FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION--

This is my 8-freaking-paged selling point vignette about (the possibility of) Cosim and Sofia's (possible--) child, 3 or 4 years into the future. What happened? Itakshir assumed Cosim would get the 'no way can you get pregnant the first time" sarcasm. :I XD

and if you don't know much abut 3 year olds.... they are the golden ratio of hilariousness to cuteness. OBSERVE-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBM854BTGL0

but i hope this isn't crap, i've never wrote one this long XD

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"Tato." The small girl wriggled out from under the man's arm. "Tato... Wake up."

Usually her father was not tough to wake up. Not as tough as her mother, at any rate.  But sometimes it still took a while, even when an expert went at it. Especially when he was in the truck. To him it was a different world... To Elena, it was unbearably boring. The day was wasting, and she wasn't getting any younger. Already 4 years old, she was out and about...or wished she could be.

With a hand one fifth the size of her father's, she pressed her palm into his cheek. "Tatoooooo~" she cooed softly. His head lolled to one side and--recognition!-- his brow furrowed.  But his eyes made no move to open as his hand slowly encircled her fist and landed it back down onto his chest.  She could have sworn she heard him mouth 'not yet'.  He WAS awake.  

She would trick him, though. This could be as entertaining as any game.  She let him fall back asleep, back into security... just as he did, she freed her hand, and with the other clamped over his mouth, she pinched his nose between two small round fingers. Soon he ran out of air, and his eyes snapped open and stopped his own daughter from smothering him.  Oddly enough, he wasn't irked at all. 

"Elenushka," He greeted, with the smile of a proud father whose daughter who knew how to get what she wanted.  "You're awake already?"

She curled her hands around his thumbs with a devious smile. "Didn't sleep, I was pretending." Since she had come along unexpectedly three and a half (not four--) years ago, he'd had someone to take his mid-day naps with while her mother was off with better things to do (she was blind and she had more business to attend to than he did--).  But it seemed she hadn't subscribed to the tradition that day. "I told you I wasn't tired."

"You always say that."

"I'm not." She asserted. 

"Well I am."

"Well too bad." And such went the waltz of the bored daughter and her guardian.

He sat up and pulled her into his lap, lightly patting the bandages over her collar to make sure they still held.  "And what will this do to poor Mamo, ruining her schedule like this?" 

It was a difficult thing to pass his daughter over to the women's car at night.  He would rather the three have their own, but their was no room.  Cosim worried about Elena constantly when she wasn't in view or earshot-- and for once, it wasn't unfounded. 

She was unplanned and unknown for a while-- of course they hadn't planned for a weak blind woman to bear any children-- but there was no stopping Elena once she began, a habit they still couldn't shake from her today.  She was born small and feeble, and could not be nursed by her own mother.  There were frequent frightening visits to the traveling doctor--who had subsequently stopped traveling for a while-- who enlightened them that the cause was a hole in the infant's heart, and if nothing was done, she would die. It had made Sofia numb with guilt and Cosim wracked with anger that had no place to go. Their child was more than one foot in the grave, and the only option was getting to the heart directly to fix it.

Having total faith in the man who could work wonders, her surgery was a few months after her first birthday. She had ceased to become a frightening burden and began a new life as a miracle. The family had been to hell and back, and their scars were continuing to heal on her chest.

To her parents, she was more than a child. For Cosim she was a changing tide. Before he'd been a criminal, drifting from place to place running from his face on a wanted poster. He was sure later on he would have left the carnival and taken Sonya with him. Never having a real family to speak of, suddenly there one was, one he had to take charge of. For Sofia, she was life. A life she thought she could never have had, a life she thought she had lost long ago with the explosion. Some abyss in her soul that she had always ignored was suddenly closed, filled when she held that small warm body close at night, knowing that she was her mother's unruly curls and her father's determined teal eyes (she couldn't see, but was told) and a spirit all her own.

Which was why they both kept a close watch on her. She was close to being a normal child... But with an ordeal like that and parents like hers there were no chances to be taken. She had to sleep a certain number of hours, eat certain things, and stay away from most things.

And although she did feel guilty for later distressing her mother (not too bad, it happened so much already), Elena had bigger fish to fry.

"I'm bored..." She whined tugging at her hair, his shirt, his cheeks, anything for emphasis.

The dreaded words. Unfortunately for them, Elena was partial to physical activity. That wouldn't stop them from pretending it didn't exist.

"We can talk?"

"Nn." A wide shake of the head.

"Look at clouds?"

"Nn."

"Well what would you want?" A dangerous query.

"I want to go play," She replied pitifully. There went his heart strings. He could hear the notes in his ears.

"Elenushka..."

"Please, Tato?? I'll be extra careful, I'll hold your hand...!"

Well, that was usually a stipulation anyway. And since there was no way she would let it go long enough for him to get any more sleep, he finally resigned. “Alright. We can take a walk--”

She didn't seem very happy with that answer, either. She sat away from him and picked at the laces of her tiny beat-up red shoes from the wardrobe crates with a sullen look.

