I promise I will not set your kitchen on fire
Who: Morrigan and Maia What: A day at the park and sudden Maternal Feels Where: A park When: Recent Status: Complete Rating: PG
It was a nice day out, good for spending some time in the park with Maia. She’d insisted on stopping to get some tea to take with as they headed to the park. She had her hair pulled into a bun and held in place with chopsticks. “I must say, I do enjoy these excursions with you, love.” Morrigan said with a smile as they headed to the park.
“We shouldn’t stay cooped up all the time,” Maia pointed out. “And it’s nice to observe people. Brainstorm a bit.” She had her notepad with her, thinking they could jot down ideas or anything of interest. She had no real plans, except to bask in her fiance’s presence.
“You mean that I should get some fresh air now and then,” Morrigan corrected with some amusement. And natural sunlight. The lights in her greenhouse definitely did not count as sunlight. “Though I agree that there is something intriguing to observing people.”
“You should be a vampire for Halloween, you already have the skin tone,” Maia teased. “And a witch is cliche for you.” Though if she wore her wilds outfit (or any sexy witch costume from the store), Maia wouldn’t let her leave the bedroom.
“I daresay a witch would be cliché for you as well,” she countered. “Though I am uncertain about a vampire. I could make a lovely ghost, though.” Morrigan wasn’t planning on wearing any of the sexy versions of costumes for Halloween, but the thought of simply wearing her wilds outfit around the house definitely crossed her mind.
“What do you want to see me in?” Maia asked. She was willing to wear just about anything, and it didn’t matter how much skin showed. She took a great deal of pleasure in doing the whole slutty halloween thing. That was the best part of being in the States, Halloween wasn’t as big a deal back in London.
“I rather think you would make a fetching Cleopatra. Or Nefertiti.” Morrigan said without much pause for thought. Clearly it was something that had been on her mind with Halloween approaching. “I suppose this means we should go shopping for costumes one of these days.”
“Mmm,” Maia nodded. “I’d rather not wear a culture.. Maybe something just as sexy that’s less...of an issue like that. Sexy Queen, perhaps? Sexy wizard? Sexy George Washington?”
“Maker, definitely not sexy George Washington.” Morrigan’s nose wrinkled in distaste. Possibly due to that whole American Revolution thing. “You may wear whatever you wish to wear.”
“It has to be something to drive you to distraction, because you deserve nothing else.” Maia had no intention to actually go trick or treating, or let Morrigan go trick or treating. No, she had other plans involving chocolate and she was formulating them right now.
She settled into a spot beneath a tree, with a good view of the whole park.
“I believe you know by now you drive me to distraction, love.” Morrigan had no intention of going trick or treating. She wasn’t even completely sold on the whole costume thing. She’d never really been into Halloween, and not just because it wasn’t as popular as Guy Fawkes Night in England. She was more interested in reading and learning than she was prancing about in some costume she’d probably never wear again.
Besides, growing up with Flemeth, every day was like Halloween. Only in the very bad sense of it.
Morrigan sat down beside Maia, making herself comfortable as she glanced around at people for some moments.
“I’ll try not to drive you off the cliff.” Maia winked, turning her attention to the people around them. It was a diverse bunch of people, families of many sizes. It almost made her homesick for a family of her own. Or at least the found family of her and he companions.
“I appreciate that. I would rather remain alive so I may enjoy you.” She smiled. There were some children running around and playing. Morrigan was just about to turn her attention elsewhere when she saw a boy that made her do a double take. He resembled Kieran, but it wasn’t actually him. She drew in a breath, but found herself missing a son that existed only in her dreams.
Seriously, these pesky maternal feelings were not welcome. They made her uncomfortable. She sipped her tea, pointedly trying not to look at the children again. “Perhaps we should have brought Barkspawn with us.”
“Mm, that would have been a good idea.” It was a bit late now though. And without the Mabari they didn’t have to worry about monitoring him. Still, something about Morrigan’s tone worried her. She followed her gaze and frowned. “Is everything all right?”
