march of the falsettos;; open- moving

[trojan g.]

[align=center][div style="bgcolor= black; width: 500px; font-family: Times New Roman;font-size:10pt;text-align:justify;"]The day Moth had come to Tanglewood she had looked around the territory in search of a home. She had been told that there were many empty buildings to choose from, and that everyone here had chosen their own house in one way or another. Some lived in big houses, some lived outside, Red had lived in the bunkers, but Moth had chosen a small house for herself, something more of a hut really. It was a small, one room structure consisting of a mattress in the corner and small little piles of things she had liked when she had first moved in, bones and sticks, dusting in the corners slowly being replaced by her new collection of books and papers, things she'd learned to appreciate since she had learned to read.

Things had changed since Moth had first moved in, some for the better, and now it was time for her to choose something to change. With Jervis gone, Moth felt as though she had no worry of someone coming into Tanglewood and burning her house down, and now that she was with Selby, she felt as though she needed a new place to stay. Something with more than one room so that it could be nice and organized, where she could have an actual bookshelf, and a closet to hide presents in, as it had been hard before her disappearance to hide the presents she had gotten for her boyfriend and her brother. So, she had decided to move out.

Moth had been eyeing a small bungalow styled home for a while now, a one story building closer to town with a few rooms in it. A kitchen to use for cooking and for storing food instead of a small corner, a proper room for a bed, a closet, and more. Everything she wanted in her own little house that she hoped would one day have Selby sharing it with her.

Now, Moth was a big cat, able to carry things from her house to the other, multiple things at a time, but, it seemed as though today for some reason, she was carrying one thing at a time, and she was being very careful about it. Seemed odd for her to do so, as it was slow-going, but, so far, she didn't really seem to mind too much.

[wormwood.]

i was born, on the highway, in a train wreck

with a heart, that was beating, out of my chest

Aurum could still remember the day he had picked his home out. It had been a fairly uneventful occasion, considering at the time the lion had still thought this was all temporary. He had thought that eventually he would be leaving the swampland before long, following after Poetking in whatever ill thought out plan he threw himself into next. At the time, he had never expected to grow as attached to Tanglewood as he did, or any of the people who lived within it. Still, that didn't mean he had picked a shitty place, just a small, temporary one. It was a decent sized house, but still on the small side, and had plenty of room for himself, his bed, and a cabinet that he chose to keep. Over time, his home had become more permanent, gaining more knick knacks and furniture, as well as more people, with the first being Roy and then Crowley on occasion. At times it felt a little cramped to the lion, but... Roy never complained, and it was hard for the proxy to even think about moving to another house. After all, that had been the home he had been in for nearly six months now. It had so many memories attached to it, and so much character at this point... he decided to wait. Wait and see if Roy ever complained about it, or if anything ever happened. He hoped nothing would, but it certainly would've made things easier.

This was not the first time that Aurum had noticed someone bringing things away from their home, and he somehow doubted that it would be the last. However, unlike with Piers, Aurum didn't feel as much extreme concern about Moth moving things around. After all, his sister was an adult, and if she felt as though she could leave her old home behind, then she should've been allowed to. Still, that didn't mean that the male wasn't gonna be curious about it, especially when he noticed her very slowly moving things across camp, as if everything would turn into dust if she moved the faintest bit faster. Deciding to give in to the childish curiosity inside, the winged lion got to his feet, moving over slowly alongside his adopted sibling. He spoke up with a smile, his tail flicking behind him as he easily kept pace with her, considering how slowly she was moving, "Hey Moth... you're moving, right? I mean, I don't know why else you'd be taking everything out of your house... what's with all the going so slow?" He could certainly understand having one or two fragile things that you desperately didn't want to drop or otherwise break somehow, but it seemed as though she was doing it with everything. He might've understood if perhaps she was injured or something like that, but it didn't seem as though she was, at least not obviously.

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[selby roux !]

