WHO: Sydney Sage & Rose Hathaway WHAT: Friends catching up WHEN: Around September 20th (backdated) WARNINGS: nope STATUS: Closed, Complete
Knowing that you were carrying a new life inside you was a heady feeling and Sydney still had to keep reminding herself that she was actually pregnant. Up until now, she wasn’t exhibiting any symptoms, but that made sense from what she remembered from her biology lessons. They weren’t as important to her Alchemist teachings as chemistry or physics, but she loved science and retained a fair amount of information that her father deemed useless without really trying. Of course, pregnancy was different here because of the shorter duration, which meant she would probably start feeling the effects sooner.
And apparently sooner was right now. She was on her way to the gardens to get her day started when she was hit with an overwhelming wave of nausea. It was enough to make her feel a little light-headed and she stopped, leaning up against the wall of a nearby shelter until it passed.
She hadn’t said anything to anyone yet just in case something happened and Arva didn’t believe that she and Eight were really ready to make a baby, but she was guessing this meant she really was. Which meant she probably should make an announcement or something. She would have to make sure Eight was ready for her to tell the rest of the volunteers first.
After a minute or two, she felt like the worst of her symptoms passed and was about to continue towards the garden when she heard footsteps nearby. Inwardly, she groaned when she looked up and saw that it was Rose. Even though she was making great strides in accepting that people with supernatural (or extraterrestrial) abilities weren’t the evil creatures she was taught they were, it still made her a little uncomfortable having the dhampir around.
“Hi, Rose,” she said, knowing that she would at least have to be polite and greet the other girl.
***
Rose was starting to feel a little more at ease now, getting involved in helping to build things and getting to know a few more people. She was adjusting to her new purpose in life and all the changes in it since being brought here. The longer she was here, the more she liked it and the more comfortable she felt in her decision. The friends she was making had a lot to do with that. A lot of them were guys, but that was nothing new for her. Lissa had been her only real girl friend for most of her life. It wasn’t like the novice dorms had been full of other girls.
She was out for a walk when she spotted Sydney. Her sharp eyes spotted the signs that the alchemist - or former alchemist, she guessed - didn’t feel well and her eyes narrowed in concern. Did people get sick here? She and Sydney might not be very close, but she still worried about her.
“Hey,” she returned, still looking a little worried. “Are you okay?”
***
“Yes, I’m…” Sydney cut herself off. There was no reason to be coy about what was going on with her. It would be public knowledge soon enough and at least Rose was someone that she did consider something of a friend. “Well, I’m pregnant,” she said, the words sounding foreign to her own ears even as she spoke. It was the first time she was saying them out loud. “And I think I just had a bit of morning sickness.”
She really needed to reach out to Briseis or Chloe and ask them for some tips about what she could expect to happen and when since they already went through this. If it was a normal forty week pregnancy, she would be more knowledgeable about the process but everything was different here.
***
“Really?” Rose grinned at the news, surprised, but happy for Sydney. “Wow, that’s amazing.” Once, she would have thought it was crazy, the idea of having a baby at their age, but she knew that was a part of why they were here and she also knew from talking to others that it wouldn’t be happening for Sydney unless she wanted it to. That meant it was a good thing, right?
“You’d think these all powerful gods could do something about the morning sickness, though,” she joked.
***
It would be nice if Arva could somehow eliminate the negative aspects of their pregnancies along with making them much shorter, but Sydney figured the goddess must have her reasons for not doing so. “That would be nice,” she agreed. “But I guess there’s only so much she can do.” Or was willing to do. Same difference, really.
Sydney managed a weak smile at the joke though. “It’s weird,” she said. “I never really thought about this being part of my life before coming here, but I figured after nearly six months, it was time to contribute.”
***
“Six months. Wow. I still can’t believe you’ve been here for that long.” Sydney being pregnant made the whole thing more real for Rose. She’d been getting to know people better and trying to get into the swing of life here, but the prospect of having a kid still seemed really far off, considering she hadn’t even got past third base with anyone yet. Sydney had been here a lot longer, but it still struck her how they were the same age and now Sydney was having a baby.
“Are you scared?” she asked, the words slipping out before it could occur to her that was a crappy thing to ask. “Sorry, that’s- you can tell me to mind my own business if you want.”
***
“A little,” Sydney admitted, not minding that Rose asked. If anyone else asked, she probably would have danced around the answer, not wanting to admit any perceived weakness, but she figured that she and Rose had gone through enough together, even though the other girl didn’t remember it all, that she could be honest. “I mean, I’m letting Arva raise the baby once it’s born. So I don’t have to worry about that part.”
Giving the baby up would probably be a lot harder than she was prepared for, but she had plenty of time to figure that out. And she would have Eight by her side, which would make it easier to bear.
