Oh dear... one does not simply go shopping with Salone (Michael)

Hanna pulled herself onto the stool, looking intently at Michael. Salone was cleaning up chalky dog prints off the floor.

“Well how did you figure that?” Hanna asked, her lips twitched in amusement. Something flickered in her eyes like she was desperately trying to remember something. “You’re a smart to figure that out then. What gave it away?”


Then, just like that the five year old mind was back. Not the seventeen year old mind that had shown itself for a few precious seconds. “Do you like swimming?” Then she prattled on before getting of her stool and vanishing into her room.

Salone had been watching Michael and Hanna exchange words before Hanna had left.
“She does that, its quit unnerving.”

Michael found the young girl looking intently at him, his eyes mimicking her in that manner as if they were having a macro staring contest. ”Simple, you and your mother don’t have normal auras, they are different. In fact they were more powerful than any human.” He noted, somewhat confused by her sudden change within subject, as if his interest in swimming were just as important. Did he like swimming? Personally Michael was no big fan of swimming, but then again his half-brother liked to do so.

”I don’t like swimming much, but I have a brother who loves to.” He admitted off handedly with a wave of the hand adapting to the sudden change of subject. Salone stated that she did this often and it reminded him of when he was younger, the sporadic thought process that came along with him. His dad didn’t mind it so much but then again he was probably lying.

”It comes with a rapidly aging body I suppose.” He said with a shrug, only slightly hinting at something with that sentence. Hands ran along his chest, absently as he thought over something for a second.

Salone watched Michael what Hanna go. Something had been niggling at the back of her brain and she did have to admit that some of his behaviors where oddly familiar. He ran his hands over his chest. Then it clicked.

“Michael, why do you need to talk to Artemis so badly?” She asked, sitting down on the stool Hanna had just vacated. Her forearm rested on the counter and she stared at him intently with brown eyes. “I’m bound to find out sooner or later. Best to run it through me first so she doesn’t explode on you…unless… You’re not sleeping with her are you?”

Salone wasn’t going to judge as she couldn’t talk. Dragons of all things…

Salone suddenly hit him with a question, something about why he wanted to see Artemis so bad. His expression stayed neutral for a second as he thought up an answer for that one, yet nothing came to mind, not that it stopped the female from asking any more questions; one of which caused him to give her the strangest of looks. He was doing what with her?

Michael was more than acquainted with the idea of procreation, having heard about it from both the human internet and knowing so from the young ones on the ethereal isles, speaking about it as if it were a simple thing. His mouth hung open as if she had said a terrible curse, taking a step back as his mouth snapped shut like a trap. For a moment his words seemed to fail him, ad all he could do was look at her.

”Slee….sleeping with her? No, nothing like that.” Hew said taking a deep breath. If one thing was true within this world, it was that he would not partake in such a vulgar action with the human shapeshifter, not when there were many that he would have rather.

”I…..I don’t know how to word this actually without sounding insane to someone that may not understand what I am.” He thought this over for a second, looking at her with a slight flustered expression. ”I’m pregnant and she might be the mother?” he tested the words out with a rather strange expression.

“Well generally mothers and pregnancy go together instead of dad and pregnancy,” Salone mused, drumming her fingers on the table. Luckily for Michael, Salone had dealt with many a strange creature back when she was a tracker. So it was pretty much believable… for her. For Artemis, well… it was going to be weird.

“How does that work- Ah!”

Hanna had snuck back in and had appeared at Salone’s elbow in utter stealth mode. She smiled widely before wandering around the island. Leaving Salone to sigh and massage her forehead, “Parenting is hard.” She notified Michael before looking around to see what Hanna was doing. She was digging around under the sink looking for paper towels.
“Hanna? What are you doing?”

Hanna straightened rather quickly, hitting her head on the lip of the counter. “Ouch!”

Salone made the movement to get up and go comfort her but Hanna waved her off.

“I’m fine; my head is just killing me.” She winced, eyes clearly watering, She was having another ’17 year old mentality’ moment.

How could he explain it to her in a way that made sense? Ethereal pregnancy was a rather tricky subject to tread on, and he was actually not well versed within it himself, just enough to know how the child formed and whatnot. Explaining it to someone that was as feral as that woman would likely make him have an aneurysm. However, before he could begin explaining anything to her, Hanna appeared out of nowhere and stopped the whole process, something that Michael was rather thankful for.

She said something about parenting being hard, and Michael looked to Hanna before turning back to Salone. ”I get exactly what you mean.” he agreed with a nod of his head. The young girl seemed like a handful as it was, and if these were anything like Artemis, he was in for a world of hurt. The young dragon then seemed to go rooting about for something, and bumped her head.

Stirring from his position, a small amount of worry flashed across his face, but it was quelled quickly. She seemed fine, so he wouldn’t worry too much about her.

”You okay?”

Nodding, Hanna rubbed her head and sat back on her heals. Still looking slightly watery eyed as she stood, fingering the developing knot on the back of her head.

“Yeah, I’m fine Michael.” Hanna flashed him a genuine smile before walking over to Salone and crawling into her lap. She was tiny enough that she could fit her head under Salone’s chin. So Salone rocked slightly and ran her fingers through her daughter’s hair. Hanna watched Michael for a few moments before smiling slightly and letting her eyes drift closed.

“You know… I think you might be one of her favorite people,” Salone muttered. She wasn’t sure how she felt about this, considering Michael was Sean’s kid and all. Hanna generally hid behind things when it came to new people. But with Michael, she seemed to assault him with questions. Salone sighed rested her cheek on the top of her head.

