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Taryon Darrington
Eira and Vilaina were a week old, visiting Whitestone so that Percy and Vex could help out when Keyleth got the message in the middle of a feeding.
“KEYLETH. WE HEARD YOUR GOOD NEWS. CONGRATULATIONS! WE WILL BE THERE THIS EVENING TO MEET THE TINY PRECIOUS BABIES. WE WILL BRING THE CUPCAKES! JESTER.”
Vax looked up, confused at the groan.
“Something the matter?” He asked, taking Vilaina as she squealed for her papa, and he happily gave in to give her the attention she wanted, taking the bottle of expressed milk that had been prepped.
“I… think the Mighty Nein might be visiting today?” Keyleth said, nose wrinkled. “Or at least Jester? So probably Fjord as well. They want to meet the babies.”
“Well then they’re going to be pretty popular today.” Vax chuckled, Keyleth frowning with confusion. “Vex just let me know that Tary is in town. He wants to meet them as well.”
“... I cannot believe our twins have a busier social life than us.” She muttered, kissing Eira’s head as she curled into her - she was by far the quieter twin, though knowing who she was at her core, neither parent was surprised by that.
After letting Jester know where to find them (and warning Vex to expect an explosion of glitter and baked goods, most likely), Keyleth and Vax settled in the lounge in Castle Whitestone, the babies in bassinets. A few of the de Rolos - namely Cassandra and Wolfe - came by to make small talk and have a cuddle with the babies themselves, but soon there was an unmistakable loud voice coming from the hallway.
“My friends, I have arrived, have no fear! Now, where are the tiny creatu– AH! Beautiful, beautiful Keyleth, come here!” Tary rushed forward, bowing exaggeratedly towards Keyleth, and kissing the back of her hand. “And Vaxildan! As handsome as always!”
“Always a pleasure to see you too, Tary.” Vax snorted, shaking his hand. He glanced behind him to see Doty standing in the doorway, piled down by various gift boxes and bags. “Are you planning on staying or something?”
“Nono of course not, far too busy! These are for the children! And speaking of, Keyleth, my dear, may I hold them?”
“Which… one?” Keyleth asked, nervously.
“Both of them.”
“... At once?” Vax asked, blinking.
“Of course! It’s no different to juggling swords, is it?”
“It’s very different to juggling swords!” Keyleth hissed, panicking and lifting up Vilaina, passing her over to him. Immediately, she watched as the grown man melted, cuddling her to his chest.
“Oh look at her! What a darling! So beautiful, so…” He gushed, pausing just as she reached up to grip onto his moustache. “So… strong, oh gods she’s got me, Doty! Doty, please help!”
Keyleth facepalmed as the gifts were dropped to the floor and Doty rushed forward, prising the tiny fingers away from his face in one delicate move. Vilaina frowned up at the strange man, cooing slightly as she caught her reflection in one of Doty’s arms.
“Yeah… Vil is in the grabby hands stage. We should’ve warned you.” Vax snorted, watching Eira let out a tiny huff and relax more comfortably in his arms. The tiny sigh didn’t escape Taryon’s attention, and his eyes widened.
“Is that… the baby god?” He whispered in a scandalised fashion. Keyleth and Vax glanced at eachother, and Keyleth sighed.
“Tary…”
“I am… humbled to be in the presence of such greatness! Doty take this down! Today, I–”
“Tary. No.” Vax said firmly, putting a hand on Doty’s book, though the automaton just tried writing over his hand instead.
“But this is the most exciting thing to have ever happened!”
“But we don’t want it recorded. Or… shared. You can’t write about Eira in your books.” Keyleth said softly, taking Eira from Vax’s arms, and carefully placing her in Tary’s other arm, opposite Vilaina (but not before steering him towards the couch for fear he’d drop them)
“But it’s divinity!”
“It’s a baby, Tary.” Keyleth sighed, exasperated.
“A baby god.”
“A baby.” Vax repeated, firmly. He was still trying to fight Doty’s pen scribbling. Taryon stared down at Eira reverently and sighed.
“Doty, destroy the last page. Do not take this down.” He heard Keyleth let out a sigh of relief as she heard the sound of ripping paper, and she dropped into the seat beside him.
“Thank you.” She whispered, kissing his cheek.
“Just know that when this little one does reveal herself, I have full permission to write an entire autobiography on how I knew before everyone else.” Taryon pouted, while Vax rolled his eyes.
“We’ll think about it.” He muttered, shaking his heads. “... None of those gifts were breakable, were they?”
“Only the ones for you.” Taryon muttered, shrugging as he held the two twins close to his chest, enamoured by them.
Auntie Jester
Not long after Taryon had left to catch up with Percy and Vex, and the twins had been put down for their nap, Vax heard commotion from outside, before a door was thrown open and a tiefling came running into the room.
“Hiiii Keyleth! Hi Vax! Now where are the babies??” Jester grinned. Vax glanced behind her to see Fjord walking in sheepishly behind, rubbing the back of his neck.
“She insisted.” He explained, smiling apologetically at the parents. Keyleth laughed tiredly and stood up, greeting Jester with a hug.
