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[ log ] it takes a mansion
midnight kitchen[ Logan is standing in the middle of the kitchen, staring helplessly at the cold bottles of milk on the counter. Baby Girl (who still doesn't have a name -- he's working on that) is calm on his arm, at least; he's just here because she's up and three hours have passed since the last time he's fed her, and he'd rather not wait for her to cry before being a responsible... guardian.
(But Baby Girl doesn't cry nearly as much as Logan thought babies would cry, when he thinks about it. It's actually kind of appalling.)
In any case, while she lies there leaning into him and mouthing absently at her fingers, Logan is waiting for the kettle to boil. He has some half-remembered tip from Charles in his head about putting the bottle in warm water to heat the milk up, so he's going with that.
If he looks slightly catatonic, it's because he is on the verge of it. He's had Baby Girl for two days now, but he's not any more used to the idea of having a kid to take care of than he was when he first found out she was his.
She has his fierce eyebrows, someone told him. Logan doesn't know what to do about that. ]
outside crying[ When Logan was a kid, the outside tended to calm him. He thought maybe this would be the case for Baby Girl, because it made some sense in his head for that to pass down with genes. Unfortunately, it's the middle of the day, the sun is shining nice and warm, and the breeze is sweet with the smell of nature on Charles' absurd land, and Baby Girl is still wailing her little lungs out.
It's not her diaper, given it'd been clean when Logan checked her inside. It's not gas, either, since the whole back patting thing brought no new results. And she's not hungry, as far as the forgotten bottle in the kitchen probably testifies.
But the outside isn't calming her, and neither is Logan rocking her, talking to her, even singing to her -- nothing. It's weird; usually crying kids don't bother him more than what's expected of a responsible adult with a guilt complex, but the more Baby Girl wails her lungs out, the more despondent Logan starts to feel.
He's standing under the shade of a tree, trying to shush her as he rocks her gently from side to side. ] C'mon, sweetheart, it's okay, why are you crying...
baby shower[ It's been a week and Baby Girl finally has a name. Logan's gone and named her Laura K. Howlett, with the K standing for Kayla, but just because she has a name doesn't mean it makes things any less jarring staring up at the banner that welcomes her to the world. Laura's not exactly a newborn baby or anything -- she's a few months along physically, at least -- but she is new to the mansion, new to this form of society, and Logan figured a baby shower wouldn't be that bad. It'd at least give Laura baby pictures to look at that aren't just Logan protectively holding her as taken by everyone's camera phones.
He doesn't know how this party's supposed to go, honestly. It's just started, and there's some mingling going on, but Logan refuses to give his baby (yeah, he's owning up to the whole father thing now) to anyone else for more than ten minutes at a time. While he chews on a carrot cupcake, he watches Laura more than a little protectively as she's brought around by someone else. It's been seven minutes since he gave them his baby, but he's trying to stay calm -- trying to remember that everyone in this mansion can be trusted, and it's not like Laura's in any real danger, and...
Nah. The cupcake wrapper is tossed in the trash bin, and Logan's either going to walk up to whoever's holding his baby and ask if she's being any trouble, or will have to be stopped before he takes her from someone else again.
He's not sure when the fuck he became this god damn mother hawk figure, either. ]
wildcardThe story is that the X-Men found Transigen in its early stages and liberated all the experiment-babies, but Logan kept Laura out of genetic obligation. IDK. Honestly just give me useless dad Logan shenanigans okay help him raise his kid 8(
Erik Lehnsherr | OTA | Wildcard
So Erik insists on taking a few hours a night. You know I won't be sleeping, anyway. And if you don't you're going to collapse. And so Erik takes her from midnight until 4:00. ]
There now, my love.
[ He murmurs softly as he takes her from the nursery and starts to wander the mansion. One of the few things he's found that can soothe her. She whimpers and he pauses, twisting at the waist to rock her as he tuts softly. ]
Ah, we're feeling too good for walking, this evening?
[ He lifts about two inches off the ground and hovers. Baby Girl calms. So he starts to float instead of walking. ]
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Which is, like, totally fine. No big deal. Peter's not horrifically scarred by it, or anything.
But it is a little bizarre seeing it happen. A couple of times a night he runs around to expend energy, and almost all the time he sees his dad -- no, Erik -- carry this kid around like he was meant to be a father. Like, you know, he's a good father.
