[center][h2] Xiaoli and Hermes [/h2][/center]


Xiaoli had no idea what to do with the last piece of yarn. For a moment, she pondered whether or not it would be enough to knit baby clothes. She blinked. Oh, that was something that she would have to do soon, actually. She hoped the tree eaters would let her… Harvest their wool like last time - though she feared they may not be as oblivious of her presence next time.

She sat on the edge of the bed, wearing her new beige woolen shirt, a yellow skirt with brown embroidery held up by a hemp rope. While it could not even be considered in the same league as her exquisite silk dress, she had attempted to make it as beautiful as she could have with the tools on hand.

It itched a bit, though.

She let out a sigh and put the yarn ball down on the bed before rising to her feet. She stretched her arms over her head and groaned quietly, taking a moment to absorb the dark interior of the bedroom. She looked at the round, wooden-framed paper window over the bed and furrowed her brow. The window didn’t let much light in apart from at dawn - perhaps she would consider adding another one on the opposite side. 

She exited the bedroom into a small hallway with two additional slider doors: One which was open and led out, and another which led to a currently empty bedroom. She put her sandals on and jumped out the slider door. There was a slight drop between the entrance and the ground - while she hadn’t experienced much rain here on Tendlepog yet, she’d rather not take any chances. She strolled out on the soon-to-be courtyard and shot a glance to the right.

Their private quarters were on the eastern side of the four-part mansion. The next building that she should make them was the house for the dining hall and the study - naturally placed to the north. She grabbed a few armfulls of sticks and happily strolled over to the marked building site. Stacking the sticks around the rectangular site, she continuously compared the layout to the schematics on the wooden board in the centre of the courtyard. 

Nothing less than perfection for her family.

“Xiaoli!” Hermes came trudging in from the treeline, arms full of the strange mountain fruit that grew on the hems of the mushroom trees --to which Hermes decided to name snapfruit. Sprinkled on top of the snapfruit were bunches of shelled walnuts from the forest and a generous handful of sweetgrass. 

“Hermes!” Xiaoli said happily. She put down the sticks and turned to see the bounty she had brought along. Her eyes shone and she skipped over. “Oh, Hermes, you shouldn’t have! Need any help carrying those, by the way?”

“I think I got it,” Hermes shifted the weight around, “I had an idea that I wanted to try. See, I like the walnuts and the snapfruit, but they can be a little bitter -- so I was thinking of smooshing up the snapfruit, mixing it with the walnuts and then sweetening it with the grass.”
Xiaoli let out an approving hum. “Yeah! Hang on, I’ll…” She grabbed a nearby rock and, with a flash and a ‘poof’, she turned it into a bowl. “Here! Makes the ordeal a little cleaner.” He handed the bowl to Hermes with a smile.

Hermes shuffled it onto the pile and nodded, “Thanks,” She paused, “Mind if I do it out here while you work? I want to watch.”

“Oh! Uh, of course! Don’t know how chatty I’ll be, but feel free.” Xiaoli turned and strolled back to the northern house. She picked up the sticks again and began to stack them upwards into flat walls, though merely two-three sticks tall ones. The building site looked to be roughly 7 metres in width and twice as long, seen from the south, though little could be said about the actual building. Xiaoli placed down a few more sticks, placed her finger on her chin and turned to look at the schematics in the distance.

Hermes shuffled next to Xiaoli and offered the stone bowl without much of a word, inside was a yellowish brown concoction with sprinkles of red and about half already eaten. A small red stained grin hovered on Hermes’ lips as she looked on expectantly.

Xiaoli gave her a wry smile, took the bowl and poked around the mush a bit. “How was it?” she asked as she scooped a fingerful out and inspected it.

The Dreamer swallowed and wiped the red from her mouth, “Little too sweet but I think I’m onto something.”

