[The arrangement works out more than fine because by the time Alice does return she looks like she must have been inadvertently put to work. Not that she minds the basket over her withers stuffed with the plunder of the gardens, she'll happily haul whatever is asked of her. The other basket strapped over her shoulders and laid against her back is fine too.
What she doesn't look so assured about is the baby. A few of the teenagers that she returns with all similarly laden down with baskets do have little bundles too but one of the teenagers seeing Alice was a woman had just up and handed her this jinba foal. She had offered to help forage and carry but apparently carrying meant 'here, babysit this child'.
One teenager makes a cheeky comment as they pass her by that, "You don't have to be so careful, you know." and Alice flusters mightily.]
Of course not, infants are very sturdy ... I think ...
[Oh god, are they? The last baby she held had been abandoned at the gates of the military headquarters and Randel was the one who shoved it in her arms. The baby -- a boy -- she had easily given over to Stecchin after. Her time handling him was minimal. Thus Alice Malvin, ever ready to charge into a fight or tackle everything on her own, ends up picking her way back into the village with the delicacy of someone holding a Very Important glass statue.
The teenagers themselves seem just as ready to flock around Dimitri as the children. There's a lot of bustle in them taking off their baskets and beginning to sort out what they've brought back of course but there's equally plenty of questions from them too. Most of them aren't really that much older than the children he's already surrounded in.]
no subject
What she doesn't look so assured about is the baby. A few of the teenagers that she returns with all similarly laden down with baskets do have little bundles too but one of the teenagers seeing Alice was a woman had just up and handed her this jinba foal. She had offered to help forage and carry but apparently carrying meant 'here, babysit this child'.
One teenager makes a cheeky comment as they pass her by that, "You don't have to be so careful, you know." and Alice flusters mightily.]
Of course not, infants are very sturdy ... I think ...
[Oh god, are they? The last baby she held had been abandoned at the gates of the military headquarters and Randel was the one who shoved it in her arms. The baby -- a boy -- she had easily given over to Stecchin after. Her time handling him was minimal. Thus Alice Malvin, ever ready to charge into a fight or tackle everything on her own, ends up picking her way back into the village with the delicacy of someone holding a Very Important glass statue.
The teenagers themselves seem just as ready to flock around Dimitri as the children. There's a lot of bustle in them taking off their baskets and beginning to sort out what they've brought back of course but there's equally plenty of questions from them too. Most of them aren't really that much older than the children he's already surrounded in.]