'Be Near Me,' chapter 2
Apr. 26th, 2010 02:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivendellroseFandom: Hellboy (movies)
Characters: Abe Sapien, Nuala, Hellboy, Liz Sherman, Nuada, and a small cast of OCs.
Timeline: post-movie-2 AU.
Summary: The trouble with getting what you want is that something unexpected almost inevitably comes out of it. If Abe actually reads fairy tales, he really should know better.
Title: Be Near Me
Warnings: Nothing of note in this chapter.
Rating: Teen, or so.
Pairing: Abe/Nuala
Thanks: To![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tavern_wench1 for the world's most awesome red-pen-of-doom beta job on an almost-complete draft after NaNoWriMo, and maymargaret, for giving me the seed of the idea late one night in a pub, working out the general outline with me on a walk around the lake, and generally cheerleading and never letting me forget this damned thing from the other side of the globe.
Link to previous chapter: 1
Abe found the note much later, after carefully pouring the five eggs into his tank and watching, fascinated, as they bobbed lightly just below the surface. They looked like little lanterns, he thought - their amber color and glassy sheen made them seem to glow. Five perfect little lives, encased in delicate amber jelly... He had looked down at the glass globe they’d arrived in, and saw a slip of gold embedded at the bottom. The writing etched on it was ancient and arcane, but after a bit of quick research he managed to decipher it.
Abraham, it read. My love goes with this precious package, and my apologies. I told you some time ago that a princess may, on occasion, choose her heart above her duty. The same is not true, I am sorry to say, of a new queen. I know that you will care for our children with all the love in your noble heart, and that they will be safer with you than they would with me. I will send word when I can, and come to you again as soon as I dare. Take care. My brother is held safe and far away, but he still has agents in my court, and I fear they might harm the children if they knew of them. All my love, and all my hope for the future, are with you, always. - Nuala.
“So she just... expects you to take care of five babies? Without any warning? Just like that?” Leaning over the tank to look at the floating cluster of eggs, Liz looked appalled. Abe noticed that her right hand cradled her own belly, growing every day with the twins she’d unexpectedly conceived with Red. Accidental parenthood was a particularly personal subject to Liz, at the moment.
“It seems we have no other choice,” Abe responded. He swam a lazy circle around the eggs as he spoke, nudging back toward its siblings one which seemed inclined to wander.
“But she’s their queen. Can’t she just... order everyone to accept them?”
Even Liz didn’t seem particularly convinced by that argument, but Abe responded to it nonetheless - it was a fair question, after all, and one that Manning, too, had raised. “Some of her court are undoubtedly still loyal to Prince Nuada. Since his claim to the throne equals hers, there is still the possibility of rebellion or a coup d'etat. The children could be a powerful weapon against Nuala if they were raised in the Elven court, and they would be in constant danger from rival factions. They will be safe here, out of reach of the Elves and their kindred.”
“What about your job, then? You’ve hardly left the tank since they arrived!”
Abe stopped circling and floated directly below Liz, watching her intently. “Are you planning to go on missions up until you go into labour? And immediately after?” he asked.
Liz frowned. “I would if... If I could, I... It’s different!”
Abe blinked, and nodded. “I agree. It seems, to me, that this arrangement is more egalitarian. Nuala carried our children for the first three months. I will watch over them until they have hatched and are old enough to be left with a caregiver.”
“But... what about us?” Liz asked, her eyes strangely dark and wide.
Abe had wondered if that was what this argument came down to. “I am still here, Liz.” He swam over to the edge where she sat, and pulled himself up onto the steps to sit beside her. “I will still work - I will do the research and fact-checking as I have always done. I will simply do it from here. I have already applied with Agent Krauss and Manning for a temporary leave from field activity, effective immediately.” He touched her hand lightly, careful not to drip water on her sleeve. “I will still be here for you and Red, Liz. You are my friends. And I will need all the help I can get, it seems, once... they have hatched.” He gestured at the floating eggs.
“You’re stealing all my thunder, you know,” Liz grumbled. “All that sympathy I'd planned on getting for having twins, and now you’ve gone and had... what’s the word for five babies, anyway?”
“Quintuplets.” Abe inclined his head in recognition of her comment. “Of course, I suppose you could say the difficult part has already been handled for me...”
“They’re little,” Liz shrugged. “And kind of squishy-looking. Also, not likely to have horns.”
Abe thought about this, reading Liz’s genuine concern through her attempt at a joke. “In most species,” he said lightly, “horns don’t appear until well after birth.”
“Yeah, well... half-demons had damned well better be the same, that's all I'm saying.”
“I am almost certain that will be the case,” Abe assured her, patting her hand fondly. He was relieved to feel some of the tension go out of her as he did, and to sense her mind settling back to a calmer rhythm.
“So... do you have any ideas on what you’ll name them? I thought it was hard enough coming up with two names Red and I could agree on...”
“Nuala seems to have been prepared for that, as well,” Abe commented. “I cannot explain it, but the first time I touched each of the eggs, I knew their names. It was as if she had imprinted them somehow.”
Liz laughed softly. “She’s not leaving anything to chance in this, is she? She might not be such a bad queen after all...”
“I am sure--”
“I was joking, Abe. So... tell me. Or, can you tell from here?” she added. They all looked like eggs to her - round and squishy - but maybe they looked different to him.
Abe looked at her as though slightly embarrassed, and then leaned down, pointing out one egg after another. “There are two girls - Neasa, and Niamh. The rest are boys - Alastar, Aodh, and Aedan”
“She gave them your initial. And the girls hers. That’s... so cute it almost makes me sick.”
Abe ducked his head. “Yes, well... I expect it might be something to do with tradition. Or something of that sort, anyway. I find it all a bit embarrassing, but... if it was important enough to her that she took the trouble of making sure I would know...”
“Then you’ll go along with it.” Liz sighed. “Doing things you’re really not sure of because they’ll make the other person happy. Welcome to being in love, Abe.”
Abe nodded, gazing thoughtfully into the tank. “It... doesn’t seem so terrible.”
“That’s what’s so insidious about it,” Liz said. “It sneaks up on you, and by the time you realize you’ll have to reorganize your whole life to make it fit, it’s too late. You’re already hooked.”
Abe’s eyes didn’t move from the cluster of amber globes bobbing gently in the water. “I know exactly what you mean,” he said softly. “It’s... wonderful.”
* * *
It wasn’t always wonderful, of course, as Abe soon discovered. Manning was no more happy about Abe taking a paternity leave than Liz had initially been, and didn’t settle down nearly as quickly... nor did Red, who set onto an epic-sized sulk when he realized that he would soon be going on all his missions with only Krauss and the normal agents for company. Abe and Liz, at least, were able to bond over the frustrations of attempting to baby-proof their respective areas - Red could only grumble and fuss about the rapidly decreasing number of places he was allowed to smoke, and the increasing emphasis both of his friends placed on cleanliness and order, particularly in regards to anything sharp or potentially poisonous.
