Logs:A Real, Living Baby
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| RL Date: 29 May, 2010 |
| Who: B'tal, Madilla, Tabiny |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Madilla meets B'tal's cousin, and then they talk baby stuff. |
| Where: Resident Common Room, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 18, Month 11, Turn 22 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: Delifa/Mentions, W'chek/Mentions |
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| Resident Common Room, High Reaches Weyr Just off of the main passageway lies the small cavern that forms the hub of the residents' quarters, kept immaculately clean by the headwoman's staff and warmed in cold weather by a stone hearth to the left and well back from the entrance. Comfortable chairs and a plush fur arrayed before the hearth make an inviting spot to curl up with a book or handicraft, or just to sit and chat. Beyond, additional chairs stand in clusters throughout the room, some upholstered with age-softened hide, some plain wood. At the widest point of the cavern, a round table gleams with polish, though its surface is nicked and scarred from Turns of use. Beyond the table, the very back of the cavern often lies in shadow unless the glowbaskets there are unlidded to cast cozy pools of light. The commingled scents of klah, smoke and polish permeate the air along with the sweetness of rosemary and lavender. Tapestries hang across the entrances to dormitories and more private quarters as well as the exit to the outer hall, colorful protections from drafts. It's gotten chillier outside and so B'tal has only spent as much time as absolutely necessary out there. Inside is much nicer, even if it's during a time that's more high traffic than others, when people are finish with their work for the day but haven't yet eaten. The greenrider is situated near the nursery, watching some of those people pick up children with a curious expression on his face. At least until one young girl, around ten, is shooting out of there and straight toward him, squealing a name that is his. "Bety!" She launches toward him and ends up in his lap, wrapping a hug around his neck before settling back down. "I /helped/ today." He looks impressed but since she continues babbling on, he doesn't attempt to interrupt her. Making her way through the corridors from the Inner Caverns, still wearing the white coat and apron that signify her working attire, Madilla hasn't yet noticed B'tal when the young girl goes racing towards him. No doubt there are others in the weyr with the nickname 'Bety', but her gaze nonetheless tracks the girl towards him, her eyes widening with fondness, and maybe even a decent measure of surprise. She comes to a halt, drawing closer to the wall to rest her hip there, watching the pair in thoughtful silence just barely out of the way of other passers by. "... and /then/ I drew a runner being ridden by a bunch of firelizards! Wouldn't it be /amazing/ if /runners/ had wings?" The girls pauses, eyes wide, to look at B'tal. He's grinning at her and after a moment, he pulls her closer into a tight hug and kisses her on the bridge of her nose. She squeals and giggles something about his face being scratchy. B'tal says, "Maybe there are somewhere, Tabs." So serious. "But I think dragons are better than any runner with wings could ever be. They can /talk,/ after all. And maybe if you're very good and then ask very nicely, Jeibeth will say something to you." The girl's eyes go even wider, that thought clearly an exceptional one. She's back into talking, wondering what the green sounds like, as B'tal glances around for her parents and that's when he spies Madilla. His already bright expression lights further and he waves, looking apologetic that he can't get up just this moment. Madilla is close enough, probably, to catch at least /some/ of the exchange between greenrider and child, amidst the bustle of the caverns; it paints her expression fonder still, somewhat dreamy in its watchfulness. Being caught in her spying, despite B'tal's bright expression, makes her look guilty: she sends back an apologetic, somewhat rueful smile, and draws herself away from the wall to cross towards them. "Hello, B'tal, and--" She knows a fair number of the children in the nursery, but not, apparently, this one; she greets Tabs with a warm smile anyway. "I didn't mean to interrupt." "Tabiny," B'tal is quick to offers the healer though the girl says it just out of unison with him and then starts giggling. "A cousin. My, uh, mother's brother's daughter. Right?" The last is to the girl who doesn't seem to have followed the lineage there very well. "Tabs, this is Madilla. Remember I told you about her?" This the girl follows and she beams as she says, "You're having a baby! B'tal said I could hold it sometime if I sat down and--" she glances at her cousin who continues for her, "And were very, very careful." A beat, then explanation, "We're waiting for her dad. He should be along soon." Madilla's eyes light - she, at least, follows the lineage. "I /am/ having a