Logs:Awkwardness
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| RL Date: 17 October, 2010 |
| Who: G'brion, Madilla |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Madilla and G'brion run into each other in the Nursery. |
| Where: Nursery, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 0, Month 13, Turn 22 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: B'tal/Mentions, W'chek/Mentions |
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| Nursery, High Reaches Weyr The double door to the nursery is sturdy skybroom and a good three inches thick, meant to contain the natural noisiness of young children. Beyond the doors, a complex of interconnected, glowlit caverns houses the Weyr's infants and children under seven, opening out from a gaily painted foyer where an auntie usually sits to guide visitors and keep a rheumy eye out for would-be escapees. Two large play caverns see the most everyday use, their smooth walls decorated with layers of more fanciful paintings left by generations of rider and resident offspring. While one cavern is nearly bare, intended mostly for running and roughhousing during inclement weather, the other is lined with shelves at the right height for short legs, stocked with suitable toys, games and crafting supplies aplenty. Beyond the play caverns are two 'quiet' rooms, one with cribs and cradles, the other with low cots for use during both naptime and nighttime sleeping, each with a small sleeping cubicle for nannies on duty during the night shift. It's getting on toward evening, but a bit early yet for dinner, and G'brion is sitting on the floor of the nursery in the middle of a soft rug, playing with his son-nephew-type-person. Jebrion is about eighteen months old, with curly blond hair a few shades lighter than Gabe's own. They're rolling around on the rug playing some game that involves a lot of tickling and laughing, until Jebrion squirms free and says, "Unka Gabe! Dragon me! Dragon me!" while holding out his arms toward G'brion. This, apparently, means that G'brion is supposed to lift him up in the air and, rolling onto his back, use his feet to support Jebrion as though he were flying. Jebrion shrieks with delighted laughter, and then squirms to be put down so they can do it again. It must now be the endpoint of Madilla's workday, the healer still wearing her apron (which is, at least, mostly clean) as she hurries into the nursery in search of her daughter. Her steps falter when, on her way towards the collection of younger, less-than-a-turn-old children, she catches sight of G'brion and his 'nephew'. She goes quite still, watching, with a faint smile hinted at upon the corners of her mouth. "Again! Again!" Jebrion demands, and Gabe gives in with a big grin on his face. "Okay, but this time you have to roar like a dragon, okay? You're going to flame the Thread! Ready? Okay, fly! Flame the Thread!" Again he lifts Jebrion up and sets him on his upturned feet, and this time Jebrion gives a great big toddler-sized roar. It sends G'brion into a fit of laughter, and he has to put the boy down so he doesn't drop him. As he sits up again and reaches out to scoop Jebrion into his lap, he catches sight of Madilla watching them, and his smile fades, though it doesn't go away altogether. "Hey," he says, sounding almost bashful. The fondness in Madilla's expression fades, and in its place, a deep flush settles in. "Don't stop," she says, hurriedly, almost desperate, wrapping her arms awkwardly about her middle as though she's protecting herself; despite this, she can't seem to stop herself from adding, "He's getting huge. You're good with him." Jebrion's eyes widen when he sees Madilla, and he does the shy toddler thing, hiding his face in Gabe's shirt. No more dragon-ing for now, apparently. Gabe hugs him close and lowers his head to kiss the boy's hair. "He is. You're a big boy, aren't you, Jeb?" Jebrion takes another peek at Madilla, and then hides again. "Uh. How are you?" Gabe asks, awkwardly. Apparently too used to toddlers to be offended, Madilla only smiles at Jebrion, then turns her attention back to G'brion. Her arms uncross slightly, loosening, though there's still something wary in her expression. "I'm well," she tells the greenrider, firmly. Less firm is what she addes to it, awkward, as though she's wary about mentioning it at all; "Trying to spend as much time with Lily as I can, before I have to go to the Hall." It's obvious that the whole idea has her torn: it's likely the first time she'll have been away from the ten month old for more than a handful