Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

"Alright, so Chapter 1 is about sleeping," she said, with a smile. "The baby, not us. Although it does say some stuff about us, too. I heard it." She still couldn't actually get to reading the book on child care herself, but she could listen to him read it and so, that was what they were doing. Sitting on the chair in their room at the Order of the Adunih, her hand rested on her swollen stomach, Faith looked at him with as much calmness as she could muster. "Chapter 1 tells us that it will sleep a lot. Oh, well I wish it would sleep now. Stop it!" She poked back at her stomach where a small footprint appeared, pushing it back. "It sleeps a lot and rocking helps. So, some people buy cradles which you can rock. Shall we make that one that does?" She looked at him and a frown creased her forehead. It was a thought process which she needed to get clear in her head and, when she had she could formulate the question.

"You said at least four times that we should, or I should specifically, sleep when the baby does. I don't think I can sleep that much, Padraig?" She truly had no idea about any of this but she was doing her best. Earlier that morning they had gone out together and bought the materials needed for them to make the cradle together and Faith had also bought yarn and fabric. With serious grey eyes she had told him that, if nothing else, this was going to be the warmest, cleanest and best clothed baby on Idalos. Although she didn't say the next bit, she thought that at least making clothes and blankets and so on was something that she could actually do.

With the cradle, though, she also had thoughts and she looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Standing up from the chair where she had sat, or more precisely hoisting herself up, she moved over to the magic bag which contained the things they'd bought. Lifting it onto the desk she started pulling things out, putting the wood and parchment and ruler on to the desk whereas she stored the wool and fabric in the bag. "Grab the carpenter's kit, would you?" That was stored over in the corner and as she put the things out, she frowned slightly.

"Padraig? What are we going to call it? I mean..." Faith frowned and stopped, holding a piece of wood like she was brandishing a weapon. "I mean, we'll need to name it but if we're a family, then doesn't it need a family name? I don't have one, I didn't even have a first name until Jamal told me my name was Faith. I haven't been Faith for two arcs yet. But don't you have a family name? It should have a name, shouldn't it?" It was a genuine question, because Faith really didn't understand the whole family name thing beyond the Venoras, Warricks and Kromes of Andaris. Lady Elyna was Elyna Burhan. Did Aeon have a family name? She didn't know. "I should know this, I'm sorry. I'm carrying your child and asking you what your family name is. I am most definitely a loose woman of poor morals." Would that she could even look like she was joking as she said that, though she did her best to. "But either way, we'll need a first name, won't we? Do you have any thoughts? Names you like particularly?"

Breathing in, she pushed the parchment over to him. "So. Design a cradle?" She took a piece herself and lowered her head to do a rough sketch. "We should think about height. I mean, I'm nearly a foot shorter than you, so it needs to not be something I can't reach or something you're going to put your back out over. How are we going to keep the cat out of it?" Her mind was fluttering from one thing to another, jumping about but always returning to the bottom line. She was having a baby and it needed to sleep.

Or, she considered, when he put forward two reasons why she might sleep more after the baby, it was both of those things. She appreciated the use of the word 'or', but she suspected that 'and' might be more appropriate. Still, no point worrying about it now, there was no need to fuss over what they didn't know. Except for the fact that what they didn't know was, to put it mildly, a lot. Small steps, she reminded herself as she felt her heart rate start to quicken.

Augustin? Faith considered it and smiled. "It's a good name. I like it. Yes, lets use it. You're sure your grandfather won't mind?" When he said that his grandfather would be pleased, she looked relieved and delighted all together. It was his name and it would be the baby's name and that worked as far as she was concerned. As for a first name, Faith shrugged. "Would you like to use any of your family names? LIke Cy or whatever your mother's name is, or grandmother's name was. I don't really know many names. Do they have books of them?" All the ills of the world could be solved by books, she was sure.

