02-17-05

What's this? Is Zoe actually pulling a shift in the infirmary? Could it really be...? - Oh. Wait. No. She's just poking in the supplies for something or other, while the lower-rank healers look on rather dismally. Ahhh, it's good to be a colonel.

And the ghost rises up from the floor behind Zoe. Well, the cot, but it's almost the same. It is a horrible sight, consisting entirely of an old sheet and a charcoal-penciled mouth. Like this: :S It raises its arms and moans. "OoOoOoO, what are you dooooing in my infirrrrmaryyyyy?"

The "ghost" is met by a few seconds of silence. And an ear-twitch. Zoe continues her search and then, finding what she was looking for, plucks a small bottle out of a cabinet and stands up. She turns, brow arched. "Y'know, if yer really /that/ bored, ya could straighten the cabinets." Cough. She sends a flickering glance up and down the sheet, and, heh. Smirks. "Majah."

Rahier's arms fall, and he places his paws at his waist. Though that's kind of hard to see... sheet and all. Yes. "Th' dead dooooo not get booored!" He blinkets through the eyeholes, grinning. XD "Y'could stop messin' 'em, y'know." Beam.

Well, there's little elbow protrusions, so Zoe gets the general idea. "What? An' deprive yer deah sweet self o' the activity? Nevah." Griiin. She swipes out a paw and tugs off the sheet, no doubt making an unholy mess of Rah's fur in the process. "Been spendin' a bit t' much time 'round yer kids?" Heh.

Bzzz. Static electricity makes it all go frizz! He now resembles Albert Einstein. Only with... uhh... fur. He mooshes his hair back down, but otherwise pays it little mind, giving Zoe a one-eyed squinty stare. "That's disrespectin' th'dead, y'know." But he soon is grinning again. "Can scare th'hell outta 'em, I can." Proud father.

Zoe_Lang does her very best not to laugh at Rah's hare-fro., and instead focuses on the whole 'proud father' bit, even if he does look rather hysterical. "How are the two o' them, anyway? Taye's off on 'is first patrol, righ'?" Cough. You know, if you want to call it a patrol. 'Beer run' more than anything.

It's the trend, dear, don't you know? ;p Rah pats at the back of his other paw, trying to smoosh it comfortably back down. Ah well, now he just looks eccentric. I mean. "Oh yeh, that's m'boy. Can y'imagine, runner? Humph, no child o' mine." The buck grins and snickers, idly refolding the sheet Zoe so rudely desecrated. "Linny's gettin' into e'rythin'. She's prob'ly 'round here somewheres. How's Mi?"

"Aye - I've seen Linny runnin' around here 'n' there - little spitfire o' a thing." And she grins, a bit ruefully. "Miette's fine. Seems t' be havin' a bit o' trouble fittin' in with the othah dibbuns, though. Seems they don't take fondly t' her bitin', though we're tryin' t' curb that, a bit." She 'hehs' the 'heh' of exasperated mothers everywhere.

Rahier smiles quite proudly at the description. "Jus' li' me... less li' her mum." Rah scratches a little at his cheek, clearly pondering that. Interesting. "Tho' Taye takes well 'nough care o' her, he does." Again with the beaming. He turns and listens to Zoe speak, nodding. "Aye, well... s'much as y'can do, I s'pose. I'm sure she'll get o'er it."

Hm. "Speakin' of her mum... have ya gotten word from 'er?" The library does seem rather empty without Maria around to mutter puritanically about proper book-binding.

Rahier droops a little, his ears becoming significantly wilted, along with his whiskers. "O'... nah. I do hope she's all righ'... woulda gone with her if she weren't dead set against it." He shrugs, and smiles a little at Zoe. "She'll be back sometime, I'm guessin'. How's y'hubby, then?"

Zoe_Lang grins a bit dryly. "Y'know Ox. He's out on patrols more often than he's in, but I s'pose I'm just as bad about work, even if 'm not quite s' hands on with the infirmary anymore." That went to the wayside when Miette appeared. ;p

Rahier snickers. "Y'should lay down th'law, y'know... pull rank. Get 'im back home." He turns to place the sheet on the cot, making a small 'wha-chsh' noise. Snicker snicker. XD Ahem. He promptly straightens, looking back to her. "Y'could always retire an' promote me."