It's jarring. And maybe Peter's a little jealous, deep down. And while he won't spite the kid or his-dad-no-wait-he-means-Erik for it, he finds the urge to actually talk to him impossible to ignore tonight for some reason or other.
Maybe it's because Erik is flying. He doesn't know.
Peter slows his running to a crawl, making it look for all intents and purposes like he's just appeared out of nowhere walking by Erik's side. ] You are surprisingly good with babies. Chalk that up to pleasant surprises.
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Not so surprising. I do have some experience.
[ He speaks quietly, and without defensiveness. Instead it's a deep sorrow that he's usually better at concealing. All those years lost. ]
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[ Head tilting, he looks up at Erik with a raised brow. ] Hey, does Wolverine pay you to do this?
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I don't need Logan's money. Raising children is a community affair. They both need rest. They're not going to get it if Logan isn't relieved of his duties for at least a little while.
[ Is he taking advantage of the situation to smell Baby Girl's head? Of course he is. ]
kitchen;
tiptoeing his way down the hall and stairs, he glances one way then the other before heading into the kitchen, immediately pausing at the sight of logan with his daughter.] Oh, [he starts.] I'm sorry, Logan, I didn't mean to—
[he stops rather abruptly, brow furrowed with concern at the state logan's suffering.] ... when was the last time you slept? And how many bottles have you been trying to feed her? [the amount strewn across the counter could be worse, though something else-- something peculiar about her captures his attention.]
She sure doesn't cry much.
[which makes him ponder if that's worrisome or not.]
b r e a t h e s
She's not... [ Baby Girl grabs at his t-shirt, so he looks down at her. Then looks back up when he decides nothing incriminating's happened. ] Uh. Not crying is a good thing, right?
[ God, he doesn't know. ]
I was just going to give one bottle. [ But what if she's still hungry after is the logic that had him line the ones up on the counter, though. ]
You can't ask me about sleeping when you're up this late though, Elf.
get ready to coparent logan
from what he remembers, most babies cried a lot more than this one.] But it's odd that she's quiet.
[he nods when logan explains his spread of bottles, hmmming softly as he draws closer.] Making more than one isn't a bad idea, though. We don't know how voracious her appetite might be.
I actually function better at night. Always thought it was because I hadn't run all my energy out, but. [a casual shrug, his heart-shaped tail-end flicking around and dangling above baby girl.] Were you anything like this when you were small?
im already hurting this was a terrible idea
[ It takes her a while, but from her position tilted towards Logan's chest, Baby Girl starts to notice the flicking tail. It moves fast, fast enough that it awakens some quiet instinct in her, and small fingers reach up as if to touch it, even if she isn't nearly fast enough to curl her little hands around Kurt's tail like she wants to.
Logan watches all of this and tries desperately not to smile. ]
I dunno. I don't remember much about being a baby except the fact that father held me more than mother did.
you spelled wonderful* wrong my dude x) such glorious pain
as soon as she notices his tail, kurt dips it lower, letting her tiny fingers brush the point every now and then. he wonders offhandedly if small claws might pop out, give him an unexpected surprise. (she is logan's daughter, after all.)
peeking from behind his bangs, those vivid eyes narrow, playful as he considers logan fighting a smile.]
Perhaps your father could calm you better. [maybe it'll be forward of him to ask, but that doesn't stop him.] May I hold her?
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It breaks his heart a little, but he's not sure what to do about the state that Baby Girl leaves him in in general. ]
Support the head. [ Everyone says that, but now Logan knows why, and he finds it impossible to resist saying so himself. ] She... uh, she likes being close to people.
So I guess. [ A beat. ] Do that, too.
[ He's not good at this, Kurt. Give him a break. ]
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I know, [kurt reassures.] Like, against the chest? Over the shoulder?
[rather than wait for baby girl's cries of protest on being moved, he promptly draws her in, allowing the infant's head to settle right over where his hearts steadily beating, despite his slight nervousness.
been a while, but it's like riding a bike-- you never really forget. he supposes he can cut him some slack, since all this baby stuff is new.]
I can see the resemblance. [he grins, tail drawing up and continuing its earlier wiggling.]
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I don't know what you're talking about. [ "Resemblance", Kurt said. How can someone so small, so innocent, possibly resemble him? ] You know I didn't make her with sex, right?
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What? No, I know that, but— [he stops, draws a bit closer to logan and nudges him.] She has dark hair like you is what I mean. She still technically came from you, though, yeah?