[align=center][div style="width: 51%; text-align: justify; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -1px; font-family: georgia;"]Selby, of course, has heard inklings of Moth’s wanting to move. He supported the notion wholeheartedly. Her current home was a tad cramped, and though it was okay for just her, it wouldn’t always be just her. One day, Selby would want to move away from his father. The current arrangement was never supposed to carry on this long, anyhow, and he was beginning to feel a bit like he was overstaying his welcome.

Nevertheless, Selby was surprised to see Moth already moving her things. What was the rush? Surely she had plenty of time. Her old home seemed perfectly functional, if a bit small. Still, looking at the pace she was going now, there didn’t seem to be much of a rush at all. In fact, his girlfriend seemed to be taking her time, moving things one at a time.

He approached, wanting to offer his help. “Moth, I didn’t know you were moving so soon. You could’ve asked for help. I have a wheelbarrow. We could use that to move things along a bit faster,” he said, giving Aurum a brief nod out of courtesy. “That is, unless you have a reason to be moving like this. Nothing wrong if you do. Just doesn’t seem terribly efficient.”

[trojan g.]

[align=center][div style="bgcolor= black; width: 500px; font-family: Times New Roman;font-size:10pt;text-align:justify;"]She had been proud of her little things that she had carried thus far, though by the time Aurum and Selby came over and began to speak with her, the female couldn't help but get a little annoyed at how long it was taking her. At first she had thought it would be something that had gotten done within a day, but with the pace she was going, she couldn't help but feel it would take quite a bit longer than that.

Words came from her brother's maw, and the female would look over to him, listening and sitting for a moment, glad for the small chance to rest - her legs were hurting from all the walking back and forth - and she would simply nod her head at first, "Yeah, I feel like this house is a bit small at the moment, it's always been kinda small I guess, but now it's just... too small." She would shrug her shoulders once before eyes looked over to Selby, thinking for a moment. "A wheelbarrow would have been useful I guess," She would speak, brows furrowing for a moment in slight frustration. She should have talked to Selby at least about this but she had wanted to keep things a surprise for later, "But I won't be able to carry it very well, so I decided to do it this way, but it's slow..." She would trail off for a moment, ears flicking back for just a second before continuing on, "I, uh, can't really carry anything too heavy right now, I didn't want to tell it like this and wanted to keep it a surprise for a bit longer, but I'm pregnant." She would offer a smile, looking over to her boyfriend, waiting to see his reaction, and could only hope it'd be good.

[wormwood.]

i was born, on the highway, in a train wreck

with a heart, that was beating, out of my chest

Pregnant. Moth was pregnant. Aurum thought, for the briefest of moments, that his ears were ringing, because all he could hear was the repeat of that one word over and over again. Pregnant, pregnant, pregnant. Moth was pregnant. And he was going to have little nieces and nephews. Fuck, Selby was gonna be a Dad. It was all enough to make him freeze in place, all previous words and questions utterly forgotten. To an outside source, it might've even looked like he was angry or barely holding himself back, but he wasn't really. He was just... stunned. His sister was really pregnant.

Aurum knew well from the look on Moth's face that she was waiting for a reaction from Selby, but the lion decided to provide his first. That way, even if Selby didn't respond positively immediately, she would still know there were others quite overjoyed about it – even if the proxy didn't really think Selby would respond negatively. The male surged forward, being especially careful to hold his weight back as he wrapped Moth up in his warm arms, touching his nose lovingly to her head. He rumbled after a long moment, sounding faintly breathless, "Moth... Moth, this is great! This is amazing! I can't believe you're really pregnant! Oh my God, you're gonna have little itty bitty kittens... I can't wait to meet them. I promise I'll be the best uncle ever." He pulled away after a moment, so that Selby would have access to his girlfriend. Sitting back on his haunches, Aurum couldn't help the way that a smile split his face, unable to hide his excitement. Sure, it wasn't as if he was having kids with anyone, but it was still damn thrilling. His family was getting larger, and he was going to have little nieces and nephews to spoil rotten. What more could anyone really ask for?