Xiaoli pursed her lips, shrugged and tasted some. There was a bright twinkle in her eyes for a moment, and then the bowl was suddenly empty. Xiaoli’s bloated cheeks normalised quickly as she swallowed and gave Hermes a wide-eyed look. 

“... Sorry,” she said and covered a quiet burp with her palm.

Hermes gave her a knowing look and a happy smile, “Mhm.. now if only the grass grew here as well, I wouldn’t have to go so far.” She nudged Xiaoli, “I think it may be your favorite.”

“... Maybe,” Xiaoli said innocently and looked away as her cheeks reddened. “In that respect, I’m glad my teeth are made of stone.” She gave Hermes a wink. “It seems they’re not all drawbacks after all.”

“I like your teeth,” Hermes defended, “I like all the colors,” She smiled, her own teeth suddenly turning into a motley of mineral colors. 

“I’m glad someone does,” she said and leaned over to give Hermes a quick peck on the cheek before standing back up straight and walking over to the schematics. She let out a pensive hum as she shot glances back and forth between the fancy drawings and the stacking project she had going on behind her. 

“... More stone, then, I suppose,” she mumbled to herself. She strolled over to the stone pile and started eye-measuring the different rocks and pebbles. She settled on an armful of head-sized stones, though an armful in her case translated to two. She ended up walked about four trips before she was satisfied. 

Plopping onto one of the few headstones that remained in the glade, Hermes watched on, “Which building is this one?”

Xiaoli carefully placed a stone in the southwesternmost corner of the rectangle and clapped her hands free of dust. “This is the house where we will have the dining hall and the study. It’ll be the largest building on the mansion grounds save for the walls. I’m still uncertain of the ration of dining hall to study, however… If we divide it in half, we can’t have a slider door in the middle…” She let out a hum and turned to face Hermes. “Hermes, would it annoy you if we had a dining hall flanked by one study on each side?”

“I don’t think so,” Hermes tapped her chin, “But what would we do with two studies?”

“Well, we need rooms for our children to study and learn and read, don’t we? And for you and I to wooork, and for you to read that book His Holiness Abanoc gave you… And to store such books… The list is quite long.” She placed down a stone in the southeasternmost corner. “It’s a very essential room, and with two, one of us can teach while the other works!” she added.

“Hummm,” Hermes thought out loud, “Then I don’t see why not, it’ll be nice to have extra space for learning.” She put her hands on her hips, “And a dining room in the middle?”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking. That way, we can have an open slider door to the courtyard so we can receive great amounts of light while upholding the pleasing aesthetics of a middle-angled view on the rest of the mansion grounds.” She put down a stone in the northeasternmost corner. “You know,” she said and let out a tired ‘phew’, “I think we will do it like that.”

Hermes blinked, “Our children are going to be so smart with a mother like you.” She walked over to the schematics and squinted, “Very smart.”

Xiaoli giggled and walked over to the schematics to view them with Hermes. “Maybe, but you’ll be the one to make them lovable.” She gave her a sideways wink and looked back at the schematics, glancing between them and Hermes’ expression. “Would you like me to explain it to you?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Hermes said, if but a little insecure. 

Xiaoli nodded and pointed first to the top of the large standing rectangle that covered the whole mansion grounds on the schematics. “This is north, like on a map. The mansion is surrounded by a wall, which we will call the outer wall - even though there really is only one layer, for the most part. I will likely make that last - we have no immediate need for a wall at the moment, and carrying the stone is heavy work.” She rolled her eyes at the nearby stone pile and pointed then to the southernmost part of the rectangle, a wall which would be 20 metres long according to the schematics.

“This will be the gate to our mansion. The gate itself will be here.” She pointed to a spot on the left side of the southern wall. Then she pointed to a 3 metre thick wall between the southern wall and the courtyard which, according to the schematics would create a walkway between them also roughly three metres wide. 

“This is the inner wall - which is also where the kitchens and servants’ quarters will be. The servants’ quarters will take up six tenths of the wall, the kitchens will take three tenths, and the gate to the inner mansion, one tenth. Seems fair, yes?”

