2/26 Instance: Diapers be Damned

[NachtcGleiskette]

current

Talia: Talia lifted Johnny out of the bath, wrapping him in a towel tightly. "There baby boy, we're clean!" she tickled him with the towel, and he giggled. How he got so filthy in the middle of the day was a bit disturbing. He'd found so much joy in climbing under things now, and it looked like she had way more cleaning to do.

Talia: She brought him into his room to put a diaper on him, which he fought and whined over. She tried to get an outfit on him, but he fought her, so she set him on the floor in his diaper. "Fine, don't wear clothes. I don't care."

Selene: Selene paced back and forth in front of the door to TJ's room, contemplating in earnest if she wanted to go on with this undertaking. Did she really trust herself enough to go through with this. Would anyone else at this school be crazy or malevolent enough to entrust her with a baby. And did she even want to spend time with a child? After all, they were moody, fragile and occasionally icky.

Selene: She was about to head off again when she decided otherwise, turned around and gave the door a knock. Perhaps it would be worth trying. Rahne and the other students might appreciate the effort. Additionally, there was a very solid chance that TJ or Remy might tell her to get lost and thereby supply her with a good enough reason to not brave the company of a baby.

Talia: TJ was just about to settle in to clean under Johnny's crib and heard the knock. "Come in!" she called from Johnny's room, leaning under to try and get all the dust up with her cloth.

Selene: Selene opened the door and slowly poked her head into the room. No one to be seen. Ah, maybe the next room. She stepped through TJ's room, curiously taking anything in, then peeked around the corner into Johnny's room, spotting the two of them. "Hello?"

Talia: "Hey," she turned to see the odd girl standing at the door, watching them. "I'm cleaning...hi, um, how are you??" she had never really interacted with this girl much, and wasn't sure what would bring her over.

Selene: "I'm feeling fine." Selene stood in the doorway, hands folded in front of her lap and twiddling her thumbs. "How about you?"

Talia: "Doing good. Just, uh...getting some cleaning done," she indicated her wet cloth. Johnny was crawling awkwardly, before he stood up and fussed with his diaper. "Leave it, John!" she gave him a look, and he returned it with an innocent one.

Selene: "Yes, I see." Selene continued to twiddle her thumbs, her gaze alternating between TJ and Johnny. "So, you probably wonder why I came to disturb you. Well, I didn't actually came with the intention to disturb you, but I'm certain that you'd like to know why I'm here, yes?" She paused, then continued. "Now, I wondered whether it would be possible that I borrowed Johnny."

Talia: "Borrow Johnny??" her eyebrow lifted. "What do you mean borrow??"

Selene: Selene blinked, taken aback for a second. "Oh, no, that's now what I meant. I guess borrow is the wrong word." Her gaze fixed on the opposite wall while she thought about what to say. "What I try to ask is, would it be possible for me to spend some time in Johnny's presence? I have very limited experiences with babies... actually none, and I thought about changing this."

Talia: "So, you want to play with him??" this girl was so so weird. "If you wanna, you can. Remy's in class so it's just me and him. You're totally welcome to stay."

Selene: "Oh, really?" Now, that was easier than expected. Selene wasn't sure whether to be happy or sad about this. "Thank you. I'd gladly stay with you two." She looked from left to right, shifting her wait from one foot to the other. Eventually, her gaze returned to Johnny, sitting on the floor. "So... what am I supposed to do now?"

Talia: "Well...you can like..pick a toy and play with him.." she said, trying to figure out how to even explain it. How do you tell someone how to 'play'?? She put her rag down and moved over to them. "Here," she picked up a puppet frog Johnny had and put it on her hand, making it hop over to him and give him kisses on his cheeks. Johnny for his part laughed at the frog and grabbed onto it's eyes.

Selene: "Oh, I see." That didn't look too hard. Maybe babies weren't as frighting as she had always thought. Selene stepped over to Johnny and picked up one of the stray toys. A small plush turtle in that case. She leaned down to Johnny and held up the toy. "So... hello, Johnny. Nice to meet you. My name is Selene, and I have this turtle. How are you, and would you mind playing with me?"

Talia: Johnny gave her an odd look, reaching for the turtle to see if it would do anything. When it didn't his gaze fell on the discarded washcloth and he went after that.