In her time, Liz gave birth to a healthy and rambunctious pair of twins who, as predicted, only began to grow horns a few months after their arrival in the outside world. Red voluntarily gave up on cigars after that, except the occasional indulgence out on the grounds and - as Abe had predicted - took to fatherhood with enthusiasm if not actual skill. Shortly thereafter, fully six months after their arrival at the BPRD, the eggs hatched. All five were healthy, alert, and took to floating immediately, which was a relief to their worried father.
Eventually, Manning was forced to yield under the combined arguments of his whole team, strenuously led by Liz, Red, and Abe, and hired an on-call nanny for all the children... complete with high-level government clearance and a generous background in comparative biology. As far as the background in biology was concerned, Abe felt fairly sure that it was likely to be more of a comforting idea than a practical help - leaving aside the fact that Liz and Hellboy’s children were half-demon, even he wasn’t sure what to expect from his children’s physiology, so how could anyone else do better? Although they had been comfortable in the water from birth, all five of his children had to surface occasionally for air - their gills, it seemed, were not strong enough to do all their breathing for them. Beyond that, the amount of time they could stay under the surface seemed to vary considerably - from Aodh and Niamh, who surfaced most frequently, to Alastar, who could stay underwater longest of all of them, despite a strikingly elvish appearance and the palest blue skin of the whole troop.
On their first birthday, Abe returned to full-time active duty. No troll waited for him with a letter or package when he returned to the office, however, and as grateful as he was that the children appeared to have escaped the notice of the court, he did wonder whether they had likewise slipped their mother’s mind somehow. His uncertainty didn’t escape his friends’ attention.
“Still no sign of her royal majesty, huh?”
“She is very busy, I am sure,” Abe informed Hellboy lightly.
“Sure. Sure.” Hellboy shook his massive head, and stuck his finger into the tank to allow the curious and playful Neasa to teethe affectionately on him. “All I’m sayin’ is, we’ve all got responsibilities that get in the way of raising the kids. If it were someone else’s problem... if I’d left Liz holding the bag, say, would you be as willing to forgive me?”
Abe looked out across the library to where Liz chatted with the nanny, one of the twins on her hip while the other played with blocks on the floor at her feet. Aodh crawled nearby, watching his slightly older erstwhile playmate with curiousity.
“The situation is different,” Abe said.
”Sure it is, buddy.” But the look Hellboy gave him indicated that he thought it wasn’t at all, and Abe had to admit, if only to himself, that he did wonder.
As time went by, he didn’t stop wondering. The children’s second, and then their third birthdays passed, and he wondered if something terrible had happened - if there had been a coup, if Nuala’s brother had regained control of the court, or if perhaps she had even been killed. Would he know? The supernatural activity that the BPRD investigated did not seem to have either increased or decreased, nor changed in character in any way, but was that truly a sign that all was well? Nuada’s power in exile had grown under their noses, and they’d only noticed when he moved his war into the public, Human world. Then again, perhaps nothing drastic had happened - perhaps Nuala had simply forgotten him, and their children with him. The lore of the fairy world was full of tales of humans stolen to raise or suckle Elf children, and of Elf children left with Humans to replace a stolen Human child. Perhaps Elves were different in the way they cared for their offspring. It was hard for Abe to imagine Nuala not caring about their children, but without any way of knowing, Abe could only give up wondering, and raise them as well as he could on his own.
And so, time passed. Thirteen years of time. And still, he heard nothing...
* * *
Far below the city in the court chambers below the Troll Market, Nuala half-listened as a group of two-headed fungus-pixies argued among themselves about whether or not to accept the terms of a new treaty being offered to them by the blue fairies. Hunting rights in the sewers and parks, freedom to use some of the lower nests in the Troll Market... Nuala sighed, her quill scratching idly in the corner of a piece of parchment. A fat little hand took shape in the dark blue ink... an arm... up to a curving shoulder and tiny, delicate gills...
The shrieking of the fungus-pixies reached a fever pitch, and then stopped abruptly, as one - identical to the others in every way, as far as Nuala could tell - stepped forward and bowed. “We agree to the conditions offered.”
“Good. I’m very pleased.” Nuala pulled the charter over the parchment she’d been scribbling on and sat back to allow the blue fairies to land on the page and carefully scribble their assent to the terms. Their main emissary signed with a finger dipped in the ink, and then stepped aside graciously to allow the spokes-fungus to crawl up and carefully print his two-fingered palm in the ink and onto the parchment in his own space. Nuala signed with a flourish and her official seal, and sent them on their way... and then lifted the charter so that she could look at the scrap of parchment she’d been sketching on. A small, round shape in blue on the pale surface, with gills and wide, innocent eyes...
My children.
More than a year had passed in the fairy world since she’d sent them away to Abraham’s care, and at last she was beginning to think that her reign might be stable enough to bring them home. Or at least to see them, and allow them to be known to her people. The court was never a particularly safe place for children in general, but children of the royal blood, at least, would have the protection of all the sworn guards of the court, and even the very foolish knew better than to challenge them. Now that the feud between the fungus-pixies and the blue fairies was through, that was the end of open warfare among the peoples ruled by the court, and what little in-fighting there had been at the beginning of her reign seemed to have died down... Yes, soon it would be safe enough. Soon. If she sent a message to Abraham that evening, perhaps he would be willing to bring the children for a visit on the spring equinox, in a week’s time...
“Your Highness?”
“Yes?”
The chamberlain’s twig-like fingers steepled, and he bowed his head. “Your Highness, if you would grant this humble personage the benefit of your attention for just a few moments of your precious time--”
Nuala sighed. “What is it, Chamberlain?”
He blinked rapidly, and then bowed, his fingers fluttering. “Forgive me, Your Highness, but... bad news. It is terrible news, I fear.”
“More trolls fighting in the market?” If that was the case, Nuala thought, she could forget her hopes of peace...
“Ah... no, Highness. I’m afraid this news concerns your... er... royal brother. And his whereabouts.” The chamberlain folded his hands over his chest as though hoping to ward off attack.
“What... do you mean?” Nuala asked, covering her drawing with a shaking hand.
“His current location, Highness.”
“I am aware of what the word ‘whereabouts,’ means, Chamberlain. I’m asking you what you mean by it! My brother was locked in a casket of solid silver, buried at the foot of a new oak sapling, and then our best sorcerers enchanted that tree to grow a hundred years' time in one night and engulf his casket safely in its roots and trunk! There should be no question of his whereabouts!”
