Bathing with the Brats

Mon Jan 3 2000

If nowhere else in the Reaches, the baths always promise to be warm...

Baths
Steam enshrouds, a misty curtain that veils the room. Pools abound, water constantly swirling, warm and inviting; soapsand waits on nearby ledges for easy access. Racks of clothes stand by the door, freshly washed clothing hang from some, and bundles of yet to be washed clothes fill mutliple baskets beneath. Large cupboard doors open to reveal multitude of fresh, soft towels, and plenty of bathing items -- sponges, pumice stones, and back scrubbers.
Ducking steamclouds are Aria Moon and Gunwalloe.
M'rin is here.
Obvious exits:
Caverns

Siannen is but a blurr in the steam, moving quietly in from the caverns.
Lis is but a blurr in the steam, moving quietly in from the caverns.
Iri is but a blurr in the steam, moving quietly in from the caverns.

M'rin shrinks. Oh /no/...People...Female, no less! The little rider sinks farther into the hot water until his nose is just over the edge of the water, inabling him to breath. Maybe they'll leave...just...maybe....

Lylia is but a blurr in the steam, moving quietly in from the caverns.

Pyrene comes in, bringing a veritable horde of naked-squealing-girls-to-be and a couple of lads too for good measure. Fortunately most of them seem to be about five, barring Siannen of course. "M'rin, hiya," she greets the weyrling without a tinge of embarassment. "And Lis, Iri... just finshed a lesson?"

M'rin
An aire of perfect innocence, of inexperience, radiates from this young man. Though the title 'young man' hardly fits him, because he looks as though he has no more than thirteen turns. M'rin suffered no growth spurt, growing to a meagre five feet, five inches; much shorter than most men. Just to add to this small form, M'rin is thin, eerily thin, like he doesn't eat nearly enough, having nearly no fat, nor muscle to cover him over. One would think that with this small stature would come a hot temper and a bold face, but this young man is the complete opposite, his shoulders curled a little, head hanging a tad, with a certain aura of wild animal shyness flickering about him. His facial features are nothing spectacular, although he is a rather decent looking lad. A friz of feathery cut strawberry blond hair graces the majority of his ovalish face. A short straight nose sits between two widely set, long lashed sky blue eyes, all above a rather small, nondescript mouth. 
Basic, yet well cut, and ever neat. The tunic, for once the right size for his narrow frame, is shaded a deep royal blue, with a wide, supple blue leather collar and ties (generally laced tightly) half-way down the center of his chest. The sleeves are long, a little too long, and trimmed with Harper blue leather cuffs, like the collar. A thin black belt blends perfectly with the rather dark tunic, hardly noticable except for the slight indent it causes around M'rin's middle. Where the tough tunic ends mid-thigh, black leggings appear, worn spots re-enforced here and there by thin patches of neatly stitched wherhide. All to quickly the leggings end, tuckin into a pair of matte black boots, both of which tie tightly up the side with strips of wherhide. A little used, limp black cotten pouch hangs from M'rin's belt, partially hidden in a blue fold of his tunic. Perched on M'rin's shoulder is Lue. Perched on M'rin's shoulder is Lys. Perched on M'rin's shoulder is Puk. Perched on M'rin's shoulder is Obe.
A double twisted cord, one strand blue, one black, twisted in a single loop with a narrow bronze ribbon indicates he is a bronzerider weyrling of High Reaches.
He is awake, but has been staring off into space for a minute.
Carrying:
Lue Puk
Lys Obe
M'rin is 22 Turns, 5 months, and 15 days old.

Now another has entered.... Lylia strolls in, looking utterly relaxed. She gives a contented grin to Pyrene, waving, and smirks slightly at Lis and Iri. "Hey Pyrene..." At least she didn't run out screaming from the presence of brats. "Lis, Iri... You two okay?" And M'rin... He gets a wave too.

Iri sneaks in behind Lis, prowling through the darkness. Ah, it's a game, but- Darn the luck, Pyrene spotted her! Grumble. "Hiya, Pyrene, we just learned to fly, yep..." Iri doesn't look too happy about it though... She gets airsick, and that's got to go when you're a dragonrider. It'll take some time, though... And Iri doesn't even notice M'rin, lucky for him...

Lis comes even sweatier than usual. Must've been extra-nervous. The humidity of the baths doesn't help much, eliciting a disgusted nose-wrinkling from the greenling. "Yep, Pyrenen. Alymath's sleeping off a strain..." Yeck. At this point in time, Lis just wants to get in the water, and does so by the quickest means possible.

