#earthrunes

"Liaaaaaam? Liiiiii-aaaaaaaam....." The call comes softly down the hall, in and out of different chambers, as Vince seeks August, on.... hmm, some day, mid-afternoon, that August would have been back at the holding. As he gets to the door of the library this door is also opened, but when he leans in, it is just a bare stage whisper...

"Liiiiaaaaaam....."

Having worked the morning shift at the pool, teaching tadpoles, August is at work in the library, hair slicked back from the shower except that stupid curl on his forehead. He looks up. "Vince." A pleased expression, even if his voice is soft.

"Hello."

He gives a smile and slides through the door, pushed open lightly with an elbow. And August will soon see why, Vince has his hands -quite- full. A silvery white stripe coils around his left arm like a slender bracelet, the fiery serpent slings lazily across his neck like a loose torq, and his right hand holds a small basket, from within which green eyes gleam.

"Have you met the babies yet?"

"No, but I wanted to." He rises and approaches, but keeps his hands behind his back.

"The wee ones were just nagging away, "Where's Unky August? When do we get too see Unky August? and I hadn't the heart to deny them longer. So glad to find you about." He nods wisely, and moves over to settle into one of the comfy armchairs, gesturing for the Liam to join him in another.

He takes a seat next to Vince, still watching the snakes. "They're beautiful."

He carefully settles the basket on August's lap. "Allon here needs to meet his namesake - better sooner than later. Allon, this is August." He purrs in a soft rumble, unconsciously softening his tone in the way folk do when addressing something small and cute. Apparently, snakes count - to VInce, at least.

"Namesake?" He cradles the basket in his lap.

"Oh, yes. The librarian named them all, and wasn't that just kind of her. That is, until we get the bill. I'm sure it's in the mail." A green head peeks up over the edge of the basket, and slowly starts to writhe down the side, scales gleaming in the light as he moves towards August's lap. The small ones along his neck almost resembling oak leaves in shape - but color, very similar to the larger creature slain at the diner what feels like a lifetime ago.

"We....ah, we know they're not poisonous, right?"

"Oh, why... that IS a very good question, isn't it?" Vince ponders a moment. "But these sweetlings wouldn't hurt a fly. Well, a fly maybe. I'll make a note to ask Sir Sergei about that." Seemingly unconcerned as Allon slides onto August's lap.

One of the snakes eats a fly.

Allon seems enthralled with something, and slides along the lap. Tongue questing out to taste.... button. Not food. And seems to be pondering sliding into the gap of August's shirt...

"Oh, now, hey, ah....." August gently holds his shirt closed. "There we go."

"Aww, poor littles. They do seem to like warmth, the dears."

"Well, I'm sure my lap is warm enough." He carefully strokes along the pretty scales.

Allon twists, turning his head towards the fingers and following them with a waving snoot, focused on the motion - but does not seem to mind the admiring.

Vince, meanwhile is petting the other two in turn, "So that they know I have no favorites," he explains. "I -am- sorry that you weren't around for the hatching, but you're here now, and that's the important thing."

August nods absently. "I needed to go to Scarsdale anyway, but I wish I'd been here to see them."

"Well, they are here now, and much less slimy this time. Oh, it was a mess, all birthing goop and shell shards - not really anything worth seeing, in my opinion." He reassures the sidhe. "Shall you take to wearing a fanny pack, that Allon might accompany you on all of your missions forthwith?"

"Ahhh... with me?" He seems startled. "But... he's yours."

A soft smile, his tail swishing - and two other snake heads weaving to watch that tempting tuft. "It takes a village, don't they say?"

"Well.... if you, ah, if you'd like help I'd be happy to, of course."

"I was blessed to watch over these wee ones in their eggs, but they belong to Earthrunes, not to me. Or perhaps to themselves - who knows what sort they may grow up into? Perhaps someday we'll be surprised as they sprout wings, or spout poetry in perfect French. The dreaming has done odder things..."

"That's true." August is still focused on the visitor to his lap. "Do you know what they eat yet?"

"Mostly naughty children." Lightly stroking Anku's head, as the pale serpent flicks inner lids up against the incoming finger. "But occasionally insects - I doubt there will ever be a roach problem here - not that I'd ever expect any under Delores's reign - and a touch of glamour, it seems.

He nods. "I suppose... I guess I could get a .... a bag or something. If you want me to carry him around. Have you taken them outside the Freehold yet?"

"Not yet - with them being so, so... fresh, I wasn't sure if the big city might be a little too bleak for the wee ones."

He glances up at August, and gives the man a smile. "But how are YOU doing, other than as a handy perching spot?

He nods. "It's just, that's mostly where I go. I wouldn't want to harm him."

"Fine." Absently, stroking the snake. ((Which just reads.... WRONG.....))

((Or so, so right...))

"How are the fishing lessons going?" He gently pries a little further towards the Liam.

August looks up, puzzled. "Fishing lessons?"

A finger lightly flicks the dangling superman curl, still damp, back on August's forehead. Where it assuredly falls right back into place. "Swimming with the fishes, of course."

August reaches up as well, and tries to make his hair slick back with one hand. "Oh, swim lessons? Or the whole pool job? It's going well. I mean, no one's drowned yet, and the other lifeguards and staff are getting the hang of things."

"An excellent start. I suppose if someone drowned on your watch, you'd get a demerit, and that would be just terrible, terrible." He looks curiously at Allon, who now curls around August's wrist and seems intent on traveling up his arm to see what there is to see. "I wonder if we have swimmers here. THough a shame if they were to decimate the garden pond of tadpoles, I would miss the croaking chorus later in the fall."

August allows the exploration. "A lot of snakes can swim, there are certainly whole breeds that do live in and around water."

"Tell me, what have you been up to the last few days, other than the seashore?" Pooka boon and Good Listener, engage! "Surely you hatched a few accomplishments on your own."

"Ah. No. Not really. I mean.... I started trying to, ah, ease my parents into a new situation with Derynwydd and I. And, ah, Coradel. Slowly, you know."

"They must certainly be interested in how their sun has attracted such a bounty of redheads to his hearth. Lovely folk, I am sure. I can't wait to meet them someday." He gives August a grin.

August reddens. "Well, the situation got.... confused. I'm trying to straighten it out without lying... too much."

"Smooth talking -is- my forte, after all. If you ever need a hand with... well, with anything, you know you have my paw..."

He nods seriously. "Thank you, Vince. I'm hoping that by Christmas I can let them know how I feel about Coradel. Well, Chloe, to them."

"I can't imagine anyone could think of a single thing to say against her, or you, for that matter, as a suitor for their loved ones." His voice holding no tone of jest for once.

A puzzled expression as he sorts through it, then says. "Well.... no. Not, you know, once they get to know her. They've only met once and that... ah, that could have gone better, I think." He clears his throat. "And, ah, they think I'm living with Derynwydd. Julia."

He seems about to remark something but the lion bites his tongue, and then offers. "Maybe if they meet one of her lady friends, it might help relieve any confusion? It shan't be too hard to orchestrate, even as a coincidental meeting..."

A wry look. "Except that we live in Kansas City and my parents live in Scarsdale?"