Adam Jenkins (findingmiami) wrote in olympian_rewind, @ 2010-06-18 23:27:00 |
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Entry tags: | adam jenkins, polyhymnia, shiri eneas |
Who: Adam and Shiri (Polyhymnia)
What: Baby Talk
Where: Their House
When: Recent.
Warnings: Nothing really.
Youtube is sometimes an odd Kevin Bacon degrees of separation experiment. Any starting point could lead to a radically different end point when clicking through the “related” side links. Such was Shiri’s experience as she laid on her stomach on the large floor pillow/sorta sofa in the living room with her laptop.
It had gone from to “kitteh committee tea party” to “tiny kitten in tea cup” to “kitten with tiny hat” to “puppy with tiny hat” to “teens trying to put top hat on dog” to “teens propose their own plan to put top hat on oil leak” to “teen rally for the global environment” to “teen conference for social justice and world peace” to finally “Methodist youth conference for peace and fellowship in Canada” in ten parts.
Shiri had clicked each link solely because it was the first one but at the last one she stopped, held in rapt attention by the pastor on the video. There was something familiar about him that she couldn’t quite place, something in his eyes and cheeks…
And then he spoke. His speech cadence sent a chill down her spine like she had heard a ghost. She knew that cadence; it was ingrained into her memory and her soul. Families often shared speech cadences just like they often shared names. This man was no different. His name flashed on the screen captioned beneath him – “Pastor Samuel Embury.”
It was a name she hadn’t seen written out in a long time. There was a momentary wonder in the muse if he could truly be the great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandson of her son by the same name, but that wonder quickly shifted to certainty as he told the conference about a story that had always comforted him when times became difficult and everything seemed impossible that had been passed down through his family for generations.
She knew that story. She had made up that story.
Clicking through the conference videos, she paused again when she found one of him leading the conference in song. It made her shake her head a little as she tapped the screen in thought, caught between delight and incredulity at the display.
Walking in from his art room, Adam stretched his arms far over head, before dropping them and starting to roll his shoulders. He'd been hunched over a few panels of work of late, looking for ways to draw a master image together and flow with the matching lesser panels. Sometimes it was minor changes, sometimes, major ones, but all in all it was very focused work.
Hearing the computer, it was easy to seek his girlfriend out. He smiled as he came into the room, and knelt down close to her. A small kiss was placed at her temple in greeting before turning to look at the screen. Not cat videos? But it was something religious, so it wasn't that far off from her normal YouTube searches.
His kiss was the only thing that could have distracted her away from the screen and her tapping. His touch brought her back fully to her senses and not so much caught between her emotions and her thoughts. Shiri smiled up to him, hitting the pause button on the viewer before laying on her side to face him, "You will be happy to know that when we have children, whatever gift they may receive from my divinity will follow their line through the tenth generation." And with that she rolled back to her stomach to click through the rest of the conference. At least for the moment.
Adam blinked, partly stunned by this declaration. Not because her divinity would carry, but because they had never really discussed having children. But she was already back to clicking through her links as his eyebrows rose, and slowly he stood once more. "Okay..." He blinked again, then shook his head. That was not what he'd been expecting turning, he started toward the kitchen.
Shiri caught his rising from the corner of her eyes and looked up to him again, "Are you going into the kitchen? Can you get me a drink?" She asked the questions in the exact same tone she had made her last statement. It was all perfectly ordinary to her.
"Huh?" He turned to look at her. "What do you want?" He was recovering quickly, but the statement had still caught him off guard.
Now it was her to turn to blink. Hmm, she patted the edge of the floor pillow as she flung herself over to her back, "You to sit down." He had asked what she wanted. She shifted seamlessly between request subjects.
An eyebrow lifted slightly at the request, but he moved back and took a seat as she requested, turned so that he could face her easily. A small smile hinted on his lips. Often a request like this came with something slightly whimsical or childlike.
She immediately shifted to put head and shoulders on his lap, continuing to stare up at him. Her own confusion glimmered against her pink eyes. Why was he all startled? Did something happen? Was it something that could be helped with a video of kittens riding roombas, because she loved that video. Gently, she reached up to graze his cheek, "Everything okay?"
He pressed slightly into her hand, and gave it a kiss. "Yeah." And it was. He smirked slightly as he realized what she was picking up on. "I just hadn't exactly thought about us having kids." At least not seriously, but only in that vague passing thought form, without any true idea of reality and fatherhood attached.
Wait, he hadn't? Shiri blinked again, letting her arm drift back down but her attention never wavered. Adam was in his mid twenties, right? And never thought about... Bah, modern society was messing with her perception of time and age again. She hated when things changed on her, "Really?"
