OPEN POST 2020.

[legalized]

【my ❝CALL ME OUT❞ post】
get my ass in gear.

♛ here is my muselist. ♛ post "calling" one of them out — you can do so by putting their name in the subject line! ♛ can be informal/formal/comment spam/crosscanon/explicit/whatever tickles your fancy! ♛ feel free to make up a scenario at the start, or wait to see where things go. meme code.

Comments

[ketterdamn]

Not quite long enough.

[ Not as of late, anyway. It's been hard for her to get comfortable. As it was, they've had to change up how they fell asleep–that'd happened a number of months ago. And ever since then, it feels like they've been tossing and turning for a large chunk of the nights to accommodate the changes.

From what he understands, he doesn't think longer and comfortable naps will be in their immediate future either. ]

Perhaps. I'll drop a hint to Sturmhond. [ Invention and engineering is sort of his thing. Not that he thinks he would be bad at it. Just that schemes and politics tended to be more of his strong suits.

Not to mention: he didn't have time to fuss around with machinery. ]

[wraithes]

He may have more to concern himself with than my whining. The Queen must have him doing something.

[ though inej feels relatively at ease now, relaxing a bit more against kaz, humming to herself as she focused on the warm water, and the feeling of kaz’s hand on her middle. maybe time travel won’t be needed after all.

by this time tomorrow, it’ll probably be over. which causes Inej to run that over in her mind, turning the thought around a bit a few times before she tilts her head back, blinking her eyes open. ]

Are you ready?

[ curious. she feels ready and not. mostly ready to hold her baby, but the rest of it, she isn’t so sure. motherhood feels like the scariest journey she’s had yet, but the one she’s most excited to embark on. ]

[ketterdamn]

[ Well, that's probably true. Zoya is not a woman who sits idly by. He doesn't think she's going to be a lazy ruler by a long shot. She also seems to have the personality to keep someone like Nikolai in line so he doesn't get too carried away.

That's really neither here nor there. Ravka feels so detached right now in his mind, aside from the Suli caravan Inej's parents are a part of.

Inej tilts her head back and he tips his chin down to meet her questioning gaze. And that certainly is the question of the hour, isn't it? On some level, he feels ready. Has had to, otherwise he wouldn't have suggested they start a family at all. He's also ready to see what their baby looks like, to hold them and see them grow up.

There's also a part of him that's terrified. ]

Mostly yes. [ He clarifies, so she doesn't think he's having second thoughts in the last hours. ] I don't know what to expect; I'm nervous.

[ The birthing itself he has a fair idea on. But everything else? They would just have to learn as they went. ]

Are you? [ She is, after all, going to be doing all the work here very soon. ]

[wraithes]

As ready as I can be.

[ as she tilts her head up a bit more, so she can press a gentle kiss against his jaw. meant to be encouraging, but also that she understands.

she shifts so a hand can rest against his on her middle, idly tracing his fingers. him being nervous was no real surprise, but inej supposes anyone with half a brain cell would be nervous before having their first child. ]

I think they are ready to taste fresh air. And have a name other than “baby.”

[ inej had insisted on the sex of the baby being a surprise, though the midwife surely knew. grisha were capable of incredible things. she and kaz had traded names back and forth, and had settled on some options no matter what their child turned out to be. inej knew that she would know their name when they met, and that was that.

she’s about to ask kaz if he wanted to move to bed (the bath water not quite hot anymore, more a lukewarm) when another contraction moves through her. the pain isn’t anything she can’t handle, but the pressure against the lower end of her spine causes her to inhale sharply, exhaling slowly as she finds her focus. what has that been, eight minutes? seven? ]

I think we may have another day, if that. [ in a quiet sigh, dropping her head back against his chest again, eyes closed. ] I think they’re trying to kick my back until it breaks. [ she squeezes his fingers loosely. ] Can you distract me?

[ketterdamn]

[ Well, that's a sentiment they certainly share. Just on slightly different levels. Of course Inej is probably a bit nervous about what parenthood looks like for them—it's not like either of them have had easy lives. Nor have they made an excessive amount of friends. The entirety of West Stave is wary of them both and that's a legacy they'll be raising their baby into.

There's also the regular baby things he's sure they're worried about. Like if they're going to come out healthy and whole, how fast they'll learn or grow. He worries, perhaps too much, over what kind of father he'll be. His own has left behind a vague template but not enough to be something to work off of so many years into the future. Inej's parents have already given a lot of good advice, though a chunk of it has been somewhere in the realm of "worry about that when they're here".

Which he has a hard time doing. ]

They've been fussing enough for it. [ Both for the impending freedom and a solid attempt at bruising her back at the very least. That said, neither of them can deny it's theirs, considering how much they're always on the move. At that, Inej breathes in sharply, relaxing a few seconds later. A familiar thing at this late stage; he pauses and waits for any difference, tension seeping out when she seems to re-settle.

Tilting his head down, he presses a quick kiss to the top of her head. ]

What kind of distraction? [ Well. ] Let's get you out of the bath first.

[wraithes]

[ the kiss to the top of her head causes a light twitch of her lips, along with the question. what a delinquent, though she gives the question some serious thought as he begins to coax her out of the water. what does she want . . . her nice fluffy robe, for starters, and to relax in bed. a massage would also be nice. maybe a snack, and a hot water bottle for her back. ]

Hmm. . . [ a soft noise before she sighs, reaching out to curl her fingers around the rim of the tub, pulling herself up into sitting properly. distinctly not happy about it. moving feels like such an effort. ] I think a massage and something to eat would be enough.

[ probably, anyway. she isn't entirely sure she can eat, but she knows that she should. there's another brief wave of uncomfortable pressure -- less so, than a few minutes before, and inej exhales slowly before preparing to pull herself up. ]

I want to go upstairs.

[ to rest, in the birthing suite that had taken entirely too long to set up, in her professional opinion. she had originally been of the opinion that she needed a bed and a wash basin and that was it, but she had been overruled in terms of necessities by multiple people. it was quiet, and private, and away from the inevitable bustle of the lower floor with people preparing food and cleaning and organizing.

and, truthfully, inej doubted she would be leaving any bed she sat in once situated. so she may as well settle herself into the most important one. ]