M'rin is /seen/! Eek! Ack! Ook! And he was going to sneak out...or hide, at least, like he did last time...Boy, was /that/ an embarassing experiance...Face burns not with the heat, but with a bashful, embarassed pink and his blue wrought gaze hurriedly flickers away afore they undress. Eeeeeeeek...

M'rin releases Lue, who launches into the air.
M'rin releases Lys, who launches into the air.
M'rin releases Puk, who launches into the air.
M'rin releases Obe, who launches into the air.

Pyrene makes a face. "You just learned to fly? Ko'en too?" As if there weren't enough aerial blues... "Is Aly alright, Lis?" Pyrene doesn't know much about dragons. M'rin is ignored largely as she briskly strips the children. Whether they ignore him as she sends them into the water is another matter.

Siannen ignores /everyone/, as only someone living with both 'riders and 'Brats can, making a beeline for the water, clothes getting chucked off right and left. No problems getting this one in the water, no way! She lands in the water /right/ next to M'rin, burbling happily as she pops back above water.

Visian is but a blurr in the steam, moving quietly in from the caverns.

Oooooh, Lylia found a M'rin... A very pink M'rin, too. But right now she's hot and tired and wants to get clean, and get metallic scent off her, and all the grime from the barracks. Without a thought, she slides out of her clothes. After all, isn't that what a person does before getting in the baths? A flurry of clothes dropped, and she's already slid into the water, submerged almost to her chin. "Flying was fun... Ko'en wasn't with us. He might not have learned yet." She can only hope.

"D'renn says she'll be. The poor dear just overflew herself a bit," Lis explains as she soapsands her hair. Only now does she notice M'rin, waving from her end of the baths at the bronzer. Nope, no sympathy for him whatsoever - Lis just doesn't really understand shy. "Ko'en's going to learn to fly /some/day," is Lis' quip back to Lylia. 'Nother thing Lis doesn't understand - what's wrong with Ko'en.

M'rin is, indeed, a very pink M'rin, and a very not-looking M'rin. Clothed women are enough. He doesn't wanna come in physical contact with neked women. Squee. Siannen is shyed away from, dispite the fact she's a bratling...if a rather older bratling. "Hey! Lookee! It's my bronzerider!" An excited girlish squeel sounds in the room as a small girl, most definately that one named Morie, begins paddling towards him. Aieeeeee...

Iri sniffs daintily at the water before taking any items off. "Mmmmm... No. This water is too warm..." She turns her nose up at it. "/And/ whoever heard of any Dolphincrafter who /liked/ non-salt water. Puh-lease!" Instead she rolls up the cuffs of her pants and puts her feet in, to warm up her calves. "Hmph. This is all /this/ water is good for." And still M'rin is not noticed. Again, lucky him.

Pyrene nods, shucking her own clothes without concern before following the brats into the water. She does have to do this several times a sevenday with brats of various ages after all. "You lot smell something fierce... flying takes that much energy on /your/ part?" A wave to Visian as she scoops up the sweetsand, "Help me with the kids people?" May as well make the most of the crowd.

Siannen giggles at the little girl, nodding enthusiasticly and paddling around to the front of the bronzer. "Yep, it sure is..." The 'bratling gets an idea, maybe even an evil idea. "Hey, let's wash him!" It's a roundabout approach, but it'll get at least two 'brats clean in the process.

Visian pauses, watching the gathering with narowed eyes. Noisy. very noisy. And the nudity. Visian slinks along the perimiter of the group, hoping to find some refuge someplace..safe. From the nudity. And the children.

Lylia likes the water in any way it is. Especially if it gets her clean. She attacks her hair with soapsand, before submurging completely, then returning to the surface. To be clean... "Eh. That and we don't always have a ton of time to bathe..." 'Cept for the dragons. Which involves being drenched, often. "Hmm?" Siannen's suggestion, makes her attention return to the bronzer as she drifts towards Pyrene and the brats. "Help. Sure." She rises out of the water slightly, trying to get towards the nanny faster. Or is she trying to get away?

Morie giggles as she reaches M'rin, and clings. A sniff, and a wrinkling of her nose. "A cleaning he needs! And /badly/!" He still smells faintly of dragon dung. M'rin slides farther under the water, almost at the point where he's unable to breath. "P-p-pyrene?" Her name is squeeked as Morie reaches for an enormous handful of soapsand. 