baby," she agrees, with a little laugh as she lowers one hand to rest on her now pretty obvious belly. "A big girl like you, you'd definitely know how to be careful, I think. Besides, this baby will be your-- cousin, too. Cousin once removed? Second cousin?" Her gaze slides towards B'tal, and she admits, "I never remember which way is which. I didn't realise you had cousins here, B'tal." But the idea seems to make her distinctly pleased. Turning her attention back to Tabiny, she asks, "How old are you, Tabiny?" B'tal is having some difficulty in keeping his gaze away from the healer's belly. Or that goofy grin off of his face. It's likely familiar by now, at least. "I can be very, very careful," Tabiny says, even her voice being careful just now. "I'm ten! And they let me hold the babies and help take care of them and everything now. I bet I'm about the best with babies." B'tal, used to the girl's... enthusiasm, tries not to look embarrassed and ruffles her hair affectionately. She gives him one of those 'not the hair' looks and pushes his hand away. "My mother's family has been weyrbred for generations," B'tal notes about the cousin thing. Madilla seems mostly just charmed by Tabiny's enthusiasm, and laughs brightly. "Well! If you're /that/ good, I suppose I'd better take advantage of that, hm?" Her voice takes on an additional softness when talking to children, her pleasure in it undeniably obvious. "Ten's fun, isn't it? Old enough to be responsible, but mostly, only when you /want/ to be." She must be aware of B'tal's gaze on her; she tips a glance at him, beaming, her own hand staying right where it is on her middle. To the greenrider; "I suppose that means you have lots of family around. I'd just never made the connection." "Yes!" Tabiny exclaims, definitely into this idea of helping. And probably for being ten, too. "Ah, here, Tab," B'tal says, nudging his cousin and gesturing toward a man just arriving into the cavern. The girl squeals, yet again, and launches herself back off of B'tal's lap. Except she pauses abruptly, turns back toward Madilla and waves in an exaggerated fashion before turning again toward her father. "A bit, yeah," he allows though he doesn't go into more detail on them. Now that they're alone, he's trying not to slip toward akward. "How're you feeling? Work going well? You look like you're just getting off," he says, with a quick up and down travel of his gaze. As she waves after Tabiny, Madilla turns her attention back to B'tal, grinning. "She's adorable. It's-- nice thinking about our child being like that one day, isn't it?" Though given this pair, /their/ child is likely to be a lot less enthusiastic. Still! "I'm well," she tells him, firmly. "I feel-- good, actually. I have a lot more energy than I did a few weeks ago, anyway. Work's fine, too, though it seems like everyone is catching cold, so it's a bit busy. I don't mind being busy, though; it's better than being bored, at any rate." A bob of her head seems to indicate that, yes, she is just getting off. "What brought you down here? Just-- hanging around?" "She's a lot like her mother," B'tal says, thoughtful, then turns up the corners of his mouth in a bigger smile. "Maybe they will be. Clearly, they'll be gorgeous and smart. Able to do anything at all they want to." The greenrider studies Madilla and shifts to the edge of his seat. "I don't want to keep you from relaxing," he tells her. "You aren't going to catch a cold, are you? Would that be safe? Oh, well--" B'tal glances off where Tabiny met up with her father, then looks back at Madilla. "He wasn't sure how long he was going to be so wanted to make sure someone would be here to catch her when he's usually here. She gets a little impatient otherwise." This makes him grin slightly. "And surrounded by people who love them," concludes Madilla of the attributes their child is going to have. She's undeniably pleased by all of this, but doesn't dwell overly on it, instead shaking her head as she says, "I'm fine. I spent most of the last couple of hours of my shift doing paperwork, so I've been sitting down; Delifa's making sure I don't get overtaxed. I'll be fine." That bit, presumably, is as much about catching cold as not being able to relax. "I can... imagine. How impatient she gets. I think it's sweet that you'd do that." Unspoken is her 'and that he'd ask you', but maybe it's obvious in her approval, anyway. "Definitely." Surrounded by people that love them is pretty much the only sure thing, after all. And B'tal is earnest in that one word. "That's good. I'm glad that Delifa's watching out for you." He knows how seriously the healer takes her work so knowing someone else is making sure she doesn't push herself is very nice, indeed. "They know I won't say no, I think. If I can help it. And she thinks I'm fun." Which pleases /him/ to no end. "Although I suppose I'll have to convince Jeibeth to say hello or something. You don't think she'll get to liking it, do you? Start chatting up the whole Weyr." He's probably exaggerating. Hopefully. Exaggerating or no, Madilla considers the