“Yes,” Hermes cocked her head, “But I do have a question.”

Xiaoli nodded. “Ask away, dear.”

“Who is going to be the servants?” Hermes looked up at Xiaoli.

Xiaoli raised an eyebrow and let out a curt hum. Then pursed her lips and nodded to herself. “I’m certain His Lordship would gift us some when our children are born,” she said with a smile. “Don’t worry, he’ll help us out with that.”

“Oh,” Hermes nodded, brow still furrowed, “Do you think they like being servants?”

Xiaoli raised an eyebrow again. “Well, why wouldn’t they? It’s what they were made to be.”

“I don’t know,” Hermes looked over Xiaoli, ”I was just asking. This is all sort of-- new to me”

“But then again, most things are,” She said with reluctance and sighed.

Xiaoli put a hand on Hermes’ cheek and smiled. “It’ll come to you in time, my love. Now, as I was saying, they will get twelve steps of width, and considering the wall will be three metres thick, their living quarters will be rather sizable, indeed.” She pointed at the room in question, a 36-square metre rectangular room complemented with six beds and small squares that almost looked like chests. 

Hermes narrowed her eyes as she stared, as if she was attempting to suck up the information directly to her head, “Okay, I understand.”

“Perfect. Moving on to the courtyard, I decided that we will have three houses, as tradition dictates - one for us,” she pointed at the easternmost house on the drawing, then at the house with their bedroom just a few metres away. “... One for guests,” she said and pointed to the westernmost house on the drawing, then at the space opposite of the courtyard from their sleeping quarters - the current location of the stone pile. “... And finally, our dining hall and studies,” she said and pointed at the largest rectangle which on the drawing laid parallel to the northern and southern walls. “Oh, wait,” she quickly said and grabbed her piece of charcoal which she had been writing with. She carefully added two lines to the large house, separating it into three parts, two four metre wide rooms flanking one one metre room. “There - and that’s the whole mansion! What do you think?”

“I like it,” Hermes gave Xiaoli a grin, “It’s a lot to take in, but it sounds like it’ll be great. I’m just really excited to be starting a family, and to become a teacher-- and mother of course.”

Xiaoli smiled warmly and wrapped her arms around Hermes squeezing tightly. “Me, too, my love.” She held the hug for a few second before letting go. “Have you given any thought to how our lives will change when they do arrive, actually?”

Seeming to relax into Xiaoli’s hug and then straightening out when it ended, Hermes pondered, “I don’t really know what to expect, to be honest. It’s not like there ever was a baby Dreamer before, let alone a family. I should have consulted Abanoc’s book about it today, but, well, I wasted my daily read on culinary art.”

She crossed her arms, “But if I’ve learned anything from watching the Tree-Eaters, I’m going to have to stay really really close to home for a while and take care of them until they can effectively chase down trees on their own,” She added the last bit with a wink.

Xiaoli nodded in approval. “That’s good, but have you given any thought to how long that may last? Mortals tend to be helpless for quite a while after birth. Then again, maybe Dreamers will be different.” She hummed. Then again, she thought, when Hermes was younger, she wasn’t exactly… She shook her head and smiled.

“I don’t know,” Hermes shrugged, “Tree-Eaters are like that maybe for maybe three hand counts of days, the numbats -- well they have pouches so i don’t think they count, so I figure it can’t be much longer than that.” She bit her finger in thought, “I’ll consult the book tomorrow though, I want to be prepared.”

Xiaoli made a face and furrowed her brow. “It… Just might be a while longer than a few days, dear. Mortals are complex and their minds require time to form. It will likely take years before they can even speak.”

“Years?” Hermes seemed shocked, “To speak?”