Iri certainly does /not/ smell something fierce! Or maybe she does... Ewwww... And you won't find her climbing into /warm/ water, unless she's pulled in. Whoever heard of a warm ocean. Only near a volcano, thanks much! Well, at least Iri's /feet/ won't smell.

Lis grins evilly in Iri's direction. "Oh, it's not /that/ bad...." The girl looks all set to splash, but then realizes there's brats to take care of. Right. "Hey, you! Nose-boy!" Lis calls to a little one formerly known as Dreck. A squeal comes from the little boy as he wobbles over to Lis on chubby legs. "Liiiiis!"

Pyrene nods happily at Lis waving Dreck at her. "Be sure you scrub beneath his fingernails... he picks his nose you know... Iri, want to Eneryp?" A beam toward the blue'ling... this is the boy with the hair fetish, before she answers M'rin's call, swimming (naked but masked a little by the water) over to him. "You're doing Morie?" she wonders of the bronzer.

Siannen giggles at Morie, scooping up her own handful of sand. "Which side do you want?" gets asked, followed by: "I know, I'll get his head..." being the taller of the two, of course.

Iri blinks, "Eneryp? What's Eneryp?"

Visian stifles laughter at poor M'rin's predictament: that is why one never lets a brat get near you. "I think she's trying to do him, Pyrene," He pipes up, oh-so-helpfully.

"I-I think sh-she's d-d-doing m-me..." M'rin stammers, obviously rather terrified. Morie, thoroughly pleased, begins to scrub a handful of soapsand into M'rin's blond hair, rumpling the slightly damp strand.
strand=strands

Lazily drifting, even if near brat territory, Lylia begins to get the dirt and dust off herself more carefully with a handful of soapsand, attacking her arms and face, before drifing over to another point of the pool.

Dreck pops right into Lis' lap, sending up a terrific splash of water. "Sure, I'll get his fingernails." The greenling seems none the least bit disgusted, but one who's cleaned dragon-doo doesn't have much to be disgusted with. "Now hold still, Dreck," Lis commands - and the boy promptly starts to wiggle. Not waiting for him to settle down, she wraps and arm 'round him and attacks with soapsand. Hah!

Siannen shrugs, dumping a little of her handful on his head as well, making sure she gets Morie with it too. "Uhhhh...I'll get his back then?" She doesn't wait for an answer, promptly beginning to scrub. Weyrling smell...ewwww...

Pyrene points to the boy who's apparently trying to eat the hair of another brat even as she shampoos it. "/That's/ Eneryp... enjoy." The lad is prodded over Iri's way and stares at her. At her hair. Pyrene turns back to M'rin, eyes flickering at Visian's explanation. "Oh, that's nice, Morie... you be sure to scrub him nice and clean now!" In a low voice she adds to M'rin: "Thanks for doing this... it's so hard to get 'em to take an interest in cleaning." So /nice/ of him to volunteer himself, yes.

Morie giggles, scrubbing furiously enough to cause M'rin to wince under the pressure. "Gotta get him off th'wall, first!" She states, using both hands on M'rin's hair (which is, right about now, standing in tufts every which way). A pitiful look is directed up towards Pyrene. He's none too happy with being washed by brats...much less being around a pack of his neked fellow weyrlings...He shifts slightly, uncomfortably, dropping his gaze and blushing furiously as Morie continues to cling and scrub. Hee/hee/.

Lylia isn't sure if she should be frightened or not... But she makes her way back towards Pyrene. She smell more of weyrling than fear, though. Barely. "Umm..." She peers at the hoard. No brat for her.. hopefully...

Visian brushes a hand through his hair."You're cruel, you know that?" He asks of Pyrene. "Just cruel." But he doesn't seem to be moving to help M'rin. Not at all.

Iri takes her feet out after awhile, feeling them getting too hot. "Hmph! THis isn't a bath, this is Brat-and-Weyrling soup!" After a moment she adds, "With a dash of nanny, too!" She sits down and then eyes the brat who's wading towards her. "Err... Shoo, brat, shoo... Uh...help?" She does /not/ like the way he's eyeing her hair.

Pyrene blinks innocently at Visian even as she half absently collars a filthy young girl with raggedly cut hair that looks like she took a knife to it herself. "Hey, Lylia.... Can you scrub Swawa for me? And yeah, Iri... help. Just give 'em a scrub," she sends a sweetly innocent glance to her former fellow candidate. "For old times sake..." While she looks for somebody for Visian....