“Hey Jester… They’re just napping at the moment? I’d wake them up for you but honestly? They didn’t sleep too good last night so they’re a little cranky, and–”
Jester was already moving past her to look down into the bassinets, gasping, her hand pressed over her mouth.
“Oh. Oh oh oh they’re so squishy!” She squeaked, looking back at Fjord, reaching for his hand. “Fjord come see!”
“Jester, just remember what we talked about. Indoor voices around the little ones. Just like we did for Veth’s, remember?” He said gently, a hand on the small of her back. Jester pouted.
“I know that but they’re so cute!” She stage-whispered to him, leaning in closer, but still being careful not to wake them. Fjord looked back at Vax and Keyleth, with another apologetic smile.
“We uh… Well, Jester I suppose is doing the hard work, but… she… we are having our own.” He blushed, looking back at the bassinets. “So forgive Jester’s… baby fever.”
“Oh! That’s fantastic!” Keyleth gasped, looking between the two of them.
“So that means we can practice with being Auntie Jester and Uncle Fjord!” Jester announced, spinning around to look at the two of them. Vax winced, feeling a little awkward.
“I don’t know how I feel about our babies being called ‘practices’.” He muttered, leaning into Keyleth. Keyleth just smiled, kissing his cheek.
“She’s harmless.” She reassured, sighing as Eira stirred, letting out a cry. Before she could react, Jester was scooping her up in her arms, shushing her.
“Nonono little dumpling, you are not waking your sister up, okay? We are not doing that, are we?” She cooed to the baby. Eira stared up at the strange-looking woman and blinked, Jester moving to the couch with her.
“That uh… helps. Thanks.” Keyleth muttered, awkwardly.
“I do know what I’m doing, Keyleth! Jeez…” Jester pouted, bouncing Eira softly. She paused, tilting her head a little, before looking up, then down at the baby. Eira’s cries turned to gurgles and she looked up as well, before sneezing. “Artie! She’s obviously allergic to you! That’s the problem.”
“He’s… here?” Vax asked, tensing.
“Mmm… He was for a second. He wanted to see what the fuss was about. Especially this one. He said she’s his favourite but he won’t say why. Said it’s spoilers.” Jester wrinkled her nose up, shrugging. “She is so small and cute though… So Keyleth!” She turned to the druid, and grinned. “Does your cooch still hurt after pushing them out?”
“Jester…” Fjord groaned as Keyleth turned as red as a tomato, turning to Vax to apologise, but he just chuckled.
“Why don’t we go find Percy and Taryon and grab a drink? You probably need one.”
Yasha and Beau
After Jester had left, other members of the Nein had enough tact to wait a few days. Slowly Keyleth and Vax started getting the twins into a routine, noting the differences in each of them. Vilaina soon filled out to be as big as her sister, but that came with extra feedings, and as such, made her a little more needy for Keyleth’s attention. Eira meanwhile, was calm and serene - being handed to her aunt and uncle, or even cousins, didn’t faze her, though as was usual with twins, the crying of one tended to precede the crying of the other.
It was during one of these double crying sessions that it was announced that the couple had visitors, Yasha and Beau stepping into the room moments later. Keyleth frowned as Beau winced a little at the sound, while Yasha just looked concerned.
“Are they okay?” She asked, approaching the crib where Eira’s hands were balled into tiny fists, and Keyleth tiredly bounced Vilaina.
“They just… went! They woke up and that was it! And Vax has gone up to our room to find their comforters but I swore we brought them down and what is taking him so long?! And I can’t hold them both right now, and my nipples hurt because she bit me, and–”
“Keyleth.” Yasha said calmly. “Breathe.” She tilted her head, assessing the situation, before she leant down and took the loudest one into one arm, then stepped towards Keyleth to let her place the other one in the crook of her other arm. Keyleth hesitated, glancing back at Beau who raised her hands in surrender.
“Don’t look at me, I’m not exactly babysitting material.” Keyleth huffed out a laugh at that, and carefully placed Vilaina into Yasha’s arm as well. Yasha adjusted them carefully, sitting down and rocking them.
“Go find Vax and help him,” she said softly. “We have this until you come back.”
After Beau physically steered the Voice of the Tempest out of the room, she looked back at Yasha sitting on the couch, staring down at the two babies who were still whimpering, but were staring up in fascination at the muscular woman holding them.
“They are… so small.” Yasha said quietly, her voice trembling a little.
“They’re babies. It’s kinda their job.” Beau quipped, dryly, sitting on the arm of the couch to watch her wife. She caught Vilaina’s eye, and tensed up as the baby let out an irritated cry, and reached out into her direction. “Nonono kid we’re not doing this, alright? You’ve got a perfectly good pair of arms holding you. I’m not doing it.”
Yasha smirked. “She wants you, Beauregard.”
“She’ll puke and piss on me.”
“She has a diaper on, and you’ve been covered in worse and still looked beautiful.” Yasha murmured, and Beau melted a little. She moved forward and held Vilaina at arms length. “Beau! Support the head!” Yasha snapped suddenly, Beau moving to adjust the baby so she was in her arm, her head awkwardly supported.
