Tear my mindless heart away

IDK she's preggo, have fun

How she ended up with Alouette as a companion, Kalypso did not know, but she felt strangely comfortable with the other woman. She was not a sibling, for all that she had come with Dreyma to the Court. It was strange, but it was also not something that the Reine was going to look her nose up considering that she was decidedly lacking in supportive female companionship of late. Her siblings still were wary of her, though she could at least count on Thyri and Abigail at the end of the day.

That Alouette was willing to be her friend was an odd sort of thing that really put her at ease. Without her mother nearby, Kalypso was starved for the support she once had with her sisters, brother, and mother. Now, with only half-siblings, she felt like she had lost her entire support system and did not know how to get it back properly. At least some folk would be helpful, but it was just not quite the same.

What are we looking for today? she asked, in an oddly cheery voice considering how stormy her emotions had been of late. She had been snappish and weepy, on and off, as though the most harebrained thing would set off a hair-thin trigger. It was hard, pregnancy, and there was a lot of mixed emotions over Chaska's role in all of it. She did not love the man nor did he care for her that way. Now, she was stuck with children that would be unlikely to know who their father was, because it simply did not matter.

(---)

Ramblerumbleramble fluff.

Alouette was not of a rank that offered her presence in the court. A simple Seigneur that was trying to find their way among her fellow pack members, someone who had just, really, begun to branch off from the shadows she had lurked in for months after she found herself in the presence of the bi-colored boy outside the court. To be friends, even if their friendship was just beginning, with the Reine was a privilege she accepted without vice or judgement. At least she had known Kalypso and the 'Queen' of the court wasn't someone she didn't know or hadn't personally spent time with before the ascension.

The Court was as much her home as the rest's and that had come from her time spent there, the acquaintances she had earned from her reputation as a tailor and leather worker, even though she hadn't obtained a specialty or profession in these two aspects.

The cute, feral Alouette had never really been one to pass judgement on others. Even if she did think something wrongly about another, she kept it to herself until she at least knew the other's situation. In truth, she hadn't felt one way or another about Kalypso's pregnancy when she had scented it upon the woman. Dreyma was family and perhaps that was why she adored the thought of having more little ones running around, little ones that could look up to her the way she looked up to her 'adopted' sibling. She hadn't made a big deal about asking Kalypso, though. Not about the potential father or if Kalypso was going to go through with the pregnancy, the birth of the children. Nothing.

Instead, here they were, the better half of a trip to Halifax under their hypothetical belts. Blue eyes were unabashed as they explored the new area. Alouette had only come through here once. There hadn't been much activity or presence here. The few shops she saw were things that traveling canines had set up in old buildings that looked as if they were ready to crumble. None had glass, as was dictated by the red star only a while back.

"I could always use cloth, even repaired, for clothes," Lou answered right away to the Reine's question. "Or new tools for leather working." The chances that she'd find those were slim but she still half-way hoped that there would be something along those lines. "Last time I came through here there were a few tradesmen selling beads. Some had pretty colors. They're not worth much but I think it'd be fun to look at them and see if there's anything to add to the stores back home."

--

Kalypso clicked her tongue in thought as they walked on, appreciative of the conversation that did not revolve around pregnancy or anything else. It was nice to talk about mundane things, even if they were important to another person. It eased her worried heart a little to drift from the thoughts that lurked in her mind.

I think you should look in our storage for cloth that's left. I think we have some. There was unlikely anything to remain unless it was well sheltered from the weather, especially the moisture. Rot would eat at any cloth faster than the plague took a soul from the earth. Well, perhaps that was an exaggeration but a still valid point. Their odds of finding well preserved cloth was like finding a trove of treasure of working human technology; it was just beyond unlikely.

Cloth rotted and wore away, paper faded and molded, metal rusted. Things ended, even the inorganic ones seemed to have an expiration date. Gods above, more morbid thoughts abound. Kalypso tightened her expression, determined to pull herself out of the funk she had settled into from thinking about the perils of birthing and misfortune of having to raise children when she as devoid of truly beloved family.

Then she looked at the girl. Did you want to make jewelry? Abigail uses the sea glass to make things if you wanted to try. Or just collect it. She fiddled with one of her old necklaces, though they were not made of sea glass, she desperately wanted to do something with it. They could be a valuable commodity, if only someone could market them right. They could be worth plenty. We should send more to the Outpost and see if they have luck in Portland, she mused out loud, more to herself than directly to Alouette. She hummed thoughtfully as they walked, eyes lazily darting about.

A shining something caught her eye in a collection of fallen brickwork. Brows furrowed as she approached it, and waved over the other woman. Her crouch was slow, painfully slow, and she grumbled at her waddling body. Fingers began to dig out bits of brick, whole and fragmented.

(---)

ooc goes here

Despite not asking, Alouette was certainly curious to a fault. She hadn't known Kalypso long yet, during that time she had arranged such a large project that it practically got the entire pack shuffling toward making new homes. She had become the equivalent of a Queen of the court, yet did not force the weight of her rank upon Alouette as she feared could happen. She had become someone, in Lou's opinion, that others could respect even if she had gotten pregnant, even if the scent cloaked around her was mingled with the fragrance that pregnancy brought with it. It would have been a lie to say differently though she was also prone to respect those who offered respect of their own and Kalypso was on the verge of being one of her only friends in the court, at least for the moment.