Xiaoli nodded. “Most likely. Speaking of, I’ll be teaching them to read Shengshese as early as I can. I’ve planned the syllabus and everything.” She reached for her waistband, only to find that she did not have a waistband anymore, but a length of rope about her waist. She pouted. “Okay, I don’t have it with me, but it’s in the bedroom.”

“That's a good idea,” Hermes agreed, “I could help, I know how to read. Oh! And I could show them all the different things Tendlepog and Swahhitteh have--” She started listing different plants and animals, “--and how to use those utensils we used at Shengshi's feast--” The excited Dreamer continued, “I can show them all the corners of Galbar, teach them everything I learned.”

Xiaoli giggled. “All that and more, my dear, though I certainly hope you plan on bringing along soap so you can wash their clothes while travelling - and their bodies, for that matter.” She folded her arms over her bosom and gave her a wry smile.

Hermes made a face, “Yeah, of course.” She didn't sound very sure, “That's no problem.”

“They probably won’t be able to hunt or gather food on their own for a while, either. I could probably plant a small garden outside the mansion and grow some vegetables, though.” She looked back at the schematics with a curled finger on her chin, grabbed the charcoal and noted down ‘maybe farm’ in the corner.

“Oh, we need an outhouse, too.”

“Outhouse?” Hermes looked up from her feet.

“Yeah, you know…” Xiaoli cleared her throat. “... A place for you to… Relieve yourselves? Though I expect that the children won’t be using it for the first few years.”

“Why not?” Hermes winced. 

Xiaoli furrowed her brow and tilted her head to the side. “They likely won’t be able to, dear. Was I perhaps a little unclear earlier? They won’t be very, how to say this, capable to begin with, and part of this lack of capability means that we, as parents, will have to… Clean up after them, to put it that way.” Her wry smile became a straight face with concerned brows.

“For years?” Hermes looked helpless.

“Yes, Hermes,” Xiaoli said somewhat impatiently. “I’m sorry, but the first few -years- of our children’s lives will not be filled with adventuring and the like, but with house work and a lot - a [i]lot[/i] of patience.”

Hermes pursed her lips in silence, “I think I'm going to go for a little walk, just,” She paused, “I need to think a bit.”

Xiaoli sighed. “Alright. Be back before bedtime, okay?”

“Of course,” Hermes gave a weak smile and trudged off, deep in thought.

[hr]

Hermes’ sandaled feet swished through the long red grass of the plains. Mountains were grinding in the distance and newly sired Tree-Eaters were braying to their mothers, causing Hermes to wince. A cloudling emerged from a trip vine flower and buzzed around Hermes with concern.

“Hey Poppler,” Hermes moped, stringing her thumbs under her rope belt Xiaoli had made. Poppler let out a pop and Hermes sighed, kicking a tiny rock hidden next to a clump of grass, “I don’t know, I guess I just don’t feel ready.”

[i]”Zzt.”[/i]

“Okay, so I do feel ready, but-- I don’t know,” Hermes shrugged and kept walking.

[i]”Pop.”[/i]

“Yeah, I guess,” She looked up and stopped, “It’s just a lot, and sometimes I’m not sure if I really made it that far from where I started. What if I mess this up?”

She turned to the cloudling, a cold knot forming in her chest “If I messed up at the beginning, it was just me who would be hurt. If I mess up now, Xiaoli would be hurt, and in the future -- my own kids would suffer for it.”

[i]”Crackle.”[/i]

“I still feel stupid,” Hermes admitted, “I want to be this great teacher but I feel so stupid. Xiaoli knows all these thin-”

[i]”Zzt!”[/i]

“I know,” Hermes looked at her feet in guilt, “I shouldn’t be comparing myself, but sometimes it sneaks up on me.”

She sighed, “I can’t imagine doing this with anyone but her, but at the same time I guess I’m a little afraid of being the dumber parent.”

[i]”Pop.”[/i]

“Well yeah I could talk to her about it,” Hermes started walking again, “But it’s so silly and insecure and not real, I know this.” Poppler crackled.