Selene: Selene frowned, feeling somewhat discouraged by Johnny's lack of enthusiasm. All right, so maybe this wouldn't be that easy, after all. "I think I'm not doing this right." After a moment of hesitation, she sat down next to Johnny and TJ, shifting into a cross-legged pose. Perhaps the turtle itself wasn't interesting enough on its own. "Allow me to try again, yes?"

Talia: "Go for it. He needs to warm up to you too, you know??" she told her. "And sometimes it's like..not just giving him a toy. He plays with all these all the time. You gotta make it more interesting," she moved and snatched the cloth up before he grabbed it, hanging it on his crib rail, and out of reach. "And sometimes the most boring things are what he wants cause he knows he's not supposed to have them."

Selene: "I see." Selene mimicked what TJ had done, and stretched out her arm to wave the turtle in front of Johnny's face. Then she took it away and moved it upwards over her own arm, until it reached her neck, then put it onto her head. Selene looked expectantly at Johnny, a plush turtle on her head. Oddly enough, she didn't feel as stupid as she probably should, considering the circumstances.

Talia: Johnny watched her, then gave a little smile as she put it on her head. "Isn't that a silly hat Johnny?? So so silly!" TJ said helpfully. Johnny stood up and walked to Selene, reaching to take the turtle off her head.

Selene: Selene gave them a surprised look when Johnny actually seemed entertained by her. That actually appeared to work. "He likes that, doesn't he? Am I doing better now?"

Talia: "Much better," she said, as Johnny managed to pull the turtle down and walk off with it. "So, is there a reason you like...need experience with babies??"

Selene: "Most excellent. So I guess children are entertained by discovering new and interesting things. That's only understandable, considering their age, and assumed desire to learn." She tilted her head to the side, curiously looking at Johnny playing with his toy. "He's not so unlike myself," she said more to herself, before looking at TJ. "Yes, to be honest, there is."

Selene: "My roommate, Rahne, invited me to visit her at her home during the upcoming semester break. She asked if it would be acceptable for me to spend some time with Duncan then."

Talia: "Oh," she let out a little breath. "Oh...good. I was worried...you know."

Selene: "You were worried?" Selene blinked at TJ in utter confusion. "I don't understand. About what?" She took another toy and danced it in front of Johnny's eyes. Seeing him reach for it and hearing his giggled actually entertained her.

Talia: "I was worried...like.." she paused. Was the girl playing clueless? "Well...I was worried you wantd to know about babies because...you know, you were pregnant or something."

Selene: Selene's eyes widened when she understood what TJ meant. "Oh! No! Why would I be pregnant?" She tensed up and gesticulated awkwardly. The thought alone made her uncomfortable. "I mean, I do know why people become pregnant. Copulation, sexual reproduction and all that. But there's certainly no reason to assume anything in that direction in my case."

Talia: "Sorry...I don't really know you too well," TJ said, watching as Johnny stood again, and walked behind her. She turned back to Selene. "I just assumed...I didn't mean to offend you."

Selene: "Oh, no, I'm not feeling offended." Selene looked at TJ. "After all, you couldn't know. Like you said, you don't know me too well, and I'm usually not very generous with private information." She gave a single nod. "But I haven't had any intimate contacts, and neither do I plan to get pregnant in the future."

Talia: She nodded, then heard a delighted squeal behind her. Turning she caught Johnny running through the open door to Remy's old room, his diaper left on the floor. "Ohhh no, get back here!"

Selene: Selene turned around to look after Johnny. Her gaze shifted between Johnny, TJ and the diaper on the floor. "Johnny, please come back!" She gave TJ a sideways glance. "Uhm... can I be of help?"

Talia: "I got him," she jumped up, and headed into the other room, returning with a squirming, naked baby. She closed the door securely, and laid him down, trying to get the diaper back in place. "He's been like this since we got back from Florida. He never wants to wear anything anymore."

Selene: "Oh. This could become problematic if he will still do this in a few years. I guess people in schools or university might react negatively to naked blue people. Or naked people, in general." She frowned and tilted her head to the side. "Well, except for this place, apparently. People here seem to have little aversion to nudity."

