Who: Elsa and Elphie and NPC baby When: Sat 21st January Where: Elphie’s house What: Belated Birthday Tea Rating/Warnings: Low/None Status: Complete
Elsa had been very touched by Elphaba’s message about a birthday tea at her home. She wasn’t used to celebrating her birthday too much, but with Kate and Anna around it would never go by too quietly. It was rather nice to be cared about so much and she felt blessed to have such lovely people in her life.
Knocking on the door she waited for Elphie to answer, tucking her hair behind her ear.
Elphaba had been baking all morning at the same time as taking care of Mae. It was getting easier now to multi-task, with Mae having more of a routine and allowing Elphaba time to get things done. She was currently lying on the floor with an arch of toys hanging over her which she was playing with, making amused little sounds as she did. Putting the finishing touches to the muffins, she headed to the door, wiping her hands on her apron and opened the door. “Hey there, come on in birthday girl,” she grinned, letting her in quickly to stop too much cold air coming in from outside. She hugged Elsa quickly then offered to take her coat. “So how are you? Long time no see,” she smiled, leading the way back to the open plan kitchen/living/dining room.
“Hi” Elsa said with a smile, “And thank you. I’m very well. I am sorry, I promised to make more time and then let work swallow me up again” she sighed, sometimes she felt like a terrible friend, “But you seem much more relaxed than the last time we met up. Settling more into motherhood now?” she asked with a smile. It was nice to see Elphaba looking more confident and happy.
“Hey now, it’s ok, I’m a mother now, time is like a sun orbiting a black hole. It all gets sucked in and loses all meaning,” Elphaba joked as she set the kettle to boil. She turned and leaned against the counter, facing Elsa as she considered her friend’s words. “Thanks, I...have decided that as a new year’s resolution I am going to spend less time Googling how to be a parent and more time just...doing it, I guess,” she laughed and shrugged, unable to find any better explanation. “The human race survived just fine for centuries without Google and books, so I’m trying instinct and seeing how that goes.”
“I think that sounds like a very smart plan” Elsa nodded, “After all even idiots can write rubbish on the internet and we definitely don’t need to listen to them” she grinned, “I always remember my tutor telling me to be careful with internet research when I did my degree. And it is obviously working well, you seem brighter again”
“Thanks,” Elphaba smiled brightly and started preparing the tea. “I feel lighter too. In general I'm trying to stay away from social media and the news to see if it helps me feel better and I think it is. It's so easy to get sucked down a hole of hopelessness if you’re constantly seeing articles that say you could be doing this better when raising your child, because of course that means you're not doing it right to begin with, y’know?” she tried to explain. “Besides, I'm probably not doing it right if I have time to spend on the internet reading studies, right?”
“I think you are doing wonderfully. You’re an amazing mother and I have no doubt that you will raise Mae to be an incredible young lady” Elsa told her confidently, “You have a smart head and a good heart. She’s a lucky little girl to have you and Luthien”
“Thank you, I really hope so,” Elphaba breathed deeply and smiled at Elsa as she finished preparing the tea. “Enough about me, what's been happening with you?”
“Oh well Kate brought home a puppy so we’re now parents of a furry baby” Elsa said with a roll of her eyes but an affectionate smile. The pup had already worked its magic on Elsa just as it had her wife.
“Yes, I saw that on the Net, have you two decided on a name yet?” Elphaba asked curiously, taking the lid off the cake tin and cutting two slices of the victoria sponge, which she put on plates. “And how exactly did Kate come by it?”
“We have we’re calling him Merry” Elsa said with a smile, “Kate found him she says, she’s being rather coy on the details. But he already has us wrapped around his little paw” she admitted.
“Merry, that’s sweet,” Elphaba grinned, lifting the tray with their tea and cake on it and moving to the settee. “Funny how she’s being coy about how she found him, she was cagey when I asked on the Net. I bet he has! He looked like an absolute softie in the picture! I was saying that we’ll have to bring Mae and Huan around when Mae’s older,” she said, sitting down and pouring the tea before offering the cup to her for her to sort out any milk and sugar for herself.
“I think she just doesn’t want to admit she’s actually a massive soft touch, which I knew anyway” Elsa grinned as she followed her friend, “Oh definitely, once he’s past the excited puppy stage. We don’t want him jumping up at the wrong moment”
“Yes, excited puppy and baby with limited motor skills probably doesn’t equal fun times,” Elphaba grinned, placing a plate of cake on the table in front of Elsa. “So have you had a dog before?” she asked, putting the milk and one sugar in her tea.
