InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Your mom warned you about us."

ᴘʀɪɴᴄᴇss ᴏғ ᴘʀᴇsᴛɪᴅɪɢɪᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ (cigam) wrote in valarlogs,
@ 2017-07-10 19:24:00

Entry tags:

!complete, john constantine, zatanna zatara

Who: Zatanna & Constantine
What: Designing the nursery, and picking out a name for their spawn after finding out it's a booooy
When: Last week
Where: Their place
Rating/Warnings: Hormones, but nothing terrible
Status: Complete

A boy, they were having a boy - and even though Zatanna could barely discern on the ultrasound scan where he actually was (the doctor had given them copies, of course - she’d add this to the ‘first baby photos’ collection), she still thought he was the most adorable little peanut in the whole world. Or, actually - a banana. He was the size of a small banana, according to the fruit comparisons she’d read online and in books. How odd and how incredible, no?

They had plenty of space at the house for a nursery - even if there wasn’t a spare room, the spirit of their dwelling would easily accommodate them; the house’s very soul also seemed to thrum with happiness at the most recent news. Perhaps because Zee was happy, she was happy too. But then there came the whole point of decorating the nursery - for the first couple of months, the baby would sleep in her and John’s room but she still wanted something soft, whimsical, and personal for the little one for when he moved into the nursery.

How to decorate? Also a question. John already made it clear he didn’t care for vintage circus - probably associating the theme with Pennywise the clown or whatever went through his head - so Zatanna would give up on that idea. Since he was so kind as to hack into her Pinterest, she’d do more browsing. The bunny-themed nurseries were cute, and so she set her sights on that instead.

Now she sat on the floor in the empty room, making a list of what they would need - everything from a crib to a rocker and bottles to cloth diapers, and she wanted to try to use cloth ones. Maybe magic would help them get cleaned faster. But regular diapers were just so laden with chemicals and given her nature, she was just an organic kind of person. They’d see how it went.

For this adventure with planning, a jar of pickles was beside her. She wanted this but she couldn’t get the lid off. After some twisting and brute arm strength, she just conquered it with one backward word - nepo - and tipped it back to slurp at the juice. Ahhh.

John was still caught up, leaning against the doorframe, watching with morbid interest as she made her way into the pickle jar and drank it back like it was water. It made him grimace but he pushed into the room and move to sit down beside her as Zee planned away.

A lot of this could actually be easy. He'd just have to convince her to hold back on some of the magic, leaving it to him.

“So I suppose this is when all that nesting you were speaking on begins?” Though a small, smug look pulled to his face. “I a believe you owe the young lad an apology for calling him a she/her.” Don't worry little pickle child. Daddy had your back.

“He’s just trolling me - clearly your child, that’s been obvious from the get-go,” Zee smirked, tapping the eraser of the pencil against her lower lip. Yes, from the first burger craving it was clear that mini-Constantine would be both a mama’s boy and the apple of his father’s eye. There would be hero worship going on there, she was pretty sure of it.

Though she wasn’t sure if he was nesting yet per se - but she mostly just wanted to get the nursery organized as soon as possible, all nice and ready for when the littlest one made his appearance into the world. It wasn’t for a few months yet but still. Preparation was key. “We need a registry,” she informed John. “Now that we know the sex, it’ll be easier to register for things, I think - we can just pick a day and go to Babies R’Us?” Lina had been registered there and it worked out nicely. Truly the mecca of baby supply stores.

Folding his arms comfortably, Constantine gave a small shrug, completely alright with the fact that the kid had trolled her. Not that it was possible for the thing hardly was close enough to conscious decisions. But a nice thought.

And an even more perfect opportunity since Zatanna had mentioned the registry he, Lina, and the others needed to plan her shower.

Being ahead of things and more conscious of the timeline kept John sane and gave him less time to freak out. “There's no way we'd have to go all the way there. There's a bloody app for everything.” He conjured the iPad he used mostly for school and began to sift through it for such a thing. “A name wouldn't hurt him either. I'm beginning to think it should just be Pickle.”

“It’s really not that far, darling, but alright,” Zatanna quirked an amused eyebrow at the conjuring of the iPad. A part of her had been looking forward to going to the store and just browsing, spending some time there and seeing everything they’d need - picking out the supplies and such, the bigger aspects like the crib and even the smaller bits and bobs - but she should have known John would prefer the hermit ‘do it from home’ option. And she wasn’t going to register for things without him - that was just silly.