Talia: "He's just a baby, it's just a phase I'm sure," she hoped. Or what if he was a nudist and Selene was right?? She furrowed her brow. "Well, John Gabriel LeBeau, you are going to need to learn to wear clothing." She fastened his diaper and he whined and began to squirm and cry, picking at it with his hands. "Stop playing with it! " she reached into his closet and grabbed his bucket of blocks, dumping them on the floor, thrilled when it provided the distraction for him.

Selene: Selene watched all of this with a keen interest. "It appears to me that raising a baby is a tremendous challenge." At the moment, Selene felt reassured in her decision to never produce offspring of any kind. "One I would certainly not be able to handle."

Talia: "You'd be surprised. Like, it's very very difficult, but you don't know how you'll do really til it happens," she told her, relieved Johnny was too focused on his blocks to try to remove his diaper.

Selene: She gave TJ a long, silent look. "You must feel a really great affection towards him that you are willing to take on such a burden. I can't say that I could imagine ever doing something similar." Selene's eyes focused on the small blocks, and she wondered if she could risk using her abilities near someone else. Although, she had really made some progress during the last weeks.

Selene: "However, I have to admit that playing with him is certainly amusing." She focused on one of the blocks and gently used her telekinesis to let it float in the air in front of Johnny. She smiled contently when she managed to keep it under control.

Talia: She gave Selene a smile. "There's like, no love like what you feel for your child. You don't even know how strong it is until you feel it. Ypu'll do anything for them...it doesn't matter how hard."

Talia: Johnny watched the floating block with rapt attention, opening his mouth to try to chew on it when it came close enough to him. TJ watched him, smiling softly. "How could anyone not love him??"

Selene: "I have to admit that he's a quite pleasant baby." She nodded at TJ. "To be honest, I had expected worse before I came here. I think if I spent some more time with you and him, I should be able to handle most of the possible upcoming baby-situations when I visit Rahne and Duncan."

Talia: "There's not much you need to worry about," she told Selene. "I mean...unless they leave you alone with him, Mom'll always be close to take him when there's any problems or poops or whatever." Johnny walked over to Selene with a block in hand, offering it to her.

Selene: "Uhm, thank you, Johnny." Selene reluctantly took the block from him, wondering what to do with it. She looked at TJ. "Yes. I somehow doubt that they would leave me alone with him, so it should be mostly manageable." Selene gave the black in her hand a contemplative look, then propped her chin onto her free hand. "There might be another thing that should amuse Johnny."

Selene: "Say, does he has a plush toy or something similar that he is fond of?"

Talia: Talia nodded and reached into the crib for his stuffed elephant. "His favorite," she said, noting how his eyes widened as she handed it to Selene.

Selene: "Thank you." Selene took the elephant from TJ and held it in front of her face. She looked up from it at Johnny, who was beaming a smile at his toy. "I think he might enjoy this little trick." Selene closed her eyes and focused on her ability, transferring a tiny portion of her energy into the toy. She could feel it flow into the elephant, spread out in the lifeless matter, letting it radiate to her senses.

Selene: Opening her eyes, she set the toy down on the floor. Seizing control of the energies within it came easy to her now. Slowly, the elephant started to move, following her mental orders. Selene let it walk towards Johnny in a lifelike manner, waving its trunk while looking up at him with its happy face.

Talia: Johnny's eyes widened further at his now dancing elephant. He regarded it for a moment as if afraid of what was going on, before reaching out to pet it, the trunk gently wrapping on his hand. "Popo!!!"

Selene: Selene gave the elephant a few more instructions so it would play, dance and cuddle with Johnny. "This will probably only last for a couple of minutes, but I figured that he might enjoy something like this."

Talia: "That's like, completely amazing!" Johnny was completely in love with his dancing elephant, giggling and clapping while he watched it. "You do that with the telekinesis stuff? Wow..that SO comes in handy!"

Selene: "Yes, I think so. It's something that I don't fully understand yet, but I guess it's an aspect of my telekinesis. I found it out by accident a while ago. By transferring a bit of the energy I use to power my gifts, I can... animate objects and let them do what I want." Selene looked from Johnny to TJ. "I have yet to experiment further with it, but you are right. It has some interesting and helpful uses."

Talia: "Totally. If I could do that, it'd probably be so much easier keeping him entertained." The elephant had stopped dancing, slumping down to the ground. Johnny picked it up and shook it, trying to get it to dance again. He shook it again, then held it up to Selene with a sound.

