Di Nuovo

[Madalena Antares]

Madalena did her best not to laugh when Josh seemed too embarrassed about mentioning the sexual content of how his relationship with Ra had begun. But she failed. Miserably. When he did that motioning thing with his hands she just lost it and burst into laughter.

But hey, as long as she got permission to kill Ra in case of the woman abused Josh or Jason, it was all fine.

"Is Jason aware of the more-than-friendly relationship?" she asked with interest once she calmed down from the laughing.

[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh simply smirked in turn when Madalena would start to laugh at his antics. She had a nice laugh, so it was no big deal. It was a welcome change from the fact that the "old" her never laughed, and he'd gotten used to her laughing, after all. It would be a strange day if she stopped laughing.

"I don't think Jason understands" He would admit. "He's three. He doesn't understand most concepts, and I don't think he's old enough yet to understand what a boyfriend and girlfriend are."

Calling he and [member="Riamah"] "boyfriend and girlfriend" was going to take a bit of getting used to, he didn't even think he'd used the term yet before now. But he'd get used to it, he was sure.

"You're still always going to be Aunty Porgianna, obviously" He cracked with a grin. "No matter what Ra does end up becoming."

[member="Madalena Antares"]

 

[Madalena Antares]

"That's okay," Madalena said with a grin, "I like being Aunty Porgianna. But I have a lot of more stories to tell him, so he might change me to Aunty something else."

Laughing, she turned away from Josh to refill her glass of water.

"So how are you dealing with this whole she's a Darksider thing and into all the Sithiness and stuff?"

[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

The Jedi would chuckle in turn. Of course, he thought. That was about the reaction he expected. "I'm sure Porgianna will stick" He remarked. "Maybe when he's older, he'll change it. Then you'll just be Aunty Madalena" He teased, sticking his tongue out at her. "Nowhere near as fun. And you'll start getting wrinkles by then. It'll be the realization that you're getting old."

Taking a sip from his drink, he considered her question.

"It's a work in progress. She used to be a Sith, and there are some... Hangups, about that. The Sith Empire burned her bad though. She's mostly rejected the dark side, more and more over time and it shows. And her compassion shines through too bright for the dark side to overtake."

He looked toward her a moment.

"She's kind of like you in that respect. The dark side is a corrupting influence, a pair of chains as a former Sith has put it to me... It changes you, warps you, influences you. Takes away your humanity, takes away what makes you, you the more that you embrace it. But the both of you have managed to spurn it's deepest holds thus far, and I've been able to see that from the moment I met the both of you. You two are very much unlike any darksiders I've met."

[member="Madalena Antares"]

 

[Madalena Antares]

"I'm never going to wrinkle," Madalena exclaimed. Wrinkles? Her. No. Never! She would die before that happened.

"The Dark Side is not a corrupting influence, you really need to get over that," she shrugged in response to the other bits of what Josh had to say, "I'm as human as it comes. I'm me. I'm not fighting any specific side or doing any of that. There's tons and tons of darksiders like me. And, by what you say, like her."

[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

He only smiled in turn. The truth was that Madalena was a lucky one. She could work with it freely with no ill effects. But she treaded a fine line, one she could easily cross. And Josh had told Scherezade the story of what had happened when he had tried to walk that line, for his brother’s sake. One he hadn’t told to Madalena. As for his brother... Well, he was a walking example of what the dark side did to someone.

Even if he did tell her, she’d probably dismiss it. It was times like these that Josh was reminded that in many ways, Scherezade and Madalena had the mind of a child. Perhaps that was part of what kept the dark side’s full effects away. She was naive and childish in many ways, both good and bad. It was clear in how little she cared about these sort of things... And about the consequences of what she did, to others outside of her bubble.

It was the biggest difference between her and Ra. Ra was wholly aware of the line she tread, and wholly aware of what the dark side could do to you. And she handled it as such. Her maturity probably helped in that matter but she’d also seen much of the worst of the dark side, while Madalena... Really didn’t seem to have.

Granted, Ra was probably the worst Sith he’d ever met when she was on board. She clearly never had the aptitude for it to begin with, and Josh had wondered about it until she came clean about why she served the Sith. Everything made sense after that. She had never served by choice. And never had fully embraced it either.

