toontown | Baby Goblin AU

"Here, I'll show you," says Riz with all his wisdom from two days of experience.

(but hey, if he had managed to get it right, then Boober, who could be way more nurturing and fussy than him, would also probably get it right.)

Riz gets up off the couch so he can gently place her in Boober's arms, adjusting them as he does so. "Okay, first thing you have to learn is that babies cannot hold up their own heads. So you gotta support it like this, okay? And, uh, once you got that part sorted, it's actually just like holding a loaf of bread. They don't really move around much yet at this age. Apparently it gets harder when they get all wriggly, but that's not a problem yet."

"Okay... Okay, yeah."

Holding her is simultaneously scary and... Strange. He's never had a reason to hold a person this way before; very few people are ever small enough for him to do that to begin with. But despite only being able to hold the baby because she's small, doing this makes him feel strong. As scared as Boober is, there is a peacefulness to this.

Of course, it is a very brief sensation of peacefulness, because she is still fussing-- Being in unfamiliar arms on top of being hungry, more now than before. Or maybe she's just waking up more. Boober isn't sure, but either way it makes him even sadder than he thought it would. She's upset, and he just wants to help her.

"What, um, what helps her feel calm? Should I make those soft sounds you were doing?"

"You can rock her. Or make noises at her. It works sometimes."

And sometimes it's completely useless. Riz wishes he could understand why it works sometimes and didn't other times. Maybe he just needs more input. He had only been taking care of her for two days, after all. Perhaps with more time and data-points, he could finesse his skills to the point of proficiency.

Riz grabs the duffel bag Boober had brought over, and unzips it. At the top of the bag, on top of his personal effects are the few baby things he had already bought, and he quickly puts them out on the table. There is a pack of diapers (though his supervisor had impressed upon him he was definitely going to need more), a few tiny changes of clothing for her, a tiny little hat for her tiny lumpy head, and aha, the bottles and two tins of formula that promised that it was a good choice for infants of all races! The ratio of powder to water changed for different races, and let's just say Riz was glad she was just a little baby goblin and not an Orc. They'd need so many tins of formula if she had been an Orc baby.

"Okay, I need to go boil the water. I'll be back in a moment. Cause it needs to cool down first and then I can add this stuff."

"I'll do my best..."

Oh, he wishes he could watch Riz prepare the formula. He'd love to know how it's done. But for now, hopefully, he can learn how to calm her down. That's good, too--

"Not that I know the first thing about calming down," he mumbles to himself as he rocks her from side to side. Slowly at first, then a little faster- Then right back to slow when that isn't well-received. Except her fussing doesn't lessen.

Make noises at her, huh? Noisiness isn't really his thing, either, but he can try. He coos at her, gentle and drawn-out sounds that don't take long at all to take on a musical quality. The lyric-less singing catches the baby's attention, quieting her just a little.

Riz makes quick work of things in the kitchen. Or as quick a work as he can, in any case.

First there is the water that needs to be boiled. And thankfully Boober has plenty of big pots he uses for his soup-cooking. And that he keeps them clean as a whistle. It means Riz doesn't have to worry about that part as he puts a pot on to boil.

Though really, part of him wonders if this level of cleanliness if even necessary. She is a goblin, right? Albeit a very small one. Does that mean she also has a proper goblin stomach and will be able to handle things that you need to be worried about with other babies? It's something he'll have to ask the proper authorities (his mom) about.

Once the water is boiling, he turns off the stove and sets a timer on his watch. Half an hour and it should be at a drinkable temperature.

Which brings him back to the living room in time to watch Boober as he softly hum-sings to the baby. And for a moment that spot in his chest, the same one that just earlier had roared at the idea of Boober getting too close, heats up with deep affection, a sensation that has him rumbling with a little purr before he catches himself.

Not that he minds purring! He just can't remember ever doing it just at the sight of something unless he was really putting it on.

"How's it going?"

Boober doesn't look up. He doesn't want to risk it, and he doesn't really want to stop looking at the baby, either. She's- She's so sweet, and it's left a wide smile on Boober's face.

Right now, it's hard to remember how nerve-wracking everything else about this situation is. She herself isn't nerve-wracking at all. She's anything but.

"She liked my song," he breathes out, in answer to Riz's question.

"Lucky." Riz walks over, parking his butt on the edge of the coffee table, in between all the baby things, so he can look at her as much as Boober is. "She doesn't like my songs at all. I guess I should've known a Fraggle was going to be better at it."

But while she might not like Riz's songs so much, it does seem to calm her down to listen to him purr, so Riz'll take that. He can even remember listening to his parents' purrs in much the same way.

"There had to be something useful about how musical fraggles are, didn't there?" he chuckles, and while the words are of course directed at Riz, his focus stays on the baby. "I'm glad you like it, little baby. I think you're very special. We'll make sure you get food soon."

He sighs softly, and finally looks up.