“It’s still real and a valid emotion, I get that,” Hermes turned away, “And she’d want to know, but it’s not just the stupid insecurities that are on my mind.”

[i]”Zzt..”[/i]

“I’m--” Hermes choked up for a moment, swallowing a little. She looked at Poppler, the little cloudling bobbing to and fro. Hermes gave him a soft somber smile and turned back towards the direction she came from, Poppler zipping by next to her.
[hr]

Xiaoli placed down the final headstone and wiped her brow. Her expression was flat, if not a little regretful. Had she been too direct, perhaps? All this seemed to obvious to her, everything from the most likely development speed of the children to their most likely needs - but that was of course something Hermes didn’t know. Oh no, she had definitely been too strict and stupidly direct and--

Could she maybe act as if something wasn’t too obvious, she thought as she began to pump her divine essence into one of the the great hall’s four ‘walls’ composed of piles of sticks through one hand and into a headstone through the other. As the sticks almost melted together and grew upwards into a tall, flat wall and the stones along the wall, into pillars, she shook her head.

No, Hermes would realise she was intentionally playing stupid. Then, then maybe she could just work on her tone as she explained things. Okay, well, she was already doing that, she hoped, although it was evidently not working. She moved on to the next wall. As the wall extended upwards along the growing stone pillars, she decided to practice a bit.

“... That’s good, Hermes, though there’s more to it than-...” No, no, that sounds patronising.

“What?” Hermes piped up, having silently walked over and behind Xiaoli.

“Oh, hi, Herme-WAH! Hermes!” Xiaoli nearly jumped out of her skin, large swathes of sand dusting off and falling to the ground. Luckily, the wall had managed to grow properly before-

Xiaoli shot a glance at the wall, which appeared fine, but realised that the stone pillar had grown much too tall.

“N-nothing, dear. Just let me fix this first.” She put her hand on the pillar and watched it shrink down to the same size as the others. She then turned to Hermes.

“Alright. Yeah, hi, how was your walk?” she said innocently.

Hermes seemed to ignore the question and tightly wrapped her arms around Xiaoli, “I’m nervous.”

Xiaoli blinked and was uncertain of what to do for a split second before her arms eventually embraced Hermes back. “Oh, Hermes, my love… That’s entirely understandable…” She placed her chin on Hermes’ shoulder. “You’re embarking on a journey no other mortals in this world have, to my knowledge. I’d be shocked if you weren’t nervous. You want to talk about it?”

“Yeah,” Hermes squeezed, “I think we have a few things we should talk about.”

Xiaoli hummed in agreement. “Let’s sit down. I’ll make us something to drink, okay?”
“Sure,” Hermes looked around, letting her arms fall. She discreetly wiped something away from her eye and found a stone to sit on.

Xiaoli went into the bedroom and fetched a teapot she had made some days prior, as well as two cups. She then went down to the creek and filled the pot with water. She didn’t really feel like making a fire right now, so as she walked over to Hermes, she dipped a finger into the water in the pot and used the ripples to instantly cause it to boil. She placed the pot down in the moss in front of Hermes along with the two cups and went into the bedroom again, exiting with a leather bag of tea leaves.

“So, what do you feel the most nervous about?” she said as she sprinkled some flowers into the teapot.

“Well, no,” Hermes said, “I mean, I’ll get to that, but first.” She sighed, “I think I have a lot of insecurities and I don’t want them to ever impact our relationship,” Hermes began, “Sometimes I feel stupid and get frustrated, and I don’t want you to ever think it’s your fault; you’ve been nothing if not patient with me. I mean we come from very two different places, have very different minds, and -- it can be daunting, but I know you’re always just trying to help and I never find myself not appreciating that.” She pursed her lips, “I guess what I’m saying is I appreciate all you do, and I just have a few insecurities I’m working through.” There was an approving pop from Hermes’ hair.

