Fauna leaned against the kitchen island, eyes growing wider as Akiva laughed and described the magical mishaps she'd experienced before finding out she was pregnant. Her expression soured slightly at the mention of Sasha, but it turned thoughtful as she imagined what those magical hiccups must have felt like. Embarrassing. Scary. Inconvenient!

"Oh no," she smiled and shook her head, marveling at the Healer's flippant response. It she were Akiva, she would not have appreciated that. But it seemed Kiva had moved on enough to find it funny now.

It was good to know that magic went a little wonky when someone got pregnant. Fauna nodded when Akiva explained that they might not know the sex of the baby for a while yet, and that was okay. She didn't think the Eleors were the type of parents who would obsess over it, as long as the child was healthy.

"Books are good," she commented encouragingly, thinking Akiva would get some reassurance from those. Her next remark sunk in, and Fauna blinked at her, then raised her eyebrows.

"Uhhh..." she shot her a nervous grin. "Uh oh. You do know I'm the youngest in my family, right? I've never changed a diaper in my whole life. I mean, I haven't even babysat much. Only, um... five-year olds, and up? And they were a little scary."

Fauna paused, then giggled, the baking and the bowls completely forgotten for the moment.

"I mean, I do want to meet the... child, you know?" Whenever it popped out. "I can... kinda practice holding it first. Him. Her. Um... before... any sitting."

She gestured, trying to illustrate her point, her expression wavering between nervousness, amusement, and delight that Akiva had thought of her.

Of course Akiva anticipated some sort of reaction from Fauna – she had just basically told the young woman she was going to be a babysitter, of course, not quite the same shock that Akiva had gone through, but still, it was springing something on her.  It was funny, of course, the young woman could not have looked more shocked and her eyes were wider than Akiva had ever seen them – fairly wide, considering! 

She couldn’t help but start laughing as Fauna started to talk, completely unsure and wavering.  Akiva put one hand on the counter to steady herself and the other on her stomach to balance from laughing so hard, she couldn’t help it – sometimes it just happened. Emotions, hormones, all of that lovely stuff.  She couldn’t help but bend halfway over and have to wipe the moisture from her eyes as she sat all the way up, still shaking with giggles and trying not to laugh so hard again.

“Sorry,” she said between shudders, “So sorry.”  She shook her head and wiped her eyes one last time, her mouth tugged wide open.  “But you don’t need to worry about anything.”

She gave her a soft look, tilting her chin down and smiled with reassurance.  “It won’t be for a while now,” she added with a wrinkled nose, still giggling to herself.  “And I’d teach you everything you needed to know before I left you alone.”  She grinned even wider, she did not intend to let anyone who was not properly educated on anything be alone with the baby.  No way. 

Getting up from the stool, Akiva moved across the kitchen and got herself a glass, “Do you want any orange juice?” she asked, quickly adding, “or anything else?  We have milk, water…” she frowned, “I think maybe lemonade… if there’s any left… or maybe some soda…” she glanced at the store, her head disappearing behind the door, “Maybe no on the soda…”

Fauna really couldn't blame Akiva for laughing. She knew how ridiculous she sounded, and was glad that at least Akiva wouldn't take offense at her Eep!-babies! response. Fauna shook her head and grinned, patting her friend on the arm in a please-don't-fall-over gesture.

"Months and months," she agreed, giggling. "Maybe I'll magically be an adult by then and know everything. Isn't that how things are supposed to work?" Fauna joked, following to peer over her at what was in the refrigerator.

"Orange juice, please. Thanks!"

As Akiva rummaged in the kitchen, Fauna went back to her baking project and looked at the two mixing bowls. She looked down at the recipe. Then looked back at the bowls. Fauna scratched her head. Aw, shite.

"Um... huh," she murmured to herself, trying to remember where she'd left off before all the excitement. Fauna shot a guilty look at Akiva, then turned back, lifting up a measuring spoon and pretending to do something productive.

"Er..." Fauna peered at the recipe again. "Have you looked at dresses and things yet? My sister likes to buy bridal magazines just to see the new fashions and stuff. I bet she has a stack of them in her flat." Perhaps Moira would even let her look through a few.

And perhaps Fauna would remember where she was at with the recipe by the time Akiva answered!

“As soon as you get your diploma from Hogwarts, I think, is when they expect you to transfigure yourself into a full adult,” she teased, “though I’m not exactly sure it works that way, myself.”  She smiled, not really sure where she would have placed her transition from young adulthood to full adulthood. She figured, maybe, when she started living by herself.  Or maybe after George, when she had to really grapple with being alone and being okay with that.  Maybe that was part of it: but like so many others, Akiva could not distinguish a point in which she really felt like she was fully grown, except she knew she was.