"I've never done this before."

"This" being holding someone.

"Neither did I. I held my cousins once in a while when they were little but they were never this little. And honestly, I wasn't really all that interested in it either."

Those years, Riz and his mom had always been so busy, it had been rare for them to travel down to Bastion City to hang out with Riz's paternal relatives. It means there had been little opportunity to hold little goblins and Riz had been right at that age where holding babies hadn't exactly been on his mind; especially not when he was in his grandparents' house and exploring the attic with all its old furniture and memories was far more fun!

"Oh, I did hold Penny's little siblings once or twice, but there were always so many I wasn't even sure which ones I was holding."

"You weren't sure? Hon, that's awful."

But he says it with a laugh in his voice. It's not the first time he's hearing how big Penny's family is.

"I've never been interested in babies, either... I never really thought about them much at all before, to tell you the truth." He pauses, thinking. "I can't even think about a time I've been around a fraggle baby. At least, not one this young. I never thought they'd be so cute."

"It's not my fault they all looked freakishly identical! And that there always was a new one..."

Riz actually had always enjoyed any visit to the Luckstone home, but he had also always been very happy to by home in Strongtower afterwards! The Luckstone house might not have any mould or noisy neighbours or an elevator that has never worked, but at least you could occasionally get a moment to yourself and think.

"I wasn't even sure if there were Fraggle babies. We never really, uh, talked about that one."

Mostly because in Riz's mind that would obviously involve sex of some sort and he don't need to know about that stuff. He and Boober are not going to do that sort of stuff ever, so why ask!

"Well, all those fraggles back at the Rock couldn't have just been dancing and jumping around from the start, right?" Boober asks, and he's teasing, but the sass in his voice has a distracted quality.

He's too taken with this little goblin baby to think about fraggle babies right now! Sure, they're probably quieter than grown ones, but they're still fraggles all the same. How quiet can they really be?

"There are fraggle babies," he adds, more directly, with a shrug, "I just don't know, um, how they come around. Not- Not how silly creatures do it, I don't think."

Now the discomfort sets in. He doesn't think of... Of sex being the first step in a new baby. At least, it's not where his mind goes first- he has to think of it beyond the scope of fraggles to get from babies to the act that he finds quite unpleasant, and gross, to even consider.

"It feels like the most fraggle thing ever to not know where fraggles come from."

Riz has accepted many things about fraggles as a species and this seems to be one of the most central things: they are truly carefree to a fault. Any other group would probably have investigated where babies come from, but most fraggles would never think to even question it. It happens and it has always happened that way, so why worry about it.

It's truly a mindset Riz will never understand.

Anything else that is to be said on the subject of fraggle is lost however when the baby in Boober's arms lets out another, this time slightly louder, affronted cry. Which draws Riz's attention down again.

"Hey, ssh, the water isn't cool yet. You need to wait a bit longer."

"Oh, you poor dear," Boober breathes as his attention returns to the baby. Rocking her didn't seem to make much difference earlier, and there's definitely an instinctive part of him that wants to pass her back to Riz; a part that's anxious over feeling the pressure to soothe her.

However, the far greater part of him has to give it a try. He wants her to feel comforted, period, and it doesn't matter by who... But he really would love to do it himself again. Carefully and gently, Boober rubs the back of her head where he's holding her.

"Aw, you'll have food soon. It'll be okay. Yeah, you can leave the worrying to me, alright?"

"Yeah, he's great at worrying."

Riz glances up from the baby to Boober.

"My supervisor said it's good to just talk to babies. Even if they don't understand. They like the sound of it. I don't actually know how well she can hear right now, but it's a good habit to get into." Wait, wait, that sounds like this might be a permanent thing, and Riz doesn't want to give Boober that impression. It's one thing to rope him into taking care of a baby goblin for a few weeks, but a whole other thing to ask him to commit to being a parent. "I mean. For when we find her family and give her back. I don't want them to think we didn't take good care of her."

"Oh... I wasn't sure whether or not she could understand yet, to tell you the truth."

It serves as another remind of just how little he knows about babies, and that feeling of being so incredibly daunted by all of this pushes a little closer to the surface. He tries to just focus on the baby, instead.

"See, there you go: You don't have to be scared right now. Though I sure know how easy it is to do... But Riz will find your family. He's very good at what he does, after all. And he works hard on every case."

A hint of a smile returns to his face, as he gives starts rocking her again. He might as well give it another try, and it seems to help more this time. He wonders what he did differently, if anything at all.

"Until you get back to them, we'll take care of you. Riz is not very good at most parts of that," he chuckles, "but I am. And, well, I can't do much to protect anyone, but Riz is excellent at it. You'll be okay."

