re: the triplets.
the triplets, nick and damian discover while giving them a bath a few weeks before they turn a year old, have horns.
little nubs of keratin at first, they grow at approximately the rate of one’s fingernails: they aren’t noticeable underneath loose curls at first, but during summer when the triplets get a haircut, they sort of - poke out. after multiple consultations with pediatricians, dermatologists, and supernatural specialists, it’s determined that the horns are made out of keratin, don’t appear to be a natural human birth defect, and can be trimmed without causing pain. of course, it’s one thing when a doctor says you can cut ‘em; it’s quite another to get the kids to actually sit still and stop screaming long enough to trim their horns.
like any parents, nick and damian figure out a technique: damian holds, nick trims, they both hope the other two aren’t running around destroying the house while their sibling is being taken care of. that works, and doubles as a convenient strategy for figuring out exactly when their superstrength kicks in around their third birthday. fortunately, damian is an adult ghul who also possesses some degree of superstrength, so babies with superstrength are just like regular babies. unfortunately, damian’s only half ghul, and whatever the kids are, they’re much, much more than that.
by then, though, they’re already pretty confident the triplets definitely aren’t ghul. well: half ghul, rabia insists, since their mother appeared to be full-blooded. but they sleep (thank god, they sleep), and for a while calluses seemed to pop up all over their soft skin, until nick went into the nursery one night to check on them and almost had a heart attack at the tiny baby skins the triplets had apparently slid out of like motherfucking snakes. rabia insisted it was normal, like when damian repeatedly shed his teeth as a young ghul. “mama,” says damian to his mother, very seriously. “they aren’t ghul.”
she refuses; she resists; she denies it. damian doesn’t know if it’s to cover up her own ignorance or maybe if there was something she didn’t want them to know.
by age five, filly - phillip, who maybe is phillippina, or philomena, but damian keeps reminding himself to let his children take their time, discover themselves on their own - is the only one who will sit comfortably in damian’s lap, letting him delicately trim her horns. meanwhile, octopus (octavia) and sandy (alexander, whose nickname still keeps damian up at night, thanks nick) just happily run around with toothpicks sticking straight up out of their skulls, like little alien antennae. in a tussle octopus knocks one of sandy’s clean off, and he cries for two hours.
their special pre-k, which is at a private school with an incredible teacher-to-student ratio where the triplets can receive the best attention and fewest weird looks, tells damian and nick that unfortunately, they can no longer accommodate the triplets’ special needs. angrily, nick threatens to sue. “sir,” says the principal, respectfully. “they ate half of the jungle gym.”
delighted at the prospect, rabia offers to bring them back to doha for homeschooling; when he gets wind of it, peter too says he will happily pay for private tutors. even though the homeschool jokes were real funny when they were teenagers, nick has a feeling damian doesn’t want to do that to his kids.
talking it over one night as eden reads a storybook to the kids in bed, nick looks up at damian gravely. “you thinking what i’m thinking?” he asks.
damian meets his gaze, then gives a grim nod.
“wollstonecraft.”
Did you know there’s a whole future universe out there waiting to be explored?
New Val game to cleaned up and added soon.
Hit @lusilly up for more info!