He shrugged. "Not in detail." But since she had mentioned it, he was starting to think about it. Less in the abstract, and more in the present. "We aren't really ready for kids even, and we've never discussed it." Until more recently, they'd both been in college, and that wasn't really the best time for family planning.
"Never discussed it?" Shiri grabbed one of his hands, toying with his fingers as she considered all of this. She remembered having a conversation with someone... But who if not... She then giggled, "I talked to my sisters and not with you. Oops."
The giggle and comment caused his eyebrows to go up before chuckling himself. Somehow, it fit. Even if they weren't muses, close sisters would talk about such things, wouldn't they? "Aren't I the important one to discuss it with?" he asked?
"I suppose you are," she murmured softly and releasing his hand, she brought her eyes back to his, "But then again, I did not really think it had to be discussed that much..."
"No?" He shifted on the seat to get into a better position slightly, before brushing her hair back and lightly tracing her face as he peered down to her.
Shiri began to curl in on herself as she wrapped her arms around herself as her shoulders narrowed inward. This line of questioning made her suddenly uncomfortable, suddenly involved in a conversation she didn't think she ever had to have, "I just assumed we would."
That wouldn't do. Shifting his arms, Adam reached for his girlfriend and brought her upright to lean against his chest as best he could with the given angle. He kissed the top of her head. He hadn't thought about kids in detail until now, but now that he was, he knew he wanted them as well. He just didn't know the details. "How many do you want?"
Surrendering into his grip, she followed his movement and his intention behind it and reclined her body along his chest, resting her head against his shoulder. Her smiled returned at the kiss and with a shrug of her own looped her arms around him, "How many do you want?" She really hoped not too many. She really, really did.
He shrugged carefully. She was more back to her normal mood, a good sign. "I don't know. Two? Three?" He shrugged again. "I haven't thought about it." Though now he clearly would need to.
Somehow, she knew that the only child of a single mother would want more than one. Shiri had known it deep in her bones but two-three? That she could manage. Not that she would enjoy being pregnant with any of them. "Two does seem to be the norm of this country."
"Usually." He kissed her forehead again then pulled back slightly to peer at her better. "Is that okay with you?" He didn't know if he should expect her to want more, her own family having once been so big as she grew up, or if having children in the past kept the idea from being exciting or interesting to her.
Having children in the past made the idea terrifying to her. The discomfort of pregnancy, the pain of delivery, the terrible despair of their possible loss before they had their own family... and yet... she glanced at the computer again. When they did live, they gave the man she had loved a bit of immortality. While her beloved moved on, part of him still walked here below. She returned her eyes once more to him with a small smile and a nod, "That is fine. Your mother can easily spoil two children."
A grin came across his face at the words and he chuckled, imagining his mother with two grandchildren and all the ways she would spoil them. "I think she'll enjoy that. That's what grandmothers do."
Giggling again, she leaned in to bridge the minor gap he had made to better peer at her and kissed his cheek and then shifted all the more so she could just sit on his lap, "I did not bring this up because I want them right now so do not worry..."
"I don't think we could afford them just yet," though he did let out a slight sigh of release he hadn't been aware of. She wasn't looking for children now, and it seemed like she wasn't pregnant. That would be another worry altogether, despite the care they took.
She wasn't. She would be more angry and whiny. There would be no doubt or subtly about it. "We have savings," but she shook her head as she lifted her hand to toy with his hair. It was just long enough for her to slip her fingers through it and the contrast always fascinated her, "But I do not think my GPA could afford it."
"We don't want to use all the savings right away though." He wasn't in a job that had retirement benefits, and college was likely to only get more and more expensive. Not to mention the whisperings he'd always heard about how expensive children were to raise. He smiled lightly at her. "Once I have a fairly steady income, we can think about it, okay?"
Something about that sentence bothered her and she wasn't sure if it was the 'the once I have' like he had no faith, he would or the implication he was doing her a favor. She decided quickly it was the former as there was no way for him to know this was all for him. She took one of his hands again, but this time in unconscious possession. "You worry too much about things," she murmured pleasantly and yet in a light scolding before kissing him.
Adam returned the kiss, deciding it was a far easier solution than trying to make some kind of retort. Had she questioned his cause of statement or reasons, he would have tried to explain, but most likely only fumbled it worse. So, he kissed her a bit more deeply before letting her break away, and grinning at her. "Did you want something from the kitchen?"