And part of her, she always thought, would remain young.  Her grandmother made sure to give her the advice to never get old, and Akiva was honoring that.  Being an adult didn’t mean being a grown-up, or so she learned from various children’s books, and smiled as she grabbed the orange juice from and started to pour two glasses – topping hers off quite close to the rim. 

Returning the orange juice to its rightful place, Akiva picked up both glasses and returned to the island where Fauna was standing near the muffins again – though not doing anything with them.  She figured that was normal – after all, a lot of information had just been dropped on her and she needed time to process. 

Seating herself back on the stool after she placed the not quite so full as her own glass in front of Fauna, Akiva took a generous sip and licked her top lip, a small smacking sound accompanying the gesture.  “I’ve had to start being more proactive in that search, yes,” Akiva laughed, “it didn’t seem so pressing until we decided to move things up a bit.” 

“I’ve been looking at some magazines though,” she added, “and I think I want something older… something classic, while I still can,” she laughed softly.  “We didn’t want to have wedding pictures where it’s so very obvious,” she put her hand on her stomach at the thought.  She was happy, of course, but definitely not interested in being a heavily pregnant bride anymore than she was interested in getting married post-baby.  Sooner rather than later was much better in this case. 

Taking another long drink from the glass, Akiva finally stood and walked next to Fauna, looking over her shoulder at the book, “Want to switch off?” she asked, flicking her eyes to Fauna’s face, noticing that she seemed a bit… lost. 

Fauna took the orange juice with a thank you, sipping at it as she listened to Akiva talk about looking for a classic dress. That suited her well, Fauna thought.

"It sounds like fun though," Fauna offered, having no real idea how stressful bridal dress shopping might be. Stressful and exciting.

"If you want any help looking through magazines and things, I mean... I'm no fashion expert," Fauna blushed. Understatement! "But I could, um, give it a shot."

Not surprisingly, Akiva noticed Fauna with the measuring spoon in hand, making scooping motions every once in a while, and not actually adding to the bowls or doing anything.

"I kinda... lost my place," she admitted with a sheepish glance, moving to the side to make room. "Er... I think I already added the... flour and baking soda and stuff. The bananas are already in there," she stated the obvious and laughed. "Did I put in the sugar?"

Fauna blinked at the ingredients. Mixing surprise announcements with baking was a bad, bad combination for her. Well, for the muffins.

"Oh," she stopped as if she'd remembered, then gave Akiva a distracted grin. "When did you move things up to? The wedding, I mean."

Hopeless. Just hopeless.

[[OOC: Changing the order a little to make it work better, haha]]

“Absolutely!” Akiva grinned.  “I’ll grab them from the magazine rack,” it was just like them – to have something so ridiculously unnecessary be that necessary in their home.  Akiva was not a fan of clutter, and certainly didn’t enjoy the prospect of having piles and piles of magazines hanging around.  The few she looked at routinely were on the living room table, but even then, they were mostly tucked away on the side of the couch.  Besides, if they left the rack empty, Gordon had a tendency to climb in it and get stuck.  “And we can look at them while everything is in the oven.”

“We’re moving the wedding to sometime later this month,” Akiva responded happily, “it’s really soon, but we might as well,” she laughed.  “We’re practically married right now.  It’s just the final step.”  The final step that was necessary to make all of this completely smoothed over.  It wasn’t as though their families weren’t thrilled of course, but Akiva knew her parents would prefer she be married, and fairly sure Hestia would like that as well. 

“I’m still looking for some of the reception things though,” she added, “I really want yellow – you know, because it’s spring and I read it’s like a good omen – very optimistic,” Akiva nodded, firm on this point.  She loved yellow and well, it would fit very nicely with what she wanted.  After everything, she thought they could use some sunshine like inspiration for the next part of their lives.  Fauna could help with that! 

That seemed like a good idea, even if Fauna was not perhaps the most fashion inclined young witch of her age, she was fun to look at things with and could, most assuredly, at least counsel some choices.  Akiva knew more or less what she was looking for anyway, so regardless of the response she got, she was probably going to just take her input with a grain of salt – she suspected Fauna knew that already thought. 

Grinning widely, Akiva glanced over the younger girl’s shoulder and pursed her lips, looking at the mixture and then at the book.  Frowning a little, she reached into the bowl and swiped her finger around the edge, the goopy mixture certainly felt at least normal… Sniffing it carefully, she knew it smelled normal… So, tentatively, she put her finger up to her mouth and licked at the batter.