“As you say” He responded with a small smile. Perhaps it was best to leave Madalena to her ignorance on the matter. She’d learn with experience. Something she lacked at present. All he could really do was be there when the truth came crashing down. Same as with Ra. He’d hoped to prevent the same thing from happening to her as harshly as it’d hit his partner, but... Clearly Madalena was not listening. And never would.

It was true though that the CIS Sith acted differently, and he still had to research that... But there was a darkness to them, that couldn’t be denied. How hard would it be for them to turn out the same as those amongst the Sith Empire?

“So I’ve been meaning to ask” He spoke up. “Where did you get the wolf?”

[member="Madalena Antares"]

 

[Madalena Antares]

Yup. It was totally as she'd said!

And then came the question about Baal. Madalena grinned from ear to ear.

"A forever ago, I was sent on a mission to deal with some cult that hates the Confederacy. We didn't know it at the time, but they trapped me and Dia, and we were in a shared dream. Apparently this cult thing was experimenting on the brain and dreams and all that came with that. There was this entire Alice in Wonderland like-setting and I ended up killing a dragon by letting it eat me and then slicing my way through its insides and then eating his heart. It would've been an amazing story if it were real.

We managed to break out of that dream though, and found ourselves in a lab. While fighting our way out, we found two caged Loth Wolf puppies. I took Baal, and Dia took the other one. They knew we wanted to help them; though I can't really imagine what that stupid cult was wanting with the wolves in the first place. Baal's been with me since that day and he's growing into a fine companion. He also brings more life and joy to this ship."

[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

“Alice in wot?”

The blonde stood there confused, blinking a few times in turn. Well that certainly seemed like quite the harrowing adventure, didn’t it? Moving in a dreamscape... Sounded.... Familiar.

“Well, he certainly does lighten the ship up” He pointed out. “Less gloomy looking that way” He joked, sticking his tongue out at her in turn. “Speaking of a livelier ship... You ever thought to have kids of your own?” He asked casually and off-hand. “They’re a joy to have. Lots of responsibilities though.”

[member="Madalena Antares"]

 

[Madalena Antares]

"Kids of my own?" Madalena asked. It was not her time to blink. She couldn't recall if she and Josh had ever discussed the matter. Come to think of it, the only person she could actually remember speaking about it with was Daisy, but she wasn't about to bring Daisy up again.

Surprise made way to a smile though, and she finally nodded. "Not right now," she said, "probably not in the next few years. But when I'm less running around the Galaxy to peww-peww? Definitely. A whole bunch of them. Enough to make a Huttball team of their own."

It was hard for her not to imagine having lots of kids when she was old enough for them. "But anyway, I'm going to need someone to be my partner and their father. I'd rather avoid the single parenting thing if I can. Not that you're not a great example of how it can be done, I just… I think I wouldn't be able to do that half as well if I was alone."


[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

He couldn’t help but laugh at that. A whole team of them? That sounded like fun. And a mess.

“A whole team, huh? I’ll admit, the thought’s crossed my mind” He spoke truthfully. “I’d like to have more kids. Parenting... Is hard. Take it from me. It is full of sleepless nights, endless stress and anxiety and the realization that nothing can be just about you anymore. It is never-ending headaches and challenges that crop up as they grow. It never, ever gets easier if you are actually a good parent.

But... There’s something satisfying to it all that has given me life and purpose that I did not have before” He spoke softly, his expression brightening. “I can’t even describe the untold joy that I have had in being a father to Jason. It has become my life, and I would have it no other way. I genuinely don’t feel like I was living, in hindsight, until Jason came into my life.”

He took a deep breath. “As far as having more kids, back to the subject... Maybe in a few more years. I want Jason to know that he has me. I don’t want him to ever think that he won’t. And this is an important stage for Jason, at his age. Where he’s very much finding his identity and full sentience. This time more than ever is where I need to be here for him the most. And that’s where having more kids is hard... As every kid I will ever have will go through this stage.”

Turning his attention back to the subject of Maddy, he thought on the single parent thing.

“Definitely easier with a partner. Things haven’t been the same since I’ve had to do that. Yet, it’s not all bad either... I feel like taking a bigger role in Jason’s life like I had to, really helped shape me as a father. That’s all I can offer for advice no matter how you end up, I guess. Make them your absolute priority.”

