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| Details |
| Author: | Alli |
| Summary: | After the conclusion of the Cobalt Blade mission in Outland, Jo invites Tadget over to share some exciting and somewhat-secret news. ~3900 words. |
| Rating: | T for Teen |
The little street where Jo and Kerlo make their home is still decorated with multicolored twinkling lights for Winter Veil, with occasional little decorated evergreens. It is in Stormwind, though, so the trees are organic and the lights blink only in a simple set pattern. The Sparkwire/Quarterflash home, however, has a little multi-light display instead of a wreath on the door, tiny bulbs that brighten and fade to give a changing, shaded image. A structurally-sound bridge made of candy canes has just vanished, and now little doves with unmistakable Cobalt wings are flying across.
It's possible a certain gnomish woman who is fond of tinkering with small, delicate things has had a little too much time on her hands, and orders not to do anything strenuous. That same gnomish woman is just inside, sitting on a little bench in the foyer, eagerly waiting to reunite with her bestie, a causer of much Mayhem.
The expected guest - also a gnome - does not seem to be in a particularly festive holiday mood; she is dressed in black from head to toe, a hood mostly concealing her face. She grumbles to herself as she melodramatically pretends to have trouble finding a safe spot on the decorated door to knock.
With a put-upon sigh, she raps 'shave-and-a-haircut.'
"Tad-get!" Jo says on the other side of the door, in rhythm. She hops up and waddles over to pull open the door, welcoming in the angsty black-clad gnome with a big smile.
Jo herself is dressed in a empress-waist green dress and small black slippers that peek out under the long skirt, her hair up in the usual twin hair buns. Even the flattering cut of the dress is not enough to fully conceal the growing bump of her belly at this stage.
"Welcome," Jo says brightly, gesturing Tadget inside. "I have us some… some snacks in the kitchen, if you'd like. You've been in Outland so long, but… but congratulations on killing the apocalyptic elf!"
"Yeah, just a day ending in Y for the Coba-" She cuts herself off as her assessing gaze reaches Jo's midsection. "Oh for the love of - is THIS what you've been so secretive about? Kerlo knocked you up?"
She pushes back her hood to reveal her unruly short brown hair, bangs sticking up in three different directions. Her expression is a strange mix of annoyance, hurt feelings, and an incongruous little frisson of enthusiasm.
"Oh, well, I was going to lead up to — I guess it's a little obvious now," Jo's face gains a rosy blush, but she's looking hopefully at Tadget. "Come on into the kitchen, though, you don't need to stand there. And at this point my feet hurt sometimes."
As she tries to hurry Tadget into the kitchen, where there are cookies, she continues, "It was intentional, if you're wondering, so I was part of the knocking up decision, too. I had no idea it had even taken until I was already over in Pandaria, with all the… you know, war things going on over there."
"Oooh, I wonder if the sha infested your offspring!" Tadget says hopefully. "I kept hoping there was some Old God influence on mine, but so far they don't seem any more tainted than, well, you know. The amount Finn and I seem."
When she reaches the kitchen Tadget turns a chair around backwards and straddles the seat, then leans around the back of it to grab a cookie.
Jo sits a little more heavily in her own seat, traditional-style. She might not be doing backwards chair-sitting for a few more months. She does, though, still grab a cookie.
"I suppose it's possible," Jo says, considering. "I was gone by the time the statue was destroyed, but there was this whole sha problem right after we arrived. Really strange creatures, all dark mist — you ought to try heading out there to kill some, sometime."
Jo shakes her head and takes a bite of cookie. "I haven't had any particularly strong feelings of doubt though, and that'd probably be the clearest sign. Did you have any Old God whispers in your head, with the triplets? Or was it just hope?"
"I've never had any Old God whispers," Tadget admits with what sounds like a twinge of disappointment. She takes a bite of her cookie. "Even the one I stabbed to death didn't whisper to me much. Stank to high heaven, though." She wipes some cookie crumbs from her mouth. "So anyway, why didn't you tell me? It's not like I hadn't figured out you and Kerlo were having sex. You're welcome for setting you up with that hot piece of tail, by the way."
"Thank you," Jo laughs. "What a hot piece of partner for life. Just like your Finn."
Then her expression grows a little more serious, and she says, "I… I wanted to keep it quiet for a little bit, because there's risks. It could've been over months ago, and I didn't want to get everyone's hopes up." The faint wobble in her lip gives away whose hopes she also didn't want to get up.
"And anyway you were in Outland, and I told myself I was going to talk to you in person," Jo continues. "But then the doctor said portals are probably not a great idea, because it's a little risky since I… uh, since there's two of them. There's two of them, Tadget."
Tadget spews crumbs.
"WHAAAT?" She blinks several times. "That's awesome! I still beat you, which makes it even more awesome."
