "And everyone there is clear, then? So he's not working with anyone you guys know?"

"Yeah. We still don't know exactly who he was working for, but it's no one close to home, at least."

"Makes holing up a bit easier, if it comes down to it." Laini sighs. "Which still isn't a fun idea, but..."

She waves her fingers slightly. "Any other plans? Asides from being here, since Milliways is a bit awesome for things like that?"

Blink. "Plans for what?"

You're asking the wrong sprite, Laini.

"... About this codemaster guy and any of these possible 'interested parties' that were mentioned. What to do, and so forth, and what actions to take if they get more interested.."

Well, to clarify the previous question.

"...not really," Bob admits. "That's Dot's function, not mine."

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