of hours. And mentioning Lilabet to G'brion? Well. "Yeah. Well. She's so little, she probably won't even notice you're gone," G'brion says; he's /trying/ to be encouraging, even if he has interesting ideas about what babies do and don't notice. "Are you staying for the whole exam period?" Jebrion climbs off his lap and toddles around to hide behind G'brion for a minute or two, then gets bored of hiding and starts trying to climb up onto his shoulders. It makes Madilla laugh, albeit ruefully; she admits, quietly, "I think I'm more concerned about /me/ than her, though it's going to disturb our routine, which will make things interesting." Her gaze flicks towards Jebrion, and she watches as he begins trying to climb, which seems to amuse her. "Just for a seven. I told them I didn't think I could stay away for longer. You're going too, I think?" "Ow! Not the hair," G'brion protests when Jebrion tries to grab on and pull himself up that way. He reaches around and helps him up, and finally the toddler scrambles to sit astride his shoulders. "Yeah," Gabe says, grinning at the goofiness of holding a conversation with a toddler on his shoulders. "They won't say if I can get promoted to senior apprentice or not. If I pass my exams, I mean. So I don't know. But yeah, I'm going. Three writtens and a practical, this time." Madilla can't seem to help herself: despite the twitch of sympathy for G'brion, she still smiles at Jebrion's antics, all that fondness returning as the toddler is settled on the greenrider's shoulders. "I'm sure you'll be fine," the Journeyman tells him, firmly, with a forward bob of her head. "When are you going? If you-- that is, if you wouldn't /mind/, maybe I could catch a lift with you?" She's terribly tentative, clearly concerned about being an imposition. "I mean, I'm sure I can get someone else to take me, if it's a problem." "No. That's fine," Gabe says courteously. "My first exam isn't till afternoon on the first day, so I figured I'd leave that morning, instead of the night before, you know?" He smirks. "Apparently there was this big /thing/ about where was Pterath going to stay. They wanted to make us both sleep at the weyr every night. But she's going to share with the hold watchdragon so we don't have to go back and forth. ...when do you have to be there?" he remembers to ask, belatedly. Jebrion grabs onto Gabe's ears as handles and drums his small heels against his chest, fortunately not hard enough to hurt. Madilla's expression shows genuine relief, and she bobs her head rapidly in thanks. "Oh," she says of Pterath. "That's a good idea. I hadn't even thought about it-- I suppose it's all new for them. Will it be strange for you? Being an Apprentice at the Hall, instead of a full, independent Rider at the weyr?" She twists a strand of hair behind one ear as she adds, "Oh, I'm not marking anything until the second day, but there's a meeting on the first night, so-- that will work fine for me. Thank you." "Yeah. Probably." And not strange in a good way, going by G'brion's grimace. "But it's only for a couple of sevens, so. Whatever, right?" Jebrion has gotten squirmy again, so he carefully lifts him down, and suggests, "Why don't you go get your runner?" Jebrion grins in cheerful agreement and toddles off. "He's got this stuffed runner," Gabe explains. "He's chewed half the fur off already, I think. ...anyway, yeah. If they don't wind up letting me be eligible for promotion, I'll be pissed. I do just as much work as any other apprentice." There's sympathy in Madilla's expression, as though she can well imagine how awkward it will be-- but she lets her gaze follow Jebrion, and she laughs. "Lilabet chews on a little wooden toy a lot. They /do/ seem to enjoy that kind of thing, don't they?" Encouragingly, she adds, "I know you do. I'm sure you'll be fine: you know your stuff." /She/ is confident - then again, she always seems to be, when it's about other people. "A couple of turns, and you could be a Journeyman." "Yeah, and corrupt impressionable apprentices with my greenriding ways," G'brion says with a snort. "I guess we'll see. It's not - none of it's what I thought it was gonna be. I don't know. I guess the point is, no matter what, I can keep learning how to do stuff, and I can help people even if they never do give me a fair promotion." He scrambles to his feet, twitching his clothes straight. "Is um, Lilabet here? You must be coming to get her, huh?" Madilla's expression is fond as she says, "Mm, all those terrible habits you've picked up, I'm sure. They'll all be horribly scarred, those