[Wakino+] Parental Bond

"You're...you're SURE I don't just look fat?" Knox stares at Melanie. He contemplates whether it's safe to poke the bear...well, melon, in this case. After reasoning that his chances to safely tease her are going to diminish in the coming months, he opens his mouth, "Well, it might look like you ate a bowling ball. Or two. Or perhaps you have some strange illness causing you to bloat up like a balloon. But fat? Of course not." A grin spreads across his face, evoking a glare from Melanie. "Mitsuko, punch him." The younger girl gets a look of excitement and begins to wind up. She channels all of her energy into her fist an- "It was a joke, please don't shatter his bones." "Aaaaw..." She instead gives him an insultingly light rap of the knuckles. "One day, we're going to duke it out, Knox!" He scratches his chin with mock consideration. "Nicholas Knight: Dragonslayer, huh? I like the sound of it." "Oh yeah? Say that to my fi-" "Melanie! Melanie Ipu?!" A nurse calls out from across the waiting area. Melanie hesitates a bit, but with both Knox and Mitsuko already holding their hands out to help her up, she sighs and acquiesces. The nurse leads them back and takes a few basic vital measurements. "The doctor will be with you in a bit!" And with that, she scurries off to her next task.

Melanie stares down at her protruding stomach. Gramps had once told her if she ate too many sweets, she'd get fat like this. It's not like he was wrong, but Gramma tore him a new one after little Mel had returned home from the grocery store sobbing. Mel smiles. It doesn't evade Knox's sight, who hides his own small smile. It isn't that he feels ashamed of becoming a father, just the opposite actually. But there's no way Mitsuko would let him live it down; she is related to Melanie, after all. Knox was pretty sure that if you replaced Melanie's timid and fearful aspects with a literal shark, you'd get Mitsuko. "Uuuuugh!" Mitsuko huffs as she spins in circles on a stool. Waiting an unknown amount of time with absolutely nothing to do was her personal idea of Hell. "How long unti-" A sharp knock raps on the door a couple times before it's opened and a man in a white coat steps in. Melanie and Knox share a quick smirk in response to the knocking. "Good morning! Melanie Ipu, correct?" She nods. "I'm Dr. Bloom, and I understand this is your first ultrasound?" She nods again. "Quite a crowd we've got here!" Knox simply gives him a nod. Mitsuko stares at him like he's an idiot. "Oooh, tough crowd, at that. Does the expecting mother plan on keeping any secrets until the big day, or does everyone get to take a look?" Melanie squiddles with an unnerved look. "E-E-Everyone?!" Knox and Mitsuko both manage to hide their snickers. The doctor simply blinks before smiling. "Here! The three of you, well plus me, and no one else." "O-Oh...uh...n-no secrets." Melanie gives Knox a guilty look. "Ever." He simply smiles in response. The doctor reaches over to grab some latex gloves. "Alrighty!"

Moments later, as the doctor applies the ultrasound gel, Melanie gasps sharply. The doctor looks up with some concern. "Everything okay?" "Y-Yeah...it was just...c-cold." Melanie squeaks. Mitsuko pipes up with a laugh, "Cold? You come from the land of hail and yetis, and you say that's cold? Ha!" "You're one to talk," Knox interjects, giving Mitsuko a skeptical glance. "Aren't dragons weak to ice?" "YEAH, we-" She's cut off by a loud throat clear from the doctor, who has noticed Mel's look of exasperation. "ALRIGHT! About time for the main event..." The room gets quiet as he begins to slide the transducer probe across Melanie's stomach. The group watches on as the monitor reveals strange views of intimate parts of Mel, making her uncomfortable in a way she never thought possible. After a few moments, the doctor's eyes narrow...then widen in surprise. "Ah! Well...it would appear..." As the Doctor carefully manipulates the probe and watches the monitor closely, Melanie is pretty sure her heart has stopped. Something must be terribly wrong. "...ah, got it. Twins!" Mitsuko's eyes widen. Knox chokes on some spit. Melanie simply sighs in relief. "Oh, is that all?"