Michael returned the smile for a second before realizing that expression had formed upon his face. The female still seemed small enough to fit within Salones lap, which brought up the strangest image of the only other person that size doing the same. The image of his father crawling into Salone’s lap made Michael literally laugh, one hand clamping over his mouth as the sound came out. It was foreign to him, and yet felt nice. More of the smiling and then she seemed to drift off into sleep.

Why was this little one so attached to him? If anything, she would have done better with his younger brother than him. ”I am?” He asked with a rather surprised expression, before chuckling lightly to himself. ”Of all the people, I’m one of her favorites? Makes me question quite a few things.” He said with a shake of his head, yet the strange smile remained. Maybe he just had a low opinion of himself, or he was just stating a rather harsh truth.

Salone smiled slightly at Michael’s laughter and Hanna opened one eye and grinned at him, like she had intentionally done that to make him laugh. Then she closed her eyes again and attempted to go back to sleep.

“No idea,” Salone shrugged. Slipping an arm under Hanna so she could pick her up and put Hanna to bed, Salone stood. Her daughter’s head resting on her shoulder as she carried her out of the room.

To say Artemis' hunt was going badly would be an understatement. She was flying home as a hawk empty handed. Her territory had been literally empty and she couldn't pick up and scents. It was strange. Did she already kill everything worth hunting in those woods? She had only had the territory for a month. Ever since she had become the next elder spirit the primal side of her had become more active, not that it wasn't active to begin with. She had pretty much gone hunting every 2-3 days and would always return home bored but with at least one kill. She was becoming restless and it was annoying her greatly. She landed in the backyard and shifted into her human form. Like always, wearing no clothes. Despite the constant yelling at her she didn't understand the point of wearing some when she was out hunting. She walked in the backdoor.

"I'm home!" yelled Artemis. "Don't even bother going to my room, getting dress, blah blah boring human stuff." said Artemis, a bit annoyed. Her hunt didn't put her in the best of moods. She walked into her room and threw some clothes on. She walked back to the kitchen and noticed Micheal. He seemed to fill out a bit. Artems' eyes looked over Micheal. He didn't look half bad now that he wasn't so much of a stick. "What are you doing here?" asked Artemis before turning her attention back to Hanna and Salone. "Here pup, I found this while hunting, thought you might like it." Artemis held out a rock the size of her palm. On the outside it looked like any other rock. However part of it broke off and you could see inside it. It was a pinkish quarts crystal on the inside.

Michael found himself softening slightly at the sight of the sleeping Hanna, smirking slightly as he ran fingers through the dark brown hair atop his head. The kid was sweet, even if she now looked about the same age that he was, the mentality still seemed rather stunted, she could not keep up with the power that had aged her. Walking through the door a voice that was rather familiar and Michael found himself cringing at the sound of it. It was the shape shifter and of course she decided to come in without a single shred of clothing on. However when she entered the kitchen she was wearing something, and that was a relief within itself, even though her being there was more than enough to annoy him.

It was that look she gave him that made him blush slightly, the woman looking him over like someone would a piece of meat. ”I was here to talk to you about something, and to see the little one…though she isn’t so little anymore it would seem.”

Salone chuckled slightly at Artemis’ announcement of clothing before the sleepy Hanna was handed a rock.

“Fank you,” Hanna murmured, burrowing her face back into Salone’s neck before her mother vanished from sight into her room. Laying Hanna down Salone returned to see Artemis interrogating Michael.

“And now Hanna is sleeping,” Salone whispered to the two. “Thanks for putting on clothing Artemis.”
The Dragon Time collector noticed the tinge of pink on Michael’s cheeks and ears and she leaned over to ruffle his hair, affectionately before moving away to pick up some things.

"You want to talk to me?" said Artemis, her eyebrow raised. "What in the world would we have to talk about." Artemis' voice was full of venom, however it didn't seem to particularly be aimed at Michael. She sniffed the air, it was really nothing out of the ordinary, she did it all the time. However something smelt funny. More specifically Michael smelt funny.

"Well first of get what you had to say out of the way. I am not in the mood for surprises." said Artemis. "And when was the last time you took a shower, you smell funny." Although the smell did seem a bit familiar. He smelt like how Salone did not to long ago. But that wasn't possible. Michael was a guy and as far as she knew, the male of her species lacked the necessary parts.

Michael frowned at the woman as she seemed to take a rather sour tone with him, as if she seemed to hold some intense dislike for him. Not that he really had any love for her, considering that he could possibly carrying the woman’s child. If that were the case, all he could do was internally blame her for forcing this upon him. ”Yes, I do want to talk to you.” He growled lightly showing white teeth as if her continued existence was in some way annoying to him. The more she spoke the more he felt like not really informing her of anything, so he…would not. His children would be better off not having such an incompetent as a mother, he could do fine upon his own. ”I took a shower this morning, and now that I think about it I have nothing to talk with you about.” Michael growled turning away from the shapeshifter before he changed his mind and simply removed mother dearest from the equation.

Uh no, Salone’s thoughts echoed before she stepped in, placing a hand on Michael’s shoulder.
“Be nice,” Salone stated in a quite tone. It wasn’t harsh but rather the tone a mother would use in warning to her two children. In a sense it did feel like Artemis was a child in most cases. “You need to remember Artemis doesn’t process information the way we do. Raised by wolves remember?”

She made sure Michael was going to stay put before returning with two cupcakes and handing one to each of the individuals in turn. “Calm down the both of you, please.”

Artemis rolled her eyes. "Well why did you say you had something you wanted to talk about." said Artemis. Great, just great. First her hunt had gone horribly wrong and now Michael was here making her day even worse. It was like his job or something. "You took a shower? I would bet my tail you didn't, you reek." said Artemis. Artemis was in a bad enough mood as it was, maybe she just tear out this boy's throat and call it a day.