Riz makes a soft noise of protest at hearing Boober say he's not very good at taking care of things. Which... listen, Boober isn't necessarily wrong. Many a houseplant has died in Riz's care until Adaine figured out that giving him plants to brighten up his environment wasn't a super ideal move. But just because it is true doesn't mean Boober can just go ahead and say it like that! He'll give the baby a bad impression of Riz.

The rest though, especially the part where Boober says he is good at protecting people mollifies him.

"I don't think she can. I mean, nobody is born speaking common or whatever. But I guess they like hearing the sound anyway. And by hearing it, that's how they learn to speak common in the first place."

"I wonder why they like it, then," Boober muses out loud, followed by a bit of his creaky laugh. "Although, I guess it would be hard for anyone to find out."

She's been pretty quiet for a good moment there, but she starts to squirm again. With a relenting but fond sigh, Boober looks at Riz.

"Maybe you should hold her for a while, again? Unless there wouldn't be time before you have to get back to her meal."

Listen, of course he's going to call it that while they're taking care of her. It may not be what he thinks of as a meal, but apparently it's a meal for a baby, and Boober is not one to downplay food. It deserves proper credit!

"I'll hold her."

He isn't sure if he can get her to stop fussing, but he wouldn't want Boober to get stressed holding a crying baby. Plus, she does know him a bit better, so she might feel more comfortable with him. And if nothing else, he can deploy a Tactical Purr and see if that works.

"How about, I hold her, and I show you how to make her a meal." Riz holds out his arms so Boober can place the baby back in them. "For once, I'll be the kitchen supervisor."

"Oh! Yes, that would be wonderful!"

Boober's tail rarely waves back and forth like it is now, even at his happiest, but this is exciting. Learning to prepare something new was a delight, no matter what food it was.

Passing the baby over to Riz, however, is anything but delightful. Boober is terrified of hurting her with every motion, and so the process is slow and hesitant. He's humming all the while - though it sounds tense - both for the baby's sake and his own.

"Oh, thanks goodness," he breathes out in relief, once just Riz's arms are holding the baby. He smiles, however weakly, down at her. "See? I'll, uh, I'll handle all the worrying."

Hey, Riz gets it. Babies are really frightfully fragile, and honestly, nobody should've trusted him with one. At least when you acquire a baby through the normal way, you've got a couple of months of preparation. Riz had thrust himself into it with absolutely no groundwork (always a frightful thing for him) and he had given Boober even less time to prepare.

When the baby is back in his arms, Riz very gently bounces her until she has settled once again, before getting to his feet.

"Okay, follow me. And bring those." With his arms occupied, he can only vaguely wave at the tins of formula and bottles on the table with his tail, so he just hopes Boober can read his intent.

"Right," Boober says, getting right to action gathering those supplies. Then he follows, right behind Riz, to the kitchen. For now, both his nerves and the baby's cuteness must go ignored.

He's very attentive when being taught-- Well, when being taught something he deems actually relevant to him, anyway. Less so when it comes to things like Red's latest method for doing the perfect dive (there's no such thing, they all make a splashy mess that leaves bystanders damp!) or Fabian's guidelines on how to tell if a watch was actually made by the manufacturer someone said it was (why does it matter, so long as it tells the time?) --and this is no exception.

Riz can tell the difference between a real and a fake fantasy Rolex, but only in so far as he needs it to work his job. Small details like that can say a lot about a person. And the kind of crimes they partake in.

And really, even a real, genuine fantasy Rolex will never be as cool as a heavenly fucking spy watch.

"Okay, so the way you make this stuff is that you have to mix a certain amount of powder from the tin with cool-ish water. You have to boil the water first though cause of the germs." That, at least, will be something that very much resonates with Boober. "How much powder you need depends on how old the baby is and what race. They've got a whole list on their website, which I'm gonna print out and stick on one of the cabinets or something."

As he listens, Boober smiles brightly. This happiness - unlike that which he felt while holding the baby - is entirely familiar... The joy of clearly set rules, put in place for the sake of health and wellbeing?

It's not the same as being able to cook for her, no, but it's still quite good. And as he sets to following Riz's instructions, he carries himself with the same intent and energy on display when he's preparing any other kind of meal.

"Good idea. I'll clear out a cabinet just for her, for all the things needed to make her food, and we'll tape it up in side that cabinet door."

Riz nods. In normal circumstances, he might even have motioned with his hands to underline what he is going to say next, but right now his arms are very much occupied. "Yeah, that works. My supervisor said we'll probably want to get a few more bottles. Her stomach is, like, really tiny right now, so she can't eat a lot at once, but she does need to eat really often. And nobody wants to run out of clean bottles at 3am."

Her tired tone and slightly haunted stare had given Riz the impression that his supervisor hasn't just been speaking in hypotheticals. For a moment, she had looked like the veteran of a war -- a baby feeding war.

But from the pictures on her desk, Riz knows she has three kids, so he can only presume that whatever trauma she had recalling those late nights hadn't been enough to keep her from actually going ahead and having more kids.

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