The doctor finishes up his examination, confirming everything seems to be fine and healthy, and the group soon walks out the door. Mitsuko is a ball of excitement, but Knox speaks up first, giving Melanie a surprised glance. "'Oh, is that all?' Saving the freakout for later?" She simply shrugs. "I'd kind of already guessed it? About a weak ago, Haumea showed up in my dreams. She just kinda...uh...patted my belly in two different places like she was patting two different people, then she patted me on the head with a shrug. So...yeah. Twins." "Twins!" Mitsuko finally explodes. "Two! Two little kids I get to be the cool aunt to! AND they're twins! Oooh, ooh. Name them after Reshiram and Zekrom! Or Dialga and Palkia! Or...or..." She laughs. "Twins! Wow!" Even after shaking away the initial shock, Knox can't keep a smile from taking over his face. "Looks like we'll need to double up on everything...including names. Think they'd be okay if we just gave them the same name?" He jokes. At the back of his mind, however, a small doubt began to creep in. He wanted to be the dad his own father never was, but...can he keep up with two of them at once? Can he keep both of them happy? Two kids is two chances to fail. But the doubts are immediately cast aside when he notices the way Melanie is looking at him. This was not a look he'd ever seen before. In truth, this look had not crossed her face since her grandmother passed away. She looked, well, happy. Not the kind of manic happy he'd seen countless times in her occult fervors. Not the kind of melancholic happy he'd shared with her in some of their most vulnerable moments. Just...happy. Without a word, she latches onto him. Not wanting to be left out, Mitsuko claims a spot in the hug as well. "...twins." Melanie mumbles, wiping away some joyful tears.

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Melanie wakes up staring at a bright rectangle. She is absolutely exhausted. Not quite as bad as 'collapse after fighting Bunsen while standing at death's door' exhausted, but pretty up there. She pulls herself up into a sitting position and glances around the room. Her efforts reward her with the attention of a bunch of Exeggutors. Or, wait, no, those are...people. Huh. One of the Exeggutor-people moves closer and smiles. "How are you feeling, Melanie?" Anakoni is dressed to the nines, hat in hand. Oh, that's Gramps. "...are ghost trains a thing? If they are, I think I got hit by one." Melanie mumbles. He gives her a strange look before nodding and stepping back. "I'll go get you some water, dear." Two other Exeggutor-people take his place. They look...familiar? One simply nods and grunts. The other speaks up "Oh Mel honey, are you still groggy? Now you know what you did to me when you were born~!" It teases. Or, no, she teases. "Hey, it's Mom and Dad. Hi Mom and Dad." Exeggutor-people resembling Mitsuko, Momoka, and weird red-haired guy also wave to her. Kaede gently grasps Melanie's hand. "It's okay to lay your head back down if you need some more rest, dear. We aren't going anywhere." "'kay, wake me for school please." At least, that's what Melanie tried to say, her audience smirked at the weird mumbling sounds that really came out.

Some amount of time later, the bright rectangle returns. This time, she is...still exhausted, but it's much more manageable. She pulls herself up and spies a glass of water, quickly snatching it and chugging. As she sets it back down, she takes a look around and sees...Knox? And...wait, what, is that Luna? What are they holding? "Look, sleeping beauty rises," someone jokes. Where are we, a hospital? Why are we in a...um...oh...OH...FUCK. Mel rubs at her eyes and takes another look. Knox and Luna are holding...babies! Tiny little things shrouded in blankets, but those are definitely babies! Knox has a shit-eating grin on his face, and even Luna can't help but be a little misty eyed. Melanie stares at them in awe before giving Knox and Luna a nervous glance. "They're...they're uh...y-you know...they're like...normal...basically...r-right?" The two share a knowing smirk before Luna speaks up. "They're normal." "Basically," Knox adds. He continues, "The girl seems to have your features for the most part, but my nose." Luna nods in agreement. "The boy on the other hand looks to be somewhere between you two, but not particularly like either one?" They step around either side of Melanie's bed and carefully pass the newborns to the overwhelmed mother. Mel holds them close and can't help but admire them with the same manic look she has when a fascinating relic catches her eye. "They're...they're...p-perfect!" Mel squeaks.

