Gemma B.E. Higgs (herisson) wrote in reduxpitch, @ 2016-08-29 15:33:00 |
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Entry tags: | !game plot, !thread, character: gemma higgs, character: regulus black |
who: gemma higgs & regulus black
where: their home... well, their bed mostly
when: sometime in the future
what: Same old arguments about pets... and some happy news (Flower Dream)
rating: A for Awww (idk I am Le suck at proper ratings)
status: Completed in Docs
Gemma was currently in that blissful state of still mostly sleeping but starting to wake up. Feeling pretty certain if she turned over to get comfortable again that she could fall back asleep with very little trouble. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite the case that morning as she felt a slightly heavy pressure on her head; and she was 99% sure it wasn’t a headache. Although that really was just a matter of perspective. Gemma gave a groan of annoyance and tried to snuggle further under the covers, as a way to dislodge/discourage the feline from lying atop her head which didn’t quite work. Though it would’ve been nice if it had since snuggling under the covers very much put her at eye level with the body next to her. “Your cat is being rude again,” she muttered agitatedly from under the covers. -- Regulus might as well have been sleeptalking for how familiar the response was, and how immediate, though slightly slurred with sleepiness. “Bastet has perfect manners. She is merely trying to wake you up as a form of alarm. Obviously, something is happening somewhere in the house.” In spite of this, he made no effort to get out of the bed and check for intruders or broken plumbing or anything of the sort; he just rolled over and lovingly shoved the cat out of the way so he could put his arm around Gemma. Bastet mewed in irritation, and deliberately stepped on Gemma’s body as she swanned down toward the end of the bed. -- Gemma settled for rolling her eyes, although she was certain Regulus would’ve been able to tell she was glaring even from under the covers, at his response. It was the same old argument they’d been having ever since moving in together. “If she had such perfect manners she’d do so from somewhere other than my head. You don’t see Butterscotch laying atop my head yowling because something’s happening in the house.” Her mouth twitched slightly, as if wanting to make some complaint but deciding silence was better, as Bastet stepped along her body as she tried snuggling in Regulus’ embrace. “You know I don’t mind her, but does she have to do it nigh on every morning?” she grumbled. -- “No, Butterscotch does not lay atop any heads,” Regulus allowed. “However, she is very loud when she wants to be, you can’t deny it.” He absolutely did not grin at that. No way. He gave her a quick kiss and said, “She doesn’t do it that often. You exaggerate because of how frustrating it is. I can understand that, but I only wish for peace.” -- “Bastet is just as loud when she wants to be too,” she pointed out. In her opinion, Butterscotch only ever really started barking or growling loudly when someone unfamiliar was in the yard. Okay, on occasion she would sometimes go off if she heard other dogs in the area barking. Gemma poked him in the shoulder after having returned the kiss. “I saw that. I do not exaggerate, and it is frustrating when you wake up only to almost have cat butt in your face! I know, and you’ll notice I never actually yell at Bastet for it.” She really didn’t mind the cat and, after all this time, had more or less gotten used to her presence; of course, that didn’t mean she didn’t still get annoyed by her on the mornings Bastet decided her head was the perfect resting place. Gemma was damn sure Bastet knew it annoyed her and that was the only reason she continued doing it - and it wasn’t exactly an easy thing to ignore and not get frustrated by. It was also rather fortunate that their respective pets got along, because that was just a whole other kettle of fish she’d rather not deal with. -- “No, you’re very kind to Bastet,” Regulus allowed. “Which is why I love you so much. One of many reasons.” He kissed her again and then rolled over so he could stretch, and Bastet primly walked up the space between them, delineating it, and sprawled possessively across his chest, staring at Gemma as if to say “and what are you going to do about this?” Regulus just laughed and petted her. “At any rate,” he said, “your dog is far more demanding than my cat.” -- Gemma glared over at Bastet knowing she couldn’t really do anything to shift the cat, and unfortunately the cat knew that too. “What? She is not!” Gemma exclaimed, her gaze switching from the cat to Regulus. “Butterscotch is perfect and is definitely not that demanding.” -- “I’m afraid it’s the problem with being a dog, my dear,” Regulus said loftily. “She constantly needs things! Balls and treats and walks and - you know, to go outside in general. Bastet cares for none of that. She sleeps twenty hours a day, for heaven’s sake. Perfectly reasonable.” -- “That is pretty much the main reason for getting a dog of Butterscotch’s size,” she pointed out. Having company on her runs had been one of the reasons why she’d gotten Butterscotch in the first place - even though it had been a while before she could actually join her. The other was when she’d found that lost puppy in her yard and had just fallen in love and wanted a puppy of her own. “Sleeping twenty hours a day is hardly reasonable. If we did that we’d be called lazy. And really, going outside is not that bad and you know it.” “Now I think we can probably do something better with our morning rather than continue this old argument,” she said, rolling onto her side so she could properly look at Regulus. “It’d be a good idea, yes?” -- “We have far better things to do with our time than sleep, though. What does Bastet have to do