Jo laughs, a little nervously. "They said they'd worked the kinks out of that serum, but um. I guess multiple births are still a common side effect."
"Wait." Tadget sets down what's left of her cookie. "Waaaait a minute, hold up. Serum? You went back to THAT guy? After what happened to me?? You've always been so reasonable and stuff! Has the stress of running Cobalt Company knocked some cogs loose?"
Jo rocks back and forth uncomfortably, like someone who's been caught doing something mildly silly. "Well, it also worked, didn't it? And your three little ones are doing just fine."
She looks up at Tadget, biting her lip, and then says, "I was starting to worry, you know? That maybe I left it too late, or maybe I just didn't have… whatever it is I needed to have a baby. They said it was improved, and I figured, one way or another, we'd know for sure, right?"
Tadget responds with an epic eyeroll.
"Are you forgetting the part where they had to gut me like a fish, and all the machinery that was involved just in feeding those little undersized blips of gnomehood? Machinery you helped invent? I mean, it went great, because they had my genes, but that was in no way guaranteed, and at the time I was more than ready to kick the bucket For Science if need be. But you, you actually matter to people. You can't just go drinking random serums!"
Tadget grumpily retrieves her cookie and stuffs the rest of it in her mouth. She chews on it as though she's chewing on the problem.
"But anyway, glad it's only two. That has been known to occasionally work out okay without major mechanical intervention. Finn was a twin, you know. Not that yours will be as cool, of course."
"Well, we did invent all the things, so it should be fine, see?" Jo says with a hopeful little smile. Sorry, Tadget, sometimes her optimism gets her into awkward places. "And yes, people have twins all the time, it should be alright. And if mine are half as cool as Finnegan Sharpgear, I'll be so pleased."
Jo leans forward then, to look seriously at Tadget, hunching a little over her belly. "But you know you matter to people too, don't you? Obviously to Finn, and to your children, and to me and Kerlo, and to your Cobalt Blade team, and… there's a long list, Tadget. I know you like to be the independent badass who stabs Old Gods, and you are that. But you're also loved."
Tadget shifts in her chair, looking a little flustered. "Oh, quit it," she says. "You know what I mean."
Does she, Tadget? Does she? Tadget seems to consider that this might be a possibility, and grudgingly elaborates.
"I just mean like… well, Linka mostly takes care of the kids, I'm like the cool aunt who drops by sometimes. And you and Kerlo have lots of other friends. The Cobalt Blade could find some other hot gnome, though admittedly they wouldn't probably be as hot. And Finn… he's Finn. If I died he'd probably just want to do the autopsy and then have a great time hunting down and killing whoever did it. For all he says he's a sentimental fellow, he really… isn't. Sometimes I wonder- well, anyway. I'm just saying, it's not like I'm Captain of Cobalt Company or anything."
"Well, if that's the way you want to look at things, I'm sure Cobalt Company could get another captain," Jo says with a slight shrug. "But they'd still miss me, I think. In the same way I have other friends, but none of them are you. I'm just saying, don't discount the impact you have on the world, and Finn — well, okay, I'll admit I don't really understand how his mind works at all, so who knows? But I do think he'll always remember you."
Jo takes another bite of her cookie, chews and swallows. "Do you think our kids might have play dates? Wouldn't that be fun? Mine are going to be a boy and a girl, so they'd be a nice little gang, the five of them."
"Sure," says Tadget. "So, hmmm… that makes… six potential permutations for arranged marriages, three of which could potentially produce offspring. Sadly the girls won't be any more genetically predisposed toward multiple births than normal women, since it wasn't a natural occurrence."
"Unless they use a serum too," Jo observes. "But really all that's at least a few decades off. We'll need to mix them up before then, see if any marriages seem probable and beneficial to all concerned. I really have no idea what kind of gnomes Cobalt and Claret will be yet. I'm so excited to find out!" Her eyes are shining.
"I'm kind of hoping I can marry Pinni off to one of yours," Tadget says dryly. "Otherwise I don't know what we're going to do with her. She really seems more like a Sparkwire than a Sharpgear."
Jo smiles brightly. "Maybe she and Cobalt will hit it off. We haven't decided their middle names yet. We're letting — oh, did I ever tell you I have a stepdaughter now?"
"We haven't talked about it, but I do seem to remember something about Kerlo's prodigal daughter coming back and finding the Light or something. What's all that about?" Tadget reaches for another cookie.
"It was so wonderful for him," Jo says, smiling. "She's been lost for so long, stolen away by her mother, and she didn't even know he'd been looking for her. And it's not a con, before you say anything, all you have to do is look at that hair and those eyes to know she's really his."
Jo sits back in her chair, adjusting against a little discomfort, and says, "We hired her on without me knowing that connection — her mother was killed and she decided to become a priestess. Now that the two of them are reunited, I'm trying to get to know her better."
