Hidden Among the Trees

"The problem is," Dark explained, his child practically hidden in his strong, tattooed arms, "even if we get back on the road, our car is shot. I am far from being a mechanic, and we do not know where the nearest town is so that I can get to a phonebooth to call someone. We are not from around here, we were returning home from a trip."

Tarot stood exactly where she was, wanting to sit down, but not wanting to ask for a chair. Because of her disability, she has been treated as though she were weak and damaged her whole life, so even as an adult, and even when she actually was not at her best, she was hesitant to do anything that might make someone percieve her as incapable.

Despite the fact that she stood to his back, Dark knew both her feelings towards appearing weak, which he had similar feelings about towards himself, and that she desperately wanted to rest, and so he added taking the loss, "and at the moment, we are both so exhausted from everything that has happened, I am not positive we could make it anywhere significant."
 
Hortense shuddered at the thought of being so far and lost from home. It was something he always feared would happen to Adatia when he went gathering in the woods, though thankfully that hadn't been an issue. "Why don't you stay here until we find a way to settle you home? We can always use an extra hand around the house, and it takes a village to raise a baby. You'll have an easier time resting with four of us keeping an eye on her."
 
"We would greatly appreciate it, but I do not accept charity. I demand to help out, and genuinely help, not merely be given meaningless tasks to appease me." Dark said, and Tarot laughed, sidling up to him.

"Ignore him, his ego is extraordinarily sensitive. We are very grateful for your offer."
 
Adatia clapped when Dark and Tarot agreed to stay with them. It'd be a nice change to have more people in the house, and he'd always found children adorable.

Hortense, meanwhile, let out another booming laugh. "A good ego is important in any man! I like this guy already!"

"I'll show you to the living quarters so you can get situated first. After that I can show you the ropes on tending to the store, and then I'll get to making dinner. We usually rotate who cooks and cleans the dishes each day, so we'll have to start adding you into our rotation.... ah, do either of you have allergies to food?"
 
"Not that I've discovered yet," Tarot said, "and if anything, as of today, I've been able to eat more freely than I've been able to for the past eight months. And, well, I don't typically let Dark eat bananas, but that's just because they make him grumpy." She grinned, and Dark rolled his eyes.

"And you should not let her clean, she only ever seems to make things dirtier than they were before."

"He only says that because he's anal retentive." She laughed.
 
Adatia sprinted across the room to pick up a notepad from the counter. He opened it and took a pencil, beginning to write in scribbles. "No bananas for Dark... Tarot should be kept from cleaning... Wait, so should we avoid you cleaning or not?" The elf boy looked like a girl again with his scattered mind making him blush ever so slightly on his fair features.

"Now, Ada, don't think so hard about these things. Let's get to know them the old fashion way- experience."

"But isn't it better if Mister Dark isn't grumpy from breakfast, and that Miss Tarot should be given tasks more suited to her abilities?"
 
"Ugh, don't call me 'Miss' it makes me sound professional," Tarot said, not even mentioning that technically, since she had a PhD it would be 'doctor. She only used prefixes in professional settings, anyways, when she went by her birthname rather than her nickname.

"If you have her clean, I will just do it for her, in that regard, it is not that different from how we live at home."
 
"Okay, so no Miss. Mister Dark, do you prefer without prefixes as well?" Adatia was still scribbling away at his notepad. "And gotcha. Tarot, what would be better uses of your skills? We should give you ample time with the baby anyway, but you'll probably need a break sometimes, and doing something else can be a good refresher."

Hortense beamed with pride as his son was taking full action on this topic. He hopped over the counter to take a better look at the baby. "She's certainly a beaut. I think we still have Ada's crib in the attic... Want me to fetch it so she has a good place to rest?"
 
"I prefer it." Dark said, and then paused. He was trying to find the words to express that he wanted ample time with his daughter as well, because he was her father, and wanted to be her caretaker as much as he could be, considering he was unable to feed her, but he didn't want to seem inconsiderate to his hosts.

"Again, his ego," Tarot said, and to Hortense said, "a crib would be lovely. I'm sure at some point we'll both need our arms." Although, after so many years of infertility, they didn't mind having to hold her so much.
 
Hortense seemed to sense the fatherly concerns of Dark. He put a hand upon the man's shoulder with that toothy grin never leaving his face. "Don't worry, you'll still have plenty of time to play with the cutie. We'll help supply toys for her while you're here, too. Basically, take what you need and pay us back with your hard work. If we all work together, we can do great things!"

Adatia laughed timidly from his father's optimism. He focused on Tarot, while he watched his father run off to find the crib. "Tarot, do you have a good sense of muscle memory for your sense of direction? I was thinking maybe we can forage together sometimes, get you some fresh air that way."
 
"Me? I've got a better sense of direction than most sighted people. If I reach an area, I can always find my way back to it," She replied, a little bit cocky. She wasn't quite as good as she claimed, but she was pretty remarkable about it, "It's really easy in a place like this, because I'm able to touch the trees. Fields and open spaces are harder."

Dark said nothing specific, because after Hortense had left, he started speaking to his daughter in the embarrassing baby-voice all people inevitably use when communicating with very young children.
 