“Ah, yes.” One long, spindly finger lifted into the air. “Unfortunately, Your Highness, last night the Humans knocked down that tree and broke it open with their iron machines. The Humans in question are dead. Your brother... has escaped.”
“No... No, that can’t be. Not now, he’ll ruin everything, he’ll...” Nuala glanced at the chamberlain out of the corner of her eye. He’ll go after Abraham and the children. But she had taken great care to let no one but her closest friend in the court and a few of her trusted guards know of her children, and although Nuada himself knew of Abraham, her feelings for him, and the children, thanks to their bond, the chamberlain knew nothing of them. All her life he had served her father loyally, and he had served her equally well since her own ascension, but... still she doubted. There was no love lost between the chamberlain and her twin, she knew, but might not his loyalty to the royal house of Bethmoora extend just as much to Nuada as to herself? Best to be safe, and not confide in him until she could be sure.
To further that deceit, she shook her head as though coming to a decision about a thought that had stopped her. “He will go among the Humans. He will bring us to war with them again, just as he did before. My brother’s thirst for vengeance is insatiable.”
“As you say, Your Highness.” The chamberlain bowed again.
“Guards.”
Three of the black-masked raven guards stepped forward and bent at her side.
“Double the patrols around the court, and send spies to seek my brother in his usual hideaways. If you find him, bring him here - but be sure to bind him first, with chains as strong as you can find. Chamberlain, send to the goblins, and tell them we will need a chain made - not of iron, but of greater strength than anything they’ve provided us with in the past. A troll must not be able to break it. Three trolls must not be able to break it. I will see this done right this time.”
Both accepted their orders, and - the raven guards silent as always while the chamberlain nattered his usual endless chatter - bowed out of Nuala’s chamber. She waited, then, and counted to thirteen before ringing the bell for her personal aide, Boann. In only a moment, the other woman entered the chamber, bowed, and knelt at her queen’s side. As with most of the court, Nuala had known Boann all her life - a tall, fierce warrior and noble knight, ever loyal to King Balor while he was alive. The long war with the Humans had scarred her - physically as well as emotionally, leaving a long gash cut down her left cheek and the contorted, burned-out hole where that eye had once been. But when Nuada had gone away, she had stayed with Nuala and accepted her king’s decree that the peace was to be kept, despite her personal feelings about the Humans. For that reason, and for a friendship they had shared when they were young, Nuala had chosen the other woman as her closest confidant since the beginning of her own reign.
“My lady?” Boann touched Nuala’s shoulder lightly, her pale brow furrowed. “You look upset. What’s wrong?”
“Boann, I need you to run an important errand for me, immediately. It’s dangerous, and I know that it will be difficult for you to understand, but I know of no other I can trust with it. Will you do this for me?”
Boann frowned, her dark green eyes searching Nuala’s, but she nodded. “Of course, my lady. Anything. What is it?”
“Good. Listen carefully, for I dare not write my directions or draw you a map.” Closing her eyes so that she could imagine the journey, Nuala described the path Boann would have to take to get to the BPRD headquarters and, once inside, to the library. “Stay to the underground as long as you can, but the last stretch you must take on the surface, and when you get there you must slip in unnoticed if you can. I do not think you will have difficulty,” she added, feeling slightly bitter as she remembered the ease with which Nuada had slipped through their defenses. “If you are caught, say you are a messenger from me, and ask to be taken to Agent Sapien.”
“Agent... Oh. Your...” Boann cut herself off. “Forgive me, Highness - it is none of my business.”
Nuala sympathized with her old friend - she herself hardly knew what to call Abraham. He was her lover, yes, and the father of her children, but they could not yet be together, and those children could not yet officially be recognized. If she could, she would have taken him for her official consort - he could never be king beside her, her people would never accept that - but... but that would be a choice for safer times, should those times ever come. “The one I’ve told you about,” Nuala agreed, sparing Boann’s sense of propriety by leaving the exact relation unspoken. “Tell him who you are, and give him this.” She removed a small brooch from her clothing - nothing extravagent, nothing that would draw attention, but to Abraham’s senses she hoped it would carry her memory and her intent. “Tell him that my brother has been freed, and that he must take great care from now on. I had hoped that he might soon be able to bring our children here, but...”
“Your children? Here?” Boann’s eyes widened. “But... my lady... strangers, here in the court?”
“They are my children,” Nuala pointed out sternly.
“Of course, my lady. I didn’t mean... forgive me.” Boann schooled her features to stoic acceptance, accepted the brooch and tucked it carefully into her robes, her eyes lowered. “Is there anything else?”
It was Nuala’s turn to hesitate, now. Her private nature chafed at the thought of sending such personal thoughts through a messenger, but it had been so long since they’d seen each other... “Yes,” she admitted. “Tell him that I love him, and that I miss him deeply. Tell him to keep hope, if he can, and if he cannot... to remember me well.”
“If you believe he could forget you, my lady--” Boann began in a scathing tone.
“Humans are different from us, and although he is not Human, Abraham has lived his life among them. I don’t doubt him, but... our worlds are very different, after all, and it will never be easy for us to be together.” Nuala squeezed her hand. “My dear friend. Thank you. Take care, and be safe. All my hope goes with you.”
* * *
Boann bowed once more, backed out of the room, and hurried away into the darkness. The tunnels and passages around the court were quiet, and no one questioned the queen’s servant and bodyguard, so she was able to make her way quickly. But when she reached the city, instead of turning away as her queen’s directions would have her do, she turned upward instead. Up into the tunnels and passageways that led toward the Human world, if she were to follow them that far... and also to the Troll Market.
Boann had served in King Balor’s court since she was but a child - her parents had both been advisors and warriors in Balor’s court in the old days, and they had been pleased and honored to have their daughter chosen as first a page, then a squire, and then seen her instated as a knight. In those days, the court of Bethmoora had been a noble, beautiful place... and though her parents had died in the wars long, long ago, Boann herself had lived to see that beauty and splendour falter into decrepitude and decay. She’d never believed that Prince Nuada was right in his choice to refuse his father and king’s direct orders, but...
But Nuala was leading them straight into the Humans’ hands.
She was so in love with this creature, this Agent Sapien, and with her children by him. Boann had seen them only briefly, encased in gold jelly like little frogs, just after she helped her queen give birth to them in secret. When Nuala sent the children away to him, Boann had been sure that would be the end of the problem. The children would grow up in the Human world, and soon enough they would be out of her queen’s mind. Nuala would find another lover, one who could stand with her in the court without causing her even more trouble, and all would be well. And yet after so little time, here they were again... and she’d said she wanted to bring the children to the court. Boann gritted her teeth. She had been wrong to think that Nuala would stop. She remembered the king’s daughter of old - she had always been a delicate creature, too soft and yielding for queenship, and now she would bring these creatures of the Human world into their court. She would ask the tired, sad remnants of Bethmoora to bow to outsiders, to accept them as her heirs, and the Human world would come crashing down over them all, like waves dashing their once-great world against the rocks. Or, worse, the Elf-Lands would turn on Nuala, commit another heinous regicide, and fall into chaos and civil war.