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[THEM]

[align=center][div style="text-align:justify;width:55%;font-family:verdana;"]"Oh, wow... Congratulations, Moth." There's a sincerity in his tone, written, too, into the way his brows quirk upwards in surprise. He didn't know Moth well enough to possess the same outward joy that overwhelmed her brother, nor was he particularly close enough to give Selby a clap on the back and tell him damn, good for you, buddy. Most were well aware of the medics' relationship by now, the heartfelt confession they'd given after returning from battle (rather, it was a snippet of gossip now that he'd overheard in idle chatter). But this was surely momentous for the little family unit before him, so he wasn't going to kill the moment by butting in too quickly.

She's still attempting to move a lot of furniture and objects herself, though, and by the pace at which she was working she had a long way to go. An expecting mother shouldn't be left to do all that herself. He reaches to pick up one of her belongings, handling it with care as he presses gently, "How far along are you? Maybe you shouldn't, uh - be moving all of this yourself. Let somebody take over, just lead the way." Kaz had never really had to, well, handle this kind of news firsthand before. In the past, his only role was to sign off on an extended leave after the fact, shoo them away from the action and wait for their return. He didn't leave much room in his schedule to care about personal lives, nor did he bother to take the time to tend his own. The values in Tanglewood were far more - compassionate? individual-oriented? - than the lives he'd led in the past, in groups that saw bodies as numbers and resources. "I'll get the wheelbarrow, if you two, er... Want a moment."

[selby roux !]

[align=center][div style="width: 51%; text-align: justify; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -1px; font-family: georgia;"]Shock.

The news didn’t quite settle at first. Pregnant? That meant she would be a mother. To kittens. Kittens. And, of course, he would be a father. To kittens. To children. The sawbones couldn’t help but feel a little overwhelmed. The two hadn’t even been together especially long.

He stood there slack-jawed for several long moments, blinking the surprise away. A father. With Moth. Whom he loved dearly. He closed his mouth and swallowed, coming a little closer.

“Wow...” he murmured. Closer still. It didn’t feel close enough. Selby took a few more steps and pressed his chest into her shoulder. The surprise was quickly giving way to a warm, excited sense of joy. He found he could pay little attention to Aurum or Miller. All that mattered to him was Moth and the beginnings of a family she was growing for them.

He gently butted his forehead into the soft fur of her cheek. “We’re gonna be parents,” he whispered fondly. “We’re gonna have a family.”

And though Selby felt an immense amount of joy, in the back of his mind, a quiet little voice spoke to him. Don’t be like he was.

[beck.]

[align=center]

    Moth was pregnant. The word itself enough to drain his face of what little color remained. He should have seen it coming; the inevitability of it all seemed so, so obvious now as he eavesdropped on the joyous family's beginning. Yet before he foolishly turned to look in the other direction, forcing himself to see a future with Selby, and only Selby. No Moth intertwining with his friend as she did now, no empty household ready to be crammed full with tabby toddlers. Now, there would be no time for the needy, whiny poltergeist at all.

    Little emotion managed to slip past the face of silent shock he donned, hazel eyes widened ever so slightly and brows pinched upwards. Shakily, Beck offered a lopsided grin to Selby, pride blooming in his waterlogged chest despite his selfish pain. His teeth clenched despite this. While the scrawny boy beamed to the sawbone, upset pricked at the corner of his eyes, persistent even after he frantically blinked it away. He needed to... he needed to leave. Yeah. Then he wouldn't cause a scene. Sucking in more of a hitch than an actual breath, he let his head droop limply, shoulders hunching. But all he could see was a home, a happy home, its doors spilling with equally happy children while happy parents looked on -- and he was still homeless.

    A shudder passed through him and he backed up, bumping into a tree trunk with a flinch before he staggered sideways. It hurt, it hurt so badly. Make them hurt, get rid of the spawn before he loves them more, make them bleed, get rid of the parasites -- he was going to ruin everything again, he didn't want to hurt Selby or Moth or anybody. An odd strangled noise escaped him, quiet among the congratulations. Stumbling over his own paws, he hurriedly retreated from the lovers as fast as he could without breaking into a full sprint.