She added a few other items to her list - a changing table pad, and things like gentle soap and shampoo - and was pleased to see that it was getting pretty long. That was good. That made her feel more prepared. But a name? Still as difficult as it had been before, though she’d done some browsing in books and online to see if anything struck her. Zee liked the idea of a family name but neither of them had a lot of family.

“Pickle Constantine has a ring to it,” she chuckled, patting her bump. “Oh, before I forget - “ She got up to bring back a stack of old, old books, leatherbound - they were tied with string and gave off the aroma of fresh earth, like right after a rainstorm. “I never left these in the Guild. They’re da Vinci’s diaries, I want to add them to a collection for him.” There would be a bookshelf in the nursery, chock-full with all sorts of tomes...

Oh, wait. Hm. “What do you think of the name Leo?” she asked, drumming her fingertips on the diaries of her ancestor.

No, it wasn’t far at all. But the con man was doing a little bit of conning when it came to doing his part in helping Lina and everyone else along with her shower. John wasn’t perfect, he knew that, and he’d never feel good enough for Zee or their baby. But he would do his best to make sure they were happy and taken care of at all costs. He wanted to prove this was important to him, too.

Now he could easily transfer over information to the rest of the crew regarding their ‘secret’ plans. Zatanna was too crafty for her own good sometimes, but John could only try to do his best and sneak all this in.

“There’s a bloody rabbit shampoo. You have to get that too. Put that in there.” He didn’t even asked, he just pressed the ipad over her shoulder, hovering closely behind her and watching, putting the items to memory. He held the registry and continued to look when she got up, chuckling at the idea of really naming their boy Pickle. In an odd way it was….cute, and a sure fire way to be made fun of your whole life.

The ipad and registry were immediately forgotten at the presence of Da Vinci’s diaries, John reaching out to tentatively explore one, hands delicate as if he were touching gold. “He can share these, right? But lovely idea. Perfect bedtime stories and culturing.” John wasn’t actually being sarcastic, but he did pause at the name, thinking it over in his head. Leo Constantine. Sounded very refined and yet...he did like it. “Just Leo, or the whole Leonardo? I like Leo, actually.”

“I’d say the actual diaries of da Vinci are a good bit of culture, yes,” Zatanna grinned. “Just Leo, I was also thinking. I like it.” It could just be Leo, too - it didn’t have to be short for Leonard or Leonardo. Of course, that would probably mean that he’d get asked the question a lot - so what’s Leo short for? - but he could be a sole Leo, a three-letter name. Simple, refined, yet also somewhat unique.

She felt good about that decision. It was right, she knew that, she didn’t even have to consult any sort of divination tool for a second ‘opinion.’ “I’ll let you choose his middle name,” she told John with a laugh, getting back to making her list and checking it twice like Mrs. Claus - and whatever her other half was doing with the iPad.

“Bunny shampoo, got it. Well, we’ve got a name and a nursery theme picked out. I can’t believe you came up with the theme too - it blew my mind in a good way.”

“Perhaps we should wait until he's past the drooling stage to give him these.” John said as he put down the priceless diary. He mulled over the name some more, seeing if he could find anything negative that could be associated with it. More or less, he came to the same conclusion that she did. “Well...that was easy.”

Save for the bit where she deemed him in charge of he middle name, his face already falling in protest that hadn't yet left his face.

“I think...hm.” Well she was pulling from her ancestry, so why not the other Laughing Magicians, but John could only laugh, knowing what they were known for. Not the best of things. “What about Conrad? Last known Laughing Magician before me. 1780 Caribbean pirate occultist. Made a deal with the gods to escape death. Is currently dead, obviously..”

Honestly, half of them were hung for treason. Constantine folded his arms, smirking somewhat sheepishly, shrugging. “Well. Couldn't let poor Leo be surrounded by a caravan of carney wallpaper.”

“It wouldn’t be carney wallpaper, you’re the worst,” Zatanna actually stuck her tongue out at him. Rather, the ideas she’d bookmarked on her Pinterest were more along the lines of wooden train car dressers, carousel horse lamps, a crib under the big top. Certainly no carneys or clowns. She’d even seen an old Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey route book from the 1950s that was interesting - it paid a homage to her youth, growing up in a traveling circus herself.

But obviously Zee liked bunnies as well. She certainly adored her rescue rabbits like they were her own children.

Setting down her notebook (the list was long, she felt satisfied - how were they going to get all this stuff though??) she went over to John and draped her arms around his shoulders. “You’re related to a pirate occultist? That really does not surprise me, but no wonder you have a pirate friend these days. I like it too though...Conrad. Good name.”