Boann had sworn then to serve Nuala always, to protect her to death from any enemy... even if the enemy in question was Nuala herself. This madness had to be stopped.
After a few moment’s search in the Troll Market she found one of the fungus people, perched on a shelf in an odd corner of a cloth shop. She bent close to the creature’s head and whispered, “Find your master, and tell him that I have a message for him.”
“Master?” The creature’s two heads regarded her suspiciously.
“You know who I mean...”
The thing squeaked, and then bowed frantically.
“Enough of that, just go!” Boann shoved the creature with the tip of a gloved finger. “I don’t have time for--”
A hand caught her shoulder, and she whipped around, her blade already in her hand to face - nothing. Then a voice, like poisoned silk on her skin, whispered in her ear. “For me? Fairest knight of my father’s service... how can you not have time for me?”
Boann clenched her jaw. “My lord Nuada.”
“Hush...” He moved around her, stepping out of the shadows to touch her cheek. He was cloaked and hooded in dark, rough fabric to hide him from Nuala’s guards, but he looked no different from before. Boann shuddered in revulsion - this was her choice, then? To serve a queen maddened with love for a pet of the Humans, or a prince so craven that he had murdered his own father before the whole court? But for the sake of her queen, for her own honor, she knew where she must stand. “My lord, I have a message for you.”
“From my sister?” He frowned. “Why would our usurper-queen send me a message? To win my trust, and then lock me up again, hmm? Surely you don’t think me so foolish as that, to walk to my sister’s court like a lamb, only to have the guards fall on me, and bind me in chains forged in the fires of the setting sun or some such foolish thing.”
“The message is from her, my lord, I swear to you, but... it was not intended for you.”
“Then why are you delivering it to me?” He looked almost amused, but she remembered from the past that his moods could change in an instant, and there was a coldness in his eyes that she mistrusted.
“Lady Nuala told me to tell no one of her errand--”
“Then why are you betraying her trust?” The rage that boiled just below the surface of Nuada’s moods bubbled over suddenly, and Boann found a knife at her throat, pressing against the skin. She felt the cold of the metal, and then the first twinge of pain, and let it happen. If he thought it would frighten her, he was much mistaken. She had not feared hurt to her body since the day she felt the iron spearhead that had robbed her of her left eye. He saw her lack of fear and nodded, accepting it with something like a modicum of respect before continuing. “My sister deserves greater loyalty from her servants than this - perhaps I should cut you open and leave you on the steps of her stolen court to give her that message.”
“I sought you only because I fear for Nuala’s safety. She is weak, and trusting, and she will drag us all into the mire of the Humans’ filth.”
“As is her right!" Nuada raged. "She is your queen, you impudent whore, and if she took a fancy to see your hands hanging from the rafters of the court, you should cut them off yourself to save her the trouble of ordering it done!”
“And I would, my lord.” Boann told him calmly. “You know me of old, I have never been unfaithful to your family.”
“Then why--”
“Because I fear for the queen your sister, whom I am sworn to protect with my life. Because she sent me to the Humans, the ones who fought you before, to the one she calls Abraham.”
Nuada pushed her away from him, releasing her, and spat in the street. “Him, again? Him!”
“Yes, him.” Boann rubbed her throat absent-mindedly. “She told me to warn him that you were freed. She begged that I go as quickly as I could, for the sake of him and her children.”
The prince’s face suddenly went still as stone. “Her children. Yes.” Nuada’s eyes narrowed, and his fists clenched, and for a moment Boann was sure that he would attack her out of sheer, uncontrolled fury, and tightened her grip on her own sword as she prepared for the attack. Then, with an effort, he unclenched his hands and took in a long, slow breath. “Tell me of them.”
“I know no more than you, my lord. I saw them only once, before they... hatched.” Boann curled her lip.
Nuada flinched. “Hatched. Of course. Oh, my beloved sister... how far you have fallen...”
“She begged that I warn them of your return, my lord,” Boann explained. “They have lived with their father these last months, but before your return Nuala hoped to bring them among our people. She told me how to find them... and I have come to you. Your sister cannot be allowed to bring herself so low - my loyalty to her will not allow me to see it.”
“I see.” Nuada nodded stiffly. “Well. We shall see what we can do about it, then, you and I...”
Characters: Abe Sapien, Nuala, Hellboy, Liz Sherman, Nuada, and a small cast of OCs.
Timeline: post-movie-2 AU.
Summary: The trouble with getting what you want is that something unexpected almost inevitably comes out of it. If Abe actually reads fairy tales, he really should know better.
Title: Be Near Me
Warnings: Nothing of note in this chapter.
Rating: Teen, or so.
Pairing: Abe/Nuala
Thanks: To
tavern_wench1 for the world's most awesome red-pen-of-doom beta job on an almost-complete draft after NaNoWriMo, and maymargaret, for giving me the seed of the idea late one night in a pub, working out the general outline with me on a walk around the lake, and generally cheerleading and never letting me forget this damned thing from the other side of the globe.Link to previous chapter: 1
Abe found the note much later, after carefully pouring the five eggs into his tank and watching, fascinated, as they bobbed lightly just below the surface. They looked like little lanterns, he thought - their amber color and glassy sheen made them seem to glow. Five perfect little lives, encased in delicate amber jelly... He had looked down at the glass globe they’d arrived in, and saw a slip of gold embedded at the bottom. The writing etched on it was ancient and arcane, but after a bit of quick research he managed to decipher it.
Abraham, it read. My love goes with this precious package, and my apologies. I told you some time ago that a princess may, on occasion, choose her heart above her duty. The same is not true, I am sorry to say, of a new queen. I know that you will care for our children with all the love in your noble heart, and that they will be safer with you than they would with me. I will send word when I can, and come to you again as soon as I dare. Take care. My brother is held safe and far away, but he still has agents in my court, and I fear they might harm the children if they knew of them. All my love, and all my hope for the future, are with you, always. - Nuala.
“So she just... expects you to take care of five babies? Without any warning? Just like that?” Leaning over the tank to look at the floating cluster of eggs, Liz looked appalled. Abe noticed that her right hand cradled her own belly, growing every day with the twins she’d unexpectedly conceived with Red. Accidental parenthood was a particularly personal subject to Liz, at the moment.
“It seems we have no other choice,” Abe responded. He swam a lazy circle around the eggs as he spoke, nudging back toward its siblings one which seemed inclined to wander.
“But she’s their queen. Can’t she just... order everyone to accept them?”