possibility with apparent seriousness, coming to the eventual conclusion of, "/She/ probably won't, but Tabiny will probably tell everyone, and then her playmates will start following Jeibeth around hoping for /their/ turn." The seriousness breaks, though, a grin returning in full force as her other hand drops to smooth, apparently unconsciously, over her rounded belly. "I'm glad she thinks you're fun. Is she an only child? I suppose it's hard to be /alone/ in a weyr, but... I imagine it must be nice for her to have family other than her parents around." "Good point," B'tal murmurs. What's he gotten himself into? "Suppose she can say family only or something." Grin for that but he's very aware of the way Madilla touches her belly. "Yeah, she is. Probably suits her, though. She likes getting gifts. I don't think she'd like sharing that so much with a brother or sister. But that sort of thing is hard to tell. Teris and I were always pretty close. We'd write letters even when we weren't together." Which was a decent amount of time actually. Maybe it was better that way since now they don't seem all that close at all. "I'm sure they'd get over it eventually," promises Madilla. "Or try and find someone in /their/ family whose dragon they could convince, perhaps." Her eyes spark with that prospect, as though she's amused by something; she doesn't explain it, though. "I suppose, as we grow up, it's less-- necessary, to be close to our siblings," she says, watching B'tal's face thoughtfully. "I think I would have been lonely without siblings and cousins, though." There she goes again: stroking her belly, obviously thinking hard. Then she jumps, and half laughs, explaining, after a moment, "It's kicking again. Do-- you want to feel?" B'tal nods his head to that, still watching Madilla fondly. "I have W'chek now. And Jeibeth. I think that makes a difference." At least for him. Though he probably realizes belated that Madilla has neither dragon nor significant other and he ducks his head, slightly sheepish. Fortunately he's saved from trying to think of anything else to say by some concern for the jumping. It's replaced by a beaming smile soon enough and he nods his head, actually getting up to move closer. "Please," he says, kneeling down in front of her and glancing up as he moves a hand to touch her belly. Distracted by her kicking baby, Madilla has no response to B'tal's sheepishness, or the references to those things she lacks. /She/ seems to positively glow, though, in watching B'tal touch her belly. There's another kick - just for him - but it's pretty faint, probably more obvious to Madilla than to a hand on the outside. Still: it's definitely there. "It feels strange," she tells him, with a light, contented laugh. "Like-- I don't know. I don't know how to describe it. It's nice. A reminder, I suppose, that there actually /is/ a baby in there." B'tal feels it and his expression lights up further, attention dropping to her belly with a fixed sort of intensity. "It feels amazing," he murmurs, though clearly he only knows about all this from the outside. Without much warning, he leans closer to press his cheek against her belly with his hand sliding toward the side. Hopefully he's not going to go embarrassing her or anything but he seems to have forgotten about anyone else for the moments. That reaction? All of it? Madilla looks as though she's about to cry-- but presumably good tears, because she can't stop herself from grinning and grinning and grinning. Even having someone press their cheek against her belly doesn't seem to embarrass her: she has her head tilted down to watch, silently. And then there's another faint little kick. Quietly; "We made a baby. A real, living baby." That little kick makes B'tal let out a quietly delighted laugh. It's a little breathy and it almost sounds like that breath might be trying to catch in his throat. "We made a baby," he repeats those words and the emotion behind them is a lot more apparent in his voice. He tilts his head to press his lips briefly to that belly of hers around a smile and then he glances up with eyes that are a little too bright and shining. There's awe and affection in them all for her and their unborn child. Madilla was trying really hard not to cry, and now, with B'tal looking at her like that, and after that kiss, and-- there are definitely actual tears sliding down her cheeks. For a few moments, she's frozen, utterly still, but then she has to lift a hand to wipe the tears away from her eyes, trying not to laugh. "If we're this awful /now/," she begins, but she can't seem to put any force behind it: she's too pleased, too delighted. "Less than five months to go. We're more than half way there." "If we're this awful now, it will only get better. A lot better. We'll be great parents, Madilla." He's looking up at her still, kisses her belly again then withdraws a little reluctantly. "You're beautiful, you know," he tells her, so sincere. Coming from someone like B'tal, however, she can take that however she likes probably. His tears don't quite fall but there's definitely