Worldwide Babies – A WYD Challenge

Previously: Amerigo got married and left, while Virginia finally got his brother in her bed… Barcelona is now a teenager, Croazia a child and Nicklaus… nothing interesting happened to him. What about me? I’m having doubts about the grammar of my title… is it correct? 😉 

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Virginia soon discovers that her wish has been granted: she’s waiting Courney’s child, who will be also Amerigo’s half-brother and nephew… but no one will never knew this, hopefully. The world will believe that the child is Nicklaus’s.

Unfortunately, this seems a bit… improbable.

And no one is more shocked than Virginia, discovering that it looks like her handsome husband has aged of years in a single night. She’s disappointed, too. She doesn’t want him to become an elder, and, in the end, die. She doesn’t like it all, but she can’t do anything for him. In fact, even if she’s studying chemistry every day, the potion that Amerigo discovered and that made her young again is still lingering away from her reach and comprehension… and she’s incredibly frustrated at her inability to reproduce it.

Meanwhile, little Croazia has started school. She shows a strange interest for strange places… Virginia takes notes of her liking of the cemetery as the perfect study place. Barcelona and Nicklaus are worried for this tendency, but Virginia is not: she really doesn’t understand their reasons… the cemetery is a beautiful place, isn’t it?

She doesn’t worry at all even when Croazia spends her afternoon in the mausoleum, and returns all burnt and with a tombstone in her backpack.

The only other thing she’s interested in is their dog, Roux, who has grown to be very big and lively.

When she’s not playing with Croazia, Roux hunts, and brings home some useful and precious objects – which are very appreciated by Virginia, who is always worried about money.

Barcelona does well during high school, and she continues to spend time with her mother. They really have a beautiful relationship, mainly because they are so similar, even though the girl is much more empathic than Virginia.

The rest of the afternoon, Barcelona plays chess for the tournament, but the grown-ups often are at work, and she is frustrated with her inability to ascend the ranks due to the lack of opponents.

Finally, time of birth comes, while Virginia is trying to discover the magic potion for the millionth time.

Virginia is exhausted, after the long labour, so it is Nicklaus that immediately attends at little girl’s needs. After all, that one will be his final child – at least, this is what he thinks – and he wants to live every moment of her life while he can.

The little girl is Dalmazia Mondiale.

Dalmazia Mondiale: Easily Impressed, Good
Conceived at home.
Rolled traits.
Dalmatia (Italian spelling) is the region between the Balkans and the Adriatic sea (including Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina). Her Imaginary Friends is called Adria (derived from the sea).

Courtney Bedlington is Dalmazia’s daddy.

Courtney Bedligton: blond, blue eyes, son of one of the previous daddies

Author’s note (NO need to read this if you’re not interested): again, I wanted a boy to call Dublino. Grr. Or Dusseldorf. Or twin girls, so that I could use Danimarca, too. And I’m really frustrated at Virginia inability to produce Young Again potion, even though she’s maxed the skill a while ago, and Barcelona can’t win chess because her opponents never come. 

By the way, it may interest you reader that in Italian we don’t have the neutral gender, like in English, and every objects, every thing is either male or female. For example, the chair is female, like the scarf, the mountain, the candle… while the sofa, the trousers, the table, the sea are all male. This means that in Italian I can say, for example, “The sofa is blue. His cushions are pink”, where HIS is referred to the sofa. There’s no reason why a thing is female and another is male. 

I’m saying this because in Italian, states are mainly female, with exceptions like Japan and USA. Cities are always female; the only exception are cities preceded by the word IL, like Il Cairo, because IL in Ialian is the main male article. Small cities are variable. Oceans and seas are always male; rivers are mainly males, with some big exception. Mountains and regions are variable (Dalmatia is female, Piedmont is male). 

So, here is my criteria for naming children: a geographical name which in Italian is female, will be applied to girls, and male names to boys. (Well, Dublino is female, but it finishes with -o, which mostly means male, so that one would have been an exception). 

Just so you know, in case child/name combo feels wrong to you. 

Exceeded picture spam: 

Roux, still a puppy.

Adult Roux dreams of a roasted chicken…

Pets that don’t love animals…
Cat: “Ants are so disgusting…”
Roux: “Dogs, too.”
Cat: “O_o”

And, finally, a father’s love: Nicklaus coos over Dalmazia in his new uniform. Have you ever seen a cook with a pink uniform??? Here he is at level 6 or 7 of the culinary career, and he came home like this…

Next: will Nicklaus discover that Dalmatia isn’t his? Will Virginia discover the Young Again potion, and will Barcelona ever get to have a game of chess against a ranked opponent? Will Croazia return to the cemetery?