Even Liz didn’t seem particularly convinced by that argument, but Abe responded to it nonetheless - it was a fair question, after all, and one that Manning, too, had raised. “Some of her court are undoubtedly still loyal to Prince Nuada. Since his claim to the throne equals hers, there is still the possibility of rebellion or a coup d'etat. The children could be a powerful weapon against Nuala if they were raised in the Elven court, and they would be in constant danger from rival factions. They will be safe here, out of reach of the Elves and their kindred.”
“What about your job, then? You’ve hardly left the tank since they arrived!”
Abe stopped circling and floated directly below Liz, watching her intently. “Are you planning to go on missions up until you go into labour? And immediately after?” he asked.
Liz frowned. “I would if... If I could, I... It’s different!”
Abe blinked, and nodded. “I agree. It seems, to me, that this arrangement is more egalitarian. Nuala carried our children for the first three months. I will watch over them until they have hatched and are old enough to be left with a caregiver.”
“But... what about us?” Liz asked, her eyes strangely dark and wide.
Abe had wondered if that was what this argument came down to. “I am still here, Liz.” He swam over to the edge where she sat, and pulled himself up onto the steps to sit beside her. “I will still work - I will do the research and fact-checking as I have always done. I will simply do it from here. I have already applied with Agent Krauss and Manning for a temporary leave from field activity, effective immediately.” He touched her hand lightly, careful not to drip water on her sleeve. “I will still be here for you and Red, Liz. You are my friends. And I will need all the help I can get, it seems, once... they have hatched.” He gestured at the floating eggs.
“You’re stealing all my thunder, you know,” Liz grumbled. “All that sympathy I'd planned on getting for having twins, and now you’ve gone and had... what’s the word for five babies, anyway?”
“Quintuplets.” Abe inclined his head in recognition of her comment. “Of course, I suppose you could say the difficult part has already been handled for me...”
“They’re little,” Liz shrugged. “And kind of squishy-looking. Also, not likely to have horns.”
Abe thought about this, reading Liz’s genuine concern through her attempt at a joke. “In most species,” he said lightly, “horns don’t appear until well after birth.”
“Yeah, well... half-demons had damned well better be the same, that's all I'm saying.”
“I am almost certain that will be the case,” Abe assured her, patting her hand fondly. He was relieved to feel some of the tension go out of her as he did, and to sense her mind settling back to a calmer rhythm.
“So... do you have any ideas on what you’ll name them? I thought it was hard enough coming up with two names Red and I could agree on...”
“Nuala seems to have been prepared for that, as well,” Abe commented. “I cannot explain it, but the first time I touched each of the eggs, I knew their names. It was as if she had imprinted them somehow.”
Liz laughed softly. “She’s not leaving anything to chance in this, is she? She might not be such a bad queen after all...”
“I am sure--”
“I was joking, Abe. So... tell me. Or, can you tell from here?” she added. They all looked like eggs to her - round and squishy - but maybe they looked different to him.
Abe looked at her as though slightly embarrassed, and then leaned down, pointing out one egg after another. “There are two girls - Neasa, and Niamh. The rest are boys - Alastar, Aodh, and Aedan”
“She gave them your initial. And the girls hers. That’s... so cute it almost makes me sick.”
Abe ducked his head. “Yes, well... I expect it might be something to do with tradition. Or something of that sort, anyway. I find it all a bit embarrassing, but... if it was important enough to her that she took the trouble of making sure I would know...”
“Then you’ll go along with it.” Liz sighed. “Doing things you’re really not sure of because they’ll make the other person happy. Welcome to being in love, Abe.”
Abe nodded, gazing thoughtfully into the tank. “It... doesn’t seem so terrible.”
“That’s what’s so insidious about it,” Liz said. “It sneaks up on you, and by the time you realize you’ll have to reorganize your whole life to make it fit, it’s too late. You’re already hooked.”
Abe’s eyes didn’t move from the cluster of amber globes bobbing gently in the water. “I know exactly what you mean,” he said softly. “It’s... wonderful.”
* * *
It wasn’t always wonderful, of course, as Abe soon discovered. Manning was no more happy about Abe taking a paternity leave than Liz had initially been, and didn’t settle down nearly as quickly... nor did Red, who set onto an epic-sized sulk when he realized that he would soon be going on all his missions with only Krauss and the normal agents for company. Abe and Liz, at least, were able to bond over the frustrations of attempting to baby-proof their respective areas - Red could only grumble and fuss about the rapidly decreasing number of places he was allowed to smoke, and the increasing emphasis both of his friends placed on cleanliness and order, particularly in regards to anything sharp or potentially poisonous.
In her time, Liz gave birth to a healthy and rambunctious pair of twins who, as predicted, only began to grow horns a few months after their arrival in the outside world. Red voluntarily gave up on cigars after that, except the occasional indulgence out on the grounds and - as Abe had predicted - took to fatherhood with enthusiasm if not actual skill. Shortly thereafter, fully six months after their arrival at the BPRD, the eggs hatched. All five were healthy, alert, and took to floating immediately, which was a relief to their worried father.
Eventually, Manning was forced to yield under the combined arguments of his whole team, strenuously led by Liz, Red, and Abe, and hired an on-call nanny for all the children... complete with high-level government clearance and a generous background in comparative biology. As far as the background in biology was concerned, Abe felt fairly sure that it was likely to be more of a comforting idea than a practical help - leaving aside the fact that Liz and Hellboy’s children were half-demon, even he wasn’t sure what to expect from his children’s physiology, so how could anyone else do better? Although they had been comfortable in the water from birth, all five of his children had to surface occasionally for air - their gills, it seemed, were not strong enough to do all their breathing for them. Beyond that, the amount of time they could stay under the surface seemed to vary considerably - from Aodh and Niamh, who surfaced most frequently, to Alastar, who could stay underwater longest of all of them, despite a strikingly elvish appearance and the palest blue skin of the whole troop.
On their first birthday, Abe returned to full-time active duty. No troll waited for him with a letter or package when he returned to the office, however, and as grateful as he was that the children appeared to have escaped the notice of the court, he did wonder whether they had likewise slipped their mother’s mind somehow. His uncertainty didn’t escape his friends’ attention.
“Still no sign of her royal majesty, huh?”
“She is very busy, I am sure,” Abe informed Hellboy lightly.
“Sure. Sure.” Hellboy shook his massive head, and stuck his finger into the tank to allow the curious and playful Neasa to teethe affectionately on him. “All I’m sayin’ is, we’ve all got responsibilities that get in the way of raising the kids. If it were someone else’s problem... if I’d left Liz holding the bag, say, would you be as willing to forgive me?”
Abe looked out across the library to where Liz chatted with the nanny, one of the twins on her hip while the other played with blocks on the floor at her feet. Aodh crawled nearby, watching his slightly older erstwhile playmate with curiousity.