Siannen applies her feet to the wall then, as well as a shoulder to what she can reach of M'rin's back, giving herself enough room to reach around and scrub. "Not mean, nanny," is directed to the only non-brat-weyrling-nanny on hand, "Lookout...se what he did to my hair when I wasn't lookin'?" That's to Iri, o'course.

Lis tries to keep her attention on bathing Dreck, who's managed to wiggle out of her graps from the armpits down, but the scene around poor M'rin keeps drawing her attetion. Nosy and easily amused is a dangerous combination. Meanwhile, Nose-boy escapes with a giddy giggle. "Got'a catch me, Liiis." Great.

Lylia to the rescue! She quickly makes her way towards Iri, ignoring any waves caused as the water sloshes around her. "Want me to distract 'im as you run?" She eyes Iri's hair herself. Hmm... But escaping is important, untill she hears the call. A brat for her. Meekly, she returns to Pyrene, looking with desperate eyes. She's heard the rumors and peers at Swawa. "Hello..." She doesn't like the look on that brat's face...

Oh, no. Visian isn't touching brats. He /glares/ at Pyrene. "Whyfor you looking at me like that, Pyrene?" He asks suspiciously, backing carefully away from the nanny. And the grubby babies.

Iri errs and ums for a moment and then takes a handful of soapsand and quickly scrubs Eneryp's hair and hands and feet. That was enough for her. She quickly strips and with a triumphant look on her face, dives into the pool. She swims underwater down to the deepest part, and /stays/ there. About a minute later there is a small gasp of surfacing for air, and then dives back down again. Thank you, Dolphincraft!

Pyrene pushes Swawa all but into Lylia's arms and grins at Visian. "I was wondering what you were in here for... if you're at a loose end, you may as well help..." she pauses, scanning around for a 'suitable' brat. Visian should thank the Egg that Peia's not here... "Er... Lis... I thought you were washing Dreck?" Eneryp meanwhile pursues Iri, diving down after her... of course he can't swim as well, so she might want to take him in hand.

Swawa merely glares at the weyrling assigned to her. Without a word, the brat dives under, splashing the brownrider and making her way in the opposite direction. Lylia half-heartedly gives chase, after spluttering. She quickly catches up with large strokes and some standing up and dashing as well as she can through the water. Swawa is tackled, and held tightly for the moment. "Ow!" Lylia lets out a yell. Brats bite?!

M'rin, a nice shade of beet red, lets himself be pushed around. After all, he doesn't have much choice. Most of the brats are stronger than he is. After a moment he puts up a slight struggle, but is sat on by Morie. "Stay, M'rin! I can't wash y'hair is your squirm!" Oh /good/...Squirm. Squirmsquirm.

Iri raar's silently under the water as she is followed. She woves through the water stealthily, occationally bumping into legs. Oops. But other than that, she's as slippery as an eel, as fast as a dolphin. /This/ is when all those swimming lessons pay off... But the water is still warm... Ick...

"hah. I don't wash brats, no matter how loose my ends are.." He eyes a small brat edging towards him. "Shoo. Go'way."
Visian *slaps his name in there.

And you /know/ what the warmer patches mean when you're bathing with children....

Very pleasant.

Dreck lets out another happy squeal as he splashes away free, choosing to waddle over to M'rin's corner. That's where all the action is, right? He hops right up on the edge of pool, finger going up his nose as he asks, "Canni help?" Lis gives Pyrene a helpless little shrug. "Dreck's clean enough."

Siannen echos Morie's complaint, then solves the problem by clamping her legs around one of his. "Hold /still/!" gets hissed out, a good nanny tone in her voice. She looks up at Dreck and grins, "You can get his front!"

"Ha!" Lylia crows with victory, but quickly attacks the brat's ragged, dirty hair with soapsand, ignoring the punch in the arm. Owwww! Another fierce contest, and Lylia holds Swawa still long enough to get her face, hair, and one arm coated in suds, and dunk her, ignoring her shriek.

Pyrene hmms at Dreck and eyes Lis. "Did you wash behind your ears... Sori!" This to the small (and dry) brat edging to Visian. "Vis.. can you just throw her in? She hates water..." "But I'm not /dirteeeeeeee/" the child howls, wobbling to Visian and apparently about to throw her arms around his leg. Fire lizards have by now entered the fray: Gunwalloe's helping Eneryp corner Iri... 