Perhaps next time Barkspawn could come along. She sipped her tea and looked at Maia. “Yes, all is well.” Was that a lie? Partly. Morrigan wasn’t one to complain or really voice pains of any sort, especially ones that no one could do anything about.
“You seem a little distracted. Is it that boy?” Maia knew enough not to tease Morrigan about maternal instincts, but Maker did she want to. Oh to hell with it. “Biological clock kicking in?”
Morrigan’s eyes narrowed, bristling a bit. “If you are only going to make such jokes, then perhaps we should simply sit here in silence.” She didn’t like being teased, especially when she wasn’t comfortable with what she was being teased about. She hadn’t accepted the maternal instincts she had, and at this rate she never would.
“I’m sorry.” She put her hand on Morrigan’s leg, thinking she might have struck a nerve. She just didn’t know how to discuss this, but it was clearly something that shouldn’t be ignored. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Talking about a child who only exists in dreams is hardly productive.” Morrigan wasn’t necessarily trying to be obtuse, she simply didn’t think any good could come of talking about Kieran more than she already had. He wasn’t here, and that was that.
“But you miss him,” Maia pointed out. “That’s got to be obtrusive. You can’t bottle that up, Morrigan.” Was it a kind of grief, yearning for a child that did not exist?
“Yes, I miss him, which is silly when he does not exist here.” Morrigan definitely was refusing to accept the maternal feelings. Despite what her dreams had shown her, she still believed she would be a terrible mother. After all, she had a horrid example of a mother herself. It was a wonder that Flemeth hadn’t ruined Morrigan’s life, though there were still plenty of years for that to occur. Morrigan was certain she’d screw up any child she attempted to raise.
“Mmm, perhaps there’s nothing we can do about it, but there’s nothing wrong with those feelings, that yearning. It happened, and it’s something we just have to accept.” She nudged Morrigan. ”You’d be a good mum.”
“No, I wouldn’t. I would ruin a child for life.” She had vowed long ago that no child would experience a childhood like hers. That, however, didn’t mean that she’d sworn off having children, she just doubted she could be a better mother than Flemeth was to her.
“You know what not to do. You have experience in this life to teach you things that you wouldn’t know in your dreams. And there’s no bloody blight or actual real life dragons to worry about.” Wait, was Maia suggesting they actually do something involving children?
“Simply because I know what not do does not automatically make me a good mother.” Morrigan wasn’t that different from her dream self, but she did lack the experience of being a mother, of taking care of someone other than herself. But then Maia’s words sunk in a bit, and she looked at her. “Do you want a child?” Because being blunt was one of her specialties at times.
“I think that you might be underestimating yourself.” Maia pulled her legs up to hug her knees and rest her chin on them. She thought about Morrigan’s question for a moment, mulling it over in her head. Finally, she nodded. “I think I do. Oh, I don’t mean right away. But eventually. It’s..one of the things I never got there.”
Morrigan was going to resist those maternal feelings as much as she could. They felt highly unnatural to her. “The Blight took much from you.” The Blight had taken much from all of them, but that was a bit besides the point. “I believe you would make an excellent mother.”
Maia smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to make you carry around any children.” Even if she doubted she could have any herself, not with the Taint. Nor would she risk it. She took Morrigan’s hand and kissed the back of it. “But I know you miss him.”
“That is the least thing to be concerned about. Neither of us is male.” Which was obvious, but if there were to be biological children at some point in the future, it was something they needed to discuss. “And there is nothing to be done about my missing him.” It was a sore spot purely of Morrigan’s own making, but she needed time to try and accept that part of herself. She was afraid to accept it, afraid that if she and Maia had a child here, that Flemeth would come and try to take them away again. Morrigan would kill Flemeth without hesitation if she so much as tried that again.