“Well, what would you like to do?”

Elena wasn't entirely sure. It was a carnival, after all; she wanted to explore, she wanted to do... do... “Something...”

He held out his hand for her shoes (both fit in one) and she handed them over querulously. “Something?” He popped one shoe on her foot and then the other, having trouble himself tying them; the laces were almost too small in his hands. “We will be doing something. Walking is something.”

Exasperated, she lazily flopped onto her back as he tied her shoes. “No....”

“Walking is something, and breathing is something and being three is something--”

“Four.”

“Three.”

“Three anna half.”

“Three and a quarter.”

“What's a quarter?”

“...Alot.”

“More than a half?”

“....your shoes are on.”

“Three anna half.”

“Okay.” Toddlers could hand down a wrathful guilt-trip, but they forgot easily. Their little exchange had peeled her off of the truck bed and had her standing on his knees to prove she was no longer baby-age. “I promise you we'll do something.”

“What?”

“Something, like you said.” He scooped her up and left the truck as she huffed out her frustration, and made sure her two feet touched ground before he grabbed her hand. She was newer at walking than most children her age, so maybe that was 'something'.

He started leading her to the supply car for routine as usual-- sunblock and a check for any small injuries so if any new ones were gained if she fell, she couldn't blame it on any other time. She always tried to walk the other way, to no avail. While on their way, she took a mental note of what was nearby. She was never happy to take her time for granted-- the opposite of her parent's mindset.

Workers were setting up for the next show. No good, she'd been yelled at before for getting under their feet. And she didn't know where her mother was, but it was best to avoid all of the places she knew she went in a day. Her eyes scanned the area. Where to go, where to go.... aha! The animal tent! Her mother hated being there and there was a multitude of places to hide. She would do something, whether her father liked it or not.

So while he was searching for sunblock, which was sticky and never dried well and really she had no idea why she had to wear it (thanks to it, she never had to see the pale splotches of vitiligo skin against a tan) she quietly pulled the laces away from her shoes and untied them, slipping them off as quickly as she could. He couldn't hear her over his own cursing about the location of the sunscreen. One might think that he should be aware of how mischievous his own child was, but when he went on a tangent, he went on a tangent.

When the coast was clear, she stepped out of the car from the fold out steps like someone scaling a ladder, and headed for the animal tent as fast as her torn socks could carry her. She slipped into the tent and looked back to see if he had noticed yet. Nope, but he would soon enough. So she better get to 'something' fast.

What caught her eye the most? All of it, really. She stopped by the brightly colored parrots, but walked away when they kept telling her to be quiet after she told them to be quiet. Rude.

There were always the obligatory mice-catchers slinking around, so she grabbed a dirty tricolored kitten and held it under her arm while she browsed. She didn't like snakes. Or snakes with legs. There was a big turtle, but it didn't seem to want to play with her, no matter how many times she sat on its shell.

Elena was beginning to think that perhaps she wasn't allowed to do things like this because they were boring.

But then she'd found it-- the holy grail of animals, to a child. And one that didn't even have a lock on its cage. Her uncle Itakshir's (self-proclaimed uncle) bear was eyeing her curiously from the mound it had curled itself into. It sniffed at the ground, sending a puff of dust into the air and coaxing a squeal from her. THIS was her something. She had seen the bear before, but had never been close enough to it to touch it. As fearless as she appeared to be, she had to admit to herself, it was scary. Of course, she would never speak of that fear to anyone else.

Still holding the cat as if it were her backup lest something go wrong, she crouched in front of the cage and wrapped one hand around the bar, making kissing noises at the animal. She'd seen the skinny lady with the weird accent do the same thing, and it had worked.

...but either she was kissing the air the wrong or that skinny lady knew something she didn't. And she knew a lot about bears (The skinny lady probably didn't know that they were made up of thousands of littler bears). So what was this thing's problem? After a few more futile kiss noises, she just opened up the cage (after making sure the cat was still there to watch her back) and closed it on the three of them. She sat down and the bear immediately lied its heavy head on her lap, which she took as an invitation to tug on its ears, which every so often would twitch. And then there was the fascinating moment when the bear raised its head and shook it to readjust his ears. Elena couldn't remember the last time she'd had so much fun. Even the cat stuck around.

In that cube of infinite mirth (on her side, anyways) she failed to realize an hour or two had passed. Her father had. It was karma. He shouldn't have cursed around his daughter. He'd turned around and she was just gone. Except for her shoes-- she was without her shoes, outside. She could trip, she could cut her feet, she could hurt herself--

He had circled the outside of the carnival and all cars she usually was in. Cosim was in that frightening stage of 'what if she's gone forever' and just getting into the 'I have to tell Sonya' stage where he heard the parrots in the animal tent being more talkative than usual. As he listened closer, he could hear their echo, “No, you shush.” He'd gotten into one-sided verbal fights with them before, and that phrase wasn't exactly in their repertoire. Suspicious, he walked in and saw two dirtied socks poking out of the largest cage. There she was-- using a large bear like a pillow while she was curled up in slumber with her thumb in her mouth.