Drecks seems to consider this for a moment - at least, that's supposedly what all that nose-mining means. "'Kay." The finger is removed from his nose as he grabs a handful of soapsand, drizzling some down M'rin's chest. Clean.

Visian growls savagely,"Get /away/ from me!"He backs away from the child. "Or I /will/ throw you in, and drown you into the bargain!" She creeps closer, and grips his leg fiercely. Visian near-shrieks, and makes to pry the child free of his legs.

Lylia attacks the annoying brat more, one hand reaching out to grab her hair even as she squirms away. "Arg! Isn't this why all that pack of new nannies joined you, Pyrene?" Lylia growls the words, borrowing strength from the sleeping Druseth. It's Swawa hunting-season.

Visian falls asleep.
Visian has disconnected.

Children... The baths are full of little reasons for Lis to avoid having any. The weyrling relaxes against the side of the pool, idly soapsanding parts of her arms when she gets bored of wallowing, trying to tune out the bedlam around her.

Visian has connected.
Visian wakes up.

M'rin obediantly holds still, Morie resuming her vigerous cleaning while M'rin continues to blush furiously. Can this get any /worse/? Oh...oh...yes, he can think of ways to make things worse.../Much/ worse...In his opinion, anyway. 

Iri /whines/ in her head. It's not fair! Two against one...! Curse her air-breathing lungs, she's trade all of her marks and her left arm for a pair of gills right now... She pops up out of the water for more air and blinks, having come up near M'rin and the brats cleaning him. "Oh. Hi M'rin," she blushes and then dives back under and swims the other way. How embarassing! A /boy/ in here who's not a brat. Whoops, she's heading towards Eneryp and changes direstion again.

Pyrene submerges briefly to pull up a fallen brat and send her paddling on her way. "Something like this, yes..." she gasps to Lylia. "Oh, and Swawa twisted her ankle yesterday... a kick there ought to slow her down--but I didn't tell you that, obviously..." a wink and she drifts over to Lis who somehow found a brat-free area. "Want to help Eneryp catch Iri?" she suggests. /Nobody/ gets a rest... Not until she does.

"Nooooooo! No, no, no, nonononono!" The wail goes out as what has to be the /dirtiest/ brat on record gets tossed into the fray. Tossed is the operative word here, as it's the only way to get him even /near/ the water. And ear-splitting howl raises from the water as he leaps out of the water, clinging to the first person her can find and crawling to the highest point on that person. "Crenash!" That from Siannen's corner, as her next youngest brother clings to Visian.

Visian does shriek now. He's got brats/ clinging to him. "Off! Off! You hsarding /brats/! Off!" He pushes, yanks, and generally peels bratlings off, throwing them water-wards with many growlings and snarlings, and teeth gnashings. "Nasty creatures! I oughta drown you all."

Siannen falls asleep.
Siannen has disconnected.

M'rin gains a few more shades of pink. Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear. Iri saw him. And worse, he saw her...But foruntately not *ahem* /all/ of her...Morie bursts into giggles before reaching for more sandsoap.

"Do I /have/ too?" Lis whines at Pyrene from her languid float. If Pyrene's asking, there's no way she's getting this greenrider to touch any more slippery, wiggly brat bodies. She cleaned /Nose-boy/, for Faranth's sake.

Pyrene pauses then and just /stares/ at Visian, smirking widely. Oh my.... "They let go quick enough once you're /in/ the water Visian..." she points out saccharinely. "And yes, Lis... it's just Iri I want you to catch after all..." She should be glad she's not got Swawa.

A way to stop Swawa? Lovely for Lylia.... Even as she mentally notes to keep a stock of the green stuff for the rest of her life. And she's miserable now.... Even as Swawa scoots ahead, popping up near M'rin. "Hi!" Even the word has a mean edge, and the girl promptly splashes the bronzer, before grinning evilly. "I wanna help!" Luckily, the girl is tackled by a Lylia, who leaps over and body-slams the brat. Ankle? Pht! As she resurfaces, clutching the brat, she smirks at M'rin. "Hello, again."

Visian glares at Pyrene. "No. I hate these little monsters. Why would I want to be in the /water/ with them?"

Siannen is set on giving M'rin as many shades of pink as possible, generous brat that she is... "Be sure you clean him good and proper, Morie..." she tells the child. "Especially down /there/..." And she's ready to help too. Three guesses as to where her sponge is headed now...