He talking about bases, sizes and she followed along. "Well, I'm not sure. I can't imagine that the baby will be able to tell the difference, and it's the motion that soothes it, so lets go for swinging if that's easier in terms of the height?" She looked at him and there was no doubting that she was slightly embarrased by the next words out of her mouth. "Padraig? When I'm picturing this, it's beautiful. Like, it has white brocade, and the top of it is a sort of canopy, kind of thing, with white lace and there might even be some slight frills." There was a genuine expression of peturbed on her face. "I can make those things, but do you think this is some kind of strange pregnancy thing which will pass? Like a craving? But I'm craving pretty? I wouldn't want to land the baby with something utterly twee because it's mother had a moment of pregnancy crazy."

Another consideration, though, as her mind flitted again and she tapped the parchment, "If we do it so that the bit that the baby actually sleeps in comes off, then it makes it easier to clean, too. Also, if the bottom of that bit, the cradle itself, was flat, then if we're staying out somewhere, we could bring it with us easier, just without the frame which means it swings?" Faith was, by nature and training, an organiser and so she was trying to think through contingencies. "If we made it bed height, then we'll be able to see it when we're in bed. If we are all sleeping on the same level, that means less need to get up and down and also, we can just attach a string to a bit of it and tug to swing it?" Or, even, she wondered aloud, could they make it so that one of the sides was able to drop down, so long as the baby couldn't do it of course, so that they could access the child from the laying down position of a good, comfortable bed. "If I'm going to be sleeping all this time, apparently, we're going to have to think about bed accessibility, aren't we?" Serious silver eyes considered him and no, there was not one bit of her that was joking.

Faith glanced at him when he said he'd rather not name the child after his mother. She said nothing, though, because at the end of the trial she couldn't blame him. Why would he want to name the child after someone who had never once sought him out after abandoning him? The name Rose, though, that brought a smile to her face. "Rose Augustin? I like that, it's pretty. Roses are beautiful, but prickly, too. Defend themselves and take no nonsense flowers. Rose, then." A boy's name was more difficult but he said that there were books. She'd have a look, she reassured him, or herself, at the books available to them at the Order.

He teased her about the frills as she had known he would and she shot a grin at him. "You best hope I don't start getting the urge to put ruffles in your shirts. Quite the fashion in Andaris you know." Faith raised an eyebrow and looked at him appraisingly. "You'd suit a ruffed collar, you know. Very silly, they are." She nodded at his suggestions though, about the crib; tall enough, wide enough, visibility but not so much that heads could get stuck. All of these things made sense.

She looked at the design and beamed in delight. "It's beautiful. Really. We can make this, you know. Then I can make pretty things and frills. Detachable frills, though, in case it's a pregnancy craving." Taking his hand she pulled herself up and started over to the wood. "Alright, lets get it measured out, then we can turn that diagram into a series of pieces of wood. We need to explode it, really." She made a gesture with her hand, opening up her closed fist to a splayed hand. "Drawing each of the pieces, checking the measurements and stuff. Four sides and a bottom for the cradle. Two sides and a base for the frame. I'll explode the cradle, you the base?"

Measure it, measure it again and then measure a third time was her way of working and she did that, coming up with a list of pieces that they needed. Then, she explained, they could get to matching pieces of wood to which finished piece, or pieces, they were going to be. In that she was meticulous and worked as much to make sure that she was absolutely efficient on the use of the wood as to ensure that they were accurate. Each piece was labelled and numbered and, if more than one piece was going to come from the same piece of wood, she drew a diagram of how to cut the pieces, then she slid it across to him to check, made any adjustments and got started on the cutting.

"Cut them, sand them then connect." Expanded middle or not, Faith had a small line of concentration and focus which creased her forehead when she worked and it was evident now. "It's important that we label them, some of these will look very similar but have very small differences in measurement which could really scupper us if... what?" Stopping, the frown on her face disappeared and she smiled. "If I had a grandmother, I'd draw her a diagram for how to suck eggs. I'm sorry. How are you doing over there?" Faith's expression was somewhat apologetic as she lowered her head back to the parchment and got on with it; somewhat apologetic and mostly amused.