Logs:Lilabet
| |
|---|
| RL Date: 13 July, 2010 |
| Who: B'tal, Delifa, Madilla, W'chek, Lilabet |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: New parents are new parent-y. W'chek is W'chek-y. Lilabet gets a name. |
| Where: Infirmary, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 12, Month 3, Turn 23 (Interval 10) |
| Infirmary, High Reaches Weyr Two sets of double doors, one from the the inner caverns and a recently built set from the dragon infirmary, lead into the unnaturally hushed human infirmary. Despite fastidious cleaning, the scent of redwort and numbweed has long since soaked into every smooth-carved surface, along with other, subtler medicinal smells. Pristinely made cots are lined up against the walls; most of them are left open to view, but some in the back are surrounded by curtains for delicate procedures or critical patients. About halfway between the two entrances is the counter for the healers on duty; it guards the entrance to the storage rooms just beyond, their shelves and cabinets lined with meticulously labeled bottles, boxes, jars, and even vats of supplies. The Weyrhealer's office is also here, along with another side room for mixing up medicines and the like. As afternoon shades into evening, Madilla's finally awake again after the nap that followed her daughter's birth. Needless to say, her first priority on waking up is her daughter, and now she's sitting, propped up by pillows, baby in her arms. Delifa closes the curtain on them, expression utterly fond-- though not anywhere near as fond as Madilla's, which is about as enraptured as it is entirely possible to be. She still looks tired, though, but utterly content despite that; how could she not be? It's been really hard to focus ever since B'tal first got word of the impending birth of his and Madilla's baby. He tried, though, really hard. And now that everything's done for the evening, he's making his way to the infirmary as quickly as he can. He's only stopped long enough to wash his hands and stuff and he's peeling off his flight jacket as he actually comes inside, cheeks still pink from being out in the cold. This is B'tal, though, and he doesn't just charge on in. He kind of lingers awkwardly near the front and tries to get Delifa's attention. That Delifa looks surprised to see B'tal must, surely, be due to the coincidental timing of it all: she is, after all, just now heading back towards the admissions desk. She corrects the hitch in her step in the space of a moment, beckoning the greenrider forward with one hand while the other points out the correct cubicle. "You can go on through, B'tal," she tells him, quietly. "Get in there." If, in the past, she's been reserved towards the greenrider, it doesn't show in her bright smile, now. It's probably no secret that B'tal is somewhat intimidated by Delifa. Even now, under these circumstances and despite a smile that keeps pulling at his lips, he doesn't quite make eye contact with her as he nods his head. The greenrider moves on through and even as he reaches to draw the curtain so he can step through, he's murmuring quietly but enthusiastically, "Madilla! How are you doing? Did everything--" Once he catches site of the baby she's holding, though, he falls silent and smiles instead. His jacket is dropped on the floor near the foot of the bed and he moves carefully closer. Delifa watches after B'tal, and her expression turns distinctly amused for it, but she leaves the pair of them alone, continuing back on her way towards the front of the infirmary. There are, after all, /other/ patients around. That leaves Madilla and B'tal alone in one of the cubicles towards the back of the infirmary. The sound of the curtain opening only barely distracts Madilla's attention from the sleeping bundle in her arms, but after a moment, as B'tal speaks, her gaze lifts and she positively /beams/ at him. "Everything's fine," she promises. "Come meet your daughter. She's just... she's /beautiful/." His gaze flickers toward hers when she looks at him but, for the most part, B'tal is focused on the sleeping baby. He ends up kneeling down on the side of the bed that the bundle is facing and blue eyes take in every detail they can manage. "I can't believe we had a little girl," he says, voice barely more than a whisper. "She looks just like you," he adds as though it's an agreement of this beautifulness. It's not a particularly good day to be stuck off at Tillek, clearly, but duties are duties, and W'chek might not be hurrying quite as much as he possibly could if he was of a mind to. Instead, he comes ambling in at a leisurely pace, not a hint of urgency. At least it's not hard to get directed back to where his weyrmate and that-girl-he-was-going-to-marry-once happen to be holed up with the-sleeping-thing-that-resembles-Winston-Churchill. "Knock-knock?" Distinctly hesitant. Even if Madilla can't quite keep her gaze away from the baby, her somewhat indulgent smile is almost certainly intended for B'tal. "She looks like you, too, I think. Your nose, at least." There would probably be a lot more gushy feature-placing were it not for W'chek's arrival; it distracts Madilla enough that she breaks off from any further thoughts she has, even glancing up to smile at the bronzerider in a way that is probably intended to beckon him in. Hands full, after all. "W'chek! Hello. Come on in; you can meet your..." Niece? Step-daughter? She falls short of an actual descriptor. B'tal is wearing what's probably a fairly familiar smile to W'chek. It's just a little goofy and completely enamored. "She's gorgeous," he decides before glancing