Knox and Luna pull up chairs, and Melanie notices a few others in the room. Captain Lani sits in the corner, along with Richard and Akuman. He gives her a nod and a wink. "Kept m' promise, lass, eh?" His age is really starting to show now. Auriga gives a bit of a wave as she holds a phone up, which crackles with excitement. "The queen bears twins! A prince and princess, too radiant for this world!" Phantasia? Melanie waves to the tiny Phanny in the phone. She notices a gift basket on a nearby table. It's filled with an odd assortment of things: snacks, manga, "occult" tabloid magazines, random mundane things, random slightly-magical things, and so forth. The only thing that seems to link them all together is...Kanto. "Knoxy, who are these from?" He snorts, "Hold on a second" and steps away for a bit to collect various pictures scattered around the room before handing them to Melanie along with a very simplistic card of congratulations, signed by...Mako and Ryan. The pictures seem to be photographs taken from all over Kanto. Many of them feature a fairly grumpy looking Mako, though a few candid shots capture his good side. Melanie giggles a bit. "Do you think Melons has noticed us yet?" The words are drawn out in a mock dramatic way, but they sound...off. Melanie looks around in confusion. "Is this what they call breaking the fourth wall? In front of you." Melanie makes a second attempt to look around and finally notices a laptop set up on a table on the other side of the room. On its screen she can see Mackenzie, Eileen, Jennifer, and Casey. A strange and reserved look of excitement crosses over her. "Frazier?!" "The one and only." He smirks before adopting a more serious smile. "Congratulations, Melanie." "Y-You too...er...w-wait...no...I m-mean thanks." Most of the people in the room laugh along at her expense. A few heads poke in through the door in response to the laughter, including Mirai, Eliza, Alicia, Natasha, and Mayuri. Melanie catches Mayuri's eye and they share a brief (and only slightly awkward) smile. Mel's attention continues to bounce around the room, between friends and...her children. Tears of joy begin to well up in her eyes.

Luna clears her throat. "Thought of names yet?" Melanie turns to Knox, who has a very serious look. "We were thinking we'd try to let them pick their own names when they're older; y'know, choose your own destiny and all that. But obviously we would need SOMETHING to call them before that point. I'd had a few things in mind, but, well, Mel was the one that had to give birth, so I'll give her the honors if she'd like." She looks at Knox, then over at the baby girl. "...I uh...she's...N-Nicole. Named after her father." Knox is speechless. Though he hides it better than Melanie by far, he'd been quite anxious about the notion of being a father. With Anakoni, Lani, and even occasionally Palm serving as particularly wise counsel, he'd been able to keep ahead of his fears of fatherhood, but at the time, he had been viewing the struggles of childcare simply as problems requiring resolutions. After hearing the name of one of the children, it finally clicked. He wasn't simply responsible for caring for them. He would be their father, their friend, their mentor, their coach, and their captain. Just as the crew of the Mutiny had been inexorably linked forever by their experiences, so too was his relationship with his children. He feels his face flush with warmth and his eyes glisten. He moves closer to the twins and regards them with a smile, carefully drawing his hand across their cheeks. "I...thank you, Melanie." He gently wraps his hand around hers.

Luna watches the pair with a sad smile. She'd only recently re-established real contact with Melanie, but it was plain to see that her relationship with Knox had flourished well beyond what the two women had ever had. Knox had made a point of visiting her periodically, and it was essentially impossible for them to avoid talking about Melanie at least at some point during each session. She'd watched his affection for Melanie grow with each time they spoke, and it stung more and more each time. But the time in therapy had been life-saving nonetheless. She no longer had a material fixation on Melanie. Like the rest of the crew, she no longer had any desire to be anywhere near godhood or ultimate power. The veil she'd placed over her emotions long ago had torn open, causing those repressed feelings to burst forth. During those particularly vulnerable first few months, she couldn't help but laugh at Melanie's comparison between the two of them; they certainly were two of a kind. But eventually things settled down and stopped feeling so overwhelming. Now, colors seemed more vibrant, food tasted better, and so forth. She wasn't exactly certain when her depression had begun, but she couldn't believe she had managed to live life as long as she did while feeling that way. She was glad things felt so...different now, but she still felt adrift and purposeless. She didn't feel like she could claim to be better than Lupin, at least not yet. Even if most of the others seemed to actually end up BETTER OFF than they would have been without her intervention, she could not ignore her betrayal. But Mackenzie had offered her an opportunity. It was something to do. But it could also be a chance to help people, so she planned to accept it. She was trying to find a way to truly live for people other than herself.