Had she? Yes. But now she was content sitting on his lap, awash in his affection. She wrapped her arms around him again, giving him a slight squeeze. "Stay... please?"
He was mildly hungry. And while it wasn't an issue yet, that would probably make him a bit grouchy until he got food. But he probably still had a good half hour, right? So at her request, he nodded. "Sure," and kissed her again.
"Can we lay down?" she whispered into his ear just as the kiss broke, gripping the back of his shirt, "I am going to make your legs fall asleep like this from the thigh down..."
He chuckled, then helped her to move so they could both find a better spot. This included shifting the pillow sofa, but it once they were settled he raised his eyebrow to her. "Better?"
"Much better." She nodded as she returned to clinging to him, pressing close to his body and tucked her head beneath chin. Ah, her favorite spot. If only she had a blanket over them both... A quiet humming escaped her as she settled and relaxed more. Only then did she ask, "What were you doing before? Or do I have to snoop around when you are not looking?"
Wrapping his arms around her, he idly rubbed her back and lifted a shoulder at the question. "Just getting some sets into order. You'll snoop later anyway though," he pointed out. He didn't bother to try to keep anything really hidden from her most of the time. There wasn't much reason to, and it would defeat the purpose of living with a muse. Anything he truly wished to hide, he kept in the car.
"It is my job to snoop. And then wonder why your work is in that room and not outside in the public view." That last fact she continued with patiently, but her muse-patience was wearing thin on the matter. For now, however, she wouldn't mention more than that. Partly, because she believed Adam would understand her subtly.
"I'll be contacting a few galleries after this set is ready. I want to be able to make a few prints to sell this time," he offered in his defense. He knew one gallery had almost an open invitation to him, but there were two others he wanted to try because they had a better space. Either way, he'd probably be best seeing if Shiri could go with him to help him choose a gallery.
The muse lit up at the words and giggled softly in her glee. A few galleries and contacting? Those were the words she wanted to hear. Adam was out of school now. She was officially done with him being some obscure artist. Her mortals didn't live obscure lives, at least not while they lived. History didn't always preserve their names, but always their works. There was an almost predatory glint in her eyes as she shifted to glance up at him, "You will be fine. You will have to fight them off from all claiming you."
"Will you come with me to help fight them off then?" he asked as he peered down at her, a small smile to his lips. He figured that was what she wanted to hear. There was enough work for a gallery show without doing this latest set, but it was this, as a complete set, that he wanted to do.
"I will bring the stick to fight off the unworthy ones." Though she probably wouldn't really need to bring a stick to fight anyone off. People were more civil nowadays. Which was probably fine. The last time she had to fight someone off from trying to possess her mortal's work she hired a brigand... Where would she hire a brigand now? Maybe Valentine's husband... "I will definitely be snooping around later."
"You can do it while I eat." Which made him wonder, "Am I cooking dinner tonight?" He was contemplating pizza, or some homemade version of it if he was. There had to be some sauce around, and cheese, and everything else could be used from whatever they already had.
Shiri shrugged a little bit, "I will not stop you. Then I can snoop while you do that."
"I was thinking pizza," he mentioned. "Should we order or make home made?"
"If you order, you do not need to get up nor do you need to turn on the oven," Shiri released her grip on his shirt and collapsed to her back on the sofa pillow, giving herself a good stretch while carefully avoiding whacking her laptop with her arms, "But then I would not get to snoop."
"You can snoop later after the food gets here," he offered. "But if I cook it, it'll probably be quicker." He released her as she shifted to stretch, letting her choose which they were going to do. He had the number for the pizza place in his phone, and his phone in his pocket, so it would be easy either way.
She ran her hand along his chest, her fingers tracing along the design on his shirt as she thought. Decisions, decisions. On the one hand, him cooking made the house smell delicious with the scent of garlic and she could snoop now but on the other, him ordering kept him close. A distinctly musical whine escaped her as she sat up. Her mind was made up, she approved of her choice and yet just didn't want to move... "Go cook before I change my mind and do not do musey things."
He grinned at her, then leaned up and kissed her once more, before pushing himself to stand as well. "We can do non-musey things after dinner," he offered, kissing the top of her head again as he passed her toward the kitchen.
But she wanted to do non-musey things now... and do musey things. Shiri decided then, she needed to learn to split herself into two people. But rolling up to her feet, she looked to Adam and the predatory possessive glint was back in her pink eyes. His art room was unguarded and she had art to look at. With the laptop forgotten, their conversation forgotten, even dinner was forgotten as she dashed off. There was musey work to be done.
Summary: Shiri surprises Adam into having a brief baby talk.