“The situation is different,” Abe said.
”Sure it is, buddy.” But the look Hellboy gave him indicated that he thought it wasn’t at all, and Abe had to admit, if only to himself, that he did wonder.
As time went by, he didn’t stop wondering. The children’s second, and then their third birthdays passed, and he wondered if something terrible had happened - if there had been a coup, if Nuala’s brother had regained control of the court, or if perhaps she had even been killed. Would he know? The supernatural activity that the BPRD investigated did not seem to have either increased or decreased, nor changed in character in any way, but was that truly a sign that all was well? Nuada’s power in exile had grown under their noses, and they’d only noticed when he moved his war into the public, Human world. Then again, perhaps nothing drastic had happened - perhaps Nuala had simply forgotten him, and their children with him. The lore of the fairy world was full of tales of humans stolen to raise or suckle Elf children, and of Elf children left with Humans to replace a stolen Human child. Perhaps Elves were different in the way they cared for their offspring. It was hard for Abe to imagine Nuala not caring about their children, but without any way of knowing, Abe could only give up wondering, and raise them as well as he could on his own.
And so, time passed. Thirteen years of time. And still, he heard nothing...
* * *
Far below the city in the court chambers below the Troll Market, Nuala half-listened as a group of two-headed fungus-pixies argued among themselves about whether or not to accept the terms of a new treaty being offered to them by the blue fairies. Hunting rights in the sewers and parks, freedom to use some of the lower nests in the Troll Market... Nuala sighed, her quill scratching idly in the corner of a piece of parchment. A fat little hand took shape in the dark blue ink... an arm... up to a curving shoulder and tiny, delicate gills...
The shrieking of the fungus-pixies reached a fever pitch, and then stopped abruptly, as one - identical to the others in every way, as far as Nuala could tell - stepped forward and bowed. “We agree to the conditions offered.”
“Good. I’m very pleased.” Nuala pulled the charter over the parchment she’d been scribbling on and sat back to allow the blue fairies to land on the page and carefully scribble their assent to the terms. Their main emissary signed with a finger dipped in the ink, and then stepped aside graciously to allow the spokes-fungus to crawl up and carefully print his two-fingered palm in the ink and onto the parchment in his own space. Nuala signed with a flourish and her official seal, and sent them on their way... and then lifted the charter so that she could look at the scrap of parchment she’d been sketching on. A small, round shape in blue on the pale surface, with gills and wide, innocent eyes...
My children.
More than a year had passed in the fairy world since she’d sent them away to Abraham’s care, and at last she was beginning to think that her reign might be stable enough to bring them home. Or at least to see them, and allow them to be known to her people. The court was never a particularly safe place for children in general, but children of the royal blood, at least, would have the protection of all the sworn guards of the court, and even the very foolish knew better than to challenge them. Now that the feud between the fungus-pixies and the blue fairies was through, that was the end of open warfare among the peoples ruled by the court, and what little in-fighting there had been at the beginning of her reign seemed to have died down... Yes, soon it would be safe enough. Soon. If she sent a message to Abraham that evening, perhaps he would be willing to bring the children for a visit on the spring equinox, in a week’s time...
“Your Highness?”
“Yes?”
The chamberlain’s twig-like fingers steepled, and he bowed his head. “Your Highness, if you would grant this humble personage the benefit of your attention for just a few moments of your precious time--”
Nuala sighed. “What is it, Chamberlain?”
He blinked rapidly, and then bowed, his fingers fluttering. “Forgive me, Your Highness, but... bad news. It is terrible news, I fear.”
“More trolls fighting in the market?” If that was the case, Nuala thought, she could forget her hopes of peace...
“Ah... no, Highness. I’m afraid this news concerns your... er... royal brother. And his whereabouts.” The chamberlain folded his hands over his chest as though hoping to ward off attack.
“What... do you mean?” Nuala asked, covering her drawing with a shaking hand.
“His current location, Highness.”
“I am aware of what the word ‘whereabouts,’ means, Chamberlain. I’m asking you what you mean by it! My brother was locked in a casket of solid silver, buried at the foot of a new oak sapling, and then our best sorcerers enchanted that tree to grow a hundred years' time in one night and engulf his casket safely in its roots and trunk! There should be no question of his whereabouts!”
“Ah, yes.” One long, spindly finger lifted into the air. “Unfortunately, Your Highness, last night the Humans knocked down that tree and broke it open with their iron machines. The Humans in question are dead. Your brother... has escaped.”
“No... No, that can’t be. Not now, he’ll ruin everything, he’ll...” Nuala glanced at the chamberlain out of the corner of her eye. He’ll go after Abraham and the children. But she had taken great care to let no one but her closest friend in the court and a few of her trusted guards know of her children, and although Nuada himself knew of Abraham, her feelings for him, and the children, thanks to their bond, the chamberlain knew nothing of them. All her life he had served her father loyally, and he had served her equally well since her own ascension, but... still she doubted. There was no love lost between the chamberlain and her twin, she knew, but might not his loyalty to the royal house of Bethmoora extend just as much to Nuada as to herself? Best to be safe, and not confide in him until she could be sure.
To further that deceit, she shook her head as though coming to a decision about a thought that had stopped her. “He will go among the Humans. He will bring us to war with them again, just as he did before. My brother’s thirst for vengeance is insatiable.”
“As you say, Your Highness.” The chamberlain bowed again.
“Guards.”
Three of the black-masked raven guards stepped forward and bent at her side.
“Double the patrols around the court, and send spies to seek my brother in his usual hideaways. If you find him, bring him here - but be sure to bind him first, with chains as strong as you can find. Chamberlain, send to the goblins, and tell them we will need a chain made - not of iron, but of greater strength than anything they’ve provided us with in the past. A troll must not be able to break it. Three trolls must not be able to break it. I will see this done right this time.”
Both accepted their orders, and - the raven guards silent as always while the chamberlain nattered his usual endless chatter - bowed out of Nuala’s chamber. She waited, then, and counted to thirteen before ringing the bell for her personal aide, Boann. In only a moment, the other woman entered the chamber, bowed, and knelt at her queen’s side. As with most of the court, Nuala had known Boann all her life - a tall, fierce warrior and noble knight, ever loyal to King Balor while he was alive. The long war with the Humans had scarred her - physically as well as emotionally, leaving a long gash cut down her left cheek and the contorted, burned-out hole where that eye had once been. But when Nuada had gone away, she had stayed with Nuala and accepted her king’s decree that the peace was to be kept, despite her personal feelings about the Humans. For that reason, and for a friendship they had shared when they were young, Nuala had chosen the other woman as her closest confidant since the beginning of her own reign.
“My lady?” Boann touched Nuala’s shoulder lightly, her pale brow furrowed. “You look upset. What’s wrong?”
