Ariana: Babysitting Elayn

It had taken some time for Ariana and Melan to get Elayn to bed, the child having been fairly difficult in allowing them to put her asleep without the pressence of her parents she now lay peacefully in the cot at the foot of the bed. Granting the couple a few hours of well earned and deserved shuteye after the challenging ordeal of taking care of such a young infant on their own.

They had found both amusement and frustration in their tiresome task, an accomplishment of which Ariana herself had started to feel proud when resting her head down to fall asleep. It had been endearing for the young girl to watch Melan holding the child, observing her fiance while he put on a playful voice to entertain Elayn and keep her calm. Yet she had been greatly thankful that the girl had finally closed her eyes to drift off into sleep. Both Ari and Mel eagerly going to bed in the hopes that they could get several hours of sleep before having to go through the same ritual of feeding and other such things again.

In the darkness of the room Ari opened her eyes, becoming aware of the grunting and squirming sounds not far from her. Next to her she could see the steady rising and falling of Melan's chest, making her smile before she stirred to crawl over his frame and place her feet on the floor. Grumbling quietly to herself she approached the waking child and peered down. Her words a hushed whisper.

“Yer nae tellin' me ye slept 'nough...go back tae sleep eh?”

Rubbing her own eyes and yawning Ari watched for a moment and sighed when Elayn showed no signs of going back to sleep.

“Ach...c'mere, dun' wake do Khla up. 'e 'as stuff tae do ye kno'...”

Ari reaches to pick up Elayn, carefully and with extreme caution placing her in her arms and rocking her back and forth. Her voice still hushed.

“Yer a lil' pain in th'arse tae yer ma' 'n pa' ain' ye? Nae tha' I min'...”

Grinning down at the baby while walking silently through the room, pacing back and forth she tilted her head thoughtfully.

“Lucky ye dun' 'ave much o' th'mug o' yer pa', go' tha' ginger stuff o' 'im though.”

Pausing her tracks Ari snickered and shrugged. Amused by the child blindly grabbing the hem of her shirt to clutch tiny fists into the fabric.

“Ye 'ungry? Maybe I shoul' ge' ye sum' milk b'fore ye start screamin' yer lungs out aye? Jus' sayin'...yer -loud- ye are.”

Unaware of her pointless rambling to the child she stepped out of the room, making her way downstairs to start rummaging in the cupboard she had been shown earlier that evening. A plain bottle with milk kept prepared that she took in her hand, pondering.

“Do ye drink et cold too? I dunnae 'ave yer ma's magic 'ands tae jus' warm tha' up...well nae she dun' need tha' do she? 'avin' milk straight from th'package an' all...well...”

She shook her head and peered at Elayn as if expecting an answer sheepishly. Shrugging a shoulder and sitting down onto one of the chairs in the kitchen eventually to offer the bottle to the noisy child.
“Yer lucky 've seen plenty o' lasses do all this, there's a whole explosion o' lil' wee ones after winter at 'ome. 'appens when ye go' at et tae keep warm ye kno'...”

Ari chuckled, nodding once in relief when the bottle got accepted and Elayn began to drink steadily of the given milk to still her hunger. Continuing her little midnight chatter rather pointlessly.

“Nae sure yer pa' will like me tellin' all th'stuff like tha', bu' sum'one 'as tae righ'? 'll teach ye all th'nasty words jus' tae piss 'im off. Dun' worry though, 'e'll be angry wit' me 'n nae ye. Loves ye silly 'e does tha' idiot. Wha' ye think? Goo' deal? I do like annoyin' yer pa'.”

Snickering to herself and shaking her head at her own stupidity for talking to someone who has no clue what is being said nor is capable of responding Ari kept peering down at Elayn. More comfortable now that there was nobody watching her deal with the girl.

