Soul/Whisper Baby Short

It had been way too long since the team had all sat down to breakfast with each other. So much had been happening as of late. With Tarquin alone, there was the issue of balancing his hero work, royal duties and trying to upkeep a healthy relationship. Never mind the fact that he'd been laid out after his most recent battle with, among other things, a particularly nasty concussion. As it was, he still wasn't quite on top form, but he also didn't want to spend longer than strictly necessary in the medical bay.

Everyone was sat down, happily enjoying a meal made by Shard and Hex, and a good one at that, but Tarquin had to admit he was a little...distracted. the others were holding a conversation, and he kept out of it with his head injury as an excuse, keeping his mouth full so no-one would ask him to speak. 

When everyone had come into the kitchen that morning, he had noticed something unusual. A thrumming, fluttering sensation at the edge of his senses that seemed to be attached to Whisper. Like something else was there. At first, he thought it might be an insect on her clothing, but he couldn't see anything. Other than appearing tired, she also seemed entirely unbothered.

The fluttering wasn't an entirely new sensation. He was sure he'd felt it before, but it wasn't something he was used to, and he certainly wasn't used to sensing it among his friends. Taking another mouthful, he tried to think about when he'd felt this before.

Here and there, from passersby on the street, and for a while, from Zhen's boyfriend as well, though not the same. At the time, he was undergoing some form of impossible pregnancy via demon possession. The parasite attached to the girl from Skylark had also given off an awful fluttering, but both of those instances had been clearer than this, stronger, solid and more...unnatural, disturbing even, than this. The life energy of a fully formed being within another, such as a parasite, was always a strange sensation, but there was something about these demonic beings he had encountered that was...unnerving? Revolting.

Even so, the thought of some form of demonic being attaching itself to Whisper was concerning. He would have to bring it to the attention of the others. But the sensation didn't quite match...it wasn't the same unnerving thrum, but more the gentle pulse of...of...what was it?

There was some kind of memory his mind was trying to recall. Something back from the shimmering plains he had once called home. It eluded him the more he tried to force it, so he backed up, focusing once more on the sensation itself.

Moments of little thought passed, and he found his gaze drawn to his sister, across the table. She seemed quite proud of herself. Whisper and Shard had been teaching her to read and write, and she'd taken to it well.

Viahar...

That was it!

The fluttering pulse sensation was the exact same as one he had once felt at age six, from his step-mother. He had asked her why her belly was pulsing, and those around him had been confused. He was scolded for saying strange things, but his mother later explained his step-mother must have been pregnant. Indeed, some time after, it was announced she was expecting. The fluttering sensation he had felt was the moment his baby sister's heart began to beat for the very first time.

It was a warm memory, despite the scolding. It had been his first real experience of the beginning of life. And now he could feel that very same first heartbeat feeling as he did back then from right...beside...him...

Wait.

The same sensation as his sister's first heartbeat in the womb.

From beside him.

Where his girlfriend sat.

The girlfriend he'd been sleeping with before he was injured.

She...

Whisper was...pregnant?

The realisation stunned him. A tiny gasp had part of his breakfast go down the wrong way, and he began to choke. Around him, he heard sounds of concern, felt Whisper's hand on his back, but, aside from trying to breathe, his mind was focused on one thing.

He was sure of it. Whisper was definitely pregnant.

McCalither Short

Caius and Kirby always thought it was weird, those little coincidences where the same thing just happened to occur at the same time. For instance, if something startled both of them and they both happened to drop what they were holding. Or they happened to say the same thing at the same time. They often said that that came from growing up together, having a similar sense of humour. A friend of theirs did that with her mother a lot, after all. Went to make the same joke at the same time. Sometimes, saying the same thing at the same time was annoying. Like some stupid perpetual cliche, like they were following some stereotype forced on them, or like their brother was copying them. And there was something that happened sometimes, when they would happen to speak in unison, even if it was just one word. 'Would you like a drink?'
'Yes.'
And if they both answered the same thing at the same time, eyes would light up, because there's some kind of novelty to twins doing the same thing at the same time. Even with fraternal twins, people get excited by something as silly as that.