Zoe_Lang merely smirks and rolls her eyes at Rah's little 'jabs'. Not one to rise to such bait, of /course/. She merely straightens her colonel's uniform, dusting off imaginary dust here and there. "Rah, it takes /experience/ t' wind up with this'ere uniform." She then glances at his own, with a smug grin. "I mean, y'know, the majah one's a'right. I remembah wearin' it back wheh, oh... y'must've been in swaddlin' clothes, still, but mostly I prefer this'un." Griiin.

Rahier grins and tucks his paws innocently into his pockets, smiling quite sweetly at the hare who is considerably his elder. "If by experience y'mean bein' more grey, than I s'pose I do need loads more experience." Again with the grin and the shying away from blows. XD "Did they even have'n infirmary back then?"

You say, "Nah, we didn't need it. Jus' left the injured fer dead. That 'n' the smartasses." She runs a finger across her throat, and makes a gurgling/choking noise. Very officerly-like. Ahem. And very elderly-like, at that."

Rahier whistles and conveniently selectively does not hear this comment about the unfortunate smartasses, turning his head up and toward the clouds. Rock. Rock clouds. "That explains th'missin' bits an' pieces." Grin. XD Ahem. "Anyway, what're y'doin' in here? Stealin' more o' th'stock f'y'own ends?" He pokes toward the bottle she lifted. Poke.

Zoe_Lang smirks and palms the bottle, and up a sleeve it goes. "That's fer me t' know and fer you not t'find out." And /that's/ for the 'gray' comment. Mwaha. "And what're you doin' here? Othah than... playin' ghosty."

"Y'better not be imbibin' m'mixes for that lil' paperwork pick-me-up." Tehe. XD Rah grins from ear to ear, which is quite the feat. After watching it conveniently disappear, he places his paws upon his waist for the second time this conversation. "W..orkin'." Shifty look.

Zoe_Lang glances around the infirmary, which is entirely empty of patients. And looks pointedly back to Rahier. What was that, again? She happens to notice she's forgotten to close the cabinet door, however, and is thus forced to break the pointed look as she crouches down to shut it. "Ya were sayin'?" She pops back up.

Rahier watches her with a crinkled nose, an expression of unusual concentration at the rather avoidant and possibly absent-minded Zoe. He looks at her, starting in that you-can't-be-serious tone of disbelief. "...You aren't, are you?" ;p

Blink. "Aren't... what?" And that's absolutely honest confusion on her face, there. She blinks again. "What? Not workin'? Uh - no, 'm not workin'."

Rahier snerks. Ahh. Well then. Zoe confusion. ;p He shakes his head, waving a paw. "Ne'ermind, y'great scatterbrain." He grins and leans back against the post of the cot, placing both his paws atop it, behind his back. "Of course y'ain't workin'." Innocent beam. "How's th'family? Y'used t'tell me 'bout 'em all th'time." Ex..tended family.

"Th' family, eh?" Well, since they've already talked about immediate family, she's guessing this isn't in reference to them. "Well, I haven't heard from 'em, t' be honest. Y'know Kei', holed up in that village o' hers." A small... wrinkle of her nose. "I did hear word that... 'their' little'un was ill." A small shrug. Which makes it rather obvious that Zoe is still not in the know as to who the father was. Eh heh.

Rahier grins at the mention of Keita. Ah yeah, we did just see her a bit ago, didn't we? But then he tilts his head. Blinket. Oh, does she not know about that little bit of history? Interesting. "Uhh. Well, that's a bit unsettlin', poor thin'. I'll have to ask Keita 'bout it when I see her next." Yes indeed. XD

And possibly better for Rah's continued existence that she /not/ know. Zoe gives a small nod. "Aye, ya do that. Tell me how she's doin' once ya find out, eh?" Zoe glances behind her briefly just to make sure the counter behind her is still there - absent-minded in her old age, ya know - before leaning against it.

Then shall she never know. XD Ahem. Rah shrugs. "Sure, Colonel. I was actually there jus' a few days ago, she was doin' all righ'. Th' place was dead-packed, so y'know she ain't doin' shabby at all."

Zoe_Lang hmms. Zoe's eyebrows go up in an, "Oh really?" kind of look. Because, whether it'll ever be admitted, that's a prideful type of thing. Even if tavern-keeping isn't ideally what she wishes her first kid was doing. "Well, I s'pose that's good."

Quite suddenly, a hare doll...Flower...comes flying into the room, tumbling onto the floor and sliding a small distance further. This is followed by a dashing Miette, shouting, "'MGONNABEA'ER!"