"Sounds stressful, honestly," says Tadget. "I've been mostly trying to get rid of old family connections, not make more. I'm really glad Finn didn't have any other kids. But then, I guess we probably wouldn't be together if he had. He likes to 'get around,' but he really only needed the one procreation partner."
"I suppose he's very serious about whom he chooses to propagate his genes," Jo says, considering. "Though you're also the only one he's married, I believe."
Tadget smiles a little shyly. "Yeah, that was a surprise. He figured I'd earned his name, after killing a god and spawning three little Sharpgears, I guess. Makes me pretty darn special."
"You are pretty special. The god-killing and the children are just very clear evidence," Jo says, like this is settled. "And saving Outland, right? Adding more evidence. Though… does this mean you're going back to the 7th now?"
Tadget smiles a little nervously. "That's the plan. Assuming they'll take me back. And… I'm hoping they'll take the rest of the Blade as well. I've checked, and I'm pretty sure most of them are uh, eligible." She hesitates. "But if not, then it's whatever." She shrugs.
"It'd be a shame to lose the Blade from Cobalt," Jo says, resting a hand absent-mindedly on her belly. "Though I'd understand if you all wanted less celebrity, but… have you enjoyed the posters and the novels and everything? It was all sort of the Blade plan, but it doesn't have to continue forever."
"Oh, I imagine I'll continue to be famous," Tadget says casually. "The novels are… out there, you know. We all get recognized all over Alliance territories. And the 7th Legion itself is no longer the best-kept secret of the Alliance military. It drives Wyrmie nuts, but people talk about the 7th now. And the Horde's been aware of us since Ahn Qiraj.
"But more to the point, the Cobalt Blade began as a way to let folks know that Cobalt Company was still available for stuff close to home. And not only does everyone and their brother know that by now, judging by the number of small local jobs the Company does on a weekly basis, but the Blade itself left that kind of thing behind long ago. Ironically we started because the Company had run off to Outland and whatever, and we didn't want the folks at home to feel abandoned. And uh…" She shrugs, with a wry smile.
Jo smiles back, just as wryly. "Yes, now you've been sent to Outland. And I think you're a bit past the small local jobs now, as a strike team. Even around Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, you managed to come across a cultist plot to destroy Azeroth. The Blade seems just as good as any Cobalt squad at looking into something small and ending up in something much more complicated."
"And now we've got teams like my stepdaughter's over in Tanaris, and a group that calls itself the Aegis in the north of Kalimdor…" Jo sighs, shifting again in an effort to get comfortable. "Cobalt's grown so large these days. Which is a good thing! But… maybe the Blade would be best with Wyrmie. Wyrmbane. Getting pointed at more apocalypses instead of having to find them on your own."
A little giggle escapes Tadget when Jo says "Wyrmie."
"Yeah. I can't speak for the others, but I do best when there are clear orders for me to follow. Go there, stab this. But I have to know I'm following the right people. Thalstan is - well he's a bit thickheaded. But I know he's never going to tell me to stab somebody I shouldn't. I don't have to think about it. If he says stab it, I know it needs stabbing. And that's what I need. I just miss doing it for the Alliance, you know? Like, directly for the Alliance. This would be the best of both worlds, and so it's kinda too much to hope for. To say nothing of the fact that… well, I dunno how the others will feel about being military. I think Zaara is more tough and disciplined than she seems on the surface, and I know Thalstan would thrive in the military, but Art and Ves, I just dunno. They're both wild cards in different ways. We'll see."
Jo nods slowly, listening through Tadget's analysis. "It's something we'd have to talk to everyone about, and of course the 7th Legion. But we do have a good relationship, I think, and I bet they'd see the value of a team that's already trained up together and thoroughly battle-tested."
"But anyway, that's not something we have to decide over Winter Veil," Jo says with a smile, snagging another cookie. She's eating for three now. "Maybe next time you meet up, you all can discuss. If it looks like something to pursue, I can send out the right feelers. Either way, I know you already had a career with the 7th Legion, godslayer and all. I understand how you'd miss it."
"Yeah. Part of what I miss is my old team. And… I guess I'll never get that back. Most of them are dead, and Tyrrell has… moved on. Wonder if he misses me." She looks glum for a moment. "But you know, I started off just doing stuff with the Blade so I could prove myself, and so Tyrrell could take me back… but now I'm… I'm used to them I guess. Zaara especially. I don't know if I'd want some rando healing me."
Tadget shrugs again, awkwardly.
"I'm not sure what to say that's comfortig," Jo admits. "I wouldn't want to wish Tyrrell's squad has an opening, because that would mean… it wasn't so long ago that Kerlo's squad lost someone, his promotion. That's our girl's name, in memorial of Hortense Claretsark."