“Everyone thinks 'm clueless wit' wee ones. They're jus' loud 'n keep ye from sleepin' though. Bu' I guess yer quite alrigh'. Yer sorto' cute 'n all. Bu' dun' go tellin' yer pa' I said tha' promise? 's me task tae make 'is life a lil' bit miserable at times. Will be yers too when ye grow up.”

She put the bottle aside, noticing the milk spilling down Elayn's chin. Simply wiping it with the sleeve of her shirt to clean it away with a soft scoff.

“Dun' go spillin', ye go' 'nough then aye? Ye gonna go sleep 'gain?”

Ari tilted her head to peer at the baby, wide awake and staring up at her with a squirmy and energetic swinging of her limbs. Kicking her legs and spluttering out some sounds.

“Oh aye real cute ye are...wha' ye wanna do then? Ye shoul' let people sleep ye shoul'! 'll go tellin' yer pa' tha' ye were a mighty pain, aye!”

She couldn't help herself, grinning down at the comical sight of the flailing infant that seemed to be quite at ease at listening to the nonsensical rambles of the young woman that was holding her.

“Well, wha' does yer ma' 'n pa' do? Tell ye stories? Nae..'ll keep those for when ye can understand wha' 'm sayin'...'ow 'bout...”

Letting the words drift off for a moment she shifted Elayn, placing the head onto her shoulder to start gently rocking left to right. A very faint and quiet humming building in her throat to create a soft tune of a lullaby. Unable to keep a tender smile from her lips without any eyes to see her she presses her lips to give a brief kiss into the ginger strands of hair on Elayn's head.

“I like ye when yer nae screamin' like a slaughtered pig. So if ye dun' do tha' 'gain we'll be fine alrigh'?”

She had hushed her voice again, noticing Elayn closing her eyes in her current position to snooze off comfortably.

“Aye, we'll be fine. An' ye kno'...ye'll be too. Ye go' yer ma' 'n pa' an' tha' retardedly big family o' yers tha' love ye. Bu' I think Mel loves ye too, an' if yer goo'...-oh wha' th'heck, ye go' me too. 's our secret ey? An' maybe one day...ye'll 'ave lil' lions 'n foxes tae play wit' an' ye can be friends like yer pa' wit' Mel an' me an' yer Pa'. Ye'll be fine Elayn. Lil' ginger bugger, makin' me all soppy. Ye sleepin'?”

A smile lingered on Ari's lips, glancing back to the now sleeping Elayn on her shoulder. Mouth open with a noticeable stain of babydrool on the fabric of her shirt. Not commenting however and staying there on the chair to watch a while in silence. After a while getting back up to head up the stairs as soundlessly as she could muster to put her back into her bed and crawl next to Melan herself. Dozing off with that smile subtle dancing around her lips.

For a short story about an exhausted parent getting up in the middle of the night to put a baby back to sleep (and not for the first time), you do make it interesting

Forgive my ignorance on the lore, but since I wasn't sure if this character was meant to be a dwarf or a human I had to check up on the character's profile. So are Stromgarde-ians are supposed to be scottish?

Yeah, arathorians has an accent
And the character isn't the parent

Vikings/Celtic-ish (mostly anyway). The accent is for living so close to dwarven lands and having their own language their common can tend to be a bit rough - unless they are raised somewhere else

I see! Given that he's a northern sailor, I like to give Rhan a rough accent too, and I find it funny when I see two characters converse as such, since to many others the transcrip'chans migh' as weel be anuvur differen' language ye ken?

Izaa wrote:And the character isn't the parent

I guess I should have picked up on that part =p

Rhannoch wrote:For a short story about an exhausted parent getting up in the middle of the night to put a baby back to sleep (and not for the first time), you do make it interesting

Forgive my ignorance on the lore, but since I wasn't sure if this character was meant to be a dwarf or a human I had to check up on the character's profile. So are Stromgarde-ians are supposed to be scottish?

Theehee, she's indeed not the parent. She's the fiancee of the Godfather of the child ^^

Appreciate the comment though, and the other question has been answered by the lovely KoS folk <3