Julia was gone and had left in the middle of the night, taking neither the clothes Alouette had fixed for her or the parchment that Alouette had spent much of her time crafting in the most recent weeks when she wasn't hunting or trying to afford herself the luxury of spinning cloth or trying to make her own with fleece and stringy bark. Cloth outside of Cour des, that wasn't as well preserved, offered an easy respite against working herself to the bone for cloth that could easily be broken down in just a few months. But clothes out here weren't wearable and could easily come apart given any amount of strength one applied to them.

They were also full of holes. "Doesn't hurt to look, though I might just do that," she answered with a small nod of her head as they carried on their way through the broken down parts of Halifax. Kalypso was quick to pose another question to the Moineau girl, though she shook her head just as quickly. "Jewelry doesn't hold a lot of interest to me," she murmured. "But the beads and polished stones and stuff can make pretty ornaments on stuff I make myself. Could stitch and work them into the material pretty easily. Maybe I'll make you something next time I get the chance," she offered before Kalypso seemingly lost interest, her attention on the broken down bricks of an old building that had been made with them.

"Let me know if you need help with that," she managed with a small nod of her head. "I don't know how much I could do but I'm always looking for ways to help out the Court."

After being waved over, she quickly approached with Kalypso, staring down the thing, the item, whatever it was while the two dug around the bricks. "What do you think it is?" she asked, wary of something that had been out and in the elements.

--

Clothes were something Kaly quite liked but her fashion sense was clean cut and neat, which leather and skins could not replicate as well. Wool was the best material since it could be made very fine with a skilled weaver and spinner, but it was hard to get and difficult to make. Were she far more patient, Kalypso would have loved to learned such a craft, especially as their pack grew and the number of farm animals were sure to expand. The pair of sheep were unlikely to be left alone for too long, considering that Kaly planned fully on finding a ram to breed those things.

That Lou did not care much for jewelry did not surprise her. Kalypso obvious loved trinkets. She wove them into her wavy locks and dangled them from her ears. Bracelets, rings, necklaces. She loved any sort of glittering, clattering adornment. The Queen grinned at her companion. I would love that. I do like that sort of thing, she added with a chuckle, fingering one of the necklaces around her collarbone. She did not take too many out with her during these ventures in fear of those who had expense tastes and twitchy sword hands.

But the rubble that caught her attention and distracted her as she waved over Lou. They dug out the metal glinting thing. Once it was painted black but the metal had long since chipped away from weather and bricks. Kaly looked up and saw a hole on the building near them where the interior gaped at them.

You know, I haven't a clue, she admitted with furrowed brows. She looked up the street and saw fattening trees with little metal guards around their bases. As she looked back down at it, she realized what it was. It was half-bent but it could likely be straightened. She gestured up at the other nearby tree with the guard still intact. Look at that. Do you think we could use this? she pondered out loud, thoughtfully looking about.

Stiffly, the Reine rose. We should come back for it, I think. Let's find you something useful. Her eyes stuck on the store they stood before. The windows were dusty and grimy and she did not understand the word on the front. Optometrist.

(---)

ooc goes here

To be completely honest, she was learning new things all the time. Most of her ventures were things she had seen her mother doing back home, before she had ever considered leaving off on her own with her "sister" and joining the Court. Spinning cloth had seemed like the obvious choice when there was so little out there to work with. Venturing into this new territory, making cloth from wool or cotton or even shed fur was a time consuming process and it was one of those things that that took practice and a watchful eye.

Stitching and sewing was a fine art that often left her paws sore after because of the dainty work she had to throw into making things she normally would have just patched up with a newer piece or a left over, shaved leather piece to make it work.

Kalypso seemed intrigued by the idea of getting something from Lou in regards to her own clothes and that brought a smaller smile to the Moineau woman's face as they settled into digging out whatever it was that had caught Kalypso's attention. It did not take long for either of them to find purpose in one another's hands. The dirt, brick and grime fell away too easily and reflecting from a grimy surface of black and occasional flecks of resonating light, the metallic item came into focus, an object that could surely be used later if they had someone strong enough and devoted enough to pry it from where it stood.

She took a step back, looking it over with her sea-foam gaze before once more, attention was drawn elsewhere. "If they're used for trees, maybe we can use them back home for some of the smaller ones for the new home plots," Lou answered quickly. "Or the metal can be melted and pounded down so we can use it for swords or knives or something later." To be fair, she didn't use much metal aside from her half-moon knife.

"I'll come with them so they know what you're talking about," she offered once more before they began for the store before them.

She, too, didn't quite understand the wording on the faded sign outside. She didn't know how to read and what she did know was very simple in the end. As they ventured into this new 'store front', her eyes were drawn to the bits of color and faded words about the room they entered through. Everything was covered in a fine coating of dust, fragments of posters torn, the paper they were made with eaten and broken down by what must have been burst pipes since a segment of the floor on the opposite side of the room was eaten away. "Divide and conquer?"