Xenosa's and Virgin Mimosa's

[Aileana DiRossi]

Like any proper working woman, even a pregnant one, Aileana was up early. She was so used to rising early to tend to the horses that it had just become a natural habit and her internal body clock just always had her rise with the sun. Though, as of late,  she was getting tired more frequently and it lasted longer then she would have liked. But, growing small humans took a lot of energy apparently. It was also getting a bit more difficult to get out of bed in the morning, but you know...pregnant women problems. After getting ready, she was braiding her long blonde hair while she walked down the hallway of the inn, and then down the back servant stairs into the kitchen to start getting ready for the morning crowd. 

She set to work, making muffins and putting blueberry's in them just like Roxanne had shown her. It was...Strange. Not something she would have had back at home, but Aileana had learned rather quickly there was a lot of things in Aralore that were different from Aldsage. Like buying things, and using money. It was all strange. Why didn't they just trade? Or work together to make their communities thrive? Lean on one another? It was most certainly a culture shock, and Roman and Roxanne had quite the time explaining things to her when they'd first taken her in. She was getting better at least, and was as quick of a learner as she could be (given her not so there observing skills). Once she got the hang of it though, she made sure she did it right. Like these muffins. 

Once she got them baking she wandered out into the main part of the tavern, and was going to start putting chairs down when she spotted someone sitting at the bar. She opened her mouth to tell them they weren't open yet, but she realized it was a woman with some rather exotic features. She remembered Roxanne mentioning one of their new guest was a woman with an interesting appearance. Was this her? She was up rather early. "Good mooooooorning!" She all but sang none the less. Aileana was more leery of strangers of the men variety, and though she was a bit shyer then she used to be because of being a in foreign place, she made the effort to give the woman a bright smile as she waddled in. 

[Xenosa Alaoui]

She hadn't slept. Of course she hadn't. All the strange noises and smells, the chatter of the people late into the night, it was unnerving. Back home, her entire tribe had gone to bed at the same time, a welcoming quiet blanketing their territory as they all settled in for sleep. Here? Things were much different. The world was much more lively with people staying up and about in the later hours of the night, others rising with the dawn.

As the world began to breathe to life as the sun rose over the horizon, Xenosa sighed, rolling onto her side only to wince against the sharp pain that traveled up the left side of her body. A hiss escaped her and she moved slowly to rise up, a tattooed hand brushing her white locks from her face. Her feet planted firmly on the floor and she lifted her shirt, pressing a gentle finger to the wound before cursing quietly under her breath. She stood then, stretching as best she could without causing herself more discomfort. She made her way into the bathroom, removing her shirt altogether to reveal the bandages that wrapped around her rib cage. Removing them, she frowned to see that her wound had seemed to take a turn for the worse. But then, she hadn't been tending to it the way she should have either. With a heavy sigh, she took to treating herself, her hands moving naturally over the wound as she did so before wrapping her ribs again with fresh bandages.

She moved back into the main area of her room, pulling on a beige dress that was a size too big before grabbing her cloak and slipping it over her head. As her grey eyes met her reflection of the room's mirror, she frowned again. The lack of sleep was apparent on her face. Deciding it didn't much matter, she left her room, closing the door quietly behind herself and walking into the bar area, her footsteps hardly making a sound on the floor. She was relieved to see that the bar was empty for now and took it upon herself to take a seat at the bar, in the very spot she'd sat the night before. She'd only just sat down when a young woman came out of the back room with a chipper greeting that made Xenosa smile. She was happy to be in the company of another female. Xenosa, too, had an aversion to men so it was the presence of females that made her feel much more comfortable, albeit still a bit timid. "Good morning." She said softly as the woman set about removing chairs from their place among the tabletops. She stood from her seat then, tired eyes watching the woman with a friendly gaze as she quickly realized the small girl was pregnant. "Forgive me for being so forward, but may I lend you a hand?" She asked softly, her fingers intertwining nervously.