Xiaoli froze for a moment before carefully placing the lid on top of the teapot. “I see,” she said curtly. “I was actually thinking about this just before you came back. I-... I know I can be a bit patronising, at times, and I-...” She paused for a moment and stirred the teapot around as if searching for a distraction. “In truth, Hermes, I struggle, occasionally, with knowing what to say and what, well, not to say - as you mentioned, we are from completely different worlds and, in truth, I do not really… Understand mortality yet. So many things are so obvious to me, except for what actually should be quite obvious, like the fact that you-...” She paused, followed be a faint snicker. “See? I’m doing it again - looking for words so I won’t sound like such a know-it-all.”

“You shouldn’t have to tip-toe around me,” Hermes sighed, “We are going to be parents together, we could already be parents together for all we know. Just speak, and I’ll learn to control my insecurities.”

“Well, maybe you could at the very least tell me when you feel like I’m being a bit too much? As it stands, I don’t really know when I cross that line - your face is an indicator sometimes, but if you could tell me, I could try to improve myself. Does that should alright?” She poured some tea in both their cups.

“I can do that,” Hermes gave a soft smile, a curious Poppler emerging in search of something sweet to bump into. Hermes sipped at her tea, “Am I ever too much?”

“Too much?” Xiaoli pursed her lips and slurped her tea as she shot an upwards glance. “No, you’re fine… You might be a bit…” She paused, but then quickly opened her mouth again. “Oh curses, I did it again!” She took a deep breath. “You might be a bit too direct towards the Exalted Creators, in my view,” she said as if the words felt poisonous. 

Hermes sipped loudly, then slowly put the cup down, “I guess I did ask,” She rubbed her face, “So, Xiaoli.” She looked at her partner carefully, “Don’t get upset with me -- but.” She turned her head and bit the inside of her cheek, “Hm.”

“What? What?!” she said, her brow furrowing and her lips straightening.

Hermes scooted off the rock and close to Xiaoli, as if sharing a secret, “Not all of the Exalted Creators are creators, and -- I respect and cherish and hold the Gods who have far above me, and my children will be praying their thanks to them, but not just because they are Gods, but because they are our Gods who have entered this relationship of God and Mortal. Shengshi, K’nell, Arae, and others, I can call them God and mean it with every fiber of my body because I not only know that they are divine but that they are what it is to be a God as well, and they have treated me and mortals with equal respect -- but I can’t in my blank-starting mind force myself to pray to a divine who has done nothing but acquired the means and will to squash me at their earliest convenience. So I am careful to who I give the title God to, and those who are Gods are the Exalted Creators, but those who are just Exalted above mortality, I don’t know what to think of them.” Hermes paused, “I’m sorry if this seems like a lot.”

Xiaoli’s face had lost all colour. Her lip was quivering, as was the hand holding her teacup. Her empty eyes fell to her lap and she put her teacup down on the ground. “O-oh…” she said faintly.

“Xiaoli?” Hermes face turned to one of worry.

“H-Hermes, you… You shouldn’t say such things,” she finally said. “It’s… Ungrateful.” She looked to the side, tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Hermes brow furrowed apologetically, her hand snaking towards Xiaoli’s “Maybe I was too direct-- again.” 

Xiaoli wiped her eyes with one of her sleeves and took Hermes’ hand in her free one. “Do you know why I act as I do the Exalted Creators?” she said and sniffed.

“No,” Hermes admitted, concern stretched clear across her visage, “Tell me?”

“It’s a concept in the teachings of the Flow - one called filial piety. It stresses loyalty to one’s elders and masters above all else, with the expectation that the relationship will be respectful from both sides. It combines with His Lordship’s dream of harmony, where if every servant acted with complete loyalty to its master, and every master showed great respect for its servants - there would be no conflict. It’s not a perfect concept, but it is one I believe in. If one treats others with the respect they deserve, they will hopefully be inclined to return the respect, at least to a degree.”
She snickered faintly. “Saying it out loud makes it sound awfully idealistic, right?”