“Boann, I need you to run an important errand for me, immediately. It’s dangerous, and I know that it will be difficult for you to understand, but I know of no other I can trust with it. Will you do this for me?”
Boann frowned, her dark green eyes searching Nuala’s, but she nodded. “Of course, my lady. Anything. What is it?”
“Good. Listen carefully, for I dare not write my directions or draw you a map.” Closing her eyes so that she could imagine the journey, Nuala described the path Boann would have to take to get to the BPRD headquarters and, once inside, to the library. “Stay to the underground as long as you can, but the last stretch you must take on the surface, and when you get there you must slip in unnoticed if you can. I do not think you will have difficulty,” she added, feeling slightly bitter as she remembered the ease with which Nuada had slipped through their defenses. “If you are caught, say you are a messenger from me, and ask to be taken to Agent Sapien.”
“Agent... Oh. Your...” Boann cut herself off. “Forgive me, Highness - it is none of my business.”
Nuala sympathized with her old friend - she herself hardly knew what to call Abraham. He was her lover, yes, and the father of her children, but they could not yet be together, and those children could not yet officially be recognized. If she could, she would have taken him for her official consort - he could never be king beside her, her people would never accept that - but... but that would be a choice for safer times, should those times ever come. “The one I’ve told you about,” Nuala agreed, sparing Boann’s sense of propriety by leaving the exact relation unspoken. “Tell him who you are, and give him this.” She removed a small brooch from her clothing - nothing extravagent, nothing that would draw attention, but to Abraham’s senses she hoped it would carry her memory and her intent. “Tell him that my brother has been freed, and that he must take great care from now on. I had hoped that he might soon be able to bring our children here, but...”
“Your children? Here?” Boann’s eyes widened. “But... my lady... strangers, here in the court?”
“They are my children,” Nuala pointed out sternly.
“Of course, my lady. I didn’t mean... forgive me.” Boann schooled her features to stoic acceptance, accepted the brooch and tucked it carefully into her robes, her eyes lowered. “Is there anything else?”
It was Nuala’s turn to hesitate, now. Her private nature chafed at the thought of sending such personal thoughts through a messenger, but it had been so long since they’d seen each other... “Yes,” she admitted. “Tell him that I love him, and that I miss him deeply. Tell him to keep hope, if he can, and if he cannot... to remember me well.”
“If you believe he could forget you, my lady--” Boann began in a scathing tone.
“Humans are different from us, and although he is not Human, Abraham has lived his life among them. I don’t doubt him, but... our worlds are very different, after all, and it will never be easy for us to be together.” Nuala squeezed her hand. “My dear friend. Thank you. Take care, and be safe. All my hope goes with you.”
* * *
Boann bowed once more, backed out of the room, and hurried away into the darkness. The tunnels and passages around the court were quiet, and no one questioned the queen’s servant and bodyguard, so she was able to make her way quickly. But when she reached the city, instead of turning away as her queen’s directions would have her do, she turned upward instead. Up into the tunnels and passageways that led toward the Human world, if she were to follow them that far... and also to the Troll Market.
Boann had served in King Balor’s court since she was but a child - her parents had both been advisors and warriors in Balor’s court in the old days, and they had been pleased and honored to have their daughter chosen as first a page, then a squire, and then seen her instated as a knight. In those days, the court of Bethmoora had been a noble, beautiful place... and though her parents had died in the wars long, long ago, Boann herself had lived to see that beauty and splendour falter into decrepitude and decay. She’d never believed that Prince Nuada was right in his choice to refuse his father and king’s direct orders, but...
But Nuala was leading them straight into the Humans’ hands.
She was so in love with this creature, this Agent Sapien, and with her children by him. Boann had seen them only briefly, encased in gold jelly like little frogs, just after she helped her queen give birth to them in secret. When Nuala sent the children away to him, Boann had been sure that would be the end of the problem. The children would grow up in the Human world, and soon enough they would be out of her queen’s mind. Nuala would find another lover, one who could stand with her in the court without causing her even more trouble, and all would be well. And yet after so little time, here they were again... and she’d said she wanted to bring the children to the court. Boann gritted her teeth. She had been wrong to think that Nuala would stop. She remembered the king’s daughter of old - she had always been a delicate creature, too soft and yielding for queenship, and now she would bring these creatures of the Human world into their court. She would ask the tired, sad remnants of Bethmoora to bow to outsiders, to accept them as her heirs, and the Human world would come crashing down over them all, like waves dashing their once-great world against the rocks. Or, worse, the Elf-Lands would turn on Nuala, commit another heinous regicide, and fall into chaos and civil war.
Boann had sworn then to serve Nuala always, to protect her to death from any enemy... even if the enemy in question was Nuala herself. This madness had to be stopped.
After a few moment’s search in the Troll Market she found one of the fungus people, perched on a shelf in an odd corner of a cloth shop. She bent close to the creature’s head and whispered, “Find your master, and tell him that I have a message for him.”
“Master?” The creature’s two heads regarded her suspiciously.
“You know who I mean...”
The thing squeaked, and then bowed frantically.
“Enough of that, just go!” Boann shoved the creature with the tip of a gloved finger. “I don’t have time for--”
A hand caught her shoulder, and she whipped around, her blade already in her hand to face - nothing. Then a voice, like poisoned silk on her skin, whispered in her ear. “For me? Fairest knight of my father’s service... how can you not have time for me?”
Boann clenched her jaw. “My lord Nuada.”
“Hush...” He moved around her, stepping out of the shadows to touch her cheek. He was cloaked and hooded in dark, rough fabric to hide him from Nuala’s guards, but he looked no different from before. Boann shuddered in revulsion - this was her choice, then? To serve a queen maddened with love for a pet of the Humans, or a prince so craven that he had murdered his own father before the whole court? But for the sake of her queen, for her own honor, she knew where she must stand. “My lord, I have a message for you.”
“From my sister?” He frowned. “Why would our usurper-queen send me a message? To win my trust, and then lock me up again, hmm? Surely you don’t think me so foolish as that, to walk to my sister’s court like a lamb, only to have the guards fall on me, and bind me in chains forged in the fires of the setting sun or some such foolish thing.”
“The message is from her, my lord, I swear to you, but... it was not intended for you.”
“Then why are you delivering it to me?” He looked almost amused, but she remembered from the past that his moods could change in an instant, and there was a coldness in his eyes that she mistrusted.
“Lady Nuala told me to tell no one of her errand--”
“Then why are you betraying her trust?” The rage that boiled just below the surface of Nuada’s moods bubbled over suddenly, and Boann found a knife at her throat, pressing against the skin. She felt the cold of the metal, and then the first twinge of pain, and let it happen. If he thought it would frighten her, he was much mistaken. She had not feared hurt to her body since the day she felt the iron spearhead that had robbed her of her left eye. He saw her lack of fear and nodded, accepting it with something like a modicum of respect before continuing. “My sister deserves greater loyalty from her servants than this - perhaps I should cut you open and leave you on the steps of her stolen court to give her that message.”