[Aileana DiRossi]

Aileana picked up one of the wooden chairs, turning over, and letting momentum do most of the work for her as she tried to keep her belly out the way of the chair dropping down. She looked up at hearing the woman's voice, and for a moment she stared blankley before she realized that the woman wanted to help her. "Oh! Oh no, it's okay, really!" She told her with a large smile. She noticed the woman playing with her fingers and it took her a moment to realize that maybe she was nervous. And she could practically hear Roxanne's scolding voice that she couldn't do as much as she used to given her size. Aileana was small, and she was large. They all had a running hypothesis going on that she was either pregnant with twins, or had a large baby. It honestly didn't matter, as given the fact she had probably a few short weeks left. She was ready to pop and Roxanne was adamant that she needed to be especially careful in these last few weeks. It was okay to ask for help, despite how much she wanted to prove that she was indeed capable. She was pregnant, it was okay for others to lend her hand. She wasn't helpless. She reminded herself.

"Actually, sure why not! It'll get done faster and then I can go check on the muffins." She beamed at the woman, before she shuffled to the next chair. "I'm Aileana by the way!" She introduced herself. "Did you sleep okay? I think Roxanne mentioned we had a new guest staying with us." She began to ramble on. She took the chair legs and pulled towards her, but had to turned her body a bit so her belly wasn't in the way.

[Xenosa Alaoui]

If Xenosa was capable, she may have frowned when the girl turned down her offered help, but instead, she continued to smile, letting her hands rest in front of her before the woman seemed to change her mind. Xenosa's smile grew then and she moved towards the woman and began following the motion of removing the chairs from their place upside down on the tabletops. When the woman introduced herself, Xenosa looked up with bright eyes. "It is nice to meet you. I'm Xenosa." She said softly. Then the woman was asking her a question and she wondered, for a moment, if Aileana could see the dark circles under her eyes. Perhaps her skin tone was dark enough to just hide them.

"I slept well, thank you for asking." She said, feeling slightly guilty for lying. She didn't want to be pitied, however. She'd had far too many sympathetic gazes last night alone and she'd prefer to stay away from them. "I hope that you, too, slept well." She added with a smile. "I would be that new guest.." She laughed lightly. "I hope to have my own place, sooner rather than later. But I can't take for granted the hospitality I've been shown by the owners of the Sparrow." She said as she removed another chair. She looked up at the woman then before glancing away as she let yet another chair land on the floor with a soft thud and moving on to the next table.

"Again, I hope I'm not being too forward, but.." Her voice trailed off slightly as she looked away, pretending to be overly occupied by what she was doing. "How far along are you?" The words were almost inaudible as the passed over her lips. She didn't want the woman to think her rude or intrusive, but Xenosa's intense love for children made her curious.

[Aileana DiRossi]

"Xen...Osa?" Aileana tried out the woman's name. It was very pretty, she'd liked the way she had said it, but Aileana also had a thick Aldsagian accent, that try as she might to hide it, it still came out. "Xenosa...Xenosa..." She said it quietly to herself, practicing the pronunciation. "That's a very pretty name." She beamed at her, moving to the next chair. Aileana had seen the dark circles, they just hadn't registered in her brain yet that it was from lack of sleep. She was a very take action woman, rather then noticing small details, so when Xenosa said she slept well, she just accepted the fact.

"You're welcome." She smiled over at her. Almost immediately Aileana picked up that Xenosa seemed to be a very sweet woman. She just had that feeling about her, and it just made Aileana smile even more. She chuckled then as she moved to the next table. "As well as any pregnant woman can. Someone is more active at night then during the day." She said, patting her large belly as she reached for another chair. Aileana nodded her head in understanding. Seemed Rox and Roman had adopted someone else, and who were trying to help. It reminded her of her own situation, though it was hard to forget it given her current state. She'd been similar to Xenosa, just arriving to Aralore with no idea or concept about the customs here. She'd been wandering until she wandered in, and at that time was barely even showing. She'd staid a few days once Rox and Roman realized how helpless she was, and that it was better to keep Aileana at the tavern then let the clanswoman run amok loose on all of Aralore. She'd been frightened despite how "fine" she'd made it seem, but Rox had seen right through her, and when they learned she was expecting, they'd insisted, practically begging Aileana to let them help her. To get her up on her feet once the baby came. They'd offered her a job so she could work her room, as well save up for what she would need for the baby. 