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[ Baby Girl, on her part, is being mostly nice to Kurt's tail. Her grip isn't so strong, even if the lunge of her arms sort of is. She even lets it go before trying to catch it again, as if restarting a game. ]
What else makes her look like me? [ God, Logan's not sure why asking that is embarrassing. ]
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once its released, the tail flickers away for a brief moment, dangling just out of reach and making her really stretch for it, though not to the point where she'll be put off. kurt dips it down, shoulders raising when she latches on again, his laughter coming out in a huff.]
She's fast. [a beat.] And has your eyes, nose, forehead, cheeks... [need he go on? because he will.]
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When she giggles at having grabbed Kurt's tail again, Logan's heart melts at the same time his lips pull into a small frown. ]
You're making these similarities up, aren't you?
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Oh, and she's a girl? Most of them don't grow hair out of their faces.
[he rolls his eyes, readying another retort, except kurt's cut off by her laughter and can't resist looking over, even when he says,] No, I'm not.
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[ Honestly, with the only experience he has with Logan family genes being him and his half-brother, it's hard not to be concerned about how a baby's going to turn out. ]
...think her hair's gonna start sticking up?
[ These are all stupid worries, probably, cemented by the fact that all baby girl is doing is cooing and cheering and giggling about Kurt's blue tail.
She's so happy. And Logan's worried she's going to end up having a shit childhood just because she's got Thomas Logan's blood in her. ]
What if she doesn't make friends?
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[kurt blinks, opens his mouth to retort again,] So what if it does? Everyone's hair can stick up.
[for emphasis, he shakes his head, carefully holds baby girl out and whips forward then backward again, mussing the entirety of the already curly mop atop his head before drawing her back to his chest.
oh. oh, that's... a bit more worrisome, sure, but.] Of course she will.
[cradling baby girl in one arm and dangling the tail back over her, kurt shifts closer, drapes the free limb around logan's shoulders, tugs him into a half-embrace.] She has you, Logan, and I'll be here, too. That's already two people who will always be in her life.
outside crying;
it's not exactly mantis' first time hearing the baby girl cry, nor is it the first time she's been around crying babies. her first mission after joining the guardians officially was to babysit groot. he was still a sapling then, barely reaching her calf, and he had cried the entire night when gamora left with peter to retrieve a bounty. using her abilities to coax him to sleep was a sort of last ditch effort, but he fell asleep in her arms and mantis felt both relieved and anxious at the same time. she held him the entire night until morning, listening to his breathing.
this baby girl isn't groot, but mantis steps up next to logan quietly, antennae glowing as her fingers gently settle against the baby's temple. immediately, she quiets down, her wailing trailing off to a whimper as mantis offers her finger from her other hand, letting her cling to it. ]
JIEJIE
[ The fact that he knows what Mantis does doesn't mean that seeing her actually do it is any less surprising. Her hand seems to come out of nowhere (it's insane how quiet she is, how her scent matches the outside world so much he doesn't smell her immediately), but the crying stops, and Logan thinks that's all that matters. ]
Thanks. [ Looking from Baby Girl's now-calm expression and how she nuzzles into his chest to where Mantis is standing, Logan wonders if he still looks as frazzled as he'd felt. ] I... uh, [ he shrugs, trying to seem unaffected by it all ] I needed that.
Is she -- she wasn't sad, right?
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No, [ she says, just above a whisper now that the baby girl is calmer and tries for a more reassuring smile. mantis watches as she presses one small cheek against logan's chest and then turns her face into it completely. ] She was frustrated, I think. It is very loud out here and very bright... too many scents. It covers up yours.
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Uhuh. [ Except he doesn't really "uhuh" it. He looks down at Baby Girl, at how tiny she is pressed up into his chest, and feels that perhaps even without her sense of touch, Mantis would be able to tell quite easily that he's never felt more sorry in his life.
He does take her advice, though, and moves towards the base of the tree to sit as far into the shade as he can and hide from the sun.
And, just so Mantis is aware: ] You can sit if you want.
I feel like I'll probably need your help again.
[ Outside ]
Going out is a last minute thought, and it doesn't take him long to hear the baby crying, immediately going on alert. He approaches the pair slowly, lowering his voice. ]
Ey...difficult night?
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You think? [ It comes out biting before Logan backtracks, realising he probably shouldn't badmouth someone willing to help him. ] I mean-- God, yeah. Difficult night.
She just won't stop crying.