“No never, when I was younger Anna was very ill so pets weren’t recommended and then I went to boarding school and you aren’t allowed any there so this is all very new to me” Elsa admitted, “Do you have any pet experience?”
Elphaba shook her head as she took a sip of tea that was still far too hot. “No, not before Huan and even then he’s...different from most pets you’d normally find in our world. He’s pretty self-sufficient and kind of...conscious, I guess?” she shrugged, not quite sure how to describe the giant dog from Luthien’s Dreams.
Elsa nodded, “He is certainly unique” she agreed, “But it’s reassuring to know that you didn’t have any experience before that. It gives me hope that maybe I’ll cope as well as you have. Even if Merry isn’t quite as self sufficient”
“You’ll be fine. It’s pretty simple really, feed, water, clean and play with them,” Elphaba shrugged. “Trust me, a lot less intimidating than kids,” she nodded towards Mae who was crinkling a flower on the arch above her in her tiny hand. “How are things with you and Kate? Did you have a good new year?”
Elsa nodded, feed, water, clean and play - it wasn’t so hard. She’d be fine. “Things are good. We had a lovely New Year, we attended a small party before heading home to ring in the new year there. It was nice to be at home in our pyjama’s with a good glass of wine” she smiled, “How about you? Did you guys make it to midnight or go to sleep when the little one did?”
Elphaba chuckled at that as she picked up her tea again. “No, pretty much as soon as she went down I made a beeline for the shower and then bed. Think I only made it to about half ten, maybe eleven,” she grinned. “I never really been much for new year’s if I’m honest, but that could be because I was never really invited to any parties as a kid,” she shrugged, then sipped her tea before putting the cup down and trying the cake. “I’m a parent, sleeps at a premium,” she joked. “And what about work for you? Sound like you’ve been busy lately, everything ok?”
“Honestly I don’t blame you” Elsa didn’t lay in often but she did like getting a decent amount of sleep and imagined that was definitely lacking when a baby was around. “Oh everything is fine. We’re just working hard at being impartial which is so hard when we have a complete and utter child as president and everybody knows it”
Elphaba didn’t often snort, but comments like that definitely made her do it. Not good when she also had cake in her mouth. Spluttering, Elphaba patted herself on the chest and tried to stop herself laughing at the same time. Coughing, she shook her head and looked at Huan who had come into the room to check on all the racket. “It’s ok, I’m ok,” she raised a placating hand towards the dog. “Oh, you can’t do that to me Elsa,” she chuckled, reaching to take a sip of her tea.
Elsa smiled even as she leaned over to pat Elphaba on the back, “I’m sorry” she said, “I’ll make sure you aren’t eating or drinking anything whenever we talk politics” she promised, “It’s just nice talking to somewhere I don’t have to put up the impartial front with you know?”
“No, I get it, glad I can be a safe haven of sorts. It must be a bit of a minefield for you to talk to anyone these days,” Elphaba smiled back at Elsa and went to pick up Mae who had startled after Elphie’s coughing fit. Cooing at the little girl as she picked her up and moved back to the couch, the baby grinned up at her. “Would you like to hold her?” she offered, never sure if people wanted to or not.
“It really is. Most of the time I watch myself just in case of reporters or anybody listening in” Elsa admitted, even within her own office building she tried to be careful. “Oh I’d love to” she nodded, Elsa didn’t really want children but she wasn’t against holding her friends baby.
“Here you go,” Elphaba smiled and passed Mae over to Elsa, helping her position the baby so they were both comfortable. “There you are,” she smiled at them both. “Let me take a picture of you,” Elphaba reached for her phone and quickly snapped a picture of the two of them. “I’m trying to get as many pictures of her as I can. I just think we’re so fortunate to have the technology now to do it,” she explained, showing Elsa the picture.
Elsa smiled down at Mae as she spoke to her, she never really got the baby talk thing so she just spoke normally - perhaps in a slightly softer voice. “I don’t blame you, memories are a wonderful thing to have but it helps to have something to trigger them. Photos are perfect for that” Elsa said as she looked at the picture, “Aww that’s a nice one. You’ll have to send it to me so I can show Kate please”
“Absolutely,” Elphaba grinned as she forwarded it onto Elsa. “Make sure you show Kate too,” she told her. “Now, about this cake…”