John kept an idle watch on her list and that iPad. He'd be sure to go over it with Lina, and obviously provide anything that couldn't go on a registry. He'd get it for her right now but that would ruin the experience of the whole thing and even if it wasn't particularly John's cup of tea--he wasn't the one pregnant so he couldn't understand--he wouldn't rob Zee of the experience.

“Someone's got to be able to make contacts with any and everyone, love. Besides. Would you expect anything less from my bloody lineage?” She didn't need to know about the ones hung for treason, or the darker, Russian Constantine who unleashed cancer onto the world….no, Conrad sounded way better.

John laced his arms around her hips to rest against her lower back, enjoying how warm she was, especially in her pregnancy. He wouldn't admit it because it sounded ridiculous, but she was “glowing” in a sense. “How are you feeling?” He asked genuinely, letting his head rest against hers. Things were slow in waiting for Leo but they moved fast in a sense that here they were..already knowing his gender, naming him, preparing his room. It was really sinking in, but John didn't feel as worried about it. “We seem to be doing well..yeah?”

A very awful way to ask if he was doing ok and wasn't doing anything wrong as a partner where he needed to improve. But John's focus, after his anxiety, was solely on Zatanna and their child and...pretty much nothing else.

“I feel...good,” Zatanna decided after giving it some thought. Of course, being in his arms all warm and close wasn’t doing anything to quell her hormones - but she thought John could handle it, even if she tired him out for the rest of the evening. “Before I insist we go off to our room - “ Ahem, surely he knew what she meant by that - she was already unbuttoning the first few buttons on his shirt, why did he wear clothes? Clothes were annoying.

Right, but getting back to her point. “Can we take a trip after we get married? Do the non-denominational officiant thing with only two people there, I mean,” Zee amended. She still was fine with a lack of stuffy ceremony, and would be fine with no party afterward as well. It obviously gave John hives and he’d compromised a lot - so she could do some compromising on her end too. “Just us, a trip somewhere before I get too bloated to travel?”

Constantine chuckled as she let her hormones run free, no complaints from him of course, letting out a huff of warm air as he smirked against her skin, kissing her forehead. “You mean a honeymoon, darling?” He knew she was being less than formal for a reason and did appreciate the consideration. A party was way out of John’s comfort zone.

As far as he was concerned, there was nothing necessary about...having a party so they could boast on business that was more or less what he considered private.

But time alone was completely different.

He smoothed his fingers up and under her shirt, palms splaying over her warm, smooth skin. “Bollocks to being bloated, you're making a bloody human. Where abouts did you want to go?”

“To England, maybe?” Zatanna suggested - she’d traveled a lot growing up, but hadn’t been overseas and hadn’t really had much of a home either. Besides the summer place in New York, that was the closest thing to ‘settling’ she’d ever come when she was younger. “We could visit your sister. And then hop over to Paris - I’ve never been. Do you know any French?”

Her Spanish was decent, in part thanks to her dream self who was fluent in the language, and given that it was such a prominent language (especially here in California) knowing it was helpful. But French? No, Zee didn’t know much of that one. She’d learn a little, if they decided to go to the City of Lights.

His face contorted at the idea of taking a vacation in London of all places. It wasn't Liverpool, but John had his fair share of that part of Europe. He'd moved to America for a reason. But he sobered a little when she mentioned Paris. Alright, more reasonable.

“You want to visit my sister, her husband, and my niece on our honeymoon?” Though Cheryl was already put off he wasn't having a huge ceremony and likely concocted some sort of nonsense of her own, or would be, if they came. “Fine, a day won't hurt. Or a few hours if you decide to change your mind..”

John did like his niece and miss his sister, they didn't see eye to eye all the time, and family was “important” and all. “I know enough to get us around without the locals spitting in our food. There's plenty to see there, and eat.” Leo could enjoy that part.

Well, basically eating was the magic word. Zatanna would also enjoy those festivities - French cuisine was delicious, and she’d just roll around in all of the fresh-baked breads and pastries and never come out. That sounded nice to her.

“Good,” she bared her teeth in a grin, like the hangry lioness she was. “A day with your family will be alright, I’m sure. Then we can get to the fun stuff.” Besides, she’d never been to London either. It would be nice to see a little of John’s homeland.

All of these big decisions taken care of, they could maybe get to some that aforementioned fun stuff now. In celebration. “Alright, I might need to rip off your clothes now to seal the deal - practice for the honeymoon,” Zee informed him, and she was already tugging John with her to their room. Hormones, such a blessing - but she had a feeling he wasn’t going to complain too much about this part.