"Oh, thank the Titans you didn't go with Hortense," Tadget says.
Jo straightens a little, and adds, "But then, you'll probably still work with other EUs, if you all join the 7th. Best of both worlds, maybe? I mean, I'll miss you, but we can probably see each other still, whenever we're both off duty." Jo pats her belly again, with a silly smile. "You'll be able to find me here in Stormwind, at least until April. They say mid-April for the babies, and then I'll need to keep them isolated for a while."
"Oh yes, I remember that whole bit. They're such fragile little beans at first. But it's also good not to have visitors until they're cuter. They come out pretty ugly. All spindly and deformed, like little humans or something."
Jo giggles. "I bet I'll think they're cute right from the start. But I have been warned they'll likely be more little than single births. They'll probably be pretty spindly and humanish, before they plump up and get more gnomish proportions. I'll let you know right away when they're visitable, when I'm visitable. And I'll coordinate with Linka to make sure our kids make friends?" Jo pauses in thought for a moment. "Should I hold off on play dates until mine can defend themselves a little?"
Tadget giggles. "Or you can just arm them. Make it fair." She pauses, then sighs in resignation. "I suppose even then it wouldn't be a fair fight. I'll try to teach them that the rules are different at other people's houses. Or I could just drop off Pinni. She's so pitiful. Can you believe she cried when Pinki dismembered her doll? It wasn't even like it was a surprise. She said she was going to do it, then did it right in front of her, really slow. Pinni had all the chance in the world to stop her, but noooo, she just sat there and cried! Maybe she'd have a better time at your house."
"Oh, nooo," Jo says, which leaves it ambiguous as to whether she's dismayed by Pinni's tears or the doll's dismemberment. "Well, it might not be too exciting until Cobalt and Claret can at least crawl around a little, but at that point maybe we can mix and match them, see what groups work and which ones end up with injuries." Jo bites her lip. "I'll just see if I can arrange for my stepdaughter to be around, at least the first few times. She's a healer, you see."
"Oh yeah. It's always good to have a healer on standby when Pinki's around. Ram can mess a kid up, but he usually doesn't unless he has good reason. Sometimes Pinki just likes to pounce and stab. Like a cat, you know? Because she can. I make sure not to give her real knives anymore, not after what happened to the sofa, but even with her little toy ones she can sure make a nasty bruise."
"Hm," Jo says, pondering. "It might help my little one's reputation if I start out by setting traps around them, as infants. That way, Pinki and Ram will get the sense that they're a little more situationally aware than they're likely to actually be at that age." Jo holds up a hand, and says, "Not lethal traps, I know, not even with a priestess present. Just little child traps. Maybe ones that explode into food-grade glitter."
Tadget giggles. "But they might like the glitter; that would defeat the purpose. It should at least be kind of scary. Light to moderate trauma."
"Okay, okay, light to moderate trauma…" Jo thinks very deeply. "I feel like clockwork spiders is the wrong direction to go. Maybe it'll also play a cute song about sharing your feelings?"
Tadget bursts into giggles. "Honestly at this point I just want to see that. So many possibilities. Like, they could turn out to be arachnophobes who associate sharing their feelings with being jump-scared by eight-legged monstrosities. Cool."
Jo dissolves into giggles, patting her stomach. "I'm so glad you're back, for however long you are. I've so missed talking with you like this, thinking up fun new things to try. It'll be at least five months or so before I can deploy any glitter-spider-song traps, but now my mind is just alight with the design ideas. I've been grasping for new ideas in the workshop — which maybe you could tell by the Christmas display — and I think Oranna might write to complain if I send her any more bullets. They're just soothing to make, you know? The same thing over and over. Bullets and bombs, but then Kerlo said no bomb-making for a while. Even so, sometimes I really need to make something new and unique."
"The door thing was cool," Tadget admits grudgingly. "Maybe a little… flashy, but it was nice not to see the same old wreath for the thousandth time. Maybe I'll have you do something like that for me next year. Not exactly like it, you know. Way cooler. Like one of me killing an Old God or something. But in lights!"
"Ooh, I bet I could do that for you," Jo says, staring off into the distance as if calculations are going on in her mind. "I'll need you to describe the Old God. I've only seen Yogg Saron, and yours might've been a little different."
"I'll be more than happy to give you all the gory details when the time comes." She adds delightedly, "You'll have nightmares for weeks!"
"Mm, maybe," Jo says, arching an eyebrow. "But then mine claimed it was the Lucid Nightmare. And we killed it, so maybe I'll be fine. I'll take my chances."
Nightmares aside, Jo grins at Tadget and grabs another cookie. "There's so much I'm looking forward to — children and traps and toys and other inventions. You and I are going to have so much fun!"