milliways_bar | (no subject)

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'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the...stable? There was...not much of anything going on, really. Javert has been sleeping out here for the last couple of weeks, and tonight will be no different. Cheval has been nosing around for his next bottle, so he fetches it from Bar, trying not to yawn too obviously where anyone can see. He also considers another blanket, but it seems indulgent, so does not.

Bar also produces a gift, which he stares at for a moment. This again? But then, he supposes it is the season. He asks the bar to keep them for now, and walks back through the snow to the foal. It may be Christmas night, but it the same as any other to him and he is sure it will stay that way.

Valjean, watching this exchange, follows him out.

[OOC: Merry Christmas, everyone! This post open through New Year. If you want to chuck random animals etc in, go ahead. The more cracktastic the better, say I. If not, no worries - he's taggable at the bar too. Also, I will be tagging up everything I owe as soon as I've wrapped the last few presents over here. <3333 you all!

ETA: I completely forgot to set this up the way I planned. Ah well. Valjean, when I tag him in, is also entirely taggable by anyone. And will probably be in a far more festive mood, lets be honest. Also, feel free to tag each other if you want to be all 'wtf I'm in a stable' to someone else! I'm allgood with that. <3]

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"Oh, there you are," Pyrrha says with a grin. "We were looking for you--I think I got my times mixed up again. But here you are, and I hope you're hungry."

Egil's excited to see him. One squirmy, happy baby.

"I am!" Teja says. "And I brought branches, to put upon our table for the feast. Even though none of us keep Christmas as such, a mid-winter feast is a custom for us all, and little Egil may have something to marvel at, and mark the day as special."

He extends an arm towards the baby.

"Here I am again, puppy," he says, softly.

"Oh, it's a special day all right," she says. "Even aside from that--Egil learned something today. He's a very smart puppy. I think you'll like this one."

He's also probably not good at keeping secrets, so Teja's probably going to get this one sooner rather than later.

"What is it that he learned?" Teja asks. "Or may I be shown, so I can tell for myself, and cheer him?"

"Well, we were talking," she says with a grin.

In fairness, she was doing most of it, like she usually does.

"About dinner, and our plans for tonight, and... go on, puppy. You know who that is. Who's that?"

Oh, he knows this. He knows the answer to this one. "Teja!" he says, and laughs his baby-laugh.

"Oh, Egil!" Teja says, deep amazement in his voice. "Puppy! You can say my name! You are not even a year old, and yet you say my name."

He is deeply moved by this feat, and a rare happiness shines from his dark eyes.

Give a baby positive reinforcement, and he'll keep doing whatever it is. "Teja, Teja!" he says.

"Yeah... we were kinda talking about you," Pyrrha says, as proud as she can be. "Only good things, though. What you were probably doing, working in the forge and all. You're lucky, you get your name. I just get a kind of bark."

"He gives you your name, in fox-speech!" Teja says, still deeply touched.

He has a horse and a bunch of fir branches, and wonders how he may add a baby to that, without the horse wandering away, or the branches stinging the child.

Pyrrha's got hands, and is certainly willing to trade Egil for the branches, at least. She's not much of one for horses.

"Pyrrha's kinda hard for a baby to say," she says. "So's Egil, I think. So you're the first one."

She doesn't mind the bark, either. It's a cute one.

Giving her the branches, Teja takes Egil in his arms and holds him, leaning his cheek against the baby's head. "Puppy," he says, softly. "Well done!"

"Teja," he says happily.

It may be the most important word he could learn, here in the bar.

"He's a really smart puppy. Learning new things all the time--they say babies can learn sign language before they shape words. I wonder if anybody here can teach it."

"Of course," Teja says. "I even knew that -- Guppy taught sign language to all his children, and will easily show us how we can teach Egil. I should have thought of it before."

"I want to give him every advantage we can," she says. "I don't know what being a fox sometimes will do to him, as far as learning goes--he's really smart, but I worry, you know? I don't want him to fall behind on people things because he's doing fox things instead."

Teja kisses the baby's cheek, gently.

"I shall speak with Guppy," he says. "He may even have a book for us so we can teach Egil."

Edited 2013-12-26 23:07 (UTC)

"That'd be great," she says. "He seems like a really good person to go to on parenting stuff--raising happy, well-adjusted kids. And that's what I want for Egil, whatever the rest of his family might be."

"Indeed," Teja says. "Guppy may be a very good man to help with that, as he has several, is a doctor, and sails upon the chaos rather than demanding order. He is good at what he does."

"He seems really patient, even if people have what might be kinda stupid questions," she says. "And that's important. Some people think that just because they know something, everybody should, that it's common knowledge. And sometimes it isn't."

"Guppy knows to explain, but he never dumbs down his explanations," Teja says. "His son Fry, I sometimes do not understand in the context; he thinks lightning-fast and jumps from idea to idea. But then, Fry is only five."

"I think I might've met him a while back," she says. "We were down at the bar getting some ice cream and we met a boy about that age, really smart, kinda looked like Guppy. We missed the introduction thing, but we had a nice talk."

"Really smart," Teja says. "Yes, that is Fry."

He hugs Egil.

"You are shaping up to be very smart as well, puppy!"

"Smart, and tall," she says. "And probably hungry--anybody joining us for dinner, or is it just us? We should probably go start cooking soon."

"I invited Jean Valjean for dinner, but he prefers to stay with Javert," Teja says. "But he promised he would come another time, very soon. He is a truly good man; one of the few to do the Christian religion proud."

Edited 2013-12-27 21:01 (UTC)

"That's good," she says, nodding. "I sorta invited Javert but he said no; I'm glad he'll have company anyway."

"That was bold and good of you," Teja says, "and of course he said no -- he said no to everything tonight, as far as I can tell. He refused to take the blades I meant to give him, also. He is exercising the power of 'no' as a small child would; maybe he never truly had a chance before, and now refuses everything."

"He's got a right to say no to things," she says. "When I was a kid, I wasn't allowed to. Saying no meant you put yourself above other people and above God--but it doesn't. Sometimes it just means you're asserting yourself, your independent existence."