Assuming, of course, that Flemeth wasn’t a dreamer and could otherwise compel Morrigan to stop.
“Somehow I think Orange County wouldn’t give us a problem with that,” Maia joked. It was a bad thing to joke, either of them could wake up pregnant. Or with a penis. Or actually male. She decided to change the subject. “How goes the herbing?”
“Should that occur, I shall know who to blame,” Morrigan teased in return. Orange County was capable of anything. She wouldn’t put anything past it. “Tis going well. The herbs from Thedas are flourishing, which is excellent to see. I am stockpiling potions as much as possible for when things inevitably turn to war again.” It had been a little while since an invasion had happened, but it was best to be prepared.
“Inevitably.” It was a sad word, to Maia’s ears. That they would be forced into conflict, as if they would never escape it. But maybe they weren’t going to escape it and if that was the case, it was good to be prepared. “That will be handy. I need to try some more of my advanced spell techniques. I’ve come up with a few...enhancements.”
It wasn’t the best word, but it was obvious that periods of peace didn’t last forever in Orange County. Morrigan didn’t shy away from that truth, even if she would like to enjoy some extended period of peace. “What enhancements have you come up with?” She was curious. “Max is teaching me the art of Necromancy, so that should certainly be an interesting tool to utilize.”
“Combining elements, mostly. Heated rocks, frozen fire, that sort of thing. I just need a place to blow things up without actually hurting someone.” There were other combinations, entropy magic, blood magic. Maia wanted to know if she could apply blood magic in a safe manner.
“You certainly have been busy experimenting,” she commented, obviously impressed. While Morrigan did have some of the offensive elemental spells, her magic had always been focused in other areas. Shapeshifting. Healing. Now she was learning Necromancy. “There is always going out into the middle of nowhere for blowing things up.”
“We should make a date of that again. That was fun, last time.” She laced her fingers with Morrigan, watching the people around them. Especially the dogs and the children. She wasn’t feeling any particular tick tock of her biological clock at the sight of them though. A distant yearning at best. Maybe she should see a doctor, find out of the Taint was screwing her up in ways she wasn’t aware of.
“Though perhaps this time we could do without the invasion of the Galactic Empire, hm?” Morrigan noted with some amusement. She held Maia’s hand, still trying not to look at the children. Morrigan didn’t know if her biological clock was ticking or not, not when she was refusing to acknowledge the maternal feelings. She simply knew she missed Kieran, though she’d scarcely admit to it to anyone.
“Definitely.” The Empire had been a good target practice, but she would rather not go through that again. Leaning over, she gave Morrigan a peck on the cheek. Keeping the topic off of children or Kieran, she asked. “You know what I want to try? I want to try cooking for you.”
She looked at Maia, raising her eyebrow inquisitively. “Do you? I am not opposed to the idea so long as the kitchen remains intact.” She teased with a gleam in her eyes. Morrigan was certainly the one with the cooking skills. She was no four star chef, but she could cook. It would be interesting to see what Maia would want to make.
“Yes, I do. I promise I will not set your kitchen on fire but I can’t promise there won’t be a mess.” Just. What to cook. Maia wanted to do something fancy. Duck. Quail. Some kind of lasagna. Her mind was turning ideas over so obviously the wheels were visible in her head.
“I believe you mean our kitchen, though I am pleased you will not set it on fire.” That was the important thing. Maia having set the drapes on fire the one time was more than enough of setting things in their home on fire. Looking at Maia, Morrigan could tell the wheels were turning. “And I see that you have ideas already.”
“Our kitchen.” Maia grinned a stupid little grin and giggled a stupid little giggle. “I’ll never get used to that. But I’m not sure I want to.” She turned adoring eyes onto Morrigan. “Oh yes. Just you wait.”
Morrigan had to smile at seeing that little grin and hearing the giggle. “I shall brace myself as I wait with bated breath.” She said with a chuckle. Though she had to wonder just what Maia would come up with.