Hermes squeezed Xiaoli’s hand, “In better words, I think you said what I was trying to say, except maybe I took it a little farther to those masters who don’t respect their servants. It is idealistic, but it’s also beautiful-”

“No, it’s more than that,” Xiaoli suddenly said. “If one part chooses not to return the respect, that still does not legitimise disrespect from both parts - a servant is loyal to a foul lord, a great master is respectful to a poor servant. Likewise, we should respect all gods, regardless of the horrors they commit, because…” She looked Hermes in the eyes. “They are our masters.”

Hermes let out a puff of air, “Even if they never portray a single quality of a master?”

Xiaoli nodded solemnly. “Loyalty above all - even to the worst of scum,” she said quietly.

It was Hermes turn to look shocked, “But,” She racked her brain, “What does that accomplish? What if giving in to the worst causes more bad things, what if it causes me to hurt, or you, or our children?”

Xiaoli’s eyes welled up again and she pulled her knees to her chest. “I… I don’t know…” She let out a few hacking whimpers and planted her forehead on her kneecaps, Hermes hand found her back and rubbed in circles. “... Somewhere along the line, it-...” She sniffed. “... It’s supposed to lead to harmony, but…” She raised her head and gave Hermes a weary look with red-ringed eyes.

“Now I don’t know anymore… Eurysthenes’ reaction, my master’s actions in front of Kalmar, your words… It’s all so-...” She turned back and grabbed the sides of her head with her hands. “[i]confusing![/i]”

Hermes let her hand fall and sighed, “I know how you feel-- We’ll figure it out, together. The world is young, it would be a little strange if one of us had all the answers.”

Xiaoli sniffed again and let her head fall back. As she stared skywards, she let out a single ‘hah’. “A mortal and an avatar starting a family together… Had His Lordship told me about this upon my conception, I would have thought him insane.”

She took a deep breath. “I am certain of one thing, though.” She reached out to take Hermes’ hand. 

“You have my loyalty forever, Hermes.”

Hermes took her hand and held it close to her heart, “You have my loyalty, and more.”

Xiaoli smiled and leaned it to peck her on the cheek. “Thank you…” she whispered.

[hider=Summary]

So basically what happens is Xiaoli is working on the mansion and then Hermes pops up with breakfast -- a concoction she devised that is basically banana walnut oatmeal. It’s basically crack to Xiaoli and she devours it. 

Anyway, they get to talking about the plans for the building and it gets a little confusing for Hermes, but for us, now we know what everything looks like. So, Hermes is feeling a little insecure about not knowing things again and then the babies are brought up and it’s revealed that Hermes doesn't know too much about babies, let alone what they need. Xiaoli gets a tad impatient with Hermes and the Dreamer excuses herself to mull over her insecurities.

She goes on a walk with Poppler and works through her thoughts before returning to Xiaoli. They decide it is best they talk about their issues together and they finally discuss Hermes insecurity and Xiaoli’s know-it-all attitude. They agree on working it all out together and things are looking fine until they bring up Hermes’ flippant regard to some of the Gods. Hermes defends herself, stating that not all Divines are Gods or worthy of praise and basically she has been around since creation and noticed that only some of the Gods give a damn while others just want to be sucked off because they can make explosions without actually doing anything. This upsets Xiaoli (making Hermes feel bad) and she whips out some “The Flow” shit.

Hermes originally agrees with Xiaoli’s assessment until she says that even horrible Gods should be respected and shown loyalty. Hermes pushes back and presents some troublesome scenarios to which Xiaoli isn’t sure the answer to. She cries. Hermes feels bad. They comfort each other and in the end they agree that together they will figure out this wacky world they live in and will always be there for each other.

It’s really fuckin adorable.

[/hider]
[Hider=Prestige]
Was 15, now 18
[/hider]