Selene: Selene couldn't resist giving Johnny a small smile when she took the elephant from him. "I take it you want me to make it dance again, yes? Very well, one more time." She took the toy and repeated the process, then handed it back, dancing again. "I'm afraid I can't do it that often. It's very tiresome for me."

Talia: "Yeah? Well, we'll find something else to do when this one is done," Johnny laughed and clapped, and bopped a bit as the elephant danced. "See? You're not bad with kids at all!"

Selene: Selene tilted her head and frowned. "Perhaps you're right. Who would have thought? Should I be delighted or concerned about this? After all, I never considered spending much time with children before. I thought them to be annoying and troublesome. However, their curiosity is rather refreshing."

Talia: She paused, giving Selene an odd look. "Umm...I think you should be happy about it. There's more a chance you'll have to deal with kids sometimes in your life than never."

Selene: "Possibly." Selene nodded at TJ, slowly. "However, I'm still quite certain that I'll never want kids of my own."

Talia: "No??" TJ asked, her gaze moving to Johnny again. "It's really amazing. The best thing I ever did. Like, to each their own and all, but I couldn't imagine not having him."

Selene: "No. As you might have noticed, I'm not the kind of person that would get praised for their ability to take of herself, let alone others." Selene nodded at TJ. "But it's good to hear that you are happy with having him. He appears to be happy, as well."

Talia: "He's happy, yeah. And now we have like, real stability too. Which is really good for him," she glanced sideways at her ring. "And you never know what you might want in the future. Like, keep an open mind and all."

Selene: Selene gave TJ a smirk. "In all honesty, I rarely know what I might want in the next hour, so usually I try to avoid making plans concerning the future. However, you are absolutely right about keeping an open mind. That's a very recommendable perspective."

Talia: "Uhh...thanks," she said. Selene was nice..but she still talked weird. Talia heard another little laugh and noticed Johnny had managed to get his diaper off, but instead of leaving it on the floor, he held it as he ran towards the door to her room. "Sh-allot! John Gabriel get back here!" She jumped up to chase him.

Selene: "I think Johnny has a serious aversion to this diaper," Selene suggested while she leaned to the side and looked after TJ. "Are you certain that you don't need any assistance? I could help you catch him."

Talia: She sighed loudly as he managed to crawle under the bed. "Come on, sweetie, come to Mommy," he took a look at her. "NO!"

Talia: She looked to Selene. "Yeah...if you can help..."

Selene: "I can try." Selene made an unsure face , grabbed the toy elephant and stood up, pacing over to stand next to TJ. She scratched her head. "I could try to lure him out, or lift the bed so you can get him."

Talia: "Whichever works," she shimmied as far as she could under the bed, but he moved further.

Selene: Selene decided to try the baiting first, before she'd risk accidentally breaking something by messing with the bed. She dropped to her knees and waved the toy elephant in front of the bet. "Heeeere, Johnny Johnny. Heeeere, Johnny Johnny."

Talia: Johnny watched the elephant, and crawled toward it, close enough for TJ to grab his waist and pull him out. "You are so getting time out, boy! You have to listen to Mommy!"

Talia: Johnny whined and twisted, and Talia sighed at the dust he'd collected from under the bed. "But first another bath."

Selene: "Here's Johnny!" Selene deadpanned and handed him his toy. "Yes, he appears to be somewhat dusty. If you want to bath him, I guess I should better leave then."

Talia: "Ok, I think I'll throw him in the bath, then it's nap time for you," she told her son. "But if you wanna stop by and play again, you're totally welcome to."

Selene: "Thank you for the offer." Selene gave a small smile and nodded. "I think I shall take you up on it. I have to admit that I enjoyed myself." She waved awkwardly and stepped over to the door.

Talia: TJ waved to her as she left, Johnny reaching for her. "Oh you are not escaping. Bath then nap. No buts about it!" She moved to bring him into the bathroom, while he wriggled, then stopped as she felt a bit of wet in front. Shit...the diaper. Ok, they were both getting a bath.

[fourpawsonthefloor]

Hah. that was fantastic. Great job you two!

[puppygirl]

that was awesome guys, funny and cute and as ever undying love for looks like Duncan's in good hands for the summer