Adatia smiled to Tarot as she explained her skills with finding her way. With Hortense gone to get the crib, Adatia had begun readjusting things on the shelves, jumping to try to reach a cloth diaper. "It's good your sense of direction is good. It means we can work together to get ingredients for medicine and food." Finally, he nabbed the diaper with one last, tall jump. "Got it! Now we're ready for if she needs a diaper change... Which she smells like she might to me."
 
"I think you are right," Dark said, "is there somewhere a bit more... secluded, where I can take take care of it? I do not intent to impose any standards of modesty on her, it is just that currently, all she has as covering is my jacket, so I can imagine that..." He paused, turning towards his wife, and asked in a gentle tone, "Spider, what is the matter?"

"No, it's nothing, it's just," She laughed, although she was evidently trying not to cry, "that's her first one, and my body is still trying to readjust." She knew her reaction was ridiculous, which is why she continued to laugh about it, but she couldn't help but be affected.
 
"Why don't you both change her together? You can do it in my room for privacy. It's not the best place I'd assume, but it's very clean and my bed is soft, so she should be comfortable while you have your privacy. I'll stay out of it while you're on doody duty." He laughed a little, his smile effeminate as his laughter took a slightly high pitch. He hugged Tarot for a moment, however, when he realized she was ready to cry. "It's okay, you're still adjusting. It's okay to cry if you need to."
 
"No, no I'm alright," She replied, politely breaking away, "I'm not sad. It just came over me all at once, is all. Which way is your bedroom? It will only be a moment." By then Ivy had begun to fuss, which helped to snap Tarot out of her momentary state of ennui and bring her back down to earth, which was for the best, because from her perspective, she was the only woman in the room, and therefore did not want to get the reputation of being an easy crier. If it was typical of her personality that would be one thing, but since it was out of the ordinary for her, she thought it would reflect poorly on her.
 
In Adatia's mind, there were two women in the room- even if one was an infant. For him, it was a little embarrassing that he was leading a woman he barely knew into his room- but, it certainly was suitable for changing a baby, surprisingly. His room was simple and girlish- wooden furniture with a lot of warm colors all about. His walls were a light birch wood color, his furniture made from maple. He had pink sheets with a sunset colored comforter, and a table in the center of the room that had a set of candles on the far side of its circular form.

"Would it be better on the table or the bed?" He asked carefully, realizing he didn't really know. He'd helped change diapers before, but it was usually on carpeted floors for some reason or another. "Either one is fine with me to get a little dirty, I'll clean it either way once you're done."
 
"Probably the table," Dark said, looking around the room. He had a deeply gothic, nearly vampiric sense to him, which went well both with his own surname, and his wife's witchy vibe, so the cheerful, pastel bedroom was an adjustment. All he could think was, if she stays here too long, she will be corrupted. She might even grow up and... join scouts. and of course, after thinking those thoughts, he inwardly smiled at the ridiculousness of it, but for a moment it was a true concern.

Tarot, unable to see the feminine charm of the room, said, "Oh no, we'll clean it up. That seems like something that would be our job. It's our baby's mess, after all."
 
"Your baby's mess or the fact that it's my room. Either way, as long as it gets cleaned, that's what matters if you ask me." From a hallway, he heard his father grunting and checked out the doorway to see what was going on. "I'm going to go help my dad put the crib in the guest room. I'll show you to it after you finish with the little one, okay?"

He fled before they could answer, his voice and his father's being audible as they struggled to get the crib through a door as a duo. He came back as soon as it was in the room it needed to be, leading to Adatia returning to his own. "The crib is now in the room you'll be staying in. Ah- the bed might be narrow for you guys. It's a full size bed- that should be okay to share, right?"
 
"When we were in high school, we would sneak into each other's dorm room and share a twin bed. A full sized one will be just fine." Tarot replied, sitting on the edge of the bed.

Dark was changing Ivy's diaper. They had nieces and nephews, so it wasn't as if he had never done it before, but it being his own child made him somewhat nervous, but it was imperceptible. People all think their emotions are more immediately obvious than they are, to the extent that psychologists have a term for it, and he kept reminding himself of that.

"Of course," Tarot added, smiling wistfully, as an afterthought, "We were both thinner, then. It was before Dark started working out, so he had the physique of a pencil, and I hadn't just had a baby. But, honestly, Adatia, anything is better than the forest floor."

"Or the car." Dark added.

Then, giggling, Tarot followed up with, "Or that one night in the bathtub."

"Please," Dark cracked a smile, "You have gone to sleep in the bathtub more than once."

"But only once did you join me."

"Because it was miserable." He tossed back, and the couple bantered with each other for a little while more before realizing they had completely forgotten the half-elf's presence, and apologized for getting carried away.
 
Adatia was finding it hard not to laugh as he listened to the back and forth of the couple. In a way, he was jealous- he had no one like that to banter with. Most of his banter in daily life was with his father, which he felt didn't really count. Alas, he'd never had luck finding a girlfriend or a boyfriend- honestly, he didn't see the big difference in genders, likely because he was so easily mistaken for a girl himself.

Then, suddenly, he found the two apologizing to him for getting caught up in their own conversation. This time, he didn't hold back his giggling, smiling brightly. "I didn't mind it. It was fun to listen to. Listening to people getting lost in their conversation is sometimes a great way to get to know someone. Though I also got lost in thought trying to imagine Mr. Dark as a stick..."
 
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