Caius didn't remember many of the specifics from each encounter with someone who was genuinely curious about his status as a twin. He wasn't sure if Kirby remembered any of them clearer than any others either, it wasn't something they spoke of often, besides the occasional mockery of a particularly stupid line of questioning shortly after the idiot had left them be. He did remember one of those particularly stupid people had been a woman who approached the two during their summer holidays, when they were about eleven or twelve, to ask them for directions. She wasn't especially old, and might have been a teenager herself, but he wasn't sure. Kirby had tried to help her out while Caius stood by, using the fact that they themselves weren't familiar with the place as an excuse, and once they'd done their part as good citizens, the lady turned to them with a smile.

"So if you're not from around here, where are you from?"
"England." Kirby replied vaguely.
"Well, yes, but where?"
"We can't tell you." Caius answered.
"Why not?"
"You're a stranger."
"And much older than us." Kirby added. "Stranger danger. All the kids at schools are told this when they're little."
"Because anyone could swoop down and abduct a naive six-year-old." Caius agreed with a nod.
The woman stared at them blankly, like she was shocked by their outburst.
"How...how old are you two?"
"Eleven." They both said at the same time, before giving each other a 'did you seriously say that at the same time as me?' type of look.
"And you're on holiday together?"
"Yeah." They said it together again, but Caius asked it, like 'why wouldn't we be?' while Kirby just sounded sick of this line of questioning.
"You must be really good friends then."
This lady is creepy, Caius thought as they both replied "We're brothers."
"You're the same age."
Kirby rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's called twins." He told her. "Two kids born at the same time. It's not unheard of."
"You can't be twins, you don't look anything alike."
Kirby was probably the kind to just call her an idiot and walk away, or loud and slow, just tell her they were fraternal twins, but Caius was the kind to smile sweetly and launch into a full explanation about genetics, zygotes, and the differences between identical and fraternal twins. Which was exactly what he did. He even went to the effort of explaining that blond hair ran in their family on both parents' sides, while Caius himself must have gotten his dark brown hair from their brunette mother, and thus segued into the topic of how genetics could skip generations and how people could carry recessive genes but not actively show them. The woman tried to interrupt him several times, possibly to state she understood or she didn't care or to make some excuse to leave them be, but Caius kept talking and talking until he was sure he had covered anything, and then cheerfully ended his spiel with 'any questions?'.
"I guess you're the smart one." The lady stated.
Caius blinked, then looked at his brother. "She just called you stupid." He told him.
"At least, compared to you I am." Kirby pretended to agree. "Like I could ever learn that piece of biology that I always thought was taught to every eleven-year-old going to any normal school. It's far too advanced for me. Not like this is what we were being tested on right before the school break or anything."
"Maybe she's just jealous because she isn't very smart herself." Caius started walking off at that, as the woman behind him started complaining that that was a very rude thing to say and that she hadn't once said Kirby was stupid. Kirby showed the woman his middle finger before following.
"Do you think mum will buy us ice cream if we ask real nice?" He asked his brother as he caught up to him, the woman already forgotten.
"We can tell her we were accosted by some creep in the street when she sent us off to explore on our own, and that we all need ice cream to get over the shock."
"I don't think she'll fall for that one."
"But Juliet will, and if all three of us are asking for ice cream and Julie thinks we're upset and scared she'll be more likely to cave and Julie will be nice to us. Win-win."
"Using a small child's emotions to your advantage. Devious. I like it."
"I'm secretly an evil genius. Watch me take over the world. With ice cream."
Kirby nodded. "I mean, if there was an election, and one of the candidates was promising to take over the world with ice cream, I'd vote for them."
"Exactly. It's the perfect crime."
"I won't bail you out when your life of crime gets you into trouble."
"Well, that's just like you."
Kirby shrugged. "I'm tough, and I'm not getting dragged down with you."
Caius pouted for a moment. "Meanie." And with that, they made their way back to their mother.