Apprentices who've never had a corrupt thought in their life." There's a certain amount of sarcasm in her tone. "I'm not sure anything is ever exactly what we expect. But you're right: whatever happens, you'll make things work." She nods in the direction of one of the further rooms, confirming, "She's through there, yes. It's nearly time for little babies to get their dinners and their baths and go to bed." "She must be pretty big now, too," Gabe says. "She saying any words, yet?" Jebrion comes toddling back over with his battered stuffed runner held out in front of him with both hands. Gabe grins and scoops him up, and sets him on his hip, runner and all. "Not yet," says Madilla, shaking her head. "I suppose it won't be all that much longer, though. It's-- incredible. How big she is. Compared to when she was born." Talking about her daughter makes her whole face light up. "Do you-- want to see her? Before I take her home?" G'brion can't help but smile at seeing Madilla light up like that. "Sure," he says quietly. "Jeb, you wanna meet Lilabet?" The toddler holds up his toy and says, "Bop!" Then he bops G'brion in the face. Gabe squinches up his face in an exaggerated mock agony of pain. "Owwww!" Jebrion dissolves into giggles, and then bops Gabe again. "Looks like Jebrion's intent on giving you some healing practice," laughs Madilla, with a bob of the head towards the toddler. "Healer, heal thyself! That right, Jebrion?" She takes a few steps forward, indicating the far room, then leads the way: the nannies are obviously expecting the healer, and beckon her on through. G'brion follows along after, patiently letting Jebrion beat him about the head with the stuffed runner. "It's a good thing we gave him this and not a wooden one," he says to Madilla with a smirk. Madilla admits, laughing, "I'm beginning to regret the wooden toy, looking at that." She's distracted from further remark, though, by reaching the crib where her daughter is settled: the ten-month-old lets out a long string of quiet, but enthusiastic, meaningless sounds, radiating delight, as her mother reaches out both arms to pick her up. "G'brion, Jebrion-- meet Lilabet. Lily, this is G'brion, and his-- nephew, Jebrion." The baby doesn't exactly pay much attention, but still! "Baby," Jebrion says succinctly, and Gabe looks at him in surprise. "He's learning a lot of new words," he says to Madilla. He holds out his hand toward Lilabet, to let her grab his fingers if she wants. "Hey, you. She's cute," he says to Madilla. Lilabet's clearly at the age where /fingers/ are much more interesting than words, because she grasps onto those fingers with definite enthusiasm. "They're like that, at that age," remarks Madilla, of Jebrion's words, smiling. "Thank you. I think so, too-- but I suspect I'm biased." Lilabet /is/ pretty cute, though: dark hair, big blue-green eyes. "She doesn't look very much like you," Gabe observes. He wiggles his fingers, playing with the baby. Jebrion squirms, and Gabe sets him down, and he runs over to one of the other cribs to peek through the bars at the baby inside. "Definitely cute, though. Do, um, Whit and B'tal...?" "No," Madilla agrees, placidly, adjusting her grip on her daughter as Lilabet giggles at G'brion. "Not much. I'm still glad she didn't get my mouth or nose." She pauses, glancing upwards at the last question, but says, simply enough, "A bit. It's not like having two full time parents, but-- they're there. Lily knows her daddy." "That's... good, I guess," Gabe says, though he gets a funny look on his face, then, and looks over at Jebrion.
G'brion winces, seeming to read that as criticism of some kind. "Right," he says, hunching his shoulders. "Well, um, I'll see you later? Couple of days, if not before. We should meet up after breakfast. To go to Healer's, I mean. I'll come get you in the infirmary when it's time." The wince makes Madilla duck her head; she doesn't /seem/ to have intended it that way, though it's hard to know what she /did/ intend. Awkwardly; "That would be good. I'll be ready for you." beat. "It was good to see you. And Jebrion. Have a good night, G'brion." "You too," Gabe says, and goes over to take Jebrion by the hand and stop him from harassing that poor baby in the crib. "C'mon Jeb, we gotta get going," he says. He gives Madilla a little smile as he leads his... nephew... out of the room. One last smile, Madilla delivers towards the departing pair, and then, she, too, is off: a squirming Lilabet intent on making it as interesting as possible. |
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