restinglichface | Open rp post!

[Well, that's just blatantly unhelpful. As soon as Tilla sees the blue snuggle plush in her sister's hand, she turns from distressed shrieks to enraged wails - two very distinct sounds Barry has learned to pick up on, neither of which are sonically pleasing. The little girl in his grasp wriggles and kicks, reaching for her sister, her wild hair bristling around her head.

Out of luck is an understatement. Barry can feel his eardrums giving out.]

Shhhh-shh-shh honey, it's okay! It's okay, we'll find ya somethin' else, okay? [He cradles Tilla close, bouncing her up and down in a futile effort to calm her crying. Lup gets a desperate look.] She's been like this for an hour, Lup. Think it's her teeth again? M-Maybe she didn't nap long enough? Oh, honey, it's okay, shhh...

[Well. Fuck.

There's really no victory for either of them while even one of the girl's is screaming, not when that sound tugs at Lup's heart in a way that's just impossible to ignore. The elf peers down at her much happier daughter, who has stuffed a corner of the blue plush into her mouth and is happily drooling over it, before glancing across at the red-faced toddler wailing in her husband's lap.

Alright, mom's here to fix this.]

C'mon, let's trade. [She crosses the room in a few long strides, shifting Lena in her arms in order to prepare for the baby shuffling routine they've practically perfected by now.] I'll take her.

[Baby shuffling.

Barry tries not to look as relieved as he feels right now, Lup approaching with Lena in arm, preparing for the baby shuffle. He loves the girls, both of them, so much that his heart is close to bursting every single day he gets to spend with them. But honestly, after a year, he's learned just how much crying stresses him out. And his daughters, bless their beautiful hearts, sure know how to cry.

For a man who won't ever die, Barry sure is looking grayer at the temples.]

O-Okay, thank you. [He moves Tilla so Lup can pick her up, swapping the shrieking twin for Lena, currently gobbling on the blue plush her sister covets.] She's gotta be exhausted...

[Being married to a twin and now being the father of twins seems to have rubbed off on Barry. An only child, he'd never experienced sibling dynamics until he met Lup and Taako, but he can honestly say he's become kind of an expert at this point. Given how he starts suggesting, while tucking Lena's soft curls behind a short, pointed ear:] What's Lena's favorite toy again? Th'truck Magnus made? Think that'll calm Tilla down?

Edited 2018-05-29 23:39 (UTC)

[Look, it usually takes years of mastery to perfect and here they are, already juggling the twins like pros. Lup's intensely proud of their baby shuffling skills.

... It also makes it that much funnier when they hand the kids off at family functions and then get to watch their closest friends struggle with the shuffle. Lup always ends up highfiving her husband gleefully after watching that disaster. Yeah, they are still the coolest out of all of their family. No doubt.

Lup scoops up Tilla, whose screaming immediately sharpens in that way it always does when she's mid-fit and taken away from her father. For still being a toddler, she's already perceptive enough to know that she can always get more out of her dad than her mom. Where Barry sometimes caves for his little girls when they are being extra bratty, Lup usually puts her foot down.]

C'mon, sweetie. Shhh - [Tilla shrieks and Lup lifts her up to eye level, pulling an exaggerated face at her.] No more tears, you lil' nerd. Your sweet, precious face is gonna stick that way if you don't stop screaming. And that's gross. No one wants to see that.

[Barry's suggestion draws Lup back to him, turning to smile at her husband. Look at him, the master of twins already.]

Smart thinking, Barold. But nah, that was last week. This week she's been into that baby detective kit Angus got 'em. The plastic magnifying glass specifically. You wanna grab that for me?

[With her head turned, attention on her husband, Tilla takes the opportunity to twist her chubby fingers into her mom's hair and pull. Hard. Lup flinches, smile going sharp.] Might wanna hurry 'fore I drop our little girl off in the Astral Plane for the night.

Edited 2018-05-30 01:39 (UTC)

[Barry honestly tries to cave as little as possible, tries to be a firm yet gentle authority figure in his daughters' lives. He doesn't want to spoil them--

(yes he does, he'd honestly give them anything they pointed their tiny little fingers at if that meant seeing their beautiful smiles)

-- but sometimes things just happen, okay? Sometimes you've spent a harrowing day tracking down murder cults and teenagers playing with necromancy, and that's always so much paperwork, and at the end of the day you just want a quiet evening with quiet kids not screaming your ears off because they want cake for dinner. Again. Sometimes it's just easier to do cake for dinner, okay?

Thank every god on every plane for Lup. His rock in stormy weather, his partner, his collaborator, his spine when he feels like he has none. She's the perfect mom.