Luna heaves a quiet and lonely sigh. "That's a pretty name. What about for the boy?" She then looks down and pretends to be fiddling with her phone. Melanie watches a few tears drip onto the surface of the phone, exhaustion being the only thing keeping her from breaking down herself. She smiles at Luna. "Right after I realized I was giving birth to twins, I kinda freaked out since I realized that meant we needed a second name. That all lasted about two seconds because obviously I knew I wanted to name them after the OTHER person who was special to me and who I selfishly wanted to live the rest of their life alongside Knoxy and me. So I'm naming him Louis." Luna lifts her head and stares at Melanie for a second before shifting her attention to the boy, remaining speechless. "...I've...really missed you...um...i-is the name not okay? I uh...if you don't want me to use it, that's fi-" Luna cuts her off. "No it's fine! I love it. I just didn't think you'd still...uh...you look happy with Knox." She sniffs a bit and stops to wipe away her tears. Melanie looks at Knox who returns a reassuring nod. She pokes her index fingers together and looks off to the side. "Well, like...d-despite my freaking out about the whole p-polyamory thing at one point...I uh...I want to be with you and Knox together...f-forever. Like as a...w-what's bigger than a couple...a triple?" Luna stares at Melanie, then at Knox. He shrugs with a cheeky smile. "What can I say? I'm attracted to strong women who are also crazy bitches." Luna is quiet for a moment longer. She takes a breath and speaks carefully; Melanie waits with bated breath. "I am not yet sure what it is I want in life. I am still trying to find what will make me happy. I do not think I can find that by sitting around. But if you are okay with me coming and going, possibly for long lengths of time, and maybe...maybe not coming back at all...then..." She smiles. "...then I think we can make that work." Melanie is going through a great deal of effort to keep her tears from soaking her children. "Th-Then we'll just have to make sure W-Wakino is what makes you happy." Both Luna and Knox lean in for the most awkward group hug ever to grace the world.

"Melanie, I have no idea how the complexities of a relationship like that can work as a family." Anakoni interjects, having been unable to avoid eavesdropping. But a broad smile crosses his face. "However, I also have no idea how I had ever become a sword in the first place, or how I stopped being one for that matter. What I do know is that you seem to have a knack for managing the unfathomable and often literally indescribable. Auriga, if you would, dear." He holds his hand out and she passes him a camera. "I think it's time we take a picture of the happy family." He holds the camera up for a second but pulls it away. "Hmm, something's not quite right..." Luna begins to pull away from the bed. "Oh, no, not you dear. In fact I believe my granddaughter just got finished telling you that you'll always have a place in this family, did she not?" He leans out into the hall. "Maple! Boy! We have a picture to take!" The two are quick to respond. Isaac quietly marches to Knox's side, giving him a simple nod and a pat on the back. Kaede swiftly slides up next to Luna and puts an arm around her shoulder. She whispers quietly, "Melanie's already told me everything, dear. Let me know if you'd ever like to talk." Melanie glances at Luna's reddening face and is simultaneously amazed that Luna can blush while also satisfied that, for once, she's not the embarrassed one. Well, until she catches Kaede's eye, who grins mischievously. "Congratulations, my little melon. Your friends have been telling me SO many stories about your time here." Mel's face matches Luna's. "Alright everyone, squish in." Anakoni steadies the camera and...Auriga tugs on his coat. "Hm? What is it?" She holds her hand out with a smile. "Shouldn't Great Gramps be in the picture too?" "Ah...yes, thank you dear." He hands the camera over and stands with Kaede and Luna. Auriga corrals them all into place. "Say 'Wakineeeeese!'" "Wakineeese" the group chants in unison and Auriga snaps the picture.

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In the weeks that follow the birth of the twins, the Razor Crags see all manner of visitors dropping in to say congratulations. Melanie's parents, as well as some of the others who were simply visiting, stick around for some time as needed, but by the time several months have passed, everyone's returned to their lives. The only ones who remain in the Razor Crags are Melanie, Knox, Luna, Anakoni, and those affiliated with the school, which is nearing completion. With the remaining time he was blessed with, Anakoni lives his life to the fullest, sampling various experiences around Wakino. Intending on keeping his body in good health for at least a few years to share with his great grandchildren, he can occasionally be found training at the dojo run by Nathan's family. He's even been reading through some of the books in Melanie's occult collection. With little time between the twins and the gym, Melanie delegates most of the school preparation to Knox, Luna, and her other employees (though she hates to use the word). Despite the stress, the old, quivering Melanie becomes a rare creature, known only to an intimate few. Due to her high visibility positions, various exploits, and...fascinating personality, she becomes something of a local celebrity and urban legend. Of course Knox and Melanie share much of their time working in tandem, but where she has the gym, he becomes something of a gumshoe. When he's able, he looks into more obscure matters that are unable to be resolved through the usual channels, occasionally alongside some of his old crew mates. Luna helped raise the twins for some time, but as things became less hectic, she finally followed up on Mackenzie's offer. Her new show follows her exorcisms and general ghost busting, but this time it focuses more on informing the audience, bringing a sense of normalcy to the occult. Between seasons, she tends to return to the Crags for a time. Eventually, the school would open, becoming a sanctuary of occult studies. But that's a story for another time.