He should have been mad. And certainly, he would have been, if anyone else he loved had endangered themselves like that. Not by engaging in conversation with a bear, but simply by being out of his line of sight. It certainly helped that the bear wouldn't hurt a flea (did it have fleas???).

And... she was only three years old, and had been healthy for a while. He was reminded of a particular piece of advice Alexis had given him when Elena had first acted out ('acted out' for him, 'acted like a child' to everyone else), “She's a baby,” She reminded him. “They mess around. How else do they learn?” Besides... she was his daughter. Surely she could weather anything. Or maybe... maybe it cancelled out because she was Sonya's daughter. But there hadn't been many cases of unfounded crying since she could talk, so that would remain to be seen.
While he was off worrying, she had gone and done what she said she wanted to. 'Something.' He had been warned. And finally she was asleep. Maybe parenting was something he didn't have to break his back over. Maybe he and Sonya could raise a child that would turn out... alright.

But for now, all he had to worry about was making sure she had napped the right amount of time. Scooping her out of the cage, she instinctively curled her arms around his neck. “Lets see...” he muttered to himself. “If she fell asleep half an hour ago, she'll have to sleep another hour and a half...” Someday maybe they would do 'something' together, if worrying wasn't such a difficult habit to break. Then again, maybe one day Elena would learn that having people who were willing to worry so much over her was 'something', too.

EVEN though it was about a small child...

I will admit...

(grudgingly)

...that I found it exceptionally charming. (I am far too proud to use the word 'cute' unlike most Japs :I) And...ffffffff I do love it. But don't let it go to your head, now. :I /SHOT

Also, it was hilarious; I can say that part easily. B) Although I am disappointed in the lack of epic Golem vs Bear battle. :I XDD

...It's a possibility. Possibly.

8 goddamn pages it better have been charming-- /shot XD

I would have written sonya in but I think that deserves its own writingXD something more heartfelt fff and the battle would have happened if i could have fit itakshir in :I

Oh, no, sir, no little font. "POSSIBLY." in caps.

8 goddamn pages. /SHOT ffff XD

asdfjdksfjd

I have to agree with Plum on not saying that this was "cute," because quite honestly, it's beyond such a word. :I

dfjjfjs babies <3 I normally am so awkward around babies, but I want to cuddle and hold Elena forever. And that is such a pretty name elenaelenaelena~ Forget baby slings, Cosim can carry her in his coat pocket /SHOT

and ffff you don't want baby advice from Mace. LOOK HOW HER KIDS TURNED OUT-- Badass B)

ffff thank you <3

LMAO COSIM WITH A BABY BJORN-- best image ever XD

WELL YOU KNOW WHAT-- If you could see how torn up my fingers are right now, you'd know how much of a struggle it was finding a suitable way to express my approval while still keeping my pride intact. :I /inscrutable oriental /SHOT XD

But nah, Cosim is more fun to read about. B) ...I might find it entertaining to see something with uncle Itak, perhaps maybe in the realm of possibilities /vague vague vague /shot

Lol, panic, if only Amir was there--WORST PERFECT GRANDPARENTS

fff I might write something with Itak, because I think it would be really wonderful ffff I've been thinking of writing something for him and Franze, but that relationship hasn't gotten to a point yet where i'd be comfortable just making up a plot :/

but fff I can see it now XD

"What did you name her?"
"Elena."
"............."
'What."
"Is that her real name?"
"Yes."
"WHY WOULD YOU TELL ME THAT--?!" ffff XD

To celebrate the birth of their bby, Aunt Crina would bring them a gift. |: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zavmjVYq080

And they would have to pretend to love it.

Bawwww, this was adorable xD <3 I love babies so much, they warm my heart dfkjdsfksdff. Iwantone|:

rljglkfdgkl, Despite that toddlers are otherwise disgusting creatures, I must say that this is completely adorable. <3 <3 <3 I loveee your writing babby, which I have said like 3092490 times, and this is just too precious. <3 This baby, sobbb.

Babysitter Havana would just lock her up in that bear cage. Cosim would tell her to give the baby communist lessons and she'd just leave it with the bear and some cigars. /shot forever.

@blank Ffffffff no, give it to Odessa. She'd love it XD "THIS CHICKEN... IS DANCING.... :'D"

Lmao Thanksssss XD let'shaveonetogether-- /shot XD

@oppy-- FFFF thanks =v=

Dangerous+decadence?? No, that is a lesson in capitalism :I unless she wraps the cigars and she and the bear share them XD then it's fine B)

Of course that kid would have to roll it herself. :l Who does she think she is- an American or something? What a capitalistic pig. :l

Havana might just have to ditch her somewhere for good, if she doesn't learn to roll her own cigars that is- and to share it with her commrade.