Muffin batter never tasted very good unbaked, but Akiva’s eyes widened as she finally ingested the blob.  Coughing and sputtering a bit, Akiva wrinkled her nose and immediately reached to grab a towel to wipe her hand off and then her orange juice to basically chug the rest of it.  “Fauna,” she coughed, “you did not use sugar,” she tried to get the taste off the top of her mouth, still coughing in between, “that was,” she put her hand over her mouth, gagging a little, “that was salt.”

"Yellow!" Fauna exclaimed happily. "Well, you know I'm a fan." Hufflepuff pride.

Fauna was a little surprised to hear that they'd moved the wedding to late this month, and felt a little sad for a few moments, because it meant she probably wouldn't be able to attend. However, she understood Akiva's reasoning, that marriage was the last step, and something they wanted to do before the baby arrived. It all made sense. And Fauna was happy for her either way.

At least she'd get to flip through magazines with her while the muffins were baking. Fauna could also imagine sending her notes while she was at school, as a fun way to count down to the wedding date. Perhaps she'd even have time to work on a present for the couple.

Fauna looked at Akiva anxiously as her friend studied the book and the mixing bowls, trying to figure out where they were at with the recipe. This felt more and more like a potions lesson. Except Akiva smiled and laughed a lot. She raised her eyebrows when Akiva swiped a dab of batter and looked ready to taste it- that was definitely not done in Potions! But what was the worst that could happen? Fauna might have forgotten an ingredient, but it couldn't be terrible, could it?

Oh, it could. Her eyes went wide at Akiva's expression, and the coughing, and finally the words sunk in. She'd used salt? Aw, shite.

"Oh no," Fauna looked horrified. "I am so sorry! I'll..." She looked back at the mixing bowls. How to fix it?

"Is there a... a salt siphoning spell?" Her voice sounded both desperate and hopeful. "I mean, is there a way to," she made a gesture like she was shooing the salt away.

"I just don't want to," she paused. "Waste it all."

Fauna gave her a pathetically guilty look, biting her lip and shaking her head.

“I figured you would like that,” Akiva laughed happily, glad that she’d be able to help her look.  She wanted Fauna to be able to come, of course, but if it wasn’t going to be possible, it wasn’t going to be able to.  She was getting an invitation either way.  The option was always there, of course, in case it could be worked out.  Akiva didn’t want to waste the opportunity to invite her, just in case some sort of miracle worked itself out. 

These muffins, in the same way, were going to need a miracle to work themselves out.  Thankfully, with the addition of orange juice to her mouth, the sweetness warded away the salt, and she finally stopped coughing and sputtering, though she had to take the glass and go to the sink to clean it out and get herself some water.  She downed half the glass without a problem and wiped her mouth with a hand towel. 

She glanced over her shoulder at Fauna who was panicked and hopeful at the same time, which made Akiva laugh, despite herself.  “It’s okay,” she smiled, shaking her head.  “Really, don’t worry.” 

The young woman was not going to have a panic attack over salt instead of sugar.  “We all make the mistake at least once,” Akiva grinned, “I know I have before.” She bumped shoulders with her, taking the bowl off the counter and walking over to the bin to empty it out using the wooden spoon.  “I’m not in the mood for muffins anymore anyway,” she pointed out with a smile.

“I’d rather just eat the fruit the way it is – I’m starving,” she didn’t know why she was hungry; she was rarely ravenous like this.  She was going to get fat very quickly at this rate.  “We’ll take them in the living room – look at those magazines,” she smiled.  “We’ll come back to these later,” Kiv said as she deposited the bowl in the sink, pouring a little soap in it and running the hot water up to the rim to let it sit. 

She dropped the wooden spoon in as well, followed by the measuring cups.  They’d get washed when she came back in later.  “Sound better?” she turned and caught glimpse of the yellow envelope, grabbing it off the counter.  "Before I forget," she added, standing in the middle of the kitchen, "this is for you.  Just in case."

If anyone could smooth out the awkwardness and make her feel at ease again, it was Akiva. Fauna trailed after her, watching her scoop the mixture into the rubbish bin, and cringing like a house elf. But Akiva's grins and reassurances soon made some kind of impact, and Fauna began to look less and less guilty, glancing at the fresh fruit.

"If you're sure," she nodded, thinking that flipping through magazines sounded fun, and much less stressful.

"I mean..." Fauna trailed off when Akiva handed her the bright yellow envelope. Well, that was an effective way to put a halt to her fretting. She opened it and looked at the card, face breaking into a smile as she read: 'you're invited to the wedding ceremony of Akiva Katz and Dreogan Eleor'.

The invitation instantly lifted her mood, just knowing that Akiva had thought of her and really wanted her to be there. Fauna's grin stretched as she stared at it. Then she gave the woman what was likely the fifth hug that day.

"Thank you!"