***
Giving babies up to Arva seemed to be a pretty popular thing around here. Rose wasn’t sure how she’d feel about it when the time came, assuming she was ever ready to even have a kid, but she got that it wasn’t the same as what her mom had done with her. From what Eddie had said, she figured it was probably the best thing for everyone involved. Plus, this was Sydney. Rose was pretty sure she’d thought it through, probably with charts and graphs.
“Yeah, but I’m guessing if you have to have morning sickness, giving birth is probably going to hurt like hell. If it was me, I think I’d be pretty freaked out about it.” That probably wasn’t super helpful, but Rose was a lot better at honesty than comfort sometimes.
***
Sydney was so concerned with the way her body was going to change with her pregnancy that she hadn’t really given much thought to the actual process of giving birth and her face paled at Rose’s words. Luckily, she was still standing close enough to the shelter to lean against it. “I haven’t really thought about the birth part,” she admitted.
What was she doing? Was this a huge mistake? If it was, it was way too late to reverse it, so she was going to have to figure out how to get through it. It couldn’t be worse than some of the things she went through as part of Alchemist training, right? “How are you settling in?” she asked, wanting to switch the focus to something else.
***
Rose felt kind of bad when she saw Sydney blanche at the idea of giving birth. She hadn’t meant to freak her out more, but her tendency to speak without thinking got her into trouble often.
She shrugged when Sydney asked how she was settling in. There was a lot about this place that still left her wondering what she was doing here. She didn’t really have any skills that were actually useful here and the most action she’d seen was making out with Oliver a little. It was hard to feel like she was making much of a contribution.
“Fine, I guess,” she answered aloud.
***
“It does take some getting used to,” Sydney said. She remembered how awkward she felt when she first got there and how many times she questioned her decision to accept Arva’s offer. If she and Rose were closer, she might admit that. After a moment of consideration, she realized that she probably should share it anyway. There was no reason why she and Rose couldn’t become closer here.
She wasn’t sure how she felt about opening up that much to anyone, but if she could help the other girl adjust better to life here, then it would be worth making herself a little uncomfortable. “I was a virgin when I got here,” she said. “Actually, I hadn’t even ever kissed anyone. I sort of glossed over that part of Arva’s pitch and focused on the part where I got to help build a new society. It made me very uncomfortable when I got here and everyone was posting what amounted to personal ads on the network.”
At least that didn’t seem to be much of a thing these days. She supposed that most people used the bonfires and other gatherings to meet and hook up.
***
Rose couldn't say she was completely surprised by Sydney’s admission, even if she was surprised to actually admit it. She'd actually been surprised to find Sydney here once she found out what most of the volunteers called the place. It didn't seem like her kind of thing. That whole building a new society thing, though, that sounded much more like the alchemist to her.
“I didn't think any of it was real,” she admitted. “It seemed like a joke or maybe one of Adrian’s spirit dreams. I didn't really know what I was agreeing to, but I knew I wanted out of that cell.” She shrugged then, as if it wasn't a big deal. “I'm not a virgin or anything, but I haven't slept with anyone here yet,” she added. “I've only even kissed, like, one guy.” She didn't feel like admitting that she didn't think she had much else to contribute here. The things she was good at didn't seem to be needed here, but she wasn't sure how she felt about sleeping with someone just for the hell of it.
***
Sydney was a little surprised that Rose wasn’t more into the sex aspect of life here, but it was pretty obvious that they didn’t know each other nearly as well as they probably should after all the time they spent traveling together. That was largely Sydney’s fault since she kept the Dhampir at arm’s length, believing her to be an evil creature of the night. She didn’t really think that anymore, not after being here and meeting so many other kinds of people.
“Well, you don’t have to rush into anything,” she said. “It took me awhile to get there. And I’m definitely not as active as some of the other people are here.” Though she was getting a little more bold and uninhibited the longer she was here and the more comfortable she became.
She realized that she was much later than she normally was for the gardens. “I should probably get going,” she said, feeling a lot better than she had a few minutes earlier. “But we should hang out again soon.”
***
A lot of people who knew Rose would probably be surprised she wasn’t more into the sex thing. Most people had thought she was having sex long before she actually had. It was something she actually took more seriously than most people would have guessed, though, especially after all the rumors that Mia had spread about her during her senior year. She knew people weren’t that judgemental here, but she still wasn’t so sure how much she wanted to do the casual thing.
She appreciated Sydney echoing what others had told her. Sometimes she felt like she was taking things too slow, but it was nice to be reminded that there was no set timetable. She could do this all on her own pace.
When Sydney mentioned needing to go, Rose couldn’t help being a little disappointed and she nodded her head at her suggestion. “I’d really like that,” she admitted. Maybe she and Sydney weren’t exactly close, but Rose liked the alchemist a lot and it would nice to have another friend here, one who actually knew what she was, since that was something Rose hadn’t actually told anyone here yet.