besides eat and protect the house?” Regulus pointed out. “Which she is quite good at, I assure you. Just as good as Butterscotch, if not better.” Not that the house was often under attack, since his wards were excellent. He grinned and gave her another kiss. “I suppose if you insist. We could have breakfast, or take a shower, or do any number of far more interesting things. But not until Bastet moves.” The number of times he had ever denied Bastet her pettings could be counted on one hand. -- “I don’t know since I’m not actually a cat,” she said. “I’ll grant you that she is pretty good at helping protect the house.” Though she wasn’t going to say that Bastet was possibly better than Butterscotch, because in her opinion that just wasn’t possible. Gemma happily returned the kiss before leaning back. Though in an almost swift moment she was pouting that she’d have to wait for Bastet to move; not move because someone happened to shoo her but waiting until she moved of her own accord. “I seem to recall a morning where you seemed rather insistent that Butterscotch get out of the way promptly rather than in her own time,” she commented, though more teasingly rather than wishing to cause a fuss again. -- “Well, that was different,” Regulus said primly. “That was a quite important day when I had quite important things to do, you know.” The cat mewed and shifted slightly, just enough so that when she began flicking her tail, it dusted against Gemma’s nose. Regulus grinned. “You know, perhaps it’s best if you get started on breakfast,” he said. “I’ll get it next time.” -- “I think, darling, you're remembering a different morning to the one I'm thinking of,” she commented knowingly. “The day I'm thinking of was most definitely a day off and you were wanting to spend the morning in bed…” Gemma had trailed off knowing that Regulus would know what she was referring to. “Fine, you're probably right,” she sighed, trying her best not to rise to annoyance at Bastet’s actions. Gemma leaned over to kiss regulus one more time before getting out of the bed. “Do you want tea or coffee this morning?” -- “No, my love, we are quite definitely on the same page,” Regulus said with a laugh. “That’s exactly what I mean. Quite important things to do.” He mischievously reached over to trail his fingertips along her collarbone, but this wasn’t that sort of day, unfortunately. And also there was a cat on his chest. He kissed back and considered. “Tea, I think,” he said. “Tea sounds quite lovely. Thank you, sweetheart.” -- It was a shame that Bastet was insistent on staying until she was good and ready to leave. More of that from Regulus and she'd be quite content to stay in bed all morning. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to be the case today. “Tea it is, and you're welcome, darling,” she said as she got up from the bed. Then she was out the door and making her way downstairs to the kitchen. Gemma soon set about getting tea and breakfast ready for her and Regulus when she heard the patter of footsteps behind her. They were lighter footsteps than Regulus’ familiar ones and she turned around with a smile knowing that it was Maia, their six year old daughter, coming up behind her. “Hello, darling.” “Hi, Mummy,” her daughter greeted in return. -- Regulus arrived in the kitchen a moment later and kissed Maia on top of her head. “Good morning, baby,” he greeted her. “What can I do to help with breakfast?” -- “Morning, daddy,” Maia happily responded, smiling up at her dad. Gemma smiled watching the pair, before responding to Regulus’ offer. “I've nearly got everything done here so if you could set the table that'd be great.” It was while she was watching her husband and daughter that she remembered the news that she'd received yesterday when she'd finally gone and seen a Healer about feeling a bit off lately. It wasn't anything serious - at least in terms of being some sort of illness and all would be well in several months time. Though it would mean their lives would change again Gemma was happy, and hoped Regulus would be too, and had been hoping that Maia wouldn't have to grow up an only child. -- Regulus had grown up letting Kreacher do all that sort of thing, but he’d long since acknowledged that it was best to set a good example for their daughter and do at least some of the household chores. Kreacher was getting on in years, after all, and Regulus had never had any interest in having another house elf. Best to raise their kid to be self-sufficient. So he poured some juice for Maia, who wouldn’t drink the tea, and set out plates and silverware like a proper husband instead of the spoiled rich kid he had been. “What’s your day look like?” he asked Gemma. -- It had been Kreacher that had given her some idea of what might be wrong with her; somehow the elderly house elf knew what was different before even she had any such clue and the visit to the Healer had merely confirmed his suspicions. Gemma had sworn the house elf to secrecy as she wanted to tell Regulus herself. Although he was under no obligation to obey her wishes, but they'd started getting along much better ever since she was pregnant with Maia - even though she got annoyed when he and Regulus teamed up to make sure she wasn't over-exerting herself. Gemma brought over everyone's breakfast before going back and returning with hers and Regulus’ tea before they were all seated at the table together. She'd been insistent that at least one of the meals each day had to be spent as a family; though it often wasn't breakfast given their careers. “I might have to head to the Falcons’ headquarters later - something's come up that I need to let the team know about,” she replied. Years on and she was still playing for the team, and had since played for England again as well. Though lately, even before yesterday's news, she'd been considering that maybe retirement on her own terms might