She drew back, slight anxiousness marring her features. "I hope I'm able to go. I mean, with the security at Hogwarts right now, they only really allow us to leave if there's an emergency. But the wedding is on a Saturday, right?"

Fauna looked thoughtful as she headed into the living room, helping to carry the bowls of fruit with Akiva. "Maybe if I approach Professor O Morain first. He's the Deputy Headmaster," she explained. "And a lot nicer than Snark."

“Positive,” Akiva grinned, tossing the bowl and spoon into the sink.  She’d deal with that later.  Right now, she was more concerned with just having fun and spending time with Fauna, something she didn’t get to do very often.  She anticipated the summer might bring more opportunities for that sort of thing, but of course, she wanted Fauna to be busy – being busy as a young person was a good thing, it showed possibility and Fauna had a lot of that. 

Popping a blueberry in her mouth, Akiva waited patiently for Fauna to look at the envelope.  The girl looked confused at first, of course, but as soon as she opened it, Akiva’s smile seemed to widen at the same time, a bright laugh accompanying that smile as Fauna launched herself at her. 

She wrapped her arms around Fauna’s back and squeezed tightly before letting go and leaning back.  “I want you to be there,” Akiva smiled warmly, “but I know how school can be and if you can’t make it,” her smile drooped a little, “Well, I wouldn’t blame you,” she wrinkle her nose, trying to be as positive as possible. 

“There’s an invitation for Tulojow, as well,” Akiva pointed out, a smirk crawling across her lips.  “Perhaps it could always be worked out with that in mind…” she really did want Fauna to be there.  Honestly, without Fauna, Akiva very well could have not been here right now, at least not in the state she was in now.  She was happier than she had ever been, healthy, and moving on with her life. 

Fauna was an integral part of the life she had now, and one of the many reasons she was living it.  “If you need me to, I can write something,” she added, thinking out loud, “I mean – as a mum-in-practice, I think I need to work on my guilt tripping,” she teased, grabbing up the bowls of fruit in her arms, holding them like some kind of crazy bundle and started to walk toward the couch. 

“I think I might be very good at it,” she smiled primly, winking at Fauna over her shoulder as she put the bowls down on the coffee table and plopped onto the seat, a strawberry plopping in her mouth to accompany the action. 

"Tulo will be there, too? Oh, good," Fauna let out a sigh of relief. She liked Tulo a lot, and she'd have a better chance of attending if a Hogwarts staff member would be at the wedding as well. Fauna figured things would be significantly more awkward if she needed to ask someone to escort her to an event they weren't invited to. She couldn't see Snark doing that. Ó Móráin, possibly, but he'd already done so much for her that she didn't want to push her luck.

She grinned as she sat down on the couch, amused by Akiva's comment about guilt tripping. "I think so too," she agreed unabashedly.

"If you do write, make sure to sprinkle a few drops of water on the parchment," she giggled. "You can say something like... Fauna must absolutely be there! She's like family! We're practically sisters!"

She paused to pop a blueberry in her mouth.

"And I can come in and give them all the puppy dog eyes." Fauna straightened in her seat and put on an especially woeful expression, complete with quivering mouth. "Please? Akiva's the best! We write each other almost every day! I have to go!"

Leaning back in her seat, she smiled. "Like that. They won't be able to say no."

“She’s an old family friend of Dree’s,” Akiva explained with a smile, pulling magazines out from the rack and tossing them on the coffee table, taking one for herself and putting it in her lap, under the bowl of strawberries that she was still casually munching on.  Apparently, Akiva did not wish to share them – the other fruit fine, but the strawberries were hers. 

Tossing a magazine at Fauna, Akiva rolled her eyes, giggling softly as she suggested working on the black mail might be a good way to get things done – and her suggestions to further the charade, well, Akiva could not help but laugh.  She put her hand over her mouth, trying not to encourage it, but failed miserably, dissolving into a fit of giggles.

“I think you caught he essence of the letter perfectly,” Akiva pointed out, “You forgot to mention the part where you saved my life though,” She grinned, “and,” her voice changed to the tone she wished the letter to reflect, a low whine with intermittent stops, “I wouldn’t be here without her, so it is necessary she share this with me!” 

Her seriousness could not be sustained though, Akiva laughed more – only increased by Fauna’s response – puppy eyes that were huge and a puffy lip.  The girl could probably cry on command if she tried hard enough.  Kiv’s sides were splitting though and she could feel the muscles in her stomach tightening. 

“You’re a genius, Fauna.  Plain and simple,” she teased, winking at her as she caught her breath, putting the strawberries on the table and propping open her magazine.  “Hopefully, the ones in charge will recognize that,” she added with a giggle. 

“Now what do you think of this?” she held the magazine up – ready to really dive into this.

Fin.