There was a part of Aileana that knew she couldn't stay here forever. She'd have to leave after the baby arrived, if only to stay one step ahead of Tom. She knew what she'd done to him, and there was no doubt in her mind that after he lost everything, he would come after her. "Rox and Roman are good people." She with a fond smile, and nod of her head. "They're helping me too." She admitted a bit hesitantly. She put the chair down and then went to the next, before her bright blues looked to Xenosa after her question. "Not at all," She smiled bigger and put that chair down before she straighten and rubbed her belly with both hands. "The midwife says I have maybe four weeks left? If not a little bit more. So I'm just about done." She explained. It hadn't really set in with Aileana yet that she was going to be a mother. Currently she just knew she was growing a small human, and had to be careful. 

[Xenosa Alaoui]

It wasn't uncommon that people seemed to play with her name. Actually, here in Aralore, it seemed to happen a bit more often. It made Xenosa smile to herself as she went about helping Aileana place the chairs on the floor. It was the least she could do.

She looked up and gave the young woman a bright grin as she spoke. "Well, at least that means your little one is doing well." She nodded to herself.

Was that dry conversation? Perhaps. But, Xenosa struggled. While she'd been away from what she was used to for several weeks, it was hard to undo 20 years worth of damage. Maybe that's why Xenosa paused for a brief moment when Aileana spoke, saying she was also being helped. Why it caused a reaction was uncertain, but it had struck something in Xenosa. As another chair was set on the floor, she was quiet until Aileana began speaking of her child.

She offered a smiled, setting the last chair to the floor as her grey eyes found the blonde's face. "That is exciting to hear!" She said enthusiastically. "Have you chosen possible names?" She tilted her head curiously as she made her way back to her earlier seat.

[Aileana DiRossi]

Aileana found herself nodding, a bright grin spreading across her face. “Yes! They’re doing really well, they like to be really active at night and keep me awake.” She laughed light as she moved to the next chair. With the last one down she tilted her head to the side in thought, letting her hands rest on her belly.

“Hmmmm, Honestly I haven’t.” She said with a sheepish grin. Was that bad? Not knowing what she was going to name her baby yet? In all reality Aileana had yet to even realize she was going to be a mother. It wasn’t until she actually really started to show that she’d even accepted the fact she was pregnant. For being so organized, she was also very disorganized when it came to things. Often times not wanting to accept or realize anything until it was staring right in front of her.

She was going to be a mother and she hadn’t even accepted it yet, let alone did she have a name yet. She only knew a small part of her prayed it was going to be a girl. Wanting desperately for it to not be a boy on the chance that he looked like his father. She knew it was cruel thought, and not the baby’s fault, but it was something she was worried about.

“I don’t even know where to begin with names. Right now they’re fondly called stinker.” She said with a small giggle. She looked around seeing that the chairs were all down now that Xenosa had helped, and Aileana pondered over what to do next. She supposed breakfast was in order, and it was then she remembered the muffins. “Oh the muffins!” She blurted, completely forgetting about them. She walked quickly, yet carefully to the back where the kitchen was. “Do you want one?” She called over her shoulder at Xenosa. It was the least she could do for all the help she’d given her.

[Xenosa Alaoui]

Xenosa had never been much of a talker. More often than not, it wasn't that she didn't want to talk, just that she didn't quite know what to say. Spending most of her life only being able to speak when spoken to - or more accurately, not speaking to make herself as unnoticeable as possible in her past hostile environment - she'd never learned the social cues that seemed to come so easily to other people. She never knew what was the right or wrong thing to say. How much was too much? How much was too little? She didn't know, and while it seemed easy to talk to Aileana, Xen still struggled to find her words, instead humming a soft 'hmm' in response. Then, if but a little timidly, "It sound like you'll have your hands full." She offered a smile with the words, worried that the words alone had not been enough.

But then the young woman was answering her question about names and Xen gave her a single nod. She knew that if it were her, she'd likely not have come up with anything either, but it was perhaps easier to think of something when it was someone else.

Saying she didn't know where to begin, Xenosa tilted her head slightly, offering her a friendly smile before laughing lightly at the pet name Aileana had given her unborn child. Before Xenosa could get a word out, the girl was suddenly remembering the muffins and darting for the kitchen as quickly as her pregnant body would allow. "Would you like some help?" Xenosa called after her, but it seemed her question was unheard as she was directing a question at Xen almost simultaneously. In response, her stomach growled lightly and it was only then that she realized how hungry she was. Had she ever had a muffin before? She couldn't recall. So many things to experience... "Yes, please." The words finally came to her.