Iri, taking an oppritunity to not be embarrassed anymore, nor forced to clean more brats, springs from the pool and throws a towel around herself. With a crimson pink face, she calls out, "Sriath is wanting me... Err, by!" She snatches her clothes and high-tails it!

Iri goes home.

Lis is confused. An understatment, really. "We're catching Iri?" the girl asks with a pair of meeting eyebrows. If it involves getting up, she's not going. Oh, look. Iri solves the problem by leaving. With a content sigh, Lis goes back to relaxing. 

Pyrene shrugs as the hydrophobic brats continue to regain their hold on Visian. "Because right now they're clinging to you anyway... get in the water, get wet... they can't get a grip..." See? It's only logical. Oh, drat! Iri left. "Oh, in that case, just take Eneryp..." she says and said brat immediately attaches himself to the greenling. 

M'rin is...not looking...A mumbled, bashful greeting is directed towards Lylia just before he is dunked by a smug looking Morie. "Hee...This is fun!" She states, squeeling as M'rin pushing his way to the surface again.

Anything to get those creatures off his legs -- into the water visian /dives/, as though it's thread that's after him and not to hydrophobic brats. He swims like the very devil -- clothes and all -- twards M'rin. Misery loves company?

M'rin goes home.

Lylia is giggling madly, if filled with rage, dragging the annoying brat off, back towards Pyrene. But a mental call makes her loose her grip and she turns to Pyrene apologetically. "Druseth calls..." And a more smug look. "I leave Swawa to you?" And she's out the door... Grabbing her clothes.

Lylia goes home.

Lis gulps as another bratling tries to attatch itself to her. "Funny Pyrene, but no". /No/ way. Ducking under, the greenling swims to Pyrene 'n Visian's corner of the chaos. At least it's somewhat safe in that direction...
Visian isn';t safe. M'rin's left him, and the brats are /still/ hanging on., "Lis? Liseria?Somebody get these /creatuires/ off me!"

Pyrene sighs as first M'rin then Lylia make their escapes... Still, she's got Visian where she wants him now. /In/ the water. "Swawa? Why don't you help the assistant steward wash himself properly?" she suggests to the girl, knowing perfectly well that that will appeal immensely to her evil side. Indeed the child starts /stalking/ Visian, a terrifyingly predatory look in her eyes. The good news is that the brats should drop off once they notice her. "Oh, Lis, /please/ do Eneryp? For me?" the nanny implores, all but batting her eyes at the weyrling.

"You're on your own," Lis answers Visian nonchalantly as she lounges back against /this/ wall. "I'm not touching another of 'em... And I mean it, Pyrene!" Lis isn't going to even look, closing her eyes in complete relaxation.

Visian whimpers. There's another one of them stalking him. "I swear I'll kill you. I'm clean already. " True to form, the other bratlings/do/ drop of. But Swawa is still stalking him. "Pyrene. call off your canine."

Pyrene blinks innocently at Visian. "My canine? I have /no/ idea what you mean...." With most of the children soaked now and splashing each other, she deems that they'll clean herself and stretches out next to Lis. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Just watch out for the odd spray of water. "Oh, and watch out for Morie there, Visian... she has a tendency to wet herself in the bath and not say anything..."

Visian darts out of the bath as though he'd been kicked. "You delight in tormenting me. Why?" He glares, sopping wet. How threatining s the assistant steward. "They're your brats. You wash them." So easy to tease into a rage.

Lis wrinkles her nose in disgust, siddling a little farther away from Visian. "Ew. Thanks for the warning, Pyrene..." This weyrling may never go in the baths again... "Aw, Visian, it won't /kill/ you. I think they little darlings -" Little darlings? Lis said that? "- would enjoy it." Faranths knows Lis'll enjoy watching it.

Pyrene beams at Visian quite unruffled. "I've been a nanny for nearly five turns, my dear assistant steward," she observes. "By now I'm bitter and twisted and get my kicks out of seeing other people suffer. Besides, they're not /my/ brats.... but how do I know they're not /yours/??" A couple of the children, whose parentage on the paternal side is in doubt, perk up a little at that. Daddy? Never mind that Visian wasn't here when most of them were born--they can't remember back that far. The nanny settles back next to Lis, smirking at her friend's words.

[End of RP as everybody else has to leave too]