A mom currently getting her hair yanked out by their beautiful daughter they both love so much, still shrieking, kicking her chubby legs with the fury of a little girl scorned. Barry gathers up Lena in his arms and scrambles to his feet.]

Plastic magnifying glass. O-Okay, got it. C'mon, princess, let's go find yer sister a toy, okay? [He continues cooing to Lena as he locates the toy box, stuffed to the brim and overflowing. Yeah, they definitely spoil their kids.] Alright, Lena. Where'd we put that magnifying glass, huh? Where'd uncle Angus hide it, y'think?

[One of these days they are really going to have to start putting their feet down on the whole cake for dinner situation. Just not today. And probably not tomorrow.

But soon. Maybe.

Barry rises up with Lena to cross over to the toy box and Lup swoops in to steal his seat, drawing the screaming toddler close to her body, so she can hold Tilla with one hand while the other delicately attempts to pry the girl's fingers from her hair. If Lup wasn't the target of the girl's combo of shrieking, hair pulling, and fierce kicking, she'd be impressed with the strength of her grip.]

Let go of mommy's hair, pumpkin. We don't negotiate with terrorists in this house.

[Lup's tone is impressively calm for the situation, but this has been the reality of their lives together for the last year, since the twins came into their lives. And honestly, even if their daughters spend more time screaming than doing literally anything else, she loves them in a way Lup never thought was possible for her. Her brother has always been her heart, the sole part of her life that she couldn't possibly live without. But now that tiny circle has expanded so much, to Barry, to their two beautiful children. For a woman who has struggled with letting herself be vulnerable enough to love in the past, now she's fully submerged in the feeling, twenty-four seven.

Sure, it would be better if her sensitive ears weren't about to pop with Tilla screaming directly into them, but a pounding headache and a little exhaustion seem fair against all that she's gained.]

Check her crib, hun. Might be tucked into the blankets. [She hopes, or they are going to have to set both babies down and do some real deep diving into that box. Every toy and plaything that they've picked up for the kids themselves just doesn't compare to the amount that's come in from their family. These girls are going to live a very spoiled life.]

Edited 2018-05-30 23:04 (UTC)

G-Good idea. I'll go check.

[Because honestly, rooting through the toy box is just a non-starter. No way is he, with his heart in his throat and a baby on his arm, going to find anything in that box before his wife goes bald.

Carrying Lena out of the room on the Quest for the Plastic Offering, he leaves Lup with Tilla in her lap, the little girl still screaming her complaints, holding on to her mother's hair for dear life even as she tries to pry her fingers out of it. She can't withstand Lup's strength, of course - Mom is the strongest in the universe - but as her hair slips from her grasp, it doesn't stop her from balling her hands up in little angry fists, writhing in her embrace.

This is horrible. Everything is horrible! She just wants her favorite toy, is that so much to ask? Tilla's had a long day. Everything hurts from crying so much, cheeks red and raw, big fat tears rolling down her grimacing face, throat scratchy from all her angry screaming. Is it excessive? Probably. But she has so few words to voice her complaint, so what better way to express her frustration than an hour-long shriek fest?]

Look what we found! [Barry's whole face is lit up with relief when he comes back into the room, carrying a Lena who's clasping both the blue snuggle plush and the plastic magnifying glass in her hands. Approaching Lup and Tilla, Barry kneels in front of his wife and props Lena up on his lap, bouncing her expectantly.] Okay, Lena, just like we promised. Wanna give your sister th'toy? Wanna share?

[While Barry and Lena slip from the room to find the one true toy, Lup tries to calm her hysterical daughter down in their brief absence, even if she knows the effort is mostly futile. Tilla will either get what she wants or she will scream and fight until she straight up passes out from exhaustion. And knowing their toddler as well as they do, Lup can already make an estimate the girl has at least another forty minutes of constant screaming before she hits that point.

So it's really important her husband track down that toy before they both go deaf and their daughter loses her sweet voice.

Lup bounces the girl in her hands, fingertips tickling lightly along her sides, the woman sticking out a tongue and pulling out her silliest faces. But Tilla wiggles in her grasp and kicks and wails, just entirely unamused that the whole world is so against her today.

Thankfully, Barry and Lena return in record time, Lup turning Tilla around in her lap to face her sister. The screaming twin stretches out a chubby fist and tries to nab her blue snuggle plush out of the other's grasp. Lena looks up at her father, as if to say "Sharing who? I don't know her", but finally leans forward enough to drop the coveted plush, which Tilla swipes up immediately.