up toward the sound of his weyrmate. "Whit! Look!" he says, more enthusiasm than volume in his voice. He doesn't move from where he's kneeling but he looks a bit beside himself with happiness. Nearly his whole family, however pieced together it may be, is here now! And there's a baby! Familiar, yes. Enamored of someone else, though? That's new, and while the bronzerider does approach, his first eyes for the child are noticeably wary. "My--ah, right." That's going to have to be a question for another day, probably. "She's a girl." Thank you, Captain Obvious. W'chek's hand goes and settles on B'tal's shoulder, either some kind of sentimental connection of a proprietary statement. One or the other. In her exhausted, overwhelmed, over-excited (and probably pretty sore) state, Madilla doesn't seem likely to notice anything, so, having beamed at W'chek for a moment or two, she turns her attention back to the baby. Who sleeps. It's terribly exciting, really. "A girl," she agrees. "Who-- needs a name, B'tal. We didn't decide. Do you want to hold her? And we can try and decide on something." So exciting is this sleeping thing that B'tal practically scrambles at the prospect of getting to hold her. Somehow he still manages not to dislodge W'chek's hand. At least not on purpose. "It's a wonder there aren't more babies named Beautiful and stuff. Good reason to figure that out before hand, I guess. Can't think of much else." He rises enough to sit on the edge of the bed in whatever space he can get beside Madilla and glances at W'chek with a beaming, proud smile. "Do you have any suggestions?" "You didn't deci--hasn't it been the better part of a Turn? Faranth help us all." W'chek, the only decisive one around, and we have seen what his parents thought was a particularly good thing to call him, right? He probably shouldn't be asked. "I guess that's why folks hereabouts do the whole blended name thing. Nobody thinks." The last almost muttered, but there is a certain fondness to it. Even he can't be seriously grumpy at this point. His hand rubs for a moment at the greenrider's shoulder before he lets go, moves a step or two away. "Did you at least have any possibilities?" Madilla transfers the baby to B'tal's arms, though one hand stays close, just lingering above her in that can't-stand-to-be-apart thing that new parents so often seem to be prone to. It's not that she doesn't trust B'tal, but, well, her eyes keep a pretty careful eye on things nonetheless. Faintly pink, she admits, "We talked about it, but..." Decisiveness, you know. Definitely what these two are known for. "I've never had to name anything before. I think we talked about Tamala. Or Lilabet." Once the baby is in his arms, B'tal must tune out most of what's being said around him. He doesn't seem to mind Madilla's hovering hand but instead of offering any answers, he's looking down at the baby with an awed sort of expression on his face. "She's so small," he says finally, which doesn't have anything to do with what's being talked about at all. But then, "Lilabet. Jeibeth says she likes Lilabet. I like that, too." A quick glance toward W'chek almost looks like he's asking if it's okay with the bronzerider, too. "Lilabet sounds--" For a second there, W'chek might have been close to observing how traditionally, a *girl's* name is supposed to end in a *vowel*. Or some such nonsense. Instead, after a pause: "Lovely. Just lovely." Even if the word 'lovely' does not sound entirely comfortable in his mouth. He isn't the sort of guy who goes around calling everything fabulous. He sort of sits himself down closer to the foot of the bed, where there's comfortably free space and a bit of distance. Just a bit. Madilla's attention does slide from B'tal-and-baby to W'chek, as he delivers his verdict on the name, and, uncomfortable or no, she seems satisfied with it. "Lilabet," she repeats, beaming smile still in place. "Lilabet it is. Lily. That wasn't so difficult." First task of parenthood: complete! And in a stroke of perfect timing, the newly-named Lilabet stirs in her daddy's arms; Madilla's breath catches, hand still hovering. B'tal watches W'chek for a moment, probably knowing him well enough and caring what he thinks enough to catch that hesitation between words. But when the bronzerider finishes his thought, the greenrider is beaming anew and looking down at the bundle in his arms when she stirs. "Oh," he murmurs, not unlike the way Madilla's breath catches. "She's moving," he sounds both delighted and uncertain and a quick glance back to her mother makes him ask, "Is she hungry?" Because mothers are psychic, right? "Not difficult at all," says W'chek who participated almost not at all in any of this process. He thumps a hand against the edge of the mattress. "And I came straight down here without getting anything for myself--I really ought to go at least grab a bite myself. Leave you two to--well, whatever." He's maybe never really lingered overlong with any of his female relatives in this position, either. "I'll see you when you get home?" That, clearly, for B'tal. Looking genuinely uncertain, Madilla seems to lack a definitive answer to B'tal's question. That W'chek begins to take his leave right after this moment tears her attention between it all; it takes her a few moments to recover herself, and to say, "Thank you for visiting, W'chek. It was good to see you." Which is distinctly distracted, it's true, but better than no response at all, right? Meanwhile, she's reaching, apologetic, for Lilabet again. Better test this theory, right? "I suppose we'd better find out." |
Leave A Comment