Rahier smiles a bit knowingly -- ah ha XD -- and nods his head. "Really really. She's.." Ah wha? The hare looks down to the doll-missile that's stopped at about his boots, tilting his head. "Isn't that Mi's.." And look, there she is too. XD Rah looks perplexed.

A-blink-blink. Zoe's head swivels as it follows the dolls path, and swivels again as Miette explodes into the room. Blink-blink-blink. "Um. Miette?" She pushes off the counter she leans against, taking a step towards her shouting child.

Miette skids to a halt, falling on her tail beside Rah's boots. She grins at Zoe, "Ah was racin'. Ahalmostwon!"

Rahier laughs heartily, still leaning back against the cot post, though he turns a bit to face the pair as Zoe moves on past. "Aw, I'd say 'twas a very close race. Flower's a tricky one, eh?" Grin.

Scooping Miette - and Flower - up into her arms for a biiiig squeeze of a hug, Zoe grins. "Aye, I'd say it was pretty close, m'deah." She sets the leveret back down. "Didja have a good day, deah?" Hopeful smile.

Miette's no wrinkles, "Ahnevahgetsgoodays."

Rahier grins and turns slightly, stepping his way over toward the vacated cabinet. "Ahh, nonsense, y'know... racin' looked like a perfectly good time t'me." He stoops and sorts some, unmessing the mess that Zoe's created. ;p

Zoe_Lang's ears wilt a little bit, "What d'ya mean, Miette?"

Miette says, "No one likes me an' Ah miss Amumma an' Daddy so Ah gots only bad days."

Rahier finishes his incredibly neat and without-flaw it's so nice how could you have messed it up in the first place organization of the cabinet, and hey, he turns. The buck frowns a bit, hrms, and then ventures, "Well, y'mum's righ' here, why don'tcha go have some time t'gether?"

Zoe_Lang visibly wilts, and can think of nothing more to do than to kneel beside Miette and catch her in another rather squeezing hug - this one, however, lasts a bit longer than the previous one. Guilt hugs tend to do that. She sends Rah a "what in the hell do I do?" look over Miette's head, but not really expecting a miracle answer, she looks away. "... Mummy 'n' daddy love you, though, deah. We do. More'n anythin'."

Miette hugs Zoe back, resting her head on her mother's shoulder, "But Ah wan' you mo'."

Huh, that's some faith you have there. ;p Rah squints at the look, and walks forward, paws in his pockets. "Well, I can shoehorn some o' y'duties into my pen f'th'nigh', give y'a nigh' off... why don'tcha go'n take a few, jus' mum an' daughter?"

Lifting Miette up as she stands, Zoe hugs Miette close to her shoulder, rocking the leveret gently. "I know ya do, deah... I know." She looks across to Rah again, and smiles a bit wincingly. "I'm a'ready off fer the evenin'. But... y'know. Thanks. Appreciate it." So what was she doing here and not with Miette? Good question. Bad mommy. Mutter-mutter.

Miette looks quit happy for a moment, but then her ears suddenly shoot straight up, "Amumma! Wef'gotFlowah! She wan's up, too."

Looking around for Flower, Zoe spots her on the floor nearby. Crouching down, she plucks her up and places her in Miette's arms. "There we go, deah."

Miette hugs Flower tightly, giving the doll a kiss on the forehead. She then looks up at Zoe, "She says 'thank you lots'n lots 'm happy 'gain.'"

Zoe_Lang rubs Miette's back comfortingly. "'M glad, deah, 'm glad... D'ya think Flowah could give me a kiss?" She smiles slightly.

Miette smiles, holding up the doll to make its face bump Zoe's forehead, "She gave you a kissy!"

Zoe_Lang grins and delivers a kiss to Miette's forehead in turn. She then lowers her and Flower to the floor. "It's late, deah. How 'bout we go get some sleep, hm?"

Rahier grins, and looks between the two. Isn't that a heartwarming sight. ;p "Ah, well, I'm gonna say g'night t'y'two. Have a good 'un." He tips his fingers to his forehead in a salute to them both, and brushes past.

Miette says, "...Can you play when we stop sleepin'?"

Zoe_Lang holds out her paw to Miette. "Sure we can, Miette. What would ya like t' play?" She looks up as Rah passes, and watches him exit.

Miette smiles and takes her paw, "Wanna race. Ah'mrealfast."

Nodding, Zoe leads Miette towards the door and through it, whilst continuing the conversation, "Aye, you 'n' Flowah both." Grin. And... the door closes behind them.