Her screaming fit abruptly stops. The girls sniffles, eyes still watery and face still beet red, but the toddler pulls the plush into her arms, nibbles at the corner of it and goes completely silent.

Lup raises her chin to meet her husband's eyes.]

Oh holy shit. Is that what silence sounds like? I forgot.

[Lena deliberates whether or not to give her sister one of the toys or just keep both to herself, and Barry scarcely dares breathing in fear of breaking her concentration. Sharing is so important, and sometimes the twins are really good at sharing their toys, engrossed in a shared play-pretend world where dolls are warriors and plushies are dragons to be slain. Who had the doll first doesn't matter - it's the collaborative dragon slaying that counts.

But other times they're stubborn and selfish, hoarding their toys for themselves, throwing a fit if their sister so much as even looks at their pile. It's something they're trying to break them out of. If they can't even share with each other, how are they going to fare at daycare? At school?

Tilla's cries and wails suddenly still, and a hush falls over the room, only interrupted by the girl's quiet sniffles and Lena happily stuffing the magnifying glass into her mouth, drooling all over it. Barry meets his wife's gaze, his eyes wide, his mouth agape.]

It's like I've never heard silence before. [He's stage-whispering, gaze going between Lup and Tilla. A smile tugs at his lips, relieved and exhausted and so, so loving. Tilla really loves munching on that soggy plush.] Quick, get the camera. I wanna remember this sound fer th'rest of my life.

[A few moments of near silence pass by them before Lup's flopping back into the chair, sagging against the cushions while she pulls Tilla into a more steady position on her lap. A hand flops tenderly atop the toddler's head, Lup slipping her fingers through her daughter's thick hair, brushing it from her face, before she wipes those few remaining tears away.

Tilla just gurgles at the attention, the sound such a contrast to the giant, hysterical fit she just threw, but even with that plush in her mouth, she sounds happy. Maybe now she'll finally calm down enough to go down for a proper nap.

Once Tilla seems a little more cleaned up, Lup reaches over her lap to brush the hair from Lena's face, fingers affectionately dragging along her chubby cheek.]

I'd say we're friggin' killing this parent thing.

[From her experience, they are pretty much the parents of the century.

It's a few moments of Lup passing her careful fingers over Lena's face and hair before she finally peers up to catch Barry's eye, her expression matching his in both it's exhaustion and in that undeniable look of love that still manages to shines through.]

You wanna nap it up while you can, stud? If the girls go down, I'll come join you. [Punctuated with a wink, because not even an hour long scream-fest is going to keep Lup from flirting with her husband.]

[Does he want to nap? Honestly, with as little sleep as he gets these days, a nap sounds really good right now. Half an hour on the couch while his wife looks after the kids is a luxury he doesn't take for granted anymore.

But he just can't take his eyes off his daughters. Happy, gurgling, seated in their parents' laps, playing with their respective toys, looking so pleased and so peaceful. He can't take his eyes off his wife, the love of his life, with their daughter safe in her arms. She looks so in love.

He can't imagine not spending time with them.]

Nah, I'm good. [Barry runs a big hand over Lena's hair, gently petting her curly, silky strands, tucking her locks gingerly behind her little pointed ears. Then he reaches for Tilla, stroking her chubby cheek, still red and raw from crying. Her dark eyes meet his. She burbles, giggles around her plush, eyes crinkling at the corners with a happy smile.

Barry's heart completely melts. He doesn't want to miss a second of this.]

I wanna spend time with my beautiful girls.

[His hand falls to rest on Lup's thigh then, squeezing, gently stroking. He'll nap when the babies do. For now, he wants to hang out with his family.]

[Both Lena and Tilla's eyes slide to look up at their father in unison, gurgling and drooling over their toys, momentarily content with the world now that they both have exactly what they wanted. And Lup's gaze follows after, the woman's grin softening into a warm smile, affection lingering in the way she looks at him. It's the same look she reserves for their girls, all fond and loving and vulnerable in a way that's still so new to the elf.

She just never knew her life could be so full of love, but now that she has it, Lup can't even begin to imagine a second without hear heart feeling so full.

Even though Lup knows he needs the rest, Barry turns her offer down for the chance to spend more time with his family, her free hand resting over his while she strokes through Tilla's thick hair, pulling it back and out of her face. She leans down closer to the girls, playfully lowering her tone, tipping in to press a quick kiss to her daughter's chubby cheek before she's speaking.]

Hear that, girls? Daddy's feeling sentimental and wants to drag us all in for a big, ol' cuddle pile. How's that sound? Think we can fit him into our busy schedule?

Edited 2018-07-22 06:21 (UTC)

Open rp post!

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