“I sought you only because I fear for Nuala’s safety. She is weak, and trusting, and she will drag us all into the mire of the Humans’ filth.”
“As is her right!" Nuada raged. "She is your queen, you impudent whore, and if she took a fancy to see your hands hanging from the rafters of the court, you should cut them off yourself to save her the trouble of ordering it done!”
“And I would, my lord.” Boann told him calmly. “You know me of old, I have never been unfaithful to your family.”
“Then why--”
“Because I fear for the queen your sister, whom I am sworn to protect with my life. Because she sent me to the Humans, the ones who fought you before, to the one she calls Abraham.”
Nuada pushed her away from him, releasing her, and spat in the street. “Him, again? Him!”
“Yes, him.” Boann rubbed her throat absent-mindedly. “She told me to warn him that you were freed. She begged that I go as quickly as I could, for the sake of him and her children.”
The prince’s face suddenly went still as stone. “Her children. Yes.” Nuada’s eyes narrowed, and his fists clenched, and for a moment Boann was sure that he would attack her out of sheer, uncontrolled fury, and tightened her grip on her own sword as she prepared for the attack. Then, with an effort, he unclenched his hands and took in a long, slow breath. “Tell me of them.”
“I know no more than you, my lord. I saw them only once, before they... hatched.” Boann curled her lip.
Nuada flinched. “Hatched. Of course. Oh, my beloved sister... how far you have fallen...”
“She begged that I warn them of your return, my lord,” Boann explained. “They have lived with their father these last months, but before your return Nuala hoped to bring them among our people. She told me how to find them... and I have come to you. Your sister cannot be allowed to bring herself so low - my loyalty to her will not allow me to see it.”
“I see.” Nuada nodded stiffly. “Well. We shall see what we can do about it, then, you and I...”
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no subject
Date: 2010-10-25 02:16 am (UTC)Gotta love Abe's approach to and pragmatic defense of his egalitarian parenting.
Abe needed to research to figure out Nuala's written language! I laughed at that. Reminds me of reading webs_and_whisker's Abe/Nuala fic, in that understated illustration of the vast cultural differences between human and elf.
Speaking of that gulf, it was a touching that both Nuala and Abe think the other has forgotten them, but instead of becoming angry or bitter they chalk it up to differences in understanding, and keep hoping. You keep a deft touch with their sadness, letting it speak for itself without overexplaining or letting it slow down the plot. You also do a nice job with explaining Boann, explaining her motives enough to be clear but keeping the narration flowing up through the couple of sharp twists.
One of my favorite lines in this chapter:
"“They’re little,” Liz shrugged. “And kind of squishy-looking. Also, not likely to have horns.”
I LOLed. Even though you explain her joke as broaching a topic she fears (and who could blame her), it still reads as classic straight-from-the-hip snark.
I also had to laugh at the way Nuada was freed. I mean, humans. Count on them to botch things up every time.
Now, this might be selfish of me -- and I know this is Abe and Nuala's story, not Hellboy and Liz's -- but I wish I could read more of how you see the twins growing up with Abe's brood. But I know you worked long and hard at this story, and I'm certainly satisfied by the way the plot ratcheted up by the end of the chapter! So I would not ask for more... but I would like to know what you think the twins would be named!
no subject
Date: 2010-10-25 04:04 am (UTC)Me either, exactly. It just... seriously, what can they do? It's not like they can go fight crime on their own. It's not like they can get jobs in the outside world. It would tear them apart, and it would be a disaster. And I think even they would realize that after a very short time.
Reminds me of reading webs_and_whisker's Abe/Nuala fic, in that understated illustration of the vast cultural differences between human and elf.
Eeee, thank you. I adore
I mean, humans. Count on them to botch things up every time.
Lol. Exactly. It had to be something like that, I figured - it just fits with the way the show runs things.
I wish I could read more of how you see the twins growing up with Abe's brood.
Hehehehe. I wish we had, too, but leaving them out was my desperate attempt at self-preservation (and keeping this monster from getting any longer than it already was). I felt like with 5 child OCs already on the boards, I'd better keep the twins off-stage to prevent things from going absolutely insane. That said, I follow fanon I've seen elsewhere, because it fits with my love of the comics - I think the twins are a boy and a girl, and I think their names are Trevor (for Professor Bruttenholm) and Katherine or Kate (for Kate Corrigan). I don't care if Kate's never showed up in the movies - I just sort of assume that she hasn't left NYU to join them yet, and that she's still a consultant and a good friend.
Edited to fix some bad code.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-27 01:34 am (UTC)Slightly off-topic, but what is the definition of "fanon." That is, how many people have to accept an idea -- or what profile of person has to use it -- before it gets classified as fanon rather than being just another fan idea thrown out there?
no subject
Date: 2010-10-27 03:19 am (UTC)That is, how many people have to accept an idea -- or what profile of person has to use it -- before it gets classified as fanon rather than being just another fan idea thrown out there?
Not sure, honestly. I always kind of figure that if the original source material says it, it's canon (of course), and if one fan says it, then it might qualify as their personal canon (if they're consistent with it, at least), and if more than, say, two fans say it, it's fanon. Whether that fanon is more or less universally accepted is a whole other thing.
Of course then you get the big name fans throwing stuff around that everybody and their dog picks up, to the point that a lot of people seem to forget it's not canon, or collective fanon for a specific group (like, for instance, long ago in the dark ages I was in a Harry Potter RPG on GreatestJournal, and because the dratted thing started back when only four books were out we, by the end, had characters that only bore the vaguest resemblance to what they turned out to be in canon), or even weirder cases like the multiple layers of canon and semi-canon in Hellboy (comics, novels, movies, the Odd Jobs and Weird Tales collections, the animated series, etc), none of which actually seem to agree with each other on details.
...Which I guess is all to say "eh, fandom is all about everybody getting their little say about what's going on in between the lines, I think, so in the big tapestry of things, it's all good."
Did you have a particular case or situation in mind? It's always weird to me how fanon proliferates through fandoms, but I never particularly thought much about the exact definitions of it as opposed to just one fan's idea. It's an interesting thought - almost like fandom by democracy. ;)
no subject
Date: 2010-11-02 11:04 pm (UTC)"Fandom by democracy," yes, when you say that "a lot of people seem to forget it's not canon," that's what I thought the definition of fanon would be. I don't really have a specific example in mind. "Fanon" is such a catchy and potentially useful word, I'm kind of hoping for an example that I can latch onto -- something that could be used to explain the concept.