Antoine and Ciara AND A BABY - Mid-evening
Antoine didn’t often go out for Turning festivals any more but there was something special about Heuris. The bonfire with its heat and haze, the dancers moving with cathartic abandon. There was something wild and freeing about it, for all that it began with intonations about the dead.
He stood off to the side of the massive bonfire, smoking a cigarette and chatting with a former bedmate. Magda Button, pink and pillowy in the glow of the fire gossiped animatedly, gently bouncing her baby boy against her waist. “--I swear ta the Gods, walked right in like she was Queen Caitrin herself, not a shame in tha world. I nearly knocked over crying I was laughing so hard.” She exclaimed and Antoine couldn’t help but laugh too. Magda’s joviality had made her popular in her time at the Palace, and he had an almost brotherly fondness for the woman. She been one of the first bedmates to sign on and he took the trust she’d placed in him on the venture to heart.
Antoine brought his cigarette to his lips and not too far away a fiddle suddenly picked up and dancers began falling into line. Magda perked up, “Oh! I love this song.” She said brightly as the strains of Mairi’s Wedding began playing, “Here, be a love and hold Collin for a few minutes, yeah?” She said, already putting her son into his arms. Antoine’s eyes widened, “Wait I don’t-” “There you go mind his head. Och, adorable.” Magda cooed cheerfully. “Hang on, isn’t this supposed to be your gig?” Antoine asked with muffled alarm around his cigarette, though now it was too late and Collin was in the crook of his arm, Magda laughed. “I’m a mam, Antoine, I’m not dead. Be right back. Don’t go anywhere.“ Magda took off to join the dancers, leaving Antoine staring after her.
Little Collin wiggled just a little, looking up at Antoine’s face. Antoine gazed down at the baby as if he’d been handed a small, predatory animal. He, as a rule, was not a fan of children. He avoided them wherever he could because he really wasn’t certain of how to interact with them. What did one say to a child? “Hey...she’ll be back in a second pal.” He said awkwardly, slightly put off when the boy made a soft babble back at him, “Play it cool, alright?” He admonished, shifting his hold and trying to look chill and laid back with a baby in his arms.