[member="Madalena Antares"]

 

[Madalena Antares]

Madalena nodded. She knew about all the challenges that Josh was speaking about, but she knew of them offhand; the babysitting she had done did not reach the ankles of what it was to actually be a parent. The sights she'd seen of Josh and other friends doing it did not properly let her experience it herself so that she would truly know.

But she had seen that joy. She had felt that join, projecting. And she knew that one day, she wanted it herself, carrying a child, having it grow with rests on her lap, teaching that child, making sure he or she could weather anything that came its way because she gave them the proper tools. To help them grow into people that had every reason to love themselves and be proud of themselves.

"You know damn right I will," she replied with a smile before moving over to him and planting a kiss on his cheek, "and you better be there to listen to me whine when it gets tough."

[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

He smirked pointedly when Madalena would remark he was to listen to all her ranting when the day came she became a parent. “Something that that comes at a cost, Maddie... Guess you’ll be catching hell whenever Jason messes up, aye” He asked with a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

“Bein’ a parent’s a lotta work.”

[member="Madalena Antares"]

 

[Madalena Antares]

"Are you kidding me?" Madalena grinned from ear to ear, "when Jason's old enough to start making actual messes, Aunt Maddy's gonna be there to teach him how to cover it all up while maintaining a perfect visage of a perfect little angel!"

[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

He smirked slightly in turn. “Hey hey, you can’t go teaching my kid bad habits” Josh remarked pointedly. “Only I can do that.”

And he had, apparently. Enough to catch Jyoti’s attention and irritate her over Jason’s bad dinner time habits and playfulness. At the last CIS meeting, at the dinner beforehand, Jason had belched loudly and thrown food at Asaraa... Even if she had provoked it by antagonizing him.

[member="Madalena Antares"]

 

[Madalena Antares]

"Nah uh!" Madalena replied, "you're his daddy. You need to teach him all the proper and right stuff. It's his aunt that gets to spoil him rotten and teach him all the naughty things!"

He tuck her tongue out for a moment before bursting into laughter.

She didn't care about burps and belches. Jason was a three year old, and learning culture signs of what's acceptable and what was not, were all still new to him. He'd learn as he grew up. But there was no damage in teaching him he could go all out sometimes.

[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh would chuckle and shake his head in turn. "Hey, hey, don't go screwing up my kid" He joked. "Get your own to screw up. And then I'll spoil them and screw them up further" He cracked, shooting her a cheeky grin in turn. Oh, she would always be the mischievous aunt Maddy. Probably, anyway. So the blonde simply shrugged it all off. He supposed he'd have to be the one to correct whatever misbehaviors were there, though Josh wasn't good at that sort of thing... He sure hoped Ra was.

"Ever thought of names for kids?" He asked, trying to hold in his laughter in turn.

[member="Madalena Antares"]

 

[Madalena Antares]

"All the screwing up," Madalena promised, holding a hand to her heart as she said the words, "and you better be doing the same to mine when I get them. And we can send them and Jason to do all sorts of whacky things around the 'verse when they're at the appropriate age too!"

Grinning, she took another sip from her drink.

Names?

Madalena shook her head. "Nah," she shrugged, "I don't believe in choosing names before they're actually in the womb. A name has to fit, so I can dream for years about calling a daughter Princess Consuela Banana-Hammock and then once she's born she'll just be a Rey."

[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"Oof, I don't want to imagine when they get older. I'm already feeling old enough already" He admitted, laughing a bit as he shook his head. "They grow up far too fast... Gotta enjoy them while we have them. And while we're still young too. Because before long, they'll be grown up, and making their own way in the world. Then we'll be by ourselves again."

Honestly, it wasn't a day he was looking forward to. Jason was an integral part of his life and if he was being honest, he knew that he needed Jason just as much as Jason needed him.

"Anyway, let's go and check on Jason and your wolf. See what kinds of trouble they're getting into" He remarked with a laugh as he got up, stretching out. While there may come a day that Jason left the nest... That was a long ways away. And he would enjoy what time he had while he had it.

[End]

[member="Madalena Antares"]