be the way to go before any injury forced her to. “What about you? Do you have to head to work this morning?” -- “No, I’ll stay until you get back from headquarters,” Regulus said easily. They had both agreed, largely because of his extreme paranoia, that nannies were a pretty bad idea, because he didn’t like strangers in the house. Gemma had a far more demanding career than he did - a lot of his experiments could be safely conducted at home, after all - so he’d gotten used to changing his schedule around to accommodate looking after Maia. He also knew himself well enough to know that if he went in the morning and had to leave early, he wouldn’t want to, because he did love his job, so it was best just to stay until Gemma was definitively available. “What’s come up?” -- Gemma nodded in confirmation, remembering the agreement they’d made. It was one she was more than happy with because if anyone was going to look after Maia she’d rather it be her or Regulus; or if they absolutely had to get someone else than her parents or one of their siblings would do better in a pinch. “Nothing bad,” she said reassuringly. “Just a little something that means I should probably take time off and avoid any bludgers for a while.” -- They had plenty of people in their lives who could babysit when necessary, but it seemed silly to Regulus to leave Maia with somebody else all day, every day. That wasn’t parenting. He had nebulous thoughts about parenting, which were basically “do absolutely nothing my own parents did, ever,” and so far it seemed to be going all right. “Oh?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. Then, in a totally different tone, he said, “Oh.” He’d been rather slow on the uptake the first time around, truth be told, but having done this before, it wasn’t that great a shock. Or at least, it wasn’t wildly unthinkable. “Oh?” Maia parroted, staring her mother down. -- She couldn’t help but smile laughingly when it took Regulus a moment to get the implication of what she’d said. Gemma was thankful that at least this time she’d know what to expect from it all; and was both looking forward to, and dreading, being helped and looked after by Regulus and Kreacher. They both meant well and were only looking out for her and the baby but she did tend to get annoyed when they wouldn’t let her do things she knew she was more than capable of doing in the latter stages of pregnancy. Gemma chuckled at Maia’s parroted response and at being stared down by her own daughter. “Well, darling, how would you feel about getting a baby brother or sister?” -- Regulus couldn’t help being a worrywart, and Kreacher - well, wasn’t it better to have Kreacher looking after her than being a bit of an arse all the time? Maia considered this. “Can I have a rabbit too?” she asked eventually. “No,” Regulus said, horrified. -- “Sorry, darling, I think maybe what your father meant to say is that now probably isn’t a good time to get a rabbit with your baby brother or sister on the way,” she explained, giving Regulus a bit of a look. Gemma knew it was more to do with his aversion to fluffy animals in general; though he’d gotten used to Butterscotch and he’d had Bastet for a while. It would likely take a great deal for Maia to try and convince her father that a rabbit would be a good thing. “Oh,” Maia responded a little disappointedly. However the expression on her face quickly changed to one of consideration. “I won’t have to share my room will I?” -- Regulus maintained, with every evidence of genuine belief, that both Butterscotch and Bastet were supreme examples of their species, and barely qualified as animals at all. The odds of getting a third pet which transcended its base nature were very low. Not happening. Ever. She had pets! She didn’t need another! “Of course not,” Regulus assured her. “We’ve plenty of room, and we can always add on.” Benefits of being a wizard, right there. There was always enough space, if you had the time and talent for it. -- “I s’pose it’d be okay then,” Maia said, after a moment, deciding that a little sibling wouldn’t be too bad if she didn’t have to share her space with the new baby. Any likelihood of Maia ever actually getting a pet of her very own was slim to none; Gemma knew this but she wasn’t wanting to disappoint her daughter just yet. Though if she wanted one for Hogwarts… the chances were still slim but she had at least five years to try and convince Regulus it wouldn’t be too bad a thing; particularly if the pet were an owl, which would allow the family to mail each other when she did eventually go off to Hogwarts. The rest of the meal was spent eating and in easy conversation before Gemma went about clearing the dishes once everyone was done. “I’ll be back as soon as possible,” she said, before kissing the top of Maia’s head. Then walked over to give Regulus a kiss, much to Maia’s protestations at seeing her mum and dad being affectionate. “I won’t be too long, I hope. Oh, and don’t be too upset with Kreacher for not saying anything of his suspicions. I wanted to be sure first and I wanted to be the one to tell you this time.” -- Well, owls were okay. At least owls had a purpose, as terrifying as they were, and were generally bred to have pleasant temperaments, and hardly ever tried to share a bed with a person - which was a rather hypocritical thing for Regulus to think, considering Bastet, but he was not entirely normal on the subject of his cat. Regulus kissed back. “I won’t,” he promised, “though how he always knows is beyond me. We’ll celebrate later, love.” He was over the moon about the news, of course, but he was almost never overly affectionate in public, and in front of Maia was only slightly less public than being in public. “Stay safe, Gemma. Now, then, Miss Maia, I believe we left a painting unfinished in the drawing room.” He offered his hand to his daughter and beamed at his wife. |