there in his eyes. "It's going to go by so quickly." Probably moreso for him when it gets close to the end. "I can't believe it's been this long already. You'll be backing off of work at some point, yes?" Even coming from B'tal, it makes Madilla beam. It takes her a little while to completely stop with the tears - ah, those pregnancy hormones - but her rapidfire nods give a good indication of how much she agrees with the bulk of what the greenrider has to say. "We'll be /great/ parents," she echoes, finally. "It's strange to think about. That... by the time the snows start to clear, even a little bit, we'll be parents." Before then, even, given High Reaches' lengthy winters, but still. "I will. I'm not sure when, yet-- I think we'll work it out depending on how I'm doing. But I'll cut back, and do fewer night shifts, and we'll just... see, I think. There's a lot to think about." "Is your room going to be big enough?" B'tal asks as he rises back to his feet, clearing that emotionalness out of his throat so he doesn't sound quite so... like he did. "If it was just me, wouldn't mind trying to get a ground weyr and I could be right there to help you." But evidently it's different with W'chek involved. He doesn't linger on the subject and instead asks, "Have you thought about names at all? I try when drills get a little... dull." It's a word he uses carefully for the wing he's in now. Dull isn't probably quite the word but it will have to suit for now. "But I haven't thought of much." Madilla's expression is fond, as B'tal talks about that guest weyr, as though she finds this very sweet, but her answer is firm enough. "My room should be fine to begin with, at least. There are so many families, I'd hate to take space from one of them, but... we'll see, I think." Of the names, she admits, a moment later, "I seem to spend a lot of time thinking about names. It's-- our names aren't terribly good to combine, are they? But... Galamad, Matalan, Betallan. For a boy, at least. Maybe." She doesn't sound terribly certain; choosing names is difficult! "And for a girl... Tamala, maybe. Lillabet. Matalya. I don't know." B'tal looks a little sheepish for the suggestion in the first place, lifting a hand to rub at the back of his neck and glancing away with an awkward smile. But he has a nod for the rest, considering the names that she says in silence for a few moments. "I like them," he says finally, grinning in that goofy manner all over again. "Lillabet is nice. Lily. Galamad." Mostly he just seems to be trying them out on his own tongue and it has him nodding all over again. "They're all good. Better than what I've come up with." He looks sheepish all over. "Tilia. Emilla. For some reason most of the ones I think of are for girls." "I like Lillabet, too," says Madilla, warmly, undaunted by B'tal's sheepishness. "And Emilla is nice, too. Tillia. Do you think it's a sign, if we're thinking about girl names?" She glances down at her midsection, as though she's appraising it, then laughs. "People keep suggesting supposed signs to prove what it is I'm having, but-- I don't know. It's probably all just silly fun, right? We'll find out when he or she is born, and not sooner." "Maybe it is a sign. But it doesn't matter either way to me." B'tal drops his hand to cross his arms over his chest instead and he shifts to sit on the arm of the chair he'd been in earlier. He seems uncertain what do say now, then glances over his shoulder and back to her. "Have you eaten yet? If you wanted, we could eat together?" It's a suggestion that he's careful not to sound too earnest about. He wouldn't want to make her feel obligated, after all. Firmly; "Nor me. As long as he or she is healthy, I don't mind a tall." Madilla smiles genuinely at the greenrider, apparently pleased with his offer. "I haven't," she tells him. "And I'm /starving/." She sounds apologetic for that, even, maybe outright rueful. "So I'd like that. Do you mind if I just go put my things away, and then we can go eat?" B'tal shakes his head quickly and makes a gesture toward the general direction of her quarters even. "Not at all, of course not." And even if he thinks of something about her being starving, he only smiles and doesn't scold or anything out loud. "I can even wait right here for you if you like," he assures her, smile turning into a beam. Madilla meets his beam with one of her own, head bobbing in quick thanks and confirmation; then, she turns on her heel to head off towards her quarters down the hall. It doesn't take her long before she returns, apron and coat abandoned and her clothes straightened slightly. She reaches for B'tal's hand to take it in hers, to squeeze it, before, cheerfully, "Shall we?" marks their departure in the direction of the living caverns. There's no resistance to giving up his hand to Madilla. B'tal squeezes back affectionately and quite happily and his answer comes as a somewhat theatrical, "Lets!" But that's probably better than awkward even if he is liable to be more embarrassing in this sort of mood. |
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