Beau let out a breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding as she stared down at the little girl. She had to admit, she was cute. And then Vilaina wrapped her whole hand around Beau’s thumb, and Beau let out a chuckle.
“Shit… That’s a strong grip you’ve got there, kid. Could be a monk one day.” Yasha smiled as she heard Beau speak.
“She likes you.”
“She’s a baby. She likes everyone.”
“And you like her.” Yasha looked up when Beau didn’t answer, watching as she stared down at the tiny bundle in her arms.
“This is dumb. She’s not even doing anything and my insides are turning into soup.” Beau huffed, drawing Vilaina closer. Yasha didn’t say anything, just watched them.
Beau sat in silence for a little longer, just listening to the gentle coos as Vilaina’s eyes started to grow heavy again, finally drifting off to sleep again. “... We could do this.” She said at last. Blushing, she looked away. “Not like right this second, and not without some help and shit I don’t know anyone that would help? Maybe Fjord? Nah, Jester’d freak. Maybe Caleb? Shit he’d get too attached, what about–”
“Beau.” Yasha said softly, stopping her wife’s spiral. “Just… Say it again. The first part.” There was a small smile on Yasha’s face as she asked, and Beau felt her cheeks heating up.
“... We could do this. Have a baby of our own.” She said softly. “Would you… Want that?” Yasha smiled, a blush forming against her own cheeks.
“I would like that very much.”
Caleb and Veth
Caleb had taken some… convincing to come along. Jester had told him how cute they were. Even Beau had said they weren’t terrible. But Veth had wanted to see them, so he came along with her, claiming to be moral support. As he stepped into the room that was currently a makeshift nursery for the twins, he heard a soft babbling as the two little girls lay on their backs, Vax leaning beside them and tickling their stomachs.
“We can… Come another time, if we’re a bother.” Caleb muttered, suddenly anxious that he was interrupting an intimate moment between father and daughters.
“You’re fine. Just a little tummy time.” Vax chuckled, sitting up, wiping his hands on his trousers and standing up, looking down at them. “They’re perfectly content little tempests right now. They’ve even stopped screaming when Keyleth dares to leave the room.”
“Luc was the same.” Veth snorted, swooping down to sit by the babies, in awe of them. Her own baby daughter was around the same age, and she’d been wanting to talk to Keyleth about some play dates. Caleb meanwhile, stayed standing near the door, hesitant to move into the room. He watched as the smaller of the two - Vilaina, Vax explain - let out an indignant cry at no longer being the centre of her father’s attention, causing Vax to swoop in and scoop her up in his arms. Her sister however stayed lying contentedly on the blanket, kicking her legs and looking around her.
Veth smiled at her, then looked back at the doorway.
“Caleb, come here.”
“I am already here.”
“Closer, you idiot.” She said, rolling her eyes. Caleb looked away, embarrassed.
“Nein… I am here because you asked me to be, I shouldn’t… interfere.”
“You’re visiting a friend’s baby’s for fucks sake, not handling a cursed object.” Veth huffed, Vax looking mildly offended. He watched as Veth picked Eira up carefully and moved towards Caleb. Caleb’s eyes widened, realising what the halfling was doing.
“Veth…”
“Nope.”
“Veth!”
“I swear I will chase you around this castle with her until you calm down and hold her.” She argued, glaring at him. “You are not going to hurt her, Caleb.” Caleb sighed, looking over at Vax.
“I am… sorry about her, she is a little… emotional after her own birth.”
“... If it helps, she’s the quieter of the two.” Vax offered, looking down at Eira with a silent reverence. Looking into a soul he already knew so well. “She’s a good judge of person, too.”
Caleb swallowed, and looked down at Eira. Even as she lay in Veth’s arms, she stared up at him, blinking slowly, and Caleb felt a lump growing in his throat.
“Ja… Zat is what worries me.” He said softly, his voice shaking. Slowly he reached a hand out, stroking her hand with his knuckle, tensing immediately as Eira grabbed his finger.
“Caleb,” Veth whispers. “Stop punishing yourself for five minutes and hold the damn baby.”
Sighing, Caleb carefully moved forward, allowing Veth to transfer Eira into his arms. She felt… warm. And there was the sweet smell of baby powder and milk, giving off a comforting, homely scent that made Caleb draw her closer, closing his eyes as he sniffed at her head. It only made Eira curl in closer, her own eyes getting heavier as she gripped onto his coat.
“…She is so very small,” he whispered, looking up at Vax. “And beautiful. You are… lucky.”
“I don’t know if luck was involved so much as fate.” Vax chuckled, smiling sadly. “... She seems happy there though. No rush in handing her back, yeah?”
Caleb looked down at the now sleeping baby, letting out a trembling laugh.
“Perhaps she sees something I do not.”
“If anyone would, it’d be her.” Vax muttered cryptically, looking over at his daughter once more before carrying Vilaina out of the room to go and find Keyleth.