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Post by Kat on Apr 19, 2008 14:57:33 GMT -5
(Timeline: Before the current seige really got going, somewhere in the vicinity of Casey's first birthday and while most folk are still at the Cosway)
Rarely since Casey had been born had Kay let the little girl out of earshot, much less in the exclusive care of someone who was not Fa or Agate. It was the same protective instinct that had been such a boon in keeping her pregnant self, and then herself and her new daughter alive for so long, but as much as she loved Casey, Kay was hankerin' for some alone time with Agate and Fa.
"You don't think we could get someone to babysit for just one night? I'll bet Kin and Red would have her back in better condition than before," Agate had suggested a moment earlier.
"Ma ma ma ma ma ma ma!" babbled Casey in Fa's arms, the two adoring each other mutually.
"No, sweetie, Fa!" The blonde woman pointed to Kay, "That's ma! Say hi, mama!"
"Fa fa ma!" Casey burbled some more.
Ha. If she was old enough to start calling people 'ma', she was old enough to be babysat. "Yeah... maybe. Yeah, probably. Let's run it by them, huh?"
Though Kay had mixed feelings about the whole thing, she reminded herself that these were the people who helped bring Casey into the world in the first place. Kin had literally been the first one to see the child, had delivered her with her own hands. There was something special about that. She nodded, resolute to be okay with it.
"Well, you do that, and I'll run the bath," Fa told the two of them, jiggling Casey in her arms. "I'm your Fa-fa-ma-ma, sweetie pea! You wanna get all clean and warm? Hey? How about we set you up in the tub!" Her voice, singing 'splish splash', disappeared with the two of them as she rounded a corner and went down the hall to nab the single hot-water bathroom. Casey could be heard crowing "'pash 'pash!" for some time afterward.
Kay left a moment later, leaving Agate to a few precious moments of peace and quiet.
Kin's room was on the third floor. Kay tromped resolutely up the stairwell (enjoying how easy stairs were without the weight of a baby on her back or in her belly!) and out into the third-floor hall. What if Kin wasn't there? Kay grinned to herself; she'd check Red's place next, of course. She rapped merrily at the scientist's door, starting to warm up to the idea of a night without baby. Plus... Kin and Red taking care of a baby was bound to be an interesting event.
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Post by kinrrataiyath on Apr 22, 2008 0:08:02 GMT -5
Kin was indeed in her room, much to Kay's delight. She had been in there for most of the day and a good portion of the previous day as well. In fact, the scientist rarely emerged anymore except to scrouge for food when everyone else was asleep or slip off to the Needs. Before she had been a quiet, mouse of a girl, yet she had found the courage to venture out in populated space. Now, however, after the attack had passed and life had returned to a sense of "normal" (minus Eddie and a few others), she may as well have been a ghost.
Kin had come to blame herself for what had transpired those several months back. She had put everyone at risk because she had been unwilling to let go of her research and run. They had all paid the price for it. As they had on the trip up North. Really, when she thought about it, the only good she'd done around here was helping to deliver a baby.
Funny how that very event was the reason she heard a tap tap tapping on her door now.
The scientist jumped as if scaled and looked wildly towards the door. She had gotten so used to being on her own lately that sometimes she forgot others still lived her. Kin stopped gaping once she got her bearings again and pushed her wide, round glasses back up the bridge of her nose.
"It's open," she called as evenly as she dared. Her voice sounded funny in her own ears. Likely because she hadn't had a reason to use it much lately.
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Post by Kat on May 5, 2008 22:50:34 GMT -5
"Great," Kay called and then strode right in.
A year later she didn't know Kin very much better at all, and Kay was certain that that wasn't only because Casey had been eating all of her time. She regarded the girl -- no, woman, even meek and little as she was -- and offered up a smile. Had she heard a slight tremor in Kin's voice? "Didn't mean to startle you. Are you in the middle of anything important?"
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Post by kinrrataiyath on May 6, 2008 17:19:50 GMT -5
"Um..." Kin stalled, looking back to the mess of papers spread out before her. It took her a moment to remember what, exactly, she had been doing before she could give a reply. "No... no, not really. Nothing I can't finish later." Hastily she began to scrape the papers together, forming an unorganized pile by her knees.
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Post by Kat on May 19, 2008 13:33:10 GMT -5
((B'dur. Sorry for leaving you hanging here!))
"Good." She watched Kin scrabble to tidy up, feeling philosophical. "I wanted to ask you a favour -- and Red, if he's skulking around here somewhere." She peered about, not expecting to spot the Cosway's other resident redhead, but then, you never knew -- maybe the pair of them had gotten more comfy with one another while she wasn't looking. "Actually yeah, it'd probably be easier if it was the both of you. But anyway, I was wondering... I got some stuff to do, and you two seem pretty responsible," she shot the girl another grin, as if making a joke, "and I was gonna ask if you two would be willing to watch Casey for the night."
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Post by kinrrataiyath on May 21, 2008 2:07:23 GMT -5
Kay may as well have held a gun to Kin's head and shouted "surprise!". The reaction she got was akin to the deer in headlights frozen posture that Kin used to tote around wherever she went, as if she were peremently in danger of being run over by the freight train of life. The scientist took a moment to compose herself, thankful for the veil of long, unkempt hair that hide her expression from the other woman's view. One of these days she'd get a haircut, but for now the waist length locks were beneficial.
"I... um... I haven't seen him," she admitted stallingly. Which was entirely due to the fact that she had been avoiding him. "A- are you sure I should be looking after Casey? I don't have much experience with children..."
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Post by Kat on May 22, 2008 0:02:31 GMT -5
"Kin." Kay had anticipated this response. It wasn't hard to figure that the timid woman would give her best deer-in-headlights look when faced with something as daunting as, oh, an infant. Kay smiled. "I changed my first diaper the day Casey was born and I'm doing alright. If you find Red I bet you two could tag-team her pretty well.
"Listen," and now Kay was leaning forward, empathetic. "If it weren't for you, I would have died giving birth and Casey would have died, like, perma-died before she even really had a chance to be alive. I know, I know, that doesn't mean you're automatically good with kids, but I trust you. So how about it?" She leaned back against the wall, easy again. "If there's really no way you'll do this, I could try and hunt down Mock... though he's been kinda scarce lately."
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Post by kinrrataiyath on May 25, 2008 2:13:02 GMT -5
Kin turned her head when she was told to "listen". Enough time spent around Cass and a few key words had been beat into her head. When Kay was done, the scientist turned her head away to hide her expression. She had also learned, through repeated trial and error with the other crew members, that people didn't like seeing how the simplist decision could be a world ending event to her.
Kin bit her lower lip and chewed on it in deep contemplation. A child was a big responsibility. There could be complications with the smallest task, like feeding. What if she fed it the wrong thing? What if Casey had some sort of allergy no one knew about and Kin inadvertantly triggered it while Kay was gone and the medical facility was overrun and she couldn't find anything to help it and Casey died!
No, she heard a firm, school matronly voice tell her firmly in the back of her mind. Let's think reasonably now. We are a scientist, right? We do research and all that complicated stuff... Right. So logically, what's a few hours babysitting compared to reconstructing an evolving virus that attacks and restructures DNA? There really was no arguement against that.
"Okay," she said hesitantly, surprised by her own response. "I... I guess a few hours is manageable."
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Post by Kat on May 27, 2008 17:43:08 GMT -5
Watching Kin gather herself and finally respond and thought back to, wow almost a year ago now, when the scientist had made her big speech, and really, how very little had changed in the end. Could this gentle mousy creature be partially responsible for the virus? Maybe. But in the end blaming her didn't fix anything and was more like kicking a puppy because a dog bit you one time. Kin had even handled the fallout with, well, if not poise and grace than at least not by running away.
When Kin finally accepted, Kay grinned. "Thanks tons, Kin. Uh, Fa's got the kid and she's giving her a bath so she'll smell all nice and clean for you. She'll probably be down in twenny minutes or so. I'll send down our store of clean diapers with her." The mother seemed about to say something else, but instead smiled and clapped Kin on the shoulder (probably startling the living daylights of of her) and nodded, kinda a you-done-good gesture.
Just as she was